Chapter 10. The Beginning of Training (2)

There was a hill so steep that even adult men were rumored to take a break at least once. At the top of this hill, two middle-aged men had unpacked their belongings and were facing the wind.

“Ugh… I can’t do this anymore. I should quit after this trip, really.”

“Quit? You need to earn more money to raise your late-born child! The fact that you had a child at your age shows you’re still full of energy!”

The porters, who were resting their tired bodies from the arduous journey, exchanged casual banter. In the middle of their idle chatter, one of the men stopped talking and turned his head.

“…Hey, don’t you hear something strange?”

“Sound? What sound?”

Surprised by the sudden question, the other porter also turned his head. Initially skeptical, he soon heard the ‘strange sound’ his companion mentioned.

Squeak— Squeak—.

An unpleasant, nerve-wracking sound. The porters’ eyebrows twisted in confusion.

“What is that sound?”

“Indeed.”

As they tried to guess the source of the sound, they realized one thing. The strange noise was gradually getting louder.

“Is it coming this way?”

“Let’s, let’s get our loads ready!”

The sound becoming clearer meant that something unknown was approaching. Having traveled the continent for a long time and experienced many things, they instinctively gathered their loads and stood up, ready to run at any moment.

Just as they hastily slung their loads on their backs, another sound mixed with the regular noise.

Squeak— Grunt!

Squeak— Groan!

The bizarre groan that followed the strange noise stopped those who were about to leave with their loads.

Then, the source of the strange sound appeared from beyond the hill.

Squeak— Snort!

At the top of the hill, the first thing to appear was a round head with striking black hair.

Squeak—.

The unpleasant sound rang out again.

“Gasp!”

With a pained exclamation, a young boy’s face, full of suffering, rose like the sun on the horizon, atop the hill. His expression was so strained that even the porters, who were watching, felt his pain.

Then, the source of the boy’s suffering was revealed.

The porters blinked in surprise.

‘Is that… a cart?’

Of course, it wasn’t just any cart.

“Tsk! You brat without a single hair on your head. If your lost manners had turned into strength and endurance, you could have climbed this hill on your hands and knees!”

…It was a cart carrying an old, talkative, and cantankerous man.

Squeak—.

“Grunt.”

“Just pulling a cart and making sounds like you’re about to defecate!”

“Gasp.”

“You’ll collapse, you’ll collapse!”

“Damn… old man.”

“Hmph, you’ve already wet yourself, haven’t you?”

“Damn… cursed… old man!”

Yuri, the black-haired, golden-eyed boy, was cursing and shouting as he pulled the cart. Clenching his teeth, he finally managed to reach the top of the hill.

Squeak—.

The cart stopped right in front of the two stunned porters.

Then,

Thud—.

Yuri collapsed like a corpse.

“Gasp, wheeze….”

Lying there as if he might die at any moment, he weakly reached out to the porters.

“H… H… H… Help….”

Even though they had just met, the porters couldn’t ignore Yuri’s trembling hand. They approached him urgently, as if saving a life, and gave him a leather water flask.

Gulp—.

Yuri drank the water so desperately that the leather flask quickly shrank.

“Gasp!”

After gulping down the water, Yuri burped and tightly held the merchant’s hand with his moist eyes.

“Bless you.”

“Are you okay, boy?”

“I’m… I’m fine. But… how far is it to Crom Harbor?”

“Crom? It’s about four days’ walk from here.”

“Four days….”

The realization that it would take four days to reach his destination made Yuri’s face stiffen.

Seeing this, Johann chuckled.

“Why? Can’t you make it? Giving up here? That’s not so bad.”

“….”

“Tsk, tsk, I must have misjudged you. A weakling who can’t even handle this, what good are you?”

“….”

“Oh, when will such a half-baked person ever amount to anything?”

“Grr!”

“It would be easier for both of us if you just gave up and died. If you’re going to quit, do it quickly. I don’t want to waste my time.”

Seeing Johann cackling while squatting on the cart, Yuri’s forehead veins bulged.

“Damn….”

Gritting his teeth, Yuri shakily stood up.

“I… drank well.”

After briefly thanking the porters, Yuri grabbed the cart’s handle.

Squeak—.

The cart, which had stopped, started moving again, groaning.

Wobbling, slowly.

Yuri carefully pulled the cart down the steep hill.

After the commotion.

“…What just happened?”

“Yeah, I was wondering the same thing.”

The two porters could only stare blankly at Yuri’s retreating back.

Meanwhile.

Huff— Huff—.

Yuri, descending the hill and exhaling hot breath, gritted his teeth.

‘Damn…’

This doesn’t feel right.

No matter how many times he thought about it, it just didn’t feel right. But he had no one to complain to. This was all his own doing.

“Damn…!”

As he cursed, the past three weeks of hell flashed through his mind.

Pulling the cart, running, walking, even resting while hanging on the cart. He even ate and drank while pulling the cart.

Sleep?

He could only close his eyes when he fainted.

If someone saw this, they would say he was destroying his body, not building strength. And they would be right.

Especially since Yuri’s body was already collapsing due to his oversized soul. Excessive physical training in this state might be more harmful than helpful, which was a concern.

But surprisingly,

‘Damn… this… works?’

Despite the fact that he should be coughing up blood and dying, Yuri’s stamina was miraculously increasing day by day. On the first day, he fainted after just two hours of vomiting. He then got up and pulled the cart, wheezing. This was his daily routine for the first few days.

But as time passed, the frequency of his fainting decreased, and the time he spent pulling the cart increased. By today, he could even climb the hill without much difficulty.

‘Damn… if it weren’t effective…’

Despite the daily struggle that felt like death, he could feel his stamina and health improving. It was a strange phenomenon.

‘I don’t know what the old man did, but this ridiculous cart-pulling is definitely helping me.’

Given the situation, he had no choice but to pull the cart as instructed. Of course, Yuri’s determination to pull the cart was also influenced by his pride, ‘I won’t give up just because of this level of hardship!’

For this reason, he silently pulled the cart, ignoring the constant nagging from behind.

“Tsk! I can see your legs, boy! Can’t you move faster? At this rate, when will you reach Crom?”

“….”

“Remember, a strong lower body is the foundation of human balance! And for a man, there’s nothing more important than a strong lower body! Hmph!”

“I’m about to die from exhaustion… and you keep dirtying my ears with useless talk?”

“Tsk! Useless talk? It’s all valuable advice that will become your blood and flesh later. Remember that!”

…Actually, Yuri wasn’t just silently pulling the cart. He had tried to break it several times.

‘Physical pain… I can endure it to become stronger! It’s my choice.’

But!

‘I can’t stand seeing that old man comfortably talking while I suffer! I’d rather carry a rock than let him rest!’

So, he decided to break the cart.

If he did, the old man would have to walk until they got a new cart, right?

With this in mind, he tried to break the cart several times.

He deliberately took it on rough roads.

He subtly threw it around.

He even secretly threw large rocks at it.

But…

‘Damn! Is this cart made of solid steel?! How can it be so sturdy?!’

Even a cart made of solid steel would have broken by now if treated this roughly.

But this old, worn-out cart showed no signs of damage, not even a scratch.

Does this make sense?

‘Clearly… the old man is up to something. That’s it!’

Otherwise, a simple wooden cart couldn’t have lasted this long.

Grinding his teeth, Yuri thought.

“What are you doing? Did the cart-puller die? Even a snail would move faster than this!”

Fueled by the constant nagging, Yuri let out a roar of frustration.

“Aaaaaah!”

His legs moved faster with his roar.

Johann, excited, shouted.

“Ooh! Finally caught up to the speed of a snail! Faster! Faster!”

“Damn… old… man!”

“Reflexes, brat! You take that!”

“Aaaaaah!”

With a pained roar, the old, worn-out cart raced down the hill, heading south toward the cradle.

* * *

Yuri opened his eyes.

The clear sky filled his vision.

‘I fainted again.’

After three weeks of this routine, he was now used to fainting and waking up.

‘It’s still light, so I haven’t been out for long.’

Recently, the time between fainting and waking up had been getting shorter. The last time he fainted, he only took about an hour to wake up.

Common sense would say that a body pushed to the extreme couldn’t recover with just an hour of rest. But surprisingly, the moment Yuri woke up, his body felt brand new.

Look at him now.

Before fainting, his limbs felt like they were weighed down by lead, but now they felt as light as a feather.

“Gasp!”

Stretching, Yuri looked at Johann, who was lying on the cart, wiggling his feet.

‘While I was out, that old man must have done something to my body.’

Otherwise, this abnormal recovery wouldn’t make sense.

Just as Yuri’s eyes turned sleepy, Johann’s nagging voice came.

“If you’re awake, start moving. What are you doing there?”

Reacting to the familiar nagging, Yuri quickly started pulling the cart.

The reflexive movement made Yuri shudder.

‘Ah… I’ve been brainwashed.’

After three weeks of this routine, his body now moved unconsciously. This realization made Yuri feel a deep sorrow.

Of course, despite his feelings, his body continued to pull the cart silently.

How long did he walk?

“What do you know about Machejutsu?”

Johann, who had been lying on the cart and nagging daily, suddenly brought up a different topic, a surprisingly constructive one.

Caught off guard, Yuri stammered.

“Um… I, I guess I know as much as anyone else?”

“So, what do you know?”

“Well, Machejutsu developed rapidly after the ancient Easterners settled here… and the knowledge they brought mixed with ancient Machejutsu, forming the foundation of the Machejutsu we use today.”

“It sounds like you’ve heard it somewhere?”

“Yeah, from a retired mercenary I met. I was a bit interested in Machejutsu back then.”

“Huh, is that so? What else did you learn?”

“That’s it?”

“….”

“More if you pay, so I left.”

“Tsk.”

“Ah! It’s a martial art that uses mana, so it’s hard to master, but if you can, making a living with a sword isn’t difficult… The mercenary said to bring money quickly.”

“…You know as much as anyone else, my ass.”

“What?”

“Well, you haven’t learned it wrong, but you haven’t learned it properly either.”

“Then?”

“Machejutsu is a term that refers to the process of training the body while accumulating mana, rooted in correct theory, and all acts of emitting magic through the body.”

“…Magic?”

“Magic is the measure of the power that can be generated by 1 unit of mana. Typically, 1 magic power means generating 1 unit of force with 1 unit of mana.”

“So, 100 magic power means generating 100 units of force with 1 unit of mana?”

“Not bad.”

“…Who do you think I am, an idiot? Anyway, the higher the magic power, the stronger, right?”

“While strength isn’t solely measured by magic power, it is a common standard. It’s used in the cradle you’re going to and in public exams.”

Johann’s explanation continued.

An ordinary person, even without training, can sometimes generate 1 magic power using their innate mana.

100 magic power is equivalent to the strength of two average adult men.

To qualify for the public 1st Dan exam, one’s magic power must exceed 1,000.

And while a single magic power measurement is expensive, cradle graduates can get it for free.

Yuri, hearing the basic theories of mana and magic power for the first time, listened intently.

Then, a sudden, intense curiosity arose.

“Then….”

A question that anyone might have asked came out of Yuri’s mouth.

“What’s your magic power, old man?”