The Cradle of Heroes (12)
Kim Da-jeong immediately raised both hands in surrender the moment Yoon I-seo charged at her with an aura sword formed on his blade.
"Huh?"
Yoon I-seo froze his axe right in front of her nose and asked back like an idiot. Kim Da-jeong shrugged as if she had no choice and explained.
"Then..."
At the command to not use aura, Yoon I-seo's expression cooled sharply. Still, he had come all this way and couldn't back out now. He dispelled the aura wrapped around his sword and charged at Kim Da-jeong once again.
Clang!Clang-clang!
Having confirmed that Yoon I-seo could use an aura sword, Kim Da-jeong stopped holding back and faced him head-on. She swung her axe—which was as big as her entire body—like a tree branch, completely blocking all of his attacks. Then, as Yoon I-seo retreated briefly to regroup, she stomped hard on the ground and rushed forward.
Boom!
Yoon I-seo gripped his sword tightly with one hand and deflected her strike, then immediately aimed for the opening at her upper body. In a situation where he could have easily sliced through her torso, he chose to press the attack instead, thinking that she was still a veteran after all.
Kim Da-jeong proved she wasn't a veteran for nothing. She pushed hard off the ground, launched herself into the air, spun once, and landed perfectly with a flawless ten-point score.
A chorus of oohs erupted from the Hero Candidates who had been watching the spar. But Kim Da-jeong wasn't in any position to care about their admiration.
Heh. So it's not just his aura talent that's been unlocked.
She hadn't been completely sure since one-handed swords were such a common weapon, but after clashing with him a few times, she could feel it clearly. He had definitely unlocked a martial arts talent as well. And it didn't seem to be a low-grade one either.
Talent was exactly that—a talent. Simply unlocking it wasn't the end. It had to be honed and polished constantly.
Kim Da-jeong herself had unlocked mid-low grade axe mastery and spent the past five years training relentlessly through real battles and practice to reach her current level. Even if Yoon I-seo hadn't been going all out, the fact that he not only blocked her strikes cleanly but immediately counterattacked the moment he saw an opening meant his talent grade couldn't possibly be low.
This is ridiculous.
So far she had confirmed two talents, and both were extraordinary. Depending on the type, unlocking even one mid-low grade or higher combat-related talent was enough to make someone the ace of their batch. But this Yoon I-seo seemed to have two of them at that level or higher.
Especially rare were Hero Candidates who could create an aura sword. The point cost to unlock aura-related talents was expensive compared to the tutorial, and not many people even possessed mid-low grade or higher aura talents to begin with.
Like the natives of this world, most Hero Candidates only had one lowest-grade talent. The advantage Hero Candidates had over the locals was that they could use aura by paying points even if their talent was the lowest grade. Though the efficiency was terrible and growth was slow.
Still, Hero Candidates poured enormous sums into unlocking aura talents. The difference between having it unlocked and not was simply that vast. Kim Da-jeong had also shed tears and unlocked low-grade aura utilization. And it had only been recently!
After rolling around for several years in a mid-tier mercenary band within the Seoul Mercenary Corps—an organization active in the Empire—she had finally awakened her aura. Yet this newcomer was already using an aura sword.
For a moment, Kim Da-jeong felt such intense deprivation that she wanted to quit everything. But she focused on the spar for now.
Clang!
No matter how much of a talent monster he was or how excellently he had finished the tutorial, he was still just a greenhorn who had only recently arrived in Aeteria. If she ended the match evenly like this, her five years of effort would feel utterly insignificant. She wanted to land at least one solid hit.
Forgetting her original purpose, Kim Da-jeong raised her axe high and swung it over her shoulder. Her small frame made it look precarious, as if she might topple backward, but her core and lower body—honed over many years—held firm. Adding the power of aura on top of that, she shot forward toward Yoon I-seo in an instant.
"Huu..."
Yoon I-seo exhaled deeply as he watched Kim Da-jeong fly toward him with enough force to split him in half, then circulated aura throughout his body.
This must be the last one.
He could tell from the momentum of her approach. This would be the final exchange.
He couldn't use sword energy, but Yoon I-seo had wanted to see the skill of a veteran Hero Candidate, so he had given it his all. The proper move would have been to dodge, but it felt too unsatisfying to end it that way. He swung his sword with all his strength toward the incoming axe.
Boom!
With a sound unimaginable for two weapons colliding, Yoon I-seo was sent sliding backward.
Kim Da-jeong smiled in a way that didn't match her cute appearance at all—it was downright eerie—as she scanned the women. For a moment, the entire training ground fell silent.
When no one stepped forward at her words, she picked someone at random and the next spar began.
After all afternoon classes had ended and the Hero Candidates had left the training ground, Kim Da-jeong pulled a cigarette from her pocket, lit it, and asked Lee Chang-hwan.
Huu. White smoke billowed from her small lips. Lee Chang-hwan frowned and took a step back. Kim Da-jeong laughed playfully and blew the smoke right at him.
These days he smoked out of habit, but in the beginning, things had been so brutally hard and miserable that he'd relied on cigarettes to survive. Back then, even buying a single cigarette had been nerve-wracking, so he could only smoke after finishing a job.
These days it doesn't taste the same.
He wondered if he should cut back on purpose to recapture that old flavor, but that wasn't important right now.
"Right?"
Even in Kim Da-jeong's eyes, it was the same. No matter how arrogant the Seoul Mercenary Corps was, it was only a mid-sized organization. With specs like Yoon I-seo's, he would definitely get offers from top-tier groups or those directly run by nobles.
He might have already received some.
Top-tier organizations had their own intelligence networks even inside the Cradle. They would have already heard about Yoon I-seo and would be preparing.
Hero Candidates didn't all get along holding hands. There had been a time during the height of the old wars when they did, but that was ancient history now. The people who remembered those days had mostly died or retired. Most of those currently in the Border Region belonged to a generation that hadn't experienced that war. As a result, not only did old national grudges remain, but fighting each other over spoils had become almost routine.
"Then why?"
At Kim Da-jeong's question, Lee Chang-hwan turned his head to check that no one was around the empty training ground before opening his mouth. At that moment, he sensed a presence by the door and whipped his head around.
I had occasionally wondered about it. Just how strong was the average Hero Candidate?
Most of the people I'd seen so far had been natives of Aeteria. I had never seen other Hero Candidates who had crossed over from another world like us.
So when I heard that veteran Hero Candidates were coming today, I had been slightly excited. But they weren't as overwhelmingly strong as I'd imagined.
Of course, they did possess skill worthy of being called veterans. Both the woman named Kim Da-jeong I'd sparred with and the man named Lee Chang-hwan had levels of strength that would be rude to even compare with the beginners here.
However.
From what I saw today, they were still quite far from the veterans I had pictured.
I thought sword energy was the baseline.
When clashing swords while using aura, I could instinctively gauge the opponent's level. Both of them could use aura, but neither could use sword energy.
"The veterans really are veterans. That tiny woman came swinging her axe like it was nothing. Her strength was insane..."
"The guy was the same. He didn't even shoot arrows, just beat people with his bow. We're nowhere near their level."
Kim Dae-kwon's group seemed deeply impressed by the two from the Seoul Mercenary Corps. Even while eating, they kept talking about the training from earlier.
"Ah, but they'll probably take a few people with them when they leave, right? The name is Seoul Mercenary Corps, after all."
"I hope so. It'd be easier to adapt if it's all Koreans."
It was certainly an attractive place for Koreans. From what I'd heard, it seemed pretty solid. And most importantly, it was full of Koreans.
"Senior, what do you think?"
"Hey, you think Senior is the same as us? Didn't you see him fighting that woman earlier? They were completely even. They'll definitely try to recruit him."
"Stop talking nonsense and eat your food. Eat."
"Yes sir."
After I shut up the three noisy idiots, the cafeteria finally grew quiet.
"What? You're only eating now?"
"Yeah? I had to go get something."
"Are you on a diet, ma'am? Your tray is full of nothing but bread and grass."
"Isn't it because you guys took all the meat?"
"Dae-kwon, where did your conscience go? You took the most."
"Ahem. Whatever. I've already finished eating, so divide what you got extra among yourselves."
"We finished eating too..."
"Then the person who has leftovers..."
All three of them turned to look at Song Da-yeong at once. She snorted in disbelief.
"Alright, alright, stop fighting. I'll share mine."
"As expected of Senior!"
I had barely gotten them to quiet down, but they were getting noisy again. I moved some of the meat from my tray onto Kwon So-yeon's.
"It's fine..."
"Just eat it. I got extra anyway."
Kwon So-yeon nodded quietly and picked up her bread. Finally, peace returned to the cafeteria.
Everyone focused on eating rather than talking. By the time we had nearly finished the nutritious—if not particularly tasty—food, Song Da-yeong tapped my thigh under the table.
I'll come to your room after this.
She used ventriloquism so no one else would hear, but I understood and nodded.
Just as the atmosphere suggested we were all mostly done and I was about to stand up—
"Ma'am, if you're not going to eat that, can I have it?"
"Sure, go ahead. Better than wasting it."
"Nice!"
Apparently still not full, Oh Jang-hyuk cleaned out the remaining meat on Kwon So-yeon's tray and stood up with a satisfied expression.
"Ma'am, why aren't you eating meat? You need to eat meat to have energy if we're moving again tomorrow."
"It's fine. I don't move as much as you guys."
"Heh, as expected of a noble class."
Kwon So-yeon said she was fine, but compared to usual, she did look a bit low on energy. I wondered if she was sick, but—
Well, she'll handle it herself.
Right now, I was more curious about what Song Da-yeong wanted to say. I put it out of my mind and headed up to my room.