75th Chapter
KWA-CRACK?!
Leon’s fist pierced through the thin aura wrapping around Finn’s abdomen and struck fiercely.
Cough! Finn spat out stomach acid. His pupils dilated, and all his strength seemed to drain away.
The more this happened, the tighter he gripped his fading consciousness. This time, he had to land a powerful hit…!
In an instant, Finn changed the way he held his wooden sword into a downward strike, aiming directly for Leon’s wrist.
However.
PFF?!
Leon’s spinning kick slammed into Finn’s face, and he barely managed to fall to the ground after crashing against the training ground’s wall.
Blood mixed with his breaths that rose like he was about to hiccup. To an onlooker, it looked like a life-and-death duel rather than a training match.
“Oh, you’re getting up again. Impressive, Finn!”
The problem was that Finn was the only one fighting for his life. His thighs, legs, arms, and face were all splotched with bruises and wounds.
His body, desperately gasping for air, had no desire to move anymore.
“Once more… I ask of you.”
“Hmm! That’s a touching sentiment.”
Still, Finn forced his body up and continued Leon’s grueling training.
Leon nodded as if satisfied and immediately charged forward, delivering a merciless punch to Finn’s abdomen.
Finn’s eyes, now trembling, tried to read the situation, but it was futile.
The extreme hardness and intensity of Leon’s aura wreaked excruciating pain upon Finn’s body once again.
“Ugh…!”
After throwing the punch, Leon stepped back a few paces to check on Finn, who tried hastily to cover his mouth, but it was too late.
Finn expelled a mix of blood and vomit.
As the overwhelming damage piled up, his stomach released everything inside.
Seeing this, Leon nodded again, just like before, and called out to one of the team members watching their duel.
He signaled the end of the fight by asking for help with Finn’s cleanup.
“Hey, take it easy on him. You know he’s in serious trouble. If this training continues like this, he might actually die.”
Bell stepped in to help clean up after Finn with one of the team members.
Even though nobody asked him to, he voluntarily wiped up the vomit Finn had expelled and assisted him in getting back on his feet.
Upon hearing this, Leon quietly stared at Finn, hands confidently placed on his hips, awaiting Finn’s response.
From Finn’s quivering lips came a soft yet resolute will.
“Just a moment… I can… still go on.”
“Stop with the ridiculous stubbornness! Do you even know the state your body is in?”
“What do you think I’m saying, knowing your state?”
Bell, who had been training with Finn for the past few weeks, watched as he pushed himself to his physical and mental limits.
Finn was insane.
He had lost his mind.
No matter how much a hero’s body is trained, there are limits to living beings.
Every day, Finn crossed that line, inflicting self-torture disguised as training.
For Bell, whose top priority was mental peace and stability, Finn’s behavior was incomprehensible.
“You’ve already grown fast enough in such a short time. Just how much more greed do you have?”
Through the relic granted by the great hero Helion, Finn had rapidly grown stronger. Just three weeks earlier, he hadn’t even been a match for Bell, but now they were rivals.
Bell wasn’t overly confident in his own strength and was actually just barely average at the Academia, but considering Finn’s entrance scores, his growth was astonishing.
“Not… yet… still… far from it. At this level… this level… isn’t enough.”
Bell’s voice didn’t reach Finn’s ears.
Finn’s eyes were focused not on Bell but on Leon, standing right in front of him, not straying elsewhere.
A sentence soaked in desperate urgency escaped from Finn’s throat.
His eyes may have seemed like those of a blind person, but their focus was sharp, fixed on the target.
“I want to become a hero who protects humanity.”
Leon listened, a satisfied expression on his face, and let out a boisterous laugh.
Ha ha ha?! His laughter was so resonant that it caught the attention of everyone training in the training ground all at once.
He often boomed, but this time, his voice was even more powerful.
“Finn! You will surely become a strong hero. I promise you that!”
Boom?. Leon hit his chest hard with his fist. A normal fist, devoid of aura or mana, shook the atmosphere.
Osel Vanteol, Leon.
He affirmed Finn’s accomplishments with his name on the line.
“You could even make the top 10 in the Hero Ranking when you join the Church!”
Leon boasted.
Knowing the immense weight and pressure of that name and number, Bell blinked in disbelief.
To be honest, Finn was barely hanging on with sheer determination to even think about becoming a hero.
And now someone was saying he could get into the top 10 of the Hero Ranking?
For a long time, aside from Helion, none of the prodigies who were called geniuses ever managed to even touch that position. No matter how much one wanted to cheer them on, wasn’t it planting an overly unrealistic future?
An excessively unrealistic goal could backfire…
Ah.
No.
Seeing those resolute eyes, he could tell.
Leon wasn’t saying this just to give him hope. …Yeah, that’s right. That’s the kind of person Leon was.
“Vargan also believes in you, or else he wouldn’t have chosen you as Helion’s mentee! Ha ha ha?!!”
He was sincere.
Persistent effort could surpass talent.
He was convinced of that.
“Once again… I ask for a spar.”
“Sure! I don’t mind how many times. Let’s burn the night away.”
Ha ha….
They’d probably really keep sparring without sleeping.
What amazing people they were.
Bell genuinely thought so.
“Bell! You come too!”
“Huh?! Me? Uh… okay… if you insist that much, I have no choice.”
“That’s just not possible.”
The fire in the training ground never goes out, even when deep night falls.
*
Recently, after finishing daily training with Alicia’s swordsmanship, we head to the ancient dragon’s tomb, which is not covered in ancient dragon bones.
This is to assist in researching the spells related to Francesca and the ancient dragon.
There’s a reason based on the original plot for this.
Spirit Summoner Francesca.
In the original storyline, she awkwardly resurrects the ancient dragon but fails to make it obey and ends up losing her own skeletal army.
The protagonist, Liam, and his party try to neutralize them, but the endless mana from the dragon keeps the soldiers awake and attacking the people.
The festival is the only occasion where outsiders, unrelated to the hero, can participate.
Most of the professors and current students are frantic trying to protect everyone, and they’re already short-staffed due to the absence of third-year and fourth-year students.
Liam concludes that the only one who can solve this problem is the original caster, Francesca. He manages to find her and attempts to persuade her, surprisingly, this actually works.
In the end, he figures out a way to resolve the situation and successfully wraps things up.
I guess these folks are pros at saving people because, despite all the chaos, there were zero casualties. Really great, isn’t it? Everything turned out fine, or so it seems until it freezes over.
Later, Francesca joins Liam’s group of heroines but ends up committing suicide two years later. This marks the second official heroine’s death after Emily.
Our protagonist loses his mind here. By then, Altife’s attacks are frequent, leaving no room for him to breathe.
Anyway, considering Liam possesses an intellect and judgment level that is hard to believe, I have to step in. What can I do? She’s too valuable a talent to let die without doing anything.
Ah, of course… in my own way. I’ll shape things into the form that benefits me the most. If I couldn’t do that, I wouldn’t even bother.
“In this spell, applying the third-tier mana formula used in familiar magic will allow for a more effective mana supply.”
“That’s true… sounds right. If I calculate it directly… yep. That could enhance the existing mana flow by about 1.19 times.”
For the plan.
Forming a relationship that could be called a bond while helping her, I aimed to manipulate her during the festival episode of the second semester, hoping to direct things my way, but surprisingly, this spell research is also helping my curse and familiar development.
Francesca possesses considerable expertise in spirit summoning and magic spell systems, allowing for reciprocal positive outcomes in our learning.
“Oh, then we can use a multi-variable function time transformation to achieve time complexity.”
“In that case, output will also increase by 1.19 times. Amazing.”
As we continued the discussion on spells, three hours had flown by.
If we wait just another hour or two, the morning sun will gradually rise to chase away the darkness.
Francesca, who was seated in a fitting spot to cool her overheated head, took a long breath, inhaling the cold dawn air between her lips.
Her eyes, indifferent as if uninterested in other objects or phenomena.
Unless she’s doing research related to spirit summoning, there’s hardly ever an intellectual glint in her gaze.
Yet she’s showing a bit of interest.
“Why are you helping me this much?”
Even though we’re in the same research society, a complete stranger suddenly declares they would assist her and has not skipped a day in helping with her research.
“I said I would help you, and I’ve been assisting with research without missing a day.”
Moreover, the circumstances around discovering her secret of attempting to resurrect the ancient dragon’s bones are quite suspicious.
What she possesses is a rightful sense of doubt and suspicion.
“I mentioned it from the start, didn’t I? It’s for our mutual benefit. Yet, you still seem unwilling to trust, even after placing a curse on each other. To add, I don’t plan to spare my feet any longer.”
“Well….”
Her eyes seen at dawn seemed lifeless. When she tried to capture the soft light around her, it bounced off her retinas, refusing to allow it in.
“…It’s not like I mind.”
Her voice, lacking vitality, slipped out.
The lips of Francesca, who handles skeletons, were stained with a cold aura akin to that of the vengeful dead.
“Let’s call it a day. We’ve made considerable progress, and the first-years need to head for the final exam.”
“Then, let’s do that.”
Since she won’t be able to help Francesca during summer vacation, she’ll have to continue her research alone, just like she has until now.
However, even if in a half-hearted manner, she could breathe life into the ancient dragon’s bones on her own.
After the second semester begins, there will still be some time, so it won’t be too late to cooperate again.
As she glanced around, the first signs of dawn were gradually appearing.
The massive clouds scattered across the sky were preparing to change color.
*
The venue for the final exam was a place that required a day of flying aboard the airship.
A gigantic airship capable of accommodating all the personnel from the academia.
Unlike the models typically in operation, this large one is used only for transporting a whole year at a time.
From now on, they would be floating through the sky for a day aboard that enormous beast.
“Finn, are you okay? You look really unwell….”
“I’m fine, I’m fine. It’s just a minor injury from training. Thanks for worrying, Alicia.”
“But… it’s not minor….”
“Exactly. With it like this, it won’t be a distraction during the final exam tomorrow.”
Poke, poke. Frieda jabbed at Finn’s bruise with her fingers.
Every time, Finn made a face as if his knee had been tweaked, but he forced a smile and pretended to be fine.
With a hint of emotion, he muttered, “I’m okay, but could you stop touching it?”
“And you’re neither in the same team nor the same class. Why are you here?”
“I don’t fit in with the class. I have nowhere else to go.”
“You seem pretty confident for that reason….”
“I’m the one steering clear of my classmates. And here, there’s Vargan and Alicia with me.”
Frieda hugged Alicia, rubbing her face against hers. It looked like a creature nuzzling against someone who had touched its heart. Especially with her orange ears and tail, it was even more evident.
“Oh, and of course Emily and Serena too.”
“Enough, you!”
Emily brushed off Frieda’s late concern for them. It wasn’t just because she was sulking; there was another reason.
“It seems we’re about to take off?”
Whether her words made their mark or not, the amplified voice by the magical device pierced their ears. It was the playful and familiar voice of Paula.
“Ah, attention please! We are about to take off in this airship toward the final exam venue, so please follow the instructions. Ah… never mind the instructions. Just hurry and get on! We’re leaving soon!”
