Chapter 231: Not the Same Level of Effort!
Hagun Academy's school year began in April, and early mornings still carried traces of cold during this period.
With several days remaining before classes officially started, Luke and Ikki had plenty of time for training.
Ikki's morning training consisted of running, mainly to maintain his physical condition.
For people like Luke and Ikki who had trained relentlessly for years, pure training could hardly provide growth in strength anymore.
Only through countless years of persistence could they improve through gradual accumulation - more often, it was about maintaining physical condition rather than improving it.
Though running was a common form of exercise, the running that Luke and Ikki did was far from ordinary.
Ikki's talent for magic was extremely low, so to compensate for this deficiency, he pushed himself to the absolute limit in physical training.
The total running distance was about twenty kilometers, but rather than easy jogging, it alternated between full sprints and sudden stops with slow jogging mixed in.
Ikki deliberately increased cardiopulmonary burden through this method to strengthen his heart and lung functions.
This self-destructive training method that could damage the body was only sustainable because he was a Blazer - ordinary people would certainly die from overexertion.
Even for a Blazer, it would be impossible to maintain such training without extremely firm resolve.
"Luke, you're really amazing..."
Ikki looked at Luke with admiration.
They had just finished morning training and were walking toward the student cafeteria.
Along the way, Ikki kept looking at Luke with admiring eyes.
His special training method was impossible for ordinary people to maintain, yet Luke, experiencing it for the first time, hadn't even broken a sweat.
Even Ikki, who had long been accustomed to this kind of training, was drenched in sweat after completing the full course.
In contrast, Luke showed no change whatsoever compared to before the exercise.
"As expected of S-rank physical ability evaluation. This level of training must be far below your usual, right?"
"Hmm... purely in terms of training volume, there is quite a gap, but your method is indeed interesting."
After personally experiencing Ikki's training method, he found it quite unique.
Traditional training methods in his country always emphasized following 'principles', pursuing solid foundations, etc.
They rarely used methods that purely pursued efficiency regardless of consequences.
Ikki's approach that ignored 'safety' or could be called hasty wasn't supported in his home country, but was advocated by many Western countries.
As for which was superior, that was a matter of personal opinion.
Luke and Ikki exchanged many training insights along the way, chatting as they arrived at the student cafeteria.
As soon as they entered, they saw Stella, who had also just arrived.
"Where did you two go so early in the morning?"
"I wanted to train with you, but no one answered after I knocked for ages."
The moment she saw the two boys, the girl couldn't help complaining.
After watching Luke and Ikki's sword duel, Stella knew she was far behind them in terms of skill.
So partly because they were the only people she knew at the academy, and partly because she wanted to become stronger.
Stella had purposely gotten up early today, intending to train with them.
Getting up before six was very painful for a teenage girl, especially for someone of her status, but she endured it for the sake of becoming stronger.
But after knocking on their dormitory door for a long time with no response, and carefully listening at the door to confirm no one was inside, the discouraged girl could only train alone.
"Where else would we be early in the morning?"
"Ikki and I got up at five for morning training."
"F-five o'clock?!"
Stella looked at Luke in disbelief.
"That means... even though I got up early on purpose, I was still almost an hour later than you?!"
Though hard to believe, Stella could see Luke wasn't lying, and Ikki beside him was nodding to confirm his words.
In that moment, the girl finally understood why these two far surpassed her in both skill and physical ability.
It was simply not the same level of effort.
Gritting her teeth, Stella firmly told Luke and Ikki:
"Tomorrow I'm joining your morning training!"
"Uh... you don't have to be so fixated on morning training."
Ikki spoke up to discourage her.
"There are many opportunities to train together. As a girl, Stella-san doesn't need to get up as early as we do."
Ikki knew well that getting up as early as he and Luke did was actually abnormal, so he felt Stella didn't need to emulate them.
Moreover, given their training intensity, Stella with her B-rank physical ability might not be able to keep up.
Tomorrow, Ikki even planned to adjust some training methods based on Luke's suggestions, which might make the training even more strenuous.
"No! Please include me in your morning training! I don't want to lose to anyone in terms of effort!"
Stella firmly rejected Ikki's suggestion.
She had come here to become stronger.
Stella possessed unparalleled talent, enough on its own to support her becoming a world-class powerhouse.
But that was far from enough - Stella's goals went far beyond that.
Unparalleled talent plus effort far beyond normal people was what ultimately created true powerhouses.
A small country like the Kingdom of Vermillion would never have true international influence without an absolute powerhouse who could look down on all other forces.
Now, the path to becoming stronger had appeared before her.
There were people who worked harder than her, not just a little harder, and not just one person.
That being the case, how could she stay stagnant?
Luke and Ikki both had areas where they surpassed her.
Though Stella, having never actually fought Ikki, was confident she wouldn't lose to an F-rank knight, she had to acknowledge the fact that she was far behind Ikki in swordsmanship.
With renewed determination, the girl's mood improved greatly, even increasing her appetite far beyond normal.
Thus, through the efforts of Luke and an overperforming Stella, the cafeteria's prepared breakfast was completely cleared out.
Luke, Stella, and Ikki finished their breakfast under the despairing gaze of the cafeteria staffs.
The next day, as she had said, Stella resolutely joined Luke and Ikki's morning run.
Then, the girl collapsed halfway through the training...
On the third day, the unrelenting Stella still hadn't given up.
Then, the girl threw up halfway through...
On the fourth day...
"Luke, should we wait for her?"
Ikki looked back worriedly at Stella, who was far behind them but persisting with the same pace.
"If you do that, she'll definitely scold you."
Luke could see that Stella truly intended to complete the same training regimen as them. Though she couldn't do it at first, she was genuinely trying her hardest.
In fact, Stella was improving at an astonishing rate.
From initially fainting from exhaustion, to later having nausea, to finally today barely managing to follow behind them and complete the training.