Jaiden finally stopped his crazy training after the two birds that accompanied him disappeared into his subspace. Instead of training crazily, he spent most of his days holding his sword and staring at it seriously.

The other students looked over in curiosity but they immediately dismissed him and placed him at the back of their heads to continue their own training. This was not the first time that Jaiden had done something crazy so they were already used to his antics. Besides, Jaiden would just continue on with what he was doing and would not care about what the others thought of him.

However, Jaiden’s movements were truly too strange. It aroused the curiosity of a lot of people. There were even several professors who pretended to pass by just to see what he was doing seriously with his sword.

One of the knights passed by and looked at him with an expression that screamed ‘What the hell are you doing?’. But his expression quickly changed when he got a good look at what Jaiden was truly doing.

“Mana compression?”

Jaiden was actually inserting and compressing small amounts of his mana into his sword. He knew that it was impossible for him to make a compressed mana sword at the drop of a hat so he was trying to increase his proficiency by continuing to compress small amounts of mana in his sword. 

“You have already set a direction for the 4th Stage?”

The 4th Stage was the stage when one needed to apply mana in their own way on the swordsmanship or path that they had chosen. However, finding the correct path through various practices would need countless repeated hard training. So it was surprising that Jaiden had already found his own path.

“What in the world…”

The knight was left dumbfounded as he stared blankly at Jaiden. But Jaiden just continued to compress his mana in this snowy weather.

When the knights had seen him train in the basic swordsmanship, they thought that he was just strengthening his basics. This was usually the case even for people who had only learned the Imperial Basic Swordsmanship.

However, it seemed like he had already chosen his path. And the path that he had chosen was extremely simple. He would continue to compress and compress his mana until he could create a harder, stronger and unbreakable sword compared to any other sword.

His path might sound simple but it was extremely difficult to achieve.

For others, repeating something simple over and over again was something easy. However, repeating it over time would become difficult. Once they reached a certain level, they would start to feel conceited. They would think that they had already achieved perfection for these moves. This meant that they had already been bored of doing it again and again. By that time, they would have already stopped practicing these simple moves instead of staying in pursuit of a much more perfect form. This was the reason why there were a lot of complex sword techniques and mana utilizations that had been created over time. Creating complex techniques would breed stronger swordsmanship so the basics would long be forgotten.

But there were so many people living in this world that it was not strange for unusual people to appear. In the long history of the continent, there was also a being who had reached the grand master level with just the basic swordsmanship. The steel sword, what Jaiden was trying to achieve right now, was a technique that this person had created.

With a deeper glance, the knight could clearly tell that this was what Jaiden was aiming for.

“Steel…”

The knight smiled when he saw Jaiden holding his sword like that. He felt like he was staring at the real steel sword.

“I hope you accomplish it.”

As a person and his senior who walked on the same sword path, he hoped that Jaiden would be able to achieve his goal.

Jaiden’s training, something that made the knight shocked, continued on until the end of his 5th year. Finally, Jaiden and his contemporaries finished their 5th year and went on to enter their senior and final year. 

All of the students that entered the Northeast Academy were extremely afraid of their senior year. After all, this was the year when they would finally be evaluated and determined whether they would go to elite units or be held back and stay in this place. In addition, they would be sent out to the frontlines and would be recruited as apprentices and not as official officers. Usually, the ordinary soldiers would often ignore them even during real battle. They would often be treated as extra baggage too. All of that combined together were the things that they needed to endure before they could successfully graduate from the notorious Northeast Academy.

However, it seemed like those things weren’t a problem for this year’s senior students. 

Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!

“Dire wolves!”

A huge pack of gigantic wolves rushed towards the ramparts.

The dire wolves still posed a great threat despite the thick and high walls that surrounded them. The dire wolves were monsters that were influenced by mana so they have abnormal jumping abilities as well as steel-like claws. This made it harder for the soldiers and the army to kill them. They had to be careful whenever they were fighting against dire wolves. Just one wrong step and a dire wolf might accidentally climb over the walls. If that happened, then the front would collapse.

“Ensign! Be careful!”

One of the soldiers shouted out a warning to a boy. The boy skillfully threw a bomb down at the dire wolf that clung strongly on the walls below him.

Bang!

―Kaeng!

The dire wolf that dared to cling on the wall was suddenly hit with a bomb and fell down with a yelp. With just a single bomb, the boy was able to easily send a dire wolf back down on the ground. Although it wouldn’t die from such a small explosion, it was more than enough for them. Just making them fall down and lose their foothold on the walls was more than enough to stop their advances. In addition, the dire wolf would definitely suffer from serious injuries after falling down from such a height. 

“Th… there’s a breach! Block them!”

“Where the hell did the breach come from?!”

“Stop them!”

The soldiers grabbed their spears as they stopped the fierce ascent of the dire wolves. They were able to hold out against the werewolves since they were able to awaken their mana, albeit forcefully. However, because of the difference in their size and mana, they were starting to get pushed back.

“Waaaah! We… We are getting pushed back!”

One of the soldiers’ legs almost gave way in fear when he saw the front being pushed back. But before he could lose his mind in fear, a child approached him from the other end of the wall. 

“Calm down.”

Before the soldier realized it the child had already fired magic bullets on the dire wolves.

Bang, bang, bang!

―Grrrrr…

The dire wolves instinctively knew that the bullets were aiming for their eyes so they immediately raised their front paws to cover their faces. Because of this, they lost their grip on the walls and fell down.

Having received a breather, the soldier quickly pulled up his comrades that were hanging precariously on the walls. Then, they all pulled out their swords to fight another arduous battle.

―Grraaaawr!

One of the dire wolves broke through their spears and rushed toward the child with a loud roar.

“En… Ensign!”

It was not strange if the child got torn apart by the huge dire wolf. But the child was able to swiftly dodge its huge maws and cut its belly open. The boy’s sword that was covered with blue mana easily tore through the dire wolf’s thick skin and dealt a fatal injury.

However, dire wolves were monsters that ranked safely in the middle to high level. Receiving such an injury was not enough to cause it’s death. The dire wolf swung its tail and fended off the soldiers that were approaching it. Then, it quickly pounced on the boy that injured its belly.

But the boy easily dodged its bites and swipes. The child moved at an incredible speed as he launched his own counterattack. He was able to slash the dire wolf’s back, neck, waist and stomach one after the other. 

―Grrrrr…

“Good job!”

Stab!

The boy finished off the dire wolf with a final stab on its forehead. He praised the soldiers for their hard work before moving on to his next prey.

There were plenty of dire wolves that tried to climb over the ramparts but the boy was able to stop them with the most minimal movements. The boy would either shoot magic bullets and target the dire wolves’ eyes or drop bombs to make them fall. Although his attacks were simple, he was able to make the dire wolves retreat with his precise and accurate timing. He was also able to help the soldiers easily kill the dire wolves which helped in minimizing their physical exhaustion.

“Don’t get too agitated. Throw bombs at those that look more likely to jump over.”

“This side is going to reach us soon.”

“Keep them in check with your spear. I’m going now.”

The boy moved busily flitting back and forth as he assisted the soldiers that looked to be in danger.

The soldiers watched the boy, number 1, flutter around and show his excellent and rational judgements. They could see that he was guiding them like a soldier that rolled around in the battlefield for decades. Because of this, the soldiers started to regard him as a real ‘Ensign’.

But that wasn’t the end of it all.

They had acknowledged that Ensign 1 had overwhelming judgement and skills. But even the other ensigns like numbers 2 and 3 were also showing incredible performances on the battlefield.

“So it’s over.”

The soldiers just nodded blankly as they stared at the boy that was wiping his sweat in front of them. They couldn’t believe that those things just happened.

Thanks to the stellar performance of the more than 300 ensigns, they were able to stop the dire wolves with only a few minor injuries.

The soldiers were all left in shock. Even the commissioned officers who rushed over to help deal with the situation were all surprised to see the rookies’ crazy performance.

“They really stopped it.”

When the Corps Commander in charge of the frontlines received a report from the academy asking him to leave an entire area under the jurisdiction of the senior year, all of the commissioned officers protested. They clamored saying that they shouldn’t gamble on something like that when they were all in the frontlines. But despite their protests, those at the top pushed the plan forward.

In the end, more than 300 ensigns and soldiers were dispatched to a relatively safer area in the frontlines. There were no commissioned officers or knights accompanying them. Only the children and the soldiers were left to fend off monsters and protect the area.

However, despite the area being relatively safe, the clever dire wolves were able to see the opportunity and launched an attack on them. After all, only children were protecting that area and they would be able to easily defeat them.

When the knights saw this, they couldn’t help but flinch. They immediately geared up and prepared to help them at any given moment. However, the children did not give them any time to move. They were able to finish things up on their own. And at the center of it all was the boy with the number 1 stuck on his helmet.

“Crazy.”

“I know right? Are all of the ensigns this year monsters?”

“I thought they were veterans.”

All the soldiers could do was stare at the more than 300 children with wide eyes. They truly couldn’t believe that they were able to fend off the dire wolves’ attacks.

When the soldiers first heard that they would need to protect this place with only around 300 rookies, they complained and clamored loudly. They argued that there should at least be one veteran officer dispatched with them.

They couldn’t help but burst into complaints when they heard that they would be accompanying new recruits in this deployment. All of them felt frustrated. They felt like they were being given a baby-sitting task when they were asked to take along these ensign apprentices. No matter how safe the area was, they were still stationed in the frontlines. There was truly no safe area in this  place. Regardless of who was stationed in the area, the monsters would still continue to come.

As if to prove this, the dire wolves immediately launched an attack on them. The veteran soldiers tried to fend them off fiercely. They believed that rather than looking at the trembling children, they’d rather prevent this attack by themselves.

However, the more than 300 children proved their judgement wrong.

“Loyalty! Military Academy’s Ensign 1 has completed his mission!”

“Loyalty. All of you have done well. It might be a bit difficult since this is your first time, but this is a process that you have to get used to since you have to live here for the next three months. So you can’t complain. Get used to this place as soon as possible. Understand?” 

“Yes!” 

“Good. Everyone must be tired so you should all get some rest for today.” 

The children relaxed only after hearing the words of their direct superior. Each of them leaned on the wall and chatted.

“Wow… The dire wolves were so big.” 

“I know. By the way, number 1. You were really no joke, huh?” 

“Number 168 also led the soldiers and killed a dire wolf, right?” 

“Hehe~ You saw?” 

Number 168 scratched his head shyly. Then, everyone began to brag about how they fended off the dire wolves. 

“But after experiencing all of this… I definitely have to go up and reach the 3rd Stage. No matter what.” 

“Yeah. I don’t think we have much time left… Ah. I don’t know anymore.”

The students felt impatient. They wanted to directly climb to the 3rd Stage that was almost within their grasps. They were already dying to reach the stage, but their thirst was ignited even further after fighting with the dire wolves today.

Currently, there were only three people who had reached the 3rd Stage in their class.

Numbers 1 and 2’s performance were already off the charts so they weren’t included in their comparisons. But even number 3, who was only barely able to break through the 3rd Stage after struggling to chase the two, showed a tremendously amazing performance today. Number 3 had only broken through to the 3rd Stage but in just less than a month, he was able to cut through the dire wolf’s thick skin with just a bit of mana infused in his sword.

The students knew that he had also received help from the soldiers but there was a huge difference between being able to directly injure and kill the dire wolves than just pushing around and dragging the time until someone could kill them.

Because of this incident, the students’ desire and longing for the 3rd Stage grew deeper.

***

Notes

[Loyalty] 충성 (Chungseong). You might hear this word usually in military dramas when soldiers/police salute their superiors. It literally means, loyalty, fidelity and faithfulness. It is because they are showing their loyalty to their superiors so they are greeting them with chungseong.