Infinite Evolution Hunter - Chapter 5

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

5
“From now on, we’ll conduct close-quarters combat training. You might wonder why we’re doing hand-to-hand drills when we hunt monsters, but since many monsters take humanoid forms, this training holds significant value.”
With so many trainees, the sparring sessions were divided into groups. Group 1, which I belonged to, consisted entirely of close-combat specialists.
“Becoming a master of combat in a month is impossible. I’ll teach you only the fundamentals of fundamentals, so follow along carefully. The basics of combat are universal: attack and defense. Land your strikes while evading or blocking your opponent’s attacks. To do this, you must understand the characteristics of both your weapon and your enemy’s weapon.”
One Instructor explained at the front while two others demonstrated various techniques in slow motion, moving in perfect synchronization.
“Now watch what that looks like when a Hunter performs it.”
When they executed the same movements at a speed roughly ten times faster, the sword’s trajectory became a blur, and the blades clashed with a thunderous ring.
Applause erupted from the students.
“Now, I’ll explain the strengths and weaknesses of each weapon.”
The Instructor continued his explanation about weapons, and the students listened intently—after all, these might be the weapons they’d wield for the rest of their lives.
“Now, each of you will handle the weapons and practice swinging them to find one that suits your hand. Begin.”
The Instructors stood before the weapon racks while students moved back and forth, testing weapons and awkwardly swinging them. The Instructors observed and corrected their stances.
I didn’t use weapons, but I couldn’t tell the Instructor I fought bare-handed, so I chose knuckles.
“Once everyone has made their selection, line up in front of the Instructor for your chosen weapon. You can change your decision later, so don’t worry too much about it now.”
“Tsk… Do I really have to do this because of you?”
Since I was the only one who chose knuckles, one Instructor became my dedicated trainer.
“Have you trained in martial arts before?”
“Yes, I have.”
On the battlefields of my past life.
“Is that so? Then come at me.”
The Instructor didn’t assume any particular stance. His posture suggested I should attack freely.
With my current stats, it was nearly impossible to land a blow on this Instructor. Seeing it as a good opportunity, I slid forward and threw a punch.
“Huh?!”
Surprised by the unexpected speed, the Instructor swatted my fist away. Because I minimized unnecessary movements and traveled the shortest distance to my target, despite my low stats, the Instructor standing directly in line with me perceived my approach far more quickly than expected.
But the gap in our stats was too vast. Even though he reacted and moved before my fist could reach him, he easily deflected my punch. His strength was formidable—even striking through the knuckles, pain shot through my hand. Without them, my bones would have shattered.
“Are you alright? You’re better than I expected.”
The Instructor worried that his reflexive counterattack had been too forceful.
“I’m fine. May I continue?”
I shook out my struck hand as I spoke.
“Good. Come again.”
This time, the Instructor faced me in a proper stance.
I charged forward with determination, throwing punches and kicks, but the Instructor’s movements were several times faster than mine—my attacks couldn’t even graze his clothes.
“Where did you learn that? Your fundamentals are solid.”
He asked the question while evading with ease.
“I learned here and there.”
With my breath already growing ragged, answering made it even harder.
“I’ll start attacking now, so try to defend.”
The Instructor now deflected my attacks while counterattacking or striking. But since he’d adjusted his speed to match me, there was nothing I couldn’t block.
As a result, to any observer, it looked like a respectable exchange of offense and defense.
“Hmph… Oblivious to the fact that your Instructor is going easy on you, aren’t you?”
I heard the voice of the large man who had beaten me yesterday.
“That’s enough. Stop here.”
The Instructor gently grabbed my arm and released it, ending the sparring match.
“Phew… Thank you.”
I bowed respectfully and caught my breath.
The disparity between my memories of being stronger in my past life and my current body, still weak as it was, made these sparring sessions invaluable. I wanted to do this more often if the opportunity arose.
After resting for a moment, another Instructor stepped forward and began speaking.
“Everyone, pick up a weapon and pair off into groups of two. Today, you won’t use attack skills—only physical abilities. Even with a dull blade, a weapon swung by an Awakener can be fatal, but the Healer and Instructors are watching from the sidelines. Fight with full power without worry.”
Whether he was telling us to worry or not to worry, the students began pairing off.
That’s when the large man from before stood in front of me, as if he’d been waiting.
With his massive frame and training club in hand, he looked just like an orc.
“You’re all better now? So you’ve got a recovery skill, huh? Perfect—I can beat you without holding back.”
The pseudo-orc glared down at me with a growl.
“Didn’t even tickle.”
“You bastard… You’ve got a real talent for getting under people’s skin.”
I couldn’t figure out why this guy was always so fired up. Was he actually an orc?
“Begin!”
At the Instructor’s signal, everyone started sparring.
At first, everyone was going easy. Most of the students still didn’t have the instinct to actually hurt someone.
In that moment, the orc’s club swung toward my ribs. Whether he was going all out or not, the speed and force behind it were considerable.
But the wind-up was so exaggerated that I dodged it without difficulty.
As I evaded, the orc stopped the club with sheer force and changed direction. Changing direction so abruptly shouldn’t have been easy, but it seemed he’d been given exceptionally high base stats.
I took a step back as the successive attacks came at me.
“Where are you running to!”
Thinking he had the upper hand, he brought the club down toward my head.
Fortunately, relying only on strength without technique meant his movements were wide, and I slipped through the gap to drive my fist into his abdomen.
Whether due to his enhancement skill or not, despite the impact of my punch, his stance didn’t waver—instead, he counterattacked.
Coming right after my attack, I couldn’t dodge his club. It came diagonally and struck my shoulder hard.
A cry escaped my lips as I dropped to one knee.
[Agility has increased by 1.]
My body must have desperately needed to move faster, as my agility rose.
“That’s enough!”
The Instructor approached and stopped the match, and the Healer came over to treat me.
“I’m fine.”
I gripped my broken shoulder and stood up.
“It’s broken?”
“It’ll heal on its own if I leave it.”
The pain threatened to cloud my mind, but thinking of the skill I’d gain later, it wasn’t so bad.
“Chu Kang-min, trainee. Was that really necessary just now? I told you to fight like it’s real combat, but it’s still sparring—hold back a bit before striking. Save your strength for monsters, not for your teammates.”
The Instructor gave the orc, Chu Kang-min, a light warning.
“Yeah.”
Chu Kang-min answered halfheartedly.
“Then, Chu Kang-min, find another opponent and continue sparring.”
“I can keep going.”
I interjected at the Instructor’s words.
“Are you sure?”
“I’m fine now.”
I brushed myself off and stood before Chu Kang-min.
“Let’s keep going, shall we?”
“Fine.”
Rather than flee, I charged forward instead, and Chu Kang-min’s irritation only grew—veins bulging visibly across his smiling forehead.
I narrowly dodged the club he swung and threw punches at him, but my fists dealt no meaningful damage to a body enhanced by his Reinforcement skill.
After repeatedly taking hits and getting back up, even the Instructor stopped paying close attention to our match.
[Agility has increased by 1.]
Agility rose once more, and now Chu Kang-min’s attacks began to miss me entirely.
I struck his torso repeatedly as he swung the club in frustration, but he remained unharmed.
“That’s enough!”
The Instructor signaled the end of class to the students who had been sparring.
“Huff… huff… We’ll settle this later.”
He’d tried to crush me, but exhaustion had caught up with him instead—his breathing ragged—yet I ignored him and left the Training Gymnasium.
* * *
While eating in the Cafeteria, Chu Kang-min’s gang approached.
“Can you even swallow with that attitude?”
“Yeah, I’m hungry. You need to eat well to maintain that bulk, don’t you?”
“Just fight me. Come outside.”
“Let me finish eating first.”
As I tried to ignore them and continue eating, he grabbed my collar.
“Hey! I’m calling the Instructor! Stop this!”
A woman approached us and stopped Chu Kang-min’s gang, and he released my shirt.
“Don’t worry about—”
I looked at her face to reassure her, then flinched violently and stepped back.
Her appearance was so different that I hadn’t recognized her at first, but up close, I knew. A villain who had earned her name in my past life—Bae Na-young.
In my previous life, villains were as much a problem as Gates and monsters. I wished all Awakeners were heroes, but many betrayed humanity.
The Dark Witch Bae Na-young—she had stripped countless Hunters of their senses and imprisoned them in darkness, slaughtering them mercilessly. Her face had matched that reputation, pale as a corpse, but now she was simply a beautiful woman in her early twenties with a kind expression.
Seeing a villain I could never have faced in my past life, cold sweat broke across my skin.
“What? Getting nervous now? Trying to impress a girl, are you?”
Chu Kang-min said, watching my reaction.
“Don’t mind him. Go about your business. He’s our friend. Our friend.”
Chu Kang-min pressed my shoulder firmly and spoke to Bae Na-young.
“I’ll go get the Instructor.”
Bae Na-young turned away without so much as a glance.
“Yeah, I got it. I’m leaving. I’m going.”
Chu Kang-min and his gang understood the signal and vacated their seats.
“Must be nice, having friends now. But this isn’t over—we’ll talk later.”
As they left, he didn’t forget to growl a low threat in my direction.
“Are you alright?”
“Ah… yes.”
Bae Na-young approached and asked.
No matter how hard I stared at her face, it didn’t match my memories from my past life. How could someone look so genuinely kind? Was she acting? Could Chu Kang-min be committing crimes far worse than I imagined when no one was watching? Or had I simply misjudged her character?
“By the way, what’s your name?”
“I’m Bae Na-young.”
Damn, it really is her.
“You’re Lee Ji-seok, right?”
“Huh? You know who I am?”
Why? What does she want with me?
My regeneration ability has one fatal weakness—if I take damage severe enough to be instantly lethal, it’s game over. My abilities haven’t even begun developing yet. If Bae Na-young’s power is even a fraction of what it was in my past life, she could obliterate me in a single strike. Of course, seeing her here at the Academy, such a thing shouldn’t happen, but I couldn’t suppress the instinctive dread that gripped me.
“Yes, I’ve always admired how hard you train. I wanted to learn from your example. How do you manage to work so hard?”
She must have witnessed how I constantly pushed myself to the brink of collapse during training.
“Gates are dangerous. You have to work hard if you want to survive.”
“That’s true. I asked something obvious. I need to train harder too.”
No, please don’t. If you get any stronger, we’re all dead.
“Well then, enjoy your meal.”
“Yes…”
Bae Na-young bowed politely and returned to her seat. Eating with the other students seemed to be good for her social skills as well.
The moment she left, the tension drained from my body. Since my regression, I’d never felt this terrified.
Still, I had to eat, so I finished my meal and headed toward the Dormitory.
“You’re taking forever. Hurry up~”
Chu Kang-min and his gang were waiting for me in front of the Dormitory.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————