7:00 a.m. sharp.
Over two hundred new recruits of this year's Marine Elite Camp were assembled on the training grounds.
Nao arrived right at the last moment. As he joined the formation, he could clearly feel that nearly everyone's eyes were focused on him.
Especially the girls—none of them seemed willing to look away.
Nao couldn't help but sigh inwardly.
With a Charm stat of 13, things were starting to tip into the realm of qualitative change.
These past few days, while walking through the Marineford tree-lined paths, he'd often see Marine girls passing by, only to twist their heads for a second look—and slam straight into lamp posts or white maple trees.
...Yeah, the maintenance crews and gardeners around headquarters were probably having a rough week.
My bad. Truly.
A few minutes later—
Zéphyr appeared at the gate of the training field. A toothpick in his mouth, he strode up onto the platform, brows furrowed and expression dark. Behind him trailed a row of instructors, all standing with their hands behind their backs.
A mature-looking woman in her late thirties, with long black hair and glasses, stepped out from behind Zephyr. She held a roster in hand, swept her gaze over the recruits, and began roll call.
Her name was Vivian, a former HQ Marine Captain before stepping back from the front lines—also the only female instructor in the entire Elite Camp.
"Maynard."
"Present!"
"Keisha."
"Here!"
The first two names called belonged to the earliest arrivals of this year's batch. Both were quite strong, usually ranking just behind Nao and Shiryu.
Nao glanced sideways at the two.
Before getting his system, he'd already had a decent reputation in the camp—especially among the male recruits. These two weren't exactly close friends, but they were on friendly terms.
If he remembered correctly, didn't both of them eventually become Vice Admirals twenty years later?
He wasn't completely sure. His memories were a bit fuzzy.
"Nao…"
"Here!"
Snapped out of his thoughts, Nao quickly raised his head and responded loudly, locking eyes with Instructor Vivian in the process.
She seemed to purse her lips for a moment, a faint blush coloring her cheeks—but she quickly adjusted her glasses and turned away, pretending nothing happened as she continued roll call.
Nao didn't miss the subtle change.
…Even a long-time instructor is falling under my spell now, huh?
He sighed and pulled up his system panel, scrolling through the message log. Sure enough, he found the notification from yesterday—Vivian had been "initially charmed."
How tragic.
Was this what the future held for him? A system message list not just filled with young, cute Marine girls, but slowly creeping into middle-aged women territory?
I have no desire to become the auntie-killer archetype, thank you very much.
That said—
Vivian had contributed 3,000 points, way above the average for the young Marine girls in the camp.
"Huh?"
Just as he was about to close the panel, Nao noticed a new system message that had gone unseen until now.
Judging from its position in the list, it seemed to have shown up two days ago?
He scratched his head.
His system wasn't intrusive. No forced missions, no audio alerts—quiet and peaceful. Normally a good thing, but sometimes he'd end up missing important notices entirely.
Guess I really should make it a habit to check messages more regularly…
[Side Quest: "Ladykiller Legend"]
"People change—but if someone changes too fast, it's not a transformation. It's just their true, long-suppressed nature finally breaking free."
Objective: Charm (initial level) 2,200 human females within 90 days.
Rewards: 130,000 points, 3x A-Rank Loot Boxes, 2x Random Attribute Points.
The rewards were hefty.
But the difficulty had skyrocketed compared to earlier quests.
Nao had long since learned to ignore the system's weird flavor text, but… why was it called "Ladykiller Legend" if he had to charm more than two thousand women?
He scratched his cheek, troubled.
He barely left the Elite Camp these days. Most of his point farming came from Marine girls who happened to pass by the training grounds to gawk at him.
1,000 targets? Maybe doable.
But 2,200? What was he supposed to do—go door-to-door across Marineford?
Thankfully, the time limit was fairly generous—three whole months—so there was no need to panic just yet.
As Nao pondered how to tackle the challenge, Vivian had already finished roll call, closed her roster, and stepped back.
Zéphyr took center stage, scanning the assembled recruits before speaking with a deep voice:
"Very good. Everyone's accounted for. In that case—let me officially declare…"
"—This month's routine assessment is now underway!"
Unlike the previous combat-based assessment, this month's was the routine variety.
To Nao, it was a glorified sports festival—packed with countless tedious and repetitive physical test events.
The wide training grounds were divided into various testing zones. Under the supervision of Zephyr and the instructors, all tests were conducted simultaneously without interfering with one another.
Nao's first assigned test was speed.
He and 19 other recruits crouched at the starting line, ready in standard runner's stance. To either side of him were familiar faces—Monica on the left, Rosinante on the right.
Instructor Brandon sat on a bench nearby, holding what looked like a starting pistol—except it was very much a real gun.
Vivian stood at the end of the 1,200-meter straight track, stone-faced with a clipboard in hand.
1,200 meters.
For Elite Camp recruits, this was barely more than a light sprint. It wasn't even long enough to count as a warm-up run.
"Ready… Go!"
Bang!
The gun fired—startling a group of curious seagulls perched on the barbed wire fencing nearby.
Nao and the rest of the runners exploded off the line like beasts freed from a cage.
"Easy, easy! Gotta hold back a little!"
Nao kept his eyes locked on the finish line while mentally chanting to himself:
"Don't go all out. Just fast enough to win, nothing more. Gotta leave Rosinante and the others some dignity—don't blow them away too hard…"
After all—
It was widely known that Nao Natsuya was a humble, considerate young man, full of grace and empathy.
100 meters.
50 meters.
20 meters...
All he could hear was the roar of the wind. The finish line was right in front of him. Just as he went into his final burst, he noticed Vivian's expression.
She looked… frozen?
Huh? What now?
He raised a brow. At first, he figured she was just entranced by his face. Nothing unusual.
But then, he crossed the finish line… and realized—
There were no footsteps behind him.
Nao blinked and slowly turned around.
Behind him, Rosinante and the other 19 recruits were barely halfway down the track, still in the midst of their desperate sprint.
All of them stared toward the finish line with looks of absolute shock.
"Uh…"
Nao scratched his head, deadpan.
PS: Read Advance Chapters at https://www.patreon.com/c/ReadJin