Ch.5756. Midterm Exams (10)

# 56. Midterm Exams (10)

From far away, I could hear enthusiastic cheers as if a concert was taking place.

‘Are they still going at it? No way… that can’t be…’

I thought of the faces of those I had left behind.

Just as guilt began to creep in for abandoning them, my opponent noticed my distraction and asked:

“Feeling pretty relaxed, aren’t you?”

His tone suggested his pride was quite wounded.

Being a second-year student paired against a first-year seemed to really bother him.

What’s more, this guy was a B-class student among the second-years—something of an elite.

“Sorry, I was just thinking about something else for a moment…”

Before I could finish my sentence, he used [Leap] and charged at me.

In preparation, I infused my sword with a small amount of Abyss.

-Clang! Crack!-

At that moment, his sword split in two with a loud noise.

Befitting his B-class status, his power wasn’t bad, but that was about it.

Looking at his sword broken in two, he appeared to fall into despair.

“…”

I watched the scene without saying a word.

I had nothing to say, nor did I need to.

The only words I needed to say were:

“Do you wish to continue?”

“…I surrender.”

The supervising teacher caught that small voice and concluded the duel.

‘That was more anticlimactic than I expected…’

***

On the arena floor, a girl with brilliant, sun-like hair spoke to her opponent.

“Why don’t you just forfeit? You’re going to lose again anyway.”

“Well…”

Leo quietly held his weapon, preparing for the upcoming duel.

“You’re so persistent.”

As Aelin said, Leo had tried to fight her at every opportunity.

Even after suffering overwhelming defeats, he would challenge her again and again.

Of course, Aelin didn’t particularly view this positively.

“I’ll end this quickly today too.”

After Leo and Aelin both finished their preparations, the supervising teacher gave the signal.

“Ready… begin!”

As soon as she heard the signal, Aelin raised her staff and immediately cast a spell.

-Crackle!-

Brilliant lightning instantly engulfed Leo.

Leo had taken Aelin’s second unique skill, [Judgment of the Heavens], head-on as soon as the duel began.

However, Leo didn’t fall despite the powerful attack and instead charged toward Aelin to counterattack.

“Really… so persistent.”

Aelin pointed her staff at him again, and shortly after, an even brighter light than before greeted him.

-Zzzap!!-

[A Brilliant Ray of Light] emitted enough radiance to fill the entire arena, simultaneously piercing through Leo’s armor.

Having lost his armor, Leo took the light head-on and collapsed unconscious on the ground.

“He’s being annoying…”

Aelin descended from the arena with an indifferent look, while those watching the duel admired her overwhelming power.

“What is she? She just demolished the Second Prince like nothing.”

“I heard her brother is a real legend, supposedly on par with the First Princess?”

Aelin ignored the ridiculous rumors floating around and prepared for her next duel.

***

Thanks to finishing the first and second matches so quickly, I had about an hour left until my third and final match.

‘I should go watch the others.’

I spent the remaining hour walking around the dueling grounds, observing my party members’ duels.

Before seeing those duels, I naturally thought either Chris or Raycle would achieve a perfect 5-0 record, but I was completely wrong.

“Why are you so strong?”

Instead, the perfect record holders were Aelin and Rachel.

Clearly, their opponents lacked practical experience and were helpless against magic. The two most skilled mages among us had both achieved perfect records.

With this, Aelin’s already good reputation improved even further, and Rachel proved her abilities.

“Indeed, looks like there’ll be another news article.”

The public seems very interested in the inner workings of the Imperial Academy, so even small events like this often make the news.

In fact, Aelin has appeared in quite a few articles and, ironically, has gained many fans who recognize her when she goes out.

“I even have a fan cafe now?”

“Really? Wow~ I’m jealous~”

“What’s with that soulless reaction? Do you want to get hit properly like that guy?”

And Leo had apparently fainted after being hit by Aelin’s magic.

That would probably make the news too.

“But wasn’t it too harsh to make him faint?”

“He was wearing full armor when he got hit, so he should be fine. Probably?”

The “probably” was a bit concerning, but it wasn’t really my business.

“By the way, when’s your match? Everyone’s making a fuss about how strong you’ve become, and I want to see just how strong.”

“In 10 minutes at Arena 21.”

“Who’s your opponent?”

“A second-year senior named Drens.”

“Oh!”

Aelin seemed to know this person.

“Who is he?”

“That senior is pretty strong. I think he’s only had his first awakening, but he’s really powerful.”

“How does he fight?”

“With his fists, brutally. But he’s incredibly strong. Probably the best fighter among the second-years.”

If he fights with his fists, his unique skill is likely related to physical enhancement.

‘Or maybe something like [Shockwave].’

[Shockwave], which allows one to attack opponents just by punching the air, is quite tricky to deal with.

Of course, that’s only if your agility is lower than your opponent’s.

If your agility is higher, your movements are faster than the shockwaves, so you can easily counter them if you know their direction.

‘But if it’s the opposite, that’s the worst.’

If your movements are slower than your opponent’s and you can’t even dodge the shockwaves, you’ll lose almost 100% of the time.

“But you’ll win, right? You can just dodge [Shockwave].”

As expected, he was someone with [Shockwave].

Of course, [Shockwave] is a rather common unique skill.

“That’s true.”

“But seriously, what’s your agility stat? How high is it that you can just see and dodge my skills?”

Come to think of it, it had been a long time since I’d checked my status window.

After a very long time, I opened my status window to check my stats.

Name: Albert Veros Race: Human

Level: 131 Traits: Desperate Person, Regressor

Health: 66/66 Mana: 126/126

Strength: 34 Magic: 16 Agility: 45 Defense: 19 Magic Defense: 17

Skills: [Last Stand of the Mortal(Unique): B], [Sword of the Distant Abyss(Unique)], [Unwavering Faith: B], [Reinforcement: C+], [Swiftness: C], [Death Brings Life: E], [Absolute Loyalty: A-], [Regeneration: B], [Killing Intent Detection: D-], [Killing Intent Release: E], [Regressor’s Privilege(Unique)(3): SSS], [Mage’s Heart: E-]…

My stats had certainly increased rapidly thanks to the Empress’s Spartan training.

‘But I’m still focusing on agility and strength…’

I had the same stat distribution in my previous life.

My agility and strength were extremely high, but the rest of my stats were quite lacking.

However, I had control and skills to compensate for those deficiencies.

I…

‘If I don’t get hit, it doesn’t matter.’

With that mindset, I invested nothing in defense-related stats and focused solely on agility.

In battle, I always approached with the intention of dodging everything.

Of course, that’s still the case now.

I looked up from my status window and said to Aelin, who was watching me:

“My base is 45, but when I max it out, I can reach about 170.”

If I draw [Sword of the Distant Abyss] as a dagger, that’s 100, and if I activate [Last Stand of the Mortal] and [Absolute Loyalty] when I’m with her, I can reach that level.

However, Aelin naturally didn’t believe me at all.

“Huh? Don’t talk nonsense!”

“I’m serious!”

“Agility 170 is definitely a lie. Do you think I’d fall for that?”

“I’ll show you when I fight that second-year senior. Though my maximum right now is 160.”

“Fine, let’s see how fast you really are.”

Of course, it was understandable that Aelin couldn’t believe it.

Having stats in the hundreds is almost impossible at our age.

Unlike me, there are people who exceed a hundred with pure stats alone.

‘Didn’t she say half her stats were invested in magic?’

Even when her level exceeds 200, her magic will be over 100.

Thinking about it, her stats were much more skewed than mine.

‘She’d be helpless without magic…’

Of course, mages can have trouble against enemies with skills that create magic-nullifying zones, but in her case, it was a bit different.

Thanks to her unique skill [Ruthless Cold], she could cover those areas and make them her own territory, allowing her to use magic even against such enemies.

It was definitely a different combat style from mine.

“I’m looking forward to tomorrow.”

I was curious about which team we’d face in the survival match tomorrow, how things would unfold, and I was also looking forward to dueling her.

Of course, I wasn’t the only one looking forward to tomorrow.

“You’re kind of annoying, but I think it would be good to be on the same team as you.”

“If you and I are on the same team, we could manage even if Her Highness the Princess is on the other team.”

Indeed, despite being annoying, Aelin was a formidable asset.

Especially in chaotic battles like the survival match.

“Ugh… that’s cringeworthy.”

“I give you a compliment and you act like this, seriously.”

“Oh! He’s here.”

In front of me, Aelin, and the other party members who had finished their melee battles, the person called Drens appeared.

He had an impressive massive build with bulging muscles—the type people would call a gym rat.