"No, no, no, wait a minute, Iraira? We agreed yesterday that training would start with physical assessments and basic strength training!"

"There's an experienced adventurer here, we need to assess his skills first."

"You said yourself that you wouldn't treat experienced adventurers differently, that you'd treat them just like newbies. Changing your mind so suddenly is a bit much, don't you think?"

"Hmph...Fine. Let's start with basic strength then. First, run a hundred laps around the training ground."

The trainees' faces fell at the mention of a hundred laps.

"Hey, hey, it was at most twenty laps yesterday..."

This training ground was huge. Every adventurer guild has a training ground, but they're usually the size of a small gymnasium. But this one was big enough to hold several soccer fields, and there were all kinds of obstacles placed around the perimeter.

The senior trainees had already started running, and it seemed they had to clear all the obstacles as they ran.

"Go, go, go! And don't think this is just a warm-up. Anyone who comes in last gets another hundred laps!"

The trainees who were lagging behind rushed to catch up.

Ryu and the six newbies were at the back of the pack.

Ryu had the magic "Accelerate," and he could easily set a record that no one could catch, but that wouldn't be very meaningful. He had decided to avoid using cheat abilities like time-space magic for now, since he was starting his adventure anew. He felt it was important to train his natural physical abilities.

That said, even his natural physical abilities, due to his dragon blood, far surpassed any normal human.

But...

It seemed like Iraira was glaring at him. It wasn't good. It was bad if he did too poorly, but he also felt like he'd anger her even more if he did too well. So he decided to pace himself with one of the trainees who was running in the middle of the pack.

But Ryu didn't notice that Iraira was looking even more annoyed at his behavior.

...

Four to five hours later, the first trainee finished the hundred laps, but before he could rest, he was ordered to do ten thousand swings with an incredibly heavy training sword.

Apparently, according to Iraira, this was just "a light warm-up." Ryu thought that since she used to be an S-rank adventurer, it was no wonder the newbies were struggling, but he kept his mouth shut and obeyed.

By the way, the trainees who weren't physically fit couldn't even finish the hundred laps in a day. It was different from a marathon on Earth, because you could heal any injuries with healing magic or potions. But even if the injuries healed, their stamina and running ability didn't improve, so those who were slow and weak were still slow. And the last place group had to do another hundred laps. They ended up running the entire training session.

Those with the warrior class had good stamina, but those with the magic user class didn't have that much stamina. It wasn't fair to treat them the same.

But Iraira wouldn't allow anyone to move on to the next stage unless they could run the same amount.

It wasn't fair. No one with a magic or healing class could possibly pass. In fact, it seemed that the adventurers in this town were overwhelmingly focused on physical combat, and there were few magic or healing users.

There were complaints from various sources about this, but Iraira wouldn't change her ways. And somehow, the guild master was allowing it.

Iraira apparently had her reasons, her beliefs. They were...

Even magic users can't use magic if their mana runs out. What happens if they're attacked by monsters then? Magic users and healers need to have a minimum level of physical strength and melee combat skills just in case. (Healers can just use potions, and it's better to have more combat classes in your party, which increases the chances of survival.)

That was her argument, apparently.

It was understandable, but there had to be a limit. Even if they passed the physical challenge, the next stage required them to have melee combat skills equivalent to warriors and swordsmen.

In the end, not many magic users or healers could meet that requirement.

But no matter how much the others complained, Iraira wouldn't budge.

So, eventually, those who wanted to become magic users or healers would drop out of training and become adventurers in other towns.

They could come back to this town after gaining experience in other towns, but no one ever did because they had such a bad impression of this town's adventurer guild and its ridiculous training.

...

Ryu finished the laps along with the mid-level group and began his swings.

The training sword made of heavy metal was more like a club than a sword. It looked like something a troll would hold. It was a piece of cake for Ryu, but for someone weaker, it would be a struggle to even lift.

He took it as a hint, though. This might be the right weapon for him.

Dragon muscles apparently have 30 times the power of human muscles. (The output of a dragon who works out is even higher.) That means they can handle weapons that are 30 times heavier with the same ease as humans.

If a weapon has more weight, it's easier to deal damage. It would be hard to increase the weight of a sword, but you could make a club that's much heavier. If Ryu swung this training club like a weapon, he could do some serious damage. He thought that maybe weapons like this might be good for him.

Lost in thought, he swung the training sword with full force.

Iraira was watching him intently. Ryu felt her gaze, panicked, and tried to tone down the swing, but it might have been too late.

But Iraira had disappeared without a trace.

...

After that, they were given more ridiculous "warm-up" exercises, like a ridiculous number of repetitions of various strength training exercises, and the day ended. Only four trainees besides Ryu could finish.

They probably had to be at least D-rank to handle it with ease. D-rank is the level where you're considered a full-fledged adventurer. It was ridiculous to expect that of G-rank newbies.

(By the way, the four who could finish were not actually newbies, but knights and adventurers who were here for training from other towns.)

But even if you cleared all this and graduated, you were only an F-rank. It was understandable that people would complain.

It was also completely focused on physical strength. Did Iraira hate magic users and healers?

As he ate dinner at the guild tavern, he overheard some of the other adventurers talking. According to them, Iraira had a magic user in her party in the past, but he betrayed her. No, it wasn't that, the magic user was a liability. No, no, she got injured protecting a magic user in the past and was forced to retire. There were other rumors as well, and no one really knew the truth.

Well, you can't believe everything you hear, especially when people are drunk. Ryu decided not to take any of it seriously.

...

There were five other newbies who had started training with Ryu. They seemed to be struggling with the marathon at first, but three of them were able to keep up with the basic strength training within a week. They'd push themselves to the limit, then use potions to recover. This world's recovery was much faster than on Earth.

But the other two, a girl who wanted to be a magic user and a girl who wanted to be a healer, seemed to be a long way from being able to clear the training.

But Iraira said, "It's collective responsibility," and said that they wouldn't be able to move on to the next stage until everyone cleared the "warm-up."

Those who couldn't keep up should just drop out. The rest would move on once everyone passed.

The two newbie girls were about to give up, but Ryu decided to give them some advice, telling them that there were still things they could try before giving up.

Next Episode

Didn't you say you were called "Useless" in Mirmul?

Stay tuned!