Chapter 93
Chapter 93
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 93
Chapter Title: Midnight Training with Kalli
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Night had fallen, thick and dark.
After parting ways with Karite, Cheon-seong was heading to Kalli's private training room.
Thud.
As he walked through the academy, Cheon-seong felt a strange sense of liberation. The persistent gaze he had felt for so long had finally vanished.
He glanced around, tilting his head in puzzlement.
“I'm sure... I felt someone's eyes on me.”
He hadn't shown it in front of Karite, but the entire time they were together, he couldn't shake the feeling that someone was watching him.
He had forced himself not to let on, worried that Karite would become anxious.
Though the gaze was completely gone now...
He shook his head, dismissing the thought.
“It might have been my imagination...”
So many students had stared at them while he was with Karite; perhaps he was just being overly sensitive.
Besides, there was no reason for anyone to be tailing him. He had to clear his mind of these distractions.
It was time to focus and train his skill.
Thud.
Pushing the thoughts aside, he slowly made his way forward.
…
Click.
As the door to the training room opened, he came face to face with Kalli.
“Welcome, Cadet Han Cheon-seong.”
“I'm sorry for coming so late.”
“Don't be sorry. I told you it was fine.”
Facing Kalli's faint smile, he stepped into the training room and immediately felt a distinct change in the air. The density of the air was clearly different from outside.
Breathing felt a little heavy, and his body naturally tensed up.
Despite the late hour, Kalli, dressed in her instructor's uniform, looked impeccably neat.
“Before we begin training, shall we have you wear Ellimiang's Consideration?”
“Ah, yes, that would be great.”
He desperately needed the power of the magitech artifact right now.
Although spending a relaxing time with Karite had eased his body somewhat, pushing himself too hard would still trigger an immediate reaction.
Click.
Kalli brought out a pair of ruby earrings as if she had them ready, and he now naturally accepted her approach.
Ssh.
Kalli approached and personally put the earrings on his ears.
Click.
Click.
With the sound of the clasps locking, he no longer flinched at the pain of the earrings being put on, unlike the first time.
“You seem quite used to it now, don't you?”
A small laugh escaped him at her playful tone.
“Well... it's not my first time anymore.”
“That's true. Anyway, before we start training, I want to properly establish the concept. Cadet Han Cheon-seong. I assume you first got a clue about your skill during your duel with Cadet Jerad, is that right?”
“I felt it a little earlier than that.”
“A little earlier... You grasped the clue to your skill sooner than I thought.”
“Yes. But even though I thought I'd found a clue, I wasn't certain.”
As they spoke calmly, he naturally activated Ellimiang's Consideration.
—!
A warm energy circulated through his body, making him feel much lighter. As vitality filled him, he lightly flexed his hands and waited for Kalli, who seemed to be contemplating something.
“In that case... Cadet Han Cheon-seong, have you fully realized the concept of the skill? Or are you still in the phase of just getting a feel for it?”
To her careful yet serious tone, he answered with what he felt.
“I've completely grasped the concept.”
—To pierce a single point and twist.
He had even solidified the direction the concept would take.
“...You've grasped the concept. That's more surprising than I thought.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes. Of course, I was quite surprised during your duel with Cadet Jerad as well. It was a power that can't normally be produced just by thrusting a spear. I thought you might have deployed it instinctively. But if you say you understand the concept, that's a different story.”
As he took in her every word, his curiosity grew.
What stage comes after grasping the concept of a skill?
“And it would be faster to show you rather than just talk about it.”
“...You're going to show me?”
“Yes. I'll show you my skill.”
At her light tone, his gaze unconsciously went to her hand.
‘Kalli's skill...’
[Super Vibration]
In the story, Kalli's skill didn't appear all that often.
But whenever she deployed it, the massive repercussions that swept across the battlefield were incredibly impactful.
It was a skill so powerful that even the protagonist, Leonhardt, saw Kalli in a new light late in the story.
“Oh, Cadet Han Cheon-seong. How did you know I use my hand to activate my skill?”
“Ah, that... I just assumed you would naturally use your hand.”
As he replied, he couldn't help but give an awkward smile.
He couldn't exactly say he already knew about her skill.
“Is that so? Well... most skills are used with the hands, I suppose.”
Fortunately, Kalli took his words casually and extended her hand toward the empty space a short distance away from him.
“I'm going to deploy the skill very weakly. But you must not touch its energy. Stay on your guard, Cadet Han Cheon-seong.”
"Yes. Understood."
Taking her warning seriously, he focused his gaze on her hand.
Immediately after.
Ssh. The moment Kalli lightly clenched her outstretched right hand.
“...!”
His body reacted first.
For a moment, it felt as if his heart had stopped. His breath caught, and he couldn't even move his lips.
And then, it slowly came into view.
—■■■■■!
A single, intense red circle, centered on her clenched fist, slowly expanding as if drawing a massive ring in the air.
The red circle began to slowly widen its scope, gradually expanding in size.
“In my case, I naturally awakened my skill as my Trait evolved. But the moment you properly understand the concept while using the skill, you learn how to wield its power more destructively.”
Despite Kalli's calm voice, he couldn't tear his eyes away from the intense, red energy.
The light, so condensed it seemed to possess mass... felt like an energy alien to this world.
At a certain point, the energy stopped its expansion in mid-air. Inside the red circle, fine ripples shimmered continuously.
A wave of red light that seemed to sever the world.
The forms beyond the ripples appeared blurry, and he found himself staring as if entranced.
“But if you're trying to awaken a skill on your own, I believe you must follow the proper steps. Your body and mind are still like an incomplete vessel. In contrast, a skill is such a vast and immense power that it can easily put a great strain on your body. Just like what's happening to you, Cadet Han Cheon-seong.”
Focusing on her words, he felt a shiver run through his body as he looked at the energy before him.
‘With a single gesture...’
How many hundreds of monsters must have been annihilated?
Even without having seen the aftermath of the technique, it was easy to imagine. The moment that intense red wave expanded to dominate the space, any being caught within it would be blown apart, meeting their end.
“So, we start with learning to control the power.”
“...Controlling the power.”
“You said you understand the concept of the skill, Cadet Han Cheon-seong, but you're not yet at the point where you can control its power while manifesting it, are you?”
...She asked as if she could see right through him, and he numbly nodded his head.
The moment he felt he had truly grasped the skill's concept, he had writhed in excruciating pain before losing consciousness in the park.
And the next day.
Even when he tried to manifest it with a more concrete concept, his body struggled just to endure.
The pain was still there; he had merely forced himself to withstand it.
“Actually, what you've done is quite remarkable, Cadet Han Cheon-seong. To grasp the concept of a skill at Trait Level 4 is incredible. Regardless of the Trait's type, a skill is a power that far transcends reason. It's about manifesting your will into reality or expressing it in another form.”
“...The power to manifest one's will.”
“Yes. In my case, I desired immense power as my Trait evolved on the battlefield. I don't know if you can get a proper sense of it just by looking, but this red circle is a skill called 'Super Vibration.' It's a skill I obtained because I wished for mass slaughter.”
Kalli's tone was light, but the meaning behind her words was anything but.
“Mass slaughter, you say.”
“That's right. I had a desperate desire to kill more monsters to protect my fellow officers and soldiers. That desire of mine was manifested and its power extremely amplified into what is now Super Vibration.”
With that, Kalli began to slowly shrink the manifested skill.
—!!
The red circle gradually narrowed, then spread faint ripples through the space before vanishing completely.
“Everyone obtains a different skill depending on the person and their Trait. In that sense, Cadet Han Cheon-seong, could you tell me the concept of the skill you've awakened?”
At her gentle prompting, he slowly opened his mouth.
“The concept is 'to pierce a single point and twist.'”
“To pierce a single point and twist... That's certainly a concept that fits Spearmanship. Was there a specific phenomenon you desperately wished for?”
Her more specific question made him reflect on the concept he had awakened.
—To pierce a single point and twist.
It was a power he could never have withstood otherwise. It was something he wished for to counter an immense force.
Because he couldn't receive or block it with his spear, he would pierce and twist.
By twisting, he would neutralize the opponent's force, erasing their power.
“To be specific, I wanted to return my opponent's power to nothing.”
“To return it to nothing.”
“Yes. I felt an irresistible force when I faced Leonhardt in our first duel, and even more so during my duel with you, Instructor Kalli.”
As he spoke, he felt the concept becoming more concrete.
To the point where he understood why he had wished for a skill, and why he had obtained such a concept.
“An irresistible force...”
“I thought that no matter how hard I tried in the future, I would never be able to reach Leonhardt or you, Instructor Kalli.”
“Cadet Han Cheon-seong. You... thought that at that moment?”
“I did, just for a moment. I wondered if the results of my efforts would have been different if my Trait wasn't Common-grade, but Unique or even Rare...”
A small laugh escaped him as he calmly relayed the emotions he had felt back then.
To be honest, he hadn't thought of Leonhardt as a wall.
Of course, he'd felt a flicker of that when Leonhardt reached Level 3 without any warning, but the one who felt like a true wall was Kalli.
The ability of Vibration, belonging to the Paranormal category.
It was... an overwhelming Trait that instilled a sense of powerlessness, a difference in class, in anyone who faced it.
Of course, her ridiculously high Trait Level of 9 granted her immense stats, but he couldn't help but feel envious of the Trait itself.
“......”
Seeing Kalli unable to respond to his words, he felt surprisingly calm.
“That's why I wished for it so desperately. For the spear in my hand to be able to reach anything. To be able to strike back with my spear, no matter how immense the power.”
As he spoke, he felt a sense of gratitude.
It was because of Kalli that he was able to make such progress.
He had grasped a clue to a skill he'd never even considered and was now able to move forward like this.
“...So that's how it was.”
“My duel with you, Instructor Kalli, was a huge help.”
Kalli was an absolutely essential existence for him to advance further.
“That's a result of your own will, Cadet Han Cheon-seong. It's a stretch to say I helped that much.”
“No. It was possible because it was you, Instructor Kalli, and not anyone else.”
When she looked embarrassed, he pushed his point even more strongly.
It had to be her. He needed to appeal to her, even if just a little.
“...Because it was me.”
When Kalli momentarily avoided his gaze, he wondered if he had said something wrong.