In his past life, he was a soldier.
A professional soldier who had been stationed there for 10 long years.
It also meant he was seasoned to the bone when it came to training.
He underwent countless training.
Not only extreme summer and winter training, but also RCT (Regimental Combat Training).
Let alone a thousand-li march.
Ten years of military life meant experiencing almost every kind of training there was.
…It wasn't something to be particularly proud of.
Feeling devastated and having his health burned away every time training ended, what was there to be proud of?
It was just tormenting people.
Therefore, Lee Han believed there was nothing as irrational as military training.
Not all militaries would be like that.
Surely there would be proper training, and places that had established a system.
‘It’s just that the unit or division I was in never had that.’
Just training that tormented soldiers dragged in for two years and left them with illnesses.
Thus, Lee Han hated such training.
What use was training that relentlessly tormented and left nothing behind?
‘The seven-day sleepless bivouac was truly hell.’
That bastard of a battalion commander, secretly going to the BOQ (Bachelor Officers' Quarters) to sleep while not letting them sleep at all.
…Anyway, the point he wanted to make was that he extremely hated irrational training that only left them with illnesses.
Something must remain.
They must learn some skill so it becomes a useful talent later on.
This was his ‘definition of training’.
Therefore.
‘What I’m doing from now on isn’t tormenting. I’m doing this for your own good.’
Lee Han secured a justifiable cause for the training he was about to conduct.
Like that.
“-Everyone, you must have had a good morning sleep, so let’s start some light calisthenics to work up a sweat.”
-?
Wearing a black octagonal hat, he gave the order with a lowered voice.
“We’ll do it lightly, lightly. Now then, ─let’s just do 100 light jumping jacks.”
-!!?
“No response, 500 times! Understood, 500 times!!”
-Y-Yes, sir!
“The response was late this time. And unify your chant as ‘Agh’, it’s distracting. Now, we will do 1,000 times.”
-A-Agh!!
“Your voices are too quiet! I’ll let it pass this time, but brace yourselves for next time. Ah, by the way, you must count the numbers accurately, and there is no final chant, understood!”
-Aaaagh!!
“Good, 300 times, begin!”
The light warm-up exercise began.
However, the trap of this warm-up was.
“…300…! Urk!?”
‘Yeah, I knew it would unconditionally come out.’
The final chant that always came out like an immutable law only warmed his heart.
Lee Han was greatly pleased, wondering how far they would go.
That day, the jumping jacks, which were supposed to be light calisthenics, lasted for a full two hours because of those who shouted the final chant.
* * *
Even after the ‘warm-up’, there was much they had to learn.
Because they had to memorize all 14 calisthenics movements the instructor called [PT Calisthenics] without missing a single one.
But at some point, the order and movements of the calisthenics were naturally imprinted in them.
None of them were smart enough to memorize it at once, but fortunately, they were forced to memorize the calisthenics.
How is that possible?
Simple.
“Trainee number 14 is falling out.”
“A-Agh!”
“We will do movements 1 through 14 in reverse order, 30 times each. Understood?”
“A-Agh!!”
The sprout cadets, who were now being called trainees, were monitored by the instructor in his black octagonal hat and five assistant instructors wearing different red octagonal hats, who made those who got the movements wrong fall out.
And those who experienced ‘falling out’ desperately memorized the movements even if just to avoid being excluded, and struggled with all their might not to make a mistake in the movements.
At some point, all 18 sprout cadets experienced falling out once, and from then on, those who made mistakes gradually decreased.
They just didn’t make mistakes in the movements, though.
“T-Thirty..., Eu-eup!?!”
“Trainee number 12 is falling out. The rest of the personnel will start again from movement 1.”
-Agh…!
They glared at the cadet who shouted the final chant.
To end this hellish calisthenics, they had to complete all 14 movements in order, and when counting the numbers, they either had to not add a chant at the end, or they had to add one.
The instructor was wicked.
‘Damn it! Just tell us not to keep doing it at the end! Why does he keep flip-flopping on whether to add a chant or not!’
‘Blockheads! How did you pass the entrance exam with those heads!’
‘Damn it! Damn it-! Damn it-!!’
Heat that felt like it was burning their entire bodies.
Rolling on the dirt floor, sweat and dust mixing, their bodies so heavy they felt like they would collapse at any moment.
Minds only growing fainter.
At this moment, they were certain that if there was a hell, it would be like this.
…The instructor and assistant instructors were demons tormenting sinners in hell.
However, in such a situation.
“Trainees, from now on, everyone stand up, drink water, and take a 40-minute break. Begin!”
-A-Aaaaaagh!!
Moved like believers who had heard the word of God, they shouted with all their might, not knowing where the strength came from.
Yes, he was a demon, but the instructor was a good demon.
How did he know so well; every time they truly felt dizzy and like they were going to die, he granted a break like a timely rain in a drought.
“Uwaaaagh….”
“I-I feel like I’m going to die.”
“…zzz.”
“Is this guy already asleep?”
“…If it were now, I think I could fall asleep right away too.”
Drinking water, and eating the incredibly sweet jujube dates prepared next to the water jugs that made their flesh tremble.
Feeling with their whole bodies that if there were heavenly nectar and fruit, they would be like this, they collapsed under the shade of the lush trees.
A break in paradise.
At this moment, they didn’t make any movements, and personally learned what it meant to rest with all their might.
“-Instructor, how on earth did you come up with this training?”
Garand. Wearing a red octagonal hat and taking on the role of assistant instructor, he looked at the instructor with admiration.
The training of the legendary mercenary group, Wolves of the Wasteland, famous for being rough and atrocious.
Because Garand had experienced it to the point of being sick of it, he felt it.
That this training was very similar to the training received by hopefuls joining the Wolves of the Wasteland.
No, in a way, it was more systematic and stable.
“You make them squeeze out the muscle strength and flexibility of their entire body to the limit, and as soon as you feel there’s a risk of injury, you immediately make them take a break. It’s like, forging iron.”
Arno’s extraordinary observation skills knew, like Garand, that this training was not simply irrational.
There was clearly mental pain and stress, but they weren’t run to the point of ruining their bodies.
It was the same for falling out.
“As the instructor said, Kunta, I made anyone who looked like they might get hurt fall out. Did I do well?”
That was the reason why occasionally there were trainees who were made to fall out by picking on minor faults.
“…I did secretly shout the final chant as the instructor said, but if I get caught, I feel like I’ll definitely become a traitor…”
The reason for the strangely frequent chant mistakes.
It was Damian Follett’s handiwork, and if caught, he would surely be lynched by all the cadets.
Well, even if he was caught.
“Even if you’re caught, don’t say I told you to. Say you were messing around.”
“…Then I’ll get stabbed.”
“So what?”
“!!?”
Unlike the temporary assistant instructors, Damian wasn’t treated like a human.
“But, Instructor. Are we going to keep doing this training?”
And today’s MVP assistant instructor.
It was Irene Windler, who used magic to proactively prevent heatstroke and other heat-related illnesses.
By the way, it was also thanks to her that the jujube dates, a snack for nobles, were provided as refreshments.
As expected, even if she was an adopted daughter, she had the spending habits fitting of a Duke’s young lady.
“You all did well. We’ll roll them like this for just a week, like now.”
“Do you have a purpose?”
“Improving stamina or building muscle is a secondary issue; first, we make them experience it. We’re forcefully engraving into their bodies what it feels like to squeeze out all the strength in their body.”
“…I’m not sure if they’ll be able to endure it.”
No matter how much they trained them with appropriate breaks and set limit lines, if this was repeated for a week, somehow it might be a bit…
“Don’t worry about that. I happen to have something good.”
“Something good?”
“Hmm, we have some time, so I’ll show you.”
Lee Han left the area with the assistant instructors.
What if they leave the cadets alone and they run away?
‘Then let them run away.’
Guys who would run away because it’s hard are not needed.
Where is the shortcut to wanting to become strong?
Everything is effort.
But if they can’t even put in the minimum effort, it’s better for them to just get lost right now, as it saves Lee Han’s time too.
He had absolutely no intention of forcing them.
However.
‘I need to give them a clear reward.’
Whoosh.
“…What is this?”
“A h-hot spring?”
The place Lee Han took the assistant instructors had a natural hot spring.
And a very large one at that.
The size of a training ground, and a depth where even Kunta, who was 2 meters tall, might accidentally fall in and struggle.
Filling all that width and depth was hot spring water, clear and emitting warm steam.
“Good heavens….”
Leaving the surprised group behind, Lee Han continued speaking.
“A long time ago, some slave trader guy was looking for a secret place to build his villa and accidentally found out that there’s a hot spring vein in Vulcan.”
“…Are you saying a mere slave trader built a villa on the sacred mountain?”
“Well, it ended with just making the hot spring. He got caught by the scruff of the neck while trying to build the house.”
“By who…. Ah.”
There was no need to ask who.
Why else would he know this place?
“Do you want to know what happened to the slave trader?”
“…No.”
Looking at his ominous smile, it felt like it would be better not to hear it.
“But is it okay to show us such a place? If someone harbors ill intentions in the future…”
It was such a beautiful and grand hot spring.
An environment even nobles would covet; if it fell into the wrong hands, there would be fear of it being taken away.
Or someone could spread a rumor.
However, Lee Han smirked.
“Here? Even if they know, other guys won’t be able to find it. Do you think Vulcan is called a sacred mountain for nothing? It’s a mountain where the environment changes like a maze every time you climb. Scholars say that because of the mystical magical power Vulcan itself possesses, the mountain tries to drive people away or kill them. Probably, if someone climbs up with greed, Vulcan will resume volcanic activity that very day?”
Magical power or mystique doesn’t only exist for humanity.
It exists everywhere in nature.
Words left by the legendary archmage and sage Merlin.
One of such nature embracing mystique was Vulcan.
“B-But we climbed up, didn’t we?”
“That’s because I know how to climb here, and probably because I have no intention of harming the mountain.”
“…I see.”
The assistant instructors felt there was more to it than just that.
The fact that the mountain embracing mystique permitted an individual meant that the slave trader he killed must have been a detestable ‘villain’ enough to offend Vulcan.
And because he relentlessly killed such a villain, Vulcan allowed him to climb the mountain, and because they were with him, they must have been able to climb too.
This wasn’t a guess, but a conviction.
Records passed down through families, mercenary groups, and tribes served as evidence.
…And according to the records, if they harmed the mountain, they would be expelled or cursed at some point.
‘What a great person.’
A great achievement of being favored by the mountain embracing [Mystique].
Yet he didn’t even consider this an achievement.
It was only natural for warriors to feel respect toward a man who had accumulated such achievements.
“The talk digressed a bit, but anyway, as long as we have this hot spring, neither those guys nor you will have your bodies ruined.”
“…Does this hot spring have some special effects?”
“Wound recovery, joint healing, natural healing power activation, and skin beautification and health promotion effects? There were a few more, but I don’t remember well…”
“…….”
The assistant instructors thought.
To somehow get on this person’s good side.
So that they might at least have a chance to visit this place again.
The knight unintentionally earned the loyalty of his disciples.