Chapter 20

Chapter 20

Chapter 20. No Need to Worry

Tesca Academy’s main building.

Past the huge entrance stood a public notice board directly ahead.

A large green board created through magic, about the size of a full-height window.

An unusually large number of students had gathered around it since early morning.

And every student who checked it grabbed their head.

“It’s real!”

“It really is!”

“Kawin Anper? Who the hell is that?”

“W-what the hell. He’s a first-year?”

“Senior Cedric. Why would he make that choice?”

“No way! I thought Senior Cedric would pick me!”

One week after Kawin dropped that bombshell in the classroom.

The list of ‘Challenge’ selections made by the graduates had been posted.

Most names on the list belonged to students who were now third-years.

Even useful advice was wasted if the recipient lacked the skill to understand it.

First- and second-years whose abilities were too far below theirs were outside the graduates’ interest.

Except one person.

Kawin Anper.

Step. Step.

The freshman who had instantly caught the attention of the entire Academy.

Kawin Anper entered the main building.

‘That guy is Kawin?’

‘Doesn’t look all that impressive...’

‘How did Senior Cedric choose him?’

‘Wasn’t Lightning magic... weak as hell?’

Kawin calmly walked through the flood of stares.

When he looked up at the notice board, his reaction wasn’t much different from everyone else’s.

“It’s real.”

Cedric had really chosen him.

Even though Kawin hadn’t submitted a Challenge application.

Their reactions were similar, but Kawin’s feelings toward Cedric were the exact opposite of the other students’.

‘He really hated seeing me get close to Frasel.’

Kawin smiled faintly.

At first, he had been cautious about attracting attention.

But now that things had come this far, it seemed like a good opportunity instead.

The grimoire made from the red carpet.

To decipher it, he needed to attract the attention of many professors.

In that sense, the graduation Challenge against Cedric was a perfect chance to advertise himself.

‘And there’s something I personally want to test.’

After checking the list, Kawin turned around.

A female student in a cat mask was already standing before him.

“Kawin. I need to talk to you alone.”

“Mm.”

Kawin nodded, and the nearby students’ eyes widened.

The upperclassmen weren’t accustomed to seeing the two interact.

“Frasel... wasn’t she the Seventh Princess?”

“That famous cat mask...!”

“Her voice is dripping with honey.”

“What’s going on between those two?”

“Tch. First Senior Cedric, now even a princess is obsessed with him?”

“Damn it. If you’re jealous, you lose!”

“His face is just pale like he’s covered in powder. A man should look healthy! Like me!”

“Wipe your tears first...”

Leaving the misunderstanding-filled gazes behind, Kawin and Frasel sat in the deepest corner of the student café.

“What’s wrong?”

“Well...”

Frasel hesitated, fidgeting with her fingers.

Then suddenly raised her head.

“I-I’ll contact the Royal Guard. I’ll ask them to remove you from the Challenge.”

“The Royal Guard?”

Kawin rounded his lips.

Cedric Guardner.

His family had served the imperial family for generations.

There were likely people connected to Cedric among the current Royal Guard.

The problem was,

“Frasel. Didn’t you say there was nobody close to you in the imperial family?”

“N-not nobody.”

Her narrow shoulders twitched at Kawin’s words.

“T-there are one or two people.”

“Ah. I see...”

“The other students seem jealous of you, but I know. Cedric didn’t choose you for a good reason.”

“Oh.”

Kawin blinked his blue eyes in surprise.

Had she somehow sensed the bad intentions coming from Cedric?

She was genuinely worried about Kawin’s safety.

“Probably because I’m a princess and keep following you around, and because you keep beating me up.”

“Calling it beating you up is a little...”

“W-well, I did ask for it.”

Kawin chuckled.

Either way, Frasel was right.

Cedric had personally used the words ‘proper education,’ so there was no chance this graduation Challenge would be heartwarming.

He probably wouldn’t be satisfied unless a bone or two broke.

‘Same for me.’

Kawin pushed a glass of iced coffee toward Frasel.

“Drink. I don’t think anyone’s around.”

“Mhm.”

Frasel slightly lifted her cat mask and drank the coffee.

Kawin watched indifferently, then his eyes suddenly brightened.

“Frasel. Your...?”

“Hehe. You noticed?”

An excited voice came from beneath the slightly raised mask.

Kawin had clearly seen it.

The eruptions that had once covered her entire face had improved considerably.

“It’s all thanks to you, Kawin. I’m always grateful.”

“Thanks to me?”

“Yeah. Every time you hit my mask, it keeps getting better. That’s why I don’t want you getting hurt even more.”

“Then when you asked about Lightning’s hidden power... was this what you meant?”

“Of course. Kawin, you don’t even know about your own power?”

“...Haha.”

Kawin chuckled.

He had been on full alert because of what she said a week ago.

Turns out there had been no need.

“Yeah. I didn’t know. I don’t understand the principle, but it seems like really good news for you.”

“Kawin...”

“You’re right. Senior Cedric probably opened this Challenge as a warning to me. He wants me to know better than to treat a member of the imperial family carelessly.”

“Right. So...”

“What do you think?”

Kawin’s question cut Frasel off.

She hesitated in confusion.

“What I... think?”

“Forget Cedric and the Challenge. I’m asking what you want to do with me from now on.”

“I... well...”

A clear voice came from behind the cat mask.

Rough but steady breathing.

And a constant scent of sweat.

“I want to keep getting along with you, Kawin.”

Frasel was speaking sincerely.

“That’s enough. Frasel, you’re worried I’ll get hurt in the Challenge, right?”

“Well... yes?”

“Then there’s no need to worry.”

Kawin took a sip of coffee and spoke as coolly as the ice inside it.

“I won’t get hit even once.”

* * *

“All right! Honored guests, please come this way!”

“Who parked a carriage here? Have you no shame?”

“T-the Deputy Tower Master is here! Contact the staff immediately!”

“Merchant masters who notified us in advance, please come this way!”

Even students who usually slept late had no choice but to get out of bed today.

The commotion could be heard from all the way near the Academy entrance.

Tesca Academy’s 99th graduation ceremony.

At Tesca, proud of its century-long history, this was the day ten geniuses were produced.

“We will now begin Tesca Academy’s graduation ceremony!”

The mana-infused declaration resonated in the hearts of everyone attending.

Magically created flower petals filled the sky overhead,

while a band dispatched from the capital began a grand performance.

Ten graduates began walking to the rhythm of huge drums.

They were no longer apprentice mages who still needed to accumulate achievements.

Starting today, they would become ‘Initiates,’ officially incorporated into Illumina’s military power.

“Whoa...”

Tesca Academy students gathered on the right side.

Their burning gazes focused on the graduates.

The reason they had come to this Academy.

The beings they desperately wanted to become.

Their ultimate ideal stood in the middle of the ceremony grounds.

“They look fucking strong just standing there.”

“Why are their eyes so vicious?”

“I feel like I’d piss myself making eye contact.”

“No wonder. They spent three years fighting nonstop in this hellhole called Tesca.”

“Are we going to... end up with faces like that too?”

“Except for that black-haired senior, they all look like Astallon bastards.”

Admiration and fear.

Somewhere between the two.

Tesca’s current students stared as though looking up at beings from another world.

And on one side,

“Hey, hey. Don’t joke around.”

Walther looked completely sick as he asked the cat-masked girl beside him,

“Kawin’s going to fight one of those guys?”

“Mhm.”

Frasel nodded slightly.

“I heard Senior Cedric is among the top three graduates by score. And he’s the top Martial Mage.”

“Hah!”

Walther’s face went rigid.

As though his head were throbbing.

He rubbed his temple with a bone from his skeleton soldier.

“You said you had coffee alone with Kawin yesterday. Didn’t he say anything? Like wanting to run away, or asking you to use an imperial order to save him?”

“He did... say something.”

“What?”

“He said he wouldn’t get hit even once.”

“Well, obviously. No matter how incredible Kawin is, how could he beat Senior Cedric? Especially since Senior Cedric is a Martial Mage...”

“Kawin.”

“A Martial Mage... what?”

“Kawin said he wouldn’t get hit even once.”

Walther Franken sat with his mouth open, proudly displaying the length of his tongue.

After falling into a brief panic, he stared toward the building inside the ceremony grounds.

“Kawin says vague things sometimes, but...”

“He doesn’t say things he can’t keep.”

Frasel finished Walther’s sentence.

At some point, her hands had clasped together as though in prayer.

‘Kawin. Don’t get hurt. Even if you do, I’ll heal you.’

Just like you did for me.

And at the place those desperate eyes were focused on, Kawin was...

* * *

“Pfft.”

grinning foolishly.

Good thing nobody else was around, or they might have thought he’d gone insane from fear of the Challenge.

‘Thanks. For a lot of things.’

Kawin was genuinely grateful to Senior Cedric.

The reason was,

Whoooom!

the Orbis, Kawin’s unique Circle, which had now become two layers thick.

‘It feels like I added another ring to my finger.’

It felt heavier.

More solid.

With the Orbis now two-layered, the sparks churning around it had also grown more ferocious.

The meaning was obvious.

His mana capacity had increased.

His magical power had strengthened as well.

The Divine Bolt from the day he first deciphered the grimoire would now be shattered by today’s Divine Bolt.

[Stormlord - Second Step]

[Passive: Electric Predation Lv2]

[Passive: Electro-Perception Lv2]

[Passive: Lightning Speed Lv2]

[First Orbis]

Every value engraved on the Orbis pointed to the ‘next stage.’

Not only his mana and magical power, but even the special abilities Dharma had passed down had advanced one level.

How had this happened?

‘It’s all the result of preparation.’

Electric Predation.

He had fought frequently in order to make full use of it.

He had defeated Bain, the Astallon spy.

He had Challenged Frasel almost every day.

And even the brief exchange he had shared one week ago with,

‘Cedric Guardner.’

Ironically, that single clash with Cedric had been decisive.

Cedric wasn’t some ordinary First-Circle freshman, but a Second-Circle graduate.

The magical power that collided with Kawin had flowed straight into the Orbis through Electric Predation.

And the result was...

‘The grimoire’s power upgraded.’

The single ring of his Orbis became two layers.

That direct growth made him feel full even without eating.

How much stronger had he become?

The timing couldn’t have been better.

He was about to face one of Tesca Academy’s most promising graduates.

‘Cedric. Does he know?’

Picking a fight with Kawin.

And the Challenge that was about to begin.

Just how sweet a source of nourishment all of it would become for him.

Knock knock knock.

“Kawin Anper. Are you ready?”

An event staff member called from outside the waiting-room door.

Instead of answering, Kawin firmly grabbed the handle and pulled the door open.