Leaving Jo Tae-gwang behind, I focused on the training for now.
The first category was beginning.
“The physical-fitness category will be conducted in the Empty Dungeon you can see behind us. Everyone, follow this instructor.”
“Yes!”
An Empty Dungeon was exactly what the name suggested: a Dungeon from which all monsters and traps had been removed.
Even after the dangerous elements disappeared, the terrain and structures remained intact, so places like these were also used as training grounds.
And training was hardly their only use.
Snowy mountains became ski resorts, seas became vacation spots, forests became nature-experience centers, and so on.
Their uses were extremely diverse.
Even ordinary civilians came and went from them.
That was why Hunters with enough money tended to buy Empty Dungeons rather than buildings.
The admission fees alone could bring in several times as much income as rent.
I had never been quite rich enough for that, so I had settled for buying a small building.
The Private Second Classes followed the instructor into the Empty Dungeon.
We were still wearing our individual combat gear.
Combat helmets, combat uniforms, combat boots, combat belts, X-Bands, and even our training weapons.
Even that much weighed quite a bit.
“Why do I have such a bad feeling about this?”
“What bad feeling?”
“I feel like they’re going to make us fucking run in all this gear.”
“No way. They wouldn’t go that far with Private Second Classes.”
Oh, they would.
They absolutely would go that far.
That was why I had stuffed three chocolate bars into my mouth earlier.
Couldn’t afford to have my blood sugar drop.
“Everyone, attention.”
“Attention!”
The scenario was unfolding exactly as it had before my regression.
Inside the Empty Dungeon was a wide plain with a towering mountain far in the distance.
Looking over the Private Second Classes standing there in individual combat gear, the instructor spoke.
“You will climb the mountain behind you in your current equipment. You must reach the summit, and the time limit is one hour. Whether you walk, run, or crawl is entirely up to you. But if you waste time, you will exceed the limit, correct? Your evaluation will drop according to however late you are.”
“!”
“What I’m saying is, use your own judgment.”
The Private Second Classes fell into panic at the thunderbolt-like announcement.
Even at a glance, that was no ordinary mountain.
You had to crane your neck far back just to see the top.
“Fuck, that’d be hard even if we ran up there with nothing on.”
“How are we supposed to climb that in an hour wearing all this? What are we, robots?”
“Fuck me, this is going to be hell.”
Complaints poured out.
But no matter how brutal Intensive Training might be, they only demanded things that were still within the limits of what an ordinary Private Second Class could accomplish.
“An hour sounds doable.”
“Full combat gear would be another story, but with just individual combat gear, we can make it within an hour.”
That was why those confident in their physical fitness thought it was manageable.
Before my regression, I had belonged to neither side in this situation.
The instant I heard the task, I had simply despaired and given up.
My physical fitness was closer to that of an ordinary civilian outside the military than to the average Private Second Class.
I did not even need to try to know what the result would be.
Of course, I could not actually refuse to participate, so I did run….
And the result had been exactly what I expected.
With my breath rising to my chin and my body feeling as though it were breaking apart, I had dropped out early.
Things were not all that different now.
Thanks to Abilities like [Efficient Parry], [Iron-Blooded Knight’s Soul], and [Groggy], I had definitely grown in terms of technique.
But my physical fitness was essentially unchanged.
So would I get the same result this time?
I shrugged.
I couldn’t let that happen.
My physical fitness might be the same, but my mental strength had grown compared to what it was at this point before my regression.
No.
It had grown tremendously.
If my body could not do it, I would force it through with sheer grit.
That was how I had lived my life.
“The instructors will follow alongside you and observe your performance. Of course, we will only observe. We will not intervene in any way. You need to focus solely on one thing: reaching the summit. Does everyone understand?”
“Yes!”
The instructor put the whistle in his mouth.
His hand rose high.
“All personnel, ready.”
TWEEEEET―!
“From this moment on, run for the summit.”
“WAAAAH!”
The shout came out naturally.
The square formation instantly collapsed as the Private Second Classes surged forward.
Everyone had a different approach.
Some sprinted from the beginning and pushed ahead.
Others slowed down and settled into their own pace.
Still others simply started running and figured they would see what happened.
If I had to choose, I belonged to the second group.
Taking my physical fitness into account, I ran while remaining far behind most of the others.
This was a long battle anyway.
Once we actually started climbing the mountain, the elevation would rise as well, making our pace at the beginning especially important.
“Hoo, haa. Hoo, haa.”
I kept my breathing steady and even paid attention to the angle at which I lifted my legs so that I would expend as little energy as possible.
The other Private Second Classes were doing much the same thing.
But they were having trouble with something else.
Their equipment.
Their combat helmets rattled no matter how tightly they fastened the chinstraps, while their weapons kept getting in the way against their backs.
And combat boots without even the slightest bit of cushioning were always a problem.
Hunter Corps equipment was designed with defense rather than convenience in mind from the start.
You could not make it comfortable at the cost of having it ripped apart or blown open after only a few monster attacks.
“I want to throw all this shit away.”
“Fuck this.”
“Fucking hell.”
The mouths of the Private Second Classes around me grew even fouler than before we had started.
Everyone except me.
Naturally, I was more comfortable without individual combat gear than with it.
But it was not nearly as serious an inconvenience for me as it was for the others around me.
Because I had run while carrying a full combat pack on top of all this before.
And I was not talking about some measly 1~2 kilometers.
I had climbed mountains like this.
I had crossed rivers.
The path from Staff Sergeant to Sergeant First Class and then all the way to Master Sergeant had been that grueling.
Anyway, compared to that, individual combat gear alone merely felt like wearing a few extra layers of clothing.
The only problem was my physical fitness.
“Huff.”
By the time I began properly climbing the mountain, I could already feel myself running short of breath.
If rapid breathing were the only problem, I could have ignored it and kept going.
But my body was soon screaming that it was about to die as well.
My legs trembled regardless of my will.
And I had not even reached the halfway point yet, much less the summit.
At that moment, a huge middle-aged man passed beside me.
“Hmm.”
It was Lieutenant Colonel Park Ui-cheol.
He was climbing the mountain as though he were taking a leisurely walk.
His hands were even clasped behind his back, his entire posture relaxed and comfortable.
Despite wearing the exact same individual combat gear.
Of course, there was nothing strange about that.
He was a Lieutenant Colonel.
By the standards of Private Guild Hunters, he was a powerhouse equivalent to at least Level 7.
It would have been stranger if this were difficult for him.
I, who was his complete opposite, was gradually reaching my limit.
My legs had gone beyond trembling.
They felt like they were about to melt.
Even swinging my arms had become difficult, leaving them flailing through the air as though I were dog-paddling.
I had finally reached the halfway point.
This was exactly where I had given up.
Before my regression.
I had stopped there and spent a long time doing nothing but catching my breath.
Afterward, I had walked and crawled until I barely reached the summit.
My evaluation had been a failing grade.
Because I had finished dead last among all the Private Second Classes.
Even now, other Private Second Classes swept past me from the front, the side, and behind.
With their relatively superior physical fitness, they still had energy to spare.
The difference was built into their very frames.
Unlike me, whose body was only slightly superior to an ordinary civilian’s, they possessed strong, sturdy bones and muscles.
It was thanks to their Abilities.
[Thick Bones], [Stamina Conservation], [Increased Endurance], and countless others helped them.
In game terms, they were receiving buffs.
I had nothing like that.
‘Most Abilities related to physical fitness depend almost entirely on Proficiency, so I can’t unlock them right away.’
Someone shouted inside my head.
Give up.
Just stop and rest.
Even if you keep forcing yourself, you won’t make it within the time limit anyway.
Why cling to something you can’t do?
Hey, I’m telling you, giving up makes everything easier.
It was the whisper of an invisible demon.
I gave a small laugh and shook it off.
It was true that I felt like I was dying.
But everything in life depended on your mindset.
If you truly set your mind to something, there was nothing you could not attempt.
And even if I failed, so what?
It would all become the flesh and bone of experience.
I had nothing to lose.
“Huff, huff. Haaah.”
I kept running while gasping harshly.
All sensation disappeared from the two legs supporting my body.
Where is this place?
Where am I?
Even then, I did not let go of my consciousness.
Driven by the single thought that I would reach the summit somehow, I refused to let my head fall.
I ran.
And ran again.
“Hek. Hehek. Hekhek.”
Strange sounds escaped my mouth.
Every last drop of strength had already been drained from my body, yet somehow even more was being squeezed out of me.
Like wringing moisture from dried squid.
Still, I did not stop.
I did not walk.
I did not crawl.
With my head held stubbornly upright, I continued running without end.
I had entered high-level Dungeons that ordinary people could not even approach.
I had entered the Abyss, where the entire world stretched on like a hellscape.
How hard could something like this possibly be?
Compared to the ordeals I had endured back then, this was nothing.
After what felt like forever….
The mountain path that seemed endless gradually flattened beneath my feet.
Birdsong I had been unable to hear before suddenly entered my ears.
Only now did the beautiful mountain scenery come into view.
At last.
I had arrived.
The summit.
“?!”
“Holy shit.”
The gazes of the Private Second Classes who had arrived ahead of me all converged in one place.
I stood there looking like little more than skin and bones.
“Didn’t they say Gu Yun-ho was always getting failing grades in physical fitness, even if he was good at other things…? And he actually passed this…?”
“Wow, it hasn’t even been an hour yet.”
The instructors did not show it openly, but even their eyes had widened.
Their expressions practically screamed, How the hell did that guy make it up here?
“Haa.”
I had wanted to shout when I reached the summit, but I did not even have enough strength left for that.
It felt as though my entire body had ceased to exist.
That was when it happened.
DING!
Along with the cheerful sound, the exhaustion crushing my entire body vanished.
Just as I wondered what in the world had happened, notifications unfolded one after another.
《Through passion for achieving your goal and unyielding perseverance, you overcame your body’s extreme limits.》
《New Ability [Instant Fatigue Recovery] unlocked.》
《From now on, when fatigue reaches its limit, a certain amount of fatigue will be instantly recovered.》
《Recovery amount increases according to physical fitness.》
《This effect cannot trigger consecutively.》
My eyes widened.
[Instant Fatigue Recovery].
In short, it meant receiving one final chance when everything was already over.
I could even exploit it by making an enemy lower their guard, then seize the opportunity for a reversal.
Despite its simple name, the effect was incredible.
‘I had [Instant Fatigue Recovery] before my regression too. But I thought it could only be unlocked in truly extreme situations like the Abyss.’
Only then did I realize it.
For my current level, this one-hour mountain climb in individual combat gear had been exactly that kind of extreme situation.
And I had overcome it.
I stamped my feet in place.
My legs, which should have lost all strength and collapsed beneath me, bounced up and down.
Even my heavy body now felt as light as a feather.
Of course, some of that was merely how it felt.
I had been in a state where it would not have been strange to pass out on the spot, so even recovering a small amount of fatigue felt enormous by comparison.
“What the hell is wrong with that guy…?”
“Hey, didn’t you say that guy’s physical fitness was the worst? Are you sure? He looks fucking fine.”
The guy who should have collapsed unconscious at any moment had suddenly become lively again.
Everyone’s eyes bulged in shock like the eyes of frozen pollock.