A Vague Sense of Unease
The duel between S-class students. It wasn’t a spar to enter S-class, but one to gain access to the personal training room.
‘I didn’t expect him to challenge me first.’
Freed. The guy ranked right after me as the lowest in S-class, and the one who kept giving me this strange sense of unease. He was the one who had applied for a spar with me.
“A spar?”
“Yeah.”
Even while speaking, he seemed to be suppressing his resentment.
‘Hmm… This is too unsettling.’
The aura I sensed from him, the hostility he showed me. As far as I knew, there was no such thing as a normal person displaying open enmity.
Since I couldn’t refuse the spar, it seemed best to try and postpone it.
“But what can I do? I already have prior commitments.”
Two hundred and fifty-seven spar applications. I wasn’t sure how many had been reduced, but there were probably still at least a few left.
“That’s fine. After all, I’m the first one to apply.”
“......”
I had nothing to say to that. My plan to delay had collapsed.
“The time is six o’clock today. I’ll be waiting.”
With those words, he returned to his seat.
“Haa...”
What now?
‘I’ll win, at least.’
I wouldn’t lose. I felt stronger than the power I sensed from him. There was no chance I wouldn’t be able to use the personal training room.
‘But I’m still anxious.’
Thinking about that unease, I sat down at my desk.
Soon after, Christina, Siris, Daren, and the others entered the classroom and greeted me.
“Hello, Adel.”
“......Hello.”
“Good to see you.”
It was Christina, Siris, and Daren in that order.
“Hey.”
When I returned the greeting casually, I felt a gaze piercing me.
‘......Freed.’
The guy was staring at me with eyes full of what looked like jealousy.
Feeling that stare, I waited for the next class.
“Everyone, please research what the Seven Evils are. It’s not an assignment, but it will help you. That concludes today’s lesson.”
The instructor in charge of Understanding History, Yura, left the lecture hall after saying that.
‘It’s not as boring as I expected.’
Since it was a history lecture, I honestly thought I’d be nodding off. But somehow, I ended up concentrating more than anyone else. Instructor Yura’s passion for history was so intense that it was the first time someone had shown such interest, enough to draw attention.
‘I should head out too.’
Seeing the students leaving the classroom one by one, I followed them out.
Some headed to the dorms, saying it was their last class, but since mine wasn’t over yet, I made my way to the Understanding Martial Arts lecture hall.
“So that’s Adel Ifrit...”
“He doesn’t look particularly special...”
“That’s because you missed the previous class.”
While listening to their murmurs and waiting, Charles entered the classroom.
“Today’s lesson is sparring.”
Beep.
When she pressed a button, the classroom transformed into a vast grassland, creating a space for duels.
“Pair up into teams of two and begin sparring. I’ll observe from time to time. Start.”
The students, familiar with Charles’s classes, immediately filled the air with the sounds of clashing blades and surges of mana.
Charles approached me and asked.
“Will you spar with me, or would you prefer to meditate?”
It seemed she offered the extra option because she knew I had a lot on my mind.
“......I’ll meditate.”
Normally, I would have trained my body through sparring, but right now I had too many disorganized thoughts.
‘There’s yesterday’s events too.’
I had only done nothing but sparring after wrapping up a conversation with Shane.
I needed to organize what we had talked about.
“As you wish.”
With a refreshing smile at my answer, Charles turned and headed toward the area where the sounds of battle rang out.
I sat down lightly in a cross-legged position.
I quickly closed my eyes and began to focus.
‘I never thought I’d end up like this.’
The old me would have started fidgeting after less than thirty minutes of meditation, but now I was meditating to sort out my thoughts.
From the moment I possessed this body, using flames, fighting people... It really was a series of bizarre experiences.
I recalled what happened yesterday.
‘Affinity.’
Shane had told me that my affinity was the highest. A talent that appeared once every hundred years—the ability to have mana approach of its own will.
But I had a feeling my talent didn’t stop there.
Fwoosh.
Flames manifested in my hand. But rather than coming to me, they seemed to submit, hovering above my palm without daring to approach.
‘Dominance.’
It wasn’t mana granting me power, but me subjugating mana.
Right now, I was handling mana through dominance rather than affinity.
‘......My dominance seems to be at the highest level as well.’
The highest level of dominance was fairly common. Most powerful individuals on the continent handled mana through dominance.
The reason it appeared more frequently than the highest affinity was because affinity was always an innate talent. Dominance, however, could be achieved if one possessed an extreme will to subjugate—something all humans had to some degree.
‘What kind of ordeal are they trying to give me with this?’
Why grant me such talent? Honestly, anxiety outweighed any anticipation.
‘Was the Red Sun also based on dominance?’
I had thought the nature of my mana was Predation. After all, it had controlled mana in order to devour the talent known as Control. That was the only conclusion I could reach at the time.
But after witnessing both dominance and affinity, I could state with certainty.
‘The nature of my mana isn’t predation.’
It had been a misunderstanding.
‘Then what is it?’
I didn’t know. Once one thought was denied, it was hard to come up with many others.
‘For now, I’ll just continue as I have been.’
If it had a nature, it would serve as a pillar to support me. Christina used her nature of Hope as both a pillar and a sword. It would be helpful to find it soon, but it wasn’t worth obsessing over.
‘Next, then.’
Freed. It was time to think about that guy.
‘Those eyes.’
I had sensed a faint jealousy in the way he looked at me.
‘Is it similar to the Seven Evils?’
When it came to the seven evils, there was only one possibility.
‘The Seven Deadly Sins.’
The root of all sin and the seven vices. Jealousy was one of them. I had a feeling Freed was connected to it somehow.
‘I’ll have to visit the library after this.’
There was too much information I needed to look up.
‘I’ll think about that later.’
The last thing to organize.
‘How much Battle Qi can I use?’
I had fought with Shane all day long. Without realizing it, we had sparred all the way until 9:50.
Battle Qi was a type of aura. I couldn’t tell exactly how much it had grown.
‘I guess I’ll find out today?’
Even if Freed seemed weaker than me, he was still an S-class student. He wouldn’t disappoint my expectations.
Clap!
Using mana to amplify the sound, Charles drew the attention of the sparring students.
“Huu...”
I opened my eyes and looked at her.
“Sparring is over. That concludes today’s lesson.”
As soon as she finished speaking, Charles dashed out of the classroom.
‘I should get going too.’
All classes were finished, but there was still time before six o’clock.
‘Let’s go to the library.’
I could research the Seven Evils and pick up various other knowledge while I was there.
After somehow making my way to the library, I started looking for books related to the Seven Evils.
I read while waiting for six o’clock, when the duel would begin.
All while feeling various kinds of anxiety.
Six o’clock. The time for the duel had arrived.
I wasn’t particularly nervous.
‘He’s weaker than me.’
My confidence came from that assurance.
Arriving at the third training arena, I looked around. It was smaller than the first arena but still spacious enough. The spectator seats were moderately filled.
‘She’s here.’
It was a bit odd that only Christina was visible, but I figured the others would arrive soon. I began warming up.
Then Freed appeared from the opposite side.
“You didn’t run away scared, I see.”
Freed threw out a lame provocation.
“A guy with even less reputation than me sure has a lot to say.”
Since he kept staring with such hostility, my words came out rather sharp as well. At least I hadn’t cursed at him.
Grind.
The sound of teeth grinding could be heard before Freed spoke again.
“......How about we make a bet? The loser of this duel has to leave S-class.”
“Hmm...”
Honestly, there was no need to accept or even consider it. But the reason I was hesitating was...
‘I don’t know what’ll happen to this guy.’
Just because this villain-like character Freed left S-class didn’t mean it would lead to a good outcome.
In a burst of impulse, I said,
“Let’s add expulsion from the academy on top of that. What do you think?”
At this point, it would ease some of my anxiety, and it was a bet that would be good for both of us, right?
‘He’ll accept it.’
His hostility toward me had reached its peak. There was no way he’d pass up the chance to make sure he never had to see me again.
“Fine.”
After thinking it over, Freed answered.
“Is the conversation finished?”
Cain, who had once again taken on the role of referee, approached and asked.
“Yes, it is.”
“Yes.”
Once both Freed and I answered, Cain looked at Freed with deep, sunken eyes.
“......”
“......”
They stared at each other for several seconds.
“......”
It was confusing, but as I met Cain’s eyes, I realized the voice belonged to him.
‘What kind of question is that?’
I couldn’t grasp his intention. But taking the question at face value, I raised two fingers.
Cain smiled faintly.
“Good. Just like before, the duel will begin once the barrier forms. The first to accept a surrender wins. I wish you luck.”
With that, Cain left the arena.
I glanced at Freed for a moment. In contrast to Cain’s smile, I once again felt that inexplicable sense of unease.
‘It’s probably nothing.’
Since the duel was about to start, I set the thought aside and moved to one end of the arena.
Ziiing.
A hemispherical barrier formed over the training ground.
It was the beginning of my second duel.