Duke’s Son: Re

Chapter 7

What was required of players was “minimum knowledge” and ‘strong martial power’.

Of course, if a player who excelled in both academics and combat skills emerged, the entire nation would erupt in cheers.

However, artificially nurturing such talents was highly inefficient.

Coincidentally, Korea was a country lacking players.

Lion’s Castle focused more on practice-based education rather than theoretical teachings.

The theory lessons ended after three hours every morning. Even that was considered a lot because they were freshmen.

‘What on earth am I doing?’

After what was a rather enjoyable lunch break.

Jaehyuk, upon visiting the 6th training ground, was left speechless.

The lesson content was 『Skill Practice』.

To ask someone without skills to hone their skills?

“Yap!”

“Haap!!”

Unlike Jaehyuk, who stood idly, other students engaged zealously in the class.

Each of them set up various targets in front of them and repeatedly used skills from the combat, magic, healing, and support categories.

Students who had mastered manufacturing skills had moved to the research building.

“Hmph.”

Jinsung, deploying the 『Attack Wave』 skill, which ignored the opponent’s defenses and shook their insides, gave Jaehyuk a triumphant smile.

While spouting nonsense about not acting cocky despite being green.

‘Being young must mean being full of vigor.’

Jinsung, Chun Hyeji, and Baesoo eventually apologized to Jaehyuk.

They sincerely apologized for speaking ill of ‘the parents of their classmates’.

However, they did not apologize for insulting the ‘great nation’s duke’.

Jaehyuk deliberately forgave them.

– Young students exposed to media that disparaged Yaksha and the Kang family would harbor prejudices against you and would not hesitate to be hostile.

The words of the director lingered in Jaehyuk’s mind.

Jaehyuk clearly understood what he needed to do.

‘I must restore the lost honor of my family.’

When he was locked up at home, practicing with his sword, he only had the singular focus of surviving and exacting revenge.

His plan was to return the pain a thousandfold to the people who left his father in that state and then eliminate them, delivering severe punishment to the Korean government and association that forgot their debt.

And he believed that he would find peace once he restored his father to his former self and regained his honor.

However, his thoughts changed in just half a day after entering Lion’s Castle.

His revenge couldn’t merely end with crude violence. It needed to result in restoring his father’s and family’s honor.

So that Dahui, who revered the great nation’s duke, wouldn’t become a laughingstock.

So that kids like Jinsung might one day spit on the graves of those who would meet their end at his hand.

“Why are you having a staring contest with a scarecrow?”

The practice instructor approached.

“With your impressive stature, could you be the rumored transfer student? It’s your first day, so I understand it must be awkward. You might think hitting these trivial targets, rather than living monsters, is meaningless.”

“It’s not that, I don’t have any skills… hm, yes.”

“But, you see, skills can accumulate a small amount of experience when you ‘use’ them and achieve a ‘purpose’. Regular practice, even outside the gate, can greatly help level up your skills.”

“Looking at them, it doesn’t seem to help much, though?”

Jaehyuk pointed at the few already exhausted students.

The level of Class B students was 1. They had low mana capacity. For most of them, the limit was using a skill 2 to 3 times.

“Wouldn’t it be better to hunt monsters and increase the level during this time? Isn’t Lion’s Castle filled with monsters?”

“Your point is valid. It’s a reasonable thought. But monsters are more vicious and dangerous than you might think. There are too many variables for a newly awakened player to handle. I am living proof of that.”

The instructor lifted his arms. As his loose sleeves fell to his elbows, the artificial joints were revealed.

He had prosthetic limbs.

“You all need to first get used to the gate’s environment, learn strategies based on the terrain, and understand monster information. Practicing skills during this process considerably helps. Even practicing hitting the target consistently, no matter how few times, increases the skill’s hit accuracy and allows for discovering various usages. This is something one needs to realize on their own, not something taught by others.”

“Because the skills vary per individual.”

“That’s right. Now, try using a skill yourself.”

“Skill…”

“Hmm?”

“Well, I’ll just warm up first.”

Jaehyuk decided against explaining that he wasn’t an awakened person.

The morning’s experience had come to mind.

He didn’t want to go through the ordeal of hearing the same explanations again.

‘I should visit the director and ask for my class to be changed.’

As he heard, classes from A to C were made up of awakened students.

Classes from D to F focused on skill blossoming for non-awakened students.

‘Wait… if Class B is this level, wouldn’t the level be too low if I go to Class D?

More than anything, it didn’t seem likely that the director mistakenly placed me in Class B.

He guessed there must be some reason behind it, and he wanted to find out what that reason was.

Jaehyuk stood directly in front of the scarecrow.

Swoosh.

He bent his waist and inclined his upper body.

With his left hand, he gripped the scabbard, while his right hand clutched the sword handle.

‘Just think of it as training as usual.’

There was no reason to be disappointed with the lesson content.

Did the training environment matter?

No, everything depended on one’s mindset.

He just needed to act as he always did.

Swish-!

The sword-drawing technique, which he practiced more than ten thousand times a day, created a flash of light.

“…”

A silence lingered afterward.

The instructor, whose eyes were about to pop out, was at a loss for words.

Crack, crackle!!

As Jaehyuk, who had already sheathed his sword, prepared for his next strike, the scarecrow let out a shriek.

‘Hmm?’

Jaehyuk tilted his head in curiosity.

Students who had been chanting exaggerated skill names like Meteor, Excalibur, or Firestorm and causing a fuss went silent for a moment.

“Oh, my god…”

The person who broke the silence was the practice instructor.

“It reminds me of the strike of Yaksha, whom I met in my youth.”

“You know my father? Hehe.”

Jaehyuk smiled brightly, delighted by the greatest compliment.

Moreover, the instructor’s expression while discussing Yaksha was filled with respect.

He felt sure that the instructor was a good person.

“Thunder…? Hmm, from the looks of it, a wind attribute?”

“…?”

“I vaguely recall hearing rumors about skills passed down through bloodlines, but seeing it with my own eyes is truly astonishing.”

What’s with this sudden shift in the narrative?

Is this place legitimate…?

‘Well, actually, it’s convenient. So they’re mistaking my swordsmanship for a skill?’

Now, I wouldn’t have to sit around sucking my thumb during class time.

As Jaehyuk, a moment later, resumed his stance.

“Sir, the scarecrow isn’t recovering!”

One student shouted.

Indeed.

The scarecrow that Jaehyuk had just slashed hung in a battered state.

“Gasp…! A magical engineering scarecrow with durability to withstand hundreds of C-rank player skills…! Taken down in one strike!!”

“R-really?”

This time it was Jaehyuk who was surprised.

Was he that strong?

Realizing a fact he hadn’t known, his heart felt like it would burst.

“Hold on… come to think of it, hasn’t it been in use for about ten years? It makes sense it would wear out. Use the one next to it.”

“… Alright.”

Mumbling to himself, Jaehyuk grumbled after having gotten his hopes up for nothing.

Despite his mood, his swordsmanship was displayed just as neatly as usual.

This time, the students witnessed Jaehyuk’s attack.

“I couldn’t even see it… Could that be Sword Wind?”

“Isn’t that the ultimate skill of B-rank idol Shin Suji?”

“Wow. There are now two Sword Wind bearers in Korea.”

The students were making a fuss.

Some even clapped.

Meanwhile, the practice instructor’s expression grew serious.

“This is definitely not Sword Wind.”

‘Oh.’

Was he finally realizing that this wasn’t a skill?

Yes, the instructor should be sensible.

“This is a light attribute combat skill. It’s so fast and powerful it appears like a flash of light…”

“The legendary light attribute…!”

“Not quite legendary…”

‘They’re full of nonsense.’

Jaehyuk, frustrated without a way to release his feelings, just focused on his training.

Perhaps due to the age of the other scarecrows, they could not withstand more than two strikes of his swordsmanship.

As a result, the instructor became busy, and the students gradually became spellbound.

“Does he keep using his skill like that?”

“With power like that and lower mana consumption?”

“Maybe he just has high magic stats? He might have messed up his first skill and stat synergy, just like that idiot label some people gave him.”

“…”

From Jaehyuk’s perspective, it felt ridiculous.

The misunderstanding from the instructor and students was not due to them being dumb.

Even the power of a level 1 player’s skills was only effective against E-rank monsters.

Though it was said to surpass an ordinary person’s strength several times over, compared with Jaehyuk, the disparity was too great.

Jaehyuk’s physical abilities and techniques demonstrated power far beyond the realm of common sense.

In other words, Jaehyuk stood outside the norms of sense.

Despite being unawakened, he didn’t relate at all to students much weaker than himself.

‘These guys are weaker than random bandits.’

He lamented, comparing the recently activated B-rank players who invaded his mansion to the freshly awakened students.