Ryuuzaki wasn't tall, nor was he strong, but that hardly mattered, everyone here was more or less in the same miserable boat.
"Screw you!"
Without hesitation, Ryuuzaki rammed his forehead straight into his opponent's face.
[Congratulations, Host. Basic Martial Arts Talent Unlocked.]
Just as the fight started, a mechanical voice from the system chimed in again.
Ryuuzaki immediately opened his panel, and found several new talents had appeared.
Talent: Basic Martial Arts (6)
Talent: Basic Fist Techniques (8)
Talent: Basic Kicking Techniques (7)
Just from picking a fight? That unlocked new talents?!
"Hey, system, what exactly triggers the unlocking of new talents?"
He was excited. Sure, his stats were garbage, even an average person would have double digits, but this system…
This Talent Reset System allowed him to redistribute all his talent points however he liked.
The system's response was as indifferent as ever:
[Please explore and discover the conditions yourself.]
"Ugh, seriously? Fine, I'll figure it out."
Now, Ryuuzaki's total talents looked like this:
Basic Strength (3)
Basic Stamina (5)
Basic Martial Arts (6)
Basic Fist Techniques (8)
Basic Kicking Techniques (7)
Basic Marksmanship (8)
Throwing (4)
A total of 41 points. Much better than before!
Ryuuzaki chose to reset everything, dumping all 41 points into Basic Stamina.
Now, it's worth noting: Talent ≠ Skill Level.
For example, his Basic Stamina talent at 41 meant his potential in that area had increased roughly eightfold, not that his current stamina had done the same.
It simply meant that for the same training effort, his gains would be drastically higher, assuming other factors didn't interfere.
At this point, even with 41 in talent, his Basic Stamina level was still LV1.
The fight continued.
Ryuuzaki was exhausted, but so was his opponent.
If I'm done for, then so are you.
Not far away, Kalifa sat catching her breath. She glanced over with a deadpan look.
"Boys really are something. Wasting energy on fighting now? Let's see how they last tomorrow."
Eventually, both boys gave up. Neither had the strength to keep going.
That night, after a bland dinner, the children all passed out from sheer exhaustion.
The Next Morning
Before sunrise, they were all shaken awake.
Back to running.
No one dared complain. Even dragging their tired legs, everyone forced themselves to move.
Later that morning, another child collapsed.
Ryuuzaki gritted his teeth and pushed on.
Thanks to his talent boost, by the end of the day, his Basic Stamina had leveled up to LV2.
Leveling up meant increasing potential, and survival chances.
"Just as I thought. With the same training, the higher your talent, the greater the return."
After several days of brutal elimination, the remaining children, those who survived, had stamina talents of at least 35.
By day eight, Ryuuzaki had reached LV4 in Basic Stamina.
Naturally, the higher the level, the more grueling the grind became.
That afternoon, after the morning run, the man in the black suit finally clapped his hands.
"That's enough."
By now, only seven or eight kids remained.
All the weak ones had been weeded out, either lacking in body or in will. Those left… had potential.
"Good. You've passed."
He straightened his tie and introduced himself:
"My name is Bark. I'm your commanding officer."
A pause.
"From now on, your training will be even harsher than these runs. There is only one thing you need to remember,
Absolute obedience to justice!
The weak… have no right to survive."
With that, Bark led them away to a different location.
An uninhabited island.
It had its own group of children, already undergoing training.
One group was running laps. Another, taller bunch, was practicing stances in the sun, fists swinging in perfect rhythm.
"Commander Bark!"
Another suited man came jogging over. Likely one of his subordinates.
"Take this new batch and get them settled."
"Understood!"
The island had simple housing and basic medical supplies. A training base in every sense.
Besides Bark, there were four officers stationed here.
The newcomers' first task: physical conditioning.
Without a strong body, you were nothing.
Before that, though, they were assigned dorms and fed a full meal, likely their last comfort before hell began.
There were only two outcomes here:
Live. Or die.
Escape? Impossible. This was an island in the middle of nowhere.
Survival meant one thing, train like mad.
Weakness was sin.
This… was the closed-off world of intelligence agents.
Ryuuzaki didn't want to die. From his first day here, he pushed himself to the edge, pounding his stamina limit again and again.
During the day, he trained.
At night, he strategized: How can I unlock more talents?
Because 41 points… was still far too little.
That's when he met someone new.
Rob Lucci.
And this guy's talents were monstrous:
Basic Stamina (99)
Basic Strength (98)
Basic Martial Arts (98)
Basic Fist Techniques (96)
Basic Kicking Techniques (97)
Everything, above 90.
Ryuuzaki came to a painful realization:
If your talents were in the 90s… that was probably Admiral-tier potential.
Compared to Lucci, he was trash. Literal trash.
Lucci's lowest stat was higher than Ryuuzaki's combined total.
Not even halfway to one of his scores.
This is suffering.
After dinner that evening, Ryuuzaki didn't head straight to bed.
Instead, he made his way to the equipment storage room.
He wasn't authorized for weapon training yet, only physical drills, but he knew he could request access.
Sure enough, one of the deputy officers was standing guard. He paused as Ryuuzaki approached.
"You're that rookie, Ryuuzaki, right?"
"Yes, sir!"
"Not sleeping? What are you doing here?"
"Sir, I'd like to start learning how to use weapons."
"Oh?"
The officer chuckled.
"Ambitious, huh? Fine, look around. Do what you can."
With permission granted, Ryuuzaki stepped into the storage room.
He picked up a sword leaning in the corner.
Just a regular sword, nothing special.
He didn't actually plan on learning swordsmanship right away.
But he had a theory.
Last time, throwing a small rock had unlocked Marksmanship and Throwing.
So what if he tried swinging a sword?
Would it unlock something like Swordsmanship Talent?
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200 P.S = 1 Extra Chapter