Chapter 44: Fair Instructor (3)
by Afuhfuihgs
Lee Han didn’t stop after the first demonstration.
“Generally speaking, a mage’s magic always includes telekinesis. As you just saw, the amount of mass that telekinesis can handle is enormous. For a normal soldier, it’s a life-threatening force, but that isn’t the case for a knight. A knight must be able to resist that much, or else he’s a disgrace as a knight.”
After saying that, Lee Han gave Irene a nod, a signal for her to use her telekinesis again.
A moment after that…
Bang-!
“Did you see it?”
“…”
The cadets all saw it; the intangible air current that burst like a balloon in the air.
“There are three ways for warriors to counter telekinesis. First, Combat Technique. You could unleash your Combat Technique, just dense enough to block the flow of a mage’s magic power. Second, countering the telekinesis itself with your own body. Well, this one is kinda impractical since you might just implode under its pressure, so you should try to avoid doing it if you can.”
“What about the third one…?”
“The third one… Well, it’s the only way for those who don’t have Combat Technique like you guys to counter it.”
Bang-!
Once again, he burst out another intangible air current.
“It’s to ‘discharge’ your strength. This is the core principle of the Hundred Steps Divine Fist that I showed you guys earlier. Think of it as an arrow to ‘shoot down’ the incoming telekinesis. Obviously this isn’t something you should use if the telekinesis you’re facing is erupting from all directions, as you might end up turning your body into dust instead.”
“Um… But what if things went well? Will the mage’s body be the one being turned into dust instead?”
Magic was a power that was close to omnipotence, but that also meant it wasn’t truly omnipotent. To handle such power, a mage needed skills, effort, and composure. Erupting their telekinesis in all directions was basically an act of self-destruction for them. It was like rapid-firing a cannon with their bare bodies, they’d die spewing blood all over before long.
“Huh? Right. So that’s why he died like that. It seems l learned something good today.”
“…”
…So he had already experienced such a thing before…
“Anyway, as you’ve already seen, if you want to counter telekinesis, you need to be able to do what I just did. Well, you only need to learn two things, so it should be easy for you.”
What they needed to do was to manifest their Martial Power and discharging it.
Two simple and easy things to do. So much that they’d probably be yawning while doing it.
“…How is that supposed to be easy?”
However, for those who could only see him bursting out his power in the air, there was no way that they could consider those as simple and easy.
In the first place they didn’t even know how that huge log was split in half. Let alone how one was supposed to shoot down telekinesis.
They just couldn’t understand the ‘principle’ behind it.
“Uh, those who understand my explanation just now, raise your hand!”
While Lee Han had explained it to the best of his abilities, he explained in a way that it sounded ambiguous rather than systematic.
Surely someone understands something from that explanation, right…?
With that in mind, he looked around with a small sense of anticipation.
“Kunta still don’t understand. Kunta an idiot.”
“No, you are not, Kunta. No one understands his explanation at all.”
“Instructor, I believe your explanation is too abstract for us to follow.”
Hearing those feedbacks, Lee Han could only let out an awkward smile. He actually expected Kunta to understand since he was the most similar to him out of everyone.
Hmm… Should I try breaking my explanation down?
At that time…
“E-Excuse me…”
A girl who Lee Han had never expected to raise her hand raised her hand.
“M-Maybe, what the instructor is trying to say is this… So, we’ve been learning how to squeeze out all the strength in our bodies ever since we arrived on this mountain, right? The reason why he has been emphasizing such training for us is not only to increase our physical strength, but also to make us feel how our strength moves. I noticed that’s the one thing that he always emphasized…”
That girl was none other than Levy Fault, a delicate and beautiful girl that gave off the impression of a lush hydrangea. Although, she had proven that she wasn’t delicate at all, as she had completed all her training courses without running away for twenty days straight.
And this girl managed to express the thing that Lee Han could only instinctively feel with words. Her irises shone with intelligence as she did that.
“So, the instructor always emphasized that we need to ‘feel our strength’. The expression itself sounds abstract, but we have experienced it with our own body, how and when our muscles were utilized, and how we could still continue our training even though it feels like our stamina has been completely exhausted throughout our gymnastic and cliff-climbing exercises. From that, we should realize that strength indeed does not simply come from muscles. Honestly, I could only realize such a thing thanks to the instructor’s lessons.”
Maybe because she was a noble lady, her speech was quite eloquent, there wasn’t the slightest bit of crudeness in it. She even praised Lee Han’s achievements while doing so, meaning that she knew how to make people happy with her speech.
However, Lee Han liked her explanation more than her elegant speech.
“Spectacular explanation, Chick Number 1, thank you for that. I tend to use my instincts and feelings more in training, so it’s hard for me to explain what I feel properly, but your explanation made me understand what was going on.”
“A-Ah, n-no. Y-Your explanations helped me understand it, Instructor, I just added a little more to it…”
“…Remind me to give you some candies later, okay?”
“Yes?”
Such a kind and good girl. Even her way of speaking is beautiful and admirable. After hearing a bunch of men speaking with rough speech and showing off their shitty pride, hearing her speak made my heart warm.
I want a daughter like her.
Lee Han looked at her as if he was looking at his younger sister or his daughter; a girl who was much younger than him.
Seeing him staring at her with such a warm gaze like that, Levy Fault’s cheeks turned red.
It was probably because she wasn’t used to receiving compliments.
H-Huh? What about me?! I’ve been doing well as well! Why doesn’t he compliment me?!
Meanwhile, a certain magical girl who had never been praised by him before complained in her heart, feeling wronged.
[You lost against her, Arin. We beat her in looks, but she completely beat us in dignity. Sob, sob.]
…Fuck dignity.
Needless to say, the girl who got the best grade as a siege weapon but an F grade in dignity was extremely pissed.
Oblivious to the girl’s hurt feelings, Lee Han focused all his attention on Levy Fault.
This girl is commendable.
In his eyes, she was even more praiseworthy than before. During these past twenty days, even though the cadets trained so intensely to the point that barely anyone could say that they worked harder than them, Levy put in even more effort than most of them.
She woke up the earliest and trained more desperately than anyone else.
Beyond her delicate and weak exterior lied an unyielding will. Her mental strength, or rather, persistence was considerably strong too.
She knew that she arrived quite late at the starting line, so she worked hard to make up for it without stopping, even if she had to bleed herself out. Only after working hard for so long did she manage to finally stand in the starting line. Even so, she still tried to run as quickly as she could. While one could say that Vulcan’s mystical aspect helped a lot towards her progress, they still couldn’t just underestimate the effort she had put in.
I can’t just treat her like a chick anymore.
In Lee Han’s eyes, she was no longer a mere noble lady, but a warrior. While he didn’t know why she worked so hard to be a warrior, he didn’t care. What he cared about was the fact that she was completely determined to achieve that and she showed in results.
To him, those who worked hard were always admirable.
Hence…
“Levy Fault.”
“Huh? Yes!?”
“Why are you acting like that?”
“A-Ah, i-it’s nothing…”
It was the first time the instructor ever called her by name. Though it was just a small thing, her heart still skipped a beat. She felt as if he recognized her as an individual, not just as a daughter of the Fault Family.
“Levy Fault. After listening to your explanation, I could tell that you are the one with the highest understanding of [Martial Power] among all the cadets here.”
“B-But compared to the others, my body is still…”
“Far from enough, yes, but that’s not something you can change. After all, unlike you, the others have trained for over ten years.”
“Yes…”
“However.”
“?”
“The important thing here is not ‘how long’. Sometimes, quality—how intense and fruitful the time you spent—is more important than the quantity of the time itself. In that sense, even though you started late, Cadet Levy Fault, you are off to a good start. You can be proud of that.”
“…Yes, Instructor.”
Those words could make people weep out of nowhere when they heard it. He clearly was telling her that he acknowledged her efforts. Not only that…
“And so, I want to personally help you, Cadet Levy Fault.”
“Huh…?”
“I like to treat people fairly. That’s why I’ll give you a particularly kind lesson, Cadet Levy Fault.”
“??”
She failed to understand this part of his words, though. It seemed like the instructor, or rather, adults in general loved to explain things in a difficult and twisted way.
As she was blinking in confusion, Lee Han suddenly approached her.
“I’ll be touching your back briefly. Is that okay?”
“Huh? Huh?!”
“As long as you allow it, I’ll do it immediately. By the way, I have no impure intentions towards you, so please understand that.”
“U-Um, y-yes. I-It’s okay…”
Even though she felt a little embarrassed by it, at this point she had already rolled around in Vulcan and seen all sorts of things that shouldn’t be seen by a noble lady. If anything, it would be funny if she was embarrassed by this. Besides, she knew more than anyone that the instructor wasn’t that kind of person.
That was why she allowed him to touch her body without much hesitation.
And when he did…
“Huh?!”
She suddenly swallowed her breath sharply.
“All I can do is to guide you. However, this experience will for sure greatly reduce the gap between you and the other cadets. I hope you’ll find this helpful, Cadet.”
“…”
…She was in a daze.
The embarrassment that she felt at the beginning had long since disappeared. Then again, there was no way she’d be feeling that way when she was experiencing something so amazing—no, a ‘miracle’.
T-This…
Wooong-!
His palm lightly touched her back. An incredibly hard palm, just like iron, but there was something that astonished her more than his palm; the intense ‘pulse’ that flowed through that palm.
A pulse of power.
The intense pulse flowed from his muscles, bones, and tendons, going through the girl’s body, making her sweat like crazy.
C-Compared to this, I-I’m truly nothing…
The fierceness as well as the excitement of the huge, overwhelming and majestic wave that was transmitted to her entire body felt like a miraculous experience; a wonder that was comparable to the time when humans first discovered great traces of nature.
And when the turbulence and the pulse of the waves touched the girl, she became able to sense the insignificant flow inside her body; the weak and feeble pulse.
If the pulse that came to her was like a tidal wave of the ocean, what she felt inside her was nothing more than a ripple spreading across a calm pool.
The moment her disappointment over this revelation was about to get worse…
“Did you feel it?”
“Huh?”
“Try to concentrate more. More and more. You’ll be able to feel something even more interesting that way.”
“…”
The girl followed his words. At that moment, she felt like he was a superhuman that she wouldn’t ever dare to defy.
And so, she dug deeper into the pulse flowing through her body, and at some point…
“…Huh?”
The girl realized. That the power existed within her body didn’t only come from her muscles, bones, and tendons.
Thump-! thump-!
It also came from her heart.
Does my heart always beat this powerfully…?
She could feel its strength.
The organ that supplied blood to the plain girl was neither unattractive nor weak.
It was endlessly powerful and admirable.
Woosh-!
And what about the flow of blood that followed the heartbeat?
This…is amazing…!
So this is how blood flows are… So fast, aggressive…and brave…!
“Do you get it now?”
“…Yes.”
“What is it that you understand?”
“I-I understand everything that makes me… Is not insignificant at all!”
The girl had always thought that she was weak, but in reality she wasn’t. Each and every element that made her body was strong and vast. It made her realize how amazing herself—no, how amazing humans were.
“Although I may be weaker and insignificant compared to the shining sun and stars, I can still become a star!”
“…That’s a noble lady for you, huh? Such an elegant use of expressions.”
“S-Sorry, t-that’s the only way I can express it!”
The girl was excited.
She confidently defended her claim without feeling a speck of embarrassment at all.
Then again, if anyone were to realize how strong the pulse, the power flowing inside her body was, they’d probably act in the same way as her.
“Then show me.”
“Huh?”
“Your power that you claimed is able to grow to be as bright as the stars.”
“…”
“Are you not confident?”
“T-That’s…”
“Be confident. I’ll help you out.”
“!!”
“Do what I say. Connect the pulse and that power together. From your shoulder to your elbow, then to your wrist and to your fist.”
“…”
“The current you will be able to do it.”
“…!”
Because of his inspiring words, for the first time in her life, Levy Fault took a gamble. A gamble that might just not work and affect her own body.
But didn’t realize how big of a gamble that she was taking because she was currently in a drunken state. Drunk by the pulse inside her that she didn’t even know about.
And just like that, the girl…
Whoosh-!
Clenched her fist and extended it with her own volition. Her movement was still clumsy, but that fist…
Bang-!
“…Ah!”
Wasn’t weak at all.
It was bursting with strength. Her punch was imbued with ‘Strength Discharge’.
The girl’s eyes widened as the fact that she managed to do it clicked in her mind..
At that moment, she could feel her fist tingling.
Since her body was still immature, it was probably a warning from her body that she was using a technique that was beyond her capability, but she didn’t care about the pain she experienced at all.
Instead, she…
“I-I did it! I-I…!!”
“Yes. You did it. With your own strength even.”
“Yes!!”
Felt a huge stream of emotion; an endless stream of bubbling joy. Compared to it, the pain she felt was nothing.
“Don’t forget. This is the path you must devote yourself to for the rest of your life.”
“I will never, ever forget it…!”
A new sense of ‘Enlightenment’.
An unforgettable emotion and encounter.
The girl would never forget the emotion and joy she felt at this moment today.
As it was a ‘joy’ she would never be able to forget even during the moment when her life was about to end someday.
Are they seriously unaware of what they’ve accomplished?!
Seeing all this unfold, Roen was left dumbstruck. This was probably the first time in his life that he had felt so shocked.
What the instructor and Levy Fault had done wasn’t merely an act of discharging strength!
This is something that could just replace Combat Technique as a whole!
In hindsight, what happened here was, a weak noblewoman, who had not received any legitimate training ever, showed this kind of miracle after merely training for less than a month. While said miracle was still weak currently, it would definitely develop into something big as time went on.
Although the process was arduous and difficult, it didn’t matter. The important thing here was that this was a power that could be obtained through efforts alone; it wasn’t limited by bloodline or anything else.
And if it really was able to replace Combat Technique as a whole…
This would be a dagger that would be able to crush the privileges that knights have. Maybe it could even crush the nobles.
This is it… This is exactly the thing that I wanted…!
For the first time in his life, Roen had coveted something this much.
I was arrogant.
He admitted that. Before entering the Academy, he was nothing but an arrogant fool. He thought he knew everything and felt that no teachers would be able to teach him anything new, so he came to the Academy with the mindset of recruiting talents, not to learn.
But now, he found out how wrong he was.
Because right in front of him…
There was someone who was able to make him tremble in excitement, someone who was able to teach him how to turn humans into superhumans, without Combat Techniques even.
Although, it’s a little funny to call him a mere instructor…
He wasn’t sure about this yet, but a certain thought popped up in his mind. In his both past and current life, perhaps…
Maybe, just maybe, he is fit to become my first teacher.
For the very first time, he finally had a teacher he could respect.
The young arrogant lion, who had every right to be arrogant, held such expectations. And at the same time…
Perhaps, he might be the key player to my [Unspoken Prayer].
He held out such hope, that the man could become his unspoken prayer.
The protagonist of his revolution.
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