Duke’s Son: Re

Chapter 52

“Oh, I hate Mondays so much.”

“I’m so tired. I should’ve taken it easy at least over the weekend.”

The students of Class B were utterly exhausted from early morning.

It was due to their relentless refinement of skills and tactics throughout the weekend.

Among them, Lee Jinsung, Do Baesoo, and Chun Hyeji looked the most worn out.

They had ventured into a danger zone over the weekend.

Though they were only at the entrance where E-rank monsters appeared, it was a perilous adventure for the three of them.

Surrounded by dozens of goblins, their spines tingled with fear.

Had they not encountered the security team on patrol, they might have truly lost their lives.

“… We saved our lives, but we’re penalized.”

Entering a danger zone without the school’s permission was a violation of school rules.

After all, Lion’s Castle was a legitimate educational institution.

It even boasted the slogan of nurturing players who contribute to the national interests of Korea and raise its honor, in ‘safety’.

Apart from encouraging competition among students, they strived to prevent accidents where students were killed by monsters.

“Still, why do they bother patrolling an E-rank zone?”

Lee Jinsung and Chun Hyeji bitterly regretted receiving penalties despite nearly dying in such an E-rank zone.

“Good morning.”

“Hi, Jaehyuk.”

“……”

As Do Baesoo was replenishing his energy with a hotteok, Lee Jinsung and Chun Hyeji’s faces brightened noticeably.

It was just before the first class.

Kang Jaehyuk had arrived just in the nick of time, looking as radiant as ever.

He seemed to have rested without a finger lifted over the weekend.

“Wasn’t Jaehyuk’s complexion always glowing?”

“Shut up.”

The insensitive Do Baesoo’s comment was quickly shut down by Lee Jinsung and Chun Hyeji.

Their reason for sacrificing their precious weekend and working themselves to exhaustion?

It was all because of Kang Jaehyuk.

To lessen the gap and the bullying from Kang Jaehyuk, they needed to level up even a bit.

‘Let us show you how much we’ve changed.’

Their levels had increased by two, thanks to their deadly battle with the goblins, almost costing their lives.

The gap between them and Kang Jaehyuk, who had rested over the weekend, was undoubtedly narrower compared to last week.

Not only them but other students were also conscious of Jaehyuk.

‘The hard training over the weekend paid off.’

Two hours later.

“Aaaahhhhh!!”

“Eiiiik! Save me!”

“Kang Jaehyuk!!”

The confidence of the Class B students was shattered.

It was strange.

Despite diligently training and leveling up over the weekend, Kang Jaehyuk seemed even stronger.

Before they could prepare for anything, they found themselves kicked, falling into worm nests, or landing in front of a crowd of monsters.

Kim Jinmyung watched them being kicked around like soccer balls with a satisfied smile.

“Did all of Class B go through special training over the weekend?”

As of last week, when kicked by Jaehyuk and thrown in front of monsters, most students ended up sitting down or falling on their chins.

They started the battle at a disadvantage due to being caught off guard by the monsters.

But today was different.

All the students adjusted their positions in mid-air, launching surprise attacks on the monsters.

This led to their hunting speed doubling.

Jaehyuk was unusually quiet today.

Even when high-grade monsters appeared, he stood by and watched the kids.

“Wooaaahhh!!”

The students hunted a high-grade monster without Jaehyuk’s help and couldn’t contain their joy.

A broad smile spread across Kim Jinmyung’s lips.

“The desert is almost time to graduate from.”

In fact, since last week, Class B had perfectly adapted to the desert.

They started the monster hunting performance evaluation in just four days after beginning the training.

While the pace was similar to Class C during the swamp adaptation training, they were now closely trailing Class A.

“It’s all thanks to Jaehyuk.”

Of course, the efforts of the other students shouldn’t be overlooked.

Kim Jinmyung had been keenly observing each student as a responsible professor.

He knew well that they had worked tirelessly to their limits.

They were inherently competitive.

Perhaps because Jaehyuk had critiqued them so well, they had developed rapidly with the determination to one day get revenge on Jaehyuk.

“Though now it seems like they just want to get hit less than seek revenge…”

… Is this right?

He brushed off the sudden doubt, looking over the notes in his notebook listing the students’ characteristics.

“Should I advance the schedule?”

***

Tuesday.

Kim Jinmyung appeared with close to 20 instructors.

“From today, a new training will begin.”

“Ooooh!”

There were no students surprised or fearful about moving on to the next stage.

Having perfectly adapted to the desert, Class B students were brimming with confidence.

The instructors distributed coats to them.

It was a black long coat, distinguished by the lion emblem on the chest and golden epaulets on the shoulders.

A stylish design and luxurious material.

Although it was excellent formal wear, the heavy fabric was unsuitable for the spring-end weather.

“It is the winter uniform of the school. Not only does it provide warmth, but various protective magic is also applied.”

Winter uniforms already…?

Among the murmuring students, Lee Jinsung let out a sigh.

“Don’t tell me the next terrain adaptation training stage is the snowy field?”

The snowy field training in Lion’s Castle’s terrain adaptation was infamous as the fourth toughest.

Blizzards raged 24 hours a day, and the ground was entirely icy.

If you slipped in poor visibility, you could fall into a crevasse and die.

“There are quite a few instructors I’m seeing for the first time today…”

“Are they skilled individuals meant to protect us?”

Training requiring the presence of guardians.

The students, who were previously full of confidence, swallowed dryly, tense.

“Class A already ventured into the snowy field last week.”

The students, who were about to question him about snowy field adaptation training being a second-semester schedule, closed their mouths.

“I hear from yesterday, they even began hunting yetis without instructors.”

“……”

The buzzing atmosphere instantly calmed down.

Was Kang Jaehyuk the only reason the Class B students worked so hard?

They enrolled at Lion’s Castle to become the best players.

They wanted to catch up with Class A and close the gap with Class C.

“Is there any reason we can’t do what Class A is doing? We have already adapted to swamps and deserts, so what’s a blizzard?”

“The yetis are just E-rank creatures without manes. We can hunt them with cooperation.”

The students’ eyes changed.

Kim Jinmyung nodded in satisfaction and led the students towards the snowy field.

***

“Isn’t it too early?”

The instructors, who had come to support from Kim Jinmyung’s request, furrowed their brows.

Upon arriving at the snowy field, the Class B students could only shiver, sniffling from runny noses.

Their physical and magic stats were still low, making it difficult to adapt to the sudden change in temperature.

“If we push through with the training, they might freeze to death.”

Snowy field adaptation training traditionally began in the second semester of the first year.

Class A’s average level was already above 20 at enrollment, so their fast pace was understandable, but it was questionable what Class B was basing their accelerated schedule on.

“Don’t tell me Professor Kim Jinmyung is conscious of Class A?”

“It’s like a ground sparrow trying to emulate a crane yet gyeting its legs torn apart…that’s not just lacking self-awareness; it’s outright senility.”

“I heard his wife is suffering from the Manastone Disease? Understandable why he’s obsessed with achievements then, somewhat. But risking kids as sacrifices is an issue.”

Wooshhhhh.

While the instructors murmured, the blizzard intensified, turning the surroundings into a whiteout that obscured vision to the point where they couldn’t see a foot ahead.

At the edge of the snowy field.

Class B had finally reached their destination.

Rattlerattle.

Clatter. Clatter.

The sound of students shaking and their jaws chattering filled the air without pause.

“M-my skin has no feeling.”

“My runny nose froze; it’s stuck…”

“Oh? D-Do Baesoo! Where did your eyebrows go?”

More screams erupted among the students.

The screams came from the unfortunate students who touched their frost-stiffened eyebrows without thinking.

Their eyebrows were gone as if shaved by clippers.

“Stop making such a fuss. You can always draw on eyebrows, why panic?”

“But we’re guys! Damn it!”

“Is there a law saying guys can’t draw on eyebrows? Bunch of country boys.”

Chun Hyeji scolded the boys.

She was in full makeup yet again today.

Even when rolling through swamps, she’d always wear makeup, making her, in a sense, scarier than Kang Jaehyuk.

“Continuously operate Yin-Yang Formula. Circulating mana within the body will help maintain body temperature.”

Kim Jinmyung was earnestly advising the students.

Yet, moving mana within their dantians as they wished, while almost stripped of sensation from the cold of snowy fields, was no easy feat.

Nearly half of the students failed to operate Yin-Yang Formula, gradually succumbing to the severe cold.

Kim Jinmyung, checking the time, signaled to the instructors.

Then, the instructors placed their hands on the students’ backs, aiding the circulation of their mana.

“……”

Finally, the students began to calm down.

The level of Class B students was somewhat higher than the instructors had anticipated.

With the winter uniforms’ heating functions and the Yin-Yang Formula’s aid, they gradually became accustomed to the cold.

Once settled, the students started glancing at Jaehyuk surreptitiously.

They worried he might start nagging about how they needed everything spoon-fed.

But unexpectedly, Jaehyuk remained quiet.

‘I feel guilty.’

Jaehyuk was quite bewildered.

He couldn’t feel the cold at all.

It seemed to be thanks to the trait of knights resisting status effects.

‘Does the system count cold as a status effect?’

It made sense.

A status effect refers to any phenomenon that disrupts players.

It felt reasonable to include cold, which caused condition deterioration and frostbite, as a status effect.

‘No wonder the desert felt nice and cool.’

“Jaehyuk, are you by any chance sensitive to the cold?”

Do Baesoo asked worriedly.

His newly moon-like face, now even more so without eyebrows, made Jaehyuk flinch.

“What? Uh, a little?”

“If it’s hard for you to adapt, should I take off my coat and give it to you? I’m worried the whole class mood is down because you’re being so quiet.”

“What will you do if you take off your coat?”

“I’ve adapted to the cold. Maybe it’s because I’ve got more fat on my body, so I feel less of it?”

‘Is that even possible?’

If being fat meant not feeling cold, everyone would be gaining weight every winter.

Do Baesoo’s magic must have attributes naturally resistant to cold.

“It’s fine. I’ll take your offer in spirit.”

For an eyebrow-losing kid in the cold to worry about me…

Feeling oddly embarrassed, he broke out in a cold sweat, which the leading instructor observed closely.

“Sweating in this cold? Is he in bad shape?”

It was prime time for a new Troll Lord to be born. Until it matured safely, all nearby monsters would vacate the nest.

The timing was favorable in many ways to secure Kang Jaehyuk’s whereabouts.

‘Tis heaven’s fortune smiling upon us.’

***

A deep cave outside the snowy plains.

Scouts, having confirmed the respawn of the Troll Lord inside, quickly withdrew.

A massive army of monsters would soon gather to protect the newborn Troll Lord, leaving no time to relax.

“The Troll Lord supposedly takes over a month to reach full maturity?”

“Yeah, it’s best to let it ripen until then before attempting a raid for better rewards.”

“We’d better think of the monsters guarding it as a service to us.”

“True, but the right to raid the Troll Lord this time belongs to the 2nd and 5th corps… It’d be nice if the monsters ignored their instincts just this once.”

The squad leader confided in a newcomer, revealing their honest feelings.

Corps 2 and 5 were affiliated with the Association.

For the reconnaissance team who served Seol Soo-ah, they just couldn’t feel connected.

“If the monsters ignore it, is there a chance a third party, other than the military force, would target the Troll Lord?”

“A newborn Troll Lord’s level is 59. Exactly touching on C-rank, making the raid itself not too challenging. But would there be a fool at Lion’s Castle willing to make the military force a target just to defeat a C-rank boss?”

“That’s definitely a high-risk, low-return situation…”

“It’s practically a guaranteed suicide attempt.”