Lee Jia (7)
Lee Jia (7)
"......"
I stared at the scene, momentarily dazed. Lee Ji-ah was deflecting Im Na-yeon's attacks. No matter how hard I tried to recall Lee Ji-ah's traits, it was a trait she shouldn't have been able to possess.
To deflect them that perfectly, she would need at least an A-rank trait. And one related to combat, at that. However, Lee Ji-ah didn't have any talent in physical areas. If so...
'Am I not the only one getting stronger?'
I thought that, but it was still strange. That wasn't the effect of the Mask of a Thousand Faces. If that were the effect of the Mask of a Thousand Faces, the Mask of a Thousand Faces would have had to be at least Ex-rank.
Being able to exchange traits equivalent to S-rank, even with a penalty, is an absolutely ridiculous advantage. If Im Na-yeon, who has considerable mana control and mana capacity but lacks weapon skills, were to receive my Mask of a Thousand Faces, she would become a monster rising right below the heroes. And if Lee Ji-ah had obtained Knowledge Browsing instead of the Mask of a Thousand Faces, she might have become a terrifyingly powerful archmage.
It seems I need to properly look into the relationship chart.
"Heh."
While I was thinking that, Kim Harin made a faint laughing sound. It was so quiet that ordinary students would have thought they misheard it for a split second. Then again, Kim Harin hates Im Na-yeon. No, it's not just "hates." Kim Harin loathes Im Na-yeon.
She's probably feeling great right now because Im Na-yeon lost to Lee Ji-ah, who hasn't even been here for a month. Lee Ji-ah winning against Im Na-yeon was partly because Im Na-yeon let her guard down, and also because she insisted on trying to knock Lee Ji-ah down with her weapon at the end.
If it were me, I would have just flicked some sword energy or something from a distance to secure the win.
"I didn't know Ji-ah knew martial arts too."
Kim Harin said in a strangely excited voice, trying to hide it, mixed with admiration.
"Yeah... I just found out too."
"Then is it a trait she obtained recently?"
Muttering that, Kim Harin looked at Lee Ji-ah. By now, a bunch of kids had gathered around Lee Ji-ah, chatting away.
"Wow, Ji-ah, what was that at the end?"
"There's a reason why a scholarship student is a scholarship student..."
They were bursting with exclamations like that. Honestly, Im Na-yeon had let her guard down a bit, but even including that, Lee Ji-ah winning was an anomaly in itself.
Because Lee Ji-ah had only been learning magic for about a month publicly, and she took down Im Na-yeon. Saying it like this makes Im Na-yeon look bad, but Im Na-yeon's rank is higher than mine.
I stood up, brushing off my butt. It was because the sparring was over, and Kang Han-ja had gathered the kids. He lined the students up in five rows, with twenty-five people in each line.
"You must have felt a lot while experiencing today's sparring. Write down what you lacked during today's sparring, or points you need to fix. It will be reflected in your grades, so you'd better write it well."
That damn requirement to write down what you felt... that doesn't change here either.
"Today's class ends here. Everyone, dismiss."
At Kang Han-ja's words, everyone scattered. The kids started to disperse in groups of three or five. There were also kids going alone.
"Hey, a new burger place opened today, want to go?"
"Oh. For real? Obviously, we have to go."
There were kids gathering with friends to go there or trying to lure others to go to a PC cafe. And there were students who looked at them pitifully and headed to the training room.
While I was watching them, Lee Ji-ah approached me.
"Siwoo-ya, I was cool today, right?"
She whispered to me while making a V-sign with her fingers. I guess she's worried about having beaten Im Na-yeon. But everyone here is a superhuman, so their hearing must be sharp.
I nodded appropriately at Lee Ji-ah's words.
"Come to think of it, how did you block Na-yeon's attack?"
"Ah, that... should I tell you?"
"Uh...? Uh, ah, tell me."
Lick.
Lee Ji-ah licked her lips with her tongue and looked at me with seductive eyes. Her gaze was glistening with sexual desire.
I was momentarily flustered and stuttered.
"Then let's go to my club room together later."
"Th-that, shall we?"
I answered reluctantly. The moment I enter the club room, I'll be hypnotized.
It wasn't that I disliked the act with her... No, actually, I liked it. But next week is mission week. Even though there's a strategy, I wanted to train as much as possible to raise my stats if I could. But wouldn't I have to have sex with Lee Ji-ah to find out about the relationship chart?
'Hmm.'
It wasn't a problem to worry about, but I suddenly started worrying. However, my heart soon tilted towards training. Let's just train. Sex is a momentary pleasure, but training is a matter of life and death.
......So, now is the time to train. There was no time to get distracted by women.
"Then shall we go to the club room together later?"
"Yeah, let's go to the club room and have a nice, cozy talk 'just the two of us'."
......But to see the ending, I needed to learn about the relationship chart. Seeing Ji-ah smiling with her eyes at me, I nodded.
"Im Na-yeon-nim's actions were not wrong."
Third-year Teacher Choi, no, Choi Yu-na, who became Im Na-yeon's exclusive coach, said calmly while watching the video.
In the video, her sword energy stopped just before reaching Lee Ji-ah. After this, Lee Ji-ah calmly deflected Im Na-yeon's sword strike with her staff.
At this moment, Im Na-yeon couldn't help but be flustered. Lee Ji-ah's unexpected proficiency. It resembled Lee Si-woo's. Even if you know it's coming, you'd be flustered if you get hit, but since she was hit without knowing, it was a natural reaction.
Flustered, Im Na-yeon momentarily lost her pace.
And then, a feast of magic occurring in an instant.
Lightning Strike. Burning Impact. Freeze Bolt.
Magic spells were cast in succession in a single breath. As the mana fluctuated, Im Na-yeon raised her Qi Armor accordingly. Im Na-yeon's strike missed, but she had composure. If she could just open up some distance and attack.
"Im Na-yeon-nim probably thought she would win by opening up some distance."
"......Yes."
Im Na-yeon affirmed Choi Yu-na's words. She had thought so until she was hit by the magic.
Kwa-ang!
In the video, she is hit by Lee Ji-ah's magic, accompanied by a loud explosion. Im Na-yeon had defended with her Qi Armor, but her waist, which she hadn't managed to protect, was still throbbing.
The power of her magic spells was completely different from what she had expected. As if the magic until now had been fake, it was accompanied by power of a different caliber.
Seeing it on video, it was clearly different. The mana overflowing around her. The size of the magic. And the power.
"Lee Ji-ah-ssi was not treated like a proper person before coming here. You know that, right?"
"Yeah, Ji-ah didn't tell me, but I hear it here and there."
Im Na-yeon recalled the first day of the academy. Lee Ji-ah, who had a timid expression without any confidence.
And the students whispering here and there while looking at her.
A person who took a scholarship despite entering through a special admission. Just what kind of person is she to receive such benefits? It was roughly stories like that.
And the words of Lee Ji-ah's older sister, who is in her second year, which she happened to overhear.
-Ha, I thought she left home, so why is she here?
-And what kind of trick did she use to get in here? Even as a scholarship student. Did she sell her body or something?
It was rude and vulgar talk. But Lee Ji-ah couldn't say anything. She just mumbled. If she hadn't appeared just like she had happened to see, she probably would have heard even worse insults.
"It's an incredibly surprising growth. Perhaps she had a trait related to magic, but she must have had a penalty commensurate with that talent."
"A penalty...?"
"Yes, to be precise, it's a penalty trait. It's a characteristic that traits boasting immense abilities sometimes have. They are also traits with overly outstanding potential."
Choi Yu-na said that much and then fell into thought for a moment. She recalled people who didn't see the light at first due to penalty traits. She ruminated on each and every achievement they had.
From the 'Sword Mistress', the most famous among teenagers, 20s, and 30s in the modern era, to the 'Dancer' who contributed significantly to killing the Goat of Sloth, one of the Great Evils, and the 'Shield of Conviction' who, 20 years ago, blocked 10,000 monsters for about a day along with 10 knights to protect civilians.
They were all people with extraordinary achievements. Then Lee Ji-ah must also have an extraordinary trait. No, it's already extraordinary.
Even if knowledge related to magic had accumulated while she lived... even if she had let her guard down, she took down Im Na-yeon just one month after formally learning magic. Even just a year from now, it will be hard to find a rival for her.
"Perhaps, it might be an overstepping remark, but..."
"Yes?"
"Please get along well with Lee Ji-ah."
"Ji-ah and I are already best friends."
"It's fine to get even closer. Perhaps Lee Ji-ah-ssi will become a being who leaves a mark on the hero world."
"Is that so? Then, in Teacher Choi's view, how is Siwoo?"
"Lee Si-woo-ssi?"
Choi Yu-na fell into thought for a moment at Im Na-yeon's words, who was asking with sparkling eyes. Since the academy's founding, written exam scores that had never had a perfect score. He could receive a scholarship with just his extraordinary brain, but actually, what's scarier than that is.
'I couldn't see him.'
Choi Yu-na recalled when she first saw Lee Si-woo. Lee Si-woo, whom she had briefly seen during joint training to see the junior who got a perfect score at the academy. Choi Yu-na used her unique trait on him.
Unique trait, Observation Eye. It was her unique trait that allowed her to observe an opponent to determine which parts to train for efficiency and how much the person's talent had blossomed.
It was just curiosity. There was also a snobbish calculation that if he was a person who was also physically outstanding, strongly recommending him to the company and bringing him in would be a gain just by that.
And the moment she used her unique trait.
She saw.
The white masks floating around him.
A mask showing a peaceful expression, as if liberated. A mask making an expression as if engrossed in something. A mask making a comfortable-looking expression. A mask with no change in expression, a mask making a cold-headed expression.......
Mask, mask, mask, mask, mask.
She could only see masks.
She couldn't see Lee Si-woo. When she felt that, the first emotion that came to mind was a terrible sense of disconnect.
The scene where those masks suddenly sent their gaze towards her flashed in her mind. Even now, if she recalls that scene, cold sweat flows.
The only person her trait didn't work on was the academy's principal, the Fairy Queen. She can understand that. Because she is the leader of a race leading the Fairy Race, called phantasmal species, and a living magic weapon with 800 years of history.
......However, Lee Si-woo didn't make sense. So she mobilized her own connections to find out, and as a result, Lee Si-woo was too ordinary. While being so ordinary. A boy who is so strange.
"Teacher Choi...?"
"Yes? Ah, Lee Si-woo-ssi, you mean."
Waking up from her thoughts at Im Na-yeon's words, she organized her thoughts for a moment.
"To summarize Lee Si-woo-ssi in one word, it would be a master of dueling."
"A master?"
"Yes. He is a specialist in dueling. Im Na-yeon-nim, you know, right? The phenomenon where if you clash weapons with Lee Si-woo-ssi, it doesn't go in the direction you want, but is swung elsewhere."
"Yes, even just watching it, it was a bit bleak."
"With just that, it will be hard to find a rival for him in dueling. If you try to fight him in close quarters, the opponent will be reluctant to clash weapons with Lee Si-woo-ssi and will act passively. Unless you suppress him with extremely strong raw physical power that Lee Si-woo-ssi cannot withstand, or drain his stamina by attacking from a distance before attacking, it will be hard for Im Na-yeon-nim to beat Lee Si-woo-ssi."
"Hmm, is that so, after all."
"Yes, however."
"However...?"
Choi Yu-na trailed off.
"That will be the case until he awakens his unique trait. I don't know what kind of unique trait he will have... but he will surely have a troublesome or immense trait."
"Come to think of it, Siwoo hasn't been able to awaken his unique trait yet, right?"
"Yes. Usually, unique traits are awakened when one is young. But sometimes there are people who awaken them late. It's a little-known fact, but Changcheon, one of Korea's three major guilds. Gwangseongja-nim, the guild leader there, also awakened his trait late."
"Ah, Han Jong-woo's father."
"Yes, that's right. Gwangseongja-nim also awakened his trait late, but he was extraordinary even before he awakened his unique trait. Perhaps Lee Si-woo-ssi is the same case."
"Is there nothing else?"
"Yes, there is nothing. Unless, like in a comic, he came as if he just dropped in from another world."
Im Na-yeon giggled at Choi Yu-na's playful words.