Chapter 193: A New Side of Him
[Yerin’s POV]
After nearly two hours of repeating the same coordination drills, the training session inside the simulation arena finally came to an end.
Standing near the control console at the corner of the arena, Yerin quietly adjusted several configurations on the floating interface before her, carefully recalibrating the self repair sequence to fully restore the damaged sections before shutting the system down completely.
Small cracks across the metallic floor slowly began repairing themselves as the self restoration enchantments activated one after another.
Not far behind her, the sound of slow footsteps approached after a while.
Horren had finally finished cleaning the remaining scattered pieces around the arena. Even after everything was done, he still looked somewhat awkward standing there.
Then, with a small cough, he finally spoke.
"Thanks for staying with me, Yerin. You know, you don’t really have to do that. I was the one who ended up last."
"No, it’s alright. Although I was the one who came up with that, it was just to lift everyone’s spirit."
She lightly tapped another command on the console before continuing in a calm voice.
"And it’s not like you guys know how to operate and shut down the arena console properly anyway."
A faint embarrassed smile appeared on Horren’s face after hearing that.
"Yeah... that’s true."
After finishing the final configuration, Yerin slowly pressed the last command on the floating interface before her.
The glowing screens gradually dimmed down one by one as the arena’s systems entered standby mode.
"Done," Yerin quietly muttered before stepping away from the console.
Horren let out a small relieved sigh after seeing that everything was finally finished.
Then, both of them slowly walked across the now empty arena, heading towards the exit.
*****
Later, as the two of them exited the training hall, Yerin suddenly glanced toward the corner of the corridor before her footsteps slowly came to a stop.
"What’s wrong?"
Horren asked after noticing the sudden change in Yerin’s expression.
However, Yerin didn’t reply immediately.
Her soft hazel eyes quietly remained fixed toward the dark corner ahead while the atmosphere around her gradually turned colder.
Then, with a calm but serious voice, she finally spoke.
"If you came here for something, then come out and say it directly. There’s no point hiding anymore."
Almost immediately after Yerin’s words fell, several chaotic whispers suddenly echoed from behind the dark corner ahead.
"I told you already that we got spotted!"
"How is this my fault?! You were the one breathing so loudly!"
"Then maybe you shouldn’t keep pushing me from behind!"
"You literally stepped on my foot first!"
Hearing those arguing voices, both Yerin and Horren slowly looked at each other before simultaneously lifting an eyebrow.
The atmosphere instantly became strange.
After that, they both turned their gaze back toward the corner once again while silently waiting for whoever was hiding there to finally come out.
Several more noises echoed afterward, followed by what sounded like someone hitting another person lightly.
Then finally, after a few moments of complete mess, the people hiding there eventually revealed themselves.
There were three people.
The first one to walk out was a young man with auburn hair and sharp golden eyes. His face carried a slightly annoyed expression, almost as if he was already tired from dealing with the people behind him even before coming out.
He was Griffer.
Behind him were two women.
One of them was a girl with long wavy navy blue hair flowing down behind her shoulders elegantly, while the other possessed long dark hair alongside a calm but awkward expression on her face.
Noelle and Melia.
The three of them stood there silently for a few seconds after being exposed.
Without even waiting for them to explain themselves first, Yerin narrowed her eyes slightly before asking in a calm but cold voice.
"Why are you following us?"
The auburn-haired young man immediately raised both of his hands slightly the moment Yerin questioned them.
"S-sorry."
He scratched the back of his head roughly while avoiding Yerin’s gaze for a second, his eyes shifting awkwardly to the side as if feeling embarrassed from getting caught like this.
"We thought Ruvian was still inside the training hall, so we only came here to check on him, that’s all. But... turns out he already left before this. We weren’t trying to spy on you guys or anything."
After saying that, he immediately crossed his arms afterward while pretending to look composed, but the slight redness creeping toward his ears completely ruined the effect.
Hearing that explanation, the coldness within Yerin’s gaze slowly softened slightly.
’Hm... so they are Ruvian’s friends?’
For a while, her hazel eyes quietly observed the three of them once again before she finally let out a small sigh inwardly.
"I see..."
Her voice remained soft and pleasant to hear, yet somehow still gave a natural pressure towards the three of them.
"But if you only wanted to meet him, then why not just approach him directly instead of secretly following him like this?"
As she said that, Yerin tilted her head slightly while looking at them quietly.
Before Griffer could even respond properly, Noelle, the woman beside him, suddenly smiled brightly before pushing him forward without hesitation.
"It was his idea by the way."
The moment those words entered the air, Griffer’s entire body immediately stiffened.
Noelle, however, completely ignored him and continued speaking casually while pointing at him with her thumb.
"He wanted to know how strong Ruvian already became, but he was too shy to ask directly."
Griffer’s face instantly turned completely red.
"W-what?!"
He immediately spun around toward Noelle so fast that even Horren slightly blinked in surprise.
"Since when was that my idea?! You’re the one who kept saying we should come here and—"
Unfortunately for him, before he could continue exposing the rest of the story, Noelle already covered his mouth with both hands from behind.
"Mmph—?!"
At the same time, she quickly dragged him backward slightly while laughing awkwardly toward Yerin and Horren.
"A-Ahaha... anyway..."
Her smile twitched slightly from embarrassment as Griffer continued struggling in front of her while trying to remove her hands from his mouth.
"Since Ruvian is no longer here, we should probably leave now. Sorry for bothering both of you."
Beside them, the dark-haired woman, Melia merely stared at the entire scene with a secondhand embarrassment.
After that, she quietly lowered her head slightly toward Yerin in apology before slowly turning around, clearly preparing to escape together with the other two.
However...
"Wait."
Yerin’s soft voice suddenly echoed once more through the corridor. Immediately, the three of them froze at the same time.
"Before you leave... there’s something I want to ask first."
*****
After Yerin finished asking what she wanted to know, she finally allowed the three of them to leave.
Soon, their figures gradually disappeared into the far end of the corridor once again, leaving only silence behind.
For several seconds, Horren simply stood there blankly while staring toward the direction they had left. His expression still looked somewhat shaken, still struggling to process everything he had just heard.
Then finally, he said, "Do you think... they were actually telling the truth?"
Horren turned toward Yerin while asking that question, his eyes carrying visible disbelief.
Yerin quietly remained silent before calmly nodding her head slightly.
"I think so."
As she spoke, she slowly lifted one hand toward her chin while falling into thought.
"After all... there’s no real reason for them to lie about something like that."
Hearing that, Horren immediately frowned deeply.
"But isn’t that too ridiculous?"
His voice unconsciously became slightly louder from shock before he quickly lowered it again afterward.
"How can someone suddenly master Pure Mana affinity in only one month? Especially when he originally didn’t even possess any affinity at all?" (+300PP)
Even while saying it himself, Horren still looked like he could barely believe those words were real.
After all, everyone within the academy clearly understood how difficult it was to even begin practicing new affinity, let alone master it.
Most people would probably need years just to barely control it properly.
Yet according to what those three had just told them, Ruvian managed to do it within only one month.
One month!
The more Horren thought about it, the more absurd it sounded.
This time, Yerin didn’t answer immediately.
Her hazel eyes quietly lowered slightly while recalling everything she had seen from Ruvian until now.
Truthfully, she also found the entire matter difficult to fully understand.
It wasn’t that she doubted their words.
It was just that... the whole thing sounded far too unbelievable to exist normally.
’It seemed like he’s not an ordinary person.’
After several seconds, she finally let out a soft breath before looking toward Horren.
"Anyway, Horren..."
Her voice became slightly more serious this time.
"Let’s keep this only between us for now."
Then after a short pause, she added quietly.
"Don’t tell anyone else about this. Not even Arlok and Shima."
Horren stared at her for several moments before eventually nodding his head slowly.
"Alright..."
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[Chapter 193: A New Side of Him]
Plot Points= 32,030
