Those Who Surpassed Their Limits and Those Who Didn't (1)
“Is your sister all right?”
“I’m starting to wonder if I should smack her on the back of the neck.”
“She was training until dawn yesterday and then slept in her sister’s room. Her sister went to class.”
“Eres’s stamina is… something else.”
Staying up all night, attending class, and then diving straight back into sparring was already bizarre. But Eres’s miraculous recovery had long been a topic of debate among them. No matter how battered she got, she would heal without recovery magic or even ointment.
“She’s not a unique magic user, so did she learn recovery magic? Even so, that kind of endurance…”
“My sister said she has a skill like that.”
“A skill? That alone shouldn’t be enough.”
Ordinary skills couldn’t produce results like that. It might be possible with multiple high-performance skills, but skills were acquired through training. Possessing several recovery skills meant surviving life-threatening situations over and over.
“I can explain that!”
“Senior Gavea?”
Among them were the powers Luke and Eres had obtained by surpassing the very limits of their limits—abilities on par with unique magic. Special skills.
“Something like that… actually exists?”
“I asked around with the seniors and professors and barely managed to find out.”
“That’s ridiculous! I’ve never even heard of such a thing!”
Skills that could only be obtained by surpassing one’s limits. It sounded difficult enough, but it made no sense that people who had trained themselves since childhood didn’t know about them. And these weren’t just ordinary youths—they were heirs of prestigious families. How could they have never heard of it?
But there was a reason.
“Apparently, you need to be at least Level 15 to get these special skills.”
“L-Level 15?!”
“……That’s the pinnacle of a nation’s power. No wonder they don’t speak of it lightly.”
“Reaching that level doesn’t guarantee you’ll obtain one. The process isn’t well understood, few people have them, and even if someone tried to explain, most wouldn’t believe it—like you all right now.”
Records were scarce. Most who reached Level 15 possessed unique magic, which made surpassing limits difficult. Among those without unique magic, reaching Level 15 was rare enough to count on one hand per generation.
But that raised another question.
“Eres was only Level 1 before the practical evaluation, wasn’t she?”
“That’s the strange part…… Eres, how did you obtain that skill?”
“I don’t know. It was just there one day.”
“……Hey, is the information you gathered even accurate?”
What on earth was she?
Even Eres herself didn’t know. She had never felt like she had surpassed any limit. She had simply lived each day in hardship and struggle, and at some point, it had come into her hands.
“I wouldn’t have known about it either without that notebook.”
“That notebook again. I meant to ask last time. Who gave it to you?”
“Luke Colwen.”
“That guy, huh. Then it makes sense…… L-Luke?”
“Yeah.”
The one who had deliberately surpassed his limits was on this side.
“Luke Colwen has special skills?!”
“According to the notebook.”
To everyone present, that was the worst possible news.
“Do you know what kind of skills they are?”
“Mm. Indomitable Body to raise defense. Swift and Unbroken to increase speed. Burning Power to strengthen physical power. And……”
“Th-Three of them?”
“Mm. According to the notebook, four.”
“When did you get that notebook? No, why did you get it?”
“Six years ago. He told me to study it and come kill him.”
He hadn’t exactly said “kill.” Probably.
“That’s absurd……”
“Then does Eres have four special skills too?”
“No.”
“Why? Didn’t the notebook have instructions on how to obtain them?”
“Mm. I couldn’t learn them. They didn’t suit me.”
“Didn’t suit you?”
“Look.”
Eres stretched one arm forward and clenched her fist. She poured strength into it, veins bulging, until it looked ready to burst.
“What are you doing, sister?!”
“Mm. This is how you acquire Burning Power. You have to pour enough force into most parts of your body to nearly destroy yourself.”
“Destroy yourself…… What on earth are you doing?!”
“Mm. This much heals quickly. That’s probably why it didn’t work for me.”
“So you’re saying that even pushing yourself to the point of self-destruction doesn’t count as surpassing your limits?”
“Yeah. Because I can manage somehow.”
She barely felt pain, and as long as she was alive, she could recover. Even if her arm burst from the strain, what did it matter? She could still move. Enduring self-inflicted violence was just another day for her. Her stats might rise, but no growth worthy of surpassing limits occurred. Because it wasn’t a limit.
“Maybe I’d have to die once to obtain those skills.”
“That’s an absurd thing to say……”
“Even with a body like that, most people would die……”
“Mm. That’s why it said it would be more effective when you’re weaker—because your limits are lower.”
“And you’d die more easily too.”
“So you really are planning to die?”
They had only heard one method so far, but watching her casually burst her own arm as “training” made the rest easy to imagine.
“I think so too. The only person who could pull off something like that would be that guy.”
“Not just rare—I wish he didn’t exist at all.”
“So the one who actually did it was Count Luke…… That monster.”
A single thought crossed everyone’s minds except Eres’s.
If he had already been that kind of monster six years ago, could they ever catch up to him now?
**
“Damn it. I haven’t been able to sleep since yesterday.”
After class ended, Tarle scratched his feverish head as he prepared to head to the dormitory—not the men’s dormitory, but Eres’s. On days with classes, he went there every single day after lessons.
“Ah, Tarle! Are you heading to the shared dormitory?”
“Huh? Ah, Eres’s place? Yeah.”
“Let’s go together!”
Lately, he had been learning from Arte. She had once been his former friend’s fiancée, but that friend was nowhere to be seen now. And before that……
‘……Why am I living so diligently?’
Ever since Luke had beaten him on the first day, he had met Eres, visited the dormitory under the pretext of studying, and now found himself closer to the people there than to his old friends.
‘Damn it. Where the hell did Foelta disappear to after starting that fire?’
When Foelta had attacked Eres, Tarle’s act of shielding her had caused his former acquaintances to begin looking down on him. They called him a fool who had been played by a commoner girl.
“Is something bothering you?”
“No. Why would I have anything to worry about? What about you? Foelta’s nowhere to be seen—aren’t you worried?”
“Well…… Worrying won’t change anything. I’m planning to speak to him properly when he returns.”
“I see……”
He had always been confident, but lately he found himself pathetic. Even voicing such weak words now felt terrifying, and knowing his life had been dishonorable only made it harder to reflect.
A bad person had no choice but to brazen it out. He tried to live without realizing it himself.
“Hey, Tarle. Now you’re even eyeing your friend’s fiancée?”
“As soon as Foelta disappears, you start playing with women? Must be nice to be popular with the lowborn.”
If it could be settled so easily, there would be nothing to be ashamed of.
“……”
“What are you staring at? Did we say something wrong?”
“The great Tarle can’t even open his mouth. How did you end up like this?”
In their world, the weak became prey. Those who had been strong and then weakened were no different. Until recently, Tarle himself had believed in that world as manly.
“Tarle……”
“Don’t respond. They won’t have the guts to touch me.”
The difference was that Tarle himself hadn’t grown weaker. If anything, he had grown stronger in the shared dormitory. He had sparred against formidable opponents like Eres, Alto, and Fria. What had weakened was only his influence and what they called manliness. Those who had never been his match to begin with wouldn’t dare challenge him now.
“Hey, can’t you hear me, you bald bastard!”
“You think you can get away with this because of the Ripelreus siblings? You might make it that far!”
“You think you can take all of us on alone?!”
Even if they did attack……
“……Hey, Arte. Move a little ahead.”
“Yes?”
“Be careful not to get hit.”
He was confident he could win. Honestly, this was more comfortable for him.
“This is…… Kuhk!”
“Don’t be scared! There’s only one of him—”
“This bastard didn’t even draw his sword……!”
If they drew their blades, things would escalate, so they couldn’t put full strength into their attacks. But if they used them as blunt weapons, they could swing with more force. In a thug fight, drawing a blade meant you were either prepared to kill or couldn’t win otherwise.
“Don’t get cocky…… Do you really think I need to go that far against you?”
When he wasn’t confident he could win without doing so, the former was definitely not the case. From the start, they had entered the fight at a disadvantage against Tarle.
Thud! Wham!
With practiced skill, Tarle knocked aside their weapons and struck his former friends with his sheathed sword. He knew exactly where to hit to minimize injury and where to strike to drain their strength. He had the leisure to aim and attack.
“Tarle, you bastard…… You weren’t this strong before……!”
“I’ve been living diligently. Thanks to what you called ‘playing with women.’”
In reality, he wasn’t the one playing around—he was the one being played. But saying something like that was exactly what a thug would do.
“What’s going on? Why are they fighting among themselves?”
“He must be out of his mind. Does he turn on his friends too if he doesn’t like them?”
No one praised him for it. Even though he had only responded to provocation, all he heard was contempt and criticism. How had his former self found glory in this unpleasantness? How had he changed so much in just a few days?
“Tarle……”
“……Go ahead to the dormitory first.”
“But you right now—”
“It’s fine. I’m used to this. Don’t get involved for no reason.”
He was the scoundrel Tarle. Such criticism wasn’t worth grieving over. But he was the scoundrel Tarle.
“Hey~ Tarle. Why are you showing off to someone else’s fiancée?”
With just this much, it couldn’t be settled.
“You…… Who— No…… Could it be……!”
“You don’t recognize me? I’ve changed a lot in three weeks, haven’t I?”
What he had done wasn’t light.
“Foelta……!”
“Correct. Hehe, that’s right.”
The handsome youth who had once accompanied him was gone. After three weeks, his body had thickened, his face was swollen beyond recognition, and an ominous aura rose from his spine.
“You…… What happened to you!”
“Ah…… I lived diligently too. I went under that person to train and become stronger! I surpassed my limits!”
“That person…… You don’t mean Luke, do you!”
“It’s Lord Luke! Before meeting him, you poured out respect, but now that you’ve been beaten once, calling him by name so casually is unsightly, don’t you think?”
At the mention of training under him and surpassing limits, Tarle and Arte thought the same word.
‘Special skill……!’
They didn’t know how much stronger Foelta had become, but the aura he now emitted made it clear he was no easy opponent.
“You wouldn’t understand! How grueling it was! I don’t hear that woman’s voice anymore! The pain I received from him surpassed her terror!”
“You…… What are you planning to do? Why did you go that far!”
“……What else? I came to take back what’s mine.”
The smile on his face no longer held the warmth that once made women fall for him. What remained was vulgar desire that had crossed the threshold and exploded.
“Arte. Come here. And Eres too……!”
“……Arte! Run!”
“Yes?”
“To the dormitory—”
Was running there the right choice? To keep Arte safe, the professors’ area or the student council would be better. In the moment his words stopped due to that brief hesitation, Arte finished her reasoning.
“……I understand. I’ll tell Eres!”
“……Thanks……!”
She was a smart woman, thankfully. And he was grateful. Now the problem was that friend.
“Where do you think you’re going…… And having your heart connect with another man in front of your fiancé isn’t right, is it? Hm?”
“Ha! Weren’t you the one who said you’d break off the engagement and slammed your head down?”
“That was then. Hehe, hey Tarle, you must’ve gotten close with my women?”
“Who’s your woman?!”
In a thug fight, drawing a blade meant you were prepared to kill—or you couldn’t win otherwise.
Clang!
This time, the one who drew his sword was Tarle. The one who didn’t was Foelta.
“You…… bastard……!”
“What are you doing, Tarle? Put some real strength into it.”
Unlike Tarle, who was going all out, Foelta merely flicked his sword lightly.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Just by casually twisting his wrist, Foelta’s sword deflected Tarle’s attacks. He was so relaxed, treating Tarle like a child, yet he blocked faster than Tarle could attack.
“What are you doing, Tarle! We were equals! How did you get so weak?!”
“Kugh……!”
“No? That’s not it?! I!!”
Crack.
Had something like this happened before? Back then, Luke had broken Tarle’s sword after he lost his will to fight. But this time……
“I got stronger!!!”
When both sides gave their all and one lost, which result was more miserable? Tarle had to decide.
**
“Hey, Mel. How did you let him escape? That bastard got away.”
“Indeed. And Master even prepared a nutritious meal for once. And it wasn’t this maid who did it.”
“You think the master can’t do what a mere maid can? You’ve still got a long way to go.”
“What exactly are you so proud of? You missed him while making that.”
The game effects had included HP recovery and reduced stamina consumption. Anyway, Foelta had escaped.
“Was he hiding his power? He’s quite something.”
“Indeed. He got incredibly strong. Isn’t sister in danger?”
“Not at that level.”
Level 10. In terms of level alone, he was higher than the Ripelreus siblings. A Level 8 unique magic user could reach the pure strength of Level 12, but that was only in theory. The difference in experience was vast. If the current Foelta, who had been thoroughly drilled on how to deal with them, fought one-on-one, he could probably win against one.
“He’d lose in a two-on-one.”
One of them. Unless he stubbornly insisted on fighting one-on-one, he would probably lose if he fought now.
“Master, did you perhaps let him go on purpose?”
“Me?”
“If you really beat him completely, it would be troublesome for you too. Right now, you don’t look troubled at all.”
“Who knows.”
Well. I was planning to let him out eventually anyway. The timing was right if he left now. It was a test, so I needed to check if he had grown to the level I wanted, and if he left midway, I’d have an excuse to dispose of him for not listening.
“Mel, you eat this.”
“I suppose I will. ……Somehow, there are a lot of things I like in this.”
“What do you want me to do about it? I originally intended it for Foelta.”
“……I suppose so.”