Assaulting the Principal

Before long, we arrived at the Faculty Training Room.

Its layout mirrored the Training Center, with the singular difference being that it had been constructed far sturdier to withstand the devastating martial prowess of the academy's instructors.

Taking his stance opposite me, the Principal began dispelling his skills one after another. They were various reinforcement buffs he normally kept draped across his body like a second skin. Next, he unequipped the subtle gear he wore on his person, stowing each piece into his inventory: a bracelet, a wristwatch, a tie pin, and even the ballpoint pen tucked into his breast pocket.

Turning to face me, he said, "I've stripped away everything down to my bare traits. That satisfy you?"

"Yes, that will do."

The reason I had imposed the condition banning both skills and items was, naturally, to isolate his traits.

They don't give themselves away easily.

Discerning whether a trait had even triggered was tricky enough on ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠its own, and accurately gauging its exact rank was harder still. If skill activations and item procs were tossed into the mix, parsing them would become an impossible mess, so I had preemptively taken both off the table. Once I deduced the Principal's traits and their respective ranks...

I'm copying them.

Slot 1 had originally held [Poison Resistance], but after permanently affixing it with a Fixing Pin to complete Immunity to Ten Thousand Poisons, the slot had opened up once more. Registering a brand-new trait here was my true objective. The only reason I had asked to hit him unilaterally was because I was fishing for a top-tier defensive or utility trait.

While we faced each other down, the Vice Principal remained posted against the far wall, maintaining the strict posture of an onlooker.

She certainly doesn't plan on merely watching.

She likely intended to assess my current strength while standing ready to intervene should things go sideways. After all, the ban on skills and items applied strictly to the Principal; she was free to use whatever she wished. It was a cheeky loophole, but from my perspective, there was nothing to complain about.

It's better to keep a safety net in place anyway.

That way, I could let loose and hit him with everything I had without holding back.

To inflict any meaningful damage, I needed to raise my offensive output to its absolute limit. A former Hero was bound to possess extraordinary resistance traits. His Elemental Resistance alone would be B-rank at the bare minimum, and more likely A-rank or higher—at least, going by the benchmarks of the heroes I had raised in the past.

"I'm starting," I warned.

"Come at me whenever you're ready," the Principal replied with an easy nod.

Locking eyes with him, I clenched my fist tight. Dark-red flames, dense and thick as fresh blood, ignited deep within my knuckles. Gathering all my strength, I threw my arm straight forward.

— ROOOAAAR!

A tempest of savage fire surged forward with terrifying velocity, swallowing the Principal whole. Flames engulfed an entire corner of the training chamber, and through the raging crimson inferno, a dark silhouette faintly flickered.

Didn't breach it.

Just as expected, when the blazing storm cleared, the Principal stood completely unscathed. Far from being burned, he didn't even have a speck of soot on his clothes.

Tough as nails, as expected.

Looking closely, a faint veil of light clung to his body like a radiant suit of armor—proof that a defensive trait had activated. And with that single trait alone, he had effortlessly weathered an S-rank Inferno Fist.

The Principal looked over at me and grinned. "I heard you picked it up, but it really is the real deal. Inferno Fist."

Since Lee Soo-dok and Seo Cheong-yong had undoubtedly reported the matter to him, I saw no reason to play dumb. "My opponents haven't been easy to deal with. I found myself in need of a heavier strike."

"Still, you ought to manage your penalties when throwing that around. Look at your hand—it's completely charred."

"This much is fine."

Just as he noted, one of my hands had turned as pitch-black as a lump of coal. Because the backlash was an S-rank penalty, even my S-rank Elemental Resistance couldn't entirely offset the damage. Of course, I had anticipated this the moment I cast Amplification, and I had already prepared a countermeasure.

I still have elixirs left.

The mass-produced elixirs gifted to me by Kim Gab-du—fondly dubbed the Bogap-hyeong Durixirs. After using a bit while dealing with the Witch of Rot, I still had about one and a half bottles left. Taking a quick swig and splashing a few drops over my charred knuckles, the burns receded in seconds until the flesh was restored to pristine condition.

Watching this, the Principal nodded approvingly. "I see you know how to look after your own hide. Guess I don't need to worry about you."

"I have no intention of pushing my luck."

"Good, good. Then here's my first question." The Principal's eyes sharpened in an instant, sloughing off his usual foolish neighborhood-uncle persona in favor of dead seriousness. "You... are you a Monarch?"

"That's right. I'm a Monarch."

"...You admit it surprisingly easily."

"Didn't you already know?"

He had surely deduced that I was a Monarch from the moment we first crossed paths. At S-rank, a hunter's vision expanded dramatically, allowing them to perceive things entirely invisible to ordinary people. This question was merely to turn his lingering suspicion into absolute certainty.

The Principal let his shoulders slump, looking somewhat deflated. "Feels like I wasted a question for nothing... Well, whatever. Plenty more where that came from."

"Yes. Moving right along to the next one."

The second the Principal stepped back into his original position, I unleashed my second Inferno Fist. Once again, the tempest of hellfire surged forth to engulf him.

— BOOOOM!

When the flames subsided, the Principal remained completely unblemished, not a single hair singed. Yet I didn't miss the subtle change.

The faint shimmer of light cloaking his frame had vanished.

Valiant Armor.

It was an S-rank defensive trait exclusive to heroes. It boasted defensive potency so immense it could shrug off two S-rank Inferno Fists back-to-back, and it recharged rapidly to boot. If only it were possible to copy it, I would have snapped it up in a heartbeat, but unfortunately, it was an innate unique trait—just like the Crow Tailor's [Weaving].

Still, the first line of defense is breached.

With the next strike, I would be able to see whatever other defensive traits he possessed. As I treated my burnt hand with another splash of Bogap-hyeong Durixir, the Principal's second question flew my way.

"Next question. What is a Monarch doing enrolling in an academy like this?"

"The same as everyone else. I came to learn."

"Don't play dumb with me. We agreed you'd give honest answers."

"I am giving you an honest answer."

We locked eyes in an unyielding stare. Soon, the Principal furrowed his brow, looking utterly perplexed.

"...Seriously?"

"Yes, seriously."

"No, that doesn't make sense. Something about this doesn't add up."

By all standard logic, the idea of an exalted being like a Monarch mingling among first-year fledglings to take classes was beyond absurd. The reality was that I wasn't an established sovereign, but rather a newborn baby Monarch—yet unless he asked that specific question, I had no reason to volunteer the truth. If he was that curious, he could ask after taking another hit.

"Here I come again."

I had to press the offensive before Valiant Armor could recharge. Once more, I clenched my fist tight and hurled the blazing strike forward like a cannon shot.

— ROOOAAAR!

"GAAARGH!"

A pained yell tore through the wall of fire. This time, the blow had undeniably landed clean.

I would see the extent of the damage soon enough, but there was a way to verify it a moment sooner.

I just need to look at the Vice Principal's reaction.

Given the long years they had spent fighting side by side, she was bound to be intimately familiar with most of his skills and traits. If the damage was catastrophic, she would show at least a flicker of alarm. Slipping my gaze sideways toward the wall, I checked on her.

"..."

The Vice Principal stood exactly as she had from the start, her expression frozen in an icy, uncompromising scowl. Yet, having become a master of reading facial micro-expressions thanks to the sloth, I caught the minutest shift in her demeanor.

She looks thoroughly delighted.

It was the sublime, unadulterated bliss of chugging an ice-cold soda after choking on dry roasted sweet potatoes for hours. She looked as though she was experiencing pure vicarious fulfillment from watching me deliver the beating she had longed to give him for years. The fact that she made no move to intervene proved the situation was far from critical.

Maybe this trait will turn out to be a bust.

Returning my gaze forward, the Principal stumbled out from the dying embers right on cue.

"Ugh... Maybe I should've asked for a different favor instead. That packed quite a punch."

His entire body was blackened with soot, dotted here and there with shallow burn marks. Yet before a second could pass, every trace of injury vanished in the blink of an eye.

Outwardly, I kept my face utterly deadpan, but on the inside, my heart skipped a beat.

Jackpot.

I had expected an S-rank hero to be loaded with broken traits, but to think he actually possessed this one. Everything else was secondary—I had to seize this no matter what. Without a moment's hesitation, I cast Copy.

Its activation condition was both its greatest strength and its fatal weakness: even a trivial scratch or a prick from a needle would trigger it, forcing it into a three-day cooldown. On the flip side, whether your torso was cleaved clean in two or a sniper round tore straight through the space between your brows, it would automatically trigger and bring you back to full vitality.

Furthermore, Retrocovery was a 'Time'-attribute ability. Because its system classification was judged as 'Reversal' rather than 'Healing,' it blithely bypassed all status conditions and curses that hindered recovery. There was a very good reason its cooldown stretched for three full days.

True to form, Retrocovery triggered the instant it was copied, cleanly wiping away the burns inflicted by Inferno Fist's backlash. However, revealing that would only arouse needless suspicion, so I deliberately splashed more Bogap-hyeong Durixir over my hand.

As I looked down at my swiftly mended hand, the Principal hurled his third question.

"Following up on what you said earlier: are you really just here to study? You don't have any other goals?"

"I do have other goals. Helping my friends and growing alongside them."

"...Friends?"

"Yes. As you well know, there's no shortage of remarkable talent among this year's freshmen."

"That may be true, but what do you get out of it?"

"That is my enjoyment."

The Principal looked even more bewildered than before. "The more I hear from you, the stranger you seem. Well, whatever. Let's keep going."

Contrary to his anticipation, however, I relaxed the tension in ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠my fist.

"I'll stop here. Thank you for your time."

"...What? You're not hitting me anymore?"

"No. Ten hits feels a bit excessive after all."

Copying Retrocovery was already more than enough to achieve my primary goal. While I could technically copy one more trait to overwrite [Crown of the Wise King]...

The cost-benefit ratio doesn't add up.

A soft, radiant luminescence was already beginning to gather around the Principal's silhouette once more. Valiant Armor had recharged. Piercing through it again would require another two Inferno Fists, but Retrocovery was currently ticking through its cooldown, and I only had one bottle of Bogap-hyeong Durixir left. I needed to keep that last bottle in reserve for an emergency.

And ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠I can't keep giving him free questions, either.

I had never intended to hit him all ten times or grant him ten opportunities to interrogate me in the first place. That would only force me to lay bare far too many of my hidden cards. So far, he had been circling around my identity as a Monarch, but it wouldn't be long before he started aiming straight for the jugular with his questions.

From every angle, pulling out now was the smarter choice.

The Principal, on the other hand, had fully expected to go the distance and looked thoroughly flustered. "Hold on, you're calling it quits just like that? You should hit me more! You went through all that trouble to make this request, and I still have a mountain of questions to ask!"

"I have realized the limits of my own abilities. I think it would be best to save the rest of our Q&A for next time. Thank you."

I bowed politely in departure. Though both instructors were caught off guard, neither moved to stop me.

As I walked out the door, the Principal's voice drifted after my back, heavy with the grumbling aftertaste of suspicion.

"I feel like I just got robbed blind..."