Duke’s Son: Re

Chapter 11

Morning Class.

“But why? Who doesn’t know that?”

Every time Jaehyuk spoke, the color drained from Kim Jinmyung’s face.

Afternoon Training.

The atmosphere was cheerful.

Every time Jaehyuk smiled brightly, the students smeared with mud ended up utterly exhausted one by one.

To an outsider, it might have seemed as if Kang Jaehyuk was single-handedly tormenting the entire class.

The problem was that the participants themselves didn’t think it was a misconception.

“Today was productive. Go and wash up, then eat dinner quickly.”

“That damn bastard…”

“That jerk stepped on my back 13 times.”

“I guess I’ll miss dinner scrubbing until my ears stop spewing mud water. I’m seriously dead.”

The first-year B-class students were overwhelmingly exhausted.

The terrain adaptation training was infamous for its extreme difficulty, and it was made even harder because of Kang Jaehyuk.

At the slightest miscalculation, they would lose balance and tumble into swamps, getting trampled on the head, shoulders, and back by him.

“Kang Jaehyuk seems to have insanely high stats, is he really green-rank?”

“Maybe he leveled up before admissions. I heard there are small guilds that boost your stats for money.”

“Does that even matter? The training process is the same, and they’ll catch up in levels quickly anyway.”

“Maybe he just wanted to pretend he’s strong for a few months. But it’s infuriating. Who handled Kang Jaehyuk’s entrance evaluation? How can someone be so clueless as to drop this guy into B-class without properly checking his level?”

‘It was the director, you fools.’

Kim Jinmyung clicked his tongue in annoyance.

He had verified in writing that the director personally conducted Kang Jaehyuk’s entrance evaluation.

He had no doubt about the evaluation results.

Which left him feeling peculiar.

‘Kang Jaehyuk is indeed level 1. It’s just that his basic stats are higher than others. Yet he received a green verdict…’

A magic measuring tool for beginners assesses potential.

If it showed green, it indicated the potential for a maximum of a D-rank player, which suggested low quality in his initial stats and skills.

This was why the students doubted Jaehyuk’s magic measuring outcome.

However, Kim Jinmyung knew the truth.

‘Even with high stats, being green means… his first skill rating, despite being awakened, is pathetically low.’

The instructor in charge of skill training had praised Jaehyuk’s skills as excellent, but Kim Jinmyung found his judgment untrustworthy.

The instructor had lost both arms and abandoned his dreams in his first year as a player. Hired purely for welfare reasons, he was only a low-level D-rank player.

‘It’s unfortunate.’

Kim Jinmyung, feeling more acutely how harsh the players’ world could be, watched Jaehyuk’s retreating figure with pity.

Despite himself, he didn’t like Jaehyuk. He couldn’t understand why this fellow ended up in the class he was responsible for and couldn’t count the sleepless nights it had caused him.

But from today onward, his perception shifted slightly.

‘Having high stats upon awakening means he worked just as fiercely.’

No, perhaps even desperately.

To have awakened his first skill at the young age of sixteen was not merely luck; it must have been a hard-earned result.

Yet to have obtained such a low-tier skill, the sense of loss must have been profound.

‘Did I just spout that he was lucky to such a person?’

A thorn seemed stuck in his throat. Kim Jinmyung’s expression grew increasingly somber.

***

Spwong-!

The energy exuding from the sword drawn forth was as usual.

Strong and unwavering in its quickness, it was a ray-like strike.

The virtual enemy targeted by Jaehyuk, only realized the dark sword blade merging into the night after its head had fallen to the floor.

“Gasp… gasp…”

The intensity of the blow remained unchanged, while its wielder struggled for breath.

Despite this, he did not halt and prepared for the next strike.

For Jaehyuk, perfecting the draw technique even at the ultimate moment was paramount.

Naturally, he didn’t make excuses about being exhausted during his training.

Only when he either collapsed unconscious or reached a point where he couldn’t even twitch a fingertip would he finally stop, making his training a torturous endeavor.

Indeed.

Jaehyuk was very familiar with the feeling of being physically worn out.

However, this particular ‘time’ was alien to him.

It was just after one in the early morning, yet he felt his energy draining already…

“These rookies… They did come in handy…”

Only after three final swings with his sword did Jaehyuk, who lay sprawled out, focus on the utterly empty sensation in his core.

He had run out of mana before his physical exhaustion.

It was the aftermath of the terrain adaptation training.

To adapt swiftly to the swampy terrain, he had no choice but to utilize mana.

The Kang family’s mana technique focused on ‘concentration’ and ’emission’, making it easy to escape the muck’s pressure, but the backlash was more significant than expected.

His classmates had charged at him in swarms.

They had exerted themselves physically to try and cling onto him, which meant he used more stamina and mana than he anticipated.

Their unified efforts as voluntary monsters proved greatly beneficial for his practice.

‘I’ll have to push them further starting tomorrow.’

For the first-year B-class students, this was news as devastating as a thunderbolt from a clear sky.

By now, the dreams of those who slumbered deeply were probably turning into nightmares.

Smirking slyly, Jaehyuk rubbed the corners of his mouth.

Since joining Lion’s Castle, he found himself smiling more often.

At first, he forced himself to smile. It was an effort to declare that no amount of defaming his father and the Kang family would shake him.

Yet, within just a few days, Jaehyuk realized he was genuinely smiling.

To start with, he found the studies remarkably enjoyable. The satisfaction of absorbing previously unknown knowledge was something he had never imagined.

He also liked the training content. Rolling around the swamp brought new experiences greatly aiding his practice. Indeed, his stats had increased at an astonishing rate.

And, more than anything, he had encountered people who still respected his father.

He held immense gratitude for this.

Jaehyuk, who had grown up waking to the curses of protests condemning his father beyond hatred, and sleeping to them like a lullaby, felt a small opening for fresh air in his heart, which had been rotting with anger and murderous intent.

‘I was right to enroll.’

Jaehyuk thought maybe Lion’s Castle, which he initially considered merely a refuge, might become something special.

Rustle.

A presence emerged from beyond the red barrier in the forest.

A massive shadow leaped out from the parting bushes, crossing over the red barrier without hesitation.

“What the hell, seriously…”

Wasn’t beyond the red barrier supposed to be the danger zone?

Does that marker even mean anything when monsters breach it?

‘They could have positioned the barrier further back.’

For the second time encountering a monster attack, Jaehyuk couldn’t help but curse. With effort, he stood upright, feeling a rare sense of tension.

‘Barehanded might be tough.’

He truly was exhausted.

He thought maybe he could muster enough to draw his sword just one more time thanks to the brief rest lying down.

Grunt…

Two more orcs followed behind the orc warrior.

Total of three.

To subdue them in one blow, he’d need to kill. There wasn’t the luxury to wave his sword without hitting vital spots.

“Ah.”

Jaehyuk let out an exasperated laugh, realizing how unexpectedly valuable skills were.

He thought of one of the twenty-five skills he had awakened, 『Rebirth』.

Rebirth

Type: Passive

Restores your body to a complete state upon receiving lethal damage or reaching maximum fatigue.

Cooldown: 8 hours

Had he been an awakened being with a first skill equipped, he might even have laughed in such a situation.

‘Skills are indeed more overpowered than I thought.’

Hence, he resolved to tread more fiercely until he attained the strongest skill.

Jaehyuk was oblivious to the true worth of the twenty-five skills he awakened.

Just obtaining one of them would guarantee becoming an S-rank player.

But what does it matter?

Jaehyuk’s goal was National Treasure. The strongest of them all.

Even an S-rank skill, a dream to many, wouldn’t satisfy him.

“Come on. I’ll only half-kill you.”

Being accustomed to exhaustion proved an unimaginably powerful weapon.

Jaehyuk gripped his sword hilt and leaned forward, his concentration honed as sharp as a blade.

There were three targets.

The right timing…

‘Now.’

As the trio of orcs lunged forward, Jaehyuk twisted his sheathed sword half a turn.

Spwong-!

The vague sword light melded into the night’s darkness.

The reversed-draw sword slashed the throat of the orc warrior and grazed the noses of the two other orcs almost simultaneously.

Gruuuaargh!!

“Yes, yes. Grateful to be spared, right? No need to thank, your cries are too loud.”

Stealthily stepping back, Jaehyuk withdrew while the fallen orcs held their wounds, screeching in agony.

He nearly tumbled over the collapsed ramparts, but it was a minor mishap. Bit by bit, he distanced himself from the spot.

The lion at the castle gate continued to watch over him, as always.

『One of the hidden quest conditions of has been met.』
『A stat bonus is awarded as a hidden reward.』
『The will of wishes to speak with you.』

The system message whispered to Jaehyuk.

It contained information that, should it be revealed, would not only capture South Korea’s attention but the entire world’s.

Yet, it aimlessly hovered without reaching Jaehyuk.

For the boy had not yet awakened as a player and could not communicate with the system.