Book Synopsis
Book Tags
Donation Rankings
Comment
0 Comments
You May Also Like
墨書 Inktalez
For Garen, joining the Adventurer Team would be a good choice.
With the cooperation of the team, not only could they conduct hunting more efficiently, but they could also ensure their safety to some extent. Moreover, most Adventurer Teams have established channels for selling resources, allowing them to sell various items at prices higher than those on the market.
More importantly, the Blazing Fire Squad had been established for many years and undoubtedly had a far greater familiarity with the terrain of the mountains near the town and the distribution of magical beasts. This ensured that every hunting operation would yield profits.
The hunting season before winter was set to begin in about two weeks. Garen accepted Maple Captain's invitation and confirmed the meeting point for two weeks later before finally leaving the Bounty House.
...
...
The next morning, at eight o'clock sharp.
Garen watched a group of boys on the playground, bundled up like "zongzi" due to the drop in temperature. Compared to yesterday, the children seemed much more serious today. Although their standing posture wasn't quite standard, at least they understood the importance of standing up straight.
"Where is Dostodoro?" Garen's gaze fell on the empty spot at the edge of the lineup.
The ten children exchanged glances, and finally, Rody raised his hand and hesitantly spoke up.
"Teacher, Dostodoro is sick."
From Rody's eyes, Garen sensed a hint of guilt. It was easy to guess that Rody was worried about Dostodoro and had come up with this excuse to avoid punishment from Garen for skipping class.
However, Garen didn't dwell on it too much. Since Dostodoro's mind wasn't in this place, any insistence would be meaningless.
Garen glanced at the equipment not far away and asked, "What was your lesson content before?"
The children fell silent, and no one stepped forward to answer the question.
Garen was momentarily taken aback, then burst into a silent laugh, realizing he had asked a meaningless question. Indeed, just by looking at the emptiness of their Qi Xuan, it was clear that they had received pitifully little training in Fighting Spirit, or rather—had never undergone formal cultivation.
"Long ago, I trained many soldiers. After enduring arduous and monotonous training, upon graduation, some became glorious warriors, some became distinguished generals, and some were even granted noble titles... In short, they later held countless titles and honors."
Garen looked at the bewildered children, a slight smile curling at the corners of his mouth. "But before all those titles, when they had yet to leave the training camp, they all shared one name—that is—Novice!"
"Congratulations on becoming the latest batch of Novices!" After yesterday's events, Garen had decided to train this lazy group of children as proper soldiers.
He observed their strange expressions and said, "Don't look at me with such resentful eyes. If you want to shed this unpleasant name, then train with all your might! Prove your potential to me!"
"Now, run 15 laps around the field!"
The little Newbies stared at Garen in disbelief; after all, even when Volikov occasionally held formal classes, they only ran a maximum of 2 laps! 15 laps? That was a full seven times more!
"Did you not hear me?" Garen narrowed his eyes. "Due to your sluggishness, everyone will run 16 laps; the last one will be punished with an additional 5 laps!"
It was only then that the Newbies finally snapped back to reality. Someone shouted "Oh my God," and then ten Novices hurriedly set off, racing to start running.
"Keep it orderly! Maintain a proper Lineup!"
Watching the group of Newbies with pained expressions twisting their bodies, Garen remained unfazed. He recalled that when he was in the Demacia military camp, even first-time trainees had to run at least 60 laps around a massive field that could accommodate five thousand people.
More importantly, based on Garen's judgment, 16 laps were far from the limit for these Novices. In common understanding, the so-called limit referred to the point of near collapse; however, that was not truly the limit. Only by continuing to push through in such a "near-collapse" state could one effectively and maximally unleash human potential.
Thus, running would always be an indispensable part of any introductory training.
The academy's track was oval-shaped, with the longest diameter measuring about 600 meters; a complete lap was approximately 1500 meters. However, due to Volikov's irresponsibility, many large pieces of equipment were carelessly piled up, resulting in two major bends being cut off. So in reality, a lap was only about 900 meters.
After about 40 minutes, the slowest Novice completed their fourth lap, and the overall speed visibly slowed down.
"Do you want some water?" Garen's loud voice echoed.
Exhausted, the Newbies perked up, each shouting for water, with two of them even sprinting across the field.
"The fact that you can still shout means you have plenty of energy left!" Garen pulled out a flask of Clear Water he had prepared earlier and took a big gulp. "You can only drink after finishing the seventh lap!"
"Oh my god! He... he's a demon!"
"The seventh lap? No way! I thought the instructor was just trying to scare us; it can't be real, right?!"
"Instructor! I swear to God, I really can't run anymore!"
...
However, Garen seemed to ignore all the protests from the Newbies.
Just then, a sturdier Novice stepped up in front of Garen.
"Give me water; I need to drink," he said, still heavily panting. It was Layton.
"Which lap are we on?" Garen asked.
Layton's eyes flickered, but under Garen's steady gaze, he found no courage to lie and weakly replied, "The... fourth lap..."
"I'm sorry, but I can't give you water," Garen shrugged helplessly.
"But... but I'm going to die of thirst!" Layton bit his lip in frustration. "I'm already so tired; I really can't run anymore! Please... Instructor Garen, let me rest for a bit, just for a moment!"
Yet Garen remained silent, simply watching Layton calmly.
"Hmph, I'm not running anymore! If you want to punish me, go ahead, I'm not afraid!" With that, Layton plopped down on the ground, refusing to look at Garen.
At that moment, Rody and the others, who had just completed their fifth lap, noticed the situation and cast curious glances over.
"A warrior who relies on punishment as motivation for soldiers is destined to fail."
Garen shook his head and, under Layton's puzzled gaze, slowly spoke, "From this moment on, you are the leader of this group of Newbies."
"Leader... me?" Layton was taken aback, his surprise evident. "Why?"
"Reasons?" Garen pondered for a moment before smiling. "Because I need a Novice assistant. Are you willing?"
"I..." Layton was momentarily stunned. In his memory, he had always been one of the 'bad kids.' Even with Volikov as a mentor, he and Dostodoro remained among the worst. It felt as if they were destined to squander their lives based on their parents' legacies.
So when Garen looked at him with fairness in his eyes, Layton's heart trembled.
Just then, Rody and Lanya approached. Upon hearing Garen's words, they too displayed expressions of shock.
Layton suddenly found his courage. "You won't regret this, will you? Every group has its troublemaker, and you're letting the troublemaker be the leader!"
"As a mentor, I will be responsible for every Novice," Garen replied with a smile, calmly stating, "More importantly, if I haven't given up on you, why would you give up on yourself?"
Layton's expression remained one of astonishment; his gaze lingered on Clear Water. Yet within his sleeves, his fists clenched tightly.
He looked at each Novice who had stopped in their tracks.
Summoning all his strength.
"I am your leader! Now everyone keep running! For Clear Water!"
...
It turned out that Garen's judgment was not wrong. Completing 16 laps would be a huge challenge for the Newbies, but it did not represent their maximum limit. They finished the fifth lap and then the sixth, but when they finally drank the long-desired Clear Water, they did not relax; instead, they exerted even more effort on the remaining nine laps.
On that same evening, Garen made a joke with the Newbies that would be teased for a long time to come—he did not make the last place runner do extra laps.
The next day’s training was noticeably smoother than the previous day. Under the leadership of Rookie Squad Leader Layton, despite the Newbies carrying two days' worth of fatigue, they successfully completed 15 laps.
Perhaps even Layton himself did not realize that in just two short days, he seemed like a different person. In fact, not every troublemaker was beyond redemption; their laziness often stemmed from the gaze of others, those so-called "exemplary" individuals.
If someone could offer them even a hint of kindness, they would showcase an astonishing side.
On the last day of training that week, Garen proposed that whoever could finish 15 laps first would become the vice leader of the Rookie Class. Perhaps inspired by Layton's transformation, all the Newbies exerted far more effort than before, scrambling to seize the title of Novice Vice Leader.
Surprisingly, the one who ultimately earned this title was none other than the always quiet Rody!
Due to a sudden drop in temperature, that Saturday evening, the town welcomed its first snowfall of the year. Within just two nights, the snow had accumulated to a thickness of 5 centimeters.
The Newbies thought they might earn their first "rest day" because of this, but unexpectedly, Garen used his Fighting Spirit to shatter the snow on the playground and resolved the slippery conditions with 20 minutes of heating.
Thus, on this day, the Newbies were still striving for Clear Water.
Even they did not notice that in just one week, their physiques had undergone slight changes; their Qi Xuan had become much more active. As a result, when faced with the training volume of 15 laps, the Newbies did not show excessive pain.
Of course, this did not mean their good days had arrived. Upon realizing this issue, their "devil instructor" Garen promptly provided a remedy—raising the training volume to 20 laps!
On the snowy playground, the Newbies stood in neat rows, stepping in unison with synchronized footsteps.
By the evening of the third day of this week, the snowfall had suddenly intensified, hinting at the possibility of a blizzard. After discussing with Mayor Tutulu, the final decision was made to suspend classes for a week.
Garen had no objections to this. After all, following a long period of intense training, it was time for the Newbies to take a break.
Interestingly, when the Newbies heard this news, they did not seem as happy as expected; instead, they fell into a long silence, appearing somewhat disappointed.
At the end of this last class, Garen called over the two Rookie Squad Leaders.
"Layton, why don't you take some time to visit Dostodoro?" Garen said, ruffling the Rookie Squad Leader's hair.
"Huh?" Layton was slightly surprised but quickly recovered. "Don't worry, mentor! I'll definitely bring him back for training!"
As he mentioned training, Layton couldn't help but squint his eyes, as if already envisioning Dostodoro's complaints.
In contrast to Layton, Rody's personality was evidently more delicate. Once Layton turned to gather the team, Rody revealed a puzzled expression.
"Mentor, you’ve always known that Dostodoro isn’t sick," Rody hesitated before asking. "So why do you still want to find him?"
Garen patted the Novice Vice Leader's head.
"A true warrior does not abandon any soldier."
Comment 0 Comment Count