Chapter 127

Chapter 127

"Your aura color is dull! Shouldn't you have been working harder on your aura?"

"You're calling this garbage, mana!? It's just blue garbage!"

"You should be ashamed of yourself for attending the Academy like this!"

My body froze at the sight of the supervisor, Kwak Chun-sik, chasing the kids away while spouting venomous words.

No, why is he here?

But it didn't take long for me to organize my thoughts.

Didn't I already tell him that if he works as an instructor at the academy, he can live in the city without attracting the attention of the Association?

Apparently, after the investigation into the Villain Alliance was over, he had taken a job as an instructor at the academy to avoid returning to Gangwon Province.

"If that's the case, at least give me a call."

"I forgot to tell you that I had the first class today."

As I thought about it, I started to remember all the little things I had forgotten to tell him.

Is he doing this on purpose, to get back at me?

"Okay, okay, okay. Do you want to measure?"

"Isn't measuring supposed to be done by a machine, not an old man?"

"Yes, you son of a bitch. How many other people in Korea can evaluate aura and mana like me?"

"That's right."

Even if he and the machine did the evaluation, people would still believe Kwak Chun-sik's words, not the machine's.

"But you seem to be giving the other kids too much trouble."

"Hey, this is all for their own good, I'm purposely giving them a push to try harder. Anyway, what does a young man know......tsk tsk."

"Oh, yeah......."

From the way he talked, he must have given them fair marks.

"Now, wait for the others. If you're going to do it, do it, if you're not, come back later."

"I will."

I realize this is no different than being judged on my violin playing in front of Paganini, but I've been practicing, so I think I can do something I'm not embarrassed about.

I raise my hand as the aura begins to mold shapes: a square, a hexahedron, a sphere.

As I move the aura around, shaping it as I've always done whenever I have time, I hear a few gasps of admiration.

It was understandable, since rolling aura with such precision in the palm of one's hand is not something that is easy to see.

"Well, at least you've been practicing hard."

"I don't want to make a mistake and ruin your reputation."

"Hahahaha, that's right, you're my disciple so I'll let you off the hook."

Saying that, he scribbled something on the evaluation sheet.

"You've certainly mastered the basics. The others should be half as good as you............By the way, are you still wearing that?"

......You mean that pink bracelet on my wrist.

"Yeah, I'm wearing it under my shirt for now."

"Well, you'll be able to take it off soon enough, thanks to your effort."

"Thanks."

"Okay. I'll see you later. Next!"

With that, I walked away from the place where the mana and aura were being assessed, and when I saw that no one was around, I immediately took off the tiresome pink bracelet.

"Now that's liberating."

Not creepy in the slightest, just exhilarating.

"I can give this back later."

He said he'd see me later, so I'd give it to him then.

The next stop was the defense testing area, where Bear Grizzly, the guy who'd grabbed the microphone in the first place, was conducting the evaluation.

"Oh."

As if on cue, I see Jin-woo taking the defense test.

The defense test was fairly straightforward, with Bear Grizzly throwing blows at the students with controlled force, and the students blocking his blows.

"Jin-woo Bevalt, are you ready?"

"Yes, Instructor......come on!"

At that moment, a combat knife swung out of his hand with a short chant and stabbed into Jin-woo's thigh.

Now, in the normal course of events, he would have been able to defend himself with aura or magic, or parry the instructor's attack.

But──.

"Huh?"

Jin-woo only shifts his leg slightly as if to say, "If you try to stab me, I'll stab you" and parries the knife as it flies toward his thigh.

At the same time, Jin-woo thrusts his own dagger toward the nape of Bear's neck but the dagger stops in front of his throat.

"Jin-woo Bevalt this......?"

Bear asks, sounding genuinely confused, as if he doesn't know what's going on.

Well, of course it is.

I don't know anybody who would just accept that on a bar exam.

In a way, he's the teacher who attacked the defenseless student but Jin-woo's response was even worse.

"I learned it from that crazy mentor of mine. She said that giving out flesh and taking bones is also a form of defense. Isn't that right?"

Hadn't he also said that he had been taught in training to avoid blood vessels and vital muscles?

If you look closely, Jin-woo's leg doesn't actually look like it's been stabbed, and it doesn't even bleed much.

"And your mentor is......Han Yeo-eun?"

"Yeah......."

"Jin-woo Bevalt......has been through a lot."

There was a pitying look in his eyes.

He sheathed his sword and pulled out a potion from his belt, sprinkling it on Jin-woo's wounds before patting him on the back.

"Offense is also a means of defense. Your ability to catch your opponent off guard and strike while minimizing your own damage is admirable!"

"Instructor......!"

"Yes, go ahead now. Later, you'll learn how to move your guts and get stabbed in the stomach."

"......Yes?"

"Next."

"No, instructor. You're kidding, for real?"

"Next!"

Come to think of it, Bear Grizzly had been a colleague of Han Yeo-eun's in the past, right? That's why he seemed to feel a little sorrier for Jin-woo.

"......Eugene Han."

"Hello, instructor."

"I'm very curious to see what kind of attacks you can block. I'd like to test you, and I'd like to do it with full force."

"Full force, of course."

I smirked at his question and straightened up.

This is the kind of thing CS really enjoys.

"Here we go!"

At that moment, a different sound than the one he'd used to test the other students rang out.

His knife came in, aiming for my liver and a terrifying green aura pulsated around the blade.

I immediately summoned aura on both my hands and wrapped them in [Midas' Gloves], then swung my fist to block the first blow but in the meantime, a kick came in for my stomach.

If I get hit by that my intestines might be ruptured so apply a layer of aura on my abdomen to block the attack and countered his attack with an equal amount of aura.

Instructor Bear paw remained in front of me so I immediately grabbed it but it was still Instructor Bear, and he wasn't going to go down easily, swinging the dagger he hadn't let go of yet and aiming for my back.

Even though I wasn't looking, I could feel the chilling foreboding approaching all too well but I didn't react.

I was confident that his attack would not penetrate [DisPater] and as if to prove it.

Giggle giggle giggle──

A sound like a knife scraping against a steel plate resounded.

It was then that the instructor and I fell to the ground together.

Just as I was about to turn this into a muddy fight, he immediately released his grip and raised his arms above his head.

"Cadet Eugene Han has already surpassed the level of an ordinary hero."

"You're being flattering. If the instructor had stabbed me with the intention of killing me, it would have been quite dangerous at the end."

Besides......there's no way Bear, who went by the alias 'The Real Grizzly', would have let me get away with it if I'd gone straight into the dogfight.

"Defense and skill. Excellent. I'll give you a good score."

"Thank you instructor."

I pick myself up off the ground and offer him a hand to help him to his feet.

At the same time, a new window pops up in front of me.

[Hidden achievement earned!]

[Achievement: "I don't even blink!"]

[You succeeded in defeating Bear Grizzly's in the defense test!]

[Bear is impressed by your talent!]

[Special rewards are given!]

[Your physical endurance increases!]

CS was partly about savoring these little achievements and rewards.

I didn't realize it now, but the game had gotten to the point where I could take an aura attack and not even bat an eye at a normal human attack, so it was almost like I was taking an elixir that boosted my defense.

"There she is."

As I headed to the next test, Power, I saw Marie, who had created a puppet three times her size, reaching out and barking commands at the puppet as if she were a trainer.

Marie doll clenched both hands and slammed them down on the impact reader as if it were a hammer.

At the same time, a loud sound rang out from the machine and a colorful effect burst out.

[7683! GOOD!]

"That's a good score. If we're talking about the summoner's melee attack power, it should be able to match the Melee Awakeners."

"Thank you......!"

"Fifth place. That's got to make the other guys sick to their stomachs. Okay, go."

"Okay!"

As Marie left, I looked behind her to see that there was a leaderboard with the names of all the students who had been here so far.

In the game, it just popped up, but here it was handwritten.

[1st. Choi Yeon 9,417 points]

[2nd. Jung Hoon Chung 8,759 points]

[3rd. Jin-woo Bevalt 8,644 points]

[4th. Ahn Byung-hoon 8,018 points]

[5th. Marie Nate 7,683 points]

[6th....]

"Oh."

Looks like a lot of students took this test.

Let's see......The first place has 9,417 points?

With average play, it would have been normal for her to be in the low 8,000s and barely pass 9,000, but with 9,417 points, her growth has been faster than ever.

I feel like I should be more serious about getting stronger.

But.......

"I feel bad for Choi Yeon."

Unfortunately, I have some business here too.

There were two hidden achievements in the Academy's first physical fitness test, and they were Defense and Strength.

"Next!"

I hear the instructor's voice from inside, and I step forward, pulling my shotgun from my cube.

"I'll do it."

"Eugene Han, are you going to measure......with that?"

"Yes."

The registration for [Billy the Kid's Shotgun] had been completed in the morning.

I had nothing to hide, so I nodded and stood in front of the machine.

"Do you know how to do this?"

"Isn't it just a matter of hitting that part with full power?"

Same principle as the hammer machine in the arcade.

It was one of my favorite measures because it was relatively simple.

"That's all you need to know. Let's get started when you're ready."

Trudging over to the machine, I charged my shotgun with aura and pointed it at the power meter.

"Here we go."

The target rose at the same time as my declaration.

It's half a second from the first impact before the machine recognizes it.

-Boom, boom, boom!

The ugly sound of gunfire shook the measuring center, and I felt a tremendous amount of impact in my hand.

In the short time I had pulled the trigger, the recoil had been transmitted to my body.

And the result.

[11073! Perfect!!]

An unprecedented mechanical sound resounded.

[Hidden achievement earned!]

[Achievement: "With Overwhelming Strength!"]