Chapter 62: No, I’m Serious, It’s Not Like That! (1)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 62: No, I’m Serious, It’s Not Like That! (1)
Whether or not I spent the night tossing and turning as a price for peeking at the past memories I’d sealed in the abyss, time marched on. The second day of the ranking tournament arrived.
Originally, the event was supposed to proceed at a more relaxed pace, but because yesterday’s duels were interrupted by that incident, today’s schedule was set to be quite grueling.
“Haha, my dear Kang So-hyun. You look exhausted. Did you lose sleep because you were nervous?”
Professor Park A-ram, the Little Witch who was my opponent for this round, gave me a beaming smile.
To smile like that at someone who clearly looks exhausted—it seems her “traitor” energy from the original novel hasn’t gone anywhere.
“Yeah, that wasn’t exactly why I couldn’t sleep, but I am pretty tired.”
“My, my. As a professor who cherishes her students, I simply can’t help but offer a helping hand. If you promise to become my teaching assistant, I could give you a good score for this tournament…”
“Don’t cross the line.”
Why does this woman keep trying to scout me?
“Seeing how much you hate it only makes me want you more. If you won’t become my assistant willingly, how about learning the hard way and then signing up?”
Golden sparks crackled around her hands.
“Professor. You do realize this is a ranking tournament, right?”
“Of course, Kang So-hyun. Don’t you worry. As a professor of Mana Studies, I’m quite confident in formulas that maximize power with minimal mana. I’ll blast you with the exact maximum output someone at your level can handle, so if you don’t want to get hurt, just say you’ll start a delightful life in graduate school with me!”
A psychopath without a shred of human compassion—no, a literal demon was standing right here.
“A simple duel is boring, so why don’t we have a quick lesson?”
As she spoke, she began to manifest arrows in the air.
“This is a basic offensive spell called Mana Arrow. It’s a technique that literally creates an arrow out of mana. Now, Kang So-hyun, here’s a question. How many linguistic components were used to construct this spell?”
“‘Condense,’ ‘Sharp,’ ‘Fly,’ and ‘Directional Guidance.’ That makes four.”
At least, that’s what it said in the Setting Book.
“Haha, a star student as expected! Your attitude toward learning is different. That’s right. Even for a basic spell like this, you have to perfectly calculate three conditions, excluding ‘Condense,’ which is the foundation of most magic. However, most mages don’t actually go through this process. Why is that?”
“Because they memorize and use pre-completed formulas…?”
“Oh, correct! That’s the right answer, Kang So-hyun! Rather than calculating the spell structure, most mages memorize the completed formula and the result, usually only using a few spells that suit them. Honestly, it’s not easy to draw a magic circle, calculate mana circuits, and recite an incantation all in the middle of combat.”
She smiled with a look of mock pity and began to make the Mana Arrow spin.
“But you can never move past C-rank with that method. It lacks versatility. This is a Mana Arrow with the ‘Rotate’ command added. Since I’ve added another command, it naturally consumes more mana, right? And the power increases proportionally to the rotation. So, does using many commands always result in a stronger spell?”
“No. Because there are commands that contradict each other.”
“Haha, exactly. You really are a joy to teach. For example, what happens if I add ‘Slow’ to the Mana Arrow I just put all that effort into rotating?”
She added the command to the Mana Arrow as if to show me directly. The fierce momentum of the spinning arrow vanished instantly.
“See? The Mana Arrow I worked so hard on became useless. Its flight speed will be sluggish too.”
Uh, well.
I could see it was an entertaining and somewhat useful lesson, but why was she doing this during a ranking tournament?
“Ah, you’re wondering why I’m giving a lecture during a tournament, aren’t you? I can tell.”
She manifested a new Mana Arrow, seemingly having no intention of waiting for my answer.
“I told you before, didn’t I? That I’d help you. That I’m also the type who handles mana dangerously, just like you. But mana management is like being right-handed or left-handed; it’s a matter of instinct, so it’s incredibly hard to fix. So, for now, I’m going to teach you how to get maximum efficiency with minimum cost, so you can at least reduce waste.”
Wait, she remembered that? I’m actually a little touched.
“If we say the mana in a Mana Arrow is Cost 1, how can we increase its power without increasing that cost?”
“…By removing unnecessary parts and adding what’s needed?”
“Correct. To give an example, this is a friendly match, so there’s no need to kill my opponent. Let’s remove ‘Sharpness.’”
The Mana Arrow lost its pointed shape and became a blunt, ball-like mass.
“And let’s put ‘Accelerate’ in the empty slot.”
The properties of the condensed mana shifted. The arrow meant to pierce the enemy transformed into a blunt weapon meant to crush them.
And that blunt weapon flew toward me in an instant.
“…Ugh!?”
“Oh, you’re faster than I thought, Kang So-hyun. I was planning to end it with that. Now, you’re not going to call me a coward for a surprise attack in the middle of a lesson, are you? We are in the middle of a duel, after all.”
I was touched for a second, but her personality really is something else.
“Now then, I’ll only use these slightly modified basic spells, so come at me.”
I took a stance, holding Ruyi transformed into a knife.
“Fine. Then I’m going all out.”
“You should. This is a ranking tournament.”
She nodded and gave a wicked grin.
“Try your best to run away.”
“…Huh?”
And exactly ten minutes later.
“I surrender…! I said I surrender…! I yield! Surrender! Surrenderrrrrr!!!!”
“Haha, Kang So-hyun! Are you just going to keep running!? You said you were going all out…!”
I was forced to flee, toyed with by her fluid magical techniques.
She said she’d only use basic spells, but she never said she’d only use them one at a time. The expression on that wicked witch’s face as she rained down a bombardment was the very definition of a psychopath.
When she blocked me from even retreating out of bounds, I was genuinely terrified.
* * *
After that, I lost to Professor Cathy and won against Kim Min-soo.
I had no way of even touching Professor Cathy, but she strangely stayed close to me to correct my posture. As for Kim Min-soo, he claimed he’d show me the difference between a professor and a cadet and offered me the first move, so I just flattened him with Ruyi.
Today’s schedule was tight, so I couldn’t watch the others, but this is the last duel. Once this is over, I should go find out the results.
“Ah, hello?”
She was already waiting in the arena, her duel apparently having ended before mine.
Chae Yu-jin.
She pops up just when I’m about to forget her. Surprisingly, according to the Academy’s registration info, she was evaluated as being even weaker than me—the supposed weakest link.
“You really do show up just when I’m about to forget you.”
“…Excuse me? Why are you talking like I’m some extra?”
Well, she didn’t even appear in the original novel, let alone have a character setting, so I had no idea how she would fight.
Would she be a berserker who charges in despite her gentle appearance? Or would she be a mage or debuffer type, as her looks suggested?
“Anyway, it looks like this is the last duel for both of us. Let’s have a good match.”
“Yeah, sure. Good…”
Click.
Huh…?
The moment I was about to return the greeting, she pointed something at me.
It was an object far too sophisticated and sleek to be the weapon of a resident in a fantasy world.
A well-extended barrel, a structure that boasted aesthetic design, a grip that looked ergonomic, and a trigger that seemed easy to pull.
To put it simply, it was a gun.
The extra who almost died in the prologue was now using a gun as a weapon.
…Is she actually the protagonist?
“The duel has already started, right…?”
With those words, she pulled the trigger without hesitation.
Bang…!
I almost died. Well, with the Academy’s barrier and shock conversion devices, I wouldn’t have actually died, but because of the realistic design, it was honestly much scarier than most magic.
“Ah, don’t dodge!”
“…Are you a crazy psychopath too?”
“What are you talking about? There’s a reason I’m telling you not to dodge. My weapon is a gun, so I have to use a mana bullet for every shot, right?”
“So?”
“So, unlike other people’s methods of attack, mine are consumables. Every single shot costs money.”
“I see. I get it. And?”
“Just let yourself be taken out in one hit like my previous opponents. To save me money.”
“Ah, right. You were originally a total bitch, weren’t you? I almost forgot.”
Stay calm. As long as her weapon was a pistol, I felt like I could win if I just steeled myself.
If I used Ruyi as a shield to close the distance and endured maybe one shot, I could force her to surrender.
The moment I tried to charge after transforming Ruyi into a shield, the weapon in her hand began to change shape.
Clack—
A heavy loading sound, quite different from the pistol, reached my ears, and my mouth opened involuntarily.
“Is that your Talent?”
“Ah, yes. I can transform firearms somewhat freely.”
“…Right. That’s cool.”
It was a shotgun—one adorned with ornate decorations.
Haha… you can’t argue with a shotgun. People naturally die when they get hit by a shotgun.
The impact of the blast sent me flying out of bounds, shield and all.
…If I’d known, I would have made the shield as solid as a pillar.
After the final round, my record was 2 wins and 3 losses out of 5 matches. Not exactly a stellar performance.
* * *
“Ugh, seriously. A draw? How does that even make sense?”
On the way back to the dormitory, Ha-ni grumbled, clearly dissatisfied with the results.
For the record, Lilac, Kang Ha-ni, and Cheon Yu-hak all had the exact same score.
1 win, 4 draws, 0 losses.
Their duels against each other were ruled as draws under the professors’ mediation, and they each recorded 1 win and 2 draws against the professors.
No matter how many restrictions were in place, the fact that they managed draws against Professor Park A-ram and Professor Cathy proved they were absolute monsters.
“Ugh, if I’d just done a little better, I would’ve won.”
How did it go in the original?
— I… lost?
— You’re not bad. I suppose I could accept you as a teammate.
— I’ve seen your swordsmanship plenty of times by now…!
— I lost again…?
She had despaired against the arrogantly mocking Cheon Yu-hak and crumbled before Lilac, who claimed to have already seen through her blade at the start of the semester.
Now, she probably wouldn’t have to face that despair or ruin.
No matter how I looked at it, her current smile suited her much better than the one she wore while breaking down in the original story.
“Hey, why are you smiling like that? You think I’m lying? I’m telling you, if it went on a bit longer, I could’ve beaten both of them!”
“I’m sure you could have.”
“Geez. Are you looking down on me because of my gear? Even a famous sword only shows its true worth when the wielder is skilled, you know?”
That’s true. Though there’s also a moron who lost to a shotgun while holding the Ruyi Jingu Bang.
“ I’m not looking down on you. It really is impressive. How did you manage to tie with both Lilac and Cheon Yu-hak?”
“…That sounds a bit suspicious. Well, whatever, as long as you’re not mocking me. Just you wait, I’m going to take the top spot.”
“Huh? That’s not happening.”
“What? Why? I told you I can win!”
“Even if you win the practical exams, your grades in general subjects are mediocre, Han-hee.”
While the practical portion carried much more weight, you couldn’t completely ignore the general subjects.
“…Huh?”
Exactly.
Lilac might look like an idiot, but he’s a genius, and Cheon Yu-hak is openly a master of both the pen and the sword, never ceasing his efforts in either.
“Do general subjects… count toward the ranking?”
They do.
It’s just that their proportion isn’t that large.
“…If they didn’t count, why would we take midterms and finals?”
And Kang Ha-ni’s general subject scores upon admission weren’t disastrous, but they were nowhere near enough to aim for the top spot.
There was only one thing I could do for Ha-ni, who looked genuinely despaired as if she’d only just realized this.
“…Want to get fried chicken?”
“Are you buying…?”
“Just give me six thousand won.”
Ha-ni chuckled for a moment and then nodded.
“Yeah, that’s basically you buying.”
That day, we decided to try something new for once and ordered half-garlic, half-cheese.
* * *
And while Ha-ni was asleep, I slipped out in secret.
— Are you going out to play villain recruiter again?
‘It’s not exactly playing, but… something like that.’
I took out the mask and wrapped myself in Ruyi, which had transformed into a jet-black tuxedo.
‘I have to make the offer, and get a little revenge for this afternoon while I’m at it.’
— Are you targeting that little witch from earlier?
‘Yes. She’ll be a huge help if she becomes an ally.’
— She didn’t seem like the type who’d be easily persuaded.
‘I can persuade her.’
Because I was going to use the exact same method used by the person who originally turned her into a villain.
And since what I wanted from her was far more trivial than what the original villain demanded, she would accept.
‘I know what our Little Witch wants most in the world, and I have a way to grant it.’
If those bastards from the Twelve Zodiacs could get away with spitting lies and placing restrictions, why couldn’t I?
Just as I raised the mask to put it on with that thought…
Thump. My heart gave a heavy leap.
Wait, what is this? This impulse rising from deep within my chest…?
As I stared at the mask in my hand, I felt a tickling sensation in my heart.
…This mask doesn’t have an effect that corrupts the user, does it?
I carefully put on the mask, and the impulse in my heart began to take a clear, vivid shape.
Just in case, I modulated my voice and let the impulse speak through my lips.
[Now then, I wonder… do you have what it takes to be our comrade?]
The voice that flowed out naturally had a tone that no one would ever mistake for acting.
…No, I just tried acting once to get into character.
I’m serious…?