The First Practical Training Session
「……What?」
Julius blinked in surprise at Kang Yeomyeong’s exaggerated reaction and the overly bright, burdensome smile that accompanied it.
Yeomyeong clasped both hands over his chest, his face a picture of deep emotion.
“The words you just spoke, my lord—the profound academic interest in our Eastern martial arts system, and that warm consideration for whether exchange students from another country might get hurt during practical training! Truly, this is the broad-minded generosity one would expect from the second son of a distinguished Valtern count! To see the noble duty of the West practiced so splendidly!”
“Uh, no, what I meant was……”
“I will immediately dispatch a letter to my homeland tonight, detailing every aspect of Lord Julius’s boundless grace and his noble will toward East-West harmony, and report it directly to His Imperial Majesty! Ah, would it be all right if I also included the honorable name of the Count? Who knows, the Imperial Family of the Hwanggyeong Empire might even bestow an official commendation! As the true guardian of the peace treaty, after all!”
The torrent of extreme honorifics and lavish praise pouring from Yeomyeong’s mouth like a clear mountain stream made the muscles in Julius’s face twitch faintly. He had clearly intended an elegant jab, yet the other party had repackaged it as “a sublime consideration for East-West harmony.” Now he was trapped in a dilemma where he could neither get angry nor deny it.
If he corrected the statement with “That wasn’t what I meant,” he would effectively be advertising, “I am a narrow-minded person who disregards the peace treaty and oppresses exchange students.” It would be the same as personally shattering the academy’s surface rule of “mutual respect.”
“A commendation really isn’t necessary……”
“Aha! Let not your left hand know what your right hand does! To practice the verse from the Western scriptures so perfectly. Understood. I will engrave that humility of yours deep in my heart, my lord. Well then, thanks to your encouragement, we will now withdraw to prepare for the practical training. We look forward to receiving plenty of your ‘guidance and instruction’ in the future, my lord!”
Yeomyeong gave Julius another crisp ninety-degree bow, then turned on his heel without a shred of hesitation and shot a glance at Seol-ah.
“Shall we go, my lady? It must be truly reassuring to have such an excellent classmate.”
Seol-ah stared blankly back and forth between Yeomyeong and Julius for a moment, then cleared her throat and hurriedly started walking. Julius, left behind, forced the corners of his mouth upward in a frozen smile. He had no choice but to offer an elegant farewell to their retreating backs, while his followers could only stand there awkwardly like mute fools who had swallowed honey.
Though rage must have been boiling inside him, on the surface it was a perfect scene of peace.
On the path leading away from the promenade and toward the practical training ground, Seol-ah, who had remained silent for a long while, finally spoke.
“……What the hell was that just now?”
“What do you mean, my lady? I simply exchanged some warm, friendly words between classmates.”
“Friendly words? You mean you didn’t notice how he was superficially buttering us up while cutting us down? If you keep bowing and scraping and playing along like that……!”
“My lady.”
Yeomyeong’s voice dropped a tone. The perpetual playful smile vanished from his face in an instant, revealing cool, profound eyes.
“When the other party offers you poison with a smiling face, there’s no need to angrily knock it over. Just say, ‘Oh my, thank you for this precious tonic,’ accept it gratefully, and shove it straight into their mouth. Then they can’t admit it was poison and are forced to swallow it themselves.”
“……”
“The time to truly draw your blade is only when the opponent is aiming for your throat. Don’t waste your emotions on such petty wordplay. Your qi and mana are far too precious to be spent on the likes of them, wouldn’t you agree?”
At Yeomyeong’s calm reassurance, Seol-ah’s pupils trembled slightly. The obsessive thoughts that had always bound her—“I must be perfect,” “I cannot be looked down upon”—seemed to crack just a little in the face of his shameless jokes and rock-solid attitude.
“……You strange bastard.”
Seol-ah whipped her head away and quickened her pace. Yeomyeong, however, chose not to point out that the tips of her ears had turned faintly red.
Good. First-phase mental defense, successful.
Yeomyeong put his good-natured smile back on and followed after her.
First Practical Training Ground.
The interior of the massive, arena-like training hall was already packed with first-year freshmen. At the center stood the practical training professor, Barcas, wearing a deep grey robe pulled low over his head. He was one of the conservative faculty steeped in Western magic supremacy and viewed the Eastern exchange students as thorns in his side. Yet his face wore the benevolent smile of an educator.
“Silence.”
When a soft resonant sound rang out from the tip of Professor Barcas’s staff, the entire hall fell quiet in an instant.
“The theme of today’s first practical lesson is ‘Control and Response.’ You are all individuals who will one day graduate from the academy and become the empire’s shield. You must learn how to respond to the irregular movements of magic beasts that could appear anywhere, at any time.”
Behind the professor, three massive iron-barred gates stood firmly shut. Beyond the bars came the rough breathing of beasts and an unpleasant wave of mana.
“Inside the cages are three low-grade magic beasts known as Shadow Wolves per gate. Normally, it would take three 1-Circle Mages working together to safely subdue them, but for today’s training we have specially equipped them with Mana Restraining Devices that suppress their aggression by more than seventy percent.”
Professor Barcas’s gaze swept across the students and came to rest precisely where Yeomyeong and Seol-ah stood. The smile on his lips grew even thicker.
“Today we have some very special guests with us at the academy. They are the very symbols of the peace treaty and the proud talents of the East. I hope the Western students present will take this opportunity to witness and learn from the mysterious martial arts system of the East with their own eyes.”
With an exaggerated gesture, Professor Barcas extended his hand toward Yeomyeong and Seol-ah.
“Therefore, I would like to ask the Eastern exchange student pair to demonstrate first. Shin Seol-ah, Kang Yeomyeong. Would you please step forward? I have no doubt that low-grade beasts with suppressed aggression can be easily subdued with the excellent qi of the East.”
The hall stirred. On the surface, it sounded like he was praising Eastern martial arts and granting them the honor of the first demonstration. In reality, it was a cunning, hypocritical trap—pushing foreigners completely unfamiliar with Western magic beast patterns into the most dangerous position first, intending to humiliate them in front of countless Western students.
“Professor, that’s unreasonable! The Eastern students aren’t yet familiar with the behavioral patterns of Western magic beasts. Assigning them the first demonstration is too dangerous.”
A voice of protest rose from among the students. It belonged to a petite girl with red hair tied in twin tails, wearing the uniform of the commoner dormitory. She was Celia, the commoner-born genius mage who had earned quite a reputation.
However, Professor Barcas simply smiled gently at her.
“I understand your concern, Celia. But on the battlefield, there is no time to worry about familiarity. Besides, isn’t Eastern martial arts supposed to be a unique and magnificent system separate from Western magic? I trust their abilities completely. Surely Shin Seol-ah would not refuse this glorious opportunity?”
It was blatant pressure. If she refused here, rumors would spread throughout the academy that Eastern martial arts had tucked its tail in front of Western magic beasts.
Seol-ah bit her lip tightly and stepped forward. A cold frost began to rise from both her hands.
“I will gladly demonstrate, Professor.”
When Seol-ah declared this boldly, Yeomyeong also walked over to stand beside her with a relaxed stride.
“Very well. Group One, prepare.”
As Professor Barcas swung his staff, one of the central iron gates rose with a heavy rumble.
Kiiiiiiiig—!
Three pairs of red eyes flashed within the darkness. Three Shadow Wolves, each twice the size of an ordinary wolf and covered in pitch-black fur, stepped out with drooling jaws. Around their necks flickered Mana Restraining Devices emitting a blue light.
So they’re wearing restraining devices……
Yeomyeong narrowed his eyes. Western mages read the flow of mana in the atmosphere. But as an Eastern martial artist, Yeomyeong read the essential life force that living beings emitted—the flow of qi.
Deep within his dantian, the heavy inner energy of the Ilwol-ryu (Sun and Moon Style) began to rotate slowly. His senses expanded across the entire training ground.
And at that moment, Yeomyeong’s brow furrowed.
That’s…… not suppressed at all.
The restraining devices around the Shadow Wolves’ necks certainly appeared to be glowing blue and functioning normally. But the qi Yeomyeong sensed within their bodies told a different story. Far from being suppressed, their energy was forcibly excited by something, raging violently enough to burst their blood vessels. It was as if someone had deliberately tampered with the device’s circuits, switching the suppression function to “berserk mode” instead.
“Grrrrrrr……!”
Black smoke rose from the mouth of the lead Shadow Wolf. It was not an aura a low-grade magic beast should be able to produce.
“Lady Seol-ah.”
All playfulness had completely vanished from Yeomyeong’s voice.
“Step back.”
“What? What are you……”
The moment Seol-ah turned her head to look at him—
“Kaaaaaaaah—!!”
The three Shadow Wolves kicked off the ground simultaneously and shot forward. Their movement was not the sluggish pace of beasts under restraint. It was an explosive speed almost impossible to track with the eye. Their target was precisely the nape of Shin Seol-ah’s neck, where the densest magical power radiated.
“E-eh……?!”
Even Professor Barcas was caught off guard by the wolves’ unexpected speed. He raised his staff, but they were already too close for him to complete an incantation.
In Seol-ah’s pupils, the giant wolf’s red eyes and sharp fangs rapidly enlarged. There was far too little time to deploy a defensive spell. The terror of death froze her entire body.
In that split second—
Swish.
A broad back blocked her vision. The escort warrior who had always stood one step behind her, spouting nothing but nonsense. It was Kang Yeomyeong.
Yeomyeong did not draw the sword at his waist. Instead, his right foot stomped heavily onto the training ground’s marble floor and advanced half a step.
Crack!
Centered on the point where his foot landed, the solid marble floor split apart like a spiderweb. An inner energy of a heavy, overwhelming density—completely different from Western mana—exploded outward from Yeomyeong’s entire body.
His eyes sank coldly, like those of a predator eyeing its prey.
“Right then.”
Yeomyeong murmured softly as he slowly clenched his fist toward the three Shadow Wolves charging at him.
“Shall we give these puppies a little education?”