Chapter 17
Chapter 17
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 17
Chapter Title: Episode 004 (5)
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“Crazy bastard.”
Grollang’s dazed mutter had barely trailed off when massive cheers erupted from the trainees who had finally grasped the situation.
“─Waaaaah!”
It couldn’t be helped.
Frankly speaking, none of the trainees present could claim to have expected Kuhn’s victory.
They probably figured two or three minutes at best, six or seven tops.
Even the instructors from the Three Lion Caves, who knew Kuhn’s abilities to some degree, and even Taylor Rosetta were no exceptions.
Yet as if mocking those very thoughts, he hadn’t just put on a good show in the spar with the instructor—he had outright won...
“Waaaaah!”
The outpouring cheers were only natural.
Strictly speaking, it was more accurate to call it passing the test than a true victory... but whatever.
“Did you see that? Did you see it?”
“Everyone saw it, right?”
Amid the thunderous roars from the trainees, the senior instructor slowly turned his head.
Several flushed-faced trainees were chattering excitedly amid the cheers.
Not content with that, some had clenched their fists, gazing at Kuhn—flung airborne and crashed—with admiring eyes.
‘Wow...!’
And even Lui Silver, the bearish younger brother of the Silver siblings, was no exception.
True to form, Lui couldn’t hide his excitement as he bellowed incoherently amid the group.
“In-credible─!”
The clash with Kuhn three months back, and the jealous glares until moments ago, had long since been wiped clean from his mind.
His sister beside him, Lua Silver, stared at Kuhn with her mouth agape too—her eyes wide with shock.
And small wonder. They hailed from the Silver family, famed for their swordsmanship.
For them not to be awed by that scene was simply impossible.
‘That guy actually beat an instructor?’
Nor were they the only ones stunned.
A short distance away, Taylor Rosetta watched the spectacle with equally wide eyes.
‘Impressive.’
The difference? Taylor admired the strategy more than the raw skill.
Not that Kuhn’s skill wasn’t impressive, of course.
‘Mana quantity, physical refinement, stamina... hard to say. But pure swordsmanship technique and proficiency? He’s above me.’
Simply put, the calculated strategies that seemed planned out impressed him even more than the visible prowess.
‘Challenging the test solo from the start. Every exchange lulled the instructor into complacency—a ruse. Then unleashing hidden power for a high-speed dash?’
‘Instructor’s grown used to the prior movements, guard down. No way he tracks that.’
Thoroughly baiting the opponent into dropping his guard, followed by the ambush.
To onlookers, Kuhn’s Illusion Technique against the instructor looked exactly like that.
Trump cards work best known by few, after all.
And Kuhn had orchestrated it to appear so from the outset.
.
.
‘However─.’
The senior instructor watching from afar furrowed his brow slightly.
‘One nagging issue: that alone doesn’t fully explain what happened......’
Quite right. The guy’s final burst of speed was fast, sure.
But enough to fool a first-rate aura practitioner? Hardly.
‘Moreover... Grollang looked like he froze for a split second.’
Cognitive and sensory distortion from the Illusion Technique.
‘And above all...’
That chilling aura from the guy right before he moved—what was it?
A mere instant, yet even he, an expert-level aura practitioner, felt a shiver.
An energy so ominously inhuman.
‘Kuhn Jordic.’
What exactly are you cultivating?
Swallowing the question, the senior instructor spoke up.
“Get him to the infirmary, now!”
Instructors and trainees alike couldn’t tear their eyes from him.
The Three Lion Caves might soon revolve around this kid.
So thinking, the senior instructor continued.
“We’ll resume the test after!”
7.
Kuhn came to shortly thereafter.
A faint herbal scent hung in the air.
He sat on a small bed in the main castle, entrusting his body to another’s care.
Snip, snip.
An old man in a crisp white gown worked with bowed head, scissors clicking nonstop.
‘Hm.’
A space shockingly pristine and white—unlike anywhere in the Lion’s Den.
Surprisingly, this was the infirmary in the Lion’s Den main castle.
The old man before him was its assigned healer.
Kuhn glanced around the roughly ten-pyeong room and muttered.
‘Who knew the Lion’s Den—where wounds mean elimination—had an infirmary.’
He hadn’t imagined it possible.
Judging by the instructors’ attitudes so far, less special treatment than a perk for passing the first gate.
Snip, snip.
How much time slipped by?
After crushing anesthetic and hemostatic herbs onto the wounds, suturing with thread and scissors for a spell.
‘Less professional healer, more battlefield patch job. Jordic healers are something else, huh?’
The healer let out a long sigh and spoke.
“Lucky—these are all the gashes, and no major internal damage.”
He finished stitching the wound above the collarbone, and the side-back gash from tree impact.
“You can walk fine as is. Rest three or four days, back to training.”
Clink.
Instinctively rolling on landing mid-flight must’ve helped.
“Tough one, aren’t you?”
“...?”
“Anesthetic herbs or not, not a peep while I stitched.”
Where’d a kid this hardy pop from?
Kuhn let a faint smile slip at the healer’s mutter.
‘Not my first rodeo stitching sans anesthetic─...’
Even so, spilling his backstory to the old man wasn’t an option. Kuhn stayed mum.
Lips sealed tight.
“Tch, no fun.”
The healer thumped his hunched back and shuffled out.
“Mind your body.”
─Thud!
Alone now, Kuhn carefully readjusted his seat.
“Phew.”
No need to puzzle over the instructor who’d hauled him here. High odds he’d gone to report upstairs.
‘Then......’
Kuhn subtly shifted into position.
Swish.
Ignoring the throbbing, he assumed meditation pose and gently shut his eyes.
Inhale. Exhale.
Repeating Monstrous Strength and Chaotic Spirits breathing to review the spar.
“Phewww─.”
Reviewing: retracing the fight to pinpoint errors and gaps.
First: the ghost arts matter.
‘Illusion Technique.’
Showing hallucinations to foes—the Illusion Technique was solid for a debut.
For low achievement use, its utility and versatility stunned.
‘Sure, now it just froze the instructor’s gaze and mind briefly......’
Higher realms allow massive illusions or hallucinations, they say?
Why Kuhn figured he could solo the first test three months back? This art.
‘Bit more Monstrous Strength and Chaotic Spirits progress, and a few techniques unlock.’
Illusion Technique chief among them.
‘Problem: effect hinges on foe’s mental strength─.’
Classic hallucination/mind arts flaw.
But mastery in Monstrous Strength and Chaotic Spirits and arts would iron it out.
Hence flung, rolling, nosebleed gush: breaching first-rate aura mental barrier guzzled his psyche.
Brain overload = nosebleed.
‘Not without fixes, though...’
Best bet? Level up his game.
Thoughts paused, Kuhn shrugged lightly.
Forbidden arts done.
Shelving ghost-granted technique musings, Kuhn exhaled long once more.
“Phewww.”
Consciousness gathered, mind’s eye conjured the regular instructor—sword and shield gripped.
Whoosh!
Vivid as real despite fancy. Grollang faced Kuhn, sword in hand.
Imagination alone flawlessly replayed the fight. Unreal focus.
Within, Kuhn’s mind raced.
Speed up, slow down the brawl—picking apart errors one by one.
Sword arc force, reflex snap, foot plant, grip style, etc.
‘Here? One breath later better.’
‘This? Faster instead.’
‘Looser sword hold here......’
Thus trimming fight flaws, cataloging gains... one day, instructor sans arts!
Two days later.
Knock knock.
“Ethan, you there? Ethan?”
A soft knock echoed as Kuhn cultivated solo on the infirmary bed, per usual.
Knock knock.
“Chief Administrator’s summoning you. If mobile, prep now.”