LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 20
Chapter 20: Survival (1)
Sasasak!
The sound of urgent footsteps cut through the dense forest, followed by the emergence of a massive, grotesque beast, parting the sea of green.
Kieoooo!!
The beast, with its two human-like faces devoid of noses, roared into the air and stared at the small human blocking its path.
She seemed barely in her early teens.
A very young girl stood in its way, but the beast hesitated, unable to move forward rashly, and let out a wail.
Kiririr……!!
A third-degree danger beast.
A monster capable of obliterating a small village by itself. Normally, the young human before it would be nothing but prey.
The beast had thought so too, but three of its five heads had already been cut off.
Incredibly, it was the work of these mere children who should have been nothing more than prey!
“Lady Charen! I’m heading your way!”
“Damn, it’s dangerous!”
“The lady is alone over there!”
The beast growled at the girl who stood firmly in its path.
Charen, who was twelve this year, gripped her slender longsword tightly with her small hands and aimed it at the beast.
The human before it was younger than the other children. Such a small child could be easily trampled.
The beast, thinking so, tried to trample over Charen and pass by.
Kaladan Swordsmanship First Technique
Speed Butterfly Sword, Tiger’s Leap
Suddenly, a white tiger seemed to appear before the girl’s eyes.
Sarak-!
In an instant, the remaining two heads were also severed.
Thud!!
As Charen sheathed her sword after neatly slicing through the beast’s necks, the trainees surrounding the beast began to gather.
“Oh… she did it alone.”
“As expected of Lady Charen. Incredible.”
Receiving genuine but somewhat flattering compliments from the trainees, Charen sighed.
The beast had already lost three of its heads before reaching this place. And Charen knew who had cut those three heads.
The clean-cut edges were not the work of any ordinary trainee.
“What, it’s over?”
As the foliage parted, other trainees began to appear one by one.
Charen watched them quietly, as if waiting for someone.
Finally, a small boy, much smaller than the other trainees, appeared unharmed. Charen let out a sigh of relief.
Blood from the beast dripped from the boy’s sword.
Harang Paul Kaladan.
At ten years old, his hair was tied back, and his young, small frame sometimes led to confusion about his gender.
Despite not having gained much muscle or height in the past three years, no one at this place underestimated Harang. On the contrary, they willingly made way for him to examine the corpse.
It might seem unbelievable that the elite trainees of White Night Castle would show such deference to a mere ten-year-old boy…
‘Because he is the strongest among us.’
Harang had reached the level of a 2-star swordsman a year ago.
Considering that even geniuses like Charen and Theon, called the greatest of geniuses, only reached 2-star at twelve, Harang’s achievement at nine was beyond comprehension.
However, no one here envied or resented him anymore.
Everyone thought he deserved his strength.
“You succeeded in subduing the beast. Congratulations, trainees.”
When the instructor appeared and began to check the attendance, Harang yawned with a bored expression.
‘I was slightly expecting something when they said it was a beast subjugation, but it’s nothing special.’
The ten-person squad was formed because a 3rd-grade beast was considered difficult for a 2-star swordsman, but honestly, Harang felt he could handle it alone.
‘If I use the system’s blessings properly, I can catch something like this quickly.’
Harang’s current body housed the Silver Heart, and with the blessings enhancing his swordsmanship, he was far stronger than his apparent level.
At least 3-star level, if estimated.
However, using his swordsmanship to that extent drained his mental strength severely, causing his mana to backfire, so Harang had to adjust accordingly.
“A knight must sometimes retrieve the beast’s remains to erase the traces after a hunt. Everyone, disassemble and collect the beast’s corpse.”
As the instructor’s orders were followed, and a short break was granted before returning, Harang sat down and opened his palm.
━━━
[Sync Rate with Blessing] …… 4.169%
[Magic Core: 3]
[Swordsmanship: 2-star] [Magic: 1-star] [Dragon Speech: 1-star]
[Stamina: 29] [Strength: 32] [Agility: 37]
─────
Kaladan Swordsmanship First Technique
Silver Heart: White Silver Sky Dragon Heart Technique
Tangakhyang Descent (Sealed)
─────
Heir of Heroes / World’s Greatest Champion
Silver Dragon Contractor / Stigmata Curse
Conqueror of Another World
Unyielding Challenger
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Over the past three years, Harang had grown significantly, reaching 2-star swordsmanship and greatly increasing his sync rate with the system’s blessings.
The most notable growth was the 3-core magic.
Three years ago, pushing his body to the limit in consecutive duels with six trainees allowed him to grasp the ‘Breath of Deep Meditation,’ which synchronized with the ‘Silver Dragon Divine Qi Technique,’ resulting in a new skill.
[White Silver Sky Dragon Heart Technique]
The name alone was enigmatic.
However, it didn’t take long to realize that the effect had significantly changed.
He could now breathe mana more deeply and intensely, reaching his heart, and even naturally recover mana during battles.
It felt like a dragon was coiled deep in his chest…
And the growth didn’t stop there.
‘Dragon Speech 1-star and Magic 1-star.’
After winning a bet with Lauren Chaygan three years ago, Harang acquired the trait ‘Silver Dragon Contractor’ and was given the ‘Dragon Speech Magic Book’ as the first authority.
No one in the world would believe it. The legendary ancient magic, Dragon Speech, lost in history after the dragons fell asleep.
If it were known that it had reappeared, people would flock to him, begging to be taught.
Of course, the risk of assassination attempts from all over the world would be much higher.
Knowing that Dragon Speech magic was superior to ordinary magic, Harang tried to learn it immediately.
However, the usage conditions and penalties stood in his way.
[Insufficient knowledge of magic may cause severe headaches and, in extreme cases, mental deviation.]
[Side effect occurrence rate: 99.99%]
[You lack basic knowledge of magic.]
[Really acquire this?]
In other words, a certain level of knowledge about magic was necessary. Knowing this, Harang studied magic books whenever he had time before bed, after finishing a day of hellish training.
It was merely a process to learn Dragon Word Magic… However, upon acquiring the Dragon Word Magic skill and cramming the knowledge into his head, he naturally became knowledgeable about magic, reaching the first star of magic.
Who could believe it?
A 10-year-old boy had reached the second star in swordsmanship and the first star in magic. He even mastered Dragon Word Magic.
‘It’s a pity I haven’t been able to use it properly yet.’
Since he had to mingle with others in the training camp, he never revealed his Dragon Word Magic. He only knew one spell anyway, but he couldn’t help feeling regretful.
“Cadet Harang. Other cadets testified that you simultaneously beheaded three monsters. Is that true?”
Harang, lost in thought while looking at his skill window, nodded at the question. The instructor exclaimed in admiration.
“Impressive. There will likely be extra points.”
“I guess there will be an extra piece of meat on the dinner menu.”
“It will be better than that. Alright, third squad, gather at the barracks.”
“Gather!”
At the instructor’s command, the cadets sprang up from their seats and headed to the clearing, leaving the forest. In the makeshift barracks set up with temporary tents, other squad cadets had already gathered.
“Report the headcount.”
“Reporting! Total of 100! No absences! All present!”
A total of one hundred. This miraculous statement had become the norm. Considering that other cohorts usually had only about 60 to 80 members left after three years, this cohort was particularly unique.
“Everyone’s gathered!”
Lauren Chaygan clapped and looked at the cadets.
All one hundred cadets looked at him with firm gazes. Normally, someone would get hurt or be carried away during the first real combat, but for these cadets, it seemed like a trivial task.
Despite having received a more difficult mission than usual!
Lauren couldn’t help but smile at their remarkable performance.
“Returning unscathed and without injuries, well done.”
Lauren Chaygan looked around at the cadets and finally smiled at Harang.
“Having completed the actual combat, you should know that the time is approaching.”
The atmosphere among the cadets grew tense at those words.
“As you know, the ‘Island Survival’ will take place soon. Only those who rank within the top 60 in the entire cohort will be eligible to participate.”
The Island Survival was a part of the graduation process at White Night Castle. Those who participated and ranked within the top 30 out of 60 participants would be eligible to participate in the ‘Raw Stone Squadron Ranking Battle.’
Only those who ranked at the top of the training camp could officially graduate from the training process of the Raw Stone Squadron and move on to the next training camp. Therefore, the Island Survival was very important.
However, the cadets of the 97th cohort hadn’t shown much enthusiasm for this survival yet.
The 97th cohort was still too young, and their competitors were third-star swordsmen who had entered the training camp three to six years earlier.
With more than a hundred seniors from the 96th and 95th cohorts still remaining, none of the 97th cohort cadets thought they would rank within the top 60.
“Harang Paul Kaladan.”
“Yes?”
“You just made it into the 60th place. You’ve often challenged and defeated your seniors, earning bonus points.”
At Lauren Chaygan’s words, the cadets started to buzz.
Even with two senior cohorts above them, a 97th cohort cadet, who had just turned ten, had already ranked within the top 60? But there were no doubting cadets.
“Well, Harang cadet seems capable of that.”
“He has beaten up a lot of senior cadets.”
“Still, it’s surprising he’s already in the top 60. Will he graduate next year or the year after?”
Even those cadets did not expect Harang to make it into the top 30 on the Island.
Fundamentally, the Island Survival involved most cadets at the end of the second star or third star, and the subsequent ‘Ranking Battle’ involved only third-star cadets.
Although Harang had shown remarkable achievements at a young age, he was still only at the second star, making it impossible to defeat seniors and rank high.
Since he had decided to participate, he would do his best, but Harang did not think he would rank within the top 30.
Even the Kaladan bloodline typically achieved the third star in their mid to late teens, so no one expected any graduates from this cohort, which had just entered the third year of training.
“Ah, by the way, you can look forward to this year’s Ranking Battle. A pureblood Polden Knight will be observing.”
The cadets started to buzz at those words.
Even if they officially completed all training courses at White Night Castle and became knights, not everyone would be assigned to good knight orders.
It was known that joining a small elite unit led by a pureblood Polden Knight from Kaladan was the most prestigious path.
All the famous knight orders in Kaladan were led by pureblood Polden Knights.
Since there were also ranking battles among non-participants, there were plenty of opportunities to catch their attention.
“So, do your best! If you show impressive skills, the Polden Knight might notice you.”
It was a story that instilled a lot of expectation in everyone except for Harang and Charen, who were growing up as purebloods.
For them, the Polden Knights from the main family were just future rivals, and there was no way they would end up under them.
“If you perform well in this Ranking Battle, you might be able to participate in this year’s ‘Honorary One Sword Society,’ so make an extra effort.”
The Honorary One Sword Society was a stage for talented individuals from lower backgrounds to rise in status, but Harang was skeptical.
‘Isn’t it better to swing the sword one more time rather than participating in that?’
He didn’t understand why they would gather young kids who hadn’t even properly honed their swords to wield real swords.
Wouldn’t it be better to show their truly honed swordsmanship when they fully matured?
For Harang, it was an incomprehensible gathering of adults, and he had no intention of risking his life for this Ranking Battle.
━━━[Sub Quest]━━━
A Hero Cannot Be Caged
Content: Kaladan’s bloodline and disciples of the family must undergo at least six years of training at White Night Castle. However, for someone with the qualities of a hero, the basic training camp at White Night Castle is too small, and the world is too wide!
Objective: Graduate from training by achieving first place in this Ranking Battle!
Reward: Secret Art, Doctrine of the Dragon Sword
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“……!”
Harang’s eyes widened.
‘They put a secret art as a hostage? Damn it.’
He knew that Hero Kaladan had arranged the rewards to naturally present themselves as quests, but it was still infuriating.
The quest objective was absurdly high.
The Ranking Battle featured many 10s’ late teens who had achieved the third star, resulting in high-level duels.
Even Kyle Paul Kaladan, a direct pureblood descendant from the 96th cohort who had achieved the third star at fifteen this year, was considered a strong candidate for first place.
Among all the past Ranking Battles, it was expected to be the highest level of competition, and now they wanted him to take first place?
‘Whoever Hero Kaladan was, he certainly drove his successors hard.’
Although the challenge seemed impossible, Harang felt his heart pounding with excitement.
There was no more thrilling moment than starting a seemingly impossible challenge that everyone else deemed unattainable.
‘First place? It’s not impossible.’
In his previous life, Harang had always been number one in the world, so this small training camp was nothing.