The Protagonist Already Knows

Chapter 30: Haerin’s Dilemma

Using a cold towel to wipe down my sweaty face, I exited the AI dummy room, sheathing my Dao and descending down to the first floor.

My emotions, my thoughts, my brain...I had never thought of such things when practicing.

After all, all I was doing was swinging my sword, right?

Sighing, I grabbed a cold bottle of water and looked around the crowded training hall despite it being midnight on a Friday.

With the start of the virtual reality exam only three days away, the training hall was packed with first-years, the entire main cast except Lily visible.

Glancing toward where a crowd of students had gathered, I spotted two familiar figures standing across from each other in the sparring arena.

An arrow already nocked in her bow, Carissa aimed at Haerin, who was standing on the opposite side of the arena, which was in a circular shape and about the size of our lecture hall.

Alternatively, Haerin held a broadsword diagonally in front of her body, a smirk on her face.

"GO!"

*WHOOSH*

As the shout echoed throughout the training hall, Carissa released her bowstring, the arrow barreling straight ahead at Haerin’s stomach.

However, just as the arrow was a few milliseconds away from hitting Haerin, it suddenly curved to the right.

Such a trajectory should be impossible; however, perhaps due to her training with Ren, Carissa had managed to imbue her bow and arrow with the slightest bit of mana.

And yet... repositioning herself before I had even noticed the arrow had changed trajectory, Haerin slashed her sword forward perfectly, parrying the arrow.

*BANG*

As Carissa’s arrow crumbled, limply falling to the ground like a pigeon shot out of the sky, Haerin glanced forward...only to see three more arrows flying toward her, aiming at her right, left, and her stomach.

Barreling forward like a battle ram, Haerin relied solely on her reaction time, parrying the arrows with her sword despite their last-second direction changes.

As Carissa swiftly ran to the right to place some distance between them, Haerin suddenly halted and raised her palm, pointing it to the left of Carissa.

"OOOH"

"AHHH"

In the next instant, as red sparks danced on Haerin’s fingertips, the crowd burst into awe.

At this moment, only those within the top 10 could absorb and control mana effectively enough to cast a spell.

As for imbuing weapons with mana, only Carissa and Evangel could do that.

The fiery-red sparks on Haerin’s palm united, creating a sphere the size of a baseball...unfortunately, that was all her mana capacity could muster.

As the fireball blasted forward from Haerin’s palm, Carrissa paused, her back to the boundary of the arena and her right blocked by the fireball.

Rushing forward at the trapped Carissa, Haerin easily closed the distance between them and jabbed her broadsword forward.

*CLANG*

At that last second, Carissa had moved her bow in front of her body, parrying Haerin’s sword with her bow’s metal body.

As both of them were at a standstill, Carissa suddenly reached her free left hand forward.

Her palm was glowing a light purple, as if a mini thunderstorm were taking place on it.

Strikes of purple electricity flew forward from Carissa’s palm and instantly surged toward Haerin, who was already struggling under the weight of Carissa’s recurve bow.

Sensing the danger, Haerin attempted to step back...however, she had failed to notice one thing.

The ground right behind her was glowing a dark purple as well.

It had been a trap: Carissa had predicted Haerin would rush toward her after assuming she was trapped.

As Haerin stepped into the patch of dark-purple ground, her entire body began trembling as she barely managed to hold her sword.

The purple sparks surged upward from the ground and onto Haerin’s body, electrocuting and shocking her over and over again

*WHOOSH*

*WHOOSH*

Just as Haerin managed to escape the patch of light-purple ground, her body still trembling, two arrows flew at her from the left and right.

As if to add insult...the arrows didn’t even change trajectory, making Haerin’s attempts to sidestep to the right and left useless.

*CLANG*

*CLANG*

As the two arrows hit the metal chestplate Haerin was wearing, Carissa simply smiled.

"There’s a reason for the ranking system, you know?"

As she was leaving the sparring arena, Ren joined her and whispered

"So you admit I’m be-"

"You’re really annoying; you know that, right?

Looking at Haerin, I clicked my tongue and left the training hall.

Unfortunately, despite her amazing Mana Mastery and ability to even cast spells, her mana capacity stat...was simply too low.

That’s why she had chosen Martial Arts, in hopes of using Intent to cover up her shortage of mana.

Unfortunately, just as Grandmaster Kim said, intent couldn’t co-exist with mana at the later stages.

Upon reaching the third and fourth stages of Mana Mastery, where one would cover their body with a layer of mana and imbue mana into their weapons to make them more lethal, one would have to make the choice between mana and intent.

At that point, they could not co-exist.

You could either use intent to strengthen your bones or create an external layer of mana around your body.

Martial Artists could still cast spells, but not at the same level as a full-fledged magician.

Magicians could wield weapons, but not at the same level as a complete Martial Artist.

For Haerin to become stronger, she would have to give up mana, which she had been using her entire life, and embrace intent as her primary force.

Entering my dorm building, I took a deep breath and headed downstairs, passing by the first floor.

However, when I arrived at the second floor.

[Closed for Cleaning]

A glass sign was placed on the laboratory door.

Cleaning...did they mean reconstruction?

Glancing at the metal armband on my wrist, I sighed and turned around.

Unfortunately, I had failed to replicate it: when I tried to use it before Evangel, I still suffered an elemental reaction.

Only one person could help me fix it.

Considering asking the front desk for her room number before quickly discarding the idea, I began going back up the stairs when...

*STEP*

*STEP*