Chapter 13: Testing My Limit (1)

Just like that, I passed the first party training class. Moreover, for the first time in my life, I received something I’d never gotten before: a bonus score—a whole two points, no less.

Professor Kane explained the rewards to me. “A three-eyed demonic monster is worth one point, and a four-eyed demonic monster is worth three.”

“Then why did we get two?” I asked in displeasure.

“Because someone broke the restraint-type magical device,” he replied.

“I didn’t break them.”

“Don’t you know that in a party, responsibility is shared?”

Damn it! I cursed inside, then said, “If we’re talking responsibility, doesn’t some of that fall on you, Professor?”

“Oh? How’s it my fault?” Professor Kane asked curiously.

“You never said we weren’t allowed to kill them.”

“Don’t you know what capture means? Do you even understand how much it costs to raise a single demonic monster for training use? Of course, you’re not supposed to kill them!”

“I don’t even have a counterargument, which somehow makes this even more annoying.” Suppressing a groan, I slouched back in the chair inside the faculty office.

Professor Kane turned his eyes toward me. “Anyway, why do you keep showing up here every free period like it’s your damn living room?”

“Well, with all the rumors flying around lately, people won’t stop staring at me when I’m outside,” I replied.

In that sense, Professor Kane’s office had become the perfect hideout from the ever-watchful eyes of the other cadets.

“Tch. What a cocky brat you are. What, you think I’m your buddy now? Huh? Are we friends or something?” He looked like he was about to launch into a tirade about how I dared use his sacred office as a personal safehouse.

“Remember last fall’s cultural festival?” I said.

“Huh? What about it?” Professor Kane asked.

“They held a poetry contest, right? Something about how heroes need a basic appreciation for literature and the arts.”

“So?”

“Not many people joined, so it didn’t exactly make headlines, but the piece that won that contest… was a touching, anonymous love poem.”

Seeing Professor Kane fall silent, I continued, “A beautiful poem filled with wistful longing for an unrequited love.”

“R-really? I must’ve missed that one. Not much of a poetry guy myself,” he said.

“Is that so? How strange!” I said.

Then I slowly rose from my chair and pulled a thick book titled “Study of Advanced Combat” off the shelf. More specifically, I slid out a thin, white sheet of paper tucked between the heavy book. “If you didn’t know about the contest, then why do you have that anonymous love poem?”

“Y-you little! How did you?!”

“Hm. Aren’t you at least curious? About who submitted it and won?” I said.

“Ugh!”

Smiling sweetly, I unfolded the paper. “Professor Kane.”

On it, in Professor Kane’s unmistakable handwriting, was the very love poem that had won first place.

“You’re quite the poet.” I then recited the delicate verses written on the page. “You, whom I loved so dearly.”

“S-stop!”

“I cannot bring myself to forget you, not for a moment in my life.”

“Stop it!”

“Though I knew you’d never be mine.”

“I said stop, you bastard!” he shouted.

“I still thought of you constantly. All on my own, in silence.”[1]

With the roar of a wild beast, Professor Kane lunged at me. Despite being nearly two meters tall, he moved with astonishing speed. In the blink of an eye, he was upon me, reaching out for the paper in my hand.

I spun away, trying to dodge his grasp. “Oops!”

But he had anticipated my moves. “Where do you think you’re going?!”

Twisting his body mid-lunge, he snatched the white sheet from my hand with frightening precision.

He’s fast. Though I was not trying my best to dodge, he had taken the paper from me too easily. I could understand why Professor Kane was known as one of the most skilled instructors in the academy.

“Huff! Huff! You little bastard… How did you even find this?”

“I found it while cleaning over winter break.”

Well, technically, it wasn’t the winter break that had just passed; it was the one coming up in about nine months. However, I had indeed found it while cleaning the room in my past life.

“Cleaning? What the hell were you doing cleaning my— Oh.” Professor Kane’s brow furrowed, but his train of thought halted mid-interrogation.

Normally, cadets would go home or on vacation somewhere during school breaks, but those like me, orphans on a government scholarship, were different. During breaks, we didn’t get a stipend, so we stayed behind and took on maintenance jobs such as cleaning or managing the facility to make ends meet.

Left with no grounds to scold me, Professor Kane groaned quietly and crumpled the paper in his hand. “Hmph. Even if you found this, no one would believe you without proof.”

“Oh, that copy? It’s just a duplicate. I’ve got the original safely stored.”

“Son of a…” Professor Kane tossed the wrinkled paper into the trash bin. He sighed deeply, the sound escaping through gritted teeth. “Fine. Fine! I give up, you brat. Do whatever you want. Live in here, for all I care!”

“Thank you, Professor.”

“Don’t ‘thank you’ me, you little…”

“In that case, I have one more request.”

“You shameless brat! What now?!”

“Would you spar with me?”

“What?” Professor Kane’s eyes widened in disbelief. He gave me a once-over, then spoke with a look of utter bewilderment. “Sparring? You want to spar with me right now?”

“Yes.”

“Well, if it’s without mana, then…”

“No, I’d like you to go all out.”

His gaze hardened as he stared at me. If I had to put it into words, his look probably meant something like, “Has this bastard gone crazy?”

His reaction was normal. A mere cadet asking a professor to spar at full strength, it was bound to come off as ridiculous. Especially since I wasn’t just asking any professor; I was asking Lucas Kane, the Bloodthirsty Hound.

Among the countless heroes out there, he was ranked in the top 100. Naturally, this ranking wasn’t referring to the cadets’ overall ranking, which was limited to those who hadn’t even received their official Hero License yet.

This was the real deal, existing on an entirely different level. Known as the Tri-Nation Hero Rankings, it was a master list drawn up by bored pundits who loved ranking people.

Of course, its accuracy was laughable compared to the cadets’ overall rankings.

It wasn’t based on measurable, consistent tests like the cadets’ overall rankings were. Instead, it was a collage of rumors, scattered achievements, and anecdotal feats. So obviously, its precision left much to be desired.

Still, even if it was mostly hearsay, making it into the top hundred among tens of thousands of heroes meant something. It meant that your strength as a hero had been recognized, at least unofficially. Such a person wasn’t the kind of person a mere cadet should be casually asking for a duel.

Which was exactly why I thought this test was perfect. Nine days had passed since I had returned to the past, and yet, I had been unable to confirm one thing. Where do I currently stand?

Back in my previous life, after my comrades had all perished, I had wandered the continent alone for thousands of years and spent that endless time refining everything I had learned.

The swordsmanship I learned from Yuren, the hand-to-hand combat I learned from Berald, and the theories of magic I learned from Senior Sophia.

I analyzed them in my own way and pushed them further, molding them into something unique. One might think it was meaningless, training alone in a world that had already ended. Without it, however, I would’ve gone completely insane.

In that crushing solitude, the one thing that gave me even a fragment of comfort was practicing the techniques my comrades had passed on to me. When I swung my sword and fists, as well as researched magic theory, I could almost feel them there beside me.

However, I didn’t know whether I had actually refined and improved what they taught me. After all, I was considered the biggest, talentless blockhead in the entire history of Reynald Academy.

What are the chances that I improved their techniques? I wondered.

Realistically speaking, it was far more likely that I’d taken them a step backward than forward. I mean, despite thousands of years of relentless training, I had never once reached even the fringe of the “pinnacle” that Yuren used to go on about.

Which is why I need to know if those thousands of years I spent struggling to keep my sanity amounted to anything. I need to know where my full power stands right now. And to find that out.

I needed someone whose skills were verified, like Professor Kane. Someone whose strength was undeniable. Someone I could trust to test me.

“An all-out duel, huh. You and me?” Professor Kane snorted, giving me a sharp look. “I thought you had just changed a bit lately, but now you’re really off the deep end, aren’t you, Dale?”

“I know. It’s a ridiculous request.”

“Then why ask it?”

“Because I need it right now. More than anything.”

Maybe he saw the honesty in my eyes. After glaring at me for a moment longer, he finally looked away with a long sigh. “Fine. I’ve been curious too, actually. Just how much you’ve been hiding.”

The legs of his chair scraped against the floor as he stood. In that instant, it felt like the entire atmosphere of the room shifted, as if a wild beast had woken from its slumber.

“You do understand, right? What an all-out duel means.” Professor Kane reached toward the wall and grabbed the two axes mounted there. These weren’t wooden or training weapons. They were genuine, razor-sharp twin axes that gleamed ominously.

The air thickened, almost stank of blood. An intense killing intent flooded the room and focused on me. I smiled faintly and drew the real sword I had prepared in advance. “Of course I do.”

***

At the dueling arena within the academy, Professor Kane stood in the center. “You get five minutes.”

Holding only one of the axes now, he traced a circle on the ground with his foot, roughly a meter in diameter. “Use whatever you’ve got. Just get me out of this circle.”

Feeling somewhat disappointed, I asked, “Didn’t you agree to an all-out duel?”

“Before we get to that, let’s see if you’re even worth the trouble.”

Ah. That’s how it’s going to be? I gave a short nod and drew the sword hanging at my side.“Fine by me.”

I inhaled deeply, focusing my mind on the left side of my chest. A light radiated from my soul stigmata, wrapping my body in energy. “Here I come.”

This was it. The first time I was using my full power since returning to the past. Whether it would work on someone like Professor Kane, even I wasn’t sure.

My physical conditioning and mana were still far behind what they were in my past life, but that didn’t matter. I had something else, something better: the legacy passed down from my fallen comrades, honed over centuries of solitude.

I exhaled the breath I’d been holding and kicked off the ground.

Bang!

I unfolded the Sun Sword Style Second Form: Slaying Moon. Then, a deafening metallic screech rang out.

Professor Kane barely managed to block the attack by raising his axe in time. “You insane little fu—!”

However, the sheer force sent him sliding back, skidding across the ground, past the line of the circle. His eyes widened in disbelief.

I tilted my head slightly, watching the professor who had just been forcibly pushed out of his own circle. A smirk tugged at my lips. “How was that? Am I worth your full power now?”

It hadn’t even taken five seconds, let alone five minutes.

1. The poem quoted here in the chapter was partially inspired by the poem “This Kind of Poem” by Lee Sang. ☜

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