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’Wailing Mountains, was it?’

Specter thought to himself as they continued up the mountain without a moment’s rest.

‘This mountain is really jagged...’

It was different from any other mountain on Earth; it resembled the mountains in China more than the ones in Korea. Rather than having a sloping trail, it felt more like traversing broken cliffs.

‘It’s good for stamina training...’

A smile appeared on his face. As an instructor, the more his students suffered, the more he enjoyed it. Specter glanced behind himself to check that the Watchguards were following along. They were, for now.

‘Well, they’re all Players…’

If he was being honest, he thought that the non-combatants and mages would have exhausted their energy by now.

‘I admit it. I underestimated them.’

After all, they were Players on the 2nd floor. They had already passed the first test.

‘Good.’

He was pleased.

This was his first time teaching so many people at once. His only experience consisted of teaching Gilberto.

‘I can go harder on these guys than I did on him, right?’

While Gilberto had been alone back then, the Watchguards had fellow comrades who would support each other along the way.

‘Everyone seems fine so far, so I should be able to.’

Based on the way they were breathing, he estimated that the mages and the non-combatants would be able to run for about six more hours.

“Watch your footing so you don’t get hurt. Follow me.”

“Yes, sir!” the Watchguards shouted in unison. Their voices were full of trust and respect for Specter—for now.

pαпdα-ňᴏνê|·сóМ ***

‘Huh?’

Arthur was the first one to notice that something was off as he was following right behind Specter. He checked his Vita. It was currently 10:02 AM, past the time that Specter had promised.

‘Should I tell him?’

He considered this for a second and shook his head.

‘No. I could be seen as being impudent, so let’s leave it alone for now.’

He didn’t want to seem like a slacker from his very first day. Besides, only two minutes had passed over the promised time. His friends were still full of energy, and he didn’t want to interrupt their momentum.

But when the hour hand struck 11 AM, the Watchguards started to exchange looks.

‘Wait, didn’t he say that we’d only run until 10 AM?’

‘Did he forget to set an alarm? It’s 11:08 already…’

‘Maybe he just wants to reach that summit. It would be weird to stop halfway up.’

‘Yeah. We just need to run until around 12 PM.’

‘Just a little longer...’

The Watchguards summoned a little more energy and reached their goal, climbing over the summit.

“Fuwah!”

“The air’s so crisp.”

“Isn’t the air a little thin up here?”

“...Either way, it feels nice to break a sweat. It’s been a while since I worked out.”

“Ya~hoo!”

The Watchguards chattered amongst themselves as they laughed like they were on a field trip. Specter looked pleased as he watched them enjoy themselves.

‘They’re still laughing? Good. That means we can keep going then…’

Laughing required energy. When you were really exhausted, to the point that the sky looked fuzzy, you wouldn’t even have the energy to lift the corners of your lips.

He wanted to push them to that point.

‘Everyone should brush against their limits at some points.’

In a real battle, knowing the precise limits of your stamina could determine whether you would live or die.

“Alright, if you’re all rested up, let’s keep going.” He called out.

“Yes, sir!”

At Specter’s order, the Watchguards got ready to go down.

“Oh, it’s not that way. It’s over here,” Specter said, pointing.

“Huh? But we have to go this way to get to Ajit.”

“There’s still plenty of time left until we go there,” he said, looking up at the sky. “Around ten hours?”

“...Ten hours?”

“I told you when we left, didn’t I? We’re just gonna run until 10.”

The Watchguards went pale as they realized what he meant.

‘Shit, he didn’t mean that we were running until 10 AM…’

‘It was 10 PM?!’

‘I can’t even run for thirteen hours normally, but we’re gonna be hiking the Wailing Mountains for that long…?’

‘Oh my god!’

They had only run for two hours so far. They still had eleven hours left and weren’t even halfway through, but some of them had already started to feel that they were approaching their limits. Even if they were Players, hiking up the Wailing Mountains for two hours wasn’t easy.

Specter said once again, “I already said this beforehand, but if you’re too tired or if you want to give up, just tell me.”

A few non-combatants raised their hands. “Excuse me, what happens if we give up?”

“Is there… Is there some kind of punishment?”

“No. I never punish or abuse my students.” Their faces brightened, and some of the Watchguards moved to raise their hands again, but Specter’s cold voice interrupted them. “I just give up on them. It means that their desire to get stronger is only that much. Those who give up shouldn’t participate in my training in the future.”

“...”

In other words, the moment you stopped was the moment you gave up Specter as a teacher. His words cleverly poked at the Players’ pride.

‘You think I’m weak-willed?’

‘Yeah, giving up after running only for two hours is a little… Even I think it’s too much.’

‘Specter is testing us.’

‘He only trains people who truly have the desire to become strong. He’s gonna pick them out and train them for real.’

They misunderstood. But in this case, their misunderstanding became a powerful source of motivation. The Watchguards tied their shoelaces, their eyes alight.

“Is anyone gonna give up?” Specter asked.

“No!” they shouted with confidence.

***

Four hours passed. They had been hiking for six hours now. Even Arthur, the best out of the Watchguards, was starting to pant.

‘If I’m this tired, then the others…’

The mages and non-combatants were still moving only out of pure inertia, not because they willed it. Their lungs burned as they ran whilst staring at the ground. They didn’t even have the strength to look up.

“...”

“...”

You couldn’t even hear them breathing. They were barely able to breathe in any air, and all they did was repeatedly exhale. They said that when humans exhausted themselves until death, all they were able to do was breathe quietly.

‘Let’s see…’

Specter finally looked back and scanned each Wachguard with sharp eyes, checking every detail down to their breathing and the tension of their muscles.

‘Is this it for the supporters and mages? It’s just as I expected…’

It wouldn’t be fair to expect rearguard mages and those with non-combat roles to have the same level of stamina as frontline fighters. Even among the 5 Heroes, Skaya had the least stamina.

‘I should split the group into two now.’

He stopped in a clearing. “Halt.”

Once their legs stopped after moving solely thanks to inertia, all the Watchguards could think about was sitting down.

‘Keep it together…’

‘I came this far, I can’t collapse now…’

The supporters and mages gnashed their teeth as they tried to endure, but willpower alone wasn’t enough to keep their bodies upright. They fell to the ground, one by one. Their bodies felt very comfortable as if they were in heaven. And once they sat, they wanted to lay down, and once they laid down, they would want to sleep.

‘N-no…’

‘I have to get up...’

But even as they pounded on their legs with their fists, they showed no sign of moving. It was the first time their bodies refused to listen to them, and they started to panic as Specter approached them.

“Are you so exhausted you want to collapse?” he asked.

“N-no!”

“We can get up. I-if you just give us a moment…”

No matter how much they strained, the Watchguards couldn’t move their legs. They even started to wonder if they would be able to move their legs ever again.

“No. You’ve reached your limits.” Specter declared as he scanned them. There were twenty-four non-combatants and mages.

“Then… Did we fail?”

“Will you not teach us anymore?”

They were angry. It was so unfair. Specter could see their feelings in their faces. They had a burning desire to keep going, but their bodies wouldn’t listen.

‘How cute.’

Of course, Specter knew about this. After all, he had already estimated their limits to about six hours of continuous running. “Congratulations. You’ve all reached your limit and surpassed it.”

“...?”

They had already reached their limits thirty minutes beforehand. After that, they had been running on willpower alone.

‘To be honest, I thought a few of them would give up...’

But this was surprising. They all followed through; not a single one had dropped out.

“Rest. Tomorrow, we will be busy again,” he said kindly. He asked River to open the Moving House, and personally helped move each Watchguard inside. Now, there were ten people left in the Wailing Mountains.

“The non-combatants went on for six hours, so fighters should be able to go for at least twice that long, no?”

“...Yes, sir.” Their voices were low. Twice as long meant they had to run for at least six more hours. It was a ridiculous expectation. Even if the non-combatants and the mages didn’t have as much stamina, the frontline fighters’ stamina wasn’t so high that it was double the non-combatants and mages’ stamina.

‘It’ll probably be too much for them…’

Specter thought. But they had to do it. In his short 26 years of life, the world hadn’t always been kind.

‘Whether they like it or not, there will come a time when they have to move.’

In order to prepare for that, they had to oil their gears ahead of time. There was a saying that stated that regret is the fastest motivator, but Players knew that this was nonsense.

“Let’s go.”

With Specter at the lead, nine Watchguards started to follow him with glum faces.

***

After ten hours, Specter stopped in the middle of the dark hill. Arthur’s head lolled like a zombie’s and bumped against his back. He had been staring at the ground, so he didn’t even realize that they had come to a stop. He fell to the ground with a crash, feeling the same bliss that the non-combatants had experienced earlier.

“Does it feel nice?” Specter asked the collapsed Watchguards, sitting on a nearby rock.

“Yes… It does. It’s impossibly nice…”

“That’s the feeling of surpassing your limits.” Today, each Watchguard had reached the limits of their stamina and surpassed it. It was a tough exercise to digest from the very first day.

‘Sorry. But we don’t have much time...’

Training the Watchguards was important, but Specter himself also needed time to train. He had already decided before all this began that he would only spend two weeks on them.

“Since we came all the way here today…” He pointed, and their eyes followed his hand. “Next time, we should be able to get to the peak of that mountain over there.”

“...”

The Watchguards realized something. They already knew it, but it hit them once more.

“Your skill will stack like stairs. You’re not gonna reach the top of the mountain in one day or one session.”

They tried to catch their breath as they listened. Their bodies were heavy, but they also somehow felt lighter, like a weight had been lifted off their shoulders.

“Whether you have natural talent, good skills, good skill books, or good equipment… It’s still the same. Even though it might help you get stronger even faster, no one is born that way.” Players heard this all the time, but the Watchguards had never understood it as much as they did today. “Time is on the side of those who work hard.”

With that, today’s lesson ended. If the Watchguards learned anything from today’s march, they would start to grow even faster.

‘There’s no point in just breaking a sweat or quitting once it gets a little tiring...’

Even though Specter’s case was special, he hunted and trained until he wanted to die. He hadn’t gone that far after his return, but he never slacked on his training. He had tried his hardest when training with Booster, and when he had fought the knights at the Winter Castle. Even now, he was still trying to maintain Overclocking for 24 hours straight.

‘We should stop by a nearby city tonight.’

Tomorrow, everyone would be bedridden from muscle soreness. They probably wouldn’t even be able to stand. Of course, that meant they wouldn’t be able to train either.

‘We can’t have that...’

He needed to buy potions so that the Watchguards wouldn’t be incapacitated when the next day arrived. After such a hard training session, he had to take care of his students.