Gear Tuning (2)

At those words, Yuri, who had been holding my hand, stopped. She turned back to look at me.

"Seoraksan is dangerous."

And with that, she started walking again as if nothing had happened. She never let go of my hand.

A panic attack...

Fortunately, it didn't come. To overcome PTSD, you eventually have to face its cause head-on.

Perhaps because I'd spent a fair amount of time alone with Yuri since joining Flame, my aversion to her wasn't as strong as it had been when I first saw her again. And the Yuri who'd just offered her hand had spoken in that businesslike tone of hers. I'd taken my medication in advance, so I felt reasonably at ease. For now, I simply kept climbing the mountain with her.

Rugged doesn't even begin to cover it.

The sky had looked clear from the parking lot, but after we'd climbed only a little way, it clouded over in an instant, turning into the kind of weather that promised snow at any moment.

Not that I need Yuri's help, though.

A chill seeped through the hand I was holding. Yuri's hands had always been this cold. Back at Eins, I'd often held on tight until that hand finally warmed up.

But the two of us then and the two of us now were different people. I tried not to dwell too much on those old feelings.

Then what about Yuri...?

The thought crossed my mind unbidden. The Yuri of our Eins days had been cold enough to earn the nickname Snow Maiden. The perfect student council president, a high-ranking noble's daughter with pride to match. Even after we'd grown close, she'd rarely expressed her feelings to me directly.

I never thought I'd end up close to her, either.

After possessing a character in Aca Hunter, I'd fallen for Yuri at first sight. So I'd tried, in my own way, to make those feelings known. But getting close to a woman who harbored such deep distrust and aversion toward men had been anything but easy. By the time graduation approached, she had opened her heart to me — but it had taken a tremendous amount of effort.

Now, somehow, the situation seemed to have reversed.

Yuri sent me messages every single day.

She'd been doing it ever since I regained consciousness. And after I joined the guild, the messages only increased. She'd pretend she was just conveying official business. But you'd have to be an idiot not to notice the personal intent behind them.

She always sent messages like that. So, just to check, I looked at the ones Yuri had sent to Dong-hyuk. About once every two weeks — and even those were perfunctory, short-form messages asking for feedback on the intern program.

Utterly formal messages, just like that. Not that a Guild Master would have much reason to message the staff directly in the first place.

The temperature difference is huge.

At the very least, it was clear Yuri had some kind of feelings for me. After all, her Limit Line had spiked after that business trip we'd taken just the two of us — and whenever the time we spent together decreased, it dropped right back down.

My feelings grew a little complicated, but looking at it coldly, it wasn't entirely a bad thing. Among the characters filling in for the original protagonist Si-woo, Yuri had the largest role. And if this trip to Seoraksan was connected to an original-story episode, then Yuri was essentially holding the helm of this drifting Aca Hunter.

At least it would disrupt the narrative less than if I intervened directly.

Even my acquiring Wind Cutter — which should have gone to Dmitri — had happened in the process of receiving a high-grade gear that Yuri was providing to an intern. And in that process, I'd naturally been able to catch Jang Gyesin, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠who was connected to Red Lake. In the end, I needed Yuri.

And she needed me, too. After climbing for so long with our hands tightly clasped, her hand was growing warm. She'd gone quiet at some point. I couldn't help but notice her pale cheeks had flushed red.

So this is personal again, after all.

Like that time at Pyotr's brown bear café, when she'd turned into a happy little girl at the sight of the bears. Those rare, cute moments the usually icy Yuri let slip — I wanted them to be mine alone.

Without thinking, I squeezed her hand a little tighter.

"Let's start here."

We'd quickly climbed to an altitude near the summit. The ridge we now stood on was originally a restricted area, off-limits to civilians.

Was this ridge called Yongajangseong?

A treacherous place lined with bizarre rock formations that looked like a dragon's fangs. Fatal falls happened here often. But for an S-Rank Hunter like Yuri, it didn't seem to be a problem at all. If anything, I could sense a strange excitement in her.

A blizzard's coming down...

Snow had started falling around the time we reached the summit.

Wooooooong—

A blizzard that would terrify ordinary people — no, even hunters — was raging around us. And atop those jagged rocks stood Yuri. Her fingers began to take on a blue glow.

Nibis.

The moment Yuri began circulating her mana in earnest, the atmosphere around us changed.

The entire blizzard has transformed into a freezing spell.

Mana filled every last swirl of snow. The already frozen flakes dropped to even more extreme temperatures through her power. Just grazing one of those tiny flurries would give you frostbite on the spot. No — that blizzard looked like it would shred a person to pieces.

So this is an S-Rank Hunter.

Even back at Eins, Yuri had been far beyond cadet level. But the presence she carried now was on an entirely different scale.

Back then, it felt like her overflowing ice-attribute mana was running wild.

Now, with even more mana than before, she was controlling it with exquisite precision. She wasn't being swept along by her own immense power. She was in complete control of everything. Any awakened with mana would instinctively sense just how dangerous it was to approach her right now. There was a reason we'd come to a place this harsh to tune Nibis.

"I've opened Nibis to release every bit of power it can currently output. The weather happens to be perfect, too — Nibis likes it even more."

Her idea of good weather was the exact opposite of most people's. And there she stood in the blizzard, her snow-white hair whipping in the wind.

She really is the Snow Maiden herself.

But this wasn't the time to stand around admiring her. I hadn't come to Seoraksan to enjoy some romantic tension with Yuri. With Nibis fully unleashed like this, she intended to test a new freezing spell. And like any awakened, a hunter's sense for mana was honed sharpest in actual combat.

If I let my guard down, I could get seriously hurt.

As a member of Flame, my job today was to clash with her using fire spells — the opposing attribute to her ice.

In other words, I had to punch ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠through that blizzard — already as good as a barrier — and land my spells on Yuri. In that crisis, her freezing magic would optimize itself.

I was tensing under the mana pressure she was radiating when Yuri suddenly flushed red.

"Th-that... what I just said! Don't take it the wrong way!"

I had no idea what she meant. What she'd said was clearly an invitation to bombard her hard enough to break through that barrier.

"I'm going in!"

And unlike Yuri, an S-Rank Hunter, I had no room for error. This was already treacherous mountain terrain. One small mistake and I'd plunge off a thousand-foot cliff.

Don't worry about it?

In that instant, Wind Cutter conveyed its will to me. It told me that if I was curious, I should try falling down there once — so I ignored it.

Anyway. Time to focus.

More than anything, this was my chance to test Wind Cutter's potential to the fullest. I took the dagger in my hand. The wind generated from that blade began pushing back Yuri's blizzard.

They'd exchanged spells for a long time. It had been around noon when they reached the summit, but now even the hazy sky was already growing dark.

Whew... maybe that's enough for today.

Yuri withdrew the mana flowing into Nibis. It had been a long time since she'd fully unleashed all of its power. S-rank gear like Nibis required periodic tuning. The Ancient Gear, like Yuri herself, was cold and rational — but if that overflowing power wasn't used regularly, it would backflow regardless of the gear's own will. Even Yuri, who had been born ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠with a considerable mana capacity, had now drained herself nearly dry from the tuning.

No. It wasn't ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠simply the tuning that consumed so much mana. It was Minsu, after all...

And the reason Nibis had released even more power than a simple calibration required was, of course, because her opponent was Lee Minsu.

Wind Cutter. He hasn't even had it that long, and he's already using it that well.

It wasn't for nothing that he'd defeated her — the rank 1 cadet — back when he'd been the lowest-ranked student at Eins. He couldn't use as much mana as he had in his prime because of his mana heart. Instead, he'd perfectly covered the shortfall in firepower with Wind Cutter's wind-attribute mana. Nibis's mana pressure was enough to push back even the wind spells channeled through that dagger. But it hadn't been a major problem for Minsu.

His combat instincts and spell application are just too outstanding.

Minsu hadn't used Wind Cutter's wind in any ordinary way. The moment the blizzard coiled back around that wind, he loaded Blue Flame onto it and detonated it.

The wind probably accelerated Blue Flame's RPM even further.

In effect, Wind Cutter's wind had stoked Blue Flame's fire far more fiercely. And fire meeting high-pressure oxygen had produced an extreme synergy. The firestorm created by that exploding Blue Flame — its instantaneous firepower had been enough to momentarily match even the blizzard Nibis produced.

Of course, in terms of endurance, there was no comparison with an S-Rank Hunter like Yuri. Eventually, after a certain amount of tuning, Minsu declared himself done.

"I'm sorry, Guild Master. Given the limits of my current awakening rank, I can't go any further."

"I-it's fine. The day's already winding down anyway. Whether it's my new spell or yours, Minsu — we can finish the tuning tomorrow."

"Hah... yes. Understood. You've worked hard, Guild Master."

Just as he'd said. Minsu's current awakening rank was C-Rank. He'd spoken as if he were disappointed, but Yuri felt a chill run down her spine.

He can produce firepower on par with a fully unleashed Nibis... with nothing more than a C-Rank awakening?

However well wind-attribute and fire-attribute spells synergized, there was a fundamental difference in mana quantity between him and Yuri, an A-rank awakened. He'd bridged that gap through an extraordinarily precise mana circuit configuration and control.

She'd been harboring feelings of pity for Minsu without even realizing it, born of guilt and sympathy. What she felt now was entirely different.

I might have been the one looking down on him.

At graduation, Minsu had already surpassed both her and Si-woo to become rank 1 in the academy. His current skill was already, if only temporarily, at or above A-Rank Hunter level.

He's amazing, after all...

But Yuri quickly composed herself. Minsu's mana heart still wasn't normal. He would have pushed himself considerably to tune an A+ rank gear, too. If his Mana Roads were running wild like last time, it could be serious. Worried for him, Yuri hurried toward him.

"Minsu! Are you all right?"

"Hah... yes. Guild Master. I'm fine."

His breathing was ragged. And the mana moving around him was uneven. It wasn't enough to make him collapse, but there was clearly a backlash from the gear tuning. And just like last time, she could feel seething, scorching fire-attribute mana radiating from his body.

I have to calm him down. Quickly.

No other thought crossed her mind. Yuri hurriedly pulled Minsu into her arms.