Week 7 Mentoring, PvP Assessment (9)
The magic circle flared crimson, and a vivid pillar of flame burst skyward.
Kwaaaaah—!
I cut a sharp turn to slip past the pillar of fire.
But as if it had been waiting for exactly that, the circle stationed there erupted with a pillar of its own.
Kwaaaaah—!
Left with no choice, I fell back — only for Hong Yeon-hwa, who had been watching my every move, to snap her fingers once again. This time, a Fire Pillar activated right behind my back. One glance around was enough: magic circles carpeted the ground in every direction, leaving not so much as a patch of floor to plant my feet on.
A sparring session with Hong Yeon-hwa. She had taken my earlier feedback fully to heart — now she waited until I had well and truly stepped inside her domain before triggering her circles.
At first it hadn't gone her way; the moment I so much as approached, she would spook and unleash Fire Pillars in a wild flurry. But spar after spar, she was learning to hold her composure.
Since the standing rule that I take damage from fire magic applied here as well, I had to keep my feet busy, weaving every which way to stay clear of each pillar.
Managing her Fire Pillars was only the baseline — Hong Yeon-hwa cast spells directly, too. A massive fireball came hurtling straight at me.
Fwoooosh!
I compressed a whirlwind above my palm and hurled it back to meet the fireball head-on. The instant they collided, the whirlwind burst outward in reverse, tearing the flames apart and scattering them to nothing.
A move adapted from Twister. Hong Yeon-hwa was honing her skills her way, and I was honing mine.
Kwaaaaah—!
Fire Pillars kept blooming here, there, everywhere — and depending on the moment, two or three would fire at once, hemming in my movements. With only so many circles laid in advance, triggering several simultaneously might have looked like a waste, yet before I knew it, fresh circles were already being inscribed into the floor.
Laying new magic circles in the lulls of combat — this, too, was among the pointers I'd given her.
For my part, even with my feet never still, I finally began picking out the seams in her defense and prying them open bit by bit. And the more I did, the shorter the distance between us grew — until, having closed in right beside her, I gave the crown of Hong Yeon-hwa's head a light rap with Root.
Tap.
"..."
Hong Yeon-hwa cupped the spot I'd struck and peered up at me, wearing, for some reason, the expression of someone deeply wronged. It wasn't as though I'd hit her anywhere near that hard.
Just then, Dang Gyu-young dropped out of stealth and came over to us — the spar had gone quiet, and she meant to use the lull for a mid-session review. One quick once-over of Hong Yeon-hwa told her immediately how drained the girl was.
"Let's call it here for today. Go get some rest."
"Thank you for your hard work."
Hong Yeon-hwa bowed her head to Dang Gyu-young, then managed an awkward little wave in my direction as well.
"Th-thanks. Good work yourself..."
"Yeah. You too."
Before stepping onto the teleportation circle, she stopped short one last time and shot me a look I couldn't begin to decipher — then, with a soft whoosh, she was gone.
Watching her vanish, Dang Gyu-young asked me, "Not leaving?"
"Go where, exactly? I still have a spar to run."
"No, I mean — how do you never get tired?"
If I left, Dang Gyu-young could go rest herself, but my stamina was nowhere near spent.
Still grumbling, she took up a stance directly in front of me. Before long, the shadow at her feet was attacking in every shape imaginable — fists, hammers, greatswords.
Kwaang!
Coiling Twister around Root or my bare hands, I knocked the incoming shadows aside one by one; a beat later Dang Gyu-young surged up out of the shadow at my back, dagger thrusts stabbing out, and I swayed left and right to slip between them. Our limbs traded blows with murderous intent while our voices carried on in the most everyday of tones.
"By the way, Kim Ho."
"Yes, senior?"
"You don't have anything planned this weekend, right?"
"I kept it open. You did tell me to make time."
"Hmhm, you remembered? I'd have been hurt if you hadn't."
Dang Gyu-young laughed, clearly pleased.
The mentoring event made growth far faster than it otherwise would have been — but none of it worked without the cooperation of my mentor, Dang Gyu-young. Fortunately, she had thrown herself into my training, and had even kept the finer details secret on my behalf. For instance, only Dang Gyu-young knew that I had learned Distortion by endlessly evading a third-year's attacks — hers, specifically — and only she knew precisely what effects the trait produced.
In exchange, I had handed over the medium Wish Ticket she'd asked for, and she had cashed it in for a promise that went something like this:
"What wish may I grant for you?"
"You've got nothing going the week after next, right? Come somewhere with me."
"Where would that be? You're even spending a Wish Ticket on it."
"Where's the fun in spoiling everything up front? I'll fill you in on the details then."
I bent backward, clearing a shadow blade by a hair's breadth, and put a question to her.
"Let me ask one thing. Is that Thief Club business?"
Dang Gyu-young let the question hang for a moment, apparently weighing it, then decided this much was safe to give up and answered with a shrug.
"Yeah, it's our thing."
"Hm. Dragging along a first-year who hasn't even joined... that smells suspicious to me."
"Suspicious? Of what! It's just an observation trip!"
The idea, apparently, was that if I trailed after her and watched what the Thief Club actually got up to around Dragon Slayer Academy, I might just find myself intrigued enough to sign up.
She'd read me wrong again.
I had graduated through this world more times than I could count, and clocked plenty of terms as Thief Club president while I was at it. One little tour wasn't about to make my eyes light up.
That said, joining or not, the event the Thief Club was running this time around did interest me. An event that took place right about now...
The Black Market.
My sparring with Hong Yeon-hwa carried on all week long. Her circle work grew more polished by the day, and I reaped results of my own as well.
The rank of Twister has increased. (E+ → D+)
As a high-difficulty skill, Twister grew at a crawl — but with the mentoring bonus stacking on top and me spamming it half to death since last week, it had finally clawed its way into D-rank. Against a first-year opponent, it was now more than serviceable in live combat.
Thursday. The Arena.
I was trailing Dang Gyu-young toward one corner of the spectator stands with the rest of my group when a team approaching from the opposite direction caught my eye. The student at the front was a third-year senior, and with first-years trailing in his wake, he was plainly a mentor, same as Dang Gyu-young.
His face brought a toad to mind at a single glance — and in a game world crammed with beauties, being born toad-faced surely meant life had thrown him more than a few curves.
Three first-years walked behind him. Two of the three had familiar faces.
One was Il Gong, who had drawn the opposing side in the last two-on-two PvP assessment. Back then I had taught Seo Ye-in a lesson with Wind Force, while Il Gong had gone technique for technique with Go Hyeon-woo down to the very final exchange before finally going down. Il Gong seemed to recognize me as well; he smiled a gentle smile and pressed his palms together.
The next was Bukgung Han-seol, who had fought on the same side in Go Hyeon-woo's replay. She had tried to press Park Nari's tiger back with her frigid ice-palm arts, but Park Nari's defense and recovery were so airtight that the push had come to nothing.
The third was a total stranger — but from the classes of the two before him, it took no great deduction to conclude that this was the Martial Artist team.
Just as the two teams moved to pass each other without a word, the toad-faced senior planted himself squarely in Dang Gyu-young's path.
"Dang Gyu-young."
"Kim Gap-du."
The third-year toad — Kim Gap-du — spoke as though lodging a grievance. "Why don't you answer my messages?"
"I blocked you?"
"...Why?"
"Why do you think? You kept pestering me with pointless messages."
"Pointless? I meant every word."
"Well, I have no intention of reading them, so let's leave it there."
Judging by the shape of the conversation, Kim Gap-du had come on strong enough to make Dang Gyu-young uncomfortable, and she had blocked him on messenger. Yet even after she shut him down so flatly, he showed no intention of backing off.
"I hear you've fallen head over heels for some first-year lately. Is he really that handsome?"
"Head over heels, my foot—"
Dang Gyu-young was too dumbfounded not to argue back — then some thought seemed to strike her, and she hauled me over to her side instead. And slung an arm across my shoulder, smooth as anything.
"Honestly, this one's decent-looking enough. Bit of a nasty glint in his eyes, but still."
The so-called I've got a boyfriend, so buzz off gambit.
Dang Gyu-young was shooting me desperate glances, begging me to play along just this once, so I had the good sense not to ask, cluelessly, Senior, since when exactly have we been a thing?
I stood there in silence, and Kim Gap-du bored into me with a look that was half envy, half jealousy.
"So this is the first-year. How long have you two been together?"
"We're not even dating yet?"
Apparently she couldn't bring herself to lie about even that much; Dang Gyu-young answered honestly. Kim Gap-du's eyes flashed.
"Then that means I, too, may yet have a chance."
"Nope. Not even a shred."
When Dang Gyu-young cut him down just as decisively a second time, Kim Gap-du reverted to a wounded toad once more. And his sorrow and rage turned, undiluted, on me.
"...I'm curious about that first-year's skill. Whether he's fit to stand beside you."
"Fit or not, what's it to you?"
"Merely curiosity. As it happens, your side has four and mine has four. How about we see how we match up?"
This time, even Dang Gyu-young didn't refuse outright; she seemed to mull it over. Kim Gap-du's team was all Martial Artist class. They pressed their exchanges at point-blank range — exactly the sort of opponents a mage aiming to be an All-Rounder needed experience against. Crossing blades with them would beat rolling the dice on random matchmaking any day.
Having apparently reached that conclusion, Dang Gyu-young asked in return, "You said four. Where's the fourth?"
"Something came up; he'll be a little late. He'll arrive shortly."
"Really? Then let's have our bout."
At Dang Gyu-young's nod, Kim Gap-du casually tacked a suggestion onto the deal. "Since we're doing this anyway, wouldn't it be more fun with something riding on it?"
"Ugh, I knew you'd pull this. Give the clinging a rest already."
"Call it clinging if you like. If we win, grant me but a single chance."
Kim Gap-du, prepared to spend his mentees' victory or defeat on his own selfish desires without a flicker of shame. He had clung so persistently that her curiosity finally got the better of her, and Dang Gyu-young asked,
"Let's hear it, then. What chance, exactly?"
"If we win..."
The third-year toad gradually turned into a red toad. Before long, Kim Gap-du was fixing his gaze on a single spot of the floor and shouting, stammering — yet at full volume:
"If we win... th-then this w-weekend, in the commercial district, go on a d-da, a date with me!"
At pleading that overstepped every bound, every face in the arena scrunched up. Dang Gyu-young's most of all — then Song Cheon-hye's, Hong Yeon-hwa's, Gwak Ji-cheol's, even Bukgung Han-seol's.
Only Il Gong kept his countenance smooth as still water, quietly chanting a prayer under his breath:
"Amitabha..."
[125] The Support Ate It All