The atmosphere in the academy became even more heated after the 2nd years, who were angry about the professors’ evaluation, returned.

‘So I was really that bad!'

The 2nd years who did not know that they would be defeated felt regret as this thought flashed in their heads. 

Meanwhile, the freshmen kids trained even harder after tasting the bitter taste of defeat. This was also true for the children who only stood by and watched the fight. Their desire to fight and stand on that place grew. So they gritted their teeth and clench their fists as they trained more. 

With the situation developing like this, the intensity of their training was bound to increase a bit more than before. After all, the strong will that they lacked before was now burning brightly in their eyes.

They even started to do individual training by themselves. However, if they got injured and hurt, then they would lose their ground against the talented individuals. So the knights had no choice but to increase the intensity of the training. This way, they could be rest assured since they would still be able to monitor them and prevent mishaps from happening to these determined children.

While the 1st year academy was burning like hell, the 2nd years were still left in shock. Even the professors were left dumbfounded when they heard the report from the 2nd year representatives.

The professors clamored loudly. In the end, their words entered the ears of the people from the other academies. By the end of it all, they had already revealed the facts about the 1st years. 

“Is it really to that degree?”

“It’s not just the professors’ farts?”

“I’m sure. After all, the 2nd year representatives said so themselves. Those prideful kids described their juniors as ‘monsters’.”

The most shocked and frightened about this when they found out the truth about the freshmen were the rest of the 2nd years.

It was only natural that they would experience great shock since the top rankers of their grade said something ridiculous like that after coming back from the freshmen area. They couldn't believe the words that described what the top rankers had experienced first hand.

Some of them even went to the 2nd year top rankers and asked directly. It seemed like they wanted to deny the reality in front of them but the answer that they received was enough to put them into shock. 

“I barely won when I competed against the freshmen’s number 1. In fact the difference between us is comparable to a thin sheet of paper.”

“That’s amazing. So the rumors…”

“Numbers 13 and 3 did not come out. They said that they’re not included in their hierarchy.”

“So how did you know that they’re strong?”

“I saw them myself. I saw number 3 fighting against a knight. It was terrifying. Even if she fights against our 3rd year seniors, she will definitely have a chance of winning.”

“What about number 13? There are a lot of rumors saying that he’s stronger.”

When asked this question, number 1 pondered for a moment before opening his mouth.

“He’s experienced.”

“Huh?”

“His strength seemed to be a bit less than mine. But he’s extremely experienced. He especially knows that he lacks enough strength so he uses his skills well. He has a different strength compared to number 3.”

After finally confirming the truth from the sophomore top rankers, the rest of the student body's faces turned for the worse. 

‘What if the freshmen push us back and we get held back?’

Horror dawned on them when this thought flashed in their heads. And just like that, the academy where the sophomores were staying was engulfed in terror and shock.

But they were also once hailed as geniuses so their wills started to burn brightly as they tried to struggle against the tides. The thought that they shouldn’t be pushed back by the freshmen made them try even harder. 

Then, it was the time for the third years to feel their desperateness. Even though they did not pay attention to the rumors about the freshmen, they began to feel the tension when the sophomores started to work hard to increase their strength. 

Their sharp increase in strength brought trepidation to the 3rd years' minds. The 3rd years started to feel the rush. After all, there was not much difference between them and the sophomores.

But contrary to the hell-like scene of the lower years, the 4th years were all relaxed and composed. It seemed like they did not care about the entire fiasco in the lower years. 

Thanks to the sophomores' top rankers and the words that they had spoken. Everyone in the lower years finally felt a keen sense of danger. The greenhorns that they thought were nothing were evaluated by the prideful sophomores as monsters. The possibility that the freshmen would be able to catch up to them was lingering in their heads. After all, this was a possibility that was most likely to happen considering the training that the freshmen were undergoing. 

The academy’s lower years started to embody ‘effort and diligence’ in a frightening manner. Rather than settling down and feeling comfortable in their positions, they began to work harder.

This was also the reason why the Northeast Military Academy’s grades were placed on each mountain peak. They wanted to tell them to not become complacent after reaching a certain level. They wanted them to always be vigilant as they continued to experience a variety of situations. 

However, once a few months went by and they got used to the rote and repetitive learning, they would turn lazy. They would start to make compromises in their training and would settle down.

But this time, it was completely different. And it was all thanks to the freshmen’s crazy speed of growth. 

Then, the professors began to act crazy too. They suddenly felt determined. Their aspirations and ambitions started to burn brightly. It seemed like they wanted to create the strongest graduates in the history of the academy.

As a result, the professors went to the dean as a group for a talk. After the meeting with the dean, they successfully achieved one thing. And it was none other than the lower years’ ranking battle. 

Originally, the Northeast Military Academy had a ranking battle. However, their system was like this:

Only the top 30 elites from each grade, starting from the 1st to the 3rd years, would be able to join the ranking battles. These elite students would compete against the lowest ranked students from the grade above them.

If they won against their seniors, they would be able to skip their grade and shorten their stay in the academy. They could even shorten their stay by up to two years. 

On the other hand, if the seniors lost against their juniors, they would face enough consequences. At the very least, they would be held back for a year. But if they continued to lose in the ranking battles, they would face the danger of getting kicked out of the academy. 

Because of this, the lowest ranked students always felt nervous whenever the ranking battle season arrived. 

However, the professors had expanded the ranking battle this time. Instead of only including the elites of the juniors and the lowest ranked students of the seniors, they included the entire grade. All of the students were now required to participate in the ranking battle.

And since the range of the ranking battle had expanded to the entire year, all of them had to train like dogs now. Everyone, starting from the freshmen up to the 3rd years were currently experiencing hell. 

Meanwhile, the 4th and 5th years just sat back and watched this chaotic scene happily. Since they knew that their juniors would not be able to catch up to them in any way, they just sat and watched the fighting next door with mirth and interest. 

Some would pretend to be passing by while others blatantly watched their neighboring residents. They would often use their hell-like scene as side dishes, making sure to chew and enjoy them to their heart's content. They felt that it was quite fun to watch the almost 900 students training like crazy to fight for blood later on.

“It’s fun. Freshmen’s number 3 and 13? Genneth, do you think they’ll really be able to rub against the 3rd years?”

“It will be worth watching if they can break through the 3rd year top rankers.”

“Eyy~ there’s definitely a difference there… They’ll probably only be able to beat the bottom of the 3rd years.”

“Are you kidding me? The 2nd year top rankers saw them.”

The 4th years talked happily about the ranking battles. They even betted against each other wondering who would be able to push through and who would fail. 

“It seems like you guys are relaxed?”

“Heok! Pr… professor!”

“Your juniors are training like dogs but you guys are playing around?”

When the 4th year professors heard the news about the lower years, they glared fiercely at their students and made them train harder. However, they were only able to do it once. In the first place, there was no one in the 1st~3rd years that was strong enough to motivate them to work harder. 

The same was true for the 5th years. Although they were staying in an area infested with flying monsters, the training that they did was much less than the training that they experienced when they were in their lower years. 

However, the 6th years were different. Even though they were their seniors, they went around and trained like dogs. They would only come back when they achieved great results and achievements. 

This was something that they thought was inevitable. After all, they were staying in a military academy.

Just like any other military academies, they would not be able to graduate so easily. They weren't like normal academies where they could graduate as long as they fulfilled their stay in school.

Military academies required them to reach a certain level before graduating. If they were not able to meet this criterion, then they might not be able to graduate with their peers. This was true no matter how senior they were compared to their colleagues. 

The least they could experience for failing to reach that level was to be held back for a year. And if they still failed to graduate after that year they would face expulsion from the academy. 

Those that were able to graduate two years earlier than their contemporaries were given plenty of opportunities. This was the heaven that they wanted to go to.

However, hell would be awaiting for them if they did not show any stellar results. They could be held back for a year or worse, be expelled.

And if they faced their inevitable expulsion and were kicked out from this top military academy, the only thing that they could do was to enter another military academy's senior year. However, such a military academy was nothing compared to this academy. Their prestige was far lower than the Northeast Academy and their notorious graduates.

As far as the 6th years were concerned, their juniors could waste their time all they wanted. But they would not partake in such trivialities. Wasting time meant that they were losing time to achieve and reach the criterion for graduating. If they did this, their chances of graduating in a top military academy would easily be blown away to dust.

So the 6th years did not turn their heads to watch the lower years' bloody fight. They had far more important things to do than leisurely watching kids fight.

“Hoo… Is this really alright?”

“They have no choice but to survive here.”

“But they’re still children…”

Both the military science professor and the basic beast theories professor were looking at the training grounds with worried looks on their faces. 

In the field in front of them, there were more than 300 students rushing crazily towards the knights. 

However, these children still did not reach the threshold of the 3rd Stage. Fighting against these Northeastern Knights that were basically at 4th Stage was something futile. No matter how hard these children striked at them, their 2nd Stage power was no match against the knights' overwhelming strength.

“So you’re only this much! You can’t even beat me!”

“It would take more effort to sink your seniors’ ships!”

“You said that you wanted to grow with number 13! Then add more effort! More! More!”

“Are you going to waste the opportunity that your professors have given you?!”

All the children could do was to squeeze their strength and continue to attack. The knights' stinging words were enough motivation for them to move. 

Since they were fighting like they were in a real battle, the children suffered from minor injuries. However, even though their bodies were covered with grime, dirt and injuries, they still continued to rush forward. And at the heart of this craziness was Jaiden and number 3.

Jaiden even took the lead. He rushed forward to attack and break the knights' phalanx. He wanted to break this formation that they were boasting about.

The students, starting from number 1 to number 30, supported Jaiden on the sidelines. While the rest of the student body stabbed here and there in hopes of putting a chink in their formation. 

The knights only totaled to 30 but the phalanx that they had created was still extremely powerful and well-organized. It was even made particularly stronger after they weaved their mana into it making it into a solid wall of defense that the children could not break into.

However, the difficulties that they faced did not end there. Even the rangers started to train them with extreme brutality. The rangers would draw the monsters with their experienced movements and bring them towards the children. The children were then taught how to fight and cope with them. 

After experiencing this kind of hell for quite a long time, poison started to fill the children’s eyes. They were rolled so hard that they even started to scream in desperation. That was when they started to learn the true meaning of life.

But the children’s desire was so great that they were willing to experience this hell over and over again. They would even use the only spare time that they had in between their theoretical classes to train. The freshmen’s desire to ruin the proud and sneering mugs of their upperclassmen were so high. They wanted to make sure that they could bring them down since they were so confident that the children would not be able to eat them up and push them back. So the freshmen kids endured hell and persevered in their training.

Right now, the 2nd and 3rd years were also training harder. After all, they were feeling a keen sense of danger from the 1st years that were slowly but surely gaining a foothold to fight against them. But even though they were already training hard, their efforts were still incomparable to the effort that the 1st years were giving to their training.

As if to prove that they were working harder than anyone else, the freshmen still underwent individual training on top of their hellish rolling.

This was actually Jaiden’s favorite time, especially after learning the Imperial Basic Swordsmanship from the knights. During this time period, Jaiden would repeatedly swing his sword to engrave the movements in his body. The more he trained, the more he felt that his strength was growing. He even felt that the speed that he was growing was comparable to the speed of growth that his youngest brother was experiencing. 

In addition, his title also covered up the gaps that were created by his insufficient talents. Baepsae would also sing and recover his mana and stamina. When these two factors partnered together, they created a synergistic effect that helped create a foothold for Jaiden’s advancement in this monster den.

“Hoo…”

“You really only train in the basic swordsmanship.”

Number 3 had always watched him from the sidelines. This was actually the first time that she had approached and talked to Jaiden.

In fact, they hadn’t really talked with each other despite being classmates for months. Jaiden actually thought that number 3 hated him since she still talked with the other children but she never approached him. So Jaiden thought that he should not talk to her in the meantime so he would not aggravate whatever situation was in between them.

“What’s wrong? What are you talking about?”

“I thought you were a bit reluctant and you were hiding something since you’re just practicing the basic swordsmanship everytime.”

“There’s no such thing.”

Jaiden shook his head when he heard number 3’s words. It was true that he was still hiding some things, like the fact that he had a divine beast and the fact that he knew a lot more about strategies, theories and tactics. But one thing was for sure. He did not hide anything in terms of swordsmanship.

“I know. I saw everything.”

Number 3 pointed her sword at Jaiden as she continued to speak.

“Let’s spar.”

“What?”

“I know that you want to do it too.”

Jaiden hesitated for a moment before nodding at number 3.

The eyes of the children who were listening in on their conversation began to change.

This was a breakthrough match to determine who was the strongest in their grade. Of course, everyone believed that it was number 3. Her swordsmanship and mana were all ahead of them. Even the professors said so. But number 13 had the experience, the know-hows and the skills that they did not have. 

However, one person believed otherwise. Number 1 thought that number 13 was the one in the dominant position.

‘Compared to number 13’s abnormal growth rate…’

Number 1 looked at number 3 before shaking his head softly.

He had always come here to watch number 13’s training. He had been watching closely while he built a relationship and friendship with him.

At first, he followed his training and techniques. But over a certain period of time, he found out that he could not follow along. Even though he copied his movements and techniques, he was still not able to catch up to him. When this idea dawned on him, he realized that it would be more advantageous for him to just practice his own swordsmanship. He would not gain anything in trying to catch up with number 13 and his monstrous skills.

And he knew that this would be the truth for a short period of time. So number 1 was the person who knew best about how fast number 13 had truly grown.

“Ready… start!”

Number 1 stood in the center to referee the match. And as soon as he lowered his arm, number 3 rushed towards Jaiden at a frightening speed. But Jaiden just simply swung his sword in answer to her attack.

Bang!

***

Notes

[Phalanx] – a body of troops standing and moving in a close formation. 

TL's corner!

I'm dying. I wish I would get to the part where they get names again. Because this number system is killing me now.

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