Chapter 97: The Madman’s Method

Lion Heart’s punch hit hard. Harder than I expected, and he hadn’t even gone all out. If he’d wanted to, I could’ve been dead.

I got up slowly, using the wall for support.

"What the hell was that?" I asked, wiping the blood off my face. "Are you trying to kill me?"

Lion Heart didn’t come at me. He stood on the other side of the room, laughing in my face.

"Quit the drama. I know you’re tougher than you look."

He crossed his arms and snorted.

"Look, we’re heading into dangerous territory, and I won’t always be around to protect you. Every group will get assigned different missions, and since I’m the only S-rank hunter out there, I’ll have to take the hardest ones. Which means you need to learn to handle yourself."

"So the training is just you beating me up until I build a resistance to life’s adversities, or what?"

"Not at all."

Lion Heart uncrossed one arm and waved me over.

"Come at me with everything you’ve got. But no skills. Just raw body strength."

He wasn’t using his either. His body was a lot smaller than mine, even less muscular. If he’d used his power, that ship would’ve been destroyed.

I ignored the pain running through my whole body and ran at him as fast as I could. With quick movements, I circled around him, going from his front to his side in less than a second.

I clenched my fist hard and punched at his ribs. A fast, precise hit right to the side of his body.

The force behind it was high enough to make a whooshing sound. But the moment my fist landed on his ribs, it felt like I was hitting solid stone.

Or worse. I could still break a stone. His body? It was like the force behind my punch didn’t even exist, like I was a mosquito hitting his side.

It wasn’t the first time I’d landed hits on him, but he seemed even tougher than he’d ever been. How was that possible? What was this guy made of?

I threw more hits in a row, each one as strong as the last, or stronger. The anger at not being able to hurt him made me hit even harder.

Lion Heart twisted his body, grabbed me with both hands, and threw me across the room like I was paper. I crossed the room almost instantly and slammed into the wall, the same way as before.

The impact was so strong it felt like the room shook a little.

The pain spread through my whole body, pulsing in every part of it.

"Rest, and then we’ll keep going," Lion Heart said, and sat down in a meditation pose.

"Your hits are good. Lots of strength and speed. Don’t feel bad that they don’t seem to do anything. It’s just because I’m really strong, but at your level, I think you’re stronger than every hunter I brought with us."

Now that was a real compliment, no doubt about it. The second strongest hunter on a ship packed with skilled people.

"Thanks. But I still don’t get the point of this training," I said, asking him again. "My hits can’t hurt you, and any one of yours breaks me in half. What’s the logic?"

"The logic is simple. A hunter’s body can adapt and improve through dangerous fights. Doing that in the real world is hard, since you can’t play with death against people or monsters that actually want to kill you. But here, in a controlled environment, we can."

That lunatic’s training was basically beating me until I got better. Insane.

Well, I thought it was insane the first time I ended up with so many broken bones I couldn’t move, and the second time, and the third time...

Luckily, my vitality was so high I recovered in about 10 minutes, sometimes even less. Maybe that was why Lion Heart picked such a crazy training method. Not everyone could survive something this bizarre.

I figured it wouldn’t be all that productive, but it turned out to be the exact opposite. After almost dying around 6 times, the system sent me a notification, though even without reading it I could feel my body getting better.

[+5 points to all attributes]

I was shocked by what I read. Five points might sound small, but to all attributes? That was huge. Not to mention that the higher my attributes got, the harder it was to raise them. That was why, even after absorbing a lot of crystals, the power gain was much smaller.

Lion Heart noticed the change in my expression.

"Got your attributes, didn’t you? I told you this is a great training method, and it works even better since you’re tough and recover fast. We can do sessions like this every day. Maybe not as long as this one, because I’m tired already."

He stood up and headed for the door.

"That’s it for today. We’ll continue the training first thing tomorrow."

Lion Heart opened the training room door and left. I stayed there a bit until I was fully recovered, which took about 10 minutes.

I got up and left the room, and in the gym I saw two hunters on board training with the special weights, the kind that could improve even hunters far stronger than those two.

They saw me and noticed right away that I was in bad shape.

"What happened to you? You’re all busted up. Did you hurt yourself training alone?"

The two of them laughed. The guy who hadn’t spoken yet pointed up.

"Wait, I know who you are. Aren’t you the rich kid with the special room on the ship? How much did you pay for something like that?"

Of course people had already spread the word that I had a more luxurious room in a different wing from the regular ones. I didn’t know why, but I immediately suspected Lion Heart had done it on purpose so I’d start fights with everyone. Coming from him, I wouldn’t put it past him.

I looked at those two idiots with a sarcastic smile on my face.

"There are two ways to get a better room on the ship. The first is being strong, and the second is being someone important. Unfortunately, I don’t think either of you fits into those groups. But I’m glad you’re training, at least trying to fit into the strong one."

I walked past them toward the exit. "See you."

I could feel their angry eyes on my back. Neither of them made a move. In the end, we were all on the same team, but I wasn’t going to lower my guard, of course.

I went back to my room, absorbed some monster crystals, ate, rested, slept. The next day I trained with Lion Heart again, and I kept up that routine for at least 10 days.

After 10 days, things had changed. We weren’t sailing through known waters anymore, safe places where nothing dangerous happened to us.

We’d entered the outskirts of the new continent. A fog formed around us, making it hard to see.

Lion Heart called everyone together for a talk. And once again, he was being a complete madman.

"We’re almost at the new continent. I estimate we’ll arrive in 2 or 3 days. From now on, creatures will try to attack this ship, and it’s your job to defend it. I’ll be resting in my room. If things get ugly, or if I notice the ship might get destroyed, I’ll come save you. This is the first test to see if you can work as a team, and if you’re really skilled. See you."

He walked slowly to his room, ignoring every question the hunters asked him. Nobody tried to stop him, of course. That would be courting death.

I stood there with all the other hunters, who soon started a vote.

A young guy with black hair and a face that reminded me of a scam artist decided to speak up loudly, getting everyone’s attention.

"First thing is deciding who gives the orders. A leader is important for choosing the best moves during combat, and judging by what Lion Heart said, combat’s going to be normal from now on."

He paused dramatically, but I already knew what this guy was going to say. It was way too obvious.

"I’m putting myself forward as that leader, to guide all of you over these next few days. What do you think? I believe I’m more than qualified."

And that was how a free-for-all started.

"We’re all qualified, otherwise we wouldn’t be here. Why can’t I be the leader? Huh? What do you have that I don’t?"

"Aren’t you just wanting this position to impress Lion Heart? You’ve got some nerve, kid."

I kept quiet. Trouble was the last thing I wanted to get into. But of course trouble came to me anyway, like always.

Those two guys who’d seen me in the gym spoke up loudly, right when the ship’s deck had gone quiet.

"What about that guy over there, who looks like a close friend of Lion Heart? He even has a luxury room away from the rest of us. He must be skilled, right?"

All those bastards turned to stare at me.