Proof of Growth
"Prove with your strength that you're qualified to negotiate with me."
With those words alone, Taewang vanished somewhere.
She's probably just out of my sight, still lurking here to watch me.
【Grrrrrrrrumble—】
Last time in the gate, it felt like some kind of sandworm, but up close now, it was unmistakably a massive lugworm.
Come to think of it, sandworms were named after real creatures like lugworms or something. Anyway.
This must be its true form.
……
I swallowed hard.
My old nemesis—the one that had driven me to the brink of death—was back way too soon.
No Ayumi, no Yujin this time.
The Hero Candidate and council president were probably sprinting for reinforcements, but whether they'd make it in time... who knew.
Even if they did, Taewang wouldn't let them interfere anyway.
A dead-end alley, escape route sealed.
The only way out was to carve my own path with my own power.
I raised my sword and assumed my stance again.
"Come at me, you little shit."
Honestly, I wasn't all that confident.
The shock from back then had wiped most of my memories. How I'd fought it, its exact power level—it was all unknown territory.
All I knew was that pre-buff me had landed at least one hit, from what I'd heard.
Then and now, it radiated raw, ferocious qi.
Last time, I hadn't landed a single solid blow before collapsing. No way could one fuck session logically let me take this monster 1v1.
But!
There's no pressure like before.
Back then, just facing it made my legs buckle and my brain prep for death.
Not now.
The torrent of qi pouring from it tried to shove me back, but the power rooted firmly inside me didn't budge.
Did I have a shot at winning?
【Grrrrrrumble!】
Its muscles twitched.
Coiling like a spring, compressing to the limit.
Obvious from its build—it wasn't made for finesse. A hyper-simplified body, stripped to bare essentials.
Its moves were predictable.
But when that predictability scaled to this level, it became destruction incarnate.
Focus.
In comics, masters read foes by muscle tension, predicting the next move.
This world let you do something similar.
Not muscles—qi.
Muscles are honest, but qi reveals even more.
A honed Sense Qi could border on precognition, depending on talent. Like Observation Haki or whatever.
I wasn't there yet, but reading this simple brute? Easy.
Like right now!
"Hmph!!"
I gathered qi in my legs and leaped. Lowballing it, a good 5 meters—impossible for old me, even in this qi-rich gate.
Before I could savor the near-flight, a locomotive roar shattered the spot I'd just left, the beast pulverizing it.
A split-second late, and it'd roadkill me. A split-second early, and I'd be helpless midair.
Fucking terrifying.
But I survived by skill, not luck. My honed instincts and Sense Qi saved my ass.
Meaning—I could fight!
"Hmph!!"
I shifted the leg qi to my arms and sword. Those 100 evasion points? All-in on attack power!
Gravity as booster, I slammed my katana into its back shell!
Scraaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaape!!!
Less piercing flesh, more drill grinding rock or metal.
That glossy skin? Exoskeleton, apparently.
The rebound stung my palms like they might split open.
【GRRRRRROOOOOAAAAAARRRRHHHH!!!!】
For its size, my blade was like a 3-4cm needle prick. Not lethal, but gotta hurt like hell.
But I'd show it that freaking out over this was whining.
I pulled ambient qi, channeling it through my blade in a concentrated burst.
Dump in a lake, the water cushions the impact. Blast it at high speed? Slices diamond.
That's my emitted qi right now.
I'll shred you from the inside, you worm bitch!
Of course, if this one-sided beatdown worked, I wouldn't have tensed up.
The bastard accelerated wildly, me aboard.
"Urk!"
Zero-to-explosion speed slammed the g-forces into my body.
My grip slipped a fraction, and I'd be flung off.
Just as I adjusted, it slammed brakes!
Before I could topple, the organ-crushing jolt dizzied my brain.
"You fucking worm shit!"
Easy to think mounting it left it defenseless, but nope.
It knew exactly how to hurt riders.
And its qi control? Top-tier.
I saw unnatural flows in its body—prepping a full-body Emit Qi to blast me off.
Dodge by jumping? No second chances atop it.
All or nothing.
"Emit Qi with Emit Qi!"
Not clashing raw power—I'd lose.
Aim: Unique Ability manifestation.
Never tried it consciously—will it work?
But Sonya said I'd manifested it to land that hit. Not decisive, but!
No reason current me couldn't.
Trust it, muscle memory. Do your thing again.
Image it: Not a qi orb—sparkly.
Blindingly sparkly, eyes shut tight...!
【Grrrrrrumble!?】
Users seem immune to their own Unique Ability effects.
Makes sense—lightning or fire mages would self-immolate otherwise.
Same principle: Amid the flashbang burst, I saw clearly.
Lugworms have eyes, huh.
Sensory overload fries them, even in pure-qi monsters.
Fried senses scramble the mind, weakening qi control.
Its blast meant to incinerate me? Now fuel for my Gather Qi.
"Bit of a detour, but mission accomplished, I guess."
They said distant light slashes could crack its shell.
So blade-embedded, fire one point-blank?
"Light...!"
An Eight King had appeared in a Fluid Gate.
And a single academy freshman was facing it alone.
The news flipped Big Team Academy upside down.
They dispatched the first available Hero for rescue.
Standard: Three Heroes to slay an Eight King.
But stalling to extract one cadet? One Hero plus vet Hero Candidates should suffice...
Except the Hero probing the gate wore no hope.
She's probably dead.
The dispatched Hero Candidate said the monster took keen interest in the freshman—not instant kill, but talked.
Monster whims are unpredictable.
Capricious killers who murder on a whim like it's lunch. That's monsters, Eight Kings.
Just corpse retrieval with vain hopes. Praying it's intact.
...Who'd guess she was alive.
"Ah, you made it. Thank god. Thought I was done for."
The protectee was found atop the giant lugworm.
No visible wounds, but rapid accelerations battered her internals—needed treatment.
But no life threat.
"This your doing?"
"Yeah. Tough, but I pulled it off."
Headless corpse made precise power gauging hard, but residual qi screamed beyond cadet level.
By a lone freshman.
"Report said Eight King."
"Really? Misunderstanding? Y'know, to us, white-bearded whale or sperm whale—just looks huge and boss-level. Super strong, so Eight King... yeah, mistake."
Lame answer, but no better theory.
Rationaler than "freshman survived Eight King."
"...Heard the monster looked like a girl."
"Shapeshifter."
Possible? Monster ecology's still mystery.
Mountains of questions, but couldn't grill a girl with mushy guts.
Subs could stabilize; protocol was hospital ASAP.
One last thing.
One of Five Heroes, humanity's bulwark, Esmeralda Dorardo's father, Fernando, asked Joo Hyowon:
"Wanna early-grad academy and join my squad?"
Joo Hyowon replied:
"Haven't enjoyed my youth enough yet."
"Hm, just as I thought."
Perfectly concealed, Taewang smirked, savoring Joo Hyowon's show.
Exactly as expected.
She remembered Hyowon from the last gate incident.
How valiantly she'd fought the bait, only to lose pointlessly.
Days ago.
Now, solo, she'd beaten the bait with raw power.
Narrow win.
But real growth.
How'd she power up so fast?
"Curious about her growth secret."
That foreign qi clump rooted in her body—not hers originally. Probably key.
Tempted to dissect, but nada gained = pure loss.
Just watch for now.
"Joo Hyowon. Yep, got it memorized."
Thought it was trash fish, not bait-worthy.
Turns out, the "trash" was unprecedented new species.
"I want it."