“Section 5?”
He had a somewhat youthful face, but he was a boy with chilling eyes.
As if he had misheard, he looked at the guy beside him and asked.
“Does that even make sense? Those punks are forever in last place. This test was a foregone conclusion too.”
“I know, right. But apparently they declared that if they don't make the top three this time, arms get cut off.”
At the words of a trainee from the same section, the boy burst into a chuckle.
“Those Section 5 bastards. They're all going to be one-armed.”
But the trainee in front of him shook his head.
“No, I heard it was just one guy who promised that?”
He was a guy who, being good at flattering the instructors, often brought back all sorts of information.
But more than wondering where he picked up such detailed stories.
The boy.
“Who's the bastard who pulled something that reckless?”
“I don't really know his name either…… anyway, because of that, those Section 5 bastards seem to have really gritted their teeth this time.”
“……Interesting.”
In that moment, the corners of the boy's mouth rose.
He did not know why all of Section 5 was stirred up over a bet one guy had made with an instructor, but.
‘There must be a reason for it.’
Maybe someone had taken complete control of the place, as he himself had.
But had there been anyone like that in Section 5?
‘Could it be Valk?’
The boy shook his head.
Valk could be called about the only useful one in Section 5, but he was not a vessel big enough for that.
No matter how much he thought about it, no one came to mind.
However…….
“Well…… doesn't matter. We just have to make him pay for his reckless bet, right?”
“Exactly.”
When the trainee nodded, the boy got up from his seat.
Then, turning around, the boy spoke to the instructor standing beside him.
“Instructor, we will begin training now.”
“The test is soon. Do not push yourselves too hard.”
“Yes.”
An atmosphere so different from the training grounds of the other sections.
The instructor merely watched with his hands clasped behind his back, as though he acknowledged the boy.
No, how could he not acknowledge him?
Ever since the brat had come to this training ground, Section 3 had always been the strongest on Hell Island.
Isaac.
‘A mere fourteen-year-old…….’
Who would ever have expected he would rule this section so perfectly……?
Raulic, the Instructor in Charge of Section 3, soon looked at Isaac standing before the trainees.
As long as that brat was here, Section 3 would keep running in first place.
“Who knew producing results could be this easy?”
This Token Defense would be no different.
Raulic simply smiled to his heart's content.
***
Section 5 was filled with a hotter fervor than ever before.
“Faster!”
“AAAAAAAAH!”
“Shove! Shove harder!”
It was a strange kind of training where they shoved each other while running, but they did not stop, even as they foamed at the mouth.
Because they believed it was essential training for this test.
“AAGH!”
“I, I can't do it anymore……!”
“Haah…… Haah…… Haah…….”
And at the center of the panting trainees was Theron as well.
“Hey, you okay?”
“More…… or less? Hoo…….”
At Perka's question, Theron straightened his back and let out a big breath.
It was hard for Theron too.
Of course, he could have moved easily by operating his mana, but.
‘Thanks to the Blood Jade Fruit, both my stamina and strength went up. But…… this isn't enough.’
He could not rely only on the parts that had grown because of the Blood Jade Fruit.
He had to become stronger than he was now, and grow further.
And there were those watching such a Theron.
The junior instructors, Bengle among them, watched Theron from a distance and muttered.
“Instructor, do you really think those punks will pull it off?”
“……One more week. We will know once the test begins.”
Honestly, he did not think they would pull it off.
It was just that, one way or another.
The disgraceful title of the bottom-ranked instructor would remain regardless, so he was simply watching.
“If he fails, I just cut off that punk's arms and throw him out.”
Bengle took a sip of liquor from a small flask and muttered.
For now, just watching the brat struggle was entertaining enough.
The result was a matter for later anyway.
‘Not that I even think…… he will pull it off.’
Right.
Even conceding a hundred times over, if they got around 7th~8th place, that would be a relief.
But top three?
Bengle snorted.
But Theron knew Bengle's intent as well.
Because he felt no trust in the eyes that watched them.
But…….
‘……The training so far isn't enough to be satisfied with, but I can say the basic framework is in place, at least.
However, considering where they had trained, it had only been the indoor training ground or running on flat dirt roads.
Both before and in the tests to come, every one of them was a forest.
Now they needed practice running on ground with terrain similar to the test site.
‘For the next week, just adapting to that is enough.’
Theron turned his gaze toward the instructors.
The sight of them snickering while watching them was still unpleasant, but.
‘For now…….’
It was a time when he had no choice but to bow his head.
Theron got up from his spot and approached where the instructors were.
“Instructor.”
“What is it?”
“If it's all right, may we do outdoor training from today until the test?”
“Outdoor training?”
Bengle frowned.
At Bengle's unfriendly gaze, Theron hurriedly continued.
“Yes. There were many shortcomings in the last test. If the next test happens to be somewhere related to a forest, I think training on a hill would help more than this flat ground here.”
“…….”
At Theron's words, Bengle's eyes narrowed.
Did this brat know something?
But no information related to the test had leaked.
Bengle seemed to think about something, then soon nodded.
“Then would the hill next to the training camp do?”
“That will be plenty.”
“Good. An instructor will be attached during training. If you try anything funny out there…… the promise I made with you will be considered void.”
It meant going back to how things had been.
Theron nodded.
“Understood.”
“Then carry on.”
With those words, Bengle went into the training camp.
Theron let out a sigh of relief and soon walked to a place where no one was around.
“Now…….”
Theron looked back on his past memories.
More than any other test, the Token Defense test remained especially vivid in Theron's memory.
Because it was in that test that he had narrowly escaped death and obtained the Blood Jade Fruit.
‘The terrain…… was roughly like this.’
With a branch, Theron drew on the ground the place that had served as the site of the Token Defense test.
Searching his memory, he retraced the places where one could hide and the places where many battles had broken out.
It had been more than ten years ago from now, but it came to mind as vividly as if it had been yesterday.
‘The five teams moved out from different starting points.’
He knew where Section 5 had started in the past, but.
‘The order of the tests has already changed. The starting points could change too.’
It was a hassle, but he had to work out plans for every case from each starting point.
And had about an hour passed?
Working out the plans was not as hard as he had thought.
Even from different starting points, the terrain inside the forest was the same in the end.
But if there was one thing he had to consider carefully.
‘Section 3.’
He had to watch closely how those guys moved.
‘Isaac…… if it's him, he'll definitely.’
Theron thought of Isaac.
He was cautious, yet extremely combative by nature.
In fact, the Section 3 of that time had watched and surveilled the trainees of other sections as if they had become real hunters.
And at the dawn when the second day passed into the third.
‘That's when…… huge chaos broke out.’
It was not a pleasant memory, but Theron calmly rewound it and pictured the situation.
The ones to be most careful of were Section 3, but the trainees of the other sections had to be kept in mind as well.
Though they had filled in their shortcomings through training, they would still look like prey to the others.
‘We could actually turn that against them.’
If they made the weakness they had into a weapon, they could create opportunities instead.
Having organized his thoughts, Theron got up and looked toward where the trainees were.
“Everyone, gather over here!”
His comrades, who had rested for about an hour, quickly gathered at Theron's words.
Then Theron looked at the forest terrain drawn on the ground and said.
“This is roughly the terrain of the forest where we'll take the test. I don't know where the starting point will be, but…….”
TAP, TAP, TAP, TAP, TAP.
Theron marked five spots with the branch and said.
“It'll probably be one of these.”
At Theron's words, the guys surrounding him all nodded with serious expressions.
But…….
“But Theron. How do you know stuff like this?”
“I caught a glimpse when I went to the Chief Instructor's office for a talk last time. It's the same place as this test.”
“……Amazing bastard.”
“You had time to look anywhere else in front of the Chief Instructor? I can't even meet his eyes.”
At Theron's words, everyone looked at him as if impressed.
But Theron paid it no mind and kept talking.
“So what we need to do for the next week is really simple. While running, push off any enemies who come at us, and escape.”
Getting a token was not that difficult.
What mattered was keeping that token until the time limit was over.
“Probably…… there'll be guys hunting in there. After we get our tokens, we need to learn how to hide and escape.”
“……Hunting, huh.”
It was a word that felt somewhat chilling.
But just as Theron said, it felt like exactly what those Section 3 guys would go around doing.
“From now on, we'll train on the hill beside the training camp. Not on the paths, but on rough ground covered with brush and stones. We have to be able to run on it skillfully.”
The week ahead.
‘From now on, we just need to train to get used to forest terrain while avoiding injuries.’
Of course, that did not mean the situation would get vastly better.
But the fact that the trainees here had already united as one was a big enough achievement on its own.
Before, they had each moved alone and, in the end, all collapsed.
Theron recalled the memory of the Token Defense he had gone through in his past life.
A test that had given him, and most of the trainees, a truly hellish experience.
In it, the trainees were divided into hunters and prey according to their skill.
Back then, Theron had been prey.
And very weak, very appetizing prey at that.
But…….
‘This time, the roles will change a lot…… a whole lot.’
And…….
‘A week from now…….’
Once the Token Defense test began, he would inevitably clash with him.
Because he was never the type to hide and wait out the time.
‘……Isaac.’
What should he say when he met him?
Now that he had returned to the past.
At the thought of meeting him again, Theron felt his heart pounding strangely.
Tab 15