Chapter 1341

Chapter 1341

Athena had been training with the Beyond the Heavens Empire troops for a day now. In that short time, she realized that the words “training madmen” fit them.

After they saluted her and told her they would see her tomorrow, she wanted to grab the soldiers by the collar, but she did not have the strength to do that. After finishing this hellish training, all Athena wanted to do was go back to her own home, considering that she had only trained with them for a day.

‘The Goddess of War’s Charm did not even have an opportunity to show off its power...’

The Goddess of War’s Charm was a power that fascinated the soldiers. Of course, just because it could fascinate the soldiers did not mean that all Athena needed to do was to sit there. The skill would only show its true power if she could show them something special or surprise them by doing something their current commander could not do.

Of course, this was not Athena's only power. She had plenty of other strengths. For example, she had a skill called Growing with the Goddess. This power quadrupled the soldiers’ stats and skill proficiency when they trained alongside her.

[Current Growth Rate: 13%.]

At this moment, someone approached the exhausted Athena. It was none other than Spear God Ben.

“Hoho. You must have had it hard today, huh?”

‘Had it hard?!’

Athena thought as her hands slowly clenched into fists.

After her outburst, they trained for four more hours. They only stopped at six o’clock in the evening. The worst part? There wasn’t any break between the training sessions. They were a group of training junkies.

“You must be thinking that our Beyond the Heavens Empire is a bit peculiar, no?”

“It’s not peculiar per se. It feels more like madness to me.” Athena spoke bluntly. How else would she describe them if not mad?

Spear God Ben chuckled lightly. “When the Beyond the Heavens Empire was still the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, our royal army was ignored and mocked by all of the imperial armies on the continent.”

None of the people in the Gaia Continent knew this. Although it sounded absurd, it was the truth. When the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom was newly established and promoted from a small territory, its military force was considered the weakest among all the armies.

“Not only did we have a lot of people who were lacking in terms of mental power, but we also had a lot of people who were weak and could not even complete the training. Most of our men were also lazy. Why? Because they thought that nothing would change even if they had been trained. At first, I was plagued with worries. I often wondered how I would go about training this lot.”

Ben was one of the most significant contributors to the creation of the Beyond the Heavens Empire now.

“At that time, His Majesty Minhyuk stepped forward. He did not do anything special. He just ran together with the soldiers while they were running and slowly increased the intensity of the training.”

It was an astonishing story. The commanders trained with their soldiers daily, and even their emperor, Minhyuk, trained with them.

“How can the soldiers be lazy when their king runs and participates in the training? So, they all ran. And how can our old bones rest when our supreme commander is training? So, we ran together with him.

“A day like that passed by. Two days... three days...

“He continued to run while slowly increasing the intensity of the training. Of course, there were a lot of people who fell after reaching the limits of their physical bodies. Some fell after reaching the limits of their mental power. Nonetheless, he supported them and gave them a lot of items, including potions, to help them survive the training.

“That’s how they were able to endure the training. And eventually, they started to break through the limits of their bodies.

“With our days passing like this, the nation hailed as the weakest was suddenly called a powerhouse.

“At one point, the Beyond the Heavens Empire began to think that it was natural for all the vassals who supported the empire to train together with the army.

“I’m sure you know that most powerhouses leading this era are in the Beyond the Heavens Empire.”

Athena had only heard rumors about this. That was why she came here. She wanted to confirm if the rumors were true. As a result, she had confirmed that the great powerhouses of the Gaia Continent could not recklessly fight against the vassals of the Beyond the Heavens Empire.

“Some say that we, the vassals of the Beyond the Heavens Empire, were the ones who created the empire of today. However, they’re only half correct.

“The Beyond the Heavens Empire of today is here because His Majesty was with us, every step of the way.”

Athena’s pupils shook. Her eyes seemed to have opened to an entirely new commander concept. And this commander was someone whom the Beyond the Heavens Empire’s troops thought was natural and commonplace. Of course, if they had a leader like that, the people he was leading would also be extremely determined and strong-willed.

As she thought of the Beyond the Heavens Empire troops, Athena could not help but rethink her views about their emperor, Minhyuk.

‘It’s something that neither I nor Lord Zeus can do.’

Yet he, Minhyuk, did it.

“So, what I’m saying here is...” Ben smiled. “...don’t skip tomorrow’s training.”

“...”

In the end, the moral of the story was... still about training.

***

[Goddess of War Athena has opened her eyes to something new.]

[This new realization came from your thoughts, completely different from the other commanders’ thinking.]

[Perhaps this realization will help her become a better and more outstanding Goddess of War.]

[Athena’s favor has increased.]

[Athena’s favor has increased.]

[All of your stats have increased by 1%.]

[Your CHA has increased by 3%.]

“...?”

The notifications that suddenly rang in Minhyuk’s ears left him confused.

‘Well. It’s a good thing, so there’s no problem.’

Perhaps the ones who had learned something new were not the soldiers of the Beyond the Heavens Empire but the Goddess of War, Athena.

Meanwhile, Minhyuk had captured the hearts of Rance and Ares’ Elite Troops. Now that the pesky things were out of the way, he intended to start training earnestly. Minhyuk had thought about what kind of training he would let them do.

Whether swordsmanship, marksmanship, spearmanship, or horseback riding, Ares’ troops were superior to the Beyond the Heavens Empire’s army. They had already reached such a high level in their skills that they had reached the point where they couldn't grow any further.

From what he had heard, the intensity of Ares’s army’s training was lower than that of the Beyond the Heavens Empire. So, how were they able to grow this far? Of course, Minhyuk knew the reason for this.

‘Ares and Athena both possess powers that help their troops grow rapidly.’

His assumptions were very accurate. Of course, although they were called Ares’ Elite Troops, they were also the pride of the entire Gaia Continent. Because of that, there was a high chance that Athena would have lent her strength and helped them grow and develop.

Minhyuk also had a power similar to Athena's. However, it was impossible for him to let them grow in such an unconventional way, especially since they had already achieved a very high level of growth. If that was the case, there was only one way to go.

‘Let’s do it just like when I asked them to climb the mountain.’

Minhyuk’s training method was to constantly push them until they reached their physical limits. Only then would they be able to grow further.

He tied sandbags weighing thirty kilograms on the wrists of each of the soldiers. Ares’ Elite Troops were very familiar with these sandbags. Ares had also made them wear these sandbags. If there was something different, then it was the fact that it was much heavier than the ones Ares had asked them to wear.

“What should we do next?”

Of course, the viewers were still watching the situation.

[Wow. Their gazes are completely different from yesterday.]

[They were obviously looking down on Minhyuk when they first met yesterday, but...]

[Right now, they look willing to jump into the line of fire for him, no?]

[The important thing is what will happen from this point on. The diplomatic commander’s goal is to help them grow further. Even though Minhyuk has won their hearts, their favor will drop again if he can’t help them grow.]

[We must remember that this is a system where the favor can both increase or decrease depending on the circumstances.]

Rance looked expectantly at Minhyuk as he waited for an answer.

“What we’re going to do next is simple. Just swing.”

“Yes?”

Minhyuk demonstrated, swinging his sword in front of them. The soldiers frowned, unable to understand what he wanted to do.

“What...?”

“Keep swinging. I’ll keep swinging with you, so don’t stop.”

The training method was truly very simple. Regardless, before raising their doubts, they followed Minhyuk first and swung their swords too. Thanks to the sandbags tied to their wrists, it was not very easy to swing their swords. This was because it was heavier than the sandbags that they were used to.

“If you’re good at archery, then shoot your arrows.

“If you’re good at spears, then stab or swing your spears.

“If you’re good with blunt weapons, then swing your blunt weapons.”

All of this was done with no target. They just swung their weapons in the air.

Although Rance could not understand, he nodded and said, “Alright.”

They had already decided to trust Minhyuk and follow him, so that they would do just that.

“One.”

“Two.”

“Three.”

They kept swinging their weapons alongside Minhyuk. Even though they kept following, it wasn’t as if they did not have doubts. Then...

“Two thousand five hundred eighty-eight.”

[...?]

[Is Minhyuk... crazy?]

“Ughhhh...!”

“Kghk!”

“Four thousand four hundred eighty-three.”

[This is crazy...]

[Wow...]

[What the...]

“Five thousand three hundred forty-eight.”

“Hnggghh!”

“Keheook!”

“F*ck...!”

[The Skill: Divine Will has been triggered!]

[All of your skills and abilities related to DEX will temporarily increase by 30%.]

[All of your stats will increase by 8%.]

[Your attack power and defensive power will increase by 6%.]

[The Skill: Divine Will has been triggered!]

[The Skill: Divine Will...!]

Minhyuk’s exhausted body kept on recovering. As a result, he kept on swinging his sword without taking any breaks.

Was Minhyuk the only one who could do this because he received special privileges? Of course, it might seem so. However, before they could say that, they had to first look at the conditions for triggering Divine Will. Divine Will was a passive skill that would only be triggered upon reaching the pinnacle of one’s mental power and reaching its limit while participating in repetitive actions. Also, Ares’ army has a skill called Physical Limitations, similar to Minhyuk’s Divine Will. And he was fully aware of the existence of this skill.

Minhyuk did not tell the soldiers of Ares’ army that he was using different sandbags. He had worn sandbags weighing fifty kilograms each on his wrists, which were much heavier than theirs.

Minhyuk was not the only one here with a special privilege and advantage. Everyone was in similar conditions, and knowing that they were all in similar conditions left the army in awe once again.

‘Wow. How can he...’

‘I feel like my arms are going to fall off...’

‘This is crazy... How can the commander do this?’

Among them, there were some soldiers who screamed in pain, staggered from exhaustion, and experienced severe cramps. At that moment...

“Priests.”

Armies always had priests among them. What would priests do in this training? They were tasked with helping those about to collapse recover and heal.

Over and over

again.

‘He’s the devil!’

‘No. He’s making those about to fall recover and ask them to swing again?’

‘Is there really a person like this?’

Regardless of how crazy it was...

‘Lord Minhyuk is doing it, but we can’t do it...’

‘I feel ashamed as a subordinate.’

The most crucial point here was... Minhyuk did not receive any treatment from the priests.

And at one point, they began to feel what they were supposed to learn from these repetitive actions.

‘It’s getting easier the more I swing.’

‘Why is it getting easier?’

‘What the? Am I getting stronger?!’

‘It’s worth doing this...!’

Then...

“Alright. Let’s add five kilograms to the sandbags tied to our wrists.”

“F*ck!”

“What?”

“N-no! It’s nothing...!”

The soldiers who unknowingly shouted his true feelings could only swallow his tears and add five kilograms of weight to each of the sandbags on his wrists. Of course, Minhyuk did the same thing.

Their arms felt heavy again. Then... they swung their weapons repeatedly without any breaks.

“Thirty-eight thousand five hundred forty-seven.”

“Forty-two thousand three hundred forty-four.”

“Forty-four thousand six hundred twenty-four.”

“Add more weight!”

“Add more!”

“Add more!”

“Sixty-six thousand four hundred fifty-six.”

“Sixty-nine thousand eight hundred eighteen.”

“Add more!”

“Add more!”

“P... please! No more...!”

“Waaaaaaah!”

“I’ve reached the limits of my mental power. I’m going to go crazy.”

“He... hehe. Who am I? Where am I? Ah, that’s right. I was Zeus in my past life! Take this lightning bolt!”

“Priests! Mind heal!”

Shwaaaaa!

“Is it over?”

“...”

“...”

With their rationality restored, they turned to look at Minhyuk.

‘F*cker...’

He was still swinging his sword. In fact, he never stopped at all.

***

Zeus, being a well-known womanizer, had returned to Olympus after spending a few days rolling around on the bed with a woman in his arms. The first thing he checked upon his return was how much Athena had helped the Beyond the Heavens Empire’s troops grow.

[Athena’s Growth Rate is 16%.]

‘Good. As expected of Athena.’

The growth rate that Zeus had set was tough to meet. First, the system he set up made it so that it would only increase if the troops had achieved a growth that was much more than the growth that they usually experienced.

As for Minhyuk’s growth rate? Zeus had deliberately ignored it.

‘The outcome is obvious.’

Ares’ Elite Troops were like wild horses that were no longer capable of growing. Zeus had judged that they, who had endured to extreme training, would no longer grow regardless of the method that Minhyuk chose to train them in.

Zeus waved away some of the clouds covering Olympus. At that moment, the sight of Minhyuk training Ares’ Elite Troops appeared before him.

“Spare me!”

“Please! I beg you! Please, no more!”

“Commander! I can see my late grandmother!”

“Then, send her off. This guy needs a mind heal.”

Ares’ troops were begging, almost grovelling. Zeus watched them for a moment and thought,

‘Crazy. Does he think these soldiers will grow with such a naive training method?’

Zeus was both speechless and dumbfounded.

‘Besides, even if you repeatedly swing your weapon, how many times do you...’

“Seventy-six thousand nine hundred fifty-eight.”

Zeus did not believe the number at all. That had to be an exaggeration.

Zeus had given Minhyuk a quest. The quest stated that the one between Athena and Minhyuk who achieved a higher growth rate would be the one to gain three level-ups. As for the one who failed? Their level will decrease by one.

He added this so Minhyuk would have to accept the position of diplomatic commander. Zeus believed that foreigners would accept any quest as long as the rewards were better than the penalties.

‘Saying the exaggerated numbers out loud is probably meant just to emphasize the number.’

It was difficult for a human, even a god, to repeatedly swing their weapons more than seventy thousand times. It was not a matter of physical strength, but one of mental power.

Just when he was about to check Minhyuk’s growth rate and mock him...

[The Diplomatic Commander has offered a bet!]

[If you agree to the bet, Minhyuk will have to achieve a growth rate of 50%.]

[If you lose the bet, you must double the three-level up reward and increase his level by six.]

[If Minhyuk’s growth rate exceeds 50%, every additional 20% increase in the growth rate will grant him one level up as an additional reward. And if he achieves a 100% growth rate, you will have to reward him a further three levels.]

[If Minhyuk fails to achieve a 50% growth rate, his level will drop by three.]

[If the growth rate that he achieved is 20% lower than the set standard of 50%, then his level will drop by two.]

“Ha- hahahahahahaha!” Zeus cackled.

Minhyuk proposed the growth rate, not knowing that the quest was much more difficult than he expected. Even the outstanding Athena had a growth rate of only 16%, yet he dared set a 50% growth rate limit.

Zeus, who had seen his training method, wondered what kind of growth Ares’ army could achieve with his naive method.

‘This is why humans are stupid.’

This was the result of those who were too confident that they could achieve anything. However, Zeus thought that it did not hurt to be too careful.

‘I have to check his growth rate first...’

[After three seconds, the proposed bet will be considered void.]

[After two seconds, the proposed bet will be considered void.]

Caught by surprise, Zeus had to agree when he heard the notifications.

[You have accepted the bet.]

Zeus smiled. He was confident that victory was in his bag in this bet.

[Moron! I think his growth rate is only at 10% right now. HAHAHAHAHAHA!]

Then, he finally checked Minhyuk’s growth rate.

[Minhyuk’s Growth Rate is at 49.5%!]

[HAHAHAHAHA... Hahaha... Haha... Ha...]

Then, he saw Minhyuk’s figure through the clouds shout, “LUCKYYYYYY!!!”