It seemed that none of the freshmen had properly understood the Dean’s order to “RUN!”
While everyone stood around awkwardly, unable to adjust to the sudden situation, abuse began pouring from the senior cadets.
“What are you standing around for?! Start running!”
“Welcome the hell to Lion Heart! Now run!”
“Look at all that fat around your belly! What is this? I can still see your legs! Do you want to die?!”
Only then did the incoming cadets rush through the side doors of the auditorium all at once.
I was swept outside with the rest of them, but the moment I saw the enormous mountain looming before me, my determination plummeted.
‘I have to go all the way up there and come back?’
Worse, if I failed to make the cutoff, I would have to do this all over again.
Just thinking about it sent a chill down my spine.
When I glanced beside me, Tyr was staring at me with an expression that plainly said, ‘Why aren’t you running?’
“Damn it!”
I broke into a run with a curse.
With two hundred people running all at once, clouds of dust rose from the ground, making it difficult to breathe.
Come to think of it, every freshman who had arrived here had obtained a recommendation from the lord of their respective territory.
Whether noble or commoner, each of them was a young person whose potential had been recognized to some degree.
Me?
I was an unprecedented genius.
In magic, at least.
But now that I had entered a Warrior Academy, I was among the most hopeless weaklings here.
It did not take long before the freshmen around me gradually began overtaking me.
As though it were the most natural thing in the world.
“Haa··· haa···.”
We had barely reached the foot of the mountain, yet the moment the path began sloping upward, my breath caught in my throat.
Damn this cursed body!
I desperately suppressed the urge to use magic and simply fly to the summit, forcing my legs forward through sheer will.
“Young Master. Are you all right?”
The ever-loyal Tyr looked at me worriedly without so much as breathing heavily.
Was this what people meant by a difference in physical ability?
How could his breathing possibly remain that steady?!
If it were not for me, this red-haired boy would easily be competing among the leaders.
And here I was, his master, doing nothing but holding him back.
“Damn it···.”
I forced my feet onward, but at this rate, I honestly wondered whether reaching the summit was even possible.
Still, I could not give up.
Ruben the Archmage had not become an Archmage simply because he was a genius.
I had become one because I was relentless.
Because I possessed absurd amounts of perseverance and willpower.
“Aaaaaaaaagh!”
I continued running while screaming like a madman.
It felt as though shards of glass had lodged themselves inside my lungs, and the dizziness made the entire world seem to turn upside down.
Even so, I ran.
So that when I eventually met Locke and Sepia again, I could stand before them with a little more pride.
“Aaagh··· aaaaaagh···.”
After continuing like that for quite some time, the only person left around me was Tyr.
And Tyr was walking.
In other words, even while moving with every last ounce of strength I possessed, I was barely matching Tyr’s walking speed.
Even so, my will and determination would not break.
Yes, it was unbearably exhausting and painful right now.
But looking back on my previous life, I had overcome situations far more desperate than this.
The problem was that my body was far too frail compared to my determination.
Eventually, my legs stopped.
“Young Master?”
Tyr caught me as my body began to collapse.
Just as I thought I was about to lose consciousness—
* WHOOSH!
The Mana Core that had been filled with a neatly organized mass of elemental energy began to move.
The elements seeped into my paralyzed lungs and exhausted muscles, settling into them as naturally as though they had always been part of my body.
Experiencing different types of Ether, which ordinarily should never have mixed, combining in perfect order before being absorbed into my body was an exceedingly strange sensation.
And as a result, my body—which should have collapsed like a discarded rag—recovered in an instant.
Moreover, it did not simply recover.
‘I became stronger?’
Even someone as insensitive to physical sensations as I was could tell that my overall physical ability had improved.
It was almost as though reaching the brink of death had granted me new strength.
Apparently, the legendary flowers I had taken from Britz really did have an effect.
I would need to conduct more experiments before I knew for certain, but for now, it seemed that pushing myself to the verge of death allowed me to grow stronger immediately afterward.
Good.
So the more suffering I endured, the greater the reward?
That was exactly what I wanted.
“Tyr! Let’s go!”
“W-What?! Young Master! Wait for me!”
There was no mistaking it.
I was moving considerably faster than before.
I was less short of breath.
I could feel more strength in my body.
It was not some dramatic transformation, but I was unquestionably—
‘Getting stronger!’
For some reason, even those agonizing steps were starting to feel enjoyable.
While Ruben marveled at his newly awakened ability, one female cadet among the leading group was attracting an unusual amount of attention.
“Wow, that’s insane.”
“Who is she?”
“I heard that the daughter of Baron Camil is among this year’s freshmen. That must be her.”
“Maybe it’s because she’s a noble, but she’s really beautiful.”
Even during the exhausting climb, the freshmen could not stop whispering among themselves.
And understandably so.
The female cadet racing along the mountain path at an overwhelming speed possessed ability far beyond the ordinary.
House Camil.
It had once been renowned as one of the Five Great Swordsmanship Houses of the Continent.
During the war against the Demons, however, the family had suffered losses approaching annihilation, and much of its swordsmanship had been lost.
Now it was merely one of many fallen martial families.
Even so, ‘Camil’ remained a name that every warrior in the Empire heard at least once.
The family’s secret technique lay in its footwork, and House Camil had exerted the greatest influence on the Imperial Standard Swordsmanship currently used throughout the Empire.
Anyone who learned the Empire’s standard swordsmanship could hardly remain ignorant of the Camil name.
Anna Camil, the daughter of that baronial family, possessed exceptional Martial Talent and had already mastered the family’s secret footwork technique to the Fifth Stage.
Naturally, at an upper-middle-tier academy like Lion Heart, she was expected to take first place.
‘Father. I will restore our family’s glory. Please watch me!’
Her long golden hair streamed behind her as she flew forward like the wind.
She could truly have been called a fairy of the wind.
She was small in stature, but her body possessed excellent balance.
Her movements were supple and agile.
Above all, her extraordinary beauty made her look even more like a fairy.
Without actual wings on her back, how could anyone possibly move like that?
RUSTLE···.
She used even leaves as footholds as she ran, and the scenery swept past behind her.
Before long, the summit seemed close enough to touch.
‘There’s no one at this Academy who can catch me in speed···!’
A triumphant smile spread across her beautiful face.
“Wow, that’s insane.”
“Who is that?”
“No idea. Judging by his clothes, he looks like a noble.”
“Is he really a noble? Those might be noble clothes, but he looks like a complete beggar.”
I can hear every word, you bastards!
Still, I could not exactly argue with them.
I really did look like a beggar right now.
The moment I discovered that pushing myself to my absolute limit made me stronger, I had begun running with complete disregard for my body like a lunatic.
Thanks to that, I had fallen and rolled across the ground countless times, leaving me in a terrible state.
Moreover, the process of becoming stronger was so agonizing that my expression probably looked dreadful as well.
But that was fine.
Because I was getting stronger.
“Guh··· gaaaah···.”
Another wave of terrible pain struck me.
Agony like my lungs being torn apart surged throughout my body, and I lost consciousness for a brief instant.
Then, when I woke again—
“Aaaaaaaaagh!”
I could feel that I had become stronger.
I revived and resumed running while screaming like a madman.
How many times had I repeated that cycle by now?
Thanks to it, I had already caught up to the middle group, and the summit was almost within reach.
Of course, attracting excessive attention from the other freshmen was unavoidable.
“Young Master! Wait for me!”
At some point, even Tyr had begun struggling to keep up with me.
It was not necessarily because my speed had increased that dramatically.
Rather, it was because every time I awakened, my stamina was completely restored.
Unlike me, Tyr had not become covered in dirt and rags, but every time I went through another revival(?) and recovered, he fell a little farther behind.
Still, I could not slow down and wait for him.
If I rested even slightly, I would never reach my physical limit.
“Tyr! I’m going ahead!”
“Young Masteeeeer!”
Sorry, Tyr.
But this is better than continuing to be a burden on you, isn’t it?
Once again feeling as though my lungs were about to burst and my consciousness was about to disappear, I increased my speed even further.
The tallest tower of Lion Heart Academy.
At its very top was the Dean’s office, a room filled with an unmistakably old-fashioned elegance.
Antique wooden furniture and warm-toned decorations filled the room, while enormous glass windows provided a view over the entire Academy.
There, the Academy’s Dean and Head Professor sat drinking tea.
“How does this year’s class look?”
“Hmm. I haven’t noticed anything particularly unusual.”
Considering that the incoming cadets were currently struggling with all their might to conquer the mountain summit, the leisure enjoyed by the two men seemed almost offensive.
However, the exercise was, strictly speaking, a test of the freshmen’s stamina and perseverance.
Its methods were somewhat less accommodating than those of other Warrior Academies, but the path of a warrior itself was hardly accommodating.
How did they respond to sudden changes in circumstances?
How much basic stamina did they possess?
How fast were they?
And above all—
How strong was their willpower?
It was an ideal test for assessing all of those qualities at once.
“Still, aren’t there a few promising candidates? Miss Anna Camil, for example. And young Pan Slipel.”
“Yes. Unless something unexpected occurs, those two should take first and second place in the entrance examination.”
The sharp-featured Head Professor in charge of swordsmanship was flipping through a thick, three-hundred-page file containing the incoming students’ records.
‘There aren’t many particularly outstanding talents this year.’
He was turning through the pages one by one when a particular name caught his attention.
“Ruben Seirin?”
“Ah, that boy. He is the first person in the history of the Seirin family to seek admission to a Warrior Academy.”
Perhaps pleased that Lion Heart had secured the support of the Seirin family, the Dean stroked his thick beard with a satisfied smile.
The Head Professor’s expression, however, became even sharper.
“If I remember correctly, the Seirin family has little connection to Martial Talent.”
“What does that matter? In our current circumstances, even one student from a noble family is valuable.”
“···He won’t last a month.”
“Hahaha, you really are a negative man. I know you dislike mages, but now that he is a student of Lion Heart, I ask that you set aside such prejudices.”
Even after the Dean’s request, the Head Professor gave no answer.
He merely stared intently at Ruben Seirin’s photograph in the student file.
‘He won’t last long anyway. He may even give up halfway through the willpower test they’re taking right now and return home.’
He raised his head and gazed toward the mountain the freshmen were climbing.
But he had no idea that an upset was already unfolding.