"Ahh, why not?"
Sunhyuk's protest was full of complaint. He had now just realized the possibility of becoming a Dragon Rider was a reality, and when he was wanting to work on that attribute, his circumstances weren't helping him.
"If you were to hurt the horse again, who's going to take responsibility?"
Using the military horse as an excuse, Clarke pushed the protest away.
"It's forbidden to ride a horse until that excited self of yours settles down."
His words had a strong sense of implication that he should control himself. Sunhyuk, as the one that had caused this accident by over-implementing his skills, couldn't rebel any further. No, this was a basic principle of the hierarchical system of the army. Complaining any further would only result in his loss.
Fortunately, unlike the boot camp from before, he had quite a lot of personal time. Well there was the basic horsemanship maneuver training times, but he was exempt from all of that. Even if he were to linger around, there was no instructor. In order to become stronger, he had to train by himself.
"May I leave the military training grounds for a while?"
"You're not up to anything, right?"
Clarke was staring straight at him intensely, warning him to not even dream of attempting to train with a horse.
"As long as you do not leave this vicinity, you are permitted to train autonomously."
Sunhyuk stretched his hands out to see if he could feel that moment again, but as if that moment was like a dream, the wind wasn't willing to wrap around his fingers as they passed
through.
"Hmph, I want to experience that feeling once more."
"He couldn't raise his horsemanship skill, nor could he cultivate his wind attribute. All that was left was to ignorantly train his body. And if you were not to overtrain your body, with how slow the growth of a Dragon Rider was, he had no idea how long it would take for him to level up again.
As such, he equipped his 25kg armor and began stretching.
The effects of the level up were definitely there. After leveling up, each status of his had rose by two, but the change that he felt in his body was immense. Although the stiff breathing from the tightness and the crampy view from his visor was all the same, the weight of that heavy armor that crushed his body down was largely eliminated.
To test himself out, he grabbed one of the dispatched weapons of the riders and swung the sword.
Shiiik.
He applied the basics that he had learnt from that boot camp. The movements weren't special, but it was concise and fierce. And with the risen stats, his original strength had increased, which improved his swing.
After mindlessly repeating those actions, he was breathing heavily in a short while. It seems that enduring the weight of the armor while swinging the sword was another matter entirely.
However, he didn't stop. If he weren't to push his limitations to the end, his body would quickly recover from fatigue. As such, he needed to at least train until he was totally exhausted so that it will contribute to his growth.
"Hm?"
After swinging the sword for quite some time, a faint sensation subtly caught his fingertips. Waving the sword more and more, he felt the sensation becoming more familiar, causing him to enter into a frenzy, motions that one would not see in any swordsmanship manuals.
When he was wondering how long he had been swinging ferociously, it was then that he could feel something at the tip of his sword.
"Ah…"
Sunhyuk, who was catching onto something, took off his steel gloves and roughly swung. As he wielded his sword randomly, the familiar sensation had become more clear.
A sensation that he knew yet also wasn't used to, it was something that he had a slight guess of what it was, but the aura was too weak and smooth to utilize as of right now.
No. He did not want this kind of mountain breeze-like feeling.
What he willed to possess was that sharp wind that spiralled at the tip of his spear from before. Nevertheless, he couldn't bring forth such a moment from his strength alone.
In the end, if he wanted to experience that feeling again, he realized that he had no choice but to ride a horse eventually.
"Hmph, if only there was a strong torrent of wind somewhere."
With a bittersweet feeling, he began to look for items not apart of this world.
Just because he couldn't ride a horse, it didn't meant that he could stop training. No, rather he trained his body even more. Equipping the heavy armor, he ran around the training grounds, and began to swing whatever, whether it was a spear or a sword. Thanks to him, not many of the training scarecrows were left.
"It's frustrating how you can't see your experience like in a real game."
If he had not experienced the joy of leveling up, he would have already given up training.
"Impressive. Very impressive. He's a first-rate soldier. I must give him an award."
"If you exempt the fact that he's rolling on the ground like an ant, then he is very much a model soldier."
"Of course… if he was a infantry soldier."
The cavalrymen were ridiculing him blatantly as they chuckled, but it did not slow down Sunhyuk in his training at all. Since they hadn't even considered him as a comrade in the beginning, it was no question that all he saw in his view was a bunch of military uncles looking on.
"Leave it be. It'll only last a while anyways. One of the higher-ups will call for him at one point in time, and then he'll be sent to another place.
Moreover, his status as a Stranger was another reason why he couldn't mesh in with the unit. Although he belongs to the regular army, as one whose existence is to repay back the royal family with sufficient achievements, it was no wonder why they had such demeaning attitudes towards him.
"Damn bastards. Why did they even have that recruitment camp anyways?"
However, unlike his words, Sunhyuk was not looking forward on being accepted by the cavalry regiment. Rather, he was quite satisfied with his current situation of no interference.
He continued to train as the soldiers kept returning back from time to time to ridicule and watch in awe.
As such, at some point, he had become a complete outsider, not just an outsider of the 24th unit.
"Tch. I heard he trains alone these days? I heard that the original cavalry were strong and prideful."
"Hyung, be strong! If you work hard, they'll acknowledge you someday."
Park Soo hong and Kang Jungtae had visited him occasionally with a few supporting remarks pitifully.
"How are you, Hyung?"
"Don't even mention it. I'm dying trying to take care of all these guys under me."
After moderately keeping up-to date with his news, he quickly put on a proud and bragging face in front of him. As one that kept muttering when he'll advance to an Intermediate in the past, it seems those words had met its end - it seems he has completely adapted to his current situation. No, it wasn't just Kang Jungtae, but all of the other Strangers were of the same.
"I can't go back anyways, so I should start settling down in the local area. Once my period ends, I'm wondering where I should go and do merchanting. I do at least have the basic knowledge of a modern 21st century, so my skills should be effective."
"Is that so? I've decided to devote my life here. From what I heard, the treatment as a soldier is not bad, especially compared to the fact that there are countless that die from starvation outside"
"I mean, even if you were to advance up to an Intermediate, the difference in treatment and acknowledgment is like the distance from heaven to earth. That wouldn't be bad at all."
The Strangers were excitedly talking amongst themselves as Sunhyuk was lost in thought. The words that Jungtae left behind kept spiralling in his mind.
"Devote to the military…"
To call this a coincidence was quite strange.
In fact, before he had arrived to this location, he had seriously contemplated of becoming a soldier for his career with his graduation right before him. His mother, who was his only flesh, had a different family name from him, and he was never at ease in society. Therefore, at some point in time, he felt a certain degree of thought towards becoming a soldier.
But, to be a soldier at a funky place, he couldn't help but feel that this was what it was supposed to be.
"Maybe the point of my life was to blossom as a soldier…"
Mumbling to himself, he chuckled.
At least the path before him had opened.
If the life of a soldier was equally shitty here or there, then he thought it was an advantage to devote one's life as a soldier in a place with a greater advantage. Unlike the other world where he had no great influential background or career, at least a powerful patron, the King, was here to aid him in his growth.
Not to mention that the possibility of reaching the potential of a Dragon Rider was in reach, he thought that his chance of success was quite high as a soldier. As long as he grew properly, he could become a noble, and living luxuriously was not merely a dream.
But, if there was one problem, it was that unlike the peaceful Republic of Korea in the other world, this world was frequented with wars.
"Those damn Thanes. Now, they're just entering and leaving our land like it's their courtyard."
"It's said that there will be a formal order soon, so let's endure for now."
It wasn't like he was engaged in a conversation with others, but it also wasn't like he was deaf enough to hear this information.
Seeing the sharp-edged appearances of the cavalrymen, he thought that maybe a battle was not far away.
For now, let's survive.
Living on is the number one priority, and in order to do so, he must grow stronger. He can think of the other issues later.
"Hayaa!"
He strengthened his grip on the spear and continued to thrust.
For the first time, the heavy armor stopped weighing him down. He stretched out the spear, and pulled back as he thrusted faster. Feeling the wind gathering on his fingertips, his troubles slowly dissipated.
"Hayaa! Chhat!"
Sunhyuk was completely immersed in his training. Soon, a day passed, and later, a week had gone by, with another few days following from behind.
[After that repeated arduous training, you have succeeded in attaining a new skill.]
[Standard Kingdom Spearmanship Skill (Basic) has been created.]
[Standard Kingdom Spearmanship Skill (Basic) has been added to your possessed skills list.]
[It is possible for skills to evolve steadily afterwards.]
[Weapon Proficiency for the following weapon has increased due to the acquired Standard Kingdom Spearmanship Skill. Attack speed and power has increased slightly.]
A voice suddenly sounded in his mind, and soon a status window appeared before him.
[Kim Sunhyuk]
[Level 2]
[Dragon Rider]
[Possessed Attributes]
Wind
[Strength 19 / Endurance 18 / Agility 21 ]
[Possessed Skills]
<< Dragon Taming >>
<< Dragon Riding >>
<< Charging >>
<< Basic Horsemanship >>
Basic Horsemanship + Charging = Clumsy Charging
<< Standard Kingdom Spearmanship (Basic) >>
"Huh?"
A strange sound seeped out of his mouth as he saw the Standard Kingdom Spearmanship skill occupying one of his possessed skills slot.
So skills can be acquired like this too?
The amount of information he obtained by listening in on the conversations of the Strangers wasn't minimal at all. But, no matter how much one thought about it, he had never heard of them mentioning that they had obtained skills in this manner before. The skills and traits that they acquired were all from their level ups.
After briefly in contemplation, he had soon realized the difference between him and the others. No one was as constrained in their growth as much as he was. Unsurprisingly, they chose the fastest route in accordance with their particular characteristics, and so they did not have to do other needless training.
It was only him that couldn't develop his special characteristics directly, which was why he was doing such outlandish training.
"Hmm…"
It was nice that he discovered a new possibility in attaining skills, but it was hard for him to decide whether or not he should be pleased with this outcome.
Moreover, all of this situation had circumvented to one fact; that grinding was prioritized in this world.
"Shit…"
He had acquired a skill, but Sunhyuk unknowingly was saddened.
"But at least I got this."
Despite all the difficulties, he laughed. As a sergeant from his previous world, this was simple repetitive training.
TL Afterword:
Wow, I hope he can quickly show his talent and amaze everyone, but at the same time, I also want him to hide his skills to not attract any potential risks to his growth.
Comment: Dragon Poor Chapters incoming. Sorry, Green Skin, you'll have to wait a bit.
Notice: I had updated my status on Discord, but for those that were rooting me on for my finals, Thanks! Finished and ready to go. Also, welcome BM to the PR club! Yay!
PR Afterword:
Sai101 - Welcome to Borderline Masochist & fantastic work on Editing this chapter!
BM - Hai, thanks for having me~
Translator: Calvis
Proofreader: Sai101,Borderline Masochist