Only I Am A Reader
chapter-168

"Ninety-Nine was close this time!"

As the number of days that the children spent in the Heavenly Furnace increased, so did their courage. At this point, they had adapted enough to know what should be done and what they shouldn't, and showing enthusiasm during the battle training was one of the things that weren't punishment worthy.

The current crowd only consisted of children who had passed the second filtration the day before. However, their numbers didn't decrease by much this time. After spending a month in this routine, competitive spirit had replaced their defeatist attitude. The buffed training made it so everyone noticed their progress at a certain point, even if they didn't understand everything, no one wanted to lose the satisfaction of a quick rise other than those who fell under the wheels early on.

"Hundred's battle is still more fun to watch though…"

During the last round of battles, the childrens' attention was always split into two stages that stood next to each other. Everyone either wanted to watch the efficient and quick-to-point Leo, or the emotion-driven Yeon, the rest didn't fall behind by much when it came to physical growth, but those had always been at the peak when it came to weapon skills!

Thud!

Striking the end of the spear on the ground, Leo took one last look at the spear instructor in front of him before going down the stage, it had really been a close call, but this still meant nothing.

'It's a fake.'

Although Leo's Spearmanship was still not up to the instructor's standard, he didn't lose when it came to battle experience. Whether it was the battles he fought at Sword Continent or the slight experience he obtained from books, they were enough against an instructor who retired to fight children. However, that remained to be under the condition that the instructor restricted his strength to match Leo's!

Despite Leo's physique brushing by the average value of an adult, he knew that he was still far from achieving victory against an instructor who went all out, this was just how steep the end goal of the first phase was!

'It's not a normal task to begin with…'

After the first day of receiving guidance, the routine had changed so that they would alternate between guidance and battle every other day, which gave the children the chance to catch up. As his Spearmanship advanced day by day, however, the only thing that Leo could confirm was how absurd this task was. The instructors were undeniably retired to be given such a task, but they were all true martial artists!

Although they were merely 3rd rate martial artists whose success with internal energy was greatly minimal, the simple fact that they possessed any at all made their strength as different as night and day!

Internal energy was the only separating line between murim and normal martial arts of earth, possessing the ability to break away from the shackles of the human body. In most martial families and sects, the first thing that trainees learned were the breathing techniques required to draw in and condense their own internal energy, which was the opposite of how things worked in the Heavenly Furnace.

"You did great, Yeon."

Only a month had passed, but the chains that bound them were already growing loose that the small talk had returned. Yeon only looked but didn't answer, but it wasn't like they required words to converse with each other to begin with.

The Heavenly Strength Society's task to triumph against 3rd rate martial artists using nothing but their bodies was ridiculous, but this was the minimal requirement to become part of the Society's true core!

Most importantly, the Society was basically burning resources in order to push them to achieve this target in the lowest amount of time possible. Any outsider who looked at this situation would definitely say that it was inefficient, but the Heavenly Strength Society had their reason to do that other than just testing the children's will.

'It's worth it.'

Even if he didn't know what the Heavenly Strength Society had in store, this harsh training was a perfect opportunity to create the foundation of his journey. However, he naturally knew that as a reader, it was worth even more than the pain he endured and the effort he put forward. After all, the starting point of the future Heavenly Demon couldn't be pointless.

'Soon.'

Thanks to Leo's positive influence, Yeon's rise was slightly brought forward. The first phase was supposed to be the stage where she planted her roots between the hard rocks, but she was already starting to bloom at this point.

As long as she persisted, Yeon knew that what she dreamt of would soon come true. She knew her life wouldn't be peaceful, but that was merely a favorable factor that she could do without. Soon…

"Not all of you had mastered the basics just yet, but you can come forward to claim an advanced weapon record."

Instructor Han's speech suddenly brought Yeon back from her 'rosy' dream, breaking her line of thought. Her face showed nothing, but she was slightly resentful. However, she was slightly excited by the opportunity to receive further pointers! She always released everything that she repressed at weapon training, more material was naturally more than welcome!

"Right… There will be no more guidance sessions starting today. Starting from this point, you will focus on nothing else but achieving the target established at the very beginning."

The atmosphere grew slightly heavy, but the children's hearts didn't change much. Whether it was the new weight limit added to the training list, or increased battle time, they were already used to things getting harsher as soon as they got used to it. The only way to escape the difficulty of climbing mountains was to reach the peak!

Indulging more and more in his current lifestyle, the days felt like they went by faster and faster for Leo, before he knew it, the day that he had been working towards had come! It was time to break out of the cycle!