A Punch on the Mentor's Face
“Kuhk!”
Zeon spat up blood.
His face was as pale as a sheet of paper.
His right arm, clad in the gauntlet, dangled limply from a compound fracture, and both legs were shattered from the impact of falling from a hundred meters in the air.
Even so, Zeon smiled.
Because his gauntlet-clad fist had connected with Dayton's face.
Dayton's head had turned slightly, and a small wound marred the spot where the gauntlet had struck.
For a life-risking gamble, the result was meager, but Zeon was satisfied.
He had finally landed one clean hit on Dayton's face.
“Don't… look at me like I'm pathetic.”
With those final words, Zeon collapsed.
Dayton silently stared at Zeon's unimpressive fall for a moment.
This was the first time Zeon had ever landed a blow on him.
Not even Dayton, the unparalleled master, had anticipated Zeon hurling himself from a hundred meters up to attack.
Thanks to that, he'd taken a tiny scratch on his face, but it didn't bother him.
Zeon had finally reached the level Dayton had been pushing him toward.
This was what an Awakener should be.
If there was even the slightest chance, they had to throw themselves at it boldly to carve out a breakthrough.
A century ago, most Awakeners had survived and evolved their skills by hurling themselves into such possibilities.
“Gahk! Kek!”
Zeon heaved ragged breaths.
The price of his desperate leap was his lungs on the verge of failure.
Dayton opened his subspace.
He pulled out a potion and fed it to Zeon, then retrieved another and sprinkled it over Zeon's entire body. Zeon's condition stabilized rapidly.
The potions Dayton used were top-grade healing elixirs crafted in Neo Seoul.
They required rare ingredients and a complex process, so even Neo Seoul had only a handful. These miracle drugs could heal any wound instantly, as long as the patient hadn't flatlined.
Dayton had a few more such healing potions in his subspace.
“Haa!”
Moments later, Zeon exhaled deeply and regained consciousness.
Back from the brink of death, he lay there dazed for a bit.
It took a little time for his mind to fully reconnect with reality.
Once he had fully gathered his wits, he spoke.
“I'm still alive, huh?”
“If you croaked from wounds like that, you wouldn't be worth saving.”
“Tch…”
Zeon shook his head as he pushed himself up.
His whole body ached. But it wasn't enough to immobilize him.
Compared to the stakes of his all-or-nothing gamble, this pain was bearable.
Dayton looked at Zeon and said,
“Now you're barely usable.”
“Should I say thanks?”
“Shut it. Take these.”
Dayton pulled several items from his subspace and tossed them to Zeon.
Clothes made of fabric and leather armor, plus a robe.
The clothes were something he'd scavenged from Neo Seoul, while the armor and robe were dungeon drops.
Both the armor and robe came from an A-rank dungeon—far from ordinary.
The armor, crafted from the hide of some unidentified monster, was covered in indecipherable runes.
“It's a bit weak against physical force, but it has high magic resistance. It'll help a weakling like you a lot right now.”
“You're not wearing it yourself?”
“Armor like this is for weak shits like you. I don't need it.”
“Damn it!”
Zeon's face twisted in frustration.
He couldn't argue with Dayton's words, and that stung.
Even if it's out of spite, I'll get stronger.
Zeon changed into the new clothes and donned the armor over them.
The moment the armor settled on him, a refreshing energy coursed through his body.
Probably some magical enchantment.
Zeon draped the robe over the armor.
The robe's color blended perfectly with the sand.
From a distance, it would be indistinguishable from the desert itself.
“Camouflage, huh?”
Zeon pulled the robe's hood over his head.
Dayton said,
“All dressed? Let's go.”
“Yeah!”
The two left Death Valley, where they'd spent the last several months.
In their absence, the valley had been utterly wrecked beyond recognition.
Nature's grand artwork lay in pathetic ruins, buried under piling sand.
By the time they returned—if they ever did—this place would be completely swallowed by the dunes, traces erased.
If we even come back.
＊＊＊
Zeon and Dayton trudged silently through the endless desert.
The scorching sun beat down relentlessly, but neither complained.
Dayton had endured this wasteland for a century, and Zeon had grown accustomed to desert life.
“Hm?”
Zeon suddenly halted.
Dayton watched him wordlessly.
After months in that hellish valley, Zeon's sand sense and control had skyrocketed.
Even Dayton couldn't match his perception in the desert now.
For Zeon to stop like this meant he'd sensed something.
Moments later, Zeon spoke.
“I feel a water source. Looks like an oasis is forming nearby.”
“Is that right?”
As Dayton's face lit with interest, moisture suddenly seeped up from the sand.
At first, just dampness, but it quickly pooled, growing deeper.
Soon, the wet sand gave way, forming a sizable oasis.
“Ho!”
Dayton was mildly surprised as the oasis materialized just as Zeon predicted.
Desert oases were like mirages.
They appeared out of nowhere one day, then vanished, migrating along underground channels to random spots.
Humans couldn't predict it. But Zeon had sensed it in advance.
No ordinary Awakener could dream of such a feat.
Zeon asked Dayton,
“There's one here too, right?”
“A sand ray?”
“Yeah!”
“Probably. These migrating oases always have one lurking.”
“Figures.”
Zeon nodded.
The sudden oasis had already swelled to pond size.
Zeon peered into its depths.
A faint glow flickered far below.
A bewitching lantern that entranced onlookers—the hallmark of the sand ray.
A C-rank monster that lured humans and beasts to the oasis, then devoured them.
Zeon had nearly fallen victim once himself.
Without Dayton, he'd have vanished without a trace back then.
That didn't mean he held any special grudge against sand rays, though.
This was the world they lived in.
Eat or be eaten.
Everything was permitted to survive.
The sand ray lured to live; Zeon hunted it to live.
Zeon dove straight into the oasis.
Sensing him, the sand ray rushed in.
The lantern grew clearer, revealing a massive maw behind it.
Thinking Zeon already done for, it charged at full speed without caution.
Zeon waited until it was close, then swung his right fist.
Exion gathered over the gauntlet.
He drilled the compacted exion straight into the sand ray's mouth.
Splurt!
Like a fish impaled on a harpoon, the sand ray thrashed wildly as its palate shattered.
Normal sand would lose cohesion in water and crumble uselessly, but exion was different.
Zeon's Sand Mage-exclusive weapon held its shape perfectly, even submerged.
Now!
Zeon spun the exion inside the sand ray's mouth.
Graaang!
The exion pulverized the sand ray's brain in an instant.
The end of the C-rank monster.
The sand ray floated belly-up to the surface.
Zeon dragged it out.
Not bad!
The corner of Dayton's mouth twitched upward.
Water was sand's greatest foe.
Yet Zeon wielded exion freely underwater. Proof he'd mastered his power's potential.
Zeon began butchering the sand ray.
First, he skinned the belly. Soft and elastic—perfect for robes, maximizing performance.
Next, he carved the meat by sections.
Sand ray meat had no waste.
Little of the usual monster toxins, and it tasted good.
Best of all was the gall bladder.
Last time, Dayton had made Zeon eat it first.
Zeon handed the man-sized gall bladder to Dayton.
“Here, eat.”
A priceless tonic, unmatched for strengthening bones and sinews.
Zeon knew its potency from experience. But Dayton rejected it outright.
“Don't need it.”
“Don't you need to prep your body for the dragon fight?”
“Think a puny sand ray's gall could affect me? Stuff yourself, weakling.”
“Come on, you don't have to say it like that…”
Dayton ignored him and grabbed another part.
Whoosh!
Flames erupted from his hand—mana-born fire.
The tender sand ray meat cooked in seconds.
Dayton chewed it slowly, savoring.
Watching for a bit, Zeon started on the gall bladder.
Raw was best for effects.
A fierce heat surged through him again. But no dramatic change like before.
He'd already consumed one, and his body had grown since.
Despite devouring the entire massive gall, his stomach stayed flat.
Satiated, but no bloat or discomfort.
Miraculous, even on the second try.
The two feasted heartily for the first time in ages.
As before, they'd stay until the sand ray was fully consumed.
Zeon leaned back against a sand dune.
Lying like this, he envied nothing in the world.
He'd started following Dayton out of necessity, to survive.
But once strong enough, he'd chosen it willingly.
Caught in the rapids, he'd wandered the desert blindly until here.
A dragon battle? Insane. Or have I made it big? Hell if I know.
A worthless slum kid scraping by in Neo Seoul's outskirts had reached a dragon's lair.
Unimaginable to anyone—even Zeon the Sand Mage.
Every day felt like a dream.
But his reverie didn't last.
Thud.
Footsteps echoed from afar.
Monster?
Zeon bolted up. Dayton was already glaring toward the sound, face like stone.
The man who never tensed for any beast looked ready to swing the Clayon stabbed into the ground.
Zeon tensed too.
Finally, the source appeared.
A human?
To their shock, it was a human.
Luxuriant golden hair gleaming like polished sunlight, skin flawlessly pale without a wrinkle—as if never touched by the sun—exuding an eerie aura.
His eyes were bloodshot red, like burst capillaries, and thin lips parted to reveal sharp fangs amid stark white teeth.
He looked at them and spoke.
“Are you well?”