Ch.22Chapter 22: The Matu Method.

As I entered the dormitory room with the lights on, the source of the presence revealed itself.

A tall figure, though shorter than Valt.

Massive muscles, though not as large as Valt’s.

It couldn’t be a barbarian.

That was certain because Valt himself was the only barbarian admitted to the Academy.

So it must be a human from the Central Continent…

The well-trained muscular guy, quite built for a Central human, noticed Valt and greeted him.

“Nice to meet you! I’m Victor… Wait! Could it be!?”

Valt greeted the muscular guy who had introduced himself as Victor.

“Yeah, nice to meet you. I’m Valt…”

The guy instantly approached Valt and began staring at his body with sparkling eyes, as if trying to see through him.

“S-such a perfect physique!!”

Then he abruptly started feeling Valt’s body.

“Pectoralis major! Abs, latissimus dorsi, not to mention! Trapezius, quadratus, sternocleidomastoid! Look at these omohyoid and sternohyoid muscles!! How is it possible to train the neck like this? How can a human body be this magnificent!!”

Unaccustomed to being flustered, Valt’s voice came out filled with confusion at this sudden muscle evaluation.

“Uh… um… what are you…?”

Victor, with short brown hair and wearing something like a martial arts uniform, finally came to his senses at Valt’s words and composed himself.

“Huh!? I’m so sorry! It’s just that I’ve never seen such beautiful muscles except on my master. No, yours are even more perfect than his! I’m so glad I came to the Academy!”

‘What’s with this strange guy…?’

But strangely, it felt good.

Valt grinned and said, “You… seem to know what you’re looking at.”

Victor laughed heartily at Valt’s words.

“Hahaha! Of course! A man should have firm muscles! I’ve found the best roommate!!”

Victor stopped laughing and introduced himself properly once more.

“Let me introduce myself formally! I’m Victor Gayans, disciple of the Fist King! Pleased to meet you, my friend!”

A noisy guy had become his roommate.

From his demeanor, he didn’t seem like a bad person…

And a disciple of the Fist King? That was more impressive than expected.

This guy had a surname, but he probably wasn’t a nobleman. There were rumors that the Fist King traveled the world and only took promising commoners as disciples.

“I’m Valt Geruntu from southern Geruntu. Nice to meet you too.”

At Valt’s introduction, Victor’s eyes sparkled again.

“A Barbarian!! I knew it!! Such extraordinary muscles!! I can’t believe I’m seeing a real Barbarian!!”

Fortunately, he seemed to have no prejudice against Valt’s race.

“Valt! How do Barbarians train their muscles to get such an amazing body like yours?! Please tell me!! Argh! I should have been born a Barbarian!”

‘Actually… I just woke up one day with this body…’

But seeing that earnest expression, Valt felt like he should say something.

“Just increase the weight.”

Despite the half-hearted answer, Victor hit his palm with his fist as if he’d had a revelation.

“I see! You mean there are no shortcuts to muscle training!! Thank you, Valt!! Thanks to you, I’ve learned a valuable lesson!!”

He wasn’t a bad guy, but Valt had a feeling his dormitory life wouldn’t be very quiet from now on.

***

After obtaining a spirit, Valt’s physical magic developed dramatically.

Moreover, with Lisa and Alicia’s teachings, he had somehow managed to engrave one mana circle in his heart.

Fortunately, intelligence wasn’t particularly important for creating circles.

Intelligence was a stat related to understanding and calculating magic.

Creating a circle in the heart was more influenced by magical power, will, and spirit.

One circle felt in his heart.

Valt was deeply moved.

Finally, the path to becoming a true mage had opened.

Moreover, Noum, the earth spirit, could do many things.

Not only attack magic like Stone Bullet, but most earth manipulations were possible.

Though still a lowest-grade spirit with limited power, it could slightly alter terrain or create walls from soil.

Originally, such spirit actions were generally designated as “magic” and required circles matching the magic’s performance.

For example, Stone Wall, one of the defensive spells in earth magic.

A mage would need at least 3 circles to use it.

But spirits could perform the action itself, albeit with weaker power.

This was the difference between spirit magic and regular magic.

It meant there were numerous spirit magics unaffected by circles.

Of course, a lowest-grade spirit like Noum couldn’t perform 7th circle magic like Earthquake.

But its usefulness was undeniable.

With the spirit’s help, Valt felt his combat style taking shape.

Valt named his combat style.

Matubop.

A double meaning: Matubop (魔鬪法) meaning fighting with magical power, and Matubop (魔投法) meaning throwing with magical power.

Valt quite liked the name he created for his combat style.

Though one character was different, it was still magic, wasn’t it?

A hybrid style strong in both close and long-range combat.

Unlike mages who were forced into ranged positions due to physical weakness, sturdy Valt could engage in close combat using magic.

He had also developed several new techniques.

‘Good! My style is set. This is how I’ll get stronger!’

Valt was on his way to practice magic as usual, having woken up at dawn.

But Victor also woke up at the same time as Valt.

Then he followed Valt to eat and to the training ground.

Though Valt tried to ignore it, he couldn’t help but notice the big man trailing behind him.

Valt finally said something to Victor.

“If you want guidance, just ask. Don’t just follow me around.”

Victor, who was following behind, replied to Valt’s words.

“Haha, don’t mind me and continue what you were doing. Taking up a friend’s time would be wrong!”

With Victor saying that, Valt truly ignored him and headed to the training ground.

Victor, who had followed all the way to the training ground, finally revealed his intentions.

“Valt!!”

“What is it?”

“Let’s spar!”

Dressed in his martial arts uniform and following him around, Valt had expected such a request.

But Valt never refused a challenge.

“Sure.”

“Hahaha!! That’s how a man should be!!”

Smiling, the two moved to the sparring area.

If this had happened during the semester, it would have been quite a spectacle, but the only one who noticed was Riman Squat.

With nothing else to do during the break, Valt was an interesting subject for observation.

‘Huh? Isn’t that the Fist King’s disciple? This should be interesting!’

Riman followed the two muscle-bound men from a distance.

The two faced each other in the sparring area.

They naturally squared off barehanded.

But Victor said to Valt:

“Valt, feel free to use a weapon if you have one. I fight barehanded.”

“So do I.”

He would use magic-related items if he had them, but Valt had none at the moment, and even if he did, wielding weapons would be more cumbersome in combat.

“Hahaha! Valt, I really like you! That’s right! A man fights with his bare hands!”

Victor had strange beliefs about manhood.

‘Strange, I don’t sense any aura floor… yet why does he seem so strong? And a barbarian with a magic circle? Though it’s just 1 circle…’

Martial artists who trained their bodies to the extreme had quite sharp intuition, though not as good as barbarians.

Of course, someone like the Fist King would surpass even a barbarian’s intuition, but Victor, still in training, wasn’t at that level yet.

But he could vaguely sense that Valt was strong.

Coming from the north, he knew about barbarians.

When people thought of barbarians, they imagined bodies beyond human limits, overflowing strength! Valt was exactly the kind of barbarian Victor had imagined.

Valt had already assessed Victor’s level.

‘Floor 4 mastery level. Impressive.’

Almost approaching expert level.

As expected of the Fist King’s disciple, who only selected talented individuals.

But Valt was confident.

‘Still, I’m stronger.’

“Come at me. I’ll let you attack first.”

*twitch*

Victor found it strange that Valt, who somehow felt strong despite no aura being sensed, would give him, a 4th floor aura user, the first move. Though he sensed 1st circle magical power, that shouldn’t be enough against him.

Bouncing lightly to warm up, Victor raised his fighting spirit and said:

“You’ll regret those words! Here I come!”

*tap*

The styles of martial artists and swordsmen were naturally different.

Swordsmen maintained some distance, while martial artists preferred extremely close-quarters combat.

Though there were ranged techniques, attacks using the human body exerted their true power at extremely close range.

Victor instantly closed in on Valt and enthusiastically shouted his technique name as he extended his right fist.

“Explosive Fist!”

A technique that gathered aura in the fist and released it.

As expected of the Fist King’s disciple, its power surpassed that of the masked men on the 4th floor whom Valt had faced.

‘Oh, that’s powerful? I should wrap myself in magical power to be safe.’

Though he thought Indu Furnace would be enough, feeling the strong power, Valt slightly tensed his body and covered it with magical power.

Then he casually blocked Victor’s fist with his left arm.

*thud*

*boom*

A sound that couldn’t be mistaken for muscles colliding echoed.

‘He thinks he can block my Explosive Fist with just that much mana?’

But that was Victor’s misunderstanding.

Victor was shocked to see Valt’s arm completely unharmed.

“No way!!??”

But Valt was equally surprised.

“Hmm?”