Meeting Song Sia in the Club Room (1)
The atmosphere between those two was anything but ordinary.
I hadn't planned on tailing them.
But the moment I realized the other person was Choi Hana, I simply couldn't hold back.
So I stood outside Rain Weapons and waited for the two of them.
I even secretly watched them all the way through the movie and the meal that followed.
“Hic...”
A pain An Yumin had never experienced in her life washed over her once more.
The tears wouldn't stop.
Right. There's no way, is there? He said... he said he liked me, didn't he?
That was right. They might not even be dating yet.
They weren't holding hands or anything.
And it didn't seem like they were spending much more time together after the meal.
“......”
But the more she denied reality, the more miserable she felt alone.
The movie those two had watched was a romance film.
And the place they had lunch was a popular restaurant packed with young college couples.
Anyone could see it was a clear date.
Even if they weren't dating yet.
Two people who stuck together that often would end up dating sooner or later.
Even Song Sia had said their relationship was "like that."
“No!!!”
She screamed as if letting out a cry.
She still couldn't give up on Lee Junwoo.
The warmth from when he had looked only at her still remained intact.
Right. No matter what it takes. Even if the two of them are dating...
I just have to take him back.
Relationships between men and women are like that from the start.
Just like how Choi Hana was trying to snatch Lee Junwoo away from her now.
Lee Junwoo had originally been hers alone.
She just needed to bring him back to her side.
I suit Lee Junwoo better than Choi Hana!
Student Council Vice President Scarlet.
Choi Hana was a servant of that wealthy family.
In short, a woman who did the menial chores for a rich household.
But she was different.
Even if her mother's honor had been tarnished.
Twenty years ago, during the Dark Age when countless Awakened had died, she had been a great hero.
One of the few holders of an honorary medal as a hunter.
She was different from the likes of Choi Hana from birth.
And An Yumin was the one who would succeed her mother.
And become the new hero.
Lee Junwoo is an Awakened. And a licensed official hunter.
The same applied to the hunter world.
In this era where family background had become extremely important.
If one possessed truly overwhelming strength.
It was still an era where one could hold power with that strength alone.
But Lee Junwoo isn't like that.
She had been surprised when Lee Junwoo arrested that Dark Snake.
And not long ago, during the class assignment evaluation, Song Sia who had dueled him had said.
— He's still just a powerless nobody. Lee Junwoo.
Since she had already become famous through Aegis activities.
She would grow even stronger from now on.
With the difference in social status and ability.
She would make it so that Lee Junwoo could never refuse her.
To do that. Starting right from next week's Hell Week.
An Yumin was High Class.
She just needed to show an overwhelming difference that Middle Class couldn't compare to.
She would never let him end up with that Choi Hana.
An Yumin coldly resolved.
A new week began.
As expected of an academy, the main lectures took place in the buildings of one's affiliated department.
“Hmm. Your sword path is really clean. But the damage is still severely lacking.”
Whoosh—
I swung the Holy Knight's sword once more.
But Instructor Lee Suyeon lightly blocked the blade with her palm.
Just how much of a monster is she.
Clang—
And when she swung the edge of her hand, my sword bounced back.
“Still, it seems much better than the physical abilities recorded in your graduation grades. You know what the problem is, right?”
“Yes, Instructor.”
I was receiving direct guidance from Instructor Lee Suyeon.
I had somewhat expected it through the original work.
But Instructor Lee Suyeon grasped every problem just by simply observing my skills.
“Still, looking at the combat style I've watched from you so far, hmm. You're the calm type, so rather than clumsily launching a rapid assault with your current physical abilities, it would be better to land a decisive single blow.”
Lee Suyeon's words were correct.
If I aim for multiple attacks carelessly, I might just get countered.
In short, I needed one big hit.
Although there was the skill Sacred Strike belonging to the authority of the Goddess's Faithful Guardian Knight.
Skills calculated damage based on base stats.
With detailed Strength and Faith Power stats this low, I would be in trouble the moment I ran into a monster of a higher rank than me.
I would have a hard time delivering a sword strike strong enough to end a life for certain.
“But just doing strength training blindly is inefficient. And burying yourself only in faith studies won't show immediate results either. Instead, there's a method that can raise your damage with simple training alone.”
I pricked up my ears at those words.
In the original work, it was possible to create or evolve skills through an instructor's guidance.
If it was Instructor Lee Suyeon.
She would certainly be able to present a surefire method to add more damage to my sword strikes.
“It's the method of adding the secondary attribute of fire energy to your sword strikes. Well, anyone could think of that much, but...”
And from the words that followed, I obtained a hint for a new skill.
“Light and flame attributes aren't compatible, but they aren't the same attribute either. That's why you have to maintain your body's balance so you can properly fuse those different attributes.”
In other words, body balance was important in order to withstand the repulsive force of mana occurring inside the body.
I looked at the expanded stats in the status window.
⚡ Strength:20[Durability 5 / Strength 10 / Balance 5]
That's why expanded stats are a cheat.
In short, to complete the new skill evolution quickly, I needed to max Balance first under Strength from now on.
“And since you're not a mage, there's no need to raise the completeness of flame spells. What's important is how continuously you can keep that flame energy contained in your sword.”
🧠 Intellect:18[Calculation 7 / Casting Speed 8 / Spell Duration 3]
It also meant investing in Spell Duration under Intellect as soon as possible was the better choice.
Instructor Lee Suyeon demonstrated the process to me directly.
She lightly took a wooden sword in her hand.
“Keep your breathing just like this so the holy power of the light attribute doesn't repel the flame mana as much as possible. Think about your body's balance.”
Before long, pale green mana and crimson mana naturally coiled around her body.
Ssssshhh—
And the energy of both attributes began to blaze along the wooden sword.
If I invested the stats and repeated the training, I could certainly evolve the skill.
Understanding of skill Sacred Strike (Lv.2) is increasing.
But directly witnessing that breathing and mana fusion balance filled with Instructor Lee Suyeon's know-how was an experience of a completely different dimension.
The skill acquisition speed gets even faster.
I engraved Instructor Lee Suyeon's teachings into my eyes without missing a single detail.
And a short while later.
I tried to reproduce the process myself.
“What? You're already copying my breathing and movements?”
Instructor Lee Suyeon spoke as if flustered.
“That's impossible! How, after seeing it just once?”
It seemed to have been a process that wasn't as easy as I thought.
But I answered calmly.
“I just... tried hard to follow along, and it worked.”
“...... I-I see.”
In truth, I had received the effect of my authority.
Both my 1st Awakening and 2nd Awakening were authorities related to mirrors.
So even if using my body to follow along was difficult because of my currently lacking stats.
Mimicking that breathing and mana flow wasn't hard.
As if I myself had become a mirror.
I could remember Lee Suyeon's movements exactly as they were inside my head.
The influence of the Throne of the Shadow Mirror, that 2nd authority, is probably greater.
Of course, Instructor Lee Suyeon, who didn't know the reason, wore a blank expression.
And the afternoon was free period.
I walked the campus for a while.
The central plaza of Theia Academy.
The grounds were so vast that the place had been landscaped like a park.
I stopped for a moment in front of one enormous statue.
And read the explanatory plaque placed alongside it.
Archmage Leticein, huh.
The Dark Age of twenty years ago.
The world had been thrown into chaos by the appearance of countless high-rank gates and villains.
And the great hero who had performed the greatest feats in that era.
That was Archmage Leticein.
But despite that renown, almost nothing was known about Leticein's true identity.
There were claims he was a descendant of some European royal family.
And claims he was a demi-human mage who had hidden his identity.
What mattered was that Leticein was also a massive plot hook even in the original work, Full Moon's Grey City.
I stared blankly at the statue of the mage wearing a robe.
The figure of him casting magic with a curved-jade-shaped orb floating in the air.
Leticein was also famous for possessing the legendary weapons known as the Three Sacred Treasures.
Every side, without exception, wants to find those treasures.
Perhaps the truth of Theia Academy as well.
Might be related to those treasures called the Three Sacred Treasures.
But those items had never appeared even once in the original work.
So I needed to think about the immediate future rather than that.
Leticein's Ark. That side is the bigger problem.
Theia Academy was protected by a special magic system whose concept Leticein had established.
The name of that system was precisely Leticein's Ark.
Simply put, Leticein's Ark applied to every cadet.
So that system called the Ark.
Protected the cadets from everything that held hostility.
But that was only a story of the past.
This very week's Hell Week.
Villains who had hacked Leticein's Ark would infiltrate Theia.
The most difficult quest in Chapter 1 of the original work.
So before Hell Week, I have to evolve my skills.
No matter how much prior information I had, their rank was different from the Dark Snake last time.
I once again thought it was a good decision to have entered Instructor Lee Suyeon's department.
I organized my thoughts like that and headed toward the booths set up in the plaza.
“There's a band club busking performance, so come take a look!”
“Hey, freshman! How about learning some magic?”
As befitting the new semester.
There were many upperclassmen recruiting for club membership.
The gazes of the returning students who spotted newbies were terrifying.
Several upperclassmen latched onto me as well, but I already had a few clubs in mind, so I hurriedly escaped the place.
“Hm? You want to look around the club rooms?”
I nodded at the words of one second-year cadet.
Jeong Siu was sitting inside the club room of one particular club.
He could feel the upperclassmen glancing at his still thuggish outfit.
“You found the right place. Take a good look around and head back whenever you like.”
A female upperclassman wearing glasses said with a kind smile.
A kind person. Or is that just natural?
He recalled the name of this club again.
Theia Crime Research Society.
There were many hero activity clubs at Theia as well.
But the Crime Research Society was a little special.
Rather than activities of going around arresting villains.
It was a club that analyzed the countless incidents occurring in the hunter world and the underworld.
The incidents themselves, and the villains.
Not bad for me.
In truth, he hadn't had much interest in club activities.
Even while passing through the central plaza, no one had bothered to speak to him after seeing the thug that he was.
But another upperclassman from this Crime Research Society had taken one look at him and said he was a perfect fit for the club, then brought him along.
Like a thug, he had unthinkingly gotten irritated.
But after seeing the promotional pamphlet, his thoughts had completely changed.
Theia Crime Research Society — Spring Issue No. 1
Unknown. What Is His True Identity?
True to the name Crime Research Society.
That unidentified villain who had turned the world upside down a few years ago.
It seemed they covered Unknown in great depth here.
In this place, Unknown was so popular he was even called the gallery master.
Nice! I've always wanted to try an offline meetup of the Unknown fan club too.
Just the thought of having found people of the same kind made Jeong Siu excited.
“You interested in the gallery master too?”
“Huh...? Yes! If it's Unknown, then I also...”
Unknown was a greater villain than any other.
He was the person Jeong Siu respected most of all.
Clack—
At that moment the club room door opened. An upperclassman shouted.
“Oh, newbie smell!! Wait, another freshman?”
And the moment he confirmed the appearance of the two people who entered at the same time.
Jeong Siu froze right where he sat.
Why, why, why those two?
It was none other than Lee Junwoo and Song Sia.