Book 1 Chapter 109
【109】108.
The spectators cheered for Leo, who showed overwhelming skill.
‘I didn’t intend to stand out, though.’
Leo sighed, looking at the blood on his body.
A moment ago, the Cyclops had exploded and died, unintentionally splattering him with blood and flesh.
Leo, receiving cheers, left the arena guided by the hosts.
The place he was guided to was a waiting room inside the Colosseum.
Upon entering, he found prospective students who had already finished the Beast Carnival buzzing around.
And then they stopped abruptly when they spotted Leo covered in blood.
All of them had finished the Beast Carnival earlier and were watching the other competitors, so they had witnessed Leo’s performance just now.
Everyone looked at Leo with wary eyes.
From the perspective of the Azonia candidates, Leo was a formidable competitor.
“Is there anywhere to wash?”
The staff member who guided Leo asked.
“You can wash in your room.”
“Where do I go for my room?”
“Before heading to their rooms, prospective students must listen to the instructor in charge of this entrance ceremony.”
‘At this rate, I’m going to stand out.’
No one else was as spectacularly covered in blood as Leo, making his current appearance even more noticeable.
‘I guess I’ll just stay quietly in a corner.’
Leo went to a corner of the spacious waiting room and sat alone.
‘Anyway, a transformation into an animal form. I hadn’t thought of it.’
Recalling the situation from a moment ago, he looked down at his hands.
‘It’s truly unexpected that Polymorph can induce a transformation into an animal form.’
This is Arion’s breathing technique, now called [Hero’s Breath].
Of course, it was very different from the ‘original’ used by Arion, so the ability to freely transform into an animal form was gone.
But Leo, polymorphed, had used that animal transformation ability.
‘Well, in my case, there was no particular physical change.’
Polymorph is magic that changes outward appearance, not magic that changes the fundamental nature.
Outwardly, he appeared to be a mixed-race beast-man and activated the animal transformation ability with his breath, but Leo was undeniably human.
Only his outward appearance transformed; Leo’s body was not strengthened.
Therefore, the side effects of pushing Arion’s breath to its limit remained.
While Leo was thinking about the Hero’s Breath.
Arr was watching Leo from afar.
‘No matter how much I think about it, I didn’t see it wrong!’
Arr, who had seen Leo’s animal transformation for a fleeting moment in the arena, couldn’t help but keep thinking about Leo.
Beast-men had continuously researched animal transformations for a long time.
Animal transformation was the most powerful weapon given to the beast-man race.
The ability to freely transform into an animal was one of the greatest aspirations of beast-men.
However, only one beast-man in history had ever been able to do it.
‘[Hero] Arion-nim!’
Arr perked up her ears and tail and made cat eyes.
‘Even Arion-nim’s ability to freely transform into an animal form only remains in historical documents!’
Among Arion’s hero records that still exist, there are no ‘combat’ hero records.
Because of this, the fact that Arion truly could freely transform into an animal form only remained in historical documents.
Regarding this, opinions were divided among beast-men, some believing it to be true, others false.
Of course, Arr believed that Arion was capable of free animal transformation.
‘Because there’s nothing Arion-nim can’t do!’
To the girl who had grown up hearing tales of Arion’s heroism, Arion was a great hero who could do anything.
Even her name was taken from Arion, after all.
‘I have to ask him!’
Arr approached Leo, who was sitting in the corner of the waiting room.
“Black rabbit, I want to ask you something…!”
“Hey.”
But someone approached Leo even before Arr did.
Seeing the person in front of him, Leo stood up and raised his head.
There stood a muscular wolf beast-man boy, easily over 180cm tall, looking down at Leo with his arms crossed.
“What is it?”
“You were quite something, weren’t you?”
The boy grinned, appraising Leo.
“I thought you were just a coward, stuck in a corner, but you were impressive.”
The boy with gray hair and wild golden eyes introduced himself with a belligerent smile.
“My name is Dion Den, and you?”
“Kyle.”
“Kyle? The same name as the Hero of Beginnings. Unusual.”
“What do you want with me?”
“Well, it’s a simple matter. I was worried there would only be weaklings, but it’s a relief to know there’s someone with skill like you, I guess?”
Dion chuckled, his eyes glinting.
“Thanks to you, school life won’t be boring.”
“Muscle brain. Spouting nonsense again.”
Arr, arms crossed, approached with a look of exasperation.
“What? It’s Arr.”
Dion made an unenthusiastic expression.
“Your body is as scrawny as ever.”
“Hmph! There’s no need to build more muscle than necessary. Look at this flexible and beautiful figure.”
“Right. As unimpressive as always.”
“Who are you calling unimpressive?!”
“I’m not very interested in you, my childhood friend. I know your strength well enough. I want to compete with new strong ones.”
The grinning wolf beast-man boy was a beast-man who pursued strength, in the truest beast-man fashion.
“Then you two can talk all you want after me! I also have business with the black rabbit!”
“With me?”
“Yes! I have something to ask you!”
“What is it?”
“You!”
“Wait! I was talking first.”
“So do it after me.”
“Don’t be ridiculous, I refuse to be cut in line!”
“I knew him before you did, didn’t I?”
“What does that matter! Follow the order!”
Seeing the two beast-men growling at each other, not backing down an inch, Leo said.
“You two get along well.”
“I’m not friends with this dog who only knows how to fight?!”
“Do you think I’d be friends with this stupid cat?!”
“Everyone, gather.”
Someone entered the waiting room and gathered the prospective students.
“Let’s gather first.”
As Leo went to gather, Arr, who had missed her timing to talk, kicked Dion.
“You made me miss my chance to talk! You’re useless, absolutely useless!”
“Hmm! To possess such composure befitting a strong person! I like you even more!”
“Are you ignoring me?!”
“When the semester starts, the world will pay attention to us, not Lumen!”
“Don’t ignore me!”
She smacked Dion hard on the back, who wasn’t listening to her words.
“You’ll only hurt your hand.”
Indeed, hitting him with bare hands only hurt her hand due to his hard muscles.
Seeing Dion scoff, Arr made a cold expression and sharpened her claws.
Dion, frowning, grabbed Arr’s wrist and blocked her attack.
“You damn cat!”
“What! You damn wolf!”
Arr, her eyes glaring, repeatedly pushed Dion’s face with her foot.
“You there! What are you doing instead of gathering?!”
In the end, both were scolded by the assistant instructor.
***
After the Beast Carnival ended.
The prospective students received a general explanation about the desert crossing marathon scheduled for tomorrow.
The rules were simple.
Start from Azrek, cross the Great Desert, and arrive at Azonia in the middle of the desert.
This was the condition for admission.
At first glance, it seemed very simple.
However, crossing the desert between Azonia and Azrek was by no means easy.
“The Azrek Great Desert is one of the harshest regions on the continent.”
The prospective students looked at the man, Verga, who was explaining the desert crossing marathon in the waiting room, with eyes of admiration.
He was the most recognized male beast-man hero currently.
He was literally a mighty hero who had been active on the front lines until just recently.
“So, I will give you one piece of advice.”
Everyone swallowed dryly and looked at Verga.
“Do not make the foolish mistake of confusing recklessness with courage.”
A tension spread among the students at his words.
Some clenched their teeth.
“This is my last chance…”
“To have barely passed the open lecture and be told to give up.”
“How could I give up after coming all this way?!”
Like Lumen, Azonia also had an age limit for admission.
And there were many repeat students here who had reached that age limit.
For them, being told to ‘give up’ was tantamount to giving up on their dream of being a hero.
“And those recommended for admission, step forward.”
At his words, five boys and girls stepped forward.
The gaze of the students who had passed the open lecture turned towards them.
‘We struggled to pass the open lecture! But those guys…!’
The crucial difference between those who passed the open lecture and were here, and the recommended prospective students.
It was because the latter were judged to have overwhelming skill, making the open lecture unnecessary for them.
But even knowing that, from the perspective of the students who had struggled to pass the open lecture, they couldn’t help but resent the recommended admissions.
Especially the fact that all of them came from famous prestigious families made the other prospective students even more displeased.
In the midst of this, Verga stood with his arms crossed, looking down at the recommended students.
‘Ah, Father! The pressure is still incredible! He seems to have put even more power into it today…’
‘As expected of Lord Verga! What a powerful intimidating presence!’
Even Arr, his daughter who had seen him often since childhood, was tense.
The other two beast-men were also the same.
Only Leo looked at Verga with a calm expression.
Verga, who had been staring intently at Leo, spoke.
“You, who did not attend the open lecture, likely have no acquaintance with the other candidates. Therefore, please introduce yourselves.”
At his words, the prospective students began to introduce themselves one by one.
The first to introduce herself was a fox beast-man wearing glasses.
“I’m Stea Rual. My specialty is magic. Please take care of me.”
“I am Rate Vega. A spirit user.”
A bear beast-man laughed confidently.
“I’m Arr Tune. Let’s all do our best.”
“I’m Kyle. Please take care of me.”
At Kyle’s introduction, some students made curious expressions.
The name of the great hero was so famous that while people might take a few letters from it to form a name, they rarely used the name itself.
Moreover, Kyle was treated as merely a fairy tale character, so even fewer would use that name.
After the introductions of the first four recommended prospective students, everyone’s gaze turned to Dion last.
Dion bared his fangs and smiled coldly.
“Weaklings, don’t hold others back and give up early.”
The faces of the prospective students stiffened.
Several assistant instructors flinched, and Verga narrowed his eyes.
‘Dion has the skill to say such things. But can he handle the consequences?’
Verga liked strong people.
But merely being strong wasn’t enough.
Verga’s first condition for approval.
It was to be able to take responsibility for one’s words.
With that one remark, Dion had practically turned all the prospective students who had passed the open lecture into his enemies.
Arr looked at her childhood friend and shook her head as if to say he was incorrigible.
After everyone’s introductions were complete, Verga nodded.
“Good. Are there any candidates with questions?”
No one raised their hand at that question.
“Then you are dismissed. If you go down that corridor, you will be assigned accommodation.”
At Verga’s words, the students who had passed the open lecture left the waiting room.
Everyone coldly ignored the recommended prospective students.
Seeing that, the recommended prospective students looked at each other, sighed lightly, and shrugged their shoulders.
They had expected it, so they didn’t show any signs of displeasure.
Just as the recommended prospective students were about to leave the waiting room as well.
Arr glanced towards Leo, intending to wait for him at the exit.
“Kyle.”
“Yes.”
“Let’s have a private interview.”
‘An interview? What is it?’
As the instructor, who could be called a professor at Lumen, called him aside, Leo’s expression became slightly tense.
Meanwhile, Arr frowned.
‘Will the interview take a long time?’
Thinking that her timing kept getting off, Arr headed to the accommodation.
‘I’ll just go find him at the accommodation later, I guess.’
Arr was desperate to uncover Leo’s secret.
After the students left, and the assistant instructors also departed the waiting room for control,
With only the two of them remaining, Verga spoke with a serious expression.
“Kyle. I’ll ask just in case.”
“Yes.”
‘Did he figure out that I’m from Lumen, after all?’
It was then that Leo tensed up.
“Are you, by any chance, Reina’s son?”