Overwhelming Power!
"The color of your aura is so murky! Didn't you practice your aura control more diligently?!"
"You call this trash mana?! This is just blue garbage! Blue! Trash! Gar-bage!"
"It's embarrassing that the likes of you even attend this academy!"
"This is aura? Not just farting wind?"
The supervisor was relentlessly hurling insults at the kids while chasing them away.
My body froze at the sight of Gwak Chunsik.
No way, why is this old man here?
But it didn't take long to piece it together.
Hadn't I said it myself? If he worked as an instructor at the academy, he could live in the city without worrying about the Association's watchful eyes.
It seemed that after the Villain Union investigation wrapped up, he'd taken a position here instead of returning to Gangwon Province.
"You could've at least given me a heads-up if that was the case."
"There was first-period class with the freshmen today anyway, so I didn't bother mentioning it. Slipped my mind, too."
Slipped your mind? How do you forget to tell your own disciple—
Come to think of it, I'd forgotten to contact him too. Little oversights like that started popping into my head one by one.
Is he doing this on purpose? Getting revenge?
"Ahem! Anyway. You wanna get measured or not?"
"You're evaluating it by eye, not with the machine?"
"That's right, you punk. How many people in Korea can judge aura and mana besides me?"
"Fair point."
Even if they set up a machine next to him for comparison, people would trust Gwak Chunsik's word over the machine's.
"But you seemed to be grading the other kids pretty harshly."
"Listen here, punk. This is all tough love to make 'em better. I'm provoking them on purpose so they'll train harder. You young folks wouldn't get it... tsk tsk."
"Ah, yes, sir..."
From the way he said it, he was giving fair scores despite the harsh words.
"Alright, the other kids are waiting. Do it or come back later."
"I'll do it."
It's like playing violin in front of Paganini for judgment. Still, with all my practice, I could show enough not to embarrass myself.
I raised my hand, ignited my aura, and began shaping geometric forms.
Tetrahedron, cube, sphere.
As I fluidly manipulated the aura into various shapes like I'd done whenever I had spare time, gasps of admiration rose from here and there.
It wasn't easy to see someone handle aura so precisely in their palm, so I understood their awe.
"Ho ho, looks like you've been practicing hard."
"Can't have myself messing up and tarnishing your reputation, sir."
"Krahahaha! Right, right! As my disciple, this much should be a breeze!"
He scribbled something on the evaluation sheet while saying that.
"Your fundamentals are solid now. The others need to hit at least half your level... Oh, you still wearing that?"
That probably meant the pink bracelet on my wrist.
"Yes. It's under my shirt for now."
"Good. At this level, you can take it off. You did well."
"Thank you."
"Alright, see you later. Next!"
As I left the energy evaluation area, I confirmed no one was around and immediately removed the damn pink bracelet.
"Freedom at last."
No bittersweet feelings—just pure refreshment.
I can return it next time we meet.
Next up was the defense test, where Bear Grizzly—the guy who'd grabbed the mic earlier—was doing the evaluations.
"Oh."
Perfect timing. Jinwoo Bivalt was in the middle of his defense test.
It was straightforward: Bear Grizzly would strike with controlled force, and students blocked or parried.
"Jinwoo Bivalt. Ready?"
"Yes, Instructor...! Come at me!"
"Hup!"
In that instant, with a short shout, his combat knife swung toward Jinwoo's thigh.
Normally, you'd coat yourself in aura or mana to block or deflect.
But—
Pfuk.
"Huh?"
Jinwoo just slightly shifted his leg, as if saying go ahead and stab.
He took the knife straight to the thigh.
At the same time, Jinwoo thrust his dagger at Bear's nape.
Clunk.
The dagger halted right before Bear's throat.
"Jinwoo Bivalt. What...?"
Bear asked in genuine confusion, like he had no idea what was happening.
And who could blame him? How many kids just take the hit in a blocking test?
He'd essentially stabbed an unarmed student.
But Jinwoo's response was even more outrageous.
"That crazy— My mentor taught me this. 'Offering flesh to take the bone is defense too.' Said it'd get me high scores. Right?"
He even learned how to take cuts avoiding veins and major muscles during training?
Looking closely, Jinwoo's leg wasn't bleeding much despite the stab, and no major damage.
"Your mentor... Han Yeo-eun?"
"...Yes."
"Jinwoo Bivalt... You've suffered."
A look of pity in his eyes.
He gingerly pulled out the knife, grabbed a potion from his belt, sprinkled it on the wound, and patted Jinwoo's back.
"Attack as a means of defense. Minimizing your damage while luring carelessness for a counter—excellent. Jinwoo Bivalt!"
"I-Instructor...!"
"Yeah, spin like hell now. Later you'll learn to shift organs and take gut stabs too."
"...Pardon?"
"Next! Anyone?"
"Wait, Instructor, you're joking, right? For real?"
"Next!"
Come to think of it, Bear Grizzly was former teammates with Han Yeo-eun, wasn't he?
That explained the extra sympathy for Jinwoo.
"...Han Yujin."
"Hello, Instructor."
"This instructor's curious how much you can withstand. Test swing or full power?"
"Full power, please."
I grinned at his question and took my stance.
This is what makes CS fun.
"Here I come!"
Unlike with others, a different roar echoed as he lunged.
His knife aimed at my liver, green aura fiercely rippling along the blade.
I instantly drew aura into both hands, coating Midas's Gloves, and swung my fist to deflect the first strike.
But then a knee kick targeted my gut.
Taking that aura head-on would rupture organs, no doubt.
Simple fix.
"Ngh!"
I tensed my abs, layered aura, and blocked.
Matching his aura output to cancel it.
His unrecovered kicking leg lingered before me.
I grabbed it and locked in a submission.
"Not so fast!"
But an instructor's an instructor—he swung his still-free dagger.
Aimed at my back.
Even without looking, the sharp energy was crystal clear.
But I didn't bother reacting.
I was certain it wouldn't pierce Dis Pater.
And as expected—
Kiiiiiing—
A screech like knife on steel plate rang out.
That was when we both hit the ground rolling.
Just as it threatened to turn into a mud-wrestling brawl, he released his grip and raised both arms above his head.
"Done. Cadet Han Yujin, you've already surpassed ordinary heroes."
"You're too kind. If you'd stabbed with intent to kill, that last one would've been dicey."
A choice possible only because it was a test.
Plus... if it'd devolved into a dogfight, the guy nicknamed 'Real Grizzly' wouldn't have let me off easy.
"Defense and technique—outstanding. You'll get top marks."
"Thank you, Instructor."
He helped me up from the sprawled position, hand extended.
That cleared two categories.
And right then, a new window popped up.
CS's charm was in these little achievements and rewards.
I couldn't feel it strongly yet, but in-game, this would've made normal attacks bounce off without aura—like swallowing a defensive elixir.
"He's over there?"
Heading to the next station—Power measurement—I spotted Mari Nate, who'd created a doll three times her size, directing it like a trainer.
"Ba, Basaka!"
-Guwoooooh!
Her doll smashed the impact reader like a hammer blow with both fists clenched.
A blaring machine noise and flashy effects erupted.
"Solid score. Your summon's melee matches a close-combat Awakener."
"Th-thank you...!"
"5th place as a mage. The others'll be jealous. Go on."
"Yes!"
As Mari left, I noticed a handmade ranking board behind the instructor with names of students who'd passed through.
In-game it auto-popped; here they do it manually.
1st: Choi Yeon 9,417 Pt
2nd: Jeong Ui-hoon 8,759 Pt
3rd: Jinwoo Bivalt 8,644 Pt
4th: Ahn Byung-hoon 8,018 Pt
5th: Mari Nate 7,683 Pt
"Oh."
Impressive points on the board. Lots of kids had come through.
Let's see... Choi Yeon at 9,417?
Average play would've topped out late 8,000s to barely 9,000. Hitting 9,417 meant she'd grown faster than usual.
Seemed even more serious about getting stronger.
But...
"Sorry, Choi Yeon."
I had business here too.
The academy's first physical had two hidden achievements.
Defense and Power.
"Next!"
I pulled the shotgun from the cube at the instructor's call and stepped forward.
"I'll go."
"Han Yujin? Measuring with... that?"
"Yes."
Registration for Billy the Kid's Shotgun was done this morning. No need to hide it, so I nodded and stood before the machine.
"Know how it works?"
"Hit that part with full power, right?"
Like an arcade hammer game. One of my favorite simple tests.
"Good. Start when ready."
I walked up, clack clack, charged aura into the shotgun, and aimed at the power sensor.
"Here goes."
Target rose at my signal.
Aura surged wildly.
Machine registers from first impact for 0.5 seconds.
So fire two rounds in that window.
—Boom!
Boom!
The brutal blasts shook the area; massive recoil hammered my body from the rapid fire.
And the result—
Gulp.