It was Baek Hasin. The final winner of the ranking competition.

I heard this right after I woke up in the infirmary. The person who had come to visit was sitting blankly next to me, so I asked.

“Then what happened to me?”

“After the match was decided, Bong So voluntarily gave up the 2nd place. Namgung Bihwa fainted like you. For some reason, Mo Yonghan didn’t challenge for the vacant 2nd place. So, considering the head-to-head record, it was decided that you, Cheonwu, would take the 2nd place.”

It was an unexpected result. I thought it was all over the moment I collapsed.

‘2nd place in the ranking competition.’

Even if it wasn’t the best, it was the second-best result. Since I had also defeated Bong So as I had promised Go Du-gyeong, it was safe to say that I had achieved my goal.

Of course, that didn’t mean I wasn’t disappointed.

“If we had fought properly, I would have won. I gave you the credits because we’re in the same class, so you should be grateful.”

“You don’t know that stamina is also a skill? Anyway, thanks for the 10 credits.”

Baek Hasin retorted with a sly reply. For reference, the credits assigned to the ranking competition were the same as the Dragon and Phoenix Assembly.

Baek Hasin, who had won, received 10 points, and I, the runner-up, was given 8 credits.

In fact, in terms of authority and fame, the Dragon and Phoenix Assembly was much more amazing. This was a score that took into account the internal circumstances of giving more points to on-campus activities than off-campus activities to establish the authority of the Martial Academy.

“Then are we tied with this?”

“That’s right.”

Coincidentally, with this, the credits that Baek Hasin and I had collected both became 64 points. While I was training with Go Du-gyeong, Baek Hasin had also performed a high-grade request, so we were tied.

Now that we were entering the middle of the second semester, it was a considerable speed. I didn’t like that my credits had been caught up, but thinking that we had both grown that much, it wasn’t so bad.

‘It’s going smoothly.’

It wasn’t long until the 100 credits needed for promotion. Since my growth rate was also superior compared to the original work, if I continued like this, the next promotion would be smooth.

Of course, I was a little worried about Baek Hasin’s demonic qi, but I believed that Cheon Ga-seong, who was also a demonic qi user, would guide him well somehow.

Because it was difficult to catch Cheon Ga-seong’s eye once, but once he opened his heart, he played the role of a pretty good senior.

“Then you can go. I should rest now.”

“Yeah, recover well, and don’t just collapse next time.”

“You’re the one who can’t even control one demonic qi and goes berserk.”

As I retorted to Baek Hasin who was leaving the infirmary, I lay down on the bed.

Looking at the ceiling, I remembered the moment of my last duel with him. The sensation of the forms being freely reinterpreted by meeting the sorcery of magic.

It was proof that my skill in handling the sword had matured.

I clenched and unclenched my fist, feeling the sensation of my blood vessels expanding. Only then could I realize that I had reached the proficient peak level.

‘The circle is also expanding quickly, so the 4th circle is just around the corner.’

Perhaps because I had overcome various adversities recently, I was getting stronger at a surprisingly fast speed.

All that was left was to rest my overworked body. Since falling ill was a daily routine during my training with Go Du-gyeong, the residual heat and pain that wrapped around my whole body were now familiar.

And so, after taking a medicine that was good for recovery, I lay down and closed my two eyes, falling into a light sleep, when I suddenly felt a presence beyond the infirmary.

“Who is it?”

When I asked in a drowsy state, the door opened without an answer.

“Why haven’t you been in touch?”

At the nagging voice I hadn’t heard in a long time, I doubted my two eyes for a moment. It was Zhuge Hyeonguk. To think he was at the Martial Academy.

“What brings you all the way here?”

“How can I stay still when my prized disciple has been attacked? I came as a special professor, so don’t worry.”

Zhuge Hyeonguk looked at my appearance and then slightly narrowed his brow. And then he got to the point.

“Let’s go back to the main house.”

“Pardon?”

“The situation in the central plains is not good. You must know since you’ve been attacked several times. The main house is much safer than the Martial Academy.”

In a way, it might be a natural thing for a family elder to say. But I couldn’t do that. In the first place, for a standard clear, I had to follow the main episode of the Martial Academy.

“I can’t do that.”

“What?”

Zhuge Hyeonguk’s expression hardened. It seemed he had really decided to take me. Seeing that he had come all the way here, that was certain. Then I had no choice but to put forward a reason not to be dragged away.

“I am a member of the academy. How can I easily abandon my master and fellow students just because it’s dangerous?”

“But the family is more…”

I cut him off firmly at the expected answer.

“Is the Zhuge family in danger? Or am I in danger?”

“……”

“If the family is in danger, I will gladly step forward. But if you’re telling me to run away to the family to save my own skin, I will not listen. As a martial artist and a member of the Zhuge family, I cannot do that.”

Zhuge Hyeonguk fell silent. What could he do when righteousness was like that? And from the perspective of an elderly elder, he had nothing more to say.

Although he tried to persuade me by talking about reality after that, I refused, being stubborn with the characteristic spirit of a young person. At the end of the ensuing argument, Zhuge Hyeonguk finally came up with a compromise.

“…Then have the Heavenly Qi Unit or the Scholar Crane Unit as your escort during your external activities. I will personally suggest it to the family head.”

“Will the family head allow it?”

Zhuge Hohyeon was not such a soft person. The previous escort was a response to a threat that had occurred in the territory of the Zhuge family, but he was not a considerate person enough to attach the family’s precious masters to a child who was out like this.

On the contrary, he was a person who would lecture that if his child wanted to remain at the Martial Academy, he should take responsibility for himself. And even more so when the state of the central plains was ominous like now and he had to worry about the safety of the family.

Knowing this, Zhuge Hyeonguk fell silent and then opened his mouth.

“Then I will remain. Considering my position in the family, a veto right should be…”

“That’s enough.”

I didn’t want things to get complicated for no reason. Since I might need Zhuge Hyeonguk’s power in the future, I didn’t want to reduce his position just because of an escort problem.

In the first place, I was a practical combat type. Since I was a type of person whose skills improved in practical combat, it was difficult to miss this opportunity. And most of all, I had business with the Blood Cult.

‘The Blood Demon also used sorcery. I might be able to get a clue about high-level magic.’

There were quite a few masters in the Blood Cult who used sorcery, following the Blood Demon. If I confronted them, I might be able to get an enlightenment to go to the next circle.

‘And the level of a low-ranking martial artist from the Heavenly Qi Unit or the Scholar Crane Unit is no longer helpful.’

At best, if they were at the beginning of the peak to the proficient level, they would only be able to buy time in a crisis.

Although there were restrictions, I was the one who had defeated Bong So, who had reached the peak of the peak. Since my swordsmanship had also reached the proficient peak level this time, it was much safer to be with the top-ranking students like Baek Hasin.

As if he had misunderstood my feelings, Zhuge Hyeonguk, who had been looking at me with somewhat deep eyes, quietly nodded his head.

“If that’s what you want, I’ll do that. But be careful.”

Just as Zhuge Hyeonguk was about to turn around, I called out to him.

“Just a moment.”

Since I had slept soundly and my body had recovered to some extent, it was time to do the external activities I hadn’t been able to do for the past few weeks.

“I have something to do outside. Would you mind accompanying me for a moment?”

Because Zhuge Hyeonguk was a pretty good companion.

The place I went to after applying for an outing after a long time was the elixir field of the Golden Gate Merchant Guild.

“You’ve come.”

When I sent a message, Geum Mi-ran came out to greet me personally. She looked at Zhuge Hyeonguk next to me and made a surprised expression.

“Th-this person is?!”

A special-grade formation master’s fame was considerable. No matter how much she had searched, she couldn’t even get in touch, so it was natural to be surprised that such a being had come.

“He is my master. Would it be okay if we looked around together?”

“O-of course!”

With the owner’s permission, we examined the formation that was laid out throughout the elixir field.

“Tsk, tsk, you shouldn’t do it like this.”

In the middle, Zhuge Hyeonguk clicked his tongue and changed the formation structure. As he did, the large-scale formation became more efficient and stable.

‘So this is how a large-scale formation is made.’

It certainly had many aspects similar to the sorcery of magic, so there was something to learn.

‘If I do it well, couldn’t I change this into a large-scale magic?’

In fact, the reason I had defeated Bong So was thanks to the medium-level magic called the Prison of Fire. A magic that dominated the area with one’s own attribute magic, so-called domain magic.

What if I could use a large-scale magic on the battlefield?

I could turn the tide of the battle.

And so, I asked Zhuge Hyeonguk various things related to large-scale formations and got various inspirations for large-scale magic.

Just as I had roughly looked around the site and gotten a clue about large-scale magic, I suddenly felt a gaze from a distance.

If it were before, it would have been difficult to detect without borrowing the power of the large-scale formation installed here.

Feeling that I had grown anew, I brought up the matter to Geum Mi-ran.

“Guild Master. I think I’ve done my part. I’ve done more than the contract. Don’t you think?”

To be precise, it was Zhuge Hyeonguk who had done it, but since I had brought a special-grade formation master and developed the formation itself, it was certainly thanks to me.

“That’s right. The additional allowance…”

“You can just give that to me as an elixir. Since it has come to this, I have a proposal to make in a different sense, would that be okay?”

My proposal was simple. On the contrary, Geum Mi-ran had even asked for it.

It was to break through the formation. A kind of mock hacking. Just like checking the security of an internal system by calling an external company, it meant trying to break through the formation from the outside in advance.

The reason I proposed this was only one. It was because of the man who was approaching this way at Geum Mi-ran’s call. A mountain keeper of the elixir field named Oh Bin-hu. He was a man with a stubborn face. Was he in his mid-30s now?

Oh Bin-hu looked at me and had surprised eyes.

‘He has a good eye.’

He was the archer who had landed a blow on me at the end when I had raided the elixir before.

In fact, there was something to be wary of in preparation for the upcoming war. One of them was the bow.

‘There was a guy who was famous as an archer even among the Blood Cult.’

The Red Demon Archer. A super-peak level monster who was said to shoot by putting his own blood on the arrowhead, and his curved shot, which bent like a snake with poisonous blood, was said to be tricky.

‘It’s difficult to block that with a shield.’

His sniping skills were at a considerable level, and there were more than one or two times when I was annoyed by his mercilessly piercing attacks when I was progressing through the original work.

As it was, I was a being who was easy to draw aggro as much as I used flashy magic.

If I didn’t want to die screaming from the Red Demon Archer’s attack while recklessly firing magic in the midst of a war, I had to adapt from now on.

‘It’s annoying, but I have no choice.’

From the beginning, a mage was vulnerable to an archer’s sniping. In fact, the only master who had injured me when I had raided the elixir was that guy.

I looked at Oh Bin-hu.

He was said to be one of the top powers of the Golden Gate Merchant Guild. Was he at the peak of the peak? He was a considerable master for a guardian who protected an elixir field.

“What is it?”

At Oh Bin-hu’s soft question, Geum Mi-ran’s explanation followed. He, who was listening to this, narrowed his brow. It seemed he didn’t like it. But what could he do in the position of an employee, he had to do what he was told.

I spoke to him for a detailed explanation (training).

“Even if we make a formation to protect this place. In the end, it’s people who have to protect the home.”

“So?”

His words were short. It seemed he didn’t want to show any pretense. In fact, it was what I had hoped for. I also decided to stop pretending to be polite.

“I heard you were robbed once before. We need to know the level of the martial artist who is protecting to take it into account. Don’t you think?”

So I provoked him openly. That he was robbed because he was a pushover.

“…Try it.”

“I will.”

Oh Bin-hu’s gaze became sharp. It seemed the part that had been pierced by the arrow was throbbing.

“But it’s no fun to do it like this.”

“What?”

“Let’s make a bet. If you win, I’ll give you my share of the reward I’ll receive this time. Instead, if I win, you’ll have to be my training partner.”

The share I would receive this time was not a small amount. An amount of at least tens of thousands. Unless you were betting your life, there weren’t many jobs where you could earn this much money at once.

In the end, Oh Bin-hu nodded his head with an arrogant line.

“…Let’s do that. Try to break through the formation. I’ll pierce your head before that.”

After that, he, who had received a rough outline, hid in the bushes with his bow. As promised, I waited for about 15 minutes and then stopped at the boundary of the large-scale formation.

Zhuge Hyeonguk and the others were already watching the situation from a distance. In fact, at my request, a 1-on-1 match between Oh Bin-hu and me had been set up.

If I did it well, I could even make him unemployed.

The moment I interfered with the large-scale formation.

Kaang!

An arrow flew from somewhere on the top of the mountain. I instinctively drew the Martial Arts Sword to deflect it and smiled.

The blade that had deflected the arrow was faintly resonating. It was still heavy, but it wasn’t something I couldn’t block. Because my level now was different from when I was a junior student.

This was the second round.

“Let’s see the end of this tiresome bad fate.”

I kicked off the ground. A barrage of arrows that rushed through the forest was announcing the start of the revenge match.

(End of Chapter)

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep