Chapter 1212 – Mental Fortitude Training

Mental fortitude wasn’t a stat in the system, even if it was most certainly empowered by Willpower. Yet it remained extremely important and was a trait many factions sought to train their young talents in, as it was so important for reaching the peak.

The way one usually trained mental fortitude was to experience highly distressing situations and gradually becoming more accustomed to them. Other times, it was merely to continue doing the same task over and over again, soldiering through the boredom while ignoring all distractions to keep going as long as one possibly could.

However, the best way by far to have high mental fortitude was simply to be born like that or to have cultivated a mindset capable of handling distress and uncomfortable situations to an extreme level.

Jake had never had to actively train mental fortitude and was a brilliant example of someone with high inborn mental fortitude, in part due to his Bloodline. All the way in the other camp was the Sword Saint, who had slowly become the person he now was and had a level of mental fortitude Jake wouldn’t want to challenge.

But, having high mental fortitude didn’t mean one couldn’t still train it… and oh boy did Jake get in some mental training that day. He had been incredibly nervous before even stepping onto the teleportation circle and appearing in the auditorium, and after he’d gotten there, things had only gotten worse.

Having a thousand people stare at him was already stressful, and unlike all other times where Jake was the center of attention, he actually had to do something. Moreover, what he had to do wasn’t just some brief speech or whatnot where ultimately what he said or did wouldn’t matter in the grand scheme of things.

Jake’s only choice was to stabilize his mind and simply start teaching, believing in the plan he’d made. He had chosen the topic in question after very careful consideration, and he genuinely believed he had some valuable insight on the topic, courtesy of his rather unique Path as an alchemist and caster.

The alchemy profession didn’t usually give much, if any, Perception. Shit, Jake’s own profession didn’t provide a single point in Perception unless he invested the Free Points it gave.

This often resulted in alchemists and even mages having relatively low Perception as they needed many other stats instead. But that didn’t mean there weren’t those out there with high Perception while also doing alchemy. Many of the beastkin races gained a lot of Perception, and Jake found it a shame if they didn’t even know how to make proper use of it.

Not to say that what Jake talked about required that much Perception in the first place. Even with low Perception, one could infuse a magic circle using one’s presence if it was small enough.

Ultimately, Jake did realize that this lesson likely wouldn’t be for everyone. In fact, it would likely only prove useful for the minority, with the rest just considering it an interesting method at most.

A small part of him did fear that he could lead some of the students in the wrong direction and make them mess up their Paths to try to mimic Jake, but all he could really do about that was trust these D-grades and their judgment.

This was just one lesson among many they would experience during their lives, and many of them also had dedicated mentors or masters who taught them, which would surely help them adjust if Jake had somehow led them astray.

These members of the Academy were not like Temlat. Jake was not their only lifeline and source of guidance. He was just another opportunity on their long Paths, and if they were so affected by Jake’s singular lesson… well, maybe they were the ones who needed to train their mental fortitude.

The lesson continued more or less as Jake had planned, even if the experience turned out to be even more harrowing than he had feared. Jake was hyperaware of every single person looking at him, and he couldn’t help but make minor adaptations whenever he saw too many people frown or continue with an example just a little longer if too many had eyes full of interest.

Jake had purposefully structured his lesson to have a lot of practical demonstrations where he would also unleash his aura upon the room. He’d done this as he wanted everyone present to at least benefit somehow, even if the topic in question proved useless to them.

He was fully aware of the benefits associated with experiencing his presence, and while the effects wouldn’t be that profound for the students who only had a few hours with Jake, it was still something, especially when coupled with the plethora of Records they would gain from merely being in attendance.

About two hours into the lesson, Jake suddenly spotted something. During all of his examples and demonstrations, quite a lot of the people present had tried to follow along and do it themselves, but none had fully succeeded… until now, that is.

A beastkin woman in the crowd had followed along as Jake had summoned a smaller magic circle meant to summon a barrier for instant defense. She was just one of hundreds, but compared to all the others, her presence managed to fully envelop the entire magic circle as she successfully perceived the entire circle before infusing her mana.

Instantly, it activated, summoning a simplistic barrier of pure mana. She seemed surprised for a moment, and Jake genuinely sympathized with her as her feat hadn’t gone unnoticed. Jake didn’t make matters better with what he did next either.

“Congratulations, you seem to have a knack for this,” he said in a casual tone to try not to be too intimidating. “May I know your name?”

The poor beastkin woman looked incredibly nervous as she didn’t even dare to fully look up as she answered in a small voice. “Chalette, Lord Chosen.”

“Good job, Chalette, and once more I congratulate you,” Jake said with a smile as he waved his hand and shot up a token toward her. “A small gift for your achievement. Keep it up.”

She slowly took the token that stopped right in front of her, the beastkin’s hands shaking as she did so. Jake showed some mercy as he redirected attention from her again with what he said next.

“It’s just some points, and should others also prove themselves, there’s more where they came from. Now let us continue…” Jake moved on as the envious gazes soon left Chalette and returned to focus on Jake.

The token he’d given was just a minor one that he had over a thousand of stored away in his inventory in preparation for this lesson. All of them had points that could be absorbed by the Academy Tokens of all the students present, and he’d decided to get them to have some kind of incentive for those who did well.

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This was naturally something he’d learned from observing other talented teachers within the Academy. These points were one of the things that Jake had nearly forgotten even existed, but to other students, they were absolutely vital. Attending lessons or buying alchemical ingredients had a point cost; it was just Jake who had a special token he’d been given from Villy with infinite points.