The Third Test Spot

After waking up the next day, Kaizen was surprised to see a new skill named instinct. Reading it, he could not help but gawk at how useful it would be.

[Instinct]

Rank: F

[Passive]: Alerts the user of danger.

[Passive]: Instinctively helps the user dodge and react to unseen attacks (limited by the rank of the skill).

[Active]: Helps the user detect killing intent directed at him coming from anyone within one meter of the user.

Afterwards, he continued with is usual schedule of going to the gym, taking a shower, and going to class.

The class seemed emptier than before with just seven people remaining out of the original seventeen, but the exercises just got harsher. Hex had decided to add two new ones after the last exam ended.

The first being that Kaizen and the others had to each spar against two or three people at once at least once a day. While the second one was to just let others hit you for five minutes. And, with Hex saying that none of the regulars other than Anaak and Endorsi are tough enough, she forced everyone other than the two princesses to do it.

Another week passed while Kaizen spent most of his time training, but, at the eve of the day just before the third exam, Kaizen had finally managed to transform his baang into an ice shield. And even though he could only maintain it for a few seconds, he was happy to finally bear some successes in his shinsu training.

And something Kaizen had just realized that week was that he didn't need to form a baang externally to enhance his body. Rather, because of his previous knowledge that he remembered; his enhancement would last for a much lesser time than normal.

At first, he thought it was because he was new to controlling shinsu that he could not maintain it for too long. But just as he tried to internally manifest one, he was able to stay for more than two hours in his reinforced state.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In the cafeteria, Kaizen could be seen eating a bowl of rice with eggs and meat. Next to him, Areum was eating a bowl full of meat cutleats. While in front of him, Kyong could be seen eating a bowl with rice and steamed fish.

"So, how has your training been going?" asked Kyong before she continued to stuff a piece of fish into her mouth.

"Pretty well I would say. Just last day I had managed to defeat two other regulars in a two versus one spar. Although, I could only win against them since their shinsu reinforcement was still bad." Replied Kaizen as he used his fork to get another piece of the egg, and then stuffing it into his mouth.

"That is still good, when you just came in, you could barely hold back against one of them when they couldn't even use shinsu enhancement." Said Areum while she grabbed another piece of meat.

"How about you?" Asked Kaizen to the girls.

Kyong finished chewing first as she replied, "Things are being pretty easy since we do not have to care about passing the tests or not."

Meanwhile, Areum having swallowed another piece of meat said, "Most lessons are things my family taught me already. Although, before I became a regular, using shinsu was quite restricted. So, it is kind of fun to be able try things I could not do before."

"Well, you were pampered quite a lot then." Replied Kyong jokingly.

Although, both Kyong and Areum had the same family name, each of them had come from different branches of the Lo Po Bia Family, and thus, they had never met each other before. Thus, because of the conflict between their families they fought with each other as soon as they met.

But a few weeks passing where they had interacted with each other was enough for them to at least become more like rivals than enemies.

After a few other jokes between all three parties, they each bid farewell to each other before each of them left to their own rooms.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Looking around, Kaizen could not help but feel like they had angered Hex.

Kaizen and the other regulars that were all wearing summer clothes were now on the top of a mountain full of ice and snow. Behind them, a white house with a barrier could be seen. And now matter where else they looked; the regulars could not see anything other than the fog.

"Well then, this is the third special training spot, your test this this time will be quiet easy, you will only have to walk from here till the next house on the other mountain and retrieve a few items from there." Said Hex while wearing a sweater and warm pants inside the barrier where most of the cold outside could not invade.

"Now, do not look at me like this, you all have a map in your pockets showing you the way, and as long as you don't separate, you should be able to deal with most monsters by yourselves. So, go, the test starts now. I won't answer any questions. Ah, just a reminder you must complete this task within twenty-four hours. I don't want to stay in this cold place for much longer." Said Hex with an amused smile looking at the faces of the regulars who were barely able to move due to the cold.

But, having no choice but to move fast, the regulars all opened the map in their pockets before they started to move towards the next mountain.

Having already adapted to low temperatures till a certain degree, and having an affinity with ice itself, Kaizen seemed to be the person most comfortable in this weather even though both princesses didn't seem to be that affected by it.

Yet, at the start, they were met by a dilemma, to reach the other mountain, they could either pass through a series of old bridges which were linked directly to their destination, or to go all the way down the mountain and then climb up the other mountain which was supposed to be three thousand meters high an altitude of barely a thousand meters.

Here, the regulars ended up arguing a lot. So, they ended up dividing into two teams.

The first team was led by Anaak Jahad who wanted to finish the exam early. Along with her, two other regulars had chosen to follow her.

Meanwhile, the second team was led by Endorsi Jahad who didn't want the wind at the top of the bridge to mess up her hair. Following her, another two regulars who were afraid of heights.

This left only Kaizen who didn't know who he should follow. But, taking a second to think, Kaizen ended up choosing to go with Endorsi.

The reason he did that being that after he had unlocked his ice quality in the previous night, he suddenly started to feel like controlling shinsu was easier than before. And even though his shinsu controlling capabilities weren't high enough to do it for long times, he could still imbue his shinsu with the qualities of ice.

Because of that, he felt an intimate connection to his current environment. He felt like imbuing his shinsu with his quality was much easier here than in any other place he had been to before.

So, in order to better train himself, Kaizen chose to follow Endorsi through the longer way.

While moving down the mountain, some poor snow monkeys tried to ambush their team. But, with Endorsi there, they were nothing more than mush by the time thirty seconds had passed.

Even though he knew her capabilities, even Kaizen felt a bit surprised at seeing a group of thirty monkeys dying so tragically.

While looking at how the others were shivering while walking, Kaizen spoke up, "Hey, Endorsi, the next time we kill some of these monkeys, could you leave some with their fur intact? We could later skin them to make some coats for everyone?"

Turning to look towards him, Endorsi answered, "I don't mind leaving some of them intact, but remember to make a coat for me too."

Even though Endorsi looked like the cold didn't affect her much, and knowing that skinning those monkeys would take some time, Kaizen didn't dare to refuse her.

By the time five hours had passed, only three noticeable things happened. The first being the trail of blood left by the poor monkeys leading all the way to the bottom of the mountain. The second being that Kaizen had managed to imbue his ice quality into his shinsu enhancement. And the third being that everyone other than Kaizen were wearing white coats made from the fur of the monkeys that attacked them.

Although it took almost two hours to make coats suitable for everyone, their pace of walking became a bit faster since the other two regulars along Kaizen and Endorsi were not feeling as cold as they were before.

Having arrived at a valley from which one could climb to countless other mountains, Kaizen and the others became excited that they were nearing their destination. So, after taking another look at the map, they all headed to the northeast direction where the base of the mountain they were supposed to climb was at.

Even though, the climb was both long and dangerous since they at multiple occasions had to climb up walls which were higher than forty meters, and due to the attacks of snow eagles and monkeys, they were still able to climb up the mountain in less than six hours sue to Endorsi just decimating the monsters while the coats were able to keep them warm enough to continue moving.

So, by the time evening had arrived Kaizen, Endorsi and the others were able to see a small cottage made of wood.

Entering the cottage, all four of them started to search for the items they were supposed to bring back.

Kaizen managed to find a hook, one of the more popular weapons in the tower, which had a silver color with black stripes at its base in under five minutes. But just as he was about to touch it, he suddenly felt a dangerous feeling coming from it.

Thus, he instead looked around a bit more and managed to find a note in a drawer underneath the cabinet that contained the hook. In it, the following words were written:

[To touch the hook above here, you need to be reinforcing your body with shinsu. If at any point in time, you release the reinforcement while still holding the hook, the consequences could be unbearable.]

Thanking himself for obtaining the instinct skill, Kaizen quickly reinforced his body and then attempted to touch the hook again. This time, it felt as if he was grabbing a normal hook. So, with it in his hands Kaizen looked to see that each of them had found their items.

Then, while leaving the cottage, Kaizen overheard from the other two regulars which were behind him that each of their items also seemed to have certain conditions to them.

While normally, Kaizen would only be able to keep his reinforcement for about three hours, with their environment being filled with ice and snow, his shinsu control was much better than normal. Thus, Kaizen was able to last about nine hours with his reinforcement.

Thus, with the path and dangers in them already being known to the group, they were able to arrive back at their initial position in nine hours. Thus, completing the exam in twenty hours, Kaizen and his group were all overjoyed to finally be able to rest.

Surprisingly enough, Anaak and the two regulars with her took an additional hour to finish the exam.

As it could be seen, the cold winds at the heights they were in along with the birds which attacked them resulting in the break down of a few bridges resulted in them having to take a few detours that made them finish the exam later.

Due to this, for the entire next week, Endorsi could be seen with a smirk on her face while talking to Anaak after winning in their little competition. Meanwhile, Anaak which got annoyed of losing to Endorsi started to train even harder because of that.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

With the fourth week having passed in peace, Kaizen could now be seen seating in a sofa inside a comfortable room. In this room, another six sofas were placed each facing a screen. Sitting of the left one in the back, both Rak and Ghost could be seen. While in a sofa next to his, both Areum and Kyong were seating with a little bit of space in between them.

Meanwhile, in the other sofas, all the test instructors could be seen seating on couches with the exception of three people. The first two being Lero Ro and director Yu which were seating on top of a carpet with a small table in front of them. While Quant, the scout teacher could be seen in the screen inside a labyrinth like maze.

With the month coming to end, the final position exam was about to begin. And since he and the other four regulars sitting in the same room had already earned the right to go to the next floor or had passed the position test already, they could not participate in this exam.

Happy with his progress in the last week, where his progress in imbuing the ice quality into his shinsu had increased a lot due to his last trip to the special testing spot three. Kaizen spoke in his mind "Identity" as a screen that only he could see appeared right in front of him.

[Status]

Name: [Kaizen Ziel], Sobriquet: N/A

Age: 19 years old

Race: Human

Parameters: [The Heaven's Path 1-6]

Position: Light Bearer, Fisherman, Wave Controller.

Strength: F-Rank Regular

Toughness: E-Rank Regular

Intellect: E-Rank Regular

Agility: F-Rank Regular

Control: D-Rank Regular

Shinsu Resistance: C-Rank Regular

Shinsu: [Quality: Ice, Time], [Total: 5500], [Baang: 1], [Myun: 120], [Soo: 60], [Tension: 100:1]

Soul Tier: 2 (Hero Soul)

Karma: 220

Innates: [Stubborn Will: A], [Identity: S]

Skills: [Adapting Body: D], [Shinsu Enhancement: E], [Curse of the F-Rank Pocket: S], [Needle Technique: E], [Reel Technique: E], [Flow Control (Regular): F], [Instinct: F]

Alternative Titles: Is This the End of the First Training Arc? - Coldness That Chills the Hearts – Adapting Body Is the MVP