4 AM. It was the kind of ungodly hour where you'd wake up, curse, and roll back over.
Yeon-woo, however, was pushing his body to the limit in the training room. Sweat poured off him like a waterfall. His soaked tracksuit, which should have felt heavy, felt light as a feather, perhaps due to some auxiliary magic or maybe just the runner's high from his intense workout.
Yuri was gone. He had provided Yeon-woo with what he needed, given him a few words of advice, and left.
He had no complaints, as it was high time he addressed his physical limitations. He had already accumulated enough magic power to register as a 1 on his information ring. Spending two days straight in the magic power training room had paid off. Now, it was time to build up his physical strength.
Physical training wasn't strictly necessary for Awakeners. Just by channeling magic power, they could achieve physical abilities far surpassing those of lifelong athletes.
Take Yeon-woo's movement technique, for example. Even with all the high-quality magic power he had poured into it, it was still absurd for a human to leap nearly 30 meters.
Nevertheless, it was a fact that the higher-ranked Hunters tended to focus more on physical training. Magic power could run out at crucial moments, and there might be dungeons or monsters that could interfere with its use.
Pain is temporary. This too shall pass...
Knowing better than anyone why physical training was necessary, Yeon-woo decided to endure the pain and push his body to its limits.
This time, he felt he could achieve the dream he had to give up in his past life.
* * *
"Ugh, tsk tsk. Lazy, lazy. How are you going to become Hunter if you're this lazy?"
A black ponytail swayed playfully, tickling the nape of a slender neck. Above sparkling black eyes like glass beads, high-arched eyebrows seemed to reflect the owner's lively personality.
The girl, Kim Yumin, was heading to the training room early in the morning. It was 6 AM. Tuesday classes started at lunchtime, so she planned to eat the lunchbox she had brought and then train until then.
Training was so much fun. It was exciting to grasp something and grow rapidly, and it was also enjoyable to finally find a small clue after agonizing over something she couldn't understand. Whoever came up with the concept of training was a genius!
That's why Kim Yumin was so dissatisfied with the emptiness around the training room this early in the morning.
Seriously! You can do something this fun for free, anytime, but instead of going all out from morning to night, people just dabble in the afternoons? Unbelievable!
The electronic display showing the training room usage status was all empty. Look! Even now, the training rooms were being wasted...!!
...Huh?
Wait, there's one person...?
Who could it be? It didn't matter. She felt like they could be comrades. Anyone using the training room this early in the morning couldn't be a bad person.
I might finally make a friend in this lonely academy life... Yumin forced down her rising emotions.
The electronic display didn't show personal information, only the time used so far. However, even Kim Yumin, a regular of the training room, couldn't help but click her tongue when she saw the time.
"Two hours? That means they started at 4 AM...? What kind of person is this?"
Who could it be? Her curiosity about this mysterious early bird grew endlessly. There was no way someone from the magic or support departments would be using the training room at this hour, so she checked the class schedules on the academy app.
...Alright, the Hunter department didn't have any first-period classes. There were a few second-period classes, so she could just come out around ten and wait.
And tomorrow, I'll come even earlier.
With that thought, Yumin entered the training room right next door to kill time.
* * *
There were a few tasks Yeon-woo needed to accomplish. He had to master the movement technique he named Silver Whale Technique to the point where he could use it in actual combat. He also needed to modify his domain more efficiently so he could maintain it during battle. These were tasks he could work on while also doing physical training.
First, he enveloped himself in his domain. The Domain, also known as the aura field or barrier. Honestly, his current body couldn't maintain it for long. He had experienced a splitting headache during class, after all.
From Yeon-woo's perspective, having reached the level of using a domain in his past life, it was like processing all the information within his range not with his brain but with his reflexes
In simpler terms, it was like responding skillfully to familiar situations through repeated practice. If a certain movement had worked well before, he would repeat it in the shortest time possible.
And if he were to use magic power to achieve a similar effect, it would mean receiving all the information within the domain not through his body but through his brain. That was likely the cause of his previous headache.
It was only thanks to his past experience that he had gotten off so lightly. If other martial artists tried to enter the realm of the aura field in the same way, they would either blow up their mana core or faint from brain overload.
The key was to narrow the range. Drastically reduce the total amount of information but increase the density. That was the only way to maintain performance while reducing the burden.
...A sharp pain shot through his head, as if someone had taken out his brain and was experimenting on it with needles.
Little by little, little by little... He didn't move his body. He sat upright and delved into his inner self. From trivial things like the humidity and temperature of the space to the trajectory of his sword and the movement of his muscles. All sorts of information relentlessly bombarded his head.
The pain gradually began to subside. The domain, which had initially shrunk by a hand span, a few centimeters at a time, eventually contracted until the golden magic power clung tightly to his skin. About 1 centimeter. It was incredibly precarious, but considering both his magic power and his body, this range was the most ideal.
The headache remained faintly, but at least he had reduced it to a level where he could move. When he opened his eyes, sweat drenched his entire body, and nearly an hour had passed.
"...Tiring."
Yeon-woo muttered and flopped onto his back. Wow, I'm exhausted. Using my brain is definitely harder than using my body. Unfortunately, if I have the time, I should train. It sounds crazy, but it's true.
First, let's run. Once I get used to the headache from the domain, I'll start incorporating the movement technique. Then I'll get another headache, and I'll get used to it again...
For now, I should just consider myself dead.
