Chapter 21: Evaluation Ends, Preparation Beings

Karia Rayfelt said that after the sparring match with Seong Yujin, she had to rate him highly.

His excellent quick thinking, the remarkable improvement in his spear skills overnight, his unyielding spirit and tenacity to keep challenging.

These qualities proved that the fact Seong Yujin clinging to her clothes during orientation was no mere fluke.

He approached the sparring match with desperation and performed admirably.

Thus, Karia had no choice but to rate Seong Yujin highly.

Highly rate.

But is that all there is to it?

The death she experienced in the sparring match was the first time in a long while.

It happened only once in the virtual reality sparring match, but the shock did not easily dissipate.

If there was any consolation, it was that she only allowed one hit out of thirty-three bouts.

All the previous thirty-two bouts were Karia Rayfelt’s overwhelming victories.

The one defeat could be considered a fluke.

However, Karia Rayfelt’s expression was complex and subtle.

Along with the pure joy and admiration of witnessing the growth of a student she personally taught, a slight unease also appeared on her face.

Karia wielded a steel spear that could be commonly found in any market, while Seong Yujin wielded replica of Gungnir, a spear truly worthy of its name.

Though it was a replica, Gungnir was still Gungnir.

Even when she instinctively drew upon her magic to use defensive spells and physical reinforcement in the end, it was still pierced in a single strike.

The swing.

That was the issue.

It wasn’t a throw but a swing.

If he had won by throwing, she wouldn’t be having these thoughts. Gungnir’s throw is subject to a hit effect.

However, Karia allowed an attack from a swung Gungnir and ultimately lost a life to a mere first-year student.

A student claimed the life of Karia, who had cleared numerous dungeons, traversed battlefields, and even ventured into the infamous labyrinth.

‘I can see why the Head chose him.’

Every moment, using the detection barrier spread throughout the sparring ground, Seong Yujin constantly sensed Karia’s movements, and with his unusually accurate dynamic vision, he intercepted her attacks.

Moreover, the debuff-type barrier spells that targeted her at every moment of the attack were extremely annoying.

She recalled the sparring match.

Despite that, she achieved thirty-two perfect victories due to her overwhelming experience and skill.

‘I never thought he would use Gungnir’s recall function at that moment…’

The final moment could only be described as completely unexpected. Grabbing the end of the spear and swinging a powerful strike.

Whether it was due to some cognitive interference or the fact that he didn’t use magic to enhance his vision, she lost sight of the form, but as soon as she saw the posture, she thought that just a touch would make the spear fly out of his hand.

So she touched it.

She swept through the expected range with a continuous attack, and among them, she blocked the attack twice with Gungnir and knocked it out of his hand.

The next moment, he aimed for her heart.

She thought the attack couldn’t be blocked or dodged.

-Come, Gungnir!’

Until Gungnir, which was flying through the air, returned to Seong Yujin’s hand after he shouted.

But the biggest concern for Karia was not Gungnir’s recall.

It was the technique that perfectly blocked her strike, allowing Seong Yujin to claim her life in the final round.

The vivid memory of the cracked and shattered space that devoured her spear lingered before her eyes like an illusion.

‘What on earth was that technique in the end?’

She had never seen or heard of such a thing in her life.

Suddenly, the space cracked and shattered, swallowing her spear, and then it returned to its original state, breaking it in two.

She speculated it might be a type of barrier magic, but even that was uncertain.

She couldn’t decipher the principle or mechanism behind the shattered space’s spell.

The closest thing might have been Vice Chancellor Odd’s ability. “Void,” as it’s also called.

His mystic ability to dominate and perceive the space of an area was somewhat similar to the technique Seong Yujin displayed.

‘This is giving me a headache. Well, even if I, who specialize in close combat, think about magic and mysteries, it’s useless.’

No matter what tricks the enemy might pull, just close the distance quickly and smash their head.

That’s all there is to it.

Karia wasn’t a distinguished magician or scholar of mysteries.

So, complicated matters should be left to experts in those fields.

She had hunted demons and monsters for years, so she took out her smartphone from the subspace pouch.

[Me: Professor Reyna, I have something to discuss with you.]

[Reyna Graven: Yup? I’m eating right now, though?]

…She forgot that it was dinner time.

[Me: I apologize. I lost track of time while sparring with Student Seong Yujin.]

She decided to contact her again in about an hour.

It wasn’t an urgent matter that needed immediate attention, and interrupting someone during a meal was taboo even in the hunter industry.

Just as she was about to put the smartphone back into the subspace pouch, a message arrived.

[Reyna Graven: Wait a moment! You sparred with Student Seong Yujin?]

[Me: Yes. Is there a problem?]

Professor Reyna replied.

Didn’t she say she was eating?

Still, it was good that she showed interest.

Curious about why Professor Reyna reacted suddenly, Karia asked, and the message “Reyna Graven is typing…” blinked in the chat window.

[Reyna Graven: You conducted a special lecture for the top student, right? The one the head asked us to do.]

[Me: Yes. I’m teaching him spear techniques since he’ll be using Gungnir. He’s growing rapidly and seems ambitious, so we quickly moved on to sparring.]

“Ouch.”

She hit her head on a tree branch while looking at her smartphone.

Feeling annoyed, she brushed her head a few times and looked around.

She saw a bench in front of a well-maintained flower bed where she could sit and rest.

It seemed like she would be exchanging messages for a while, so she decided it would be better to sit on the bench and finish the conversation before moving on.

She sat on the bench and focused on the smartphone screen again.

[Reyna Graven: Amazing. I’m sure yesterday was his first class, and on the second day, you went straight to sparring.]

[Reyna Graven: So, what was the result? Tell me the record~]

[Reyna Graven: Heyyy~?]

[Reyna Graven: Professor Kariaa~ Answer meee~]

Hmm, Professor Reyna couldn’t wait the short moment Karia spent sitting on the bench and sent four messages.

With a light sigh, she started tapping on the smartphone screen to reply.

If she wants to know the record, she should tell her.

It will surprise her, though.

[Me: 3.03%]

[Reyna Graven: ??? What does that number mean?]

[Me: What do you mean? It’s the win rate of Student Seong Yujin, who faced me in today’s duel.]

There was a brief silence.

About a minute passed without a reply.

The “read” next to the sent message disappeared, so it was clear that it had been read, but perhaps she was too shocked to respond.

Seong Yujin recorded a 3.03% win rate against Karia Rayfelt in the duel.

At a glance, it’s a wretchedly poor win rate, but it could also be said this way:

‘A first-year cadet from Eden managed to secure a single victory against a top hunter.’

1 and 2 may be similar, but 0 and 1 are different.

What kind of reaction will Professor Reyna show?

I didn’t think she was the type to tease or enjoy reactions, but this time, a smile of anticipation curled at the corners of my lips.

The achievement of Seong Yujin was that surprising and astonishing.

「Reyna Graven: No way, you lost?」

「Me: Yes. I unexpectedly took a hit at the end and lost one round.

「Reyna Graven: How many wins and losses?」

「Me: From Student Seong Yujin’s perspective, 33 matches, 32 losses, 1 win.」

Another brief silence followed.

What could be the reason this time?

I stared at the screen, curious about the reply, and soon enough, Professor Reyna’s message came through.

「Reyna Graven: Useless.」

「Me: ???」

The reply was unexpectedly brief, containing something I hadn’t even imagined.

***

“Hoo-hoo.”

A woman with long, light green hair draped over her shoulders chuckled, her pointed ears twitching slightly.

Wearing a light brown coat over her shoulders, she was Reyna Graven.

As the professor of magic at Eden and a rare elf, her gaze was fixed on the text message on her smartphone screen.

The message sent with three question marks in a row.

Reading Karia’s utterly baffled message, she couldn’t help but laugh.

At the same time, Reyna’s gaze rose to the name of Student Seong Yujin.

The first person to hace two cores in one body, and chosen directly by Eden’s Head, Otinuuus, as the top freshman.

Moreover, he had seized the unclaimed spear, Gungnir, with his own skill, something no one, including Eden’s faculty, had ever managed to do.

‘Until now, I thought there must be a reason why the head chose her… But the potential to draw Gungnir is indeed extraordinary.’

His growth rate is just unbelievably fast.

Even just reaching a level where he could spar competently would be more than enough, but to think he actually managed to defeat Professor Karia in the thirty-third match, even if just once.

Surely, Karia wouldn’t have gone easy on him.

In a life-threatening moment, Karia would undoubtedly have used her specialty, steel body technique, and mana control.

And to have won a round against such a state of Karia, the secret must have been a strike from Gungnir.

If both had been using ordinary weapons, Karia would have pierced through his at the last moment.

The spear would have bent against the steel body, and Karia would have exploited the opening to strike.

But that’s just an if scenario that never happened; the result of the sparring is already set in stone.

‘Even if it was a victory by gear, the timing to seize the opportunity was Student Seing Yujin’s own skill.’

He is truly an enviable talent.

To think he has a knack for close combat weapons in addition to magic.

Reyna pondered ways to draw Seong Yujin into her club while smiling at Karia’s new message.

[Karia Rayfelt: I’d like to ask you to student Cadet Seong Yujin in the field of magic. Can you spare some time later?”

In a postscript, she humorously added a fiery emoji, challenging her to a match and requesting a magic lecture.

‘What a stroke of luck.’

A pleased smile curved Reyna’s lips.

There’s no reason not to make time.

Reyna quickly brought out her schedule for review.

There’s no regret in investing time for a promising talent, especially one she had her eye on for a while.

Fortunately, her lecture schedule was quite empty.

It was still the first semester, so it was possible.

Reyna quietly turned off her smartphone and put it into her coat pocket, thinking.

How amazing must the magic she teaches be to entice Student Seong Yujin into the magic studies club?

Preparing for the second-year mandatory courses of advanced magic studies and mana control, she headed to her workshop for the first time in a while.