"Seriously, they do realize we are humans, right?" Without giving them a chance to answer, Bobby continued, "It's crazy how that old geezer expects us to complete his training. Not all of us are in shape to do most of the exercises, and even if someone could somehow do it, there's no way they could possibly be human."
Chris crossed his arms and nodded. "I heard that we have some people in their late 30s. I even heard that one of the guys here is 42."
That definitely caught both of them off guard. Luke knew that there were plenty of people on the older side. Joshua was one of them at age 37. He just couldn't see the reasoning behind summoning people that old. He had heard from someone that the physical peak age was in the late 20s to early 30s. That meant they should have aimed for that age range instead.
There was even a child in their group. He wasn't sure how old they were, but he knew they didn't last long in the fight. Their death had been pretty gruesome
The second day of training wasn't any better, and he wasn't surprised in the slightest. One day wasn't enough to convince Sir Gilbert to change his strategy, which meant they had to suffer through another day of intense training. They had lost more people compared to the previous day. They probably couldn't get out of bed because their bodies had been so sore. Grace certainly had been one of the victims, and he had to drag her to the training ground, which meant they had unfortunately arrived late. Despite this, they had still managed to be one of the first people there. Sir Gilbert shook his head in disappointment at their efforts. He had expected them to work harder, not give up so easily. The threat of the punishment apparently hadn't been enough to convince some of them to show up on time or at all. There was definitely no way he could have them ready by the end of the year, much less by the end of the month. He would have to deliver the bad news to a princess an
"This is so embarrassing. I can't believe I passed out like that," Grace said as she covered her face. Fortunately, she had woken up a few hours later. Luke had only found out because he had asked the servants to let him know as soon as possible while he did some extra training, much to Sir Gilbert's delight. The man had been so happy to hear someone was taking the training seriously, though he had no idea that his extra training was just a ploy so he could go around unbothered. Everyone just assumed he was a workaholic. Chris and Bobby helped cement that attitude by exaggerating how he had been unbothered by today's earlier training. He hadn't been the only one worried about Grace. The natives had been just as concerned about her condition, though for a different reason than his. It would be bad if they lost a hero before they had even had a chance to send us off to fight the demons. Chris and Bobby had promised to visit and check up on her. Currently, it wa
The moment Sir Gilbert announced that there were going to be changes in the training regimen, people cheered. Luke swore he heard someone sobbing in relief, not that he could blame them. Out of the 31 'heroes', only eight people had shown up. The top five, himself, and two others were the only ones who bothered to arrive on time. After checking up on Grace yesterday, he had later found out that a healer had come to see her condition and declared that under no circumstances was she to go to training today. She was pretty happy about it, but he had been concerned once he heard about it. Why wouldn't he when he had planned for her to be an important member of his party. That couldn't happen if she ended up crippling herself right off the bat. 'Kayla' had pointed out that whatever extra training she had done to boost her Mana stat might have pushed her body too far. While it was true that training the body didn't increase the Mana stat, how physically fit someone was det
While the change in the training program was welcomed, it also had its cons. Under the current training regimen, it was guaranteed that they would always finish before or around lunch time. Then they would have the rest of the day to themselves. He had been using that opportunity to spend time with Grace and to integrate himself with the natives. With the new changes, he couldn't be sure if he would have time to act on his other plan. He would have to see it if he had gained enough trust to access the library and bring Grace along with him. They did their best to keep anything they didn't want them to know out of the library, but they couldn't get had to be some things they had missed hidden in there. Today might be his only chance to go inside. He wasn't sure when he would get the opportunity again. Knocking on the door to Grace's room, he waited to hear her consent before going in. She was sitting in her bed with nothing near her. Her hair was slightly tousled up,
If Grace had known this would happen, she would have never left her bedroom. She whimpered as she stepped on something and prayed it wasn't a cockroach or some kind of insect. Since it was so dark, she had no clue where she was going or how to get out of this mess she had stumbled into. She wasn't even sure how she ended up in this mess. One moment she was putting away one book to grab another one, the next she was in some dark place. She knew castles could have secret passageways, but she didn't expect to fall into one by pure chance. That just seemed like poor construction on the builder's part. If she ever met the person or found a way to contact them, she would file a complaint. She hoped that Luke would realize she was missing and come to find her, because she wasn't sure if she could do it all on her own. The sound of something moving stopped her in her tracks. That definitely wasn't her. She frantically scanned her surroundings for any indication of what was m
Luke had never seen this many mana stones before. They practically covered the whole room. He wouldn't be surprised if the walls themselves were made of pure mana stone, given the sheer number of mana stones in front of him.Not only that, they were in all different colors, ranging from pink to clear to purple. He had only ever seen light blue mana stones whenever he encountered them with his party on their journey to defeat the demon king, and those rare occurrences only happened because the demons were trying to transport them to the demon king. They stopped them, of course, and presented it to the kingdom to be used.From what he knew, mana stones were highly sought after. He never learned of the reason why angels or demons wanted them, but he knew humans used it as a replacement for low mana to get around their inability to use certain magic. Someone who only had an Uncommon mana stat could use Rare magic and maybe even Epic magic if they had a mana stone. Of cours
They were back in front of the door again with Grace huffing and puffing at his side. Seeing her struggle was very concerning to him, and he worried that at this rate, she might relapse and collapse before they returned. This hadn't been what he had intended when he had asked her if she wanted her to come with him to the library. It was supposed to be a leisurely activity. She wasn't supposed to be pushing herself to exhaustion after resting. It defeated the whole purpose. "We can take a break," he suggested. Grace's response was to push the door open and say, "Let's go. I'm sick of this place." Well, if she insisted, he would follow her lead. Still, he couldn't believe how different she behaved compared to when they first arrived and in the past life. Could someone really change in only three days? This wasn't the first time she acted 'out of character', and he wondered if he had been wrong that she wasn't faking it. Luke instantly discarded the idea. She would have to be a great
Luke cataloged her appearance in a second. She wore long robes that covered every inch of my body save for her face and hands, though it didn't make much of a difference. A white veil rested on top of her head, and a white blindbold was wrapped around her eyes. If this wasn't such a serious situation, he would have commented aloud about how she must really like white."Hello, if you are seeing this message, then you are also a Saintess or potential Saintess like me," she said as the two broke apart to take a closer look at her.His eyes widened at the sudden declaration while Grace asked, "Saintess? Didn't Kayla mention it before? What is she talking about?""Welcome to my sanctum. I had this place built for any future Saintess to develop their skills or to seal their potential if they choose to," she continued."What? What do you mean by sealing their potential?" he demanded.Unfortunately, whatever magic the Saintess had used only left a recordin
Hello everyone. I just want to thank all my readers who have been following along so long. Luke's story has ended unless readers are interested in a sequel. Also, there are several things that I want to let you know. I have some news for all of you. In case some of you didn't know, I hd started a new book titled Rise of the Demon King: Caleb Gonzales's Rat Race which can be found here: https://www.meganovel.com/story/Rise-of-the-Demon-King-Caleb-Gonzales-s-Rat-Race_31000555550. It's set in the same world as my current book. It's kind of a prequel to Rise of the Demon King: Luke Hellwalker's Revenge, but you can read it as a parallel or alternate universe if you like. As such, you might see some of the same characters who act differently from what you remember so I hope there's no confusion. For those interested to know more about the new book, here's the synopsis: When Caleb Gonzales woke up in the video game he last played, he expected things to go down like they did in those web
"The clean up is doing well," 'Kayla' said as she stood before Luke, who was sitting on the throne.Instead of responding to her, he gave a nod before looking to the next person. The corners of his mouth twitched as he wanted to frown. The previous demon king's women were staring at him, waiting patiently for him to finish his work. He didn't know what Mildred said to them, but they were all now convinced that they should try to seduce him.[They are strong women, so you shouldn't have any complaints about adding them to your harem.]Luke was unamused by the demon king's words. He knew very well that Luke hadn't been interested in building a harem. It was really bad enough that he had four women to contend with. Speaking of them, the quartet came walking into the throne room, with Grace taking the lead. She was looking well despite having only recovered yesterday."Luke, are you still in your meeting?" she asked as Tracy, Violet, and Ruth kept to her sides.Standing up, Luke said, "It'
Everyone stared in disbelief. How were they supposed to react to this sudden reveal? They had expected it to be a big deal because of the system's threat, but this was way behind anything they could have imagined. Luke distracted himself from the implications to assess everyone's reactions. Chris's mouth had dropped open while Bobby looked ill.Violet, on the other hand, was doing a good job keeping herself together, though it was just barely. Her fists were clenched, with her nails digging into her palm. Theodore was the only odd one out. He was quickly shocked by the information, but he appeared to be the calmest of the bunch. Luke couldn't decide if that was a good or bad thing as he returned his attention back to the system.Chris ended up being the first to break the silence. "You can't be serious."[The system assures the user that it is quite serious.][The users should confirm their desire as soon as possible. There are only five open spaces.]The party had barely recovered fr
Luke couldn't believe it. The creator had actually been telling the truth when they said they could go home if they did enough to entertain them. He should be happy, but he was strangely numb about the reward. Perhaps it was because he had become used to the idea that he would never see his family again. That was why hearing the contrary left him with conflicted feelings."We can go home," Chris said in awe.A quick look at his party members was enough to tell Luke how overjoyed they were at the idea. After Luke had told them it was impossible, they had been resigned to never return back to their family and friends. It was why they had so willingly joined his side and turned their backs on the angels. However, a part of them had hoped that Luke was wrong."I wonder how everyone's been doing," Bobby said.Chris wrapped his arms around him and said, "I can't wait to see everyone."Violet had a soft smile, while Theodore only grunted. It should be a happy moment, but Luke was too used to
It couldn't understand what was happening. The creator could feel itself being torn away from its vessel against its will. This couldn't be happening. It was the creator. Everything went exactly as it wanted. There was no way it could lose to a human that had been originally brought into this world as nothing more than a tool. However, despite its efforts, it was being forced out by the sword in its chest.What was it? It couldn't be an ordinary weapon. Even when it was being injured, it had only been because the creator allowed it. Otherwise, the people wouldn't be able to actually harm it. Reaching out towards Luke and the sword again, it felt the sword pulse. Suddenly, the creator found its unable to move. An invisible force was keeping it from moving.The creator couldn't believe it. Such a thing had never happened before. The only possible reason that the creator could think of was that the sword contained a fragment of its power. However, that couldn't be it. The Splinter that h
The creator's eyes rolled upward, and he spotted Takisha standing on its neck. Takisha didn't waste a second to bite her teeth in the creator's throat. She grimaced at the vile taste filling her mouth. Considering this was supposed to be the creator possessing a human, she would have thought the blood would taste delicious. Instead, it was probably the most disgusting blood she had ever tasted.Takisha wasn't even sure it was blood. Dirt tasted better than this. However, she focused on injecting her venom into the creator. A shadow loomed over her as the creator raised a hand to rush her. She didn't immediately run, and her faith was rewarded when vines and thorns wrapped around the creator's hand. Blood spilled from where the thorns pierced its skin.Of course, this wasn't enough to stop it for long. The creator ripped free, but its attention had been successfully redirected to Mildred, who unleased several arrows in its direction before running. It deflected them and rushed to crush
"You idiot," Tracy said as she punched Chris in the face."Ow! What was that for?" Chris demanded as he covered his face with a hand."That's for acting like an idiot," she snapped.Luke, Mildred, and Bobby stared at the bickering duo before Mildred turned to Luke and asked, "Are they...""No," Luke and Bobby immediately said.She glanced back at the duo and said, "Really?""They might act this way, but I assure you that Chris isn't her type," Bobby said as he waved a hand in front of himself. "She's already in a relationship with Luke.""I see," Mildred said. "It seems like I have competition."Bobby choked and Luke froze up as the duo finally stopped fighting and Tracy asked, "Wh
The creator was beginning to grow bored. Luke had disappeared off to who knew where, leaving them to deal with the rabble. None of them stood a chance against them. Of course, Luke being there wouldn't have changed much either, but this was supposed to be a game between them. If he wasn't there, then what was the point?They were debating whether they should cut the game short and simply end things when they heard a familiar voice shout, "Move!"Instantly, the creator raised a clawed hand to catch the arrow that had been shot in their direction. Their eyes spotted a familiar dark elf notching another arrow into her bow. So it looked like Luke had rescued the women that they had knocked out. They could have simply killed them and been done with it, but the creator had ultimately decided not to bother.Who would have expected that Luke would go rescue the
"What's this?" Luke muttered as he stared at the emergency quest.Luke never expected the system itself to give out a quest to defeat the creator. He would have thought it would be on their side since it was created by the system. Perhaps it saw the creator as a threat and wanted them to be dealt with. It sent shivers down his spine to see the quest, and he looked up to see that the others in the room were also reading a message from the system."Did you also receive the same quest as me?" he asked, though he already knew the answer."What's this nonsense?" demanded the succubus. "Defeat the creator? I've never heard such a thing.""There has to be a mistake," the dark elf said as she crossed her arms. "Why would we fight against our creator?"Laurel looked towards Luke and demanded,