Book 1 Chapter 159
159
“How did it come to this?”
Standing in the middle of the parade ground, Kal looked towards the stands with a disgruntled expression.
Did they say watching a fight was the most interesting thing in the world?
At the mention of a duel, students from Class 1 to Class 10 rushed out.
“What? Kal is dueling?”
“Who’s the opponent?”
“Looks like an Eikot student?”
“Is he so looked down upon that he’s even having a duel with an Eikot student?”
Voices of disbelief erupted from everywhere.
“Well, it’s Kal.”
“Yeah, it’s Kal.”
But they soon wore expressions of understanding.
Watching them, Kal protested with an aggrieved look.
“Hey! You guys! What’s wrong with me!”
“You’re endlessly frivolous.”
“And extremely easy to deal with.”
“Hey! Let’s make a bet!”
“Who do you think will win?”
“Oh, that’s a good idea!”
Kal clutched the back of his neck.
Seeing the first-year Lumerne students cackling and making bets, the students from other academies looked bewildered.
‘Something’s very different from what I expected?’
Amidst this, Kal sighed deeply, “Phew!”
“It’s no use being friends, really.”
Muttering, Kal glanced at the Eikot male student standing before him.
“I don’t know your name yet?”
“I am Liquid Brick.”
“The Brick family?”
Kal clicked his tongue.
The Brick family had, for generations, held the position of commander of the Snow Knights in the Virsen Kingdom.
‘Was the successor’s name Liquid right now?’
In other words, the boy before him was the son of a hero.
While Lumerne had many descendants of heroic noble families, actual children of heroes were rare.
“I apologize for the prince’s rudeness.”
“You have nothing to apologize for. And I’m used to that kind of attitude anyway.”
Kal shrugged his shoulders.
“And even if you apologize, you still intend to duel me, right?”
Liquid nodded at Kal’s question.
“Yes. I understand that Lumerne is thoroughly practical. That’s why I’ve wanted to spar with a student from the Lumerne Department of Magic for a long time.”
A competitive spirit ignited in Liquid’s eyes.
‘The prince ate his manners for breakfast, but at least this guy is nice. Well, there are always kids like him everywhere.’
Muttering to himself, Kal scratched his head vigorously.
‘By the way, this kid doesn’t look easy either, how should I fight?’
At first glance, he was an unusually skilled individual.
In Kal’s eyes, Liquid was skilled enough to pass the Lumerne entrance exam without difficulty.
‘Moreover, he could even aim for a top-tier score.’
Slowly assessing Liquid’s abilities, Kal prepared a magic spell.
Habiden, watching him, let out a sneer.
“He’s going to be humiliated in front of everyone.”
The top-class students of the three prestigious academies were superior to Lumerne’s mid-to-lower-tier students.
However, in the public perception, there was a strong belief that Lumerne students were superior to those of the three prestigious academies.
If Kal were to lose to Liquid, an Eikot student, in front of hundreds of people, it would be an unparalleled humiliation.
“To push a classmate to be humiliated. Leo, senior, don’t you actually consider Kal, senior, a friend?”
“Just watch.”
Leo smirked and said.
Habiden frowned slightly at his relaxed attitude.
Meanwhile, Kal, who had finished preparing for the duel, spoke.
“Shall we start then?”
“Yes.”
Kal pulled a coin from his pocket.
Clink-! Whirr-!
A clear sound of the coin being flipped up was heard.
Clink-!
As the coin hit the ground of the training field, Liquid pulled out a weapon from his subspace.
Whoosh-!
Kal grinned as he watched Liquid pull out a spear taller than himself and swing it.
“Spearmanship, huh. Interesting… huh?!”
Crrr-ack-!
As an aura of ice burst from the widely swung spear, Kal gasped in surprise and floated into the air.
The ground froze solid.
If he had been even slightly late, his feet would have been bound, and he would have been helpless.
“Your casting speed is different from ordinary mages. As expected of Lumerne.”
Liquid, unfazed by the icy ground, used an aura step to close the distance with Kal.
Seeing this, Kal urgently deployed magic.
“Fire Arrow!”
Whoosh-!
A volley of arrows made of fire generated in mid-air.
Liquid marveled at the sight.
‘He’s on a different level from the mages my age I’ve faced so far.’
To cast such a considerable number of offensive spells while deploying flight magic.
‘He’s definitely skilled in combat.’
Moreover, his magical ability was also considerable.
‘I can’t underestimate him because of his seemingly low mana. But that’s as far as it goes!’
At 14, Liquid had been praised since childhood as a boy with exceptional talent.
Of course, every Lumerne student has had such experiences.
But Liquid was an especially promising talent among them.
Clench-!
Liquid’s eyes flashed as he gripped the long spear firmly with both hands.
“Avalanche!”
Whoosh-!
As he swung the spear wide, an aura of snow burst forth.
The snow aura transformed into a wave and covered Kal like an avalanche.
“Kehek?!”
Kal shrieked.
Kal’s scream, buried in snow in the middle of summer, echoed piteously.
“Wow… amazing!”
“For a knight to have such a wide-area attack.”
“As expected, Eikot is not to be underestimated either.”
Students from other academies looked at Liquid with admiration.
Celia, watching the duel from the Class 1 side, smirked.
“Pretty good. He’ll pass.”
“Yeah. His skill is impressive.”
Chloe, taking her eyes off the grimoire, glanced at the training field and nodded.
“Lumerne isn’t much, after all.”
“I think I would have defended against an attack like that at least once.”
Some from Emerald wore disappointed expressions.
Just then, a commotion arose from the back.
“Hey! How can everyone bet on Kal!”
“This way the bet won’t be valid!”
“It’s a crisis right now! Who’s brave enough to bet on the promising Liquid Brick for an underdog payout? No one?”
It was at this moment that everyone looked flustered by the conversation of the Lumerne first-years from behind.
Crash-!
“Ugh! C-colddddddddddddddddddd!”
Kal, who had fought his way out of the snow, clutched his body and trembled violently.
Liquid, unfazed, took a stance.
‘As expected, he won’t fall from just this.’
Liquid admired and re-gripped his spear.
“Sniff- What kind of snowstorm is this in summer? Ugh-!”
Kal, after a big shiver, looked at Liquid and said.
“Indeed. If I face you head-on, I’m no match.”
The difference in ability was vast.
But even so, Kal grinned.
And then he opened his subspace and poured out weapons.
Liquid, who was about to charge Kal, paused.
“A mage with weapons?”
“Oh. I may not be great, but from the perspective of someone who’s experienced Lumerne before you, let me give you some advice! That kind of rigid thinking is not good!”
Gooooooo-!
Kal unleashed his magic power.
Then, weapons enchanted with magic floated into the air.
Liquid narrowed his eyes at the sight.
“It’s telekinetic magic.”
Thud-!
Liquid, re-gripping his spear, lowered his stance.
Whoosh-!
Simultaneously, he quickly charged towards Kal.
‘Don’t think of it as simple telekinetic magic. This person’s skill is not to be underestimated.’
He roused aura throughout his body, thinking of ending it quickly before Kal could do anything.
Kal grinned at the sight.
“See, I told you not to be so rigid.”
Whirrrr-!
The color of the weapon Kal had pulled out changed.
A longsword, turned red, flew towards Liquid.
Liquid swung his spear, parrying the longsword.
At that moment.
Boom! Whoosh-!
The longsword spewed out high-temperature flames.
“Magic sword?!”
Liquid, his eyes wide open, deployed an aura armor and barely managed to block the flames.
“My specialty is alchemy. So I’m pretty bad at offensive magic.”
Kal pulled out a one-handed crossbow from his subspace.
“Unlike those monster guys, the moment I allow close combat, it’s ‘eek-’. Plus, I’m a supporter, not someone aiming for combat.”
Click-!
Kal, aiming the crossbow at Liquid, grinned.
“I have no choice but to use unconventional methods.”
Thwack-!
As Kal pulled the trigger, the crossbow bolt flew.
Liquid easily parried the arrow.
Suddenly-!
Thud-! Clink. Splatter-!
“…!”
The arrow turned into glass, and its contents spilled out.
The stench, which made his head ring, momentarily stiffened Liquid’s face.
“Poison?”
“I can use poison too, but using it in a duel is a bit much.”
Kal grinned and lowered the crossbow.
“It’s oil.”
“Why suddenly oil, for what?”
“That’s why. Didn’t I tell you not to be so rigid?”
Kal grinned.
“It’s a special oil I transmuted. It’s extremely volatile, but if it reacts to magic, it continues to burn. Moreover, the stronger the firepower, the stronger and longer it burns, a very dangerous oil.”
Kal waved his hand.
Whoosh-!
The enchanted weapons floating around transformed into magic swords.
“They’re cheap, one-time-use magic swords, but combined with that oil, it’ll hurt quite a bit, won’t it?”
“Kugh?!”
Liquid gritted his teeth and opened his eyes wide.
The magic swords created by Kal’s enchantment magic targeted Liquid.
Clang-clang-clang-!
“Kuaaaak!”
Liquid’s scream echoed.
Turning his back on Liquid, Kal put his hands in his pockets and grinned.
“Finish!”
All the students from other academies gaped.
Meanwhile, Chloe admired.
“To develop that magic to this extent. Kal is amazing too.”
“He’s the one who overuses the most unconventional methods among the first-year mages right now.”
Celia rested her chin on her hand.
“If you knew about Kal, maybe not. No matter how much more skilled someone is than Kal, if they don’t properly know him, they might be caught off guard once and suffer a setback.”
Kal’s enchantment magic.
After Leo praised him during the field trip, Kal had continuously refined his specialty, enchantment magic.
As a result, he succeeded in arbitrarily transforming enchanted weapons into magic swords.
In addition, he had also completed a spell that allowed him to freely transmute objects he had enchanted.
He had succeeded in compensating for his shortcomings by using tools.
Habiden’s eyes widened.
Kal came down from the training field and high-fived Chelsea.
“Victory of deviousness!”
“Can’t you call it strategy instead of devious?”
Chelsea, pondering for a moment at Kal’s words, smiled brightly.
“Victory of quick thinking!”
“Hey!”
“Quick thinking! Quick thinking!”
The Class 5 students chanted “quick thinking” and welcomed Kal.
“Are you guys serious?!”
Kal clutched his head and screamed.
Then he grinned, seeing Leo watching him with a smile.
“How was it?”
“It was excellent.”
“Hehe. It’s the result of my efforts to catch up somehow. Thanks to you, Leo.”
It was Leo who constantly gave him advice and helped him complete his unique combat style.
“Did you see that! This is the skill of Lumerne’s weakest! You arrogant jerk!”
Chelsea sneered at Habiden, provoking him.
“…Please take out ‘weakest’.”
As Kal let out a sad laugh, Habiden scoffed.
“In Lumerne, relying on tools is considered skill, I suppose?”
“Of course.”
Chelsea said proudly, crossing her arms.
“Because what survives is strong.”
Both during their academic life and after successfully graduating, Lumerne students are constantly thrust into competition and battle.
To avoid being weeded out in such an environment, they must mobilize everything they can use, be it tools or strategies.
Chelsea curled up the corners of her mouth.
“Next is us, right? I’ll turn you into a pulp.”
As the flames on the training field cleared, Chelsea went up.
Following her, Habiden scoffed.
***
“Leo. How do you think it’ll go?”
“What?”
“This fight, I mean.”
Kal said, flopping down next to Leo.
“I know that guy Habiden is rude, but his skill is definitely real.”
Habiden’s name was well-known not only in the northern regions but across the entire continent.
He was also a boy who was originally a strong candidate for Lumerne admission this year.
“Well, if it’s a real fight, Chelsea would win easily, but I’m a little worried about a duel with restrictions.”
Chelsea was a Battle Mage.
The biggest characteristic of a Battle Mage was their ability to fight on the front lines like a knight.
However, that was only in battles of many against many.
In one-on-one fights, where they had to focus on each other, it was harder to be as effective as in a chaotic battle.
If she rashly engaged in close combat with a highly capable knight, she could suffer a setback.
Habiden had the skill to rank high in the Knight Department even if he were to enroll in Lumerne right now.
Habiden’s arrogant behavior stemmed from his confidence that his skills were not significantly inferior to those of his seniors.
Leo smirked at Kal’s words.
“Chelsea will win.”
“Yeah. But the problem is how she wins. If it ends up being evenly matched, he might get too confident, right?”
Chelsea had gained worldwide fame through the Gigantes subjugation incident.
A boy who hadn’t even enrolled in Lumerne could gain considerable fame just by fighting Chelsea on equal terms.
Habiden had made such a calculation and intended to duel Chelsea.
“It’d be a headache if that guy ruins the atmosphere of the joint class.”
Kal scratched his head vigorously.
“Don’t worry. Chelsea will win overwhelmingly.”
“What?”
“If you look at pure skill, that guy Habiden is formidable. But overall ability isn’t just determined by skill, you know?”
Leo watched Chelsea warm up, counting “one-two-three-four-.”
Then, Chelsea, whose eyes met Leo’s, smiled brightly and waved.
Waving back at Chelsea, Leo continued.
“Perhaps the students in the Knight Department should be nervous.”
“Huh?”
Kal’s eyes widened, seeing Leo suddenly mention the Knight Department.
“They’re going to be a bit shocked.”
***
“To duel with Chelsea Rwalyn, who is famous for the Gigantes subjugation, should I call it an honor?”
“Of course. You can go home and brag to your mom and dad.”
Chelsea chuckled and re-gripped her staff.
Habiden, grinning at Chelsea, unleashed his aura.
The moment she saw that, Chelsea’s eyes twitched.
‘Spirit Power?’
At the same time, the wind whirled, and a wind spirit was summoned.
The wind spirit soon took the form of a horse.
“Hmm.”
Chelsea narrowed her eyes, watching Habiden mount the wind spirit with a stylish movement.
“You’re using something good, aren’t you?”
“It’s an artifact passed down through our royal family.”
Habiden curled the corners of his mouth.
An item that materialized spirits into specific forms.
As an item that aided in challenging spirit magic, it was extremely rare and powerful.
‘A Spirit Knight, huh. I didn’t know that.’
Chelsea, who knew about Habiden, pondered.
“Well then. Shall we see your skill, Chelsea Rwalyn?”
Whoosh-!
Habiden charged towards Chelsea at an incredible speed.
Chelsea deployed her magic power, watching Habiden re-grip the spear in his hand and perform a charging thrust.
Whoosh-!
Habiden thrusting his spear at Chelsea at a speed almost invisible to the eye.
Suddenly, Chelsea’s body floated into the air like a leaf scattered by the wind.
The attack missed.
Habiden, slowing his charge, held the reins of the wind spirit and smiled as he watched Chelsea descend from the air.
“You’re indeed good. But it won’t be easy for a mage to properly counter this speed.”
Chelsea, looking at Habiden who spoke confidently, smiled faintly.
And then she said,
“That’s not how you use wind.”