Book 1 Chapter 274

274

“Healer! Healer!”

“Ageht’s arm is twisted at a strange angle!”

A commotion broke out among the Damian students.

“Then, shall I go check out some weapons?”

Of course, Leo paid no attention to such things and approached the weapons Ageht had displayed.

“You’re so nonchalant after doing that to someone.”

Arre clicked her tongue, watching Ageht being carried away on a stretcher.

Meanwhile, confusion filled the eyes of the Azonia students who were watching Leo.

“How can he have such strength with an arm like that?”

“Ageht’s strength was real…!”

Even though the Azonia students, who were self-conscious about their strength, rushed in, only five won arm wrestling matches.

And besides Arre, all of them were students larger than Leo.

“It’s skill.”

At that moment, the tiger beastman, Borman, spoke.

“Skill?”

“Yes. Leo Plov has tremendous strength, but his skill in concentrating that strength has clearly reached an incredible level. That’s why he unleashed an explosive burst of power momentarily.”

“Ohhh.”

“As expected of Borman!”

“To see through that fact!”

“I’d like to have a great match with him!”

Borman blocked Leo’s path.

“That was an impressive match, Leo Plov. Your skill in handling brute strength was magnificent!”

Leo looked up at Borman.

“Your outstanding skill! And my strength! Aren’t you curious who has the upper hand?”

Borman pointed to the steel table.

Seeing Borman, Leo asked Arre.

“Could you ask your friend if he could move aside?”

“I’ve never had a muscle-head like him as a friend.”

“Come on! Leo Plov! Let’s have an arm wrestling match to decide!”

At Borman’s words, Arre crossed her arms and said.

“It’d be better to just step aside so you don’t end up in a sorry state for nothing.”

“Ohhh! Arre, are you worried about me?”

Borman wore a touched expression.

“But I, Borman, a man! I swore never to back down from a match until the day I become a man worthy of you! Come on! Don’t hide, step forward! Leo Plov!”

“A man worthy of me?”

“I patted him on the head at the beginning of the semester, and now he’s saying things like that on his own. Well, it’s all thanks to my charm.”

Leo looked at the boastful Arre with a pitying gaze and said to Borman.

“If you want to show off your strength, there’s plenty to show off behind you, isn’t there?”

Leo pointed his finger at Ageht’s weapons.

“Hmph, that’s true. But it won’t be easy to handle those with your strength, will it?”

‘Does this idiot really think the black rabbit defeated Ageht with skill?’

Arre looked at Borman with an utterly dumbfounded expression.

Leo had defeated Ageht with pure brute strength itself.

‘From the start, the black rabbit was a monster who passed the Lumern entrance exam without even using aura.’

And in that situation, he had taken the representative spot for the new students.

From the moment a candidate who didn’t even use aura beat out the formidable second-year students of Lumern to become the representative, one should have been able to guess his pure strength.

‘Well, the kids at our school don’t pay much attention to kids from other schools. Sigh!’

As he let out a deep sigh, Borman followed Leo to Ageht’s weapons.

And he reached out for a huge two-handed sword.

Borman, who lightly lifted the two-handed sword, which boasted immense weight, with one hand, said.

“Excellent. Although I don’t primarily use swords, this weight… I can certainly feel that it’s an outstanding weapon….”

Borman, who was turning his head towards Leo, was startled.

“Wait! The weapons displayed here are the heaviest ones Ageht made!”

Leo, who hadn’t heard the explanation of the weight grades because Ageht, the smith, had been carried away, was reaching for the battle-axe, which boasted the most massive weight.

Grab-!

But Leo lifted the massive battle-axe without much difficulty.

“It’s made of Amantadium.”

Leo examined the battle-axe.

Borman stiffened, watching Leo.

“Does that still look like skill?”

Arre chuckled and asked Borman.

‘He has brute strength equal to mine with a body like that?’

“He-he might be able to lift it! But he has to be able to swing it like this!”

Borman swung the two-handed sword with all his might.

Whoosh-!

A heavy sound of cutting through the air echoed.

Borman handled the ultra-heavy greatsword, which normally required aura to manage, with ease, and flashed a confident smile.

“Well, how about that! Leo Plov!”

Watching Borman’s triumphant expression, Leo held the battle-axe in one hand.

And then…

Swish-!

Leo swung the battle-axe.

A sharp, almost cutting sound was heard.

A single, simple swing imbued with power and destructive force.

Seeing that, Borman’s expression changed.

Arre also looked at Leo with surprised eyes.

‘His strength was clearly focused on one point.’

It was the movement of someone who perfectly understood the characteristics of the weapon.

After that, Leo began to swing the battle-axe in the air as if testing it.

The Azonia students’ eyes widened at his perfect movements.

“Ohhhhhh…!”

At that moment, Ageht, who had been carried away on a stretcher, came running back.

And seeing Leo perfectly handling the ultra-heavy battle-axe he had made, he shed tears of joy.

“To be able to handle a weapon I made so perfectly!”

Thump-!

Ageht rushed to Leo, who was placing the battle-axe back in the display case, and said.

“Leo Plov! It seems I misunderstood you! You are truly the man worthy of the weapons I, Ageht, made! Just name it! I will craft any custom-made weapon you desire!”

Watching Ageht excitedly grab and shake Leo’s hand, Leo said.

“You made it well.”

“Of course! I’m the best at making ultra-heavy weapons among the second-year students! You must have been satisfied with the perfect balance of my weapon too!”

“The balance was terrible.”

“W-what did you say?”

“The advantage of ultra-heavy weapons like this is their weight. The heavier the weight, the stronger the destructive power infused into the weapon.”

Leo wore an unenthusiastic expression.

“But your battle-axe focused too much on increasing weight. That’s why the balance is terrible.”

“Nonsense! I perfectly distributed the weight! My weapon’s balance is perfect! Look at this! To maximize destructive power, the part where the force is applied is heavy, and the handle part is made light!”

“Yes, in terms of maximizing the weapon’s destructive power, it might be perfect. But it didn’t consider the person swinging it at all. You. Can you perfectly handle the weapon you made?”

At Leo’s question, Ageht flinched.

“We will be risking our lives with the weapons you make. Yet you would do something to deceive us? Is making things that only look good the spirit of a descendant of Dweno?”

Ageht, who heard Leo’s words, dropped to his knees.

And placing his hands on the floor, he cried out as if wailing.

“Y-you’re right. I cannot perfectly handle that weapon! I focused on increasing destructive power and made a weapon that even I can’t properly handle… Yes! I balanced the weight to only look good! I… I made trash! And I, who made trash, am trash!”

Ageht, who cried out as if wailing, put all his weapons into his sub-space.

The Azonia students, who had been enjoying looking at the weapons, wore surprised expressions.

“I’m putting all this trash into the furnace!”

Watching Ageht’s back as he ran out of the great hall crying, Leo murmured.

“There’s no need to discard the other perfectly fine items.”

“Were the other items fine?!”

“Of course. He was a very skilled craftsman, so the weapons within the range he could use would be perfect.”

“Why didn’t you tell him? What a waste.”

“He wouldn’t have listened even if I told him.”

Leo shook his head.

“Dwarves aren’t the type to listen to reason.”

Having said that, Leo also looked at other items.

That started a cascade of similar situations to Ageht’s.

As if to prove his claim that he could perfectly handle all weapons.

Leo perfectly handled every item made by the Damian students.

And he meticulously pointed out every flaw in the weapons they had made.

“The magical output is too high. You won’t be able to use it for long like this.”

“An orb that helps summon the four great spirits? It’s half-baked, so it can’t properly assist with anything.”

“Perfect? You keep insisting it’s perfect, but does this look perfect? Apologize to the minerals.”

At every single word from Leo, the Damian students seemed shocked, crying and leaving the great hall.

Soon, as Leo was about to review the 56th Damian student’s weapon.

“Student Leo. I understand your greatness, so please stop making our students irrecoverable.”

Deffeto approached and restrained Leo.

Leo looked around.

“The item I made is trash…”

“Great Minerals! I apologize! I’m sorry for making it like this!”

Some frustrated Damian students were staring blankly, while others were prostrating themselves and apologizing to the minerals.

Other Damian students avoided Leo’s gaze when he looked at them.

Before they knew it, Leo had become a figure of fear.

There is nothing more terrifying for a creator than having the flaws of their creation perfectly pointed out.

Even if it is valid, the blow the creator receives is immense.

Watching the Damian students tremble as they looked at him, Leo said.

“Shall we stop here?”

‘What in the world is this student’s identity?’

Deffeto looked at Leo with an astonished expression.

All the Damian students Leo had made irrecoverable were high-achieving students.

Of course, as students, they were bound to have shortcomings.

The Damian students also acknowledged that part.

The problem was that Leo, who was also a student, had so accurately and mercilessly poked at those shortcomings.

Arre asked Deffeto, who was looking at Leo as if fed up.

“Was there a need to go this far?”

“An old blacksmith I knew once said something.”

Leo said calmly.

“A smith is the one who decides a hero’s final fate.”

“The one who decides a hero’s final fate?”

“Yes. He said that in a battle, the only thing a hero can ultimately rely on is their weapon. So, he said one should never be overconfident in their skill.”

Leo looked at the weapons.

“He argued that one must pursue perfection, but a perfect weapon can never exist.”

“To continuously strive for improvement, then. Good words.”

Deffeto nodded, listening to Leo’s words.

The younger one is, the more likely they are to blindly believe in their own abilities.

‘Especially young artisans have a strong tendency to do so.’

Strong stubbornness and strong pride in one’s creations are characteristic traits of the dwarven race.

‘But it’s also the racial trait that needs to be most cautious of. As Student Leo said, the items we make decide a hero’s final fate. Student Leo will certainly be a good stimulus for the Damian students.’

Deffeto glanced at his disciples, who were frustrated on the floor.

‘This is too much, though.’

Just then.

“You made another imitation like this again!”

“What does it matter to you what I make!”

At that moment, a commotion erupted at the entrance of the auditorium.

Deffeto let out a deep sigh and covered his face.

“What’s going on?”

Arre pricked up her ears and headed towards the commotion.

Many people had already gathered around.

Leo spotted the Damian student at the center of the commotion and tilted his head.

‘A female Dweno?’

Driana, the dwarf he had met yesterday, was arguing with other Damian students.

“Are you going to tarnish the name of the divine blacksmith with such mediocre skill?”

“Hmph! I think making clumsy creations tarnishes the name of the divine blacksmith even more!”

“What did you say!”

An agitated Damian student kicked the weapon box Driana had brought.

Shatter!

Swords spilled out of the weapon box.

Other Hero Academy students wore surprised expressions, seeing that.

All the swords looked identical.

And the appearance of the swords was of a very famous sword.

Leo gripped a sword that had slid to his feet.

‘This is….’

It was a sword Leo knew.

The very first sword Dweno made for Arion.

[Wolf Fang.]

The most famous sword in the world, whose existence was confirmed in historical documents and Hero Records, used by Arion in his early days.

Leo looked at the sword, then at Driana.

‘Is it a copy?’

He tilted his head and drew the blade from the scabbard.

Sling-!

And he showed a surprised expression at the sensation felt from the sword’s tip.

Compared to the real Wolf Fang, it was no exaggeration to say it was terrible.

It couldn’t be helped.

The comparison was Dweno, after all.

But purely as a sword, it was excellent.

‘It seems her personality isn’t the only thing like a female Dweno.’

Leo looked around.

‘But why do the Damian students dislike her?’