The training at the Superhuman Training School was difficult.
The categories were not much different from ordinary physical training, but the intensity and density were, as expected, far from ordinary.
‘It is a little difficult, but I can endure it.’
Time passed.
[Details: You have overcome the first obstacle, but this is only the beginning. Many more obstacles await you. Train yourself for the next obstacle.]
[Completion Conditions: Run 15 km (15/15 km), Throw Punches 150 times (0/150), Draw Out Divine Power 20 times (0/20 times)]
[Reward: +5 Stat Points. (Choose one from Strength, Agility, and Divine Power.)]
[※ The ‘Preliminary Preparation’ quest can be repeated once per day until the next quest appears.]
Daehyun never forgot to complete the quest before the day ended.
[Skill, Divine Shield (LV.1), activates.]
[You have failed to create a concrete image.]
[Only the minimum amount of Divine Power will be used.]
[The power of Skill, Divine Shield (LV.1), decreases sharply!]
‘……It still is not easy.’
Was it because the fundamental nature of its energy differed from Demonic Energy?
Thinking of something concretely through Divine Power, and furthermore manifesting it, was not easy.
Even though he had resolved that if he kept at it, he would succeed someday, the burden of knowing that little time remained urged Daehyun on.
‘The quest conditions increased compared to yesterday.’
On top of the high-intensity training, the completion conditions for the quest had increased as well.
Aside from sleeping, Daehyun had no choice but to devote almost all of his time to training.
The only fortunate things were that he could fill the running requirement during the Superhuman Training School’s training, and that Kang Shinhyuk prepared a Fatigue Recovery Tonic for him every day.
‘So it is saying I am still lacking.’
It did not matter. He had intended to continue training as many times as necessary anyway.
Daehyun nodded, then focused once more on carrying out the quest.
[Skill, Divine Fist (LV.1), activates.]
In the end, it did not take long for the exam to arrive right before his eyes.
***
[Draw Out Divine Power 30 times (30/30 times)]
“Haa…….”
Only after finishing the day’s final quest, and among them, the truly final task of “Draw Out Divine Power,” could Daehyun sigh and sink down onto the ground.
‘It is finally tomorrow.’
After completing the Superhuman Training School’s basic training,
he returned to the dormitory and cleared the quest again.
An ordinary person with little patience would have endured for a day or two before more than half of them fell away, but Daehyun had already been doing this nonsense for six days.
[Completion Conditions: Run 30 km (30/30 km), Throw Punches 200 times (200/200 times), Draw Out Divine Power 30 times (30/30 times)]
[Reward: +5 Stat Points. (Choose one from Strength, Agility, and Divine Power.)]
Furthermore, the quest completion conditions had increased with each passing day, so the intensity of Daehyun’s daily training had surely reached a level far beyond imagination.
“I will choose Agility.”
[Reward received.]
[Stat, ‘Agility,’ has increased by +5.]
After looking at the window saying that the quest reward had been received, Daehyun steadied his breathing and opened his status window.
[Kang Daehyun]
[Stats: Strength (30), Agility (31), Intelligence (30), Unique Stat = Divine Power (48)]
[Type: Healing-Type (C)]
[Traits: Speed Reading (E), Quick Thinking (C), Observation (C+), ??? (EX)]
[Skills: Lesser Healing (LV.1), Divine Shield (LV.1), Divine Fist (LV.1)]
‘Hmm.’
His Strength and Agility, which had only been in the teens at first, had now surpassed 30.
The fact that a change had appeared in the status window meant that the quest rewards were real, but those changes could also be confirmed with the naked eye.
When he received Strength, his strength truly increased, and when he received Agility, both his ordinary physical movements and his reaction speed became faster.
‘The fact that I have grown stronger is not only because of the rewards.’
The status window merely quantified Daehyun’s own strength and displayed it.
When Daehyun trained, his stats were designed to rise automatically along with him.
‘……Although I have never chosen Divine Power.’
Perhaps because the increase was overwhelmingly greater than his other stats, Divine Power seemed to grow quickly through the daily training of drawing it out alone.
‘Why did I not train like this before?’
The decisive problem must have been his self-esteem, which had been crawling along the ground.
“This much should be enough.”
It had already been nearly a week since he returned to his original body.
The daily life that had felt somewhat unfamiliar was now familiar to a certain degree, and though not as much as before, he had become able to blend into it reasonably well.
‘The first day is theory.’
Moreover, the contents of the lessons were things he already knew, so it would not be an exaggeration to say that Daehyun had now fully settled into life at the Superhuman Training School.
He had wondered whether he should study again because there would also be a theory exam, but…….
‘Was it Gate Theory? It is easy, so there is no need to worry.’
Almost all of it consisted of things he had seen in the Demon Realm library, or problems he could solve with the knowledge he had obtained while living in the Demon Realm. Most of it had been something Daehyun was good at even in his first life.
‘Hmm.’
Thanks to that, was it not a good thing that he could use the time he would have spent studying for training instead?
‘The exam on the second day is Gate Raiding.’
In the end, that was what mattered.
“You might be fine with theory, but the Superhuman Training School’s exams overwhelmingly emphasize practical combat.”
“On top of that, Gate Raiding means fighting monsters directly…… Well, Daehyun can do it, right?”
Just as Kang Shinhyuk had said, what mattered was practical combat.
Daehyun smiled faintly and looked up at the sky.
Unlike the dark-red sky of the Demon Realm, a vast sky twinkling with starlight stretched above him.
‘……How peaceful.’
What was the Demon Realm like now?
Daehyun held a small curiosity in his heart.
***
Time flowed on, and in the blink of an eye, the day of the Superhuman Training School’s exam dawned.
“Daehyun, did you study?”
“Just moderately.”
In truth, the content was easy enough even if he had not studied at all, but in order to remain as the student “Kang Daehyun,” Daehyun blended into the conversation in his own way.
“Hmm, moderately……”
Kang Shinhyuk muttered that, then lightly looked Daehyun up and down with sharp eyes.
“Come to think of it, you seem to have put on some muscle. You have been going out lately, saying you were taking walks. Were you secretly training behind my back?”
“What training? I really was taking walks.”
“No, that is not it. This, this is all muscle, is it not? Lately, the way you talk, and that subtle air around you…… Daehyun, it feels like you have changed a lot.”
“…….”
At Kang Shinhyuk’s continued questioning, Daehyun’s eyes sharpened further.
His curiosity was understandable, but in the end, the questions were digging into him.
From Daehyun’s perspective, it was nothing but unpleasant.
“I am joking, man. I am just worried because you are working so hard.”
Kang Shinhyuk said that and lightly tapped Daehyun on the shoulder.
“Sometimes, let us think things through together. If there is something we do not know, should we not put our heads together?”
Kang Shinhyuk smiled faintly.
For some reason, confidence and courage could be seen in his eyes.
Daehyun looked at Kang Shinhyuk with an intrigued expression.
“Let us go. If you do not want remedial lessons, you have to do well on today’s exam.”
“……Right.”
His atmosphere was on a completely different level from the other students, who were trembling with nervousness.
Perhaps he was an unexpectedly remarkable guy.
Thinking that, Daehyun headed to the Superhuman Training School with Kang Shinhyuk, and…….
“Dae-hyun! I screwed up the exam!”
……It did not take very long for Daehyun’s thoughts to change.
“It seems my eyes were defective.”
“No! Look at this! This!”
After the first day’s theory exam ended, Kang Shinhyuk suddenly barged into Daehyun’s classroom while he was silently packing his things, thrusting out his exam paper as he spoke.
“This is obviously number 1!”
“It is number 2.”
“Urgh! Th-then this one!”
“Number 3. The answer is in the question.”
“Aaaargh! I am finished! I am finished!”
After a continued series of wrong answers, Kang Shinhyuk eventually crumpled his exam paper with tears in his eyes.
“I cannot be the only one to die! Daehyun, what score did you get?”
“I do not know. A perfect score. Or I missed one.”
“Traitor! You traitor!”
“You were betrayed because you believed in me in the first place.”
What in the world had that confidence he showed in the morning been?
As Daehyun looked at him with a gaze half-filled with doubt and half-filled with disgust, Kang Shinhyuk grabbed the hem of Daehyun’s pants and continued speaking.
“B-Big Brother Daehyun…… I want to play on the weekend.”
“Hmm.”
Come to think of it, had they said that if one failed to surpass a certain score on the theory exam, one would receive remedial lessons over the weekend?
Since he was the sort of guy who loved wandering around, it seemed that staying at school on the weekend did not suit his tastes.
“Well, scores are not what matters.”
Just how badly had he done to be acting like this?
Daehyun lightly picked up the crumpled exam paper from his hand and said,
[13 points]
“……Giving up will make it easier.”
***
“Daehyun, do well on the exam.”
“Right.”
After exchanging a brief farewell with Kang Shinhyuk, Daehyun headed to the Gate training ground.
The school had been like this in the past as well, but it had an astonishing building structure.
Each class had its own dueling ground, and each had its own training ground as well. Its scale was already at a level where it was almost embarrassing to call it a school.
“Though this is a simulation created using a Magic Stone, it is still a Gate. Monsters appear here, there is a boss, and damage will also remain. Do not forget that.”
The beginning was similar.
After gathering the students, the teacher continued with the preliminary explanation.
A virtual Gate.
It was a technology that artificially implemented a Gate by using Magic Stones that came from real Gates.
‘I do not know the principle, but it is not a bad technology.’
It might fall somewhat short compared to the real monsters of the Demon Realm that he had fought as the Fist King,
but for Daehyun, a virtual Gate was a fairly suitable obstacle for confirming his current standing.
“Kang Daehyun, Shin Daehoon, Choi Minseok. Come forward.”
The virtual Gate was an exam conducted with three people forming one team.
Sure enough, the first group was Team 1, which included him.
Daehyun stepped onto the enormous machine that the teacher was looking at.
It seemed to be called a Rift Generator.
“A weapon…… It seems you do not need one.”
“……Are you really going to be all right?”
“No matter what, this is still a Gate…… You cannot think of it like a duel.”
The students who had formed a team with him began expressing their unease one by one, but instead of answering, Daehyun silently nodded.
Bare hands. To others, it might seem like nothing more than a reckless challenge, but to Daehyun, they were the strongest and most optimal weapon he possessed.
‘He won one duel and now his confidence is soaring.’
‘……Crazy bastard. If we fail the exam because of you, are you going to take responsibility?’
If it had only been a week ago, they would have been able to say such things to Daehyun openly, but perhaps because of the changes he had shown over the past week, the students subconsciously hesitated to voice their opinions.
“The Gate’s grade is ‘E.’ Among Gates, it is the lowest-grade Gate, but it will not be easy.”
“I know.”
The teacher looked at Daehyun and let out a faint sigh.
How many times had he seen students act recklessly because something was low-grade, only to destroy themselves?
He could no longer count them.
‘He is insane.’
A Gate was different from a duel.
You could not read an opponent’s mind, and monsters did not charge from the front, much less one-on-one.
There were many who knew that in their heads, yet not in their bodies.
On top of that, he was going in barehanded, without a weapon. And a Healing-Type brat, at that?
He was not in his right mind.
‘Life is practical combat, idiot.’
Soon, this guy would also crawl back out of the Gate in a miserable state.
When that time came, he would realize it himself.
Just how weak and small an existence he was in this world.
And from there, he would be divided.
Would he carry trauma toward monsters for the rest of his life and quit being a Superhuman?
Or would he use that defeat as a stepping stone to become even stronger?
“Go on.”
When that moment came, what choice would that guy make?
The teacher smiled inwardly and silently began operating the control panel.
Then…….
CRACKLE—.
A tiny spark burst before Daehyun’s eyes.
The Magic Stone had begun reacting to the machine.
CRACKLE— CRACKLE—!
Little by little, ever so slightly, the sparks grew, and when they became a single bolt of lightning before his eyes.
At last, a flash of light erupted, and the entire training ground shone brightly.
‘……So this is a Gate.’
When Daehyun opened his closed eyes.
Before him, there was a huge rift, as if space itself had been cut open with a blade.
“Let us go!”
“You stay still at the back. I will handle everything.”
The two people on his team blocked Daehyun’s path and leaped into the rift first.
‘……This is amusing.’
To think he had fallen to the point of being protected by mere brats.
Daehyun smiled faintly and stepped into the rift.
[Newly Unlocked Quest: Virtual Practical Combat]
A powerful pressure stimulated his nerves.