The New Instructor
She was a Hero. He was an instructor. Even so, she didn't let her guard down for a second.
Tension coiled through her. In the world he came from, he was said to be an extraordinarily formidable warrior. This was a mana contest — her supposed domain — and still she refused to relax.
"Shall we begin?"
The instant the duel started, Enril gathered her mana and aimed straight for Rion's shoulder. She'd expected a difficult fight, so she was already preparing her next attack.
A hiss of dispersing energy—
...Huh?
That was as far as she got. The moment her mana collided with Rion's, it crumbled without a trace.
W-what is this?
She frantically redirected the mana she'd been gathering for her next strike into a defense. But even that effort was useless before this instructor named Rion.
A sickening crunch—
Even the mana she'd turned to defense was pulverized in a single blow. With her sturdy barrier collapsing so futilely, her unprotected body announced the impact as pain.
"Ngh?!"
It was no mere sting. The sensation was that of a blade punching through flesh. Not a single drop of blood had been drawn, and yet it felt as if a sharp edge were carving her open. She had never imagined mana could be this powerful.
If this hadn't been a spar — if this had been a real fight — he would have aimed for her heart. She wouldn't have died, but the shock would have left her unable to move for a critical moment.
To wield mana this intense... This instructor, this man named Rion — just who is he?
Still sitting where she'd sunk to the ground, she slowly purged the mana that had been driven into her body. It carried a chilling, bone-deep energy so eerie it sent a shiver down her spine — and yet its density was so remarkable it inspired awe.
It was astonishing that someone like this had come as an instructor. And it was a shame that such a person wasn't a Hero.
Rion. If the man standing before her had been from this continent — if he had come to the Academy not as an instructor but as a Hero — then instead of being someone whose life was saved by that existence time and again, like herself, he could have become a sharp blade that cut that existence down.
"I lost, Instructor..."
A dull thud—
Huh?
For a moment she thought she'd seen wrong. It had happened too suddenly. But she soon realized the scene before her eyes was real.
"W-what do you think you're doing?!"
This had been a fair duel. Skill alone determined victory and defeat. The one who lost was simply lacking — they just needed to train harder. There was no reason whatsoever to react so emotionally!
"Ah... aah..."
The cadet who had struck Rion looked just as shocked. Her face said she herself had no idea why she'd done it. But that was neither here nor there — a punch already thrown couldn't be taken back.
Rion's head, having taken the surprise blow, was turned fully to the side. Hero Candidate or not, an Academy cadet had just assaulted an instructor. And she'd used violence on someone who had done nothing wrong — a man who had simply shown passion and demonstrated his skill. Using violence for no reason at all was a serious problem.
"Instructor? Are you all right?"
"I-I'm so sorry!! I-I did something like this..."
Enril rushed over. The cadet who had thrown a punch without realizing it stood frozen. He would be angry — a Hero Candidate had used violence so carelessly. He would be disappointed — someone who treated an instructor this way shouldn't even have been admitted.
But Rion's actual reaction once again overturned everyone's expectations.
"Enril. In that mana duel just now — what did you feel?"
"E-excuse me?"
"The instant my mana hit yours. What'd it feel like?"
As if getting punched didn't even register. Rion was only asking about the result of the duel.
"Ah, well..."
Setting aside the bewilderment scrambling her thoughts, Enril slowly laid out the impression she'd been holding since a little while ago.
"...It was different from mine."
"More precisely."
"If my mana was just flowing water, then yours, Instructor, was... like..."
"Did it feel extremely refined?"
"That's exactly it! That's precisely how it felt!"
The amount of mana had been the same. She'd felt that the moment they collided. But everything else was different. No — it wasn't even on a comparable level. Overwhelmingly superior, incomparably pure mana. The moment they met, it was already over. It wasn't a level she could do anything about. Not just Enril herself — even renowned mages and outstanding knights would have fared no better.
"Starting tomorrow, I'll teach you how to hold mana like that. It's a method they used where I used to live — you refine mana to the absolute limit and store it. In a place overflowing with mana like this, it might be pointless, but in a place where mana isn't sufficient, it'll be a tremendous help."
And with that, Rion wrapped it up, saying since it was their first meeting, they'd stop there for today. The flustered cadet apologized once more, but—
"That's a mean punch. Hit a Demonic Beast like that next time."
"Ah... a-all right! I'm sorry, Instructor!"
Once Rion left first, the others hurriedly crowded around the cadet, asking what on earth she'd just done, saying she had no idea how shocked they were.
"I'm sorry. I don't even know why such extreme rage suddenly surged up in me..."
Leaving the awkward cadet behind, Enril looked in the direction Rion had disappeared.
He's strong. But he's not an arrogant person.
That thought grew stronger once more. If that man had been a Hero, would things have been a little different? It was overwhelming skill that even Enril herself had rarely experienced. If she could truly handle mana like that, she would be able to show a different side of herself in the Tower.
He's different from that bastard. Completely different from that insufferably arrogant thing that treats humans like playthings.
She decided. She would learn and learn from Rion, that instructor. So that when she climbed the Tower again — when she stood before that existence trying to destroy the world — she would deliver a strike unlike any before, one bristling with killing intent.
If I can inflict a serious wound that way, it'll be advantageous for the next Hero. And that enraged bastard might... finally kill me.
Obviously she didn't want to die. Death was inevitably frightening. But if that was her duty as a Hero — if it was an inescapable fate — Enril was prepared to fulfill that duty, to accept that fate.
His leisurely gait grew faster and faster. Soon approaching a full run, Rion left the training grounds behind — and the moment he ducked into a secluded corner, he let out a sigh of relief.
"Hah—!"
Fuck. I almost got completely screwed.
He'd been mistaken. Thinking that since his power was restricted, he could afford to go a little all-out. If he'd gone easy on her and gotten pushed back or lost, he might really have had to dig a hole and crawl into it. So he'd drawn out the mana he'd gathered through yesterday's Mana Cultivation Technique to the fullest—
Why the hell did my true body's power leak out at that moment? I almost actually got found out.
It was faint. It was only an instant. But his real power had definitely come out. It was fortunate that Enril's entire attention had been locked on the mana she'd sent out first. If that hadn't been the case, she would have sensed that power's presence, and if that had happened...
That cadet who suddenly jumped in punched me. That's why everyone's attention got pulled away — which was lucky.
But why had that female cadet suddenly hit him? Was she some hidden personality-defect thug? Didn't seem like it. Whatever the reason, as a result, that cadet had saved him. If he ran into her later, he should buy her a meal.
Thinking that, Rion flexed his fingers.
As expected.
Yes. As expected, Enril's mana handling was a problem caused by this world. This world was a real world, not a game. There were no players here to offer up some clever new solution. That was why Enril — why everyone — didn't know the Mana Cultivation Technique. As a result, she'd been all but helplessly defeated in the mana duel just now.
The Tower is different. Whatever it's like outside, the inside is a completely different world. Unlike a world overflowing with unlimited mana, inside the Tower — even if it's fine at first — mana decreases as time passes. No... more precisely, should I say it becomes poison the more you use it?
A place that existed like a time bomb, built to bring the world to ruin. A place where Demonic Beasts that sought to swallow the world were born and raised. The mana existing in such a place couldn't remain pure forever. Its nature had changed. At first it might be similar, but as time passed it would have a harmful effect on the body.
The Heroes until now had probably all died because of that, never even making it to him. Or perhaps they were simply far inferior to Enril in some other way. That was precisely why Rion valued Enril all the more. Even in a Tower like that, she had broken through time and again to stand before him. She either had a resistance, or else some innate special ability.
But even that will hit a limit later on.
That was why the Mana Cultivation Technique was needed all the more. She needed to be able to extract and use only what was necessary even from the Tower's peculiar mana. Only then would she seize the glory of defeating the Tower Master in combat.
He'd already planted that seed. Thinking about it now, it was fortunate that Enril had come forward. There had been the mishap of his true body's power leaking out a tiny bit without him realizing — but fortunately, some cadet had thrown a punch and covered everything up.
Yeah. I really should buy her a meal.
In a bizarre twist of fate, a Hero Candidate had just ended up owing the boss monster dinner.