NOVEL NEXT Chapter 13
The first day, I just ran like a madman.
“I won’t limit how many laps you do in the training ground, so just run until you drop dead!”
She poked my chest with her finger and added, “Remember, your stamina and mental strength must deplete completely. Don’t even think about using enhancement techniques just because it’s tough.”
“Yes! Understood!”
With that, I started to run for my life.
10 laps.
When she said to run like my life depended on it, I figured that if I held back, Ivelyn would be disappointed, so I went all out.
20 laps.
So far, I still had enough energy to keep going.
30 laps.
Even though I tried not to tire myself out, my limbs began to lose strength without me realizing it.
“Aren, is that really all the mental strength you have? Are you really just a man who shines on the outside but is this weak inside?”
“Ugh, ahhh!”
But as soon as I showed signs of slowing down, Ivelyn, who was watching from afar, urged me to speed up.
40 laps.
I felt like I was going to die.
My whole body felt unresponsive. It felt like my brain and body were not on the same page.
“Haah, huff.”
With each step, my limbs twitched on their own, refusing to run any further.
I wanted to just collapse and take a break. I wanted to quit.
‘Just make it to 50 laps. I can still push myself.’
But soon enough, I slammed my trembling legs down and forced myself to continue.
[Chaos says you can run just a little bit more and offers encouragement.]
Finally, the glorious 50 laps.
Thud.
“Ugh, guh… huff.”
I couldn’t run anymore. Even if someone stood behind me with a knife, it would be impossible.
“Ugh.”
My muscles were rebelling. I held onto my cramping legs, gritting my teeth—it was pure torture.
Seeing me like that, Ivelyn approached.
“Aren, take your hands off your legs.”
Once I managed to lower my arms, she began to massage my legs.
‘What is this feeling? Is she channeling magical energy into her hands?’
The coolness and relief flowing from my legs made a sound echo in my mouth.
“Hmm.”
Thwack!
“Don’t make weird sounds because it feels good! Sit still.”
I couldn’t help but let out a sound and got smacked for it.
[Chaos just found that hilarious and is laughing hard.]
She continued to massage while she spoke.
“Well, you have the spirit. Stamina can be improved, but transforming a weakling from the start is really tough.”
“Things like mental strength, tenacity, and fierceness need to be innate. Aren, you’ve got potential for training.”
I smiled at the compliment.
“Now, with that in mind, let’s get started for real. Get up.”
The smile disappeared.
However, thanks to the massage, I felt recovered enough to move without trouble.
As I wobbled to my feet, Ivelyn waved her hand through the air.
Zing.
‘What?! Could it be, is she opening some sort of space portal?’
Surprisingly, I was right. The space she waved at split open, revealing a dark gap.
Ivelyn looked at my astonished face and said, “You’re surprised, aren’t you? You’ve probably never seen anything like this before, right? I caught a rare space anomaly while escaping the labyrinth, and now I have some spatial characteristics.”
She reached into the opening and pulled something out.
Inventory mode activated!
She handed me a black item she’d just taken out.
────
[Protector’s Wrist & Ankle Guards] (B)
Made by Huuton, the master craftsman of the Orarium commercial district—a set of wrist and ankle guards.
Created through a request from the adventurer Ivelyn.
Made from a highly conductive alloy and black iron, it’s gear for training that can adjust its weight.
─By infusing mana, the weight can be adjusted from a minimum of 5kg to a maximum of 15kg when worn.
─Once worn, adjustment and removal of weight is impossible for 7 days.
─When removed after 7 days, strength, agility, and stamina will increase by one rank. Stats below D rank do not apply.
─Once worn, the item cannot be used again by the same target.
────
“Alright, think of these as weighted sandbags to enhance your physical abilities for about a week.”
Ivelyn tapped my wrist and continued, “I’ve already set them to the maximum weight of 15kg. Put them on your wrists and ankles.”
As I placed the guards on each area, they snapped on automatically with a click.
“Oof.”
As soon as I put them on, I felt 15kg on each area, totaling 60kg, and I thought it wouldn’t be easy.
I had already struggled with similar weights while exercising with dumbbells before… and now I was expected to wear this weight for a week without taking it off?
Gravity was such a pain…
[Chaos tells you to endure for just 7 days, and it’ll be a chance to greatly increase your stats.]
[Chaos reassures you that it’s tough to raise your stats through pure effort rather than common items or traits, so you’re lucky.]
‘Right, now’s not the time to get picky about food. Let’s tough it out.’
With my heavy body weighing me down, Ivelyn said, “Now let’s go eat. We ate at the restaurant yesterday, right?”
“Yes. The food was delicious.”
She nodded as if acknowledging that. But why was she asking this?
“You won’t be going to a restaurant for a while.”
?
“From today until every single process is finished, you won’t be leaving my office or the personal training area except to sleep in your room. Got it?”
“…Yes?”
Did I mishear that?
Ivelyn smacked my back.
“All the bathrooms and facilities are in my office. If you ask for two servings, they’ll bring it. Just focus on training. Train, eat, rest, train. Understood?”
“…Yes.”
Her glare was too scary to refuse.
*
Day two began.
The exhaustion from running on the first day was nothing compared to today’s training.
“Hyah, ugh!”
As I tried to gauge my limits, she kept throwing small stones infused with magic, increasing their count.
To top it off, before teaching me swordsmanship, I had to build focus and precision by deflecting stones flying in random directions with the tip of my sword.
No matter how slow the world felt, I had limits, and I got hit by those stones quite often.
‘If only I were allowed to use enhancement techniques, it would be a bit better.’
Thanks to potions, I was recovering from the bruises and swellings.
But that only helped restore my body, not my pride, after being hit by those tiny stones like pebbles…
Day four.
After several days of repeating the drill of training-eating-resting-training-sleeping, I had finally gotten better at dodging or deflecting most of the stones.
“You’ve significantly reduced your hit rate over the past few days, huh? Great. Let’s move on to the next phase.”
What was the next phase?
Curious, I watched as she pulled large bundles from the space portal.
Inside were… logs and rocks about waist-high?
“Alright, the training from now on will focus on spatial awareness and stepping coordination.”
“After I set these up in the training area! You can only move on top of them while I attack you from random directions!”
Only on the structures?
“To evade attacks, you’ll need to step back and dodge, sometimes even stepping forward to avoid attacks coming from behind.”
Ivelyn grinned cryptically.
“But what if the space you can step on is limited?”
So, this time I had to move without my feet touching the ground, stepping only on logs and rocks while dodging her attacks?
“If your foot touches the ground, consider it a death sentence. I’ll be setting these up around, so just wait a moment.”
She quickly created an impromptu landscape.
And just like that, the second training began.
Day five.
“I’m not saying enemies will be courteous enough to fight you on flat ground!”
“Ugh.”
“Adventurers might attack you in the middle of a forest filled with rotten wood debris or you may have to face monsters in rocky terrains!”
Swoosh—
Tap, splat.
“You just died again! Do you want to die in a hole or a swamp filled with poison gas later because you couldn’t even place your foot right? Get a grip!”
“Damnit!”
Ivelyn keeps diving in to attack and vanishing. I try to avoid her and, after moving a few steps, there’s nothing to step on and I fall over.
While I was focusing on dodging her attacks, my awareness of where I was stepping went right out the window and it was driving me insane.
‘Let’s see who will win, this insane training!’
Day eight.
As I was about to start training first thing in the morning again, I suddenly felt a wave of relief with a clunk.
[The protective gear has been removed.]
[Strength, agility, and stamina have all increased by one rank.]
[Due to consistent hits during the training, durability has increased by one rank.]
────
[Aren]
[Strength: D-] [Agility: E+] [Durability: E+]
[Stamina: D-] [Mana: EX] [Luck: E+]
[Possessed Traits] (Heat)
────
“Wow, so this is how light my body feels without that?”
I had gotten somewhat used to enduring the weight for a week, but now that the total of 60kg was gone, I felt like I could float.
I walked into the training area and returned the gear to Ivelyn.
“Has it already been that long? Oh, is it because it’s off that you seem more confident today?”
“I’ve gotten somewhat accustomed to the training now.”
It had been the same training for the past four days.
If I focused on avoiding attacks, I’d trip or fall.
If I thought about where to step next, I’d get hit like a toy from her wooden sword…
But now it was different.
My lighter body and one-rank-up agility stat felt fantastic.
“Alright, shall we get started?”
Today, I was going to complete the second training session.