Special Skills Supremacy (1)
“Is everyone here?”
With the confrontation against the Evil Faction's Pae Cheon Academy just three days away, the academy head, Flame Flower Divine Army Baek Ho Jun, unusually summoned the entire upper class.
In fact, everyone from the instructors to Vice Head Dan Ri-cheong was there.
So that's Baek Ho Jun, the Flame Flower Divine Army himself.
I'd only known him from text descriptions before, so I wondered if I'd recognize him right away, but my worries were unfounded. His blazing hairstyle and thick eyebrows made him instantly identifiable to anyone.
Normally, Baek Ho Jun left academy affairs to Vice Head Dan Ri-cheong, but with a match against Pae Cheon Academy on the line, this was no ordinary matter.
“As I mentioned before, this confrontation with them is a small-scale righteous-evil showdown, one we must approach with a sense of absolute responsibility to win. Do you understand?”
“Yes, sir!”
The upper-class cadets responded with more spirit than ever, their voices booming in unison.
Baek Ho Jun was usually a paragon of justice and gentleness, but those who practiced the Fiery Yang Art and Fire Techniques shared one trait: once riled up, they were hard to rein in. That was why there was a saying at Cheonmu Academy—never anger the academy head.
“This matchup with Pae Cheon Academy's upper class will be uniquely structured, with every single member of our Cheonmu Academy upper class participating. I'll explain the details of the contests now.”
His words about full participation immediately got us excited. From the lowest-ranked to the highest, everyone had a chance at establishing themselves and gaining fame—anyone who wasn't thrilled would lack ambition.
“This contest will proceed in a special format: Special Skills Supremacy.”
The moment Baek Ho Jun finished speaking, questions flew like tails on a kite.
“Special Skills Supremacy?”
“Isn't that where each sect proposes their strongest specialty for a contest?”
“Usually, it's settled with sparring matches, but Special Skills Supremacy...”
They were right. Special Skills Supremacy typically involved participants or sects nominating their most confident specialties as contest events, a format rarely used in righteous-evil clashes.
“Hear me out to the end. Cheonmu Academy will nominate three specialties we're confident in, and Pae Cheon Academy will do the same with three of theirs, for a total of six events to decide the winner. Victory in an event earns one point. These are single-round decisive matches, and the side claiming the majority—four points or more—wins. Clear?”
“Yes, sir!”
It wasn't as complicated as I'd thought. Say we nominated swordsmanship, saber arts, and spear techniques. We'd compete in each, earning a point per win, and the side hitting four points first takes it. Simple game, right?
Of course, questions arose.
Swoosh!
Nangong Cheol of the Nangong Family boldly raised his hand with obvious confidence.
“Yes, if you have a question, speak.”
With Baek Ho Jun's permission, Nangong Cheol stood tall and declared,
“What if the specialty we nominate overlaps with one from Pae Cheon Academy?”
That was exactly my question too. Overlaps were bound to happen sometimes.
“Good question. For example, if we pick swordsmanship and they coincidentally do too... it counts as one match instead of two. Satisfied?”
“Yes, thank you, sir.”
Overlaps merge into one. This wasn't lazy rulemaking—it opened up tactical possibilities.
To win, we need to avoid overlaps as much as possible and nominate rare fields they can't dominate.
Common ones like swordsmanship or internal energy contests were likely to overlap and draw top experts.
Having martial artists compete in academics or poetry would be ridiculous.
“Now, submit your absolute strongest specialties to your instructors by tonight. Time is short, so limit it to one per person.”
I felt a pang of regret. I had three specialties that could rival any peak late-stage expert: internal arts, external arts, and fist-and-leg techniques. Limiting to one felt fair but frustrating.
“Today's training and classes are replaced by devising and submitting specialties. Begin!”
This was basically selecting representatives for our upper class's specialties.
“Hold on. Our leadership won't settle for just three specialties, as mentioned.”
As Baek Ho Jun stepped back, Dan Ri-cheong took over.
His point was straightforward.
“Even if we plan for three per side, the opponent's momentum might force changes. For flexible strategies, we need at least five ready on our end.”
I agreed. No one smart would prepare only three.
Poor prep could spell disaster.
“We'll verify the competitiveness of your submissions. If our instructors deem them sufficient, they'll pass without testing.”
Dan Ri-cheong glanced at me as he spoke—a nod to my unique feats in the entrance exam.
Tch, what specialty to pick?
I was left with a happy dilemma.
“Jincheon, what're you submitting?”
“Hmm, saber arts for me, I guess?”
I nodded at Peng Jincheon's answer. Unlike my versatility, the Little Dragon Blade was a saber artisan—specialist in one field, lacking flair elsewhere.
“Yuon?”
“Probably... fast sword techniques.”
Meng Yuon felt Nangong Cheol's blatant stare as he replied. Rumor had it Nangong Cheol, a Nangong Family late-stage talent, also excelled in fast swords, overlapping with Meng Yuon and fueling his bullying.
“Word from the Five Great Families is Nangong Cheol went home during break and picked up a solid new move.”
Peng Jincheon shared the intel.
No wonder. Having been thoroughly thrashed by an enraged Meng Yuon before, Nangong Cheol was foolishly glaring again, picking a fight.
Gonna get wrecked again.
He'd only learn after another beating.
“Cheon Myeong, what's your pick?”
“With all your talents, must be tough choosing.”
Meng Yuon and Peng Jincheon grinned.
True friends—they nailed my thoughts.
“Hmm, well.”
After brief deliberation, I decided.
“External arts.”
Simple reason for picking external arts despite options: My Divine Transformation Heart Method was too flashy for internal arts, risking Sapa envy. Fist-and-leg was too common, likely overlapping. External arts it was.
“Solid choice.”
“Paid off big in that bare-handed fight last time.”
Those good memories sealed it. We three amicably wrote our specialties on paper and submitted to Dan Ri-cheong.
“Good choice, Cheon Myeong.”
Dan Ri-cheong, fond of me, praised generously.
“Peng Jincheon isn't bad either. You two pass without verification—straight to the list.”
I got it, but Peng Jincheon's saber arts passing instantly? Then it clicked.
“Is there anyone in our academy wielding a stronger saber than Little Dragon Blade Peng Jincheon?”
Truth was simplest. As our top saber expert, it was a no-brainer. My external arts feats spoke for themselves, so we skipped internal matches.
“Little Affectionate Swordsman Meng Yuon chose fast swords.”
“Uh, is that no good?”
We passed instantly; Meng Yuon faltered, deflated.
“No, excellent choice. But...”
Dan Ri-cheong shrugged, pointing across the field.
Following his finger—yep, Nangong Cheol.
“Nangong Cheol also picked fast swords.”
As expected, he wanted to clash with Meng Yuon there.
The Nangong Family wasn't fast-sword specialists, but they produced a World's Best Sword every century, topping the Five Great Families.
That confidence means...
He'd mastered a standout sword technique back home.
True to form—strong against weaklings, weak against strong—the bully was needling Meng Yuon.
“Leadership judges Nangong Cheol's fast swords competitive too, so...”
Dan Ri-cheong called them to the training ground center.
“You two will have an internal selection match for fast swords.”
Nangong Cheol and his cronies smirked smugly.
They remembered Meng Yuon as timid, weak in real fights.
What they didn't know: Meng Yuon wasn't a coward who crumbled without rage.
Plus, after World's Best Physician Un Yeop's treatment purged his demonic fury, and my Moon Spirit Herb fully integrated...
His power had skyrocketed—a secret only I, Peng Jincheon, and close allies knew.
Not even sharp-eyed Dan Ri-cheong or instructors realized.
“Just what I hoped for.”
Meng Yuon smiled softly, face lighting up. No more timid hesitation.
The old hot-headed pre-fight tension? Gone.
“I've been thinking it's time to settle things with Nangong Cheol anyway.”
Thrilled at the matchup, he calmly placed a hand on his sword hilt.