Training (2)

"Haa…! Haa…! Where…?"

I looked around. It was quiet.

"Ah…"

I died.

The pain was still so vivid that it hurt my head when I thought of it.

"Haa… haa…"

I didn't… want to go through that again.

'That was horrible and terrifying…'

The fall… the gradually increasing speed of my fall and the fear of pain that loomed over me as I went down the cliff had become a horror to me. The death was instant with only a second to experience the pain. But that pain was enough to make me shudder. My bones were shattered, my muscles snapping out of their bindings— I was squashed, completely.

"Fuck… I have to go through that again."

I regressed back… meaning I had to go through that pain again.

"What the hell is this difficulty… so fucking hard."

'Let's not think about that now.'

It was only going to terrify me more.

"Fuu… now, the stats."

I didn't check my stats before I died but they must have gained a bit of a rise, right?

'The growth of stats is dependent on how high your stats are. The lower they are, the easier it is to raise them. In that sense, my stats should be a bit higher, right?'

Only one way to find out.

"Status."

NAME- KIND YULEN

RACE- HUMAN

STRENGTH- 2.089

ENDURANCE- 2.067

SPEED- 2.736

PERCEPTION- 9.000

MANA- [sealed]

SKILL(s)-

Reading (Grade-1), Regression (Grade-1)

"Wow…"

What bullshit.

Except for my strength and endurance, the others were left untouched. And the increase wasn't something I was proud of.

"'The lower they are, the easier it is to raise them' my ass. Which part of this is easy?"

I was not disappointed, but frustrated. If we were to go by this, then it would take thousands of regressions to have my stats at a satisfactory level.

"Haa… do I really have no choice?"

No, there was no point in getting depressed. Let's look at the bright side.

"I have all the time in the world."

No matter how long it would take, regression would reset the time anyway. I could raise my stats steadily and slowly to the maximum.

"But I will have to die… painfully."

I was a human. Of course, I would look for ways to avoid pain as much as possible. Dying painfully once was enough for me. I didn't want to go through that again.

'But I have no choice.'

I had to get squashed thousands of times…

"Ugh… what a terrifying thought."

Anyway, that was the only thing I could do.

"Let's get out of this bed first."

***

"I am not going to change my mind so please don't ask me that."

Before Master could ask, I blurted out the answer. If possible I wanted to skip past this part but too bad, there was no 'skip' option in reality.

"How…?"

But it seemed like I managed to fluster Master. I had been seeing more and more change in Master's face.

'That's a good sign. I can probably use this fact in my favour in future.'

"Your face makes it obvious."

"Oh… a-ahem! Anyway, follow me."

Here we go again.

***

We reached the cliff, the cliff still standing tall and proudly.

"Hmm… un—"

I didn't need to hear what he was saying. I already knew.

"I have to undress, right?"

"Yes…"

I took off my clothes and threw them away in the dirt. They weren't needed anymore since I was going to die.

'But I wonder if it will be easy this time around…'

Could I reach thirty?

I looked up at the cliff and received the condescending gaze of the cliff.

'Yeah… there's not much hope.'

But there was a slight chance. I knew the technique and the proper amount of strength needed to climb.

'But the main issue is the descent.'

The ascent was easy in itself, just needed a bit of struggle. But the descent was way tougher and more dangerous. One wrong step and I fall to my death. I didn't even know any kind of technique to pull the descent off.

My eyes rolled to Master.

'Would he give me some tips if I asked him?'

But seeing his icy gaze fall on me, I had to shoot down the idea.

'Haa… this is useless.'

No matter. if I fell to my death, I would regress anyway. Maybe I could overcome one of my fears— pain. Yes, this was a great opportunity to get rid of something that might hinder me in the future.

"What are you waiting for?"

"Ah, I am sorry."

"Get going."

"Yes."

'Let's aim for 21 times first.'

Let's go.

***

"Hmm…"

Musashi kept following the boy's movements as if they were stuck.

A hint of suspicion flashed in his eyes.

'He seems to be coping too well.'

He shouldn't have been able to perform this well if it was his first time. Was it not his first time going through rigorous training like this one?

'No, that can't be.'

Small changes in someone's expression tell a lot about them. When Musashi put forward the training, the look in Kind's eyes surely changed for the worse. It was clear he was shaken up.

'But this boy… he is too good.'

Could he be a genius? After all, he had the body of the Sword God. It wouldn't be too much of a surprise if he turned out to be a genius.

"Hmm… I must be overthinking things."

***

"Just a… bit more…"

Shit, should I just let go?

The 30th ascent wasn't too far. Maybe just a few inches but my body had long given up. It was purely my will that was keeping me going on.

"Fuck… not again."

I could feel my grip getting weaker and weaker. It was only a matter of time before I fell.

"Just a little… fuck…"

I gave up and fell to my death.

I wonder how many times I had to go through this…

***