LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 19
Chapter 19: The Hellish White Night Castle (5)
On the first day, the 97th batch of trainees had a grand “welcome ceremony” hosted by Lauren Chaygan. Starting from the second day, they began a rigorous physical training regimen.
“Alright, kids. The morning air is refreshing, isn’t it? You all have strong bodies, so this must feel great, right? Well then, let’s get started!”
Boom!
Lauren Chaygan dropped a sandbag weighing over 10 kilograms on the ground. The trainees’ faces turned sour, as if they couldn’t believe it. But Lauren, as an instructor, never joked around.
“Now, attach two of these to each leg… you know what to do, right?”
Did they just have to run with them?
“Where do you think you’re going? You need to carry logs on your back too. Alright, now let’s run!”
“Ughhh!”
Lauren Chaygan’s physical training was excessively harsh for the young trainees.
It was even unfair.
While they were subjected to this hellish training, Harang, who had already completed his training on the first day, would be resting and honing his swordsmanship.
“Does that guy really have such great stamina?!”
“Damn it! He didn’t seem much different from us!”
What they didn’t know was that Lauren Chaygan was actually an instructor for basic mental training, not physical training.
Harang didn’t have to undergo physical training because he had strong mental strength, not physical strength. Lauren believed that even if Harang had completed his training on the first day, he would still participate in physical training with the other trainees.
‘But I didn’t expect him to choose an even tougher and more grueling training!’
Since Harang had passed Lauren’s test, he was free to train as he pleased. This meant he could exceed the limits set by Lauren and train however he wanted!
Harang wore six sandbags weighing 10 kilograms each, not just two, and carried several logs while running. Despite this, he ran faster and farther than the other trainees, leaving onlookers in awe.
“Ugh!”
He pushed his body so hard that after every training session, he would collapse, retching and shedding tears.
‘He’s pushing himself too hard.’
‘Is he an idiot?’
‘He’s going to break down.’
‘He’ll be the first to drop out.’
Contrary to the trainees’ thoughts, Harang changed every day. He carried more logs and ran faster, even lapping others once or twice.
‘How is he able to do that?’
The most shocked person was Theon Kaladan. During their duel on the first day, he couldn’t defeat Harang despite using all his strength. He had harbored jealousy and frustration towards Harang since then, hoping he would tire and drop out quickly. But seeing Harang grow stronger every day made him anxious.
Even Charen, who Theon thought was the most gentle, started following Harang a few days ago. Despite exhausting herself on the first day, Charen gritted her teeth and kept up with Harang.
Theon was curious. Why was Harang doing this? Was someone threatening to kill him if he didn’t get stronger?
“…Hey.”
Sweating profusely, Theon approached Harang, who was lying on the ground, trembling with exhaustion. He felt this might be his only chance to talk to him.
“Harang, why are you doing this? You can become strong enough without going to such extremes. We are the blessed descendants of Kaladan! You don’t need to use such brute methods.”
“Huff, huff, huff…”
Harang, too exhausted to speak immediately, took a few minutes before responding.
But his face was filled with happiness, making Theon’s heart sink even more.
“Hey…”
“Speak.”
“Do you… have a tumor in your heart…?”
“N-no, I don’t.”
What was he talking about out of the blue?
Catching his breath, Harang smiled and asked again.
“Then… do you have a time bomb in your head, ready to explode and give you a headache if you run a little…?”
“No, nothing like that. Why are you saying such things?”
Despite being exhausted, Harang still smiled happily and said,
“Then run, man. Being able to run freely and wake up the next day to run again is a blessing.”
That simple statement.
It shook Theon’s heart. Why did Harang find happiness in what seemed obvious?
He didn’t understand. Nor did he want to.
But before he knew it, Theon was running alongside Harang. With logs strapped to his back and sandbags hanging all over his body, he pushed himself to the limit without the instructor’s orders!
“Ughhh!!”
Why was he doing this?
He didn’t know.
Exhausted to the point of collapse, staring blankly at the sky, Theon hadn’t realized how happy and refreshing that moment could be.
Theon felt it. His body was changing day by day.
Talent? Sure, at first, he thought it was talent. He believed Harang’s extraordinary strength was due to natural talent and used that to justify his own defeat.
But that wasn’t the case.
Harang deserved to win, and he, who didn’t put in the effort, deserved to lose.
‘…I will become someone who deserves to win.’
With even Theon changing this way, what could the other trainees of the 97th batch do?
At some point, the trainees stopped listening to Instructor Lauren. They pushed themselves beyond the limits set by Lauren, training themselves to the point of exhaustion.
“Haha, these kids.”
Lauren didn’t stop them. He usually scolded trainees who did less than the minimum he set. But… that was only when they did less than the minimum.
He had set a rigorous routine that would be tough for children, but if they chose to exceed it and work harder, there was no reason to stop them.
After half a year of this intense training.
Harang started acting out again.
He suddenly went to the senior trainees of the 96th batch, who had started three years earlier, and challenged them to a duel.
‘Why, why do something so foolish!’
‘He’s going to get thoroughly beaten!’
Theon couldn’t believe it. The gap in skill between the 96th batch and them was so vast that they weren’t even worthy opponents. There was no reason to challenge the senior trainees unless they came to challenge them first!
It would be much more beneficial and educational to duel with their peers from the 97th batch…
‘…Even if he followed the physical training, this is too much. It’s meaningless.’
Theon thought so as he endured all the rigorous training in the hellish White Night Castle.
A month, two months, three months passed.
Harang continued to be beaten and thrown around by the senior trainees.
After another half year.
Thud!
“Wow!”
“Harang trainee won…!”
A miracle happened. Harang defeated a trainee from the 96th batch for the first time!
‘How…?’
Even though it was the weakest of the 96th batch, considering the age gap (the senior trainee was in their early to mid-teens), it was an unbelievable achievement. Harang was only eight years old this year.
The miraculous event didn’t stop there. Harang’s sword was now pointed at all the trainees of the 96th batch.
One by one, starting with the weakest.
Harang began to defeat the 96th batch trainees…
“Argh!”
Theon gritted his teeth.
Seeing even Charen, who had been following Harang’s example for half a year, showing results made Theon anxious. Eventually, he ran to the senior trainees and challenged them with a wooden sword.
The result was a crushing defeat.
Despite being beaten by the wooden sword and falling, Theon laughed.
“Haha… so this is it. This is what it was.”
It was so frustrating that he almost cried.
Was it because he was jealous of Harang’s talent?
No, that wasn’t it.
‘I was the fool for calling such excellent training foolish and not doing it for a year.’
He saw it. Unlike their peers, unlike them, the senior trainees’ wooden swords, sharpened to a finer edge, made him see an unknown realm he hadn’t realized before.
After that day, all the trainees of the 97th batch could be seen challenging the senior trainees to duels.
It was common to see senior trainees challenging juniors to establish hierarchy, but this had never happened in the history of White Night Castle.
‘Haha, interesting kids!’
Watching their growth, Lauren felt his heart race for the first time in a while. Despite the increasing intensity of the training, not a single trainee dropped out.
It was all thanks to one trainee who led from the front.
He never looked back.
He just ran full speed ahead, leaving a “path forward” for those following him. Simply by running along the path he pioneered, the other children… it was enough.
Behind Harang was Charen, behind Charen was Theon, and behind Theon, all the trainees followed.
‘You are blessed.’
Because of Harang’s presence in their training, all the trainees of the 97th batch would go down in history as great swordsmen.
Only a set number of trainees could graduate, but Lauren thought it might be possible for the entire 97th batch to complete their training.
Due to Lauren’s orders, the bottom 20 of the 97th batch no longer stayed in the trashy stable-like dormitories. Their determination and spirit were sufficient, and he judged they all deserved to use the high-class accommodations.
Though it was a personal decision that overturned hundreds of years of tradition at White Night Castle, it didn’t matter.
Lauren didn’t want to give up on a single trainee from the 97th batch.
Time passed quickly
.
One year, then another…
Harang grew at a terrifying pace, and the 97th batch pushed themselves to keep up with him. Three years passed.
“Total number: 100! Zero dropouts! Well done, kids of the 97th batch.”
Seeing all the trainees survive the arduous journey without a single dropout, Lauren Chaygan was delighted, smiling broadly.
“Today, we finally start ‘practical training.’ You all know what that means, right? It’s different from just lifting weights!”
Practical training didn’t involve merely hunting caged beasts or low-level monsters.
They would actually hunt monsters threatening villages.
It was dangerous, and there might be casualties, but none of the trainees showed any fear in their eyes.
They had confidence that they could accomplish it after all their hard work.
Lauren loved and cherished them, but that didn’t mean he would coddle them.
“Now then, let’s go show the results of the past three years.”
There was no better experience than getting hurt and growing at a young age.