Week 7 Mentoring, PvP (7)

To sum up the first match in brief, from Cha Hyun-ju's point ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠of view: she'd lost the crystal and come chasing after me, traded a short round of close-quarters combat, ate a Wind Force head-on, and went flying backward.

She rushed right back for a second round of close combat, only to take another Wind Force and get blasted away again. Furious past the tips of her hair, she rained arrows down indiscriminately — while I, the infuriating little pest, simply dodged this way and that.

Then the crystal finished charging, and the match was over.

It hardly counted as a real battle, so no wonder she couldn't swallow it.

Which was exactly why she'd come around demanding a revenge match.

"I do still have two matches left on this week's quota, though."

As far as I was concerned, so long as it filled the quota and cleared the sub-quest, one opponent was as good as any other. That didn't mean I had any obligation to meekly play along with Cha Hyun-ju's demands, of course.

And so my answer was:

"Nope?"

"What?"

I scratched the back of my head with maximum couldn't-be-bothered energy.

"Whether you're convinced or not is your problem, not mine. What, if you can't accept it, I'm supposed to keep fighting you until you do?"

"......!"

"Honestly, everyone treats me like I owe them something. People need to have a little shame."

At that, Cha Hyun-ju began leaking a slow, sinister menace.

"...You'd better settle this in a PvP match."

Meaning: refuse the rematch, and she'd pick ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a fight even in violation of academy rules.

Needless to say, threats like that didn't make me blink.

Whatever form the fight took, I was going to win it.

So I met her head-on, every bit as hard.

"If you're that confident, be my guest. Just know I won't be going easy that time."

"......"

Cha Hyun-ju kept glaring at me with that sinister aura still rolling off her, but behind her eyes a calculator was rattling away at full speed. She might not have accepted the first match, but results were results: a perfect game. Not a single attack allowed from start to finish. Without a proper read on my abilities, picking a fight with me blind had to feel like a gamble she couldn't afford.

Her thoughts must have arrived at that conclusion, because she dialed the menace down a notch and asked,

"Come on, just one match. Is that really so hard?"

"It's not that it's hard — now I just don't feel like it. You come asking somebody for a favor and bring that attitude? Not great."

"My attitude's always been like this. Shin Byung-cheol must've told you. That I've got a filthy temper."

Well, well. She does know herself.

When a person calls her own temper filthy out of her own mouth, there was nothing left to say.

Cha Hyun-ju pressed on.

"Fine, what's it going to take? Should I kneel or something?"

"I'd rather not watch that. But if you want to fight me that badly—"

I held out one hand.

"Present your good faith, if you please. The match fee."

Cha Hyun-ju stared blankly down at my open palm, then let out a dumbfounded scoff.

"A match fee? Who do you think you are, charging a match fee?"

"What, did I say something wrong? Here, hear me out."

I laid it out, point by careful point.

"First: yesterday's match. I set it to private. I could've sold that replay for points, but your mentor ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠begged me to keep it quiet and promised to make it worth my while — so I obliged."

"......"

"If I take this rematch, it'll be private too, won't it. Which means I can't sell that replay either. More points down the drain."

"......"

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

"So give me one good reason I should skip matching against anyone else and fight you even at a loss. Go ahead. I'm listening."

"...Hah. Fine. What do you want?"

Unable to endure the unending baptism of facts, Cha Hyun-ju threw both hands up. I let the silence hang for effect, then named my price.

"Rank Up, grade E. An item at that level, and we might just break even."

"Rank Up E? Are you kidding me right now?"

Cha Hyun-ju's face twisted.

Rank Up was an item that raised a skill or trait's rank by one full step with zero effort — using it was all it took. Even the E-grade version carried serious value, which was precisely why demanding one as the price of a single rematch struck her as absurd.

But I answered with a face of perfect, bottomless sincerity.

"Nope. I'm infinitely serious. Feel free to say no."

"......"

"Ahh, and look at that, standing still this long has me getting all stiff and fidgety. Maybe I should mosey on over and get my PvP matches done."

Grrrrrrind—

Cha Hyun-ju ground her teeth hard enough to crack a molar. Then she fished a rolled-up sheet of parchment out of her inventory and flung it at me like she was tossing garbage on the ground. I caught it lightly and checked it over.

She's actually giving me this.

I'd started high on purpose, fully expecting to settle for something a rung or two cheaper — and she just slapped a Rank Up straight into my hand. Prospects really were built different when it came time to pay up.

Then again, that pride of hers — what could you do. Yang Jihong had been the same, and so was Mok Jonghwa. None of those were items a person hands over for one rematch.

The Rank Up had clearly stung, because Cha Hyun-ju radiated even more killing intent than before as she stomped off ahead of me.

"Follow me."

"Lead the way."

Well, I got paid. Time to earn it.

The revenge match was on.

I deliberately picked a time slot when students would be sparse at the Arena and queued up the match. Cha Hyun-ju and I sat in nearly the same score bracket, so this alone sent the odds of getting paired together skyrocketing.

And right on cue, just as expected—

Our names floated up onto the scoreboard. As I remembered it, Cha Hyun-ju had been at 510 points for the first match, so she must have won her next one after losing to me.

"......"

Cha Hyun-ju checked the scoreboard, fired one last murderous look my way, and vanished into the arena first. I stepped onto the teleportation circle behind her — the world lurched, and the next moment I was standing in the middle of a thickly overgrown forest.

Here again, huh.

Random terrain, my ass. All I ever rolled was forest.

The crystal's over there. Or maybe there.

Trusting, once again, the experience and instincts of a seasoned veteran, I set off toward where the crystal figured to be.

On the surface, the first match against Cha Hyun-ju and this rematch looked like twins — both private bouts. But between them stood one absolutely decisive difference.

The first match had been flipped to private after it was over. This time, we'd agreed on privacy before the fight even started.

Which meant that with no fear of your abilities being laid bare before the whole world, every card you'd been hiding from the start could come out — no holding back.

Somewhere in that forest, Cha Hyun-ju would be prowling with a bow in her hands instead of daggers.

And I don't have to watch my step either.

Dark-crimson flame roared to life over my clenched fist. The blazing fire poured into my body, bestowing monstrous power.

Thanks to the Random Rank-Up I'd won at the Game Center, Inferno Fist had climbed to B-rank. Its raw power had grown far fiercer, and the physical boost I got from absorbing it through Overheat had scaled right up along with it.

In other words, my legs were faster now, too.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

The scenery whipped past in a blur, and I'd covered the distance to the first plausible crystal spot in a heartbeat—

Not here.

Luck wasn't riding with me this time, apparently. I kicked off the ground and moved on to the next location. The landscape streaked by again, and at the second spot, a crystal stood upright atop a makeshift altar.

As I closed in on the altar, I thought:

Right about now...

Screeee!

...an arrow comes flying in.

I snatched the crystal up in a flash and kicked off the ground. The very next instant, a thick beam of light blew the altar apart and punched a gaping hole clean through the tree behind it.

One hundred percent. Obviously a decoy.

While I'd been trotting off in some random direction, Cha Hyun-ju had had ample time to secure the crystal. And yet here was the altar, sitting pristine and untouched, despite her having arrived first? The odds this was a trap were about as heavy as they come. Dangling the crystal as bait just for the chance to snipe me — charging it clearly wasn't even on her radar. All she wanted was to put me down, by any means necessary.

Screeeee!

Beams kept streaming in one after another. I slipped left and right between them, easing my body out of the way in lazy little shifts, while sparing a glance toward the Sanctuary.

The crystal can wait a bit.

First, a certain ill-mannered archer needed teaching some manners. I set my course toward where the arrows were coming from and kicked off the ground.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

The distance to Cha Hyun-ju, sniping from afar, collapsed in a single breath.

"......!"

Cha Hyun-ju looked faintly startled to see me pop up so close. Going by the last match, she must have expected me to bolt straight for the Sanctuary the instant I touched the crystal. The surprise lasted a blink — then she was firing at a pitch of ferocity beyond anything before.

Screeeee!

Five beams streaked in, one after another. Nothing like ordinary arrows, they curved through the air in vicious arcs, hunting every part of my body. I played the part of a man dodging desperately, frantically, twisting this way and that—

Whoosh!

—then kicked off the ground hard. The next instant, I was behind Cha Hyun-ju's back.

"......!"

She whipped around on the spot, swinging the arrow in her hand like a dagger to meet me. Her reaction speed was good, I'd grant her that. Prospect-tier, through and through.

Unfortunately for her, still only first-year level. Chain Inferno Fist into Overheat, layer Thief's Step on top, and the speed that came out was hard even for the Black Snake Chamber Head or Dang Gyu-young to chase down. Now that Inferno Fist had climbed another rank on top of that, it went without saying.

And so Cha Hyun-ju didn't get so much as a few exchanges out of me before she was pinned down in an instant. Even pinned, her eyes were drawn to the wind gathering in my hand, compressing tighter and tighter — as if she could see what came next, her pupils wavered uneasily.

"Alright then, everyone fasten your seatbelts nice and tight."

"D-don't you dare. I'm warning you."

"Departing nowww, vroom vroom~"

BOOM—!

"YOU SON OF A BITCHHHHHH—"

The compressed air detonated, and Cha Hyun-ju shot off into the distance, her scream echoing through the forest. I watched her shrink into a tiny dot, then ambled toward the Sanctuary at my leisure.

A thoroughly refreshing crystal charge, with not a soul to interfere. For a good long while I just stood there, idly watching the scoreboard as the charge percentage climbed and climbed.

About time she came back, though...

Fweeee—

Right on cue, a single brilliant streak of flame tore across the sky trailing a sharp sonic crack. It shot swiftly upward until it hung directly above my head—

KABOOOOOM—!

—and detonated, raining fireballs down across the whole area like a sudden downpour. I didn't move an inch, standing dead center in the middle of the fire bombardment, and thought:

Elemental damage, huh.