Chapter 130.1: Part 1

The written exam and the magic exam.

The scores weren't out yet, but I could already tell.

I would get a perfect score on both.

With Samuel's help, I had managed to write perfect answers for the written exam.

And in the magic exam, no other student could surpass my magic.

Only two steps remained until I reached the top.

'...It seems really possible.'

According to Samuel, this written exam was quite difficult.

He even said that he couldn't solve the questions about humans.

Of course, I had solved them all.

On the contrary, the questions about the Demons were so easy that I was scolded by him for not being able to solve them.

[It's impossible to understand. Are you sure you're not human?]

"......."

I didn't respond to Samuel's words.

I was just going to move on to the next exam.

Excluding the practical exam that Idea was temporarily in charge of, this was the third exam.

Ares's Weaponry Skill Exam.

I was confident in this one too.

I had already acquired a technique comparable to a strike imbued with Fighting Spirit.

So, no matter how high Ares set the standard, I would be able to achieve a perfect score in the Weaponry Skill Exam as well.

All I had to do was maintain my current state until then.

'It's not like I can learn Fighting Spirit anyway.'

It was a shame, actually.

But there was no need for me to learn Fighting Spirit right now.

It would be nice to learn it, but it wasn't as easy as it sounded.

...Let's just go.

I headed to the training ground where Ares's Weaponry Skill Exam would take place.

It felt somewhat similar to the recent practical exam, but Ares would be carefully observing the fighting styles.

It was different from the practical exam, where the rankings were determined solely based on strength.

And so, Luna and I started walking.

Luna trudged along with a sullen look on her face.

"I bet I'm going to get hurt a lot again..."

"I'm sure you will."

I replied playfully to Luna's worried words.

Luna narrowed her eyes and glared at me.

I was just kidding.

...Well, maybe half of it was true.

No, it might all be true.

In the last Weaponry Skill Exam, Ares made Luna crawl on the ground.

'I have a feeling the same scene is going to repeat itself...'

Thinking back on that time, I wondered if it would be better to offer my condolences in advance.

Of course, there was no chance that Ares would cripple a student by failing to control his strength.

It might hurt a lot, but that was just the way it was.

If you wanted to complain about it, you should have been stronger than Ares.

'Come to think of it.'

A thought suddenly occurred to me.

Could I beat Ares now?

Or would I still be unable to defeat him?

It was quite an intriguing subject.

I had been acknowledging the fact that I was weaker than Ares.

How could there be a student who could defeat Ares, who was considered one of the most skilled instructors?

However, things had changed now that I was on the verge of reaching the final Mana capacity of 5,000.

It was hard to deny that Ares was an outstanding former soldier with a lot of experience.

Even in Sytan, there were only a handful of people who could match Ares in terms of combat experience.

But in terms of sheer force, I might be stronger.

In fact, the stronger one became, the more difficult it was to determine the superiority or inferiority of strength.

A slight misstep could lead to death in a battle between strong individuals.

It was not easy to guarantee someone's victory in such a situation.

Of course, it would be easy to rank them based solely on their physical prowess.

Therefore.

It seemed like I wouldn't know until I actually fought him.

There was no way to know until we actually fought.

That was my assessment.

Still, it was possible to roughly estimate my current level and Ares's level.

'Right now, Ares is most likely on par with Terias.'

But if they were to fight each other in a battle, Ares would be the victor.

They were both at similar levels of mastery.

Although humans and demons had different specific criteria for classifying the strong, there was such a thing as intuition.

Unlike the young Terias, Ares had experience on his side.

I had learned that through countless sparring sessions with him.

Ares's experience was not to be underestimated.

Even Baltan, before he invaded the human world, had asserted that he would lose if he fought Ares.

But as time passed and he learned Fighting Spirit, he reached a similar level.

Ares could beat both Terias and Baltan.

In terms of pure strength, Ares might be inferior to the two, but his combat sense more than made up for it.

So, if I wanted to beat Ares, I had to be stronger than them...

'It's still impossible, but...'

I didn't think I would lose without putting up a fight.

It felt like it would be a close call.

My goal for this vacation would be to reach a level where I could defeat Ares.

While I was lost in thought...

[...He is already waiting.]

Samuel's chilly voice echoed in my ears.

I looked up and saw Ares standing before us, his face stern.

He rebuked the students.

"You're all late. Make sure to arrive earlier for exams from now on. You need time to warm up, don't you?"

""Yes.""

The students obediently responded to Ares's words, as he wasn't wrong.

I, too, realized he was right and nodded.

Time was precious.

The students had wasted it unnecessarily for the sake of resting.

It was common sense to warm up before taking the Weaponry Skill Exam in order to achieve good results.

So, it was only natural for Ares to scold them.

However, it was right after we had taken two exams.

Ares knew that, so he let it slide.

It was out of consideration for the students who were exhausted from the exams.

Of course, I wasn't tired at all.

Both the written exam and the magic exam were a piece of cake for me.

Anyway...

"Let's begin the Weaponry Skill Exam. The student at the front will spar first."

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