To call it practical training put on by the Divine Dragon Academy, there wasn’t anything particularly special about it.
Just as they taught the methods and theory for dealing with demonic beasts,
the practical training too ultimately amounted to how one dealt with demonic beasts.
To be precise,
it was a matter of whether one had properly understood the education taught within the Divine Dragon Academy
and could implement it in actual combat.
Looking only this far, calling it practical training meant it was highly likely to be just demonic beast hunting.
In fact, demonic beast hunting was the primary purpose of the practical training.
If there was anything slightly different,
‘Was this the place where we took the entrance exam last time?’
the first thing was that the area was much wider than expected.
The two mountains where we had previously taken the entrance exam comprised the entirety of the testing grounds.
And these two mountains were not small hills at the level of mounds;
while they weren’t Mount Tai, they were still fairly large mountains, so the area was quite extensive.
‘Moreover.’
I wasn’t sure how the practical training would proceed,
but if the instructors were going to score each person individually,
it would make more sense to have us face demonic beasts one-on-one and watch.
Setting such a vast area as the training ground
wasn’t a particularly understandable decision.
If they had released demonic beasts for the training,
cleaning them up afterward would be a hassle too.
While they said they would station instructors, I wondered if it would truly be easy to stop unexpected accidents.
“You have until sunset. Instructors will be watching everywhere, so it would be best not to do anything foolish.”
Cheol Hwan-o’s voice rang out, laden with warning.
The other disciples wore expressions filled with tension,
but honestly, it wasn’t that dangerous a schedule.
Not only were they not people who feared facing demonic beasts,
at most there would be numerous green-grade ones with a few blue-grade demonic beasts scattered about.
Alone it would be dangerous, but with several disciples, the danger level was low.
What one actually needed to be careful of was people.
Since there was more than one or two crazy bastards in the world.
What the instructors would be most wary of was fights breaking out among disciples.
Since they were all martial artists. Dangerous bastards who might do anything if they snapped.
Of course, if they were normal guys bearing the names of great families or sects,
even if they fought by recklessly unleashing killing intent,
they would anticipate the backlash that would come later,
so most would endure if possible.
As mentioned earlier,
the problem was that there were also bastards who weren’t like that.
For example,
someone like me.’
If someone acted like a piece of shit, it was only natural to pay them back double.
There was a limit to how much one could endure.
How could a person live just enduring?
If you’re hit, you hit back.
Perhaps that was why
I felt as if Cheol Hwan-o was speaking while looking specifically at me.
“Fighting among disciples is forbidden. If you are caught, severe punishment will be dealt. Be warned.”
It must be my imagination. Eyes moving constantly would meet occasionally.
“Be… sure to heed the warning!”
…Wasn’t it?
He really seemed to be talking to me.
It must be my imagination.
Whatever.
‘What have we even learned to be doing practical training?’
I’d do it for now.
Just thinking about it made me sullen.
What kind of real combat practical training could we do after only two months? It was beyond comprehension.
I supposed it was possible since they were people who had caught demonic beasts before,
but implementing what we learned in the Divine Dragon Academy style was another matter entirely.
Hadn’t I heard that this practical training awarded quite a lot of points?
Everyone would probably do their best thinking about that.
From what I saw, they weren’t very efficient techniques.
‘I should say they are faithful to the basics, if speaking kindly.’
Should I call it the standard formula?
They taught the most basic methods for each situation,
and even the instructors teaching this would know it wasn’t the [best].
They weren’t teaching the most basic countermeasures,
but rather, they should be teaching efficient countermeasures suited to them—they probably knew that well.
They were probably just doing it because those above ordered them to.
‘That’s why there’s no growth.’
Learning the basics
and understanding that the rest was meant to be learned in real combat after graduation,
but if that was the case, what was the point of learning here?
Even if I thought about it every day, the answer was the same.
The value of the Divine Dragon Academy’s name and the connections made there were what mattered.
The education received there was actually unimportant.
‘It’s rotten. Anyway.’
The so-called greatest sword educational institution under the Murim Alliance
was nothing but a name.
Everyone probably coveted that name,
so it was no wonder they were pushed back in an instant when the Blood Calamity erupted.
What were the Nine Great Sects and One Alliance?
What were the Four Great Families?
What were the Murim Alliance and the Righteous Faction?
Idiots steeped in peace.
What hope could be found from rotten roots?
If not for the Divine Sword, they were people who could have been wiped out without a word of protest.
My expectations for the Righteous Faction—
had not remained even a rat’s dropping after experiencing my previous life.
How filthy they were.
While outwardly they sought righteousness and chivalry,
I knew demons were swarming inside.
‘I don’t even want to lay a hand on them, but if I want to survive, I have to clean them up.’
So I had to clean up those bastards one by one in the not-too-distant future.
To make it a little easier to deal with the things that would erupt going forward.
“Hyung-nim.”
“Hm?”
As I was moving my feet,
Pae U-cheol spoke to me.
“By any chance, what will you be doing around summer?”
“Summer? Suddenly summer? Was there something in summer?”
“Do you plan to return to your clan?”
“…To my clan…? Ah.”
I wondered what Pae U-cheol was asking, but it seemed he was talking about the time when the academy temporarily stopped lessons.
At that time, one would train in the closed-door chambers prepared within the academy,
or use the regular training grounds,
or return to one’s main house.
I….
“…The main house is a bit difficult.”
News that I had caused trouble regarding the secret vault had likely reached the clan.
And this was something my father might properly scold me for.
Whether it was summer or not, it was right not to go for the time being.
If possible, I wished not to go forever.
‘I don’t know about the others.’
When the time came, Gu Jeol-yeop or Gu Yeon-seo might go.
Especially Gu Jeol-yeop, who might go because of the Gu Seon-mun matter.
‘If he’s not going, I have to make sure to work him hard this time.’
Seeing him get beaten by Yeongpung last time, I really felt I had to train him properly.
I was going to half-ass it because it was annoying,
but remembering him rolling around like that and then showing a stupid appearance because he was nervous there
made my teeth grind on their own.
‘If he were just a guy who couldn’t do it, I wouldn’t mind.’
If he got drilled, he’d learn from the drilling.
A guy who seemed to have talent—I really didn’t know why he was like that.
‘In my time, there was no one like me, so I learned desperately alone.’
Of course, back then, Elder Yi had tried to catch and work me somehow.
If I got caught by that old man and got worked, I felt like I’d really die, so I ran away.
Anyway.
If there’s someone who does it for you,
you should gratefully work hard.
Anyway, I don’t like it.
Kids these days, tsk tsk.
Just thinking about Gu Jeol-yeop made my face frown on its own.
Seeing my face like that, Pae U-cheol flinched.
Why is this bastard flinching again?
“So what about it?”
I asked with slight annoyance,
and Pae U-cheol scratched the back of his head and answered.
“It’s just… if you don’t have other plans, I was wondering if you would come with me to our clan.”
“Your house?”
If it’s the Pae family, it’s in Sichuan.
Isn’t that where the Tang Clan is?
“…Sichuan.”
After all, going home was pretty much ruined anyway.
If by then there was no sign of breaking through the wall,
I had planned to at least go find the Baekmaseok….
‘…Isn’t that around the Sichuan area?’
It wasn’t exactly the Sichuan area, but the direction was like that.
Baekmaseok was embedded beneath a deep lake created by a White-grade demonic beast rampaging centuries ago.
“Ugh…”
…
The direction happened to be similar too.
If by then I couldn’t sense any sign of breaking through the wall….
“I’ll think about it.”
“Oh…! Thank you.”
“You’re the one who invited me, what are you thanking me for?”
I spoke as if dumbfounded, but Pae U-cheol just smiled happily.
“My father will like you very much, Hyung-nim.”
“I might not go, you bastard.”
To really go without having broken through the wall,
the one guarding that place was dangerous, so I had to worry about it.
The reason I wanted to consume Baekmaseok upon reaching the Hwagyeong realm
was partly because it would be more efficient,
but more because I was worried whether I could break through that ‘monster’ at my current level.
Moreover, if there was a slight problem,
‘…Though he probably won’t.’
there was the danger that my father might come directly and drag me away.
Then I’d be stuck with no way out.
‘Surely he wouldn’t.’
Unless the Jinma Gyeongmun occurred,
or a situation like the accident Gu Hui-bi experienced last time,
my father didn’t move his body easily from Shanxi.
Was it for nothing that the Hohyeop and the Gu family were called the guardians of Shanxi?
‘Though me not going is also a problem.’
A guy who is the next young master.
Instead of going straight home after causing trouble, if he ran off elsewhere with Pae U-cheol,
that would be a problem in its own way but….
What can you do.
If it bothers you, don’t make me the young master.
I should be allowed that much deviation by now.
Thinking so, I laughed once briefly
and said to Pae U-cheol,
“You should go now too. It looks like it will start soon.”
“Ah. Understood.”
At my words, Pae U-cheol slightly bowed his head and leaped away into the distance.
The reason I sent him off like this was none other than:
Before starting, there was already an order not to cooperate.
We were told to keep our distance from each other.
The disciples were already automatically separating from one another.
On top of that, more than anything,
‘Because it would be a bit troublesome if Pae U-cheol was with me.’
Even if there were no such rules,
I had been planning to start by leaving Pae U-cheol behind.
It worked out just in time.
Since it was a good excuse.
I looked around.
….
!
No matter where I looked, it was mountains filled with trees.
I used my internal energy to spread my senses wide.
Here and there, traces of people were felt. They were probably other disciples.
Those felt faintly amidst them
were probably the hidden instructors.
‘Two around me.’
In addition to that, demonic beasts spread out in every direction.
Seeing this, I couldn’t help but find it amazing.
What were those so-called Righteous Faction bastards trying to do by releasing demonic beasts on a perfectly fine mountain?
How had they even confined them in the first place?
Were there no ones raising questions about this?
‘Or maybe they cleaned up all those who raised questions.’
That was a fairly likely story.
-Swoosh
Around the time I was looking around,
arrows shot high into the sky.
They weren’t just one or two.
Just like during the entrance exam.
They were arrows containing internal energy.
Soon, as they reached high in the sky,
Pop!
With a small sound, the arrows burst apart. The internal energy contained within spread.
It was a signal to begin the practical training.
I watched it quietly for a moment,
then slowly moved my steps.
Every time I moved,
I could feel the presence of demonic beasts around me,
but I didn’t move to catch them deliberately.
I had no choice.
From the start, my goal in this practical training
wasn’t demonic beasts.
I attempted a short leap.
I used my internal energy to hide my presence.
The moment I hid my presence, a few nearby seemed flustered.
They were probably instructors watching me.
They seemed to be doing so because they lost me.
Shaking off the instructors,
the place I found was the highest point on this mountain.
“…Aigoo, my joints.”
I straddled a rock in front of me and tapped my knee.
Since my body was young, there was no reason for my whole body to ache.
Perhaps because I was mentally tired, my joints had been hurting a bit recently.
“Will it rain tomorrow or something?”
After spouting such nonsensical words,
I quietly looked up at the sky.
The weather was sunny, as if it wouldn’t rain.
I watched the clouds drift by.
On the bright and clear sky, the slightly scattered clouds were somewhat unusual, but
“Why the hell are they flowing so slowly and frustratingly.”
I wasn’t particularly immersed in sentiment.
There was just nothing else to see, so I was watching that.
“When will they come?”
I had come to a high place to look around properly.
It would be troublesome if I couldn’t find them.
Going to find them now would look a bit lame.
Like that.
Around the time I wondered if I should pull some grass and whistle with a grass blade or something,
Rustle.
Only then did I sense a person’s presence from one side.
I shifted my gaze.
It wasn’t to check who it was.
Because it was an obvious story anyway.
Since I had provoked them that much,
they had to explode now.
“I thought you weren’t coming.”
I said, raising the corners of my mouth.
The expression of the guy who appeared stiffened greatly.
On him was none of the smile he usually wore in front of others.
A sinister atmosphere filled him.
I wondered how he could change so completely,
but I rather welcomed that appearance.
Because it was the appearance I had so desired from him.
The guy looking at me slowly opened his lips.
“…Were you waiting for me?”
“Not long. I just got here too.”
I greeted him as if I had met a welcome friend, but
the guy.
No.
Jang Seon-yeon’s face only stiffened further.