In Shiyoram, Atra’s position is somewhat ambiguous.
He holds a professor’s title, but there are no courses he has properly set up. He doesn’t have a dedicated class, and there’s no particular field of research he’s engaged in.
It was only natural. Atra had entered as a special admission professor in charge of the students.
So, he’s a professor for now. He was assigned an office and occasionally runs into staff members.
They aren’t close. When they cross paths, it’s just a professional greeting.
It was the result of Atra’s naturally heavy atmosphere and antisocial tendencies.
At some point, they all started saying the same thing.
It was something he had heard after he had formed a bond with Ihayul and the priest.
“Professor, did something good happen? You’re looking bright.”
He heard it again this time.
After the semester break, Atra returned to his office after a long time. The words from one staff member came in quick succession, and Atra touched the corners of his mouth.
Touching the corners of his lips, Atra checked his reflection in the mirror.
Indeed, his lips were curling upwards. Not stiff but soft and relaxed...
“Good things... have happened, indeed...”
“Ah! I knew it! See, I told you, right? You don’t get a face that bright from just cosmetic treatments, you know?”
“My ideal beauty salon...!”
It wasn’t just that. Atra’s expression was clearly different from before.
Comparing it to the beginning of last year, it was almost like a complete transformation.
Back then, Atra’s expression was so terrifying that a slip of the tongue could get your head punched off, but now, it felt like a light tap on the head would be the worst it could do.
That’s why the staff were approaching him in a strangely friendly manner.
‘Good things...’
Atra recalled the memory from just a few hours ago and subtly turned his head.
In the center of the training field. Ihayul was sitting on the floor with his eyes tightly shut.
After finishing a magic-based sparring match, he was meditating, reflecting on the battle’s outcomes.
“......”
That scene could easily be described as a picture-perfect moment. No flaws to be found, only lovable traits.
“Ugh, honey is dripping from your eyes.”
A playful mocking voice came from below.
Atra quickly snapped back to attention and lowered his head, seeing Daera, who was sprawled on the floor covered in dust.
“During your sacred training, shouldn’t your gaze be less sticky? Huh? You’re going to die from diabetes if you keep that up.”
“Stop spouting nonsense.”
“Wow, I’ve never seen my master stutter like that before. Truly, love’s power is—”
“—Aah!”
A sharp slap echoed as Daera let out a loud scream. She even rolled on the floor, clutching her head.
Atra sighed, watching her covered in dust, resembling battered fried food.
“You’ve been resting for a moment, and already... You should focus on controlling your stamina instead of having such useless thoughts.”
“Aaagh! Why am I the only one suffering?! The priest doesn’t even hit me, just hugs me and comforts me like that!”
“Little... No, well... Ihayul doesn’t deserve to be hit like you do.”
Atra stammered over the title, then shrugged his shoulders.
Daera, rubbing her head from the slap, pouted.
“Master, I have a question.”
“Hm?”
“My unique ability... What do you think of it?”
“Your unique ability... Was it called Sky Thunder?”
Sky Thunder.
The name itself sounded quite grand, and its features did not disappoint, particularly its output.
“The output is too strong.”
But it was too strong. Even when Atra collided with it using the White Night, the sheer intensity made it impossible to suppress through a simple strength contest.
In terms of output, White Night could barely suppress Sky Thunder, confident as it was.
“Of course, you’re controlling it well, but I noticed some gaps in the fine-tuning.”
“Yeah... I don’t have experience using it with human-sized targets. When I used it on the priest, I didn’t land a single hit.”
“What the hell? Who were you trying to hit?”
“No, no, no! I didn’t know! We didn’t know who we were at the time!”
“Ah.”
A brief misunderstanding passed. Atra cleared his throat awkwardly as Daera shot him a look, then asked her real question.
“About my Sky Thunder. Could it be a hereditary ability?”
“Hereditary ability?”
At the unexpected question, Atra tilted his head, and Daera added more explanation.
“I was just curious. Like Geobhwa, Taesan, and Changhae. Since they all have elemental abilities, I wondered if Sky Thunder could also be hereditary.”
“Hm... It’s not impossible.”
It’s difficult to determine hereditary traits in advance.
The most famous hereditary abilities are the unique powers of the three great families. They only discovered it after the descendants inherited the traits from their parents.
Even without being a hereditary ability, elemental powers often pass down a degree of affinity to descendants.
“Then could it be that my and your unique abilities are hereditary? Like if we have children, they might inherit our abilities?”
“...That might be possible.”
At Daera’s pure question, Atra responded with a complex expression.
Children. The word now held a different meaning than in the past.
In the past, he never even thought about it. It would be more accurate to say he never considered it.
But now...
“...Anyway. Have you thought about the issues during your training?”
Unfit thoughts distracted Atra as he tried to shake them off.
Shaking his head to clear his mind, he steered the conversation, while Daera, who had been splashing water on her face, nodded.
“My response in human battles is lacking. The training I did years ago is still lingering, but my current habits are getting in the way.”
“Right, your skills are focused too much on large-scale battles.”
Daera’s abilities were honed for monster-filled survival.
Atra, who had heard about Daera’s background, knew this.
“That can be easily fixed with training. It’s just a matter of aligning your habits with your experience.”
“Yes.”
“You haven’t completely forgotten what you learned before, so during this semester, we’ll focus on slowly bringing those skills back.”
But...
Atra swallowed the rest of his words, squatting next to Daera, and subtly glanced at her right arm.
More precisely, the empty right arm.
In the recent sparring match, the absence of her right arm was the most glaring weakness.
Daera’s instinctual and adaptive movements compensated for the lack of her right arm, but inevitably, gaps appeared.
Such a deficiency was also a weakness in human battles.
Without ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) one of her limbs, there was a significant gap in her techniques. If you think about the connections, those gaps grew even larger.
‘What should be done about that...?’
Naturally, he wanted to regenerate it.
But it was already too late.
Atra secretly bit his lip and recalled the results of Daera’s examination.
After Daera’s return and the restoration of her identity, the examination conducted by the association showed that most of her physical functions were normal.
She hadn’t contracted any diseases, and there were no issues, likely due to her rigorous training with monsters, classifying them and handling them according to the training.
However, her right arm was the exception.
The damage it suffered before falling into the depths could not be undone.
Years had already passed.
The spiritual blueprint was long since damaged, and no matter how much regeneration power was applied, the lost arm wouldn’t grow back.
Sigh...
Thinking of that part, Atra’s stomach felt dark. It felt even worse because no solutions came to mind.
Since the spiritual blueprint was damaged, the commonly known methods of regeneration couldn’t be applied.
That meant she would need a prosthetic arm, but finding a prosthetic arm capable of meeting Daera’s level of power was practically impossible.
...
Atra, recalling a white prosthetic arm, glanced at Ihayul.
Ihayul’s left arm. Where the proof of protection had once been, a smooth, new arm had now grown.
It was something to celebrate.
Everyone had been wracking their brains to figure out how to remove that prosthetic, but it had come off by itself, and the arm had regenerated.
Thus, the prosthetic became useless. So...
‘Such foolish thinking...’
Atra reprimanded himself for even thinking about it. The artifact his disciple had acquired from some obscure place—an artifact of the highest grade.
A treasure worthy of being kept as an heirloom by any faction, and yet, he had wished to pass it off to someone else? It was a desire no thief would ever have.
Atra scolded himself as he patted Daera’s head and lifted his gaze.
Before long, their eyes met, those pure white eyes locked with his.
Without regard for the world, the gaze fixed on Atra sent a shiver down his spine.
“Uh... Are you done with your meditation?”
Atra’s voice trembled slightly as he spoke, feeling as though his foolish thoughts had been seen.
“...?”
He received no reply. Only then did Atra sense something was wrong.
Ihayul’s face had grown larger than before.
No, his cheeks were puffing up.
It was as though his cheeks were swelling up like a poisonous pufferfish. And now that he looked closer, there was clearly some displeasure in his eyes.
The soft, drooping edges of his cloak were tapping against the ground like a puppy’s tail.
In an instant, Atra’s chest sank.
“Why...?”
The words came out more shakily than before.
Atra held back the corners of his mouth that wanted to curl into a smile.
So cute.
Was he purposely acting cute? If that was the intention, it was having a huge effect. Atra was struggling with an intense internal conflict.
“......”
[...@#@...]
Ihayul didn’t respond. He only let out strange sounds from the necklace, which were incomprehensible.
He just blew air onto his cheeks, glaring at Atra with dissatisfaction.
Reading the silent will, Atra walked over to Ihayul and lifted him up from where he was sitting, holding him close in his arms.
Fortunately, he didn’t refuse being held. Instead, he wrapped his arms around Atra’s waist, as if he had been waiting for it.
With a gentle smile, Atra patted Ihayul’s head.
“Why, huh? Little one.”
Still, no answer came.
As Daera had said, even with comforting words, Ihayul remained silent, burying his face in Atra’s chest.
Was this the first time experiencing cuteness? Atra was deep in thought.
Of course, the way the cloak gently wrapped around his body was a memory from the past...
“What’s this? Why is the priest suddenly being cute?”
Daera, who had fallen to the floor after drinking three bottles of water, tilted her head.
Though their time together had been short, she had already figured out that Ihayul was quite clingy.
But to act like this even during training? This was the first time she had seen it.
Daera tilted her head and moved closer to Atra and Ihayul.
“Eh?”
As she stretched her arm to reach them, the wings of the cloak shot up to block her.
In contrast, Atra’s arms around Ihayul’s back tightened. The wings of the cloak stretched and wrapped around them more firmly.
[He’s my master.]
“Eh?”
The necklace that had been silent opened, and a voice filled with sticky emotions reached Daera’s ears.
A ridiculous thought came to her mind, one that was completely absurd...
“Priest... Are you jealous...?”
[Grrr...]
The necklace made a harsh clicking sound, almost threatening.
But there was no real malice behind it. It sounded more like a confirmation, which only made Daera’s confusion grow.
Daera’s mouth fell open in disbelief.
“No, priest! Why would you be jealous over something like this?! You’re my teacher, and he’s my teacher too!”
[Spit.]
“Spit? Spit!? Why is the priest acting all rebellious... no, wait, let me get closer...!”
[Hiss...]
As Daera charged forward, the cloak’s wings pressed against her, forcefully pushing her back.
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Despite her efforts to squirm and break through, the ever-extending cloak prevented her from moving forward.
“Eh, eh... Guys? Please calm down...”
A somewhat ridiculous scene.
But in the middle of it all, Atra, caught between them, could only stand there, perplexed, unable to laugh.