Seo Ye-in and Fast-Luckless looked at each other and tilted their heads.
“...?”
—...?
“Strong reaction.”
—I just said the sweet buns were good.
“Honest review.”
Song Cheonhye’s expression turned awkward.
Apparently she’d realized they’d meant it innocently and that she’d overreacted.
After letting out a small sigh, she looked at me and checked,
“Needless to say, we’re doing this while I maintain [Lightning Rod], right?”
“That’s right.”
“How many should I start with?”
“How about two? Even if they’re a little unstable, you can still keep them up.”
Getting to three already took full concentration, and even then, the whole thing looked like it would collapse if you poked it.
Song Cheonhye nodded readily.
“I think that’s best too.”
“Then get ready.”
Next, I walked over to the two Seo Ye-ins.
I’d called them special guests, but if I just had them spar with her, they’d get bored fast.
So I needed to give them a little extra motivation.
“Starting today, I’m planning to put challenge [Austerity] on her too.”
“...Number four.”
—Womanizer.
“Don’t get ahead of yourselves. That’s not the point I’m making.”
“...?”
“What exactly is Miss Song trying to learn?”
“...”
The sloth and Fast-Luckless seemed to search their memories for a moment.
Back in the entertainment district, when they’d been eating sweet buns and planning out the tutoring.
And the keyword that had come up then was—
“...★Blink★.”
—★Blink★.
“Exactly. Doesn’t that seem unfair? Some people have to work hard and trudge around on foot.”
“You use ★Blink★ too.”
—You’re the worst one here.
Both arrows turned toward me, but I let them slide off and asked,
“But Miss Song still needs to be disciplined too, right?”
“...That is also true.”
—The only good mage is a mage without ★Blink★.
That seemed like enough motivation, so I quietly stepped aside.
Soon, Seo Ye-in and Fast-Luckless walked to the middle of the training room.
They rummaged around in their inventories and pulled out pots.
At that, something flickered in Song Cheonhye’s eyes.
“Your weapons?”
“? Here.”
“No, I mean, where are your mana guns?”
“Close-combat training.”
Seo Ye-in answered as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
Song Cheonhye looked somewhat convinced.
Just as she wanted to shore up her [Lightning Rod], her opponent might want to sharpen pot-based close combat.
Even so, she still seemed unable to shake the feeling that she was being looked down on, and her brow narrowed slightly.
Using no support weapon from the very start, not even for the opening?
“...Let’s begin.”
“Confirmed.”
Both sides finished preparing and stared at each other for a moment.
Then the two Seo Ye-ins kicked off the ground and opened the spar.
They closed the distance in a flash.
CRACKLE
Song Cheonhye also released a storm of electric current from her whole body.
She summoned one [Lightning Rod] on either side of herself and gripped a thick bolt of lightning in each hand like dual blades.
Then she swung them and collided with Seo Ye-in.
KRAKOOOM!
“...!”
Song Cheonhye’s eyes flew wide.
No matter what, she’d expected to hold the advantage in close combat.
But her opponent wasn’t giving an inch.
And on top of that, Fast-Luckless sprang up and swung her hologram pot down from the side.
WHOOOM!
Song Cheonhye ducked low and barely avoided it, then hurled a lightning bolt at Fast-Luckless.
At the same time, she brought the other lightning blade crashing into Seo Ye-in’s pot.
KRAKOOOM!
But the two Seo Ye-ins deflected both attacks without the slightest trouble and kept swinging their pots.
Instead, Song Cheonhye was the one forced backward onto the defensive.
The exact opposite of what she’d expected when the spar began.
“How is your close combat even—?!”
“Super genius.”
—Complete all-rounder.
Then Song Cheonhye seemed to realize something and shot me a look.
I tipped my chin, telling her her guess was right.
Naturally, I taught them too.
If anything, Seo Ye-in had probably been hit with the squeaky hammer more times than Song Cheonhye had.
And when clearing challenge [Austerity] quests, Ahn Jeongmi and Dang Gyu-young had to be included too, so the total was much higher.
In the first place, Seo Ye-in had never been an opponent Song Cheonhye could confidently beat in close quarters.
WHOOOM! WHOOOM!
The pot swings kept coming without pause.
Song Cheonhye looked overwhelmed just trying to dodge them, parry them with lightning, and maintain her [Lightning Rods] at the same time.
I watched for a while, then offered a bit of advice.
“Why not try using those [Lightning Rods]? Since you made two and all.”
“H-how?”
“That’s for you to figure out.”
“Isn’t that way too irresponsible?”
“I’m serious.”
There was no single right answer to a skill with this many possible linkups.
If I handed her the answer, it would only limit her imagination, which would hurt her in the long run.
Song Cheonhye seemed to understand the intent behind it, but—
“Why are you saying that now?”
Would it kill me to bring that up when she actually had room to think?
The next moment, she jerked sideways in alarm.
WHOOOM!
“Eek—”
Because a dented pot had come screaming at her through the air.
It barely grazed past her light-brown hair, and right behind it came a hologram pot.
WHOOOM!
A nonstop barrage of chained pot attacks.
But the two Seo Ye-ins exchanged a few dissatisfied words.
“...Not hitting.”
—Good at dodging.
“Butler taught.”
—Same teacher.
“But only a matter of time.”
—Let’s corner her.
“Trap?”
—Good idea.
Seo Ye-in slammed the Immortal Pot down and, at the same time, formed a ball of light over her other hand.
Then she whipped it at Song Cheonhye.
[Fickle Trap]
[Trap Toss]
“...!”
Song Cheonhye had seen the terrifying power of that trap several times already.
Even in the final exams, it had split a giant golem clean in half.
If it touched her, the pots would start to feel cute by comparison.
To make things worse, the glowing ball flying in an arc suddenly flashed and vanished midway, then skipped forward and closed the distance.
[Space Fold] was chained into it.
“...!”
In that split second, Song Cheonhye twisted her body with superhuman reflexes and concentration.
She slipped past both the pot and the trap by the width of a sheet of paper.
But then Fast-Luckless rushed in from the side.
—I am invincible.
She threw a [Fickle Trap] onto the floor and stomped down on it.
The previous combo had only been there to draw Song Cheonhye’s attention.
The real play had been something else entirely.
The next moment, wooden vines burst explosively out of the ground.
WHOOOOSH!
They coiled around the legs of both Song Cheonhye and Fast-Luckless.
In other words, Song Cheonhye had nowhere left to retreat.
And right on top of that, Seo Ye-in swung her pot with a full-body strike.
“...I’m teaching you a lesson.”
Bad Blink mage.
Song Cheonhye hurriedly gathered electric current, summoned another bolt of lightning, and swung it up.
KRAKOOOM!
She managed to block it once.
But her feet were bound, and the enemy’s assault kept coming.
The Immortal Kim Ho Kim Ho Pot was dropping again.
At that moment, for whatever reason, Song Cheonhye thrust both hands out to either side.
More precisely, toward the [Lightning Rods] positioned on both sides of her.
BZZZT—
The things that had done nothing but stand there throughout the whole fight suddenly shot across the air and landed in Song Cheonhye’s hands in the form of lightning.
With one, she smashed into the pot again.
KRAKOOOM!
With the other, she drove it into the ground.
A wave of electric current spread outward, centered on Song Cheonhye.
[Lightning Nova]
BZZZT—
It was a way to both destroy the wooden vines binding her and damage her opponents at the same time.
Since it was a wide-area attack, it would be impossible to dodge.
That should have restricted their movement at least a little.
And if she used that opening right, she could counterattack.
—or so she thought.
But what Song Cheonhye saw next was Seo Ye-in walking straight through the wave of electricity as if it meant nothing.
And flying at her even faster than that—
the Immortal Pot.
CLANG!
“...”
“...”
The spar fell into a brief lull.
A huge lump had swollen up on Song Cheonhye’s head.
It must have hurt like hell, because tears had welled up in the corners of her eyes.
And the mental blow seemed just as bad.
For the first time, she’d finally used her [Lightning Rods] to launch what should have been a decisive counterattack, only for it to get shut down cold.
Looking bewildered, she asked Seo Ye-in,
“You had it? Lightning resistance gear? A trait?”
“Yeah.”
—Very sturdy.
“But then why at the very end...?”
“Mind game.”
—Hide it until the decisive moment.
“Ah...!”
Song Cheonhye let out a low gasp of realization.
Pretend you had no way to defend, then push in at the last instant and bonk.
Without realizing it, she’d been dragged right into her opponent’s setup.
But she would’ve lost even without the mind game.
That resistance trait wasn’t just anything either.
It was S-rank [Elemental Resistance].
Even knowing that better than anyone, Song Cheonhye didn’t get discouraged.
If anything, her fighting spirit burned even hotter.
“If anything, this is better. The harder it is, the more I’ll improve.”
It looked like she was starting to get a feel for how to use [Lightning Rod] too.
For now, it was probably fine to leave the two of them bickering for a while.
*****
Seo Ye-in and Song Cheonhye were doing just fine on their own now, which meant I didn’t need to stay glued to their side and watch.
In that case, the smarter move was to turn my attention to the others for the time being.
So after sending out a message, I headed for Go Hyeonwoo’s training room.
KWAKAKAKA—
A massive gale of sword force tore the training dummies to pieces.
Fresh ones were immediately swapped in, and Go Hyeonwoo took his stance again, as if about to raise his sword energy once more.
But then he sensed my presence.
He sheathed his sword and greeted me with a gentle smile.
“Welcome.”
“Did I interrupt you? You were training hard.”
“Not at all. If you have come for something, that naturally takes priority over everything else.”
“It is fairly important.”
“...!”
As if he’d guessed what I was going to say next, Go Hyeonwoo’s eyes flashed.
“I am listening.”
“[Invitation]. The cooldown’s up.”
“...At last, the time has come. I have been looking forward to this for quite some time.”
A powerful yearning shone in Go Hyeonwoo’s eyes—rare for him.
He was a born martial artist to begin with, the sort whose eyes lit up at the chance to spar with the strong.
And this wasn’t just any expert.
This was a chance to receive instruction from an S-rank.
The more enlightenment he gained, the closer he would move toward inheriting the sacred relic as well.
I nodded.
“I know. I wanted to do it sooner too.”
“There is such a thing as priority.”
“The cooldown made it impossible.”
It had been more than a month since I’d first brought it up—back on the train after winter break, on the way into Dragonslayer Academy.
The main reason was simple.
I had to use it on my [Bond] members first.
The difference mattered, since the base cooldown dropped from ten days to seven.
It would’ve been even better if I could’ve shaved it down with [Time Allocation], but [Austerity] was far too important, so all I could do was wait.
Go Hyeonwoo smiled as if it were nothing.
“In the end, what matters is that my turn has come.”
“That too is true. Shall we get started?”
“I will prepare at once.”
Soon, Go Hyeonwoo sat cross-legged in the middle of the training room.
[Wind God] and [Martial Soul] rested across his knees.
This kind of chance didn’t come often, so I was planning to try a few experiments while I had it.
After exchanging one last look with him, I used the skill.
[Uses ‘[Invitation]’.]
[Cooldown 9 days 23:59:58]
A moment later, Go Hyeonwoo stared into the air, his eyes lighting up.
He was probably seeing a message like this.
[The Sovereign’s Invitation has arrived.]
[Will you accept the invitation?]
[Accept/Decline]
Soon after, as if he had chosen Accept, his eyes slowly drifted shut.
