He did not know if it was because they were rolled hard when they entered the training camp but there were no more dumb and foolish idiots. Perhaps it was because they got rolled at even the slightest of mistakes that each and every child was tense and alert once the training started. 

But were they easily going to let them go once they were done with training? The answer to that was no. The children’s expression would always turn dark when they kept on lashing out at them for their supposed lack of military discipline. 

“Get it straight!” 

“It’s crooked! Do it again!” 

“Get up you bastards!” 

It was because they were woken up very early by their instructors that the children all had to fall asleep in nervousness. They were slowly accepting the reality that they needed to keep their heads straight as they fixed their beddings perfectly under the harsh glares of their instructors. This was one of the most important factors that made them realize that they were staying in the military. 

However, they weren’t being blindly pushed around. The instructors were all sly. They would even motivate and tempt the children with the sweetest reward that they could get, rest.

“If you’re able to climb over the occupation forces and take their flag, you’ll have a day off tomorrow.” 

“Woooooooah!” 

“Kill!” 

“Grab the flag!” 

“If you block this then we’ll be able to get a day off tomorrow! Block! Stop them no matter what!” 

The children were divided into the occupation forces as well as the opposing forces. They were asked to fight over each other’s flags. This exercise would give them the basic sense of combat as well as a deeper understanding of the mountainous terrain. 

During the course of the training, Jaiden couldn’t help but feel amazed at the Northern Army’s well-organized drills. It was even better organized than the modern military training in some ways. After all, they were controlling the pace and difficulty of the training while watching and setting the correct limits for the children.

“Since the occupation forces have successfully captured the flag, the occupation forces will have a day off tomorrow!”

“Woooooooah!”

“It’s our break tomorrow!”

“I’m going to sleep all day!”

“Me too!”

Each child belonging to the occupation forces had a smile on their faces as they excitedly talked about what they would do tomorrow. Jaiden also felt extremely happy about the break that they were given tomorrow. He was even seriously considering the schedule that he would do tomorrow.

“1223!”

“Why?”

“What are you going to do tomorrow?”

“Who knows… I haven’t decided yet? Do you want to play chess with me?”

“Can you teach us two?”

“Sure.”

Jaiden nodded his head as if what the child said was reasonable. Then, the child next to him spoke to him with shining eyes. 

“I want to know too!”

“Me too!”

With their words, the children that were listening nearby all approached Jaiden. They said that they also wanted to learn and play chess with him. 

The things that they could do in the training camp were limited. However, someone was able to cut down a tree and make a chessboard as well as its corresponding pieces clumsily so the children all used it to play chess. 

The instructors were aware of this old chessboard that had been passed down from one generation to another but they did not move to put a restriction on them. They all knew that children would not get tired and bored if there was something small like this that could pique their interest every once in a while. 

The next day, the instructors came to wake them up and let them have their meals. The children were all happy to have a day when they weren’t rolled hard on the floor. After eating their meals, Jaiden had a relaxing and comfortable day as he taught his teammates how to play chess.

‘It’s a pity that I can’t do some swordsmanship training though.’ 

It was something inevitable. After all, it was impossible for him to set up a swordsmanship training alone since he was living and doing everything together with his team in this military community life. 

In fact, doing the training at this training camp did not help much for Jaiden’s advancement. He was already almost in the 2nd Stage so rolling around this much was not that big of a deal for him. Even the hard training that the children were enduring was not that hard for Jaiden’s body. After all, his body had already awakened mana. However, this was only true most of the time.

The instructors were also aware of this fact. However, the reason why this training was conducted was so they could instill a sense of community and camaraderie among the children. They would only be creating a wall between the trainees if they gave special treatment to those who had awakened their mana. If they did that then those who had awakened their mana would also be soaked in a sense of privilege and would probably act arrogantly over others. That was the reason why they forced all of the children to do the same thing together during their basic training. 

After about a month of necessary military drills that trained their common knowledge, uniformity and physicality, they were finally trained on night patrol and basic night watch and surveillance. 

‘There’s no camping and march, is this their kind consideration?’ 

Perhaps it was because they were still children that they were exempted from doing the 30km march and the excessive camping in the mountain. It seemed like they were trying to let them train in the training grounds as much as possible. 

Of course, that did not mean that the training would become easy just because they removed those two from the list. 

Even if they made sure to let the children sleep and eat regularly to ensure they grow up normally, the training in and of itself was extremely difficult. 

They did not know if it was because they were training hard but it seemed like the instructors had deemed them to be fit and physically capable so they gradually decreased their physical training to the point that they could even rest for a day. 

The next morning, all the children were gathered at the training grounds. The huge training ground looked packed after more than a thousand trainees gathered together. 

“Today is the day that we determine if you have awakened your mana or not. Those who have already awakened their mana, raise your hands and come forward.” 

Among the thousand trainees gathered in the field, they began to pick out those who had their mana awakened. Jaiden also raised his hand and moved forward. 

‘There’s not even fifty people.’ 

Among the 1,500 children gathered in the field, there were only less than fifty who had awakened their mana at the age of nine. After all, awakening mana at such a young age was also some kind of talent.

Even if their families spent efforts to determine if their child had talent for mana awakening and supported them, it was still common for people to only awaken their mana after attending the academy for 2~3 years. And even that was still a matter of luck. In addition, there were only around two out of ten people who could awaken their mana. With this probability, it was inevitable that having one’s mana awakened was regarded as a talent by itself. 

“You guys, follow me.”

One of the instructors took the children that had their mana awakened, including Jaiden, to a special building. 

“This is where we will judge if you have really awakened your mana or not. If anyone had lied, I will still forgive them now. So raise your hands up honestly.”

None of the children raised their hands. The instructor nodded silently as he headed towards the device that could read whether their bodies had mana or not. 

“You have to get in here.”

The instructor asked the children to enter a small glass tube. The children followed the order and entered one by one. 

This device could determine if they really had mana or not. A red light would flash on the device if they still did not awaken their mana. While a yellow light would flash if their mana did not meet the standards set by the military and a blue light would flash if their mana awakening was normal. 

Fortunately, none of the children turned the red lights on. However, the problem was that there were more than a dozen children who turned on the yellow lights. 

“There’s no need to be disappointed by turning on the yellow light. You guys have enough talent as it is.”

The instructor encouraged the disappointed children before turning to speak to the children who turned on the blue lights. This group of children included Jaiden. 

“You guys need to undergo additional tests. Follow me.”

More than thirty children followed the instructor to a specially devised training room. 

“There’s a lot more than I thought.”

“That’s right. Then, I hope the examination goes well.”

“Yes.”

The instructor bid the knight goodbye and left the children under the knight’s care. When the instructor stepped down, the knight lifted a heavy steel sword. 

“From now on, you will fight me one by one using that steel sword. The one in the front will come up first.” 

At the knight’s words, the child standing in front nervously walked forward with the steel sword modified to suit a child. The child wielded the sword with a strength and a speed that was unimaginable for such a young age. The child even showcased a surprising stamina and sword skill that he had learned but the knight just struck his sword lightly. 

“Heok… heok…” 

“Well done. Level 4.” 

“H… how many levels are there?” 

“Four.” 

The child couldn’t help but bow his head in disappointment after hearing the knight’s answer. But the knight did not pay much attention to the child even though he left dispiritedly. He just continued to call the next child. 

“Level 4.” 

“Level 3.” 

“Level 4.” 

“Level 3.” 

As the evaluation continued, only levels 3~4 appeared among the children. However, the knight did not look too disappointed. Perhaps it was because this was something that he had already expected from the beginning. 

Jaiden was almost at the last of the line so he was able to see how the examination was held properly. From what he had seen, it seemed like those who had just awakened their mana were the ones tagged as level 4 while those who knew how to wield and use their mana a bit were tagged as level 3. 

‘Will you be at level 2 if you can incorporate your mana in your swordsmanship? I wonder what’s the criteria for being level 1?’ 

He pondered over this for a moment as he watched the previous children be thoroughly played with by the knight. And finally, it was Jaiden’s turn. 

“Give your all in your attacks.” 

“Yes.” 

The knight looked at Jaiden in admiration when he saw him grab the steel sword. It was because his posture and movements looked very good. The knight even wanted to give some plus points to Jaiden when he saw his basic swordsmanship posture. 

So far, each and every child has used the swordsmanship that they had learned from their family or their teacher. But Jaiden looked like he used the basic swordsmanship as his foundation. 

Wondering why using the basic swordsmanship would give one plus points? It was because the very first swordsmanship that the trainees would learn in this place was none other than the basic swordsmanship. All of the trainees that he had tested before would also be required to abandon the swordsmanship that they had learned before to learn the basic swordsmanship. Once that happened, Jaiden would be the first one to grow and develop.

“Here I go.”

“Come.”

Jaiden rushed forward with a shocking speed as soon as the knight’s word fell. 

Bang!

“Heup!”

The force that struck the knight was much stronger than what he had expected. The knight was only able to endure the blow and push him away thanks to his strength. After being pushed back by the knight, Jaiden targeted the lower half of his body. 

The knight was just straightening his posture when he saw the fierce attack coming straight at him. All the knight could do was reflexively take a step back and avoid his onslaught. Then, Jaiden gathered all the mana in his body. Thanks to climbing the 2nd Stage, Jaiden’s physical ability had long gone beyond the realms of what a normal human being could accomplish. 

“The 2nd Stage? No… I think you’re still a little short of it? But that’s still amazing.”

Bang! Bang! Bang!

It seemed like Jaiden was still lacking in quite a few places but it was only a matter of time before a faint light would start coming out of his body to signify his advancement in stage. However, what was so great about Jaiden was the fact that he was showing the aura of an experienced swordsman. An image that did not fit his age at all. 

This was definitely just a basic examination but for Jaiden, someone who had experienced the real world, his past experiences remained intricately woven in his body. This meant that his experiences and skills from before were easily applied and incorporated to his attacks. His movements were the movements of a person who had fully experienced a gruesome war.

“This…”

The knight was lost in thought for a moment. He couldn't stop himself from being shocked with Jaiden’s movements. However, it was only a brief moment, the knight had already quickly swung his sword to counter when he saw Jaiden gearing up for another attack. 

There had been a handful of trainees that passed by his hands but Jaiden easily went beyond what those children were capable of. The knight couldn’t help but feel flustered and embarrassed.

While the knight was busy admiring Jaiden’s movements and attacks during their fight, a senior knight watching from the sides signaled for him to finish things quickly. When the knight saw the signal, he pushed Jaiden away strongly before speaking.

“Enough.”

“Heok… heok…”

The knight was the first to stop. Jaiden also stopped when he saw the knight stop. It seemed like Jaiden’s body was exhausted since he was already gasping for breath. 

“Splendid. Have you ever thought of joining the army ever since you were young?”

“That’s right.”

“Good attitude. You’ll be level 2. I’d like to give you level 1 if I could but… you fell a bit short.”

“It’s fine.”

The knight nodded his head when he heard Jaiden’s answer. Then, he looked at the next trainee. 

When the knight saw that Jaiden went down without any disappointment, the knight also gave him a good score for his strong mindset. It would only be natural for someone talented to feel disappointed for not getting level 1 but in fact it was only normal for them to not receive the level 1 grade. After all, this was something that was reserved for the real ‘geniuses’, someone that the training camp had yet to receive ever since its establishment. 

“The next one.”

The knight spoke up as he called for the next one in line.

***

Notes

[Military Occupation, occupation forces 점령군] – also known as belligerent occupation. A provisional control by a ruling power over a territory. Basically, they did not have a formal claim of sovereignty on the territory. But since they were the ruling force then they will be the ruling power of the territory that they are occupying. So the kids were being asked to go and conquer the occupation/ruling forces and get their flag. It’s like a military drill to catch the flag.

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