Learning While Getting Hit
The day was steeped in deep sunset hues. The boy sat by the window, quietly gazing at the landscape. When he lowered his eyes, golden wheat fields bowed their heads across the vast plain, waiting for harvest as they rippled in the wind.
The view he always saw from the mansion window was truly beautiful.
“So…” “This time…”
The sight of a harmonious family strolling through those wheat fields looked like something out of a painting.
But the boy knew all too well that he could never step into the picture. He could only admire it from afar. By now, the scenery had become familiar.
‘...’
He turned away from the window. What greeted him was a wide but empty room. A chessboard lay scattered on the table as if someone had just been playing with it.
The only furniture was a bed, a small wardrobe, and that table. He walked over quietly and sat down. The old chair creaked, its sound filling the silent space.
This was the moment after parting with the neighborhood children, returning to the mansion, and waiting for dinner. The suffocating silence and stillness.
The busy sounds of servants from outside, the noisy voices drifting through the window. Even though it was the same space, the utterly alien atmosphere always left the boy feeling lonely.
But not anymore. A few days ago, he had learned a special secret that no one else in this mansion knew.
The boy quietly raised both hands, palms facing each other. He closed his eyes and breathed out. Slowly. Deeply. The room’s quiet and stillness sharpened his focus to perfection. After several seconds of concentration, a rich sensation flowed through every nerve and wrapped around his body.
Crackle—
A faint but distinct spark of light sliced through the air, creating a tiny bolt of lightning. His body began to tremble as if electrified.
‘...Haa.’
The boy exhaled roughly. He was drenched in sweat and dizzy, yet joy surged through him. Because the boy could feel mana now. Because he knew he could use magic.
“...Next time.”
What should he try next?
In the room bathed in sunset light, inside a mansion room no one cared about, the boy now possessed a new secret that only he knew.
…What was that?
No, more than that, he couldn’t quite remember what he’d been doing.
He definitely went into the forest with Eliné yesterday. And came back. Today she had called for him, saying, “Since you missed yesterday.”
…Yes. She called me.
A clear sky filled his vision. Clouds and birds drifted across the blue.
Whoa, a bird.
And I’m lying down?
‘Ah.’
Spread out flat, with dust fluttering around me.
When I struggled to sit up, my muscles throbbed in protest and my head still hadn’t caught up; the world spun dizzily.
“Lutes.”
Eliné’s voice.
Only then did my hazy mind snap back into focus.
The cold of the marble floor seeped into my lower body. Once my shaking vision steadied, I saw her standing right in front of me.
Eliné.
“Are you all right?” “…Yeah.”
Probably?
“Then get up.”
Her tone left no room for argument.
Right. Eliné had called me here. And I was receiving one-on-one lessons from her. The subject? Getting beaten by magic.
No—building real combat sense. I had been too complacent. I should have been suspicious the moment she chose the western area for our meeting. At the very least, I should have been on guard when we entered the sparring grounds instead of going for a simple walk.
As I staggered to my feet, Eliné watched me with her usual expressionless face.
“Move around a bit.”
I moved slowly as she instructed. It felt a little stiff, but nothing throbbed too badly.
“Seems fine.” “Yeah, it looks that way.”
Then why ask?
“Rest for three minutes. Catch your breath.”
The western section where Eliné had summoned me was the practical training zone packed with magic sparring arenas. It was one of the few places in the academy where you could freely use magic despite the usual restrictions.
There was only one reason she had called me here today.
The practical exam.
Unlike theory, which you could memorize while sitting down, practical exams had countless variables. They were tests where anything could happen. I had wondered if I should prepare somehow, but I never expected it to begin so abruptly.
‘…As expected.’
Was yesterday’s encounter with Serean the cause?
“Here I come again.” “Got it.”
Three minutes passed in the blink of an eye.
When I forced myself up, Eliné unfolded her arms and fixed her gaze on me.
“I’m raising the output.” “…You’re raising it even more?”
The practical exam changed topics every time, so advance preparation was impossible. The only method was to use magic constantly and raise overall proficiency. In other words, I had to grow while getting hit. Eliné must have had exactly that in mind.
“Focus on your senses as much as you can, Lutes.”
If you read the flow of mana, you could roughly predict the timing. Like seeing the wind-up before a punch.
Of course, that only applied to people who had watched a lot of punches.
Whoosh—
“Ow!”
It worked the same way with magic.
“Don’t dodge. Block it with magic.”
Where I had barely avoided the strike, two spears had slammed violently into the marble before vanishing.
Multiple casting was extremely difficult. You had to maintain connection formulas while firing spells in succession; the slightest mistake would cause everything to collapse. Behind her, five mana spears floated—not one, but five.
As I had felt when facing Serean, the wall separating geniuses really was impossibly high. It looked so distant I couldn’t even get a feel for it.
“Concentrate.”
The moment Eliné spoke, fierce spears hurtled toward me again. All I could do was react and dodge.
Crack—
When Eliné’s final spear pierced the marble with a sharp sound and vanished, I finally collapsed on the spot.
“…Haa.”
My whole body was soaked in sweat. My breathing came in ragged gasps. The blue sky above seemed tinged with yellow.
“Lutes.”
In contrast, Eliné sat down beside me with the same blank expression she’d worn when we first entered the training ground.
“If you keep dodging, you won’t improve.” “…Sorry. It’s hard to react in time.” “Your reactions are actually quite good.”
I wiped away sweat and turned toward her.
“Really?” “If they weren’t, you wouldn’t be able to walk right now.”
Aha.
I didn’t even want to imagine what kind of disaster would have occurred if I hadn’t dodged. That’s right—Eliné was always serious. I mustn’t forget that.
“How should I put it… my mind keeps going completely blank. The moment I see a spear, all I can think is that I have to dodge, so magic doesn’t even come to mind.” I muttered in frustration.
“Is that so?”
Eliné watched me for a moment, then stood up.
“Lutes, stand up.” “Again?” “Quickly.”
At her firm insistence, I finished wiping my sweat and rose to my feet.
And at that moment—
“Huh…?”
The same sensation from yesterday returned.
The feeling of my legs being bound. It was similar to when Serean had restrained me, as if something were coiling around me.
Wait.
No way, Eliné?
“I see why you aren’t using magic.”
She brushed dust from her clothes indifferently.
“What…” “It’s because you’re focusing entirely on dodging.”
No, Eliné. What are you saying?
“I’m really going to die here, Eliné.”
Ignoring my panicked, pitiful words, she stood and waved her hand. The same chant as before. The instant her incantation finished, one of those fierce spears began forming again.
“I believe in you, Lutes.”
I don’t believe in myself.
“Eliné, wait—!”
Whoosh—
Her spear shot forward with terrifying speed the moment I spoke.
I instinctively tried to move my legs to dodge, but they refused as if truly bound.
Of course, unlike that crazy woman Serean, Eliné’s binding magic only seemed to lock my feet while leaving the rest of my body free. Still, the inability to move was the same… ‘This isn’t the time to be thinking about that, you idiot.’
Think.
Think.
Think…!
A barrier? No, that probably wouldn’t stop it.
Organize my thoughts, consider slowly…
There was no time for that.
Whoosh—
‘Too late…!’
Suddenly, a memory from my unconscious mind surfaced.
Both hands together. Eyes closed. What I had created was an electric current. Sparks had flown.
‘Yes. That.’
It was pure reflex.
I manifested the chant inside my head and snapped my fingers.
A tingling sensation rose from my toes. The moment the feeling of projection through my hand ended—
Thump—!
A crackling spark burst forth.
The spear that had been roaring toward me with violent force veered slightly off course and grazed my side.
Crack—
I glanced over. Just like before, the spear she had fired embedded itself in the marble floor before slowly disappearing.
“...”
Eliné watched the scene quietly. Once the spear had completely vanished, she looked at me.
“Four points.” “Is the full score five?” “It’s ten.”
Ah.
“Your reaction was definitely good. Deflecting the mana flow with electricity was good too.”
Then wasn’t that average?
“But that’s as far as it goes.” “…Huh?” “If your formula had been even slightly late or off, it would have failed.” “Really?” “Also, you should block magic, not deflect it. It’s inefficient.”
I couldn’t sense a huge difference between blocking and deflecting, but since Eliné was the one saying it, no rebuttal came to mind. It had to be correct.
“Understood…” “Good.”
The moment I answered, she created more spears. Five again.
…Ugh. I hate this.
“Let’s keep going, Lutes.”
By the time afternoon arrived, I finally ended the spar by barely managing to block her final spear with a triple barrier.
The shockwave from the first time I blocked a spear head-on still made my muscles tremble.
“Good work.”
Eliné casually wiped away a single bead of sweat and looked at me.
“…You too.” “Are you okay?”
Of course I wasn’t.
My clothes were torn, my legs throbbed, my head spun, my breathing was ragged, and my hands wouldn’t stop shaking. Still…
“…I’m fine.”
It was fine. As long as I was alive, that was enough.
When she snapped her fingers, the binding magic that had held me finally released. My body felt free again.
“Lutes.” “…Yes.” “Is it hard?” “No, I’m fine.”
Where was there room to complain about it being hard when she was giving up her own time to tutor me? This was an incredible privilege. Private lessons from the academy’s top student. It was intense, yes, but receiving such a tremendous benefit felt like an honor.
“Just remember this. When responding to magic, prepare about three personal response patterns in advance.” “Three?” “You never know what variables might appear.”
I see.
While committing Eliné’s new piece of advice to memory, my legs gave out and I collapsed.
The sky came into view. It had been blue earlier, but now it was dyed orange. Crows flew overhead instead of sparrows.
‘Time really flies.’
Maybe it was because of the thought I’d had that morning. For some reason the sunset felt especially familiar today.
Thud. Thud.
Eliné’s footsteps approached. She naturally sat down beside me. She didn’t speak, but her fresh shampoo scent drifted over. She didn’t seem to have broken a sweat at all.
The dizziness that had clouded my head eased, and my eyes closed on their own.
‘…Looking at it like this.’
Certainly, the sense of burden I’d felt when first dealing with Eliné seemed to have faded. It wasn’t completely gone—there was still awkwardness and discomfort, and my heart still raced while I remained conscious of myself—but compared to the beginning, it felt like definite progress.
Perhaps I had grown somewhat used to her.
Swish—
A tickling sensation.
Something thread-like brushed my cheek, making my eyelashes tremble involuntarily.
“Lutes.”
When Eliné called my name, I opened my eyes reflexively.
When I opened them, half my vision was sky. The other half was filled by Eliné.
Her hair fell like a curtain, each strand clinging to my sweat-dampened face.
It tickled.
And…
And…
My heart couldn’t take much more.
“Eli… Eli… Eliné?”
My tongue tangled.
She stared at me with that inscrutable, expressionless face. My body refused to move. Her hair continued to brush my face, and she showed no sign of looking away.
“Lutes.” “Y-yes? Huh? What…?” “What are you doing after dinner?”
Dinner?
What are you doing after dinner?
Why… why would she ask something like that?
“After… after dinner?” “Yes.”
By now her head had lowered completely, her hair forming a perfect curtain that shut out the outside world between us. Eliné’s shampoo scent flowed straight into my nose. My head went beyond comfortable and began to ache.
“Um… I don’t think I’ll be doing anything… Ah, I have to study. Study.”
Why was I answering in questions? Cancel that. I wanted to take back everything I’d said about having adapted to Eliné. She was still difficult.
“…Is that so?”
Eliné gave a small nod.
Then she quietly murmured,
“Then let’s meet again after dinner too.”
…It took less than three seconds to process her words.
“Ah.”
In an instant, my heart returned to its normal rhythm.
“I’ll have to work hard, Lutes.”