078. The Size of Talent
078. The Size of Talent
"In our last lesson, we trained to grow accustomed to killing intent and to distinguish between the false and the real."
"Yes."
I nodded emphatically at Instructor Baek Seol-hee's words.
That single lesson had been an enormous help.
'When I took down the tutorial boss, when I fought Kang Do-hee in the interpersonal combat class, and just recently when I took out Shin Su-yeon, too.'
Once I'd experienced killing intent on a whole different level,
even in combat situations where my field of vision narrows and excitement runs high, I'd been able to stay calm to a degree that surprised even myself.
Like fighting a tiger and then going up against a cat, I guess you could say.
I'd benefited that much from this class, so I was genuinely looking forward to what I'd learn today.
"My class is fundamentally cumulative."
"Cumulative?"
"Yes. The method is to revisit what was covered in the previous lesson, and only when you pass that threshold do we move on to something new."
'So in math terms, it's like reviewing sets from the beginning before moving into functions? Classic FM.'
"Do you understand why I choose to structure it this way?"
Baek Seol-hee asked, her eyes impassive.
I thought for a moment, then answered, recalling the FM company commander types—instructors who lived with the word "disappointed" perpetually on their lips.
"Because what we learn first is the most fundamental of fundamentals."
"Oh...?"
Baek Seol-hee's eyebrows twitched.
Certain I'd hit the right answer, I kept going.
"The most basic things are the most important. They can never be repeated enough, which is why you designed it this way, isn't it? And I imagine that as I get more proficient through repetition, the time the earlier training takes will shorten as well."
At my answer, she nodded with satisfaction.
"That's right. If you forget the fundamentals and bury yourself in new sword techniques and tricks, true accomplishment will elude you."
Baek Seol-hee looked at me steadily, then lifted the corners of her mouth just slightly.
"However, to correct one thing—you'll find it difficult for the earlier training to take less time as you become more proficient. Since you requested additional lessons, we won't stop at mere repetition. I'll be raising the bar."
"......Ah, I see."
"It's possible you could spend the entire year on nothing but fundamentals before the course ends."
'Ugh, a whole year of fundamentals? That's a little brutal...'
When my face showed my dismay, Baek Seol-hee chuckled.
"You brought this on yourself. Do your best to keep up."
*
I gripped Moonlight and closed my eyes.
At the same moment, killing intent so thick it could make you black out rushed over my entire body.
Shiver─!
'Whoof, the real thing really is something else...'
Killing intent so dense that Choi A-ram, Kang Do-hee, and Shin Su-yeon all looked like child's play in comparison.
Even with Intuition completely off, the pressure was on a whole different level.
'What the hell do Instructor's stats even look like... Think she'd answer if I asked sometime?'
Thump.
Thump.
Cold sweat beaded on my forehead and my heart started pounding fast.
I bit down firmly on my lip.
'Still, it's a lot more bearable than last time.'
Maybe it was thanks to the 10% boost in mental fortitude.
Unlike before, when I couldn't even manage a single step,
even inside killing intent so dense my breath caught in my throat, I could somehow pull myself together.
'Last time, I couldn't even draw a proper sword line in the end.'
Back then, I'd been so focused on whether Baek Seol-hee's attacks were real or not that I hadn't been able to carve out a proper Sword Path.
Shhh.
I raised my arm and slowly drew a straight line downward before my eyes.
That was when it happened.
Twitch─
I detected Baek Seol-hee, standing in front of me with a single tree branch, raising her hand.
Immediately, I swung the sword I'd been bringing down upward.
SWISH─!
Moonlight shot toward the branch.
Swish!
Then Baek Seol-hee's branch softly twisted its trajectory in midair and transitioned into a thrust.
Instantly, I turned my wrist and slashed Moonlight horizontally.
BOOM!
Mana collided with Mana, and a thunderous roar erupted.
After that, the branch in Baek Seol-hee's hand began to unleash swordsmanship as if it meant business.
Swish!
Swish-swish!
Whoosh!
Swordsmanship in which false and real were tangled together indiscriminately.
Training where I had to distinguish real attacks from feints and block them, all while my senses were numbed by killing intent.
And at the same time, I had to stabilize my Sword Path and carve it out properly.
'Insane!!!'
The essence was the same as the last lesson, but the difficulty had clearly gone up.
Swords coming at me relentlessly.
It was a good thing they were at least slow—otherwise, I clearly wouldn't have been able to react at all.
Even knowing what was coming, dealing with her sword was no easy task.
In an instant, Instructor Baek Seol-hee's sword changed.
'Ah, this is that swordsmanship the Instructor showed me before.'
Still, having executed it with my own body once, I could just barely make out the illusions mixed into her swordplay.
BANG!
BANG!
BANG!
I clenched my teeth and met her sword.
'But when the hell am I supposed to get one downward slash in?!'
* * *
Not long ago, Baek Seol-hee had handed over a demonized cadet to the Hunter Management Bureau.
It was an incident that could have escalated into a major case.
A serious matter that could have threatened Velvet Academy's very standing.
Since the demonized cadet hadn't been a student who normally showed outstanding grades, no one had thought to summon an instructor when she called for them—
so if things had gone just slightly wrong, the cadets could have been massacred inside the academy.
Had an incident like that broken out, no public apology to the nation would have sufficed.
When she'd heard that Jin Yu-ha's party had stopped that Demonized Human, Baek Seol-hee had felt immeasurable satisfaction, yet at the same time, she'd understood.
She already knew that Jin Yu-ha's party command was beyond extraordinary—it was exceptional.
If they'd tackled it methodically as a party, the opponent was well within their ability to take down.
But—
When she'd inspected the actual scene and listened to the cadets' testimonies, she hadn't been able to stop herself from making a stunned expression.
Because the traces at the scene and the testimonies all pointed to one thing:
Jin Yu-ha hadn't taken down the Demonized Human as a party—he'd done it alone.
'Even if the creature had only just awakened as a Demonized Human...'
That feat was by no means a small one.
Even those who joined the Demonized Human Extermination Squad had to undergo at least a year of training before they gained the skill to face a single Demonized Human alone.
Demonized Humans, who possessed bizarre abilities and had forgotten human emotion, were exceedingly troublesome opponents—unless you somehow knew them inside and out beforehand.
'So I'd planned to ask him directly what exactly had happened after training ended...'
Yet not long after she'd started training with Jin Yu-ha, Baek Seol-hee felt a shiver spread through her entire body.
She'd thought she'd already fully grasped the magnitude of Jin Yu-ha's talent.
Three weeks in basic training.
A proper evaluation of his abilities in the previous lesson.
Honestly, what she'd seen so far was already enough to call Jin Yu-ha a prodigy among prodigies.
Someone who would clearly surpass her in the future.
But as if everything he'd shown up to now had been a mere preview, Jin Yu-ha had appeared having evolved yet another step further.
'He hadn't shown everything yet? No, it's only now that he's truly revealing it.'
Adapting to killing intent and reacting to it—for the sake of argument, say that that was something you could grow sufficiently accustomed to once you grasped it.
It was like riding a bicycle—once you got the hang of it, going back was actually the hard part.
'But executing swordsmanship in the middle of that is a completely different story.'
Jin Yu-ha was executing swordsmanship right now.
This was like riding a bicycle, taking both hands off the handlebars, and lifting the front wheel.
Baek Seol-hee once again overturned her assessment of Jin Yu-ha.
Calling this "talent" was too inadequate a label—it was something uncanny.
'His sponge-like absorption rate has already become absurdly fast. His mental composure has risen to a whole new level, too.'
A dumbfounded, hollow laugh escaped Baek Seol-hee's lips.
'Hah. With this degree of talent, it wouldn't be the least bit strange for him to have taken down a Demonized Human alone.'
Was it even permissible for this much talent to be condensed inside a single person?
The Male Quota System.
The gender of being a man.
An age already too late to start the sword.
Not a single condition was in his favor.
And yet, as if none of that meant a thing, her disciple was charging after her without hesitation.
As if he intended to devour everything she had.
Jin Yu-ha's dazzling talent was enough to threaten even her.
'How long has it been since I've felt something like this...'
The corners of Baek Seol-hee's lips rose into a long curve.
Of course, it was an error-riddled illusion propped up by item crutches, but Baek Seol-hee nodded at her own judgment.
In that brief moment when her thoughts had wandered, BOOM─!
With a tremendous roar, Baek Seol-hee's branch was pushed back a handspan.
That was the moment Jin Yu-ha's blue sword—which had been methodically answering Baek Seol-hee's blade—changed.
The tip of the blue sword seized the opening and struck toward the sky.
SWOOOOOOSH─!!
It carved downward as if bringing down a hammer.
In a straight line, impeccably clean.
At that immaculate Sword Path, Baek Seol-hee could do nothing but acknowledge it.
"......Pass."
That his words about taking additional lessons beyond everything they'd done so far had not been empty.