I Became the Youngest Disciple of the Martial God

Chapter 64

Chapter 64

The Instructor of the Hunt silently opened and closed his mouth several times as if in shock.

While he was doing that, I began to think.

For now, ignoring the rules and form of the battle I’d just had, I realized that there was not much more I could gain by fighting here.

Which meant that there was no point in prolonging this battle.

“I lost.”

“...”

Although losing the fight was a shame, it was more regretful that the spar had to be in this format.

In a spar or mock fight, it was much more difficult for the weaker fighter to defeat the stronger fighter.

That was because they couldn’t launch extreme attacks that might cost both their lives.

But the moment such a restriction was removed, it could no longer be called a spar.

“...”

The Instructor of the Hunt looked at me with calm eyes. Since his face was rough to begin with, I couldn’t really tell what he was thinking.

He probably wouldn’t take my declaration of defeat as me taunting him, right?

“...No matter the format of the spar, you lost in the end, so you will have two points deducted.”

“Yes.”

I calmly accepted the deduction.

Naturally, losing those two points didn’t feel good, but I felt I had gained something far greater than that.

The spar I’d just had with the Instructor of the Hunt was, to lay it out in the open, one of the highest-level battles I’d had since my regression.

Although that was a bit mean to Kayan who had sparred against me for an entire week, it was the truth.

Since I had gained inspiration for the latter half of the White Sun Form, I planned on thinking about a new basic technique in between my circulations.

At this point, the Instructor of the Hunt spoke up.

“However...”

“...?”

“The level of martial arts you displayed, your quick responses to new situations, your tenacity, and even the fact that you maintained your focus until the end and attempted a counterattack... and also because I had to go back on my word, I reward you three points.”

So...

Since I’d had two points deducted and gained three additional points...

In the end, I was up one point.

I was a little shocked as I responded, “Thank you,” but the Instructor of the Hunt had already turned around.

At that moment, I felt a sharp glare coming from someone.

As I turned my head to see who it was, between the young heroes, someone a head taller than anyone else was looking at me.

His name was...

Charon Woodjack?

The only son of Hyde, the one called the Strongest Ranger in The Empire.

I had never really spoken with him, but I knew that he was as famous as Hector and Sellen.

What are you looking at? I mouthed, but Charon silently turned away.

What was his deal?

***

After the day ended, as I lay down in my bed, Evan spoke to me.

“You were pretty impressive today.”

“In what way?” I responded, my eyes closed.

“You fought the instructor.”

“Well, I still lost.”

At that, Even let out a dry laugh.

“It’s only natural to lose. The Instructor of the Hunt is also called ‘the Undefeated Warrior’. I’ve heard that he is known throughout the Eastern Plains.”

I wasn’t particularly tired; rather, I was going over the spar in my mind.

He was interrupting me, so in an annoyed tone, I replied, “Sure.”FiNd updates on

Thankfully, Evan seemed to pick up on it as he shut up.

Hm.

I hated having to care about how other people thought, but I felt like I needed to become close with this person for now, so I thought up a topic we could talk about.

In the end, I had to open my eyes and ask, “You won today, right?”

“Yeah. Did you watch me?”

“No. If you’d lost, you would look pretty sad right now.”

“That’s true.” Evan smiled. “I fought against the youngest daughter of House Rubyeta today.”

“Oh ho.”

She would become a big shot in the future.

House Rubyeta had considerable authority even among the Great Houses, and Sharyl Rubyeta, the youngest daughter of that house, was someone even I had heard about.

In the same vein, since Evan was famous in his own right, the spar between them had probably garnered some attention from the other young heroes.

How many people noticed?

Although it wasn’t a hard fact to deduce, it was difficult to remain calm in situations like this unless it came to you naturally.

Or you had a lot of experience.

Experience.

This was one of the only factors missing from the geniuses gathered in this training camp.

And a fight with their lives on the line... would explosively increase their experience.

Twenty percent...

The death rate of young heroes in Bednicker’s training camp.

Among the young heroes here, at least 20 percent would die.

Since that was the case, even if a young hero was about to die tonight during this test, the instructors wouldn’t intervene.

I started to get a sense of what direction this training camp was taking.

Krrr...

A frightening presence was felt from beyond the trees.

The young heroes, pale with fear, pulled out their weapons and naturally stepped backward, away from the sound.

Obviously, not all of them did this.

A few took battle positions while remaining calm.

The first to act seemed to be Charon Woodjack.

I could tell that he had walked the line between life and death many times from a young age. He was probably one of the only young heroes here who had sufficient combat experience.

Afterward, Hector, Sellen, and Evan took up their positions as well.

In a way, they were all the people who had received points during the run before.

I didn’t join them.

Since they would do fine by themselves, I had something better to do.

I finally have a chance as well.

I drew the Sword of Seven Sins from my hip.

Its appearance was lacking, but since it was still the relic of a king, it probably wouldn’t break even if I swung it too hard.

Crunch!

The tree was toppled as the monster revealed itself.

“It’s here!”

“Th-that’s...”

“Uck...!”

It looked like a centipede, but it was as big as a house.

It also wasn’t alone. Small copies of it that looked like its offspring were crawling all over it.

Centipedes were disgusting even when they were centipede-sized, and this one was much worse because of how big it was.

Many young heroes were surprised at its striking appearance, but thankfully, none of them seemed to fall into panic.

Although the instructors treated these kids like brats, that was more just to set the tone...

Objectively speaking, the ones at the training camp right now were all pretty decent in their own ways.

Rumble!

The first to charge was the swam of baby centipedes.

“Damn it!”

“We need to fight!”

The young heroes held up their weapons.

At this point, they were probably thinking of fighting them in the ways they were comfortable with, but that would be difficult to keep up until the end.

No matter what, during this battle, they would experience at least one moment of danger... and to overcome that danger, they would need to employ every trick they had at their disposal.

I expected that was the reason the instructors were putting on this show: so that the young heroes could get used to using the mysterious powers called Blessings.

After thinking up to that point, I halted for a moment.

What about me?

I had received a blessing as well.

I had received a blessing, but I still didn’t know what it was.

Compared to the others, it was like I wasn’t even at the starting line.

But even in that position, I had thought myself better than the other young heroes.

Don’t be overconfident.

In a sense, this was overconfidence and vanity.

“Heup.”

I remembered my master’s advice as I calmed my heart.

I suddenly had a thought.

Maybe, in this training camp...

Did I also need to figure out how to use my blessing?