Chapter 54
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 54
Chapter Title: Academy (5)
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54 - (5)
Professor Liline shouted.
"Project your mana into each other's palms. Pierce through your opponent's defense and infiltrate their palm using the minimal amount of mana you can control. That's the basics of mana control."
'Oh...'
Si-woo's eyes sparkled. It was a class where he could legally fondle Amelia's hand to his heart's content.
Fortunately, Amelia's reaction wasn't bad either. She had her mouth slightly open, staring intently at the spot where their palms met.
"Want me to go first?"
"Ah... sure."
Si-woo could see Amelia nodding dazedly. He began drawing mana up from his dantian.
'What terrible talent.'
Si-woo frowned slightly. This reincarnation body's mana aptitude was the worst. He could feel all sorts of minor flaws he'd never experienced in modern or murim bodies.
It wasn't just because of his anti-mana trait—his mana sensitivity was a mess from the ground up, everything about it.
But he couldn't let something like this stop him. He forcibly focused his senses and pulled up the mana.
Bzzz
The mana sluggishly seeped into Amelia's palm. He wanted to infuse it with the pleasure property of his Mixed Origin Qi, but doing that with this body would give him away in an instant.
'Too bad.'
But even this wasn't bad.
*
Professor Liline wandered the classroom, pointing out issues to each cadet one by one.
"You trying to fire a mana bullet or something? Lower the output."
"This is the minimum."
"Cut the nonsense and lower it. Or you'll get penalty points."
"Y-yes?! Ngh...!"
The scolded cadet started panicking. As he furrowed his brow in concentration, the output of mana began to decrease.
"Hmph. Complaining when you can do it... This class is full of trash."
The short-haired beauty professor nagged as she walked around, and tension etched onto the cadets' faces.
Clack. Clack.
"Hm..."
Even Professor Liline nodded slightly upon seeing Helena and an unnamed female cadet pressing their palms together.
As expected of the Northern Grand Duke's daughter, her fundamentals were solid. A faint trace of mana was piercing through her opponent's defense and seeping in.
Just watching her tap at weaknesses like she was guiding her opponent showed how impressive she was.
With an admiring glance, she moved on. Her standards had risen, so her nagging intensified. She stopped in front of Kang Su-ho and Anne.
"Ha! If you'd put in even half the effort of that pretty face, you wouldn't be this bad... What a waste of your innate mana."
Kang Su-ho's face twisted in anger at the criticism. He truly hadn't trained much in mana control.
He just swung around his natural mana.
Professor Liline clicked her tongue and moved on. Still, Kang Su-ho had gotten off relatively lightly.
"This is trash-level. If you're gonna do it like that, just drop out. You'll end up a corpse soon anyway."
As she wandered around nagging, she stopped in front of Si-woo. Si-woo was calm, but he could feel Amelia, his partner, tensing up through her palm.
"Hm..."
Professor Liline's eyes filled with admiration.
Si-woo's mana was only Rank 1 at best. The less mana you have, the harder it is to handle.
It's like how a light dumbbell is easier to manage than a barbell you have to strain to lift.
Even she wasn't confident she could handle mana as precisely as Si-woo with Rank 1 mana.
It felt like he'd need control far beyond his skill level for that. She almost regretted how little mana he had.
"...Impressive."
Praise slipped from the professor's irritated expression as she patrolled the room, drawing everyone's eyes.
Just Rank 1 innate mana. Most cadets pouted, unconvinced, but Lady Helena could barely contain her pounding heart.
Her gaze on Si-woo grew even hotter as she stole glances at him.
*
Si-woo thoroughly enjoyed Amelia's soft palm.
He'd push a tiny thread of mana toward her palm, and she'd block it.
Repeating this, he couldn't help thinking of qi-mixed energy sex for some reason.
'Ha, fuck, this is turning me on.'
But he couldn't pounce here. He had to seduce her slowly.
Staring into each other's eyes with palms pressed together felt like some emotional exchange was happening.
Something indefinable lingered in her violet eyes.
'What emotion is that...?'
He thought his eye for women had sharpened from meeting so many, but this was hard to read. Curiosity? Goodwill?
It felt like that, but not quite.
Si-woo and Amelia forgot to infuse their energy, lost in each other's eyes. They stared at their opponent, forgetting the flow of time.
He didn't know how much time passed, but suddenly a loud noise rang out.
Bam!
The sound of a desk being slammed. At the same time, Kang Su-ho's irritated voice echoed through the classroom.
"It's over...! Over, I said! What are you doing? Let go!"
The guy jumped up from his seat, yelling.
Professor Liline had already left. Class had ended long ago.
"Ah...!"
Amelia finally realized it too and tried to pull her palm away but hesitated for a moment. It had been so long since she'd felt another person's warmth; she felt a bit reluctant.
Si-woo, naturally, welcomed any skinship with a beauty and didn't let go of her palm.
"Hey!!"
Kang Su-ho couldn't stand seeing the two still not letting go. Not content with yelling, he jumped up from his seat.
He charged recklessly without even using mana.
Si-woo pulled Amelia's hand behind him while stepping aside, casually tripping Kang Su-ho's foot.
Thud crash!
That alone sent the guy tumbling across the floor.
"Kyaa!! Su-ho!"
Anne screamed and hugged the fallen Kang Su-ho's head. Kang Su-ho shoved her away, shaking his head as he got up.
"Eek...!"
A trickle of nosebleed flowed, and his cheekbone was swelling up. It was bound to bruise.
'Heh heh.'
It felt damn good, but there was a way to piss him off even more. Something the guy did often.
"Ah! Sorry, Su-ho. You okay? Why'd you charge like that? You scared me."
"You... you!"
Kang Su-ho lost it—some kind of tribal hatred or whatever—and charged again.
Si-woo dodged the wild punches and tripped him once more.
Thud!
"Guhk!!"
A few cadets watching the bizarre scene muttered unconsciously.
"Wh-what the...?"
"Why's he acting up all of a sudden?"
"Yeah? Su-ho, you okay?"
Si-woo's movements were so natural that at their level, they couldn't tell what happened.
It just looked like Kang Su-ho was tumbling on the floor by himself.
"Su-ho!!"
Anne's eyes blazed as she charged. It felt like a human tank was coming, but this girl had terrible balance too.
This world had such sloppy basics. Because they solved everything with mana?
Si-woo tripped her and tossed her at Kang Su-ho. Kang Su-ho, just getting up, got flattened under Anne.
"Ouch!"
At that moment, Anne's eyes gleamed, and she started rubbing against Kang Su-ho.
Kang Su-ho flailed, pushing her away, and his hand brushed her chest. Feeling it, Anne screamed.
"Kyaaak!! Su-ho, where are you touching?!"
"Wha...? Wh-what?!"
To Si-woo, it looked more like belly than chest, but Anne clung to Su-ho's arm, emphasizing his hand movement.
While Kang Su-ho's face paled, Anne's lips curved up ever so slightly.
She was aggressively bold. Trying to hook him right here. Scary woman.
'Ha... what a crazy bitch.'
He was curious what would happen when he pushed her.
Turning back, Si-woo saw Amelia staring at the tumbling pair on the floor with a bewildered face.
But someone else wasn't pleased that Si-woo was still holding Amelia's hand.
Lady Helena stood from her seat, approaching with the clack of her heels.
She glared coldly at Kang Su-ho, still writhing on the floor with Anne.
"What do you think you're doing? Using violence recklessly in a classroom."
"Uh... th-that... Sorry."
Kang Su-ho's eye twitched. That frustrated, wronged expression was pure satisfaction.
Even Anne dropped her smirk then, glancing warily at Helena. Helena looked down at them, then gazed warmly at Si-woo.
"You don't need to apologize to me. Si-woo. Are you alright?"
Feeling the temperature difference, Amelia unconsciously gripped Si-woo's hand tighter. An instinctive action she wasn't even aware of.
Si-woo was puzzled; no one had called him by name properly before, despite him not telling anyone. Helena had shown strange interest since the entrance spar, and he couldn't figure it out.
'Hm... She's definitely friendly. But no idea why.'
She had zero connection to this reincarnation body, which made it more mysterious.
"I'm fine. Oh, is casual speech okay?"
Everyone had reacted poorly to his casual talk so far, so he checked.
"Of course. Speak comfortably."
"Yeah. Cool."
Helena smiled consistently at Si-woo, but a faint chill lingered at the edge of her gaze.
"But class is over... how long are you going to hold her hand...?"
Following her gaze, Si-woo saw he was still holding Amelia's hand.