Chapter 81: Heart Demon (1)

The short weekend had come to an end.

After spending the entire weekend in NOX, Carl returned to Bayern and resumed his activities as a cadet.

At the moment, he was gathered at the training grounds along with other cadets for the Understanding of Combat lecture.

“Attention.”

Instructor Frahan looked at the cadets who had returned from their weekend and signaled the start of the lecture.

“Before we begin, there’s an announcement. This time, the Green Magic Tower and Bayern, through joint research, have developed a new artifact.”

The development of a new artifact.

At those words, the cadets all looked at Instructor Frahan with interest.

‘The Archive was also said to have been made in collaboration with the Green Magic Tower.’

The Green Magic Tower specialized in artifacts and other auxiliary magic systems.

For quite some time, it had worked hand in hand with Bayern Academy, conducting cooperative research, and now it had shown remarkable results.

The Archive, the virtual server community at the core of Bayern’s systems, could be considered one of the representative achievements of this cooperation.

Tap.

Instructor Frahan took out a small sphere and held it up before the cadets.

“This is a training artifact called the Reflex System. You could say it’s a measuring device that assesses the user’s reflexes as well as their physical abilities.”

Beep.

When he pressed the button on top of the sphere, a cubic frame appeared around Instructor Frahan.

“You can link it to the Archive for detailed settings. This frame determines the range within which abilities will be measured. It’s still in the testing phase, so if you set the range too wide, the energy consumption will increase accordingly—so keep that in mind.”

Once the range was set, a countdown appeared in midair.

3, 2, 1—

As soon as the numbers vanished, a bright red dot suddenly appeared in their place.

Swish!

Instructor Frahan swung his hand and sliced through the red dot.

With a ‘bang’ sound effect, it vanished, only for a new dot to appear behind him.

Bang. Bang. Bang. Bang…

A total of ten dots appeared and disappeared.

Then the Reflex System stopped operating.

Instructor Frahan brought up his Archive window and enlarged it so the cadets could see.

ID: [Instructor] Frahan

Difficulty: Normal

Score: 10/10

Accuracy: 99.7%

“As you can see, the system links with the Archive to calculate the measured data values. You can customize it yourself, and in addition to score and accuracy, you can check other metrics as well. It’s still in the testing stage, but the measuring function itself is almost perfect, so it should be reliable as a reference.”

Instructor Frahan then handed out a sphere to each cadet.

Carl accepted his and examined it with interest.

‘How did they make something like this again?’

Even the Archive alone could utterly crush most technological capabilities in the Central Plains, and yet artifacts like this kept being developed.

Of course, the Central Plains wasn’t exactly underdeveloped if one considered things like the Mechanized Formation System, but when it came to everyday applications, comparing it to Bayern was simply absurd.

“Wow.”

“So they have things like this, huh.”

“Reflex System, you say?”

It seemed the cadets were just as intrigued, each voicing their amazement.

Instructor Frahan looked at them with a pleased expression before continuing.

“Since a fine artifact has been developed, we should put it to use. Today, we’ll test your physical abilities with this. In the next lecture, we’ll conduct practical training and award bonus points.”

“……”

The technology of the Reflex System alone was interesting, but hearing that bonus points would be awarded made the cadets quickly raise their heads.

Though there were some variations in academic performance, everyone was confident when it came to practical training.

It didn’t even seem to have a particularly complex structure.

“The results will be divided into absolute evaluation segments. The top segment will be given bonus points according to rank. For now, link it to the Archive and start the test. Press and hold the button on top.”

Following Instructor Frahan’s words, Carl pressed and held the button on top of the sphere.

Vmmm—

With a slight vibration, the Archive window automatically activated, and a new function began to install.

ID: [Cadet] Carl Leipzig

Cadet ID recognized.

Several more windows then popped up.

The others seemed to handle the controls with ease, but Carl, who had only recently gotten used to the messaging function, stared at the screen with a stiff expression.

“We’ll proceed with the default settings first. Difficulty and speed at level 5—feel free to adjust other custom settings as you like.”

At that, Carl looked for the words ‘Default Settings.’

Finding the button at the bottom right of the Archive window, he pressed it, and just like Instructor Frahan, a cubic boundary appeared around him.

Swish! Swish!

Some cadets were busy adjusting custom settings, while others had already begun their tests.

After watching them for a moment, Carl pressed the start button.

Swish!

His wooden training sword sliced through a bright red dot floating in the air.

He had thought it was nothing but an empty illusion, yet there was a faint sensation of the sword tip catching on something.

‘So the accuracy value is determined by how precisely you cut that thing in half.’

Carl quickly understood the structure of it and gave a small nod.

It felt more like a measure of precision rather than accuracy, but either way, it seemed like a fitting function for gauging one’s skill.

What would happen if he missed?

Testing it out, he purposely let a few slip by. They immediately vanished and reappeared in a new position.

ID: [Cadet] Carl Leipzig

Difficulty: Normal

Score: 6/10

Accuracy: 52.9%

After checking the record on the Archive, Carl gave another short nod.

It was perfect for assessing physical ability while also serving as a standard for scoring.

Now he could understand why Instructor Frahan had brought it to the lecture.

“This is harder than I thought.”

“Agreed. I just barely missed one more.”

Maximilian had succeeded in hitting eight and scored 74.5%.

Gale got seven with 69.1%, showing that even cadets of similar skill levels could have quite a bit of variance.

‘The random coordinates must have contributed to that.’

Since they couldn’t predict where the dot would appear, they had to be alert in all directions.

A moment’s mistake could lead to missing the strike.

The cadets were still unfamiliar with this test, so their scores were low.

Of course, there were exceptions.

“I’ve uploaded your first records to the lecture evaluation so you can check them. Don’t worry—this won’t be reflected in your grades.”

“Ah.”

“Darn. I should’ve focused more.”

“Ugh.”

Groans filled the air at the mention of recorded scores.

Names were listed in rank order, and unsurprisingly, the top spots were filled with familiar figures.

Nerian

Score: 10/10

Accuracy: 97.1%

Louis

Score: 10/10

Accuracy: 96.5%

Laysis

Score: 10/10

Accuracy: 96.2%

Mahut

Score: 10/10

Accuracy: 95.7%

Only four cadets had managed to get all ten on their first try.

Among them, Nerian stood out with an overwhelming 97% accuracy—the only one to exceed that mark.

“That’s insane.”

“Getting all ten is already amazing, but 97.1%?”

“The top cadet really is on another level.”

“If I tried again, I think I could do better.”

“Me too. It’s not that hard.”

Instructor Frahan nodded at the fired-up cadets and spoke.

“Alright, spread out and practice on your own.”

Following that instruction, the cadets broke into small groups.

Near Carl were Maxim, Gale, Amy, Lien, and now naturally part of the group, Laysis.

Ranked third with a 96.2% accuracy, she thought for a moment when Amy asked how to do better, then replied.

“In my experience, it seems to deliberately choose difficult angles.”

“Deliberately?”

“Yes. At first glance it looks random, but when I thought back, many appeared behind, above, or in blind spots.”

“…Ah.”

Amy let out a soft sound of realization.

So she had caught on to that in her first attempt?

As expected, the second-ranked cadet was different.

“That’s why you have to move your body and change direction immediately after each strike. Chances are high the next one will appear somewhere hard to hit.”

“Thanks. That’s actually a really important tip.”

“She’s right—thank you, Miss Laysis.”

Lien, quietly listening beside them, also nodded in thanks.

“It’s nothing.”

Laysis smiled.

The men, who had been silently listening, also grew thoughtful at her words.

“Blind spots, huh.”

“Means I have to loosen up and increase my speed. Not exactly ideal for someone like me with big movements.”

“Same here. This is going to be annoying.”

Maximilian and Gale were the type to put full weight into each strike.

Now they were being asked to be quick, precise, and efficient—the exact opposite of their usual swordplay.

Normally, Carl would have joined in the conversation seriously, but today, he had noticed something odd about Maximilian and was observing him closely.

“Maxim, your complexion doesn’t look so good. Are you feeling unwell?”

“…Me?”

“Yes.”

Carl nodded.

The shadows under his eyes seemed darker than usual.

His breathing was heavy from just a single test, and his skin had a faint yellowish pallor.

Almost like someone who was ill.

“No, it’s just that I haven’t been sleeping well lately. Nothing serious.”

“For something like that, it’s lasting quite a while. Shouldn’t you get it checked out?”

If Gale was saying this, it meant it had been going on for some time.

Carl narrowed his eyes, studying Maximilian.

‘His physical injuries should’ve already healed.’

All the wounds on his body had been treated.

…Which meant the problem was mental.

Analyzing the various factors and symptoms, Carl soon had a rough idea of Maximilian’s condition.

‘A heart demon.’

A heart demon wasn’t necessarily something grand.

Even fretting over an unsolved question could be one, as could shrinking back out of fear of something.

Usually, it was an obstacle one encountered just before advancing to a higher realm.

But Maximilian’s current level was far too low for that to be the case.

Which meant…

‘An external factor has dealt a blow to his mind.’

Maximilian had a fairly optimistic personality.

He was socially active, naturally cheerful, and without much gloom.

Even now, despite being afflicted by a heart demon, he was smiling and pretending to be fine.

‘Hm.’

Carl casually shifted the conversation to another topic.

If they kept discussing it, Maximilian might feel pressured.

‘This isn’t good.’

Maximilian was a central figure in the group Carl belonged to.

If his condition worsened, it would inevitably affect the others as well.

That was a situation Carl did not want.

‘I’ll have to resolve this quickly.’

It seemed he would need to look deeper into Maximilian’s thoughts.

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