The first day at the Jaeger Camp.
The physical fitness test that began around 3 p.m. continued until 7 p.m.
The test was carried out in four groups.
The first group was the one with Kim Seo-jun—three cadets who withstood the capsule transfer device without any problems.
The second group consisted of only one person.
Although he couldn’t walk out on his own strength, Choi Cheol-min, who quickly regained consciousness, was the main character.
The third group had three cadets who, like Irina, didn’t lose consciousness but vomited uncontrollably for about ten minutes due to severe dizziness.
Finally, the fourth group.
These were three cadets who lost consciousness inside the capsule, and when they still hadn’t woken up after an hour, the instructor slapped them awake.
Not only did they start the test the latest, but their mana also disappeared, so their progress was even slower.
While the cadets in Kim Seo-jun’s first group finished the test at 7 p.m., had dinner, and wrapped up the day’s schedule, the last group didn’t complete their tests until 11 p.m.
For some, it was a hellish day; for others, it was as easy as a school physical exam.
After dinner, Kim Seo-jun returned to his room.
He secretly tested the MPSP function of his Gift alone and smiled in satisfaction.
‘This is perfect!’
Just as Kim Seo-jun had hoped, the MPSP wavelength only sealed mana, leaving his internal energy completely untouched.
Although he had confirmed beforehand that exposure to MPSP would only lock away his mana, he still carefully checked for any other settings, just in case.
The result was exactly what Kim Seo-jun wanted.
‘At the end of training, I have to select three Mysteries from my Gift…’
The mana cover that helped hide his abilities was a must-pick Mystery, so he could choose the other two freely.
Of those two, Kim Seo-jun had already decided that one would absolutely be MPSP.
He planned to decide the last one after trying it out himself.
Of course, he had already narrowed down his choices.
As for the Barrier, Kim Seo-jun already had the Telekinetic Veil Mystery, so he could easily substitute it, and most of the other Mysteries were replaceable as well.
The body enhancement and power boost Mysteries overlapped a lot with the abilities of Solar Divine Art; movement speed boost could be replaced by Thunderbolt Steps, and mana detection by Insight.
Cloaking could also be covered by the Cloaking Mask, so there was no need to store it in his Gift.
That left just four options.
Mana Assist, Flight, Charm, and Immunity Boost.
He just had to pick one from these.
‘But I don’t really need Charm, do I?’
This Charm Mystery was for undercover missions as a Jaeger agent, and held little use for Kim Seo-jun.
Not to brag, but his current appearance alone was practically like having the Charm Mystery as a passive.
‘Immunity Boost can be solved once I master Unshakable Heart.’
Unshakable Heart.
It was one of the martial arts Kim Seo-jun had practiced back in the Murim world.
Among Cheon Kang-woo’s demonic followers, there were many who used powers that confused the mind or placed various restrictions on the body.
So, to avoid getting caught by their tricks, he had to master Unshakable Heart.
Unshakable Heart is a powerful mental discipline that ensures one’s spirit and mind never waver.
Since coming to this Hunter World, Kim Seo-jun hadn’t felt the need for Unshakable Heart, but he thought he’d probably need it soon.
‘That just leaves Mana Assist and Flight…’
Mana Assist instantly restored up to 50% of mana consumed by using Mysteries, while Flight allowed up to 10 seconds of flight at a maximum height of 20 meters.
He liked both, so it was hard to decide for now.
‘I’ll just choose between the two in a month.’
No matter how much he thought about it, even with his vast knowledge of martial arts, he couldn’t think of any skills that could replace these two.
‘Since it’s come to this, maybe starting to learn Unshakable Heart from tonight isn’t a bad idea.’
Kim Seo-jun checked the time.
11:27 p.m.
It was a bit late to start learning something new, but Unshakable Heart was a mental discipline, so there was no problem.
He sat on the floor and assumed the lotus position.
While guiding his internal energy with Solar Divine Art, he began recalling the mental incantations of Unshakable Heart, which he had learned once before.
Kim Seo-jun was able to learn Unshakable Heart thanks to helping a man in danger.
That man was a descendant of Hwarang, secretly passed down in South Korea, and had mastered the martial arts of Hwarang.
Somehow, Cheon Kang-woo had learned that the man was a descendant of Hwarang and that he was hiding the secret manual of ‘Unshakable Heart’, so he set his sights on him.
Cheon Kang-woo intended to find and destroy the secret manual of Unshakable Heart, which could stand in his way to conquering the world.
Before he lost his life, the Hwarang descendant entrusted the manual of Unshakable Heart to Kim Seo-jun.
He left a plea that, so the manual wouldn’t vanish, Kim Seo-jun himself should master the technique and pass it down for generations. With those words, he died a heroic death.
Remembering that time, the memory of how much he struggled to learn Unshakable Heart came back as well.
Burning with vengeance, Kim Seo-jun couldn’t commit the mental incantation of Unshakable Heart, which aligned with the subtlety of Buddhist teachings, to his heart.
One had to move internal energy according to the incantation with a mind as calm as a Buddha, unwavering, and firmly protect body and spirit, but that was incredibly hard for the Kim Seo-jun of those days.
Only after nearly five years of effort did he barely manage to master Unshakable Heart.
Kim Seo-jun was certain that, if he revived his experience from that time and maintained the calmness he had now, he could make Unshakable Heart his own in a short period.
Ssssshhhhhh
A frost-like whiteness began to settle over Kim Seo-jun’s body.
At the same time, all the hairs on his body turned stark white.
But the discoloration disappeared as if washed away after just a few seconds.
He returned to his original color, and the faint frost was also wiped clean.
This was ‘Whitening’, a transformation that occurred upon mastering Unshakable Heart.
In the Whitening state, one could not be shaken by any external shock.
For three hours straight, Kim Seo-jun entered and exited this Whitening state dozens of times, endlessly practicing Unshakable Heart.
*****
A day passed at the Jaeger Camp, and a new morning dawned.
Upon waking, Kim Seo-jun washed up quickly and went to the assembly area.
There, cadets gathered one by one, still carrying the fatigue of the previous day.
Out of ten cadets, only three showed no signs of fatigue.
Kim Seo-jun, Yang Hwi, and Choi Cheol-min.
The other cadets dragged themselves in with hollow eyes and drooping shoulders as if barely alive.
Especially the three who passed out and had to test late into the night looked like they would collapse at the slightest touch.
Im Hee-joo, Park Hae-seong, and Ahn Ji-woon.
Just looking at those three was enough to understand how grueling the previous day’s test was.
In truth, the test contents were simple.
Sprint around a huge track at full speed until you hit your limit.
Jump up 1-meter-high steps 100 times with only sergeant jumps, for a total of 50 up-and-downs.
Break the waist of a human-shaped dummy with alternating spinning kicks.
Withstand specially made rubber balls flying at around 100 kilometers per hour for ten minutes, using only your body.
Time yourself to do 100 reps each of push-ups, sit-ups, and pull-ups for ten sets total, and so on.
Any one of these would knock out an ordinary person, yet this grueling test lasted for hours.
During this test, Kim Seo-jun tried to hide his true abilities and aimed for average results.
But instructors like Park Mun-ho immediately noticed that Kim Seo-jun was concealing his real skills.
After sprinting a 500-meter track at full speed for ten minutes, he didn’t sweat a drop—no matter how hard he pretended to be out of breath, who would believe that was his limit?
Kim Seo-jun finished every test in second or third place.
It was his own strategy to avoid standing out, but ironically, that only drew even more attention.
Unaware of how shocked all the instructors were by his results, Kim Seo-jun was instead impressed by how unscathed Yang Hwi and Choi Cheol-min appeared.
‘Both of them have trained their bodies to an impressive level.’
Since coming to this world, it was the first time he’d seen Hunters like Yang Hwi and Choi Cheol-min, who had built up their physical strength on their own.
From what Kim Seo-jun knew, once Hunters in this world awakened their Mysteries, every single one of them would become obsessed with that power and neglect physical training.
Of course, there were Hunters who trained their bodies, but it was usually just regular gym work—nothing compared to Kim Seo-jun’s concept of true body training.
Yet Yang Hwi and Choi Cheol-min had trained their bodies to the level of martial artists.
Thanks to his internal energy, Kim Seo-jun could build strength with far less effort than others.
He also had Yang’s Divided Mind, so he could fight as fiercely as two people by himself, gaining extensive combat experience.
From Kim Seo-jun’s perspective, Yang Hwi and Choi Cheol-min’s level of training was quite high.
“The results of yesterday’s test have just been sent to your Gifts. Use them as a reference and think about how much harder you’ll need to train moving forward.”
As soon as Park Mun-ho appeared at the assembly area, he scanned the cadets with a stern expression.
Hearing the alert from their Gifts, the cadets focused on their device screens.
A chart appeared with the heading ‘Comprehensive Evaluation Results’, showing Yang Hwi in first, Choi Cheol-min in second, and Kim Seo-jun in third.
Shin Tae-yang, who had the highest mana, ranked only sixth, perhaps because he’d neglected physical training.
Irina and Park Hae-seong actually ranked higher than Shin Tae-yang.
The last place, of course, was Im Hee-joo.
The score gap between her and Min So-ra, who was ninth, was quite large, and Im Hee-joo let out a deep sigh, looking on the verge of tears.
“These results are only the beginning for you. Depending on how much you work during training, the final outcome can change completely—don’t forget that.”
As Park Mun-ho tried to encourage Im Hee-joo, Park Hae-seong spoke up again.
“Instructor. A month isn’t really a long time. No matter how hard someone tries, can a stone turn into a jewel in such a short period? If the gap is too wide, the top cadets might even get held back by the others. Wouldn’t it be better to split us into groups from the start and train separately?”
A few cadets nodded in agreement with Park Hae-seong.
They were all from impressive backgrounds, and their gazes toward Im Hee-joo were full of contempt.
“Split into groups? Then, Cadet Park Hae-seong, which group do you think you belong in?”
“I placed fifth in the test, so I should obviously be in the leading group. I don’t care how you split up the rest.”
Park Hae-seong was basically asking to be in the elite group, training separately up to his own ranking.
“Bullshit.”
The words came from Shin Tae-yang.
Ranked sixth, Shin Tae-yang saw through Park Hae-seong’s intent to push him into the lower group and was deeply offended.
No matter if Park Hae-seong’s father was the Chief of Naval Operations, it was nothing compared to having the Cosmo Foundation’s chairman as his own father.
“Watch your mouth, punk. Who do you think you’re talking to?”
“If you’re so old, act your age. Don’t you realize how ridiculous it is to talk about top groups after just one test?”
“What did you say?”
Angered by Shin Tae-yang’s blunt words, Park Hae-seong bristled.
Yet Instructor Park Mun-ho didn’t intervene even as the two glared like they might fight.
If anything, he motioned for the instructors to step back, as if to let them go at it.
Some cadets looked on in disbelief, but Park Mun-ho just smirked.
“Perfect timing. The first lesson today is sparring. Think of it as warming up before breakfast—find a partner and begin sparring. Based on yesterday’s results, first place will go against second, third against fourth, and so on.”
The cadets were even more dumbfounded at Park Mun-ho’s words.
Sparring first thing in the morning as training?
At that moment, Shin Tae-yang and Park Hae-seong stepped closer as if it were just what they wanted.
Both were fired up to completely crush their opponent.
Yang Hwi, in first place, faced Choi Cheol-min, second place.
No one assigned spots, but the two moved to a wide, open space.
Kim Seo-jun found his partner.
His opponent was Irina, who placed fourth.
From the start, Irina didn’t look pleased at having to face Kim Seo-jun.
“Don’t feel pressured. Just relax. Even if you slam me to the floor, I won’t hold it against you.”
At Kim Seo-jun’s friendly words, Irina’s expression quickly relaxed.
“Same goes for me. By the way, your Mystery is called ‘Overflowing Might’, right? I couldn’t figure out what kind of Mystery that is.”
“Oh, that? It’s sort of… a counterattack, I guess? When the opponent attacks, I time it right and hit back with even greater force.”
Kim Seo-jun explained his Mystery so easily that Irina’s eyes widened.
“Are you sure you should be telling me that?”
“We’re fellow cadets, so why not?”
Though Kim Seo-jun said this, he didn’t really explain his Mystery without a reason.
He wanted everyone to hear it.
He was openly provoking every cadet here, saying, “This is my Mystery, Kim Seo-jun. If you want, come at me anytime.”
Kim Seo-jun intended to hide most of his strength, but he had no intention of acting weak and becoming a laughingstock.