Turning Point
“Luan! Long time no see!”
“Where are you rushing off to in such a hurry, friend!”
After the chaotic entrance ceremony finally ended, Abel and Yas caught me just as I was heading to the cafeteria for lunch.
I turned around and frowned at Yas.
“What the hell is that?”
What my finger pointed at was the thick, bushy hair covering Yas’s chin and nose. He clearly hadn’t maintained it; the tangled mess looked filthy. Yet despite my obvious disgust, Yas proudly stroked his beard.
“How about it? Manly, right?”
“Is ‘manly’ the same as ‘dirty’ to you? Go shave that thing right now. It’s disgusting.”
“Hey! You just don’t get it. Women secretly love a wild man!”
“Sure. But you’re not wild—you look like you’ve been rolling around on a deserted island for a whole year.”
He seemed roughly sixty-six percent uglier than he was before vacation. If I had to compare it to anything, it was like the difference between Abel and the original Yas.
My brutal verbal assault must have hit the mark, because Yas’s face fell a little.
“Is it really that bad? Abel, Yuni, and Alissa all said it looked weird too.”
“Of course anyone with working eyes would say that.”
“Hmm… Maybe I should cut it?”
While Yas was lost in thought, I quietly examined his aura.
He’s gained enlightenment.
Before vacation he’d sworn he would learn to use sword energy no matter what, and he had actually pulled it off. The fact that he was strutting around bragging about a beard instead was almost insulting.
As I shook my head, Abel greeted me with his usual earnest smile.
“Luan, it’s been a while. Have you been well?”
“I’ve been fine. What about you? Anything interesting happen?”
“Me? Ahaha! Actually, yeah, something did happen on the way here. Want to hear about it while we walk?”
Abel picked up the pace and began explaining. He had protected a child he happened to meet, clashed with slave hunters who came after them, and eventually got chased by the Scotti viscount family behind the whole operation. In the end, passing holy knights and the crown prince—who had been on an inspection tour—helped him liberate the slaves.
I felt a little bad for Abel, who was explaining so passionately, but I already knew the entire story.
Because I saw it myself.
Just a few days ago I had gone straight to the Scotti viscount family to keep an eye on Abel and Yuni. Unlike in the game, I witnessed the scene where they received help from the holy knights. The whole “we just happened to be passing by” line was obviously a lie. Just as I had predicted on the last day of vacation, they must have been secretly escorting the pair from somewhere out of sight.
Still, since the incident had resolved without any major issues, it wasn’t worth dwelling on.
That was when it happened.
“You three. Stop right there.”
Professor Caelin Madres, who had been walking past, suddenly halted us.
“Yes? Is something wrong?” Abel asked, puzzled.
But Professor Caelin didn’t spare Abel a single glance. She walked straight up to Yas, stared at his beard, and frowned. At her clearly displeased expression, Yas scrambled for an excuse.
“Ah, I’m sorry. I accidentally skipped shaving this morning. I’ll go take care of it right—”
“Why?”
“Huh?”
When the interrupted Yas asked blankly, Caelin reached out with her elegant hand, gently touched the messy beard, and ordered,
“Don’t cut it.”
“…Pardon?”
“I said don’t cut it. Under no circumstances. You look far more manly and attractive now than you did before. See you later, Yas.”
With a soft smile, Professor Caelin turned and vanished down the corridor.
After a long silence, Yas muttered,
“Did you see that?”
His smug face was unbelievably irritating.
*
“Then I’m off.”
“Friend! Come visit sometimes! I’m in room 302, got it?”
“Yeah, yeah. See you around.”
With the start of the second semester came new dormitory assignments, so I had to part ways with Yas. After saying goodbye, I left the room carrying nothing but my subspace pouch.
Feels kind of strange.
Leaving a place I had shared with someone for nearly half a year felt oddly awkward. I might even miss Yas’s vulgar nonsense from time to time. Not that we wouldn’t see each other anymore just because the rooms had changed.
I wonder who my new roommate will be.
I just hoped it wouldn’t be someone annoying.
I soon reached the assigned room, knocked lightly, and stepped inside. The interior was completely empty.
“Not here yet?”
It looked like organizing luggage was taking a while. I could just toss everything into my subspace pouch, but unless you were a noble it wasn’t easy to get your hands on such a magic tool. That meant my roommate was most likely a commoner.
“Not bad at all.”
A commoner wouldn’t dare bother a noble—especially the infamous troublemaker from a marquis family—unless they had a death wish. Feeling lighter, I headed to the bed on the right and began unpacking.
I was about halfway done when the door opened and my roommate appeared.
“……”
“……”
We exchanged only silent glances.
My new roommate was a man with a shaved head and blood-red hair and eyes. The name tag on his chest read Kenneth.
Kenneth gave a small nod in greeting, then walked over to the left bed and started unpacking. His belongings were surprisingly modest.
I casually glanced at his face without letting him notice.
This is annoying.
I knew that face and that name all too well. Because this Kenneth was none other than the bald swordsman transmigrator.
After picking up clues during the training camp, I had used the vacation to commission the information guild and dig up everything I could about him. Name: Kenneth. Age twenty. A war orphan taken in by a mercenary, raised in that life, and eventually admitted to the academy. The mercenary named Grant who raised him currently ran an inn in the capital. Despite the berserker fighting style he had shown at the training camp, the reports claimed he was actually quite the filial son.
That was unexpected.
Seeing how devoted he was to someone who wasn’t even his real parent, even though his possession meant he had probably been a criminal back on Earth… it was exactly this kind of information that had kept me hesitating about whether I should kill him.
Well, after what happened this morning, I would have to put that decision on hold for a while anyway.
I can’t believe the Saintess revealed everything about the transmigrators.
After her initial statement, the Saintess had gone on to explain the identities of the transmigrators and the reasons they needed to be identified. The church didn’t know everything about us, but that only made the situation worse. She had described transmigrators as beings who knew the future and might cooperate with the Dark Church. The information was heavily biased to be called the truth.
After briefly recalling the morning’s events, I finished organizing my things and stood up. When I turned around, Kenneth had already finished unpacking and was changing into his training uniform.
Looks like he’s heading out to train.
He really was diligent. Maybe he was doing it to get revenge on the fire mage who had turned him bald? Seeing him like that, I couldn’t stay still either.
After Kenneth left the room, I changed into my own training uniform and immediately headed for the shop.
“Kain, I’m here!”
I announced myself as I entered, but the counter was empty.
“Not here. Guess he’s over there again today?”
Guessing where Kain would be, I crossed the space and headed for the clearing.
In the middle of the vast open area, Kain stood motionless. Before him, a single sword had been driven into the ground.
It was the weapon Yuliana had used.
Kain, who had barely managed to recover the blade, had turned this place into her grave.
“Kain, so this is where you were.”
“……”
I deliberately made noise as I approached, but Kain’s gaze never shifted. He simply continued staring down at Yuliana’s grave in silence. I didn’t rush him and waited patiently. Only after five full minutes did he finally speak.
“Luan. You said you were a transmigrator as well.”
“Yes, that’s right. Is there something you want to ask?”
Only then did his eyes turn toward me.
“Then you know the future as well?”
“More or less.”
“…What happened to me in the future?”
Everyone imagines their own future at least once. Even someone like Kain couldn’t completely ignore that urge.
I answered calmly.
“I don’t know.”
“What? Didn’t you just say you know the future?”
“I know everything except anything specifically related to you, Kain.”
“…Which means I died during the last attack.”
“Yes. That’s correct.”
“……”
Kain remained silent for a long time. After much internal struggle, he changed the subject.
“Then do you also know the location of Huscular’s vessel? Or the identity of the masked bastard we saw there?”
“Yes. I know both.”
“Where is it?”
This must have been his real purpose. Kain’s eyes burned with intensity as he leaned in close. I took a step back and continued.
“But it won’t matter.”
“Why not?”
“Because that masked guy is a transmigrator like me. He’s most likely already moved Huscular’s vessel to a different location.”
“Is that so? Then we just need to capture the masked one.”
I knew he would say that. The moment I revealed the identity, he looked ready to charge off immediately, so I quickly stopped him.
“Calm down. It’s better to leave him alone for now.”
“Why do you think that?”
“He’ll have prepared for every possibility. If we rush in blindly, we’ll be the only ones who suffer. You wanted to know the masked guy’s identity, right? His name is Ethan Gloucester.”
“…Gloucester?”
“Yes. The Gloucester ducal family. Could we really accuse someone like that of being an apostle of the Dark Church without any clear evidence?”
The Gloucester family were heroes of the kingdom’s founding. They had even played a major role in sealing the immortal demonic beast Levios thousands of years ago. Even if they had fallen to become the Dark Church’s lackeys, their position remained incredibly solid.
Kain, who was consumed by revenge, seemed to accept my explanation. He let out a small sigh.
“Haa… Then for now, we’ll simply observe.”
“Wise choice. More importantly, I came here to train. Could you help me? I need to get used to Hwasin-hwa as quickly as possible.”
“…Understood. Follow me.”
Kain stroked the sword hilt once, then turned and led the way underground. He stopped in the center and faced me.
“Show me the technique you learned yesterday.”
“Yes!”
I slowly gathered my focus. The technique I was about to use was called Penetration Strike. It infiltrated my mana into an opponent’s body and tore apart the pathways through which their mana flowed.
Anyone struck by Penetration Strike would find it difficult to control their mana. In severe cases, the mana could reflux and kill them. It was that difficult to execute, but mastering it would become an enormous asset.
I need to get used to handling mana.
To free myself from the threat of the flames coiled in my middle dantian, I had to advance my mana control techniques as quickly as possible. The benefits for me were massive.
Of course, the risks were equally great. Using Penetration Strike recklessly could cause internal injuries. But that was easily solved by visiting the temple for treatment or simply activating Hwasin-hwa to heal with its super regeneration. There was no real downside.
Focus. Focus.
I pushed all stray thoughts aside and drove my fist forward, loaded with the principles of Penetration Strike.
Baaang!
My fist collided with Kain’s open palm. I sent my mana surging into his body through the point of contact. But the moment it entered, it was surrounded by Kain’s own mana and extinguished with ridiculous ease.
It didn’t stop there. Kain’s mana followed the same path back and invaded my body instead.
“Ugh!”
Unlike when I practiced Taeguk Hwasin-gong, Kain’s mana rushed in violently, without the slightest mercy. When I groaned, he offered advice.
“Don’t simply try to endure it. Find the weak points and attack them.”
Normally, speaking while interfering with another person’s body through mana was strictly forbidden. The mana in the air that entered through breathing would disturb the flow. The fact that Kain could speak so casually proved just how superior his mana control was and how vast the gap between our levels remained.
I focused every ounce of my concentration on analyzing and dismantling Kain’s mana. It took a full thirty minutes before I finally managed to push the invading energy out.
“Huff… huff!”
I was about to collapse while gasping for breath when—
“What do you think you’re doing?”
Kain grabbed my fist and forcibly straightened my buckling knees. While I stared at him in confusion, mana invaded through my fist once again.
This crazy bastard!
Kain had no intention of letting me rest. He was determined to push me to the absolute limit and draw out every last drop of my potential.
Fearing internal injury, I couldn’t even resist. I could only focus desperately on expelling the invading mana. I didn’t regain my freedom until three full hours had passed.