Chapter 16
As the students gathered and stood in line, the assistants approached. They began placing plain, unremarkable white bracelets directly on the students’ wrists.
When Simon moved his arm, he found the bracelet to be quite heavy.
“Channel Darkness into the bracelet.”
At Hongpeng’s command, the students channeled their Darkness into the bracelets without much suspicion.
“Huh!”
“W-What is this?”
Suddenly, the students' bodies buckled downward.
“You all know the Exhaust Curse, right?”
Hongpeng placed her hands on her hips and smiled.
“The next course is over there.”
She pointed toward the steep hill the students had just descended. At the top, an assistant was waving a flag.
“You’re going to climb all the way back up, while carrying the Exhaust Curse.”
The students’ faces all turned pale.
‘Whoa, wait a minute……’
‘Isn’t this a bit much?’
But no one dared complain to the Professor. Hongpeng twirled in place with a wide grin.
“Let’s begin right away. I’ll be checking who falls behind.”
Only then did the students, having grasped the situation, stiffen up and step onto the starting line with grim faces.
Simon, who followed at the back, was already drenched in sweat. Just getting to the start line while carrying the curse was exhausting. He wasn’t even sure he could make it up that steep hill.
“Alright then, begin!”
At Hongpeng’s shout, the entire Class A took off with a thundering rush.
At first, despite the heaviness of the curse, everyone walked upright, trying to maintain their dignity. But halfway up the increasingly steep slope, that all went out the window. Both nobles and commoners were soon crawling on the dirt like worms.
“Huff! Huff!”
“Ghhhk!”
Groans and ragged gasps echoed from every direction. Their whole bodies became filthy with dirt, but with Hongpeng and the assistants watching, there was no choice but to keep moving forward.
‘Huuuu……!’
Simon dug his bloodied hands, scraped against stones, into the ground and pushed forward another few inches.
Every step felt impossibly heavy. His vision spun, and the sky turned yellow.
‘I have to make it, no matter what.’
Forget accelerated coursework, this was a matter of pure stamina and willpower.
If he fell behind now, he might never catch up with his peers.
Even while the others paused to rest, Simon kept forcing out strength, climbing as best he could. He found his own rhythm, and he refused to compromise it.
Tremble, tremble.
His arms shook out of sync with his brain, but Simon forced them to move, wringing out every drop of strength.
The summit was now within sight. At the place where the flag fluttered stood the assistant and Hongpeng.
‘Just a little more!’
Simon was in the lead. The gap between him and the other climbers, including Dick, wasn’t vast, but Simon was undeniably ahead of the rest of Class A.
And right beside him—another figure.
Hector was climbing the slope at nearly the same pace as Simon.
‘……Damn it, it’s you again.’
Hector clenched his teeth and glared at Simon.
He was sick of it. From the very first class, Simon kept getting under his skin.
Hector had even managed to dampen the effects of the Exhaust Curse with his own method, yet Simon, without any such tricks, was matching him through brute effort alone.
No way could he allow himself to lose, not with his pride on the line. Hector’s fighting spirit flared.
As they neared the flag, the slope steepened even further. The two, clearly in first and second place, pulled away from the rest and pushed their pace harder.
“You got this!”
Hongpeng clenched her fist and shouted. The assistant clapped and cheered them on.
‘I’m taking first place!’
‘I’m the one in first!’
Just as Simon and Hector reached out their hands—
Step.
Someone walked right over their outstretched arms.
Unlike the two of them, covered head to toe in mud, this person walked past gracefully, skirt fluttering, with not a speck of dirt on her.
The sky-blue-haired girl.
Class A’s number one: Maelyn Villene.
She was the first to reach the summit.
“Congratulations. You’re first, scholar.”
“Thank you, Professor.”
The assistant beside her checked her name off the list. Simon and Hector, dazed, paused for a moment.
“How did you do it?”
At Hongpeng’s question, Maelyn raised her head and replied.
“I calculated a resistance formula to dispel the curse and walked up.”
Simon felt like he’d been struck in the head with a hammer.
So there was a way to dispel the curse and climb instead of just struggling through it?
“Well done. Now take a break.”
Maelyn politely accepted the drink the assistant handed her, then sat beneath a tree and leaned back against the trunk.
Once again, she had taken first place.
“Professor Hongpeng!”
Just then, an assistant came running up the hill.
“We’ve got an injured student! Looks like a slight ankle sprain!”
“I’ll go check.”
She glanced once at Simon and Hector, then followed the assistant back down the hill.
“…Hah, I can’t even.”
As soon as Hongpeng disappeared, Hector, who had finally broken the curse completely, stood upright. Simon’s eyes widened in shock.
Step, step.
Hector strode up the hill and reached the summit. Taking second place, he accepted a drink and looked at Maelyn.
“Hey.”
She turned her head.
“What the hell was that during Magical Combat class, climbing up after dispelling the curse? You think I went through all this hell because I couldn’t do that?”
“What’re you even saying.”
Maelyn blew a dismissive snort, looking thoroughly unimpressed. Hector let out a small scoff.
“Figures. A little lady raised in the Ivory Tower wouldn’t know a thing about the real world.”
“……”
This time, her eyebrow twitched.
“Are you picking a fight?”
“I’m stating a fact. We can’t be graded during the student protection period anyway. What matters is showing diligence in class to get on the professor’s good side. What you just pulled off? If anything, it’ll put you on Professor Hongpeng’s blacklist. It won’t earn you points.”
Her eyes turned fierce.
“You’re twisted as hell. Why are you freaking out at someone who didn’t even do anything to you? Are you that mad you got second place?”
“I’m just making sure you don’t ruin Class A’s standards. And for the record, I don’t give a damn about someone like you.”
With that, Hector turned away. Just then, Simon was dragging himself to the summit, panting hard. The assistant greeted him with a smile and held out a drink.
“Simon Follentia, you placed third.”
“T-Thank you.”
Utterly exhausted, Simon staggered over to the tree and collapsed in the shade. He downed the drink in big gulps.
“……”
“……”
Maelyn and Hector’s eyes lingered on him for a moment.
The three of them sat there in silence, catching their breath in the shade.
Time passed, and one by one, the students began to reach the summit.
Even those who had struggled due to a lack of stamina started making their way up, as the curse’s effect gradually began to weaken.
“I-I think I’m gonna die, Simon.”
Dick, who had also finished with a fairly high rank, soon joined a group of students throwing up in the distance. Simon went over and patted his back.
Except for a few students who had shown signs of exhaustion and dropped out, everyone had made it to the summit, but the fatigue built up from this class was enormous.
While all the students lay on the ground, unable to lift even a finger, Simon felt lost, wondering how they were supposed to return to Keyzen now. If they had to ride the hippos again, probably half of Class A would be left behind.
Fortunately, Hongpeng contacted Keyzen and received permission to use a temporary teleportation magic circle.
“Woooow!”
A magic circle spread out at the training site, and simply stepping on it would transport them to Keyzen. The servants who had brought their meals had also arrived using this method.
The students let out a collective sigh of relief and began heading for Keyzen via the magic circle. Simon, who was waiting in line with Dick, stepped onto the circle with him.
Vwoooom!
A dusky glow emitted from the magic circle and wrapped around Simon’s body.
As the sensation of his legs lifting off the ground signaled the start of the teleportation—
Thunk!
He felt a jarring sensation, like something had blocked his way. Simon collapsed to the ground, feeling as if he’d hit a wall.
“……Huh?”
When he lifted his head, he saw that the surroundings had changed.
Dick, who had stepped on the circle with him, was nowhere in sight. Simon was alone in a small log cabin.
‘This… isn’t Keyzen, is it?’
Simon got up from the floor.
The atmosphere felt cozy, similar to the house he used to live in back in Leshill. Only this place was smaller and had a wilder feel.
The walls and floors were rough, unprocessed wood. Instead of a bed, there was a hammock, and instead of a carpet, animal furs. One wall had game, salted and drying in the sunlight.
Click.
The door of the cabin opened, and a tall woman entered.
“Sorry for startling you, Student Simon.”
“Professor Hongpeng!”
She smiled gently and motioned for him to sit.
Still stunned, Simon sat in a chair, and she poured him some tea. Then, she calmly explained the situation.
There had been a suspicious formula embedded in the teleportation circle. When she had her assistants investigate, they found a formula that reacted to a specific person's Darkness and diverted the destination. And the target of that formula… was Simon.
“Do you have any idea who might have done something like this?”
Simon shook his head. He had no clue.
Hongpeng made a thoughtful sound and crossed her arms. Unlike Simon, she seemed to have a good idea of who might be behind it.
“So I interfered with the circle and redirected the coordinates to my home.”
“Ah……”
“Protecting students from unknown threats is also part of my duty. And…”
Her eyes sparkled.
“…I also wanted a chance to talk one-on-one with Student Simon.”
“…With me?”
“Normally, it’s against the rules to privately meet with a student during the protection period, but judging by the circumstances, it seems someone else already broke that rule first.”
Her expression, always smiling before, turned slightly serious.
“Simon Follentia, how would you feel about majoring in Magical Combat?”
Simon’s eyes widened, and she continued.
“If you’re willing, I’m open to accepting you as my personal apprentice.”
“…Ah!”
A direct disciple.
That meant being personally mentored by a professor at Keyzen.
Each professor could have up to three personal disciples per year, and a student could only be mentored by one professor.
The benefits of becoming a direct disciple at Keyzen were beyond measure. Most importantly, the professor took absolute responsibility for the student's training and taught them one-on-one. Naturally, every student dreamed of being chosen.
For the professors, it was a matter of personal achievement, and with limited slots, the selection process was extremely cautious.
And yet, on the very first day of class, Hongpeng was offering to take Simon as her disciple.
“I… I don’t really understand.”
Simon was a bit flustered.
Of course, being offered the position of Hongpeng’s disciple was overwhelming and deeply appreciated, but he didn’t think he had shown anything special in class.
He had simply followed along like everyone else, and he had been beaten to the summit by both Maelyn and Hector.
On top of that, it was only the second day since enrollment. Hongpeng still had plenty of time to meet other students, yet she chose him.
Putting aside whether he liked the idea or not, it just didn’t make sense to him.
“Students may look at rankings, but I look at talent.”
Hongpeng took a sip of tea and continued.
“When you jumped across the gorge earlier and rebounded your Darkness, wasn’t that your first time trying it?”
How did she know? Simon nodded in silent surprise.
“Even so, your leap was the highest in Class A. That alone goes beyond talent or luck. And today’s climb proved your stamina and endurance. Do you need any more praise?”
“……”
Simon swallowed hard.
It was still hard to believe, but with a professor from Keyzen saying all that, he couldn’t exactly deny it.
“That stamina, that mental fortitude, and most of all, that incredible talent in Darkness. If you join Magical Combat, you’ll blossom into the best version of yourself.”
Hongpeng laced her fingers together. Her expression turned strikingly serious. Even her pronunciation in Continental Common became sharper.
“In just a few years, I’ll shape you into someone who can surpass me. Stronger than anyone.”
Superb.