-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
That evening.
Dormitory common space, study room.
Latia asked.
"So, what's the plan moving forward? The Specula family has already started exploring. We can't leave the academy on weekdays. This isn't a competition at all to begin with."
Bonita, with her arms crossed, nodded.
"Right. And to get to the next stage, we have to snatch away whatever traces they've already found, right?"
Liber, with an unusually serious face, spoke.
"...Actually, there's something more important than that. First, we need to go to the family this weekend and get formal permission to participate. Otherwise, the entire Specula family will come after us for interfering with their work."
Bellum asked.
"It's already something your family is doing. Is it even possible for you to get permission, Liber?"
"Probably. I'm also a direct descendant, so I can request exploration permission. Actually, I have a justification too. I'm giving way for now since I'm at the academy, but in reality, I discovered this, so I'll finish it myself. That's the justification."
"Being at the academy hasn't changed, has it?"
This time, Davian stepped in.
"No, it has. An exploration team has been formed, and I'm going to Professor Shirims of the magic department tomorrow to request the official approval of the exploration team. And next month is summer vacation. If we say we'll completely finish the exploration during summer vacation, they'll have no reason to stop us."
"Davian is right. Even though we're just freshmen, our family can't ignore the prestige of Elton Academy. Anyway, this exploration wouldn't have started without me. There's enough justification."
Liber paused for a moment before continuing.
"...Well, at least that's what I think. I don't know what the head of the family and the elders will decide..."
Nubes smacked Liber's slouched shoulder.
"Let's just push forward and see what happens!"
"Ugh!"
Liber, hit on the shoulder, fell off the chair and rolled away.
"Oof. S, sorry."
"It's okay, Nubes. I'm wide awake now."
Liber, rubbing the shoulder hit by Nubes, sat back on the chair.
Nubes Arbo scratching his neck.
He was still timid and clumsy, but his image had changed a bit as he had grown too big.
This was because he was focusing solely on external force training with twice the efficiency as before.
Before, he was just a timid, clumsy swordsmanship freshman, but now he was a swordsman with a solid, muscular body that anyone could see.
His muscles, so tight that they seemed about to burst even without flexing, exuded an intimidating aura that even a decent sword wouldn't be able to scratch.
He could be taken to the Royal Knights right away, and he would be in the top tier in terms of size and muscle.
And.
It wasn't just his body that had changed.
His personality was also gradually changing, but the other friends who spent time with him every day didn't notice it much.
Only Davian, who had experienced Nubes in the previous round, could notice his slowly approaching changes.
Davian looked at Nubes, who was giving an awkward smile and was at a loss, feeling sorry for Liber.
'He's still timid and kind, but his body and atmosphere have changed a lot. Nubes.'
The tanker Davian had picked, Nubes Arbo.
He was slowly becoming the strongest tanker.
Bonita asked.
"Let's say Liber goes to the family and gets permission to participate. Then are we just going to sit around doing nothing until summer vacation? We don't know how far they'll have progressed."
Davian turned his head to look at Bonita.
"I have an idea for that. You need traces from the previous round to get the next traces, and we have weekends, right?"
"So?"
"If Liber just gets permission from the family, we'll strike first on the weekend. We'll take the traces we've collected so far. Once we take them and get back into the academy, the opponent will have no choice but to fret outside."
"Oh. Right? Because no one can just enter Elton Academy."
A week later, Monday.
Levitation magic practice class.
Only Davian Naone, Latia Meridiem, and Roman Trium were standing on the hill.
Roman Trium was a student who had needlessly asked a question to Professor Shirims on the first day of basic magic class and had only been scolded for his poor mana handling.
Since then, his skills hadn't improved dramatically, so he was just maintaining mediocre grades.
However, he had a knack for levitation magic, so he achieved mana acceleration.
His mana handling was poor, but he seemed to have a knack for feeling natural mana and creating mana vibrations.
All he had to do was push a little mana into the well-refined mana vibration, so he could achieve mana acceleration even if he didn't have a knack for mana handling.
In this way, magic freshman were always liable to show their potential in unexpected subjects.
After a while.
Dennis Piorn, the teaching assistant, slowly climbed the hill with other teaching assistants and staff.
"Today is the day the professor is giving a lecture in the classroom. So I will be conducting today's outdoor practice."
Unlike the first outdoor practice, steel targets were randomly placed all over the hill.
"Okay, start by grabbing the targets that are nearby."
Roman Trium whispered to Latia next to him in a small voice.
"Latia, doesn't Assistant Dennis seem a bit curt today? He used to be friendly."
"I don't know. I wasn't paying much attention."
Latia, who answered casually, stretched out her arms towards the target and concentrated.
Roman also chose a target and began to concentrate.
While they were doing that.
Crack!
One of the steel targets near Davian was completely crushed.
It was Davian's mana acceleration.
Clap clap clap.
"Amazing, Davian."
Assistant Dennis came up beside him.
"Aren't the targets that are just standing still a bit boring now?"
"I haven't succeeded with the ones that are further away yet."
"Oh, come on. You've crushed all the trees that are further away instead."
Davian looked at Dennis.
It was a familiar expression.
The expression of Brenton Nadium. The expression of Lex Flumen. The expression of Dylan Nedeon.
An expression mixed with jealousy, disregard, and contempt.
A cocky expression that was afraid of becoming stronger than him but still felt like he could handle it.
All of these complex expressions were gathered on Dennis's face.
'What is this groundless extra bastard.'
On the other hand, Dennis read arrogance in Davian's expression.
He was only showing the minimum courtesy and respect in accordance with the relationship between assistant and student.
He didn't feel any respect or awe for himself, who had been focusing on levitation magic for over six years.
'What is this groundless freshman bastard. So cocky.'
He was already planning to show him what levitation magic was all about.
"You know that levitation magic wasn't created just to move flower pots, right? Davian."
"You can just have a servant do that."
"You know that well. It seems like you can easily crush steel plates that are standing still, but how about it? Isn't it boring? You haven't had a duel with levitation magic, have you?"
"I'm just being faithful to the class process."
"Then shall we try it out? It's practice class time. We have to practice. Practical practice."
"Is it a formal duel?"
A formal duel at Elton Academy, where strict rules applied.
"Me? With you? Puhaha. I've been at the academy for over 11 years, and this is the first time I've heard of a teaching assistant having a formal duel with a student."
Dennis gestured to the staff behind him.
"I'm just going to help you with some practice. As a teaching assistant and as a senior. You need to see what real levitation magic is, right? Latia and Roman next to you, you guys should watch closely too. How levitation magic is used in actual combat."
The staff came with two sets of thick metal armor.
It was quite heavy, and they were barely carrying it or dragging it along.
The armor consisted of a front plate and a back plate that could only cover the torso, without the lower body.
It was made of lead, a metal with mana resistance.
The shape was very crude.
There were no joints at all, so the arms and neck were not protected at all.
"This is sparring armor used in upperclassman levitation magic classes. As you can see, it's made of lead. It's going to be a bit heavy. But you should wear it if you don't want your bones to be crushed."
Dennis first lifted the front plate of the armor and placed it on his upper body.
Two of the staff next to him lifted the back plate of the armor and placed it on Dennis's back.
After fastening the bindings and tightly pulling the leather straps on the sides, the crude armor was fixed to Dennis's upper body.
Davian also quietly put on the armor.
The only difference was that he lifted the heavy armor with one hand each and placed it on the front and back himself.
The staff came and fastened the bindings and finished the installation.
"Okay, shall we create some distance first?"
Dennis began to stagger backwards as if the lead armor he had worn after a long time was heavy.
Davian stepped back with light steps.
"I heard you're also double-majoring in swordsmanship, so you're strong, Davian."
"Thank you."
"No. You'll soon find out it's useless."
The two stood facing each other about 20 meters apart.
The rest of the people, including Latia and Roman, went far away and watched their duel.
"You can't attack the head, arms, and legs that are outside the armor. They could break as is."
"What if the armor gets crushed?"
"Ha, this lead armor?"
At that moment, Dennis remembered Davian taking the midterm exam.
The image of him digging deep into the giant lump of lead.
"...Alright. It's difficult to crush the armor, but still, excessive mana acceleration may accidentally burst out, so control your power well. If you accidentally make this armor completely unusable, that's also a failure in this duel practice. It means you failed to control your power. Levitation magic is a magic that requires more precise control than any other magic."
"Yes, I understand."
"Then let's begin."
Davian had never had a levitation magic duel before.
'How are you supposed to have a duel like this? If I recklessly launch mana acceleration, even a lead armor will be crushed as is.'
That's when it happened.
Whoosh.
Davian's body floated into the air against his will.
Swoosh!
Davian falling to the ground again at high speed.
"You're also double-majoring in swordsmanship, so you can withstand this much impact, right?"
Bang!
Davian was planted straight into the ground.
An impact that would have broken an ordinary person's neck as is.
Roman Trium, startled, looked back at Latia.
"Latia! What is this? Shouldn't we stop him? Davian must be hurt?"
"Wait a bit. He's not someone who'll get hurt that easily."
Latia was right.
Davian slowly got up from the dust.
At the same time.
Dennis's mana acceleration attack was slammed into Davian.
Bang!
"Ugh!"
A strong shock was transmitted to Davian's abdomen.
Davian, who was pushed back for a long time, used inner strength to tighten his feet.
Davian stopped on the spot as if he hadn't been pushed back at all.
He slowly raised his head and looked at Dennis.
'So this is how you do it?'
Comments
Post a Comment