Clang!

A faint spark flew from the edge of my sword. The arrow I barely deflected grazed past my ear, and my wrist, half-bent from the impact, throbbed.

My sharpened senses rang an alarm, and my brow naturally furrowed.

‘This is definitely different from the mechanisms.’

The arrowhead contained a slight amount of internal energy, making the attack heavy.

I was able to block it by reading the flow of qi since a person was shooting it, but the current situation was not good.

‘Dangerous.’

I threw a stone to create a stealth formation and quickly took refuge inside it.

From the outside, it would look as if I had suddenly disappeared.

“Tch!”

However, the arrows were still being shot accurately this way.

‘I guess a basic stealth formation isn’t enough.’

With a makeshift formation like this, I couldn’t completely hide my presence.

“Damn it.”

I immediately exited the stealth formation and started running forward. My muscles had strengthened over the past few days, so I could manage a light run.

‘I can’t keep this up for long.’

However, that speed was far too slow compared to the sharp aim of those in ambush.

Pew-

Another arrow was shot.

“Damn it!”

The shield I had created in an instant shattered. Even though I knew where it was being shot from, my body couldn’t react in time.

‘I’ll bet everything on passing this section.’

As I remembered it, this section was quite short. So short that it didn’t leave much of an impression, which was why I hadn’t prepared enough.

I ran, letting out ragged breaths.

In an instant, the muscles in both my legs, enhanced with mana, swelled as if they would burst, and my whole body accelerated.

‘It’s coming!’

Beyond the rapidly passing scenery, I felt a cold energy.

The targeted area this time was my knee. As soon as I sensed it, the circle located in my heart vibrated, and mana poured out.

Soon, a magic shield appeared around my leg.

‘Compress it as much as possible.’

I began to adjust the mana.

Reduce the shield’s area and increase its thickness. Like folding paper multiple times to make a board.

Clang!

The arrow stopped in mid-air and then fell to the ground.

‘Success!’

There was a glimmer of hope. I kicked off the ground and ran even faster.

Then, the next arrows began to fly.

I couldn’t block them all, so I made a quick decision.

‘Just protect the joints and blood vessels.’

As long as I can run even if I get hit in one or two places, it’s fine. They wouldn’t aim for a vital spot like the head in an exam anyway.

I moved forward. It was obvious the attacks were aimed at incapacitating me. In that case, I just had to focus the shield’s operational range on the most vulnerable points.

Clang!

As if to prove it, arrows hit the shield and were deflected. I spurred myself forward. There really wasn’t much left.

I could see the end of the bamboo forest at the hill up ahead.

As I was running forward, another arrow was shot.

The target was my shoulder. The moment I reflexively put up a shield, the rushing arrow changed its trajectory and lodged itself in my forearm.

“Tch!”

Blood splattered, and a searing pain traveled up my arm. I grimaced as I endured the pain, taking a deep breath.

‘A curved shot?’

I never thought they would use such an advanced technique on a mere prospective student.

At least peak-level masters were playing dirty.

Of course, if they hadn’t controlled the power, an arm would have flown off by now, but I couldn’t help the curses that came to my lips.

I started running, the light in my eyes shining. With all my nerves focused on managing the arrows and the shield, I checked my remaining mana.

My mana was almost depleted, and the finish line was just ahead. It was time to make a final gamble.

‘Abandon all defense except for the parts needed for movement.’

I boldly gave up on everything except my two legs and abdomen. I extremely reduced the shield’s activation points. As if to stop me, a curved shot was fired from a distance.

‘I can’t predict it anyway.’

At my current level, I couldn’t predict the exact impact point of a curved shot. In that case, all that was left was to armor only a very small number of important parts with a shield.

I squeezed mana out of my madly overworked circle and formed shields on various parts of my body.

Thwack!

An arrow lodged itself in my undefended back. I almost stopped breathing for a moment, but I forced myself to inhale by tensing my abdomen.

Then, this time, an arrow lodged in my shoulder.

My right arm, which had been dangling for a while, finally went limp.

“Hoo.”

My vision turned red with pain. The green bamboo forest felt like an irresistible, deep navy wave.

‘Just a little more!’

Right after blocking a curved shot aimed at my ankle with a shield, I kicked off the ground. The dust on the ground rose, and my body was pushed forward.

Finally, after squeezing out all my strength and taking the last step on the slope, a refreshing breeze blew, and the entire view of the Martial Academy, with the student building below, unfolded.

“I did it!”

The scenery I had seen in the game. I shouted like a madman. My blood-soaked body had finally reached the end of the examination hall.

With that, I felt a presence next to me.

“Congratulations on entering as the top student. From now on, you are…”

But the instructor’s next explanation never came. Because at the same time, I lost consciousness and collapsed.

* * *

“I can’t believe the top-passing student was admitted to the medical office.”

Jeongmuk made a dumbfounded expression upon hearing the report.

This exam had the form of a real battle to some extent, but it was still an exam where they held back.

He had thought there might be injuries, but he hadn’t suspected that there would be a succession of people losing consciousness. And the top-passing student at that.

“…It can’t be helped. We’ll have to proceed without him.”

“Isn’t that a bit of a shame?”

A dignified voice was heard at that moment. It was the chief professor, Gu Jabeom. Jeongmuk turned to him and paid his respects.

“You’ve arrived.”

“As is customary, it doesn’t look good if the top-passing student doesn’t give the oath. How is that student’s condition now?”

Originally, the procedure was for all exams to end in the afternoon, and before evening came, the top new student would give an oath as a representative to officially become a junior student.

But now that Zhuge Cheonwu had collapsed, that schedule was disrupted.

This was not a simple procedure.

The oath of the top-entering student was also a place to reveal the face of a future rising star.

Therefore, the existence of the top student leading the oath was like a preliminary declaration of the talent who would shoulder the future of the Central Plains.

At Gu Jabeom’s question, Jeongmuk’s expression darkened.

“First aid has been administered for the external injuries, but his body itself is in a very weakened state. To the point where we don’t know how he has been living until now.”

“I’ll see for myself.”

Gu Jabeom became curious as to how serious it was for Jeongmuk to say such a thing. He headed to the medical office.

“Anyone would think he was rescued from a battlefield.”

Gu Jabeom, who had gone to the emergency room, let out a dry laugh as he looked at Zhuge Cheonwu.

With his pale complexion, chapped lips, and sweat-drenched appearance, Zhuge Cheonwu resembled a patient on the verge of death.

“It seems the instructors’ management was negligent.”

Gu Jabeom’s expression crumpled after checking Zhuge Cheonwu’s pulse.

His blood vessels and true qi were in a terrible mess. To send him to the examination hall without even noticing his body was in such a weakened state.

“He could die at this rate.”

Gu Jabeom sighed. It would be quite a headache if news spread that a blood relative of the Zhuge family had died within the academy, and during an exam at that.

Having no choice, Gu Jabeom infused his own internal energy into Zhuge Cheonwu.

The most urgent thing right now was the lack of true qi to sustain life in his body. That’s why he was trying to perform first aid.

Of course, if it weren’t for a master of Gu Jabeom’s level, it was a dangerous method that could cause the qi to become twisted and lead to qi deviation.

‘What is this?’

Gu Jabeom, who was channeling his pure internal energy, suddenly felt a strange sensation.

When he first infused energy into the energy veins, he didn’t feel anything special. He just had a fleeting thought that he wasn’t a martial talent, seeing the narrower-than-average energy veins.

But as time passed, that thought changed completely.

‘This guy… is a monster!’

His internal energy was being sucked in. As if a valley stream was being sucked into a giant pit, the energy was being absorbed somewhere.

Usually, when this much internal energy enters a body, there is a rejection reaction or they succumb and hand over control, but this one was instead devouring his own energy as if it were nutrients.

“Incredible.”

Moreover, although the energy veins themselves were narrow and the energy was faint, Zhuge Cheonwu’s acupoints and bone structure were innately excellent.

If he could widen his energy veins and fill his innate true qi, he had the aptitude to leap to become a tremendous master.

‘But that’s unlikely.’

A person born with such a congenitally weak body has a hard time seeing the light, no matter how much martial talent they possess.

On the contrary, their meager life force, compared to their great potential, burns out even faster, leading to a short life.

Just as a famous sword that doesn’t suit its owner instead takes the owner’s life.

“That’s why it’s a shame.”

Gu Jabeom finished infusing his energy and then took his hand off Zhuge Cheonwu. Thanks to the infusion of energy, his breathing had stabilized.

But his pale face remained the same. Gu Jabeom had often seen this type of person. People whose fate was not long.

‘The world sometimes gives birth to a genius and then snatches them away in vain.’

Gu Jabeom stood up from his seat.

He thought that perhaps this young man could have become a truly great master if it weren’t for the fate given to him.

But Gu Jabeom had not yet seen a being who had confronted fate head-on and won, and he naturally judged that Zhuge Cheonwu would also succumb to that absolute truth.

“Jeongmuk, bring the second-place passer. We will proceed with that person instead.”

If he was a genius who would fade away in time anyway, it wouldn’t matter if he gave the spot to another newcomer.

Gu Jabeom watched Zhuge Cheonwu’s figure with regretful but cold eyes and then closed the door.

But even the experienced master Gu Jabeom did not notice what was happening inside the medical office.

That the internal energy he had infused into Zhuge Cheonwu’s body was wildly circulating through his blood vessels, reinforcing his weakened body and, on the contrary, making it stronger. The dramatic change of his weakly beating heart gradually becoming clearer.

Even he could not have predicted it.

That a monster possessing a cheat-like talent that could overcome even a given fate was now curled up like a dead person in the hospital room.

* * *

As soon as I regained consciousness, a pain as if my whole body had been squeezed assaulted me.

“Kuuugh…!”

As I was groaning and flinching, a physician approached and checked my pulse, complexion, pupils, and so on.

“You were on the verge of death, but you can’t fool young blood. Your condition has improved a lot during the dawn, so you just need to rest.”

He then said he would go boil a medicinal soup and went outside.

Alone in the hospital room, I stared at the ceiling with a dazed mind. It still didn’t feel real. But the moment I tried to get up as usual, the terrible, explosive pain brought me back to reality.

The muscle aches that had set in all over my body, the burst blood vessels from overuse, and the various wounds where arrows had pierced through. There wasn’t a single part of me that was okay.

“Still… I passed.”

I muttered, staring at the ceiling. I really thought I was going to die.

The efforts I had made for the exam day had paid off. Studying formations, polishing my shield, training my mana and stamina, and so on. If I had neglected even one of those things a little, I wouldn’t have been in this place now.

“So how broken am I?”

With a bitter heart, I checked my internal mana circuit.

Considering the circle and mana circuit that I had squeezed to the last, there must have been tremendous damage. Considering the unreasonable operation that far exceeded my capacity, I would need to rest for a while.

“Huh?”

But my body’s condition was different from what I had expected.

‘I’ve gotten stronger?’

First of all, my mana circuit had become a little sturdier, and the mana in my circle had also increased. Most of all, the muscle strength of my entire body had improved.

‘Is it thanks to [Transcendent Growth]?’

It seemed the talent that grows endlessly and becomes stronger each time I overcome a near-death experience had been applied.

“What a relief.”

If I rest for today, I should be able to move as usual tomorrow.

‘Then is the new student oath over too?’

In the game, if you gave the oath as the top student, your fame or experience points would increase. It felt a bit of a shame.

‘No.’

Thinking that far, I unconsciously shook my head.

This is not a game. It was strictly reality. A harsh reality where blood really splatters and lives are threatened.

Thinking that, I got up. Pain shot through my entire body, but it was bearable.

“Are you awake?”

At the voice I suddenly heard, I lifted my head, and a physician who had just entered old age held out a medicinal soup.

I drank the bitter and astringent black medicine and asked.

“How many days has it been since I collapsed?”

“You slept for three whole days. Don’t think about unnecessary things and it would be good to rest for two days.”

Three days have passed. In that case, I should be able to receive that ‘reward’ by now.

At the physician’s advice, I raised the corner of my mouth slightly and asked.

“But it’s okay to go for a walk, right?”

“If you mess around trying to train, you’ll be seeing me for a long time.”

It seemed he knew the stubborn nature of martial artists well, as he didn’t stop me and just gave advice.

“I understand. I’ll be back before dinner.”

I forced myself up and left the medical office.

My whole body creaked every time I used my muscles, but I didn’t stop. On the contrary, the more I walked, the more my anticipation grew. The reason was simple.

Because I now had the right to enter the secret manual library, an authority granted upon becoming an official junior student.

‘I will learn martial arts.’

I was finally able to officially learn martial arts in this world.

Coming outside, I received the pouring sunlight and looked up at the tall secret manual library in the distance.

It was now time to seriously learn martial arts.

(End of Chapter)

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep