Chapter 34

34. A Strange Kind of Admiration

On the largest piece of land on the continent stood the capital of the Wiese Empire, Wiese de Meyna, boasting an astonishing civilization and brilliant culture.

There, despite its relatively small size, there was a place known as the training center, the place where heroes admired by everyone were born.

It was a place where people who awakened psychic power throughout the Wiese Empire were gathered and taught, regardless of age, gender, race, or social status.

There was no doubt that everyone gathered there deserved to be called the “chosen ones” or “geniuses.”

They were people who would become heroes admired by everyone, possessing a stronger sense of justice than anyone else, stronger hearts than anyone else, and undergoing harsher training than anyone else.

And among such people, a man who looked like a barbarian had barged in.

“Um… Is this the training center?”

Compared to the young trainees, Ingwang had a relatively well-trained, muscular body.

He was also wearing unusual, wild-looking leather armor that emphasized his physique.

Yet despite his appearance, Ingwang timidly and cautiously knocked on the door of the training center.

The people guarding the entrance and the aspiring heroes training in the drill yard could not help but tilt their heads in confusion.

If he was shy, he probably should not have been wearing clothes like that.

If he was going to dress like that, he should at least have carried himself with more confidence.

And if he had business at the training center, he should have possessed an aura fitting for such a place.

Ingwang had none of those things.

‘There is an unyielding stubbornness in his eyes, and his body shows the traces of effort that prove that stubbornness… but why is his heart so unclear? How can someone like this even exist?’

The instructor had taught many trainees while working at the training center, and he himself had once been a trainee.

Even though he was confused, he approached Ingwang, who was awkwardly standing at the entrance.

“What business do you have here?”

“Ah, um… well…”

The instructor suppressed the urge to clutch his chest in frustration and focused on Ingwang's words.

“I have psychic power, and the village told me to come to the training center.”

“What kind of psychic power?”

“Indomitability.”

“Oh, indomitability.”

The instructor was relieved that his judgment had not grown dull.

If this man truly had awakened psychic power, then with proper teaching and training, he could surely become an excellent knight.

Moreover, despite having such a timid personality, he had still come all the way here, even if hesitantly.

The instructor could not help but let the corners of his mouth rise slightly when he saw that there was at least a little potential in him.

‘…Even so, how did someone like this awaken indomitability…? No, that is what each person's awakening is about.’

“Can you prove it?”

“Yes.”

Clatter.

A single thorn-covered chain extended from the man's hand, blazing so fiercely that even from a distance, its intense heat could be felt.

Normally, those who could materialize the psychic power of indomitability imagined a shield or a wall.

So the instructor stared blankly at the burning chain before belatedly clearing his throat and nodding.

‘He has definitely awakened psychic power. Moreover, his heart is already strong enough to visualize—no, materialize his psychic power… I cannot believe it.’

“I have confirmed it. Could you come inside for a brief interview?”

“Ah, yes. Of course.”

Ingwang looked around as if he was not particularly eager to go inside before following the instructor into the building.

“…What was that?”

The trainees who had watched everything from the drill yard only began speaking after Ingwang disappeared into the building.

“A shy virgin dressed like a battle-hardened warrior?”

“Wow, now that you put it into words, that sounds ridiculous.”

The average age of the trainees at the training center was around ten to fifteen years old.

At an age when curiosity was running wild, Ingwang was the perfect target to draw their attention.

“Hey, training isn't over yet.”

“Come on. The instructor went inside, and the new guy went inside too. What's the problem?”

“What does that have to do with taking a break?”

A girl with long, dark-blue hair scolded the trainees who had become noisy while talking about Ingwang and urged them to resume their training.

However, they did not easily return to their training.

“No, but look at how he's dressed! It's totally—!”

“What about it? Those aren't even particularly high-grade armor, and it looks like his body hasn't been trained for very long either.”

“Ooh, you even observed that much? Wait, wait. Weren't you saying we should train because you'd already seen enough and weren't interested anymore?!”

“Stop acting so immature. You can tell just by looking for a little while.”

She was not completely uninterested in the newcomer either.

After all, he was skilled enough to materialize psychic power.

However, judging by his words and actions, she felt as though an excessive amount of power had fallen into the hands of someone who was not suited for it.

In her eyes, Ingwang had probably reached his limit.

A short while later, Ingwang finished his interview, changed into training clothes, and appeared again.

He definitely no longer had the same atmosphere as before.

The trainees who had thought they had been deceived by the overwhelming presence of his armor gave awkward smiles and returned to their serious training.

“Ah, Kim Ingwang. You will wear these while training.”

Everything at the training center was difficult.

From simple physical conditioning to training designed to discover one's aptitude, training to refine psychic power, and even regular battles against monsters outside the city walls.

Ingwang was made to participate in this training while wearing bracelets that forcibly placed a heavy burden on his body.

The trainees had already surpassed ordinary physical limits.

Without forcibly adding weight, it was difficult to provide proper training.

And since properly training everyone would require an excessive amount of space for a group of fewer than ten people, this was the next best option.

But—

‘Three?!’

The trainees were shocked when they saw Ingwang put on three bracelets at once.

For a trainee, even wearing just one bracelet made walking feel difficult because of the tremendous burden it placed on the body.

‘Is he trying to kill him?’

‘Are they trying to make breathing difficult enough to drive him out?! What a demon!’

‘Instructor… I respected you….’

For some unknown reason, the trainees' hearts were united in that moment.

‘That's way too much.’

There had even been someone who proudly wore two bracelets and then collapsed while vomiting.

Even trainees accustomed to the training never wore more than one.

The new guy was definitely going to die today.

What on earth had the instructor and him talked about during the interview for him to receive such a terrible punishment?

“…I'll bet ten gold that he collapses during this run.”

“And another ten gold that we won't see him after today.”

“If it were me, I'd give up right now.”

Such conversations went around among the trainees.

They were not trying to mock or laugh at him.

They were simply saying how difficult the training was.

The light jog before training began under the trainees' sympathetic gazes.

As expected, it was not long before Ingwang began falling behind.

The trainees left the training center and eventually returned.

When they saw that Ingwang was nowhere to be seen, they nodded knowingly.

Just as expected.

The trainees who still had enough stamina prepared to leave the training center and support him if he had collapsed somewhere.

And then they saw him.

“Huff…! Huff…!”

Ingwang was there.

Sweat poured from his body like rain.

His steps staggered.

Yet his eyes were wide open, filled with a murderous aura that made him look as though he would kill everything in sight.

He slowly ran toward them.

The trainees stared at him in shock.

Ingwang entered the drill yard and only collapsed after reaching the instructor.

“Haa… Who… huff… said… they would give up… haa…!”

“Ah.”

Of course, Ingwang had been speaking to the message window that had once again provoked him with its usual question about whether he would give up.

But to the trainees, it sounded as though he was speaking directly to them.

It was merely a single sentence born from stubbornness and pride.

But this was a place filled with people whose hearts had become strong enough to awaken psychic power.

Because of that, Ingwang's barely audible words seemed to stab directly into the gaps in their hearts, making the trainees unable to raise their heads.

Whether Ingwang knew that his words, filled with sadness and suffering, had unknowingly given the other trainees a revelation or not, he simply wondered why his body suddenly felt lighter when the instructor said that three bracelets had been excessive and removed one.

At that moment, the trainees changed their impression of him once again.

Even if his outward appearance seemed weak right now, his heart was burning hotter than anyone else's.

He was a man of indomitability.

If Ingwang had heard that, he would probably have said:

“Me? You seriously think that? Are your eyes shaped differently from mine?”

Still wearing two bracelets and still unaware of their effects, he performed the miracle of enduring a day that everyone had thought impossible.

His reputation among the trainees began rising vertically.

Every person gathered here admired heroes.

They had grown up listening to stories of people who walked toward impossible and obviously dangerous things before anyone else.

They had watched those heroes' backs and grown up aspiring to become like them.

They were people who had awakened the same kind of power.

That was why Ingwang's desperate appearance, refusing to think about impossibility and continuing until he achieved his goal, looked incredibly passionate and even awe-inspiring to them.

By the second day, the trainees began approaching Ingwang, who stubbornly preferred to be alone as always.

Some burned with unnecessary competitive spirit.

Others subtly displayed a sense of rivalry.

Without meaning to, they made Ingwang's life increasingly difficult.

‘Why…?! I just want to be left alone!’

Surrounded by children more than ten years younger than him, Ingwang suffered a strange kind of attention that nobody could have imagined.

The instructor could clearly see that more and more people would gather around him as time passed.

But there was no way Ingwang could see it.

If he kept his mouth shut, avoided eye contact, and silently wished to be alone, perhaps they would leave him alone.

Perhaps they would stop bothering him.

But no.

Because he kept his mouth shut, they came to see him as a stoic warrior.

Because he avoided eye contact, they thought he was a loner who cared about nothing except training.

Because he tried to stay alone, they assumed he was avoiding them because he considered their abilities insufficient to be worth fighting.

Maybe if he deliberately failed to keep up with training and showed himself falling apart miserably, they would dislike him.

Maybe they would laugh at and mock him.

But no.

In order to show such an ugly, broken appearance, he had to devote himself to training harder than anyone else.

As a result, another image was added to him.

A stoic warrior who was never satisfied with his current abilities and constantly looked upward.

Because he generally lacked self-reflection, the strange admiration for him grew stronger every minute among the trainees.

An admiration that Ingwang knew absolutely nothing about.