Apakah pria ini pergi ke mana-mana melakukan ini kepada setiap orang yang dia temui?
Jika dia telah berjalan menghampiri setiap orang yang dia lihat berkata, "Senior, junior, ajarkan aku beberapa sihir," maka reputasinya itu masuk akal sempurna.
Tentu saja, lebih baik terlalu bersemangat tentang pembelajaran daripada tidak sama sekali, tapi bahkan itu punya batasannya.
Jika seseorang mengejar Anda selama bertahun-tahun dan mengganggu terus-menerus, adalah wajar jika Anda muak.
Tunggu. Ini bukan saat yang tepat untuk itu.
Yi-han dengan terburu-buru menyegarkan dirinya sendiri.
Ada perampok bersenjata pedang di depannya sekarang—tidak, seorang senior bersenjata pedang.
Dan karena alasan tertentu, senior bersenjata pedang itu memiliki pendapat yang sangat tinggi tentang dirinya.
"Saya pikir ada kesalahpahaman, Senior. Bagaimana mungkin pertukaran singkat tadi cukup untuk memutuskan apakah saya lulus atau tidak?"
Yi-han mengatakannya dengan tegas. Dia tidak memiliki keinginan sama sekali untuk mengajar seorang senior tahun kelima.
Dan bukan seolah-olah keberatan itu sendiri salah.
Dia melewatkan saya setelah satu percakapan? Bagaimanapun saya melihatnya, ini mencurigakan.
Ada kemungkinan besar Caten berniat memaksanya mengajar tidak peduli apa yang dia katakan.
"Haha. Junior, tahu berapa banyak mage yang mencoba mengajar saya? Saya bisa tahu dari satu kalimat saja apakah seseorang memiliki kemampuan untuk mengajar saya atau tidak."
Caten tertawa dengan bangga sambil mengatakan sesuatu yang tidak terdengar mengesankan sama sekali.
Tentu saja, Yi-han tidak tertawa. Memang tidak lucu.
"Saya... ya? Tepatnya bagian mana yang memberikan Anda kesan itu?"
"Untuk memulai, setiap mage yang pernah mencoba mengajar saya dimulai dengan aritmatika dasar dan berjuang untuk mendesak angka ke dalam kepala saya entah bagaimana. Tapi Anda tidak melakukan itu."
"......"
Yi-han ingin mengatakan, Itu karena Senior Diret memperingatkan saya sebelumnya!, tapi dia tidak bisa membawa diri untuk mengkhianati Diret, jadi dia menahannya.
Sumpah. Seharusnya aku bilang Putri Yukbeltire memberitahu saya.
"Itu saja sudah memberi tahu saya bahwa Anda adalah salah satu yang terbaik di antara para mage yang pernah mencoba mengajar saya."
"Anda memuji saya terlalu banyak... tapi, ah, bukankah teman-teman Menara Macan Putih Anda tidak memiliki orang seperti itu?"
"Hmm. Mereka semua mencoba memaksa angka pada saya terlebih dahulu."
Sumpah, Giselle. Anda penipu yang licik!
Yi-han menatap marah ke dalam tentang Giselle yang sepenuhnya tidak bersalah.
Untuk ditipu seperti ini!
Seharusnya aku dimulai dengan angka juga.
Karena apa yang telah didengarnya dari Diret, dan karena dia memiliki pengalaman mengajar siswa tahun pertama yang berulang yang berada di ambang pinggan keluar, dia telah lulus.
"Dan di samping itu, Junior, Anda mengusulkan metode yang berbeda dari cara biasa melatih sihir, bukan? Saya telah memiliki <Penghalang Api Tingkat Rendah> dijelaskan kepada saya puluhan dan puluhan kali, tapi Anda adalah orang pertama yang pernah terlihat siap untuk membakar tubuh Anda sendiri untuk merangkaiannya."
"......"
Kali ini giliran Jorzik dari Keluarga Benmalpa untuk menerima kesalahan.
Yi-han dalam hati melaknati Jorzik dan berharap profesor itu tidak akan pernah menjadi kepala sekolah.
"Itu hanya karena saya memiliki terlalu banyak mana dan mengalami kesulitan mengendalikannya..."
"Anda harus melewati semacam kesulitan!? Bahkan lebih baik! Junior, Anda benar-benar mungkin bisa mengajar saya!"
Caten terlihat senang dengan kesakitan yang dialami juniornya.
Jika seseorang telah melalui semacam penyiksaan dan masih berhasil mengambil kursus dari setiap sekolah, maka mungkin jenius itu benar-benar bisa mengajar Caten.
"...Tolong jangan terlalu kecewa jika saya tidak bisa."
Yi-han mengatakannya seolah-olah setengah menyerah.
Jika itu tidak berhasil, mungkin Caten pada akhirnya akan menyerah sendiri.
Senior tahun kelima itu tersenyum sambil mengelus kumis panjang yang menonjol ke samping dari wajahnya, sifat khas beastkin kucing.
"Kecewa? Saya sudah gagal berapa kali? Mengapa sesuatu seperti itu akan mengecewakan saya? Junior, jangan khawatir. Ayo. Ke sini."
Dengan langkah-langkah cepat kecil, Caten menarik Yi-han maju.
Yi-han bertanya kebingungan, "Ke mana kita pergi?"
"Ah. Seperti yang saya katakan, jika Anda mengajar saya sihir, maka saya juga harus mengajar Anda ilmu pedang. Dan dalam pandangan saya, jika Anda mempelajari lebih banyak ilmu pedang, itu pasti akan membantu pelatihan sihir Anda juga."
Apakah dia memberitahu saya untuk memotong profesor dan melarikan diri?
Sejauh yang dapat ditentukan Yi-han, itu adalah satu-satunya cara ilmu pedang bisa membantu dengan pelatihan sihir.
"Bisakah saya benar-benar mempelajari ilmu pedang Anda, Senior?"
"Aku telah mendengar apa yang dikatakan junior dari menara. Anda benar-benar bisa mempelajarinya!"
"......"
Yi-han bergerak maju sambil bersumpah bahwa sekali kembali, dia akan memburu siswa tahun kedua Menara Macan Putih seperti tikus.
"Anda mengambil ilmu pedang tahun lalu, jadi pasti pernah belajar tentang intensi, Junior."
"Ya."
Di antara petemuan pedang tua Kekaisaran, ada rahasia yang disampaikan secara lisan yang mencakup perkataan samar seperti "Tuangkan kemarahan Anda ke pedang," atau "Tuangkan iman Anda ke pedang."
Itu bukan hanya metode pelatihan emosional.
Pedang dapat benar-benar mengubah sifat mana melalui sensasi dan naluri.
Profesor Ingledel telah menjelaskan itu sebagai menempatkan intensi ke dalam pedang.
"Ketika Anda telah belajar menangani mana dengan terampil, sepenuhnya memahami bentuk ilmu pedang, dan pada akhirnya melampaui hanya menempatkan intensi ke dalam pedang dan belajar mengompresnya menjadi satu titik...!"
Seketika, pedang bersinar seperti bintang.
Anyak mage dapat dengan mudah merasakan cahaya biasa, tetapi cahaya yang dituangkan dari bilah upperclassman membawa misteri yang secara fundamental berbeda dari itu.
Itu adalah massa kristal mana, dikondensasi ke tingkat yang akal seorang mage sulit memahami.
Aura.
"Itu luar biasa! Bagaimana di dunia Anda sampai menyadari sesuatu seperti itu...?"
Dengan pujian Yi-han, Caten tenggelam dalam pemikiran serius.
Kemudian dia menjawab.
"Saya pikir sel hukuman memainkan peran terbesar, bagaimanapun. Junior. Saat saya terus tinggal di sel hukuman, saya menemukan diri saya berpikir lebih dan lebih dalam tentang ilmu pedang."
"...Saya, saya mengerti."
"Jika Anda tidak bisa menangani mana, Anda tidak bisa mengumpulkannya ke dalam pedang. Jika Anda tidak bisa menangani bentuk, Anda tidak bisa mengendalikannya. Dan jika Anda tidak bisa mengumpulkan intensi, Anda tidak bisa mengompresnya. Jika bahkan salah satu dari ketiganya kurang, tidak akan berhasil."
Yi-han mengangguk.
Dia memahami itu sepenuhnya sendiri, telah pernah mencoba memaksa mana mentah bersama-sama dan membuat aura palsu.
Pada akhirnya, karena aura berpusat pada mana yang dikompres melampaui batasnya alami, tidak dapat dibuat melalui mana saja tanpa realisasi itu.
"Junior, Anda harus menyelesaikan ini terlebih dahulu."
"...Apakah Anda memiliki saran apa pun untuk saya?"
Caten jatuh dalam pemikiran serius lagi.
"Hmm. Jika Anda mengikuti jalan yang saya ambil, maka selama istirahat Anda harus menghabiskan waktu di sel hukuman—"
"Saya akan melakukan yang terbaik dalam jam kuliah."
Yi-han menjawab seketika.
Gelombang ketakutan menghampiri dia. Jika dia menjawab dengan salah di sini, dia mungkin tidak diizinkan meninggalkan Einroguard bahkan selama istirahat.
"Seperti yang diharapkan. Seorang jenius yang berbakat cukup untuk mengambil kursus dari setiap sekolah seharusnya tidak memiliki kesulitan."
Senior Caten benar-benar tidak memanggil saya ke sini hanya untuk menyiksa saya... benar?
Bahkan mendengarkan seorang upperclassman memuji dirinya sendiri begitu tinggi, Yi-han tidak merasakan kegembiraan sama sekali.
"Setelah Anda menyelesaikan aura ini, maka setelah itu..."
Saat dia berbicara, Caten mengayunkan aura menuju lava. Pedang, membara seperti bintang, melacak busur yang bersinar.
Itu adalah serangan dengan kekuatan destruktif yang luar biasa—dan jika itu saja, itu sudah luar biasa. Yi-han bertanya-tanya apa sebenarnya yang Caten coba tunjukkan kepadanya.
"...Sekarang!"
Tari pedang Caten baru saja dimulai.
Ketika dia mengayun sekali dan kemudian mengayun lagi, kenyataan itu sendiri mulai berubah, sedikit saja, di wilayah yang dilalui aura.
"!!!!"
Karena dia telah melihat sihir Dunia Kecil Diret dengan matanya sendiri, Yi-han seketika menyadari apa yang dilakukan pria lain itu dan terpukau.
Caten memanggil sihir Dunia Kecil dengan mengayunkan pedangnya!
Tentu saja, itu tidak sama sekali seperti Dunia Kecil yang presisi dan sistematis yang disatukan oleh ketertiban, seperti <Pentagramaton> Diret.
Ini primitif dan kasar—terbatas, aneh, Dunia Kecil yang hanya berlaku untuk satu instan ayunan pedang.
Tapi Dunia Kecil tetap saja Dunia Kecil.
Pada saat yang tepat ketika aturan kenyataan berubah, aura tiba-tiba berubah menjadi air dan meledak ke luar.
Dengan teriakan, Caten menarik air itu dan membentuknya menjadi penghalang.
"Hup... ha!"
Penghalang air itu gagal untuk bertahan lama cukup untuk mencocokkan upaya dari teriakan itu. Itu bertahan selama beberapa detik, kemudian seketika kehilangan kekuatan dan lenyap.
Tidak seperti sihir, yang dapat melakukan berbagai proses rumit, ilmu pedang dapat menghasilkan fenomena yang sangat destruktif dalam sekejap, tetapi mempertahankan penghalang air seperti itu hampir tidak mungkin.
Fakta bahwa dia telah menjaganya tetap berjalan bahkan untuk beberapa detik sudah merupakan pencapaian yang luar biasa.
Membentuk aura saja sudah luar biasa, namun dia telah menggunakannya untuk memanifestasikan Dunia Kecil di atas itu.
"Huff... huff. Apakah Anda melihat itu sekarang, Junior?"
"Saya lihat."
Tampaknya teknik itu juga memberikan beban pada stamina Caten, karena dia bernapas berat saat berbicara.
"Ini juga... saya menyelesaikan... di sel hukuman..."
"......"
Apakah dia pecandu sel hukuman?
"Itu menakjubkan. Berpikir Anda dapat memanifestasikan Dunia Kecil dengan pedang."
"Dunia Kecil? Apa itu, Junior?"
"......"
Yi-han tidak pernah membayangkan seorang siswa tahun kelima mungkin tidak tahu apa itu Dunia K
Did this guy go around doing this to everyone he met?
If he’d been walking up to every person he saw saying, “Senior, junior, teach me some magic,” then that reputation of his made perfect sense.
Of course, it was better to be too passionate about learning than to have none at all, but even that had limits.
If someone chased you around for years and harassed you nonstop, it was only natural you’d grow sick of it.
Wait. This isn’t the time for that.
Lee Han hurriedly pulled himself together.
There was a sword-wielding robber in front of him right now—no, a sword-wielding upperclassman.
And for some reason, that sword-wielding upperclassman had a very high opinion of him.
“I think there’s been some kind of misunderstanding, Senior. How could that brief exchange just now possibly be enough to decide whether I pass or fail?”
Lee Han said it firmly. He had no desire whatsoever to teach a fifth-year upperclassman.
And it wasn’t as if the objection itself was wrong.
He’s passing me after one conversation? No matter how I look at it, this is suspicious.
There was a good chance Caten intended to force him to teach no matter what he said.
“Haha. Junior, do you know how many mages have tried to teach me? I can tell from a single sentence whether someone has the ability to teach me or not.”
Caten laughed proudly while saying something that did not sound impressive in the slightest.
Naturally, Lee Han did not laugh. It wasn’t funny anyway.
“I... see? Exactly what part gave you that impression?”
“To start with, every mage who ever tried to teach me began with basic arithmetic and struggled to cram numbers into my head somehow. But you didn’t do that.”
“......”
Lee Han wanted to say, That’s because Senior Diret warned me in advance!, but he couldn’t bring himself to betray Diret, so he held it in.
Damn it. I should’ve said Princess Yukbeltire told me.
“That alone tells me you’re one of the finest among the mages who have ever tried to teach me.”
“You overpraise me... but, ah, didn’t your White Tiger Tower friends have anyone like that?”
“Hmm. They all tried to force numbers on me first.”
Damn it, Giselle. You sneaky genius!
Lee Han seethed inwardly at the entirely blameless Giselle.
To get blindsided like this!
I should’ve started with numbers too.
Because of what he had heard from Diret, and because he had experience teaching first-year repeaters who were on the verge of flunking out, he had passed.
“And on top of that, Junior, you proposed a method different from the usual way of practicing magic, didn’t you? I’ve had <Low-Grade Flame Barrier> explained to me dozens and dozens of times, but you’re the first person who ever looked ready to set fire to your own body to cast it.”
“......”
This time it was Jorzik of House Benmalpa’s turn to take the blame.
Lee Han silently cursed Jorzik and hoped that professor would never become principal.
“That was only because I have too much mana and have trouble controlling it...”
“You had to go through that kind of difficulty!? Even better! Junior, you really might be able to teach me!”
Caten looked delighted by the pain his junior had suffered.
If someone had gone through that kind of torment and still managed to take courses from every school, then maybe that genius truly could teach Caten.
“...Please don’t be too disappointed if I can’t.”
Lee Han said it as though half giving up.
If it didn’t work, maybe Caten would eventually give up on his own.
The fifth-year upperclassman smiled as he stroked the long whiskers that jutted sideways from his face, a trait distinctive to cat beastkin.
“Disappointed? I’ve failed how many times already. Why would something like that disappoint me? Junior, don’t worry so much. Come. This way.”
With quick little steps, Caten pulled Lee Han forward.
Lee Han asked in confusion, “Where are we going?”
“Ah. As I said, if you teach me magic, then I must also teach you swordsmanship. And in my view, if you learn more swordsmanship, it will surely help your magical training as well.”
Is he telling me to cut down a professor and make a run for it?
As far as Lee Han could tell, that was the only way swordsmanship could possibly help with magic training.
“Could I really learn your swordsmanship, Senior?”
“I’ve heard what the juniors from the tower say. You can absolutely learn it!”
“......”
Lee Han moved forward while vowing that once he got back, he would hunt down the White Tiger Tower second-years like rats.
“You took swordsmanship last year, so you must have learned about intent, Junior.”
“Yes.”
Among the old swordsmen of the Empire, there were orally transmitted secrets that included vague sayings like “Pour your anger into the sword,” or “Pour your faith into the sword.”
Those were not merely emotional training methods.
Swordsmen could actually alter the nature of mana through sensation and instinct.
Professor Ingledel had explained that as placing intent into the sword.
“When you’ve learned to handle mana skillfully, fully understood the forms of swordsmanship, and at the end of it gone beyond merely placing intent into the sword and learned to compress it into a single point...!”
In an instant, the sword shone like a star.
Any mage could easily perceive an ordinary light, but the radiance pouring from the upperclassman’s blade carried a mystery fundamentally different from that.
It was a crystallized mass of mana, condensed to a degree a mage’s reason could hardly comprehend.
Aura.
“That’s incredible! How in the world did you come to realize something like that...?”
At Lee Han’s flattery, Caten sank into serious thought.
Then he answered.
“I think the punishment cells played the biggest role, after all. Junior. As I kept staying in the punishment cells, I found myself thinking more and more deeply about swordsmanship.”
“...I, I see.”
“If you can’t handle mana, you can’t gather it into the sword. If you can’t handle the forms, you can’t control it. And if you can’t gather intent, you can’t compress it. If even one of the three is lacking, it won’t work.”
Lee Han nodded.
He understood that all too well himself, having once tried to force raw mana together and create a counterfeit aura.
In the end, since aura was centered on mana compressed beyond its natural limits, it could not be created through mana alone without that realization.
“Junior, you must complete this first.”
“...Do you have any advice for me?”
Caten fell into serious thought again.
“Hmm. If you follow the path I took, then during break you should spend time in the punishment cells—”
“I’ll do my utmost within lecture hours.”
Lee Han answered at once.
A wave of fear crashed over him. If he answered wrong here, he might not be allowed to leave Einroguard even during break.
“As expected. A genius talented enough to take courses from every school should have no trouble.”
Senior Caten didn’t really call me here just to torment me... right?
Even listening to an upperclassman praising him so highly, Lee Han felt no joy at all.
“Once you complete this aura, then after that...”
As he spoke, Caten swung the aura toward the lava. The sword, burning like a star, traced a shining arc.
It was an attack with overwhelming destructive force—and if that had been all, it would already have been remarkable enough. Lee Han wondered what exactly Caten was trying to show him.
“...Now!”
Caten’s sword dance was only just beginning.
When he swung once and then swung again, reality itself began to change, just slightly, in the region through which the aura passed.
“!!!!”
Because he had seen Diret’s Lesser World magic with his own eyes, Lee Han instantly realized what the other man was doing and was stunned.
Caten was invoking Lesser World magic by swinging his sword!
Of course, it was nothing like the precise, systematic Lesser World held together by order, such as Diret’s <Pentagramaton>.
This was primitive and crude—limited, strange, a Lesser World that only applied for the single instant of a sword’s swing.
But a Lesser World was still a Lesser World.
At the exact moment the rules of reality changed, the aura abruptly turned to water and burst outward.
With a shout, Caten drew that water in and formed it into a barrier.
“Hup... ha!”
The water barrier failed to last long enough to match the effort of that shout. It held for a few seconds, then instantly lost strength and vanished.
Unlike magic, which could carry out various complicated processes, swordsmanship could produce highly destructive phenomena in an instant, but maintaining a water barrier like that was nearly impossible.
The fact that he had kept it going for even a few seconds was already an extraordinary achievement.
Forming aura alone was incredible enough, and yet he had used it to manifest a Lesser World on top of that.
“Huff... huff. Did you see that just now, Junior?”
“I did.”
Apparently that technique had been hard on Caten’s stamina as well, because he was breathing heavily as he spoke.
“This, too... I completed... in the punishment cells...”
“......”
Is he a punishment-cell addict?
“It’s amazing. To think you can manifest a Lesser World with a sword.”
“Lesser World? What is that, Junior?”
“......”
Lee Han had never imagined a fifth-year student might not even know what a Lesser World was.
“Th-that is, something like this. In magic, around the fifth circle—”
“...Hah! Magic has something like that too!? I thought it existed only in swordsmanship!”
...He really ought to join a knight order.
Lee Han was dumbfounded by Caten, but inwardly he was also impressed.
Whenever he had faced knights like Alalarong or Jiklin, he had felt strength in them that went beyond simple swordsmanship or the ability to wield aura. If swordsmen who had reached a true realm could do things like this, then that made perfect sense.
Even the sword art Lee Han had learned had later forms that Alalarong had never taught him.
So swordsmanship can even reach the level of a Lesser World.
Suddenly curious, Lee Han asked, “Senior. Is something like this possible with swordsmanship too?”
“Like what?”
“I mean, something like...”
Lee Han briefly explained the Personal World magic he knew about.
Not merely altering a mage’s personal world, but recreating a much wider domain itself according to the mage’s own order—the ultimate secret art of mages.
When he described that realm the Skull Principal had shown once, Caten burst out laughing.
“Magic can’t do that either, Junior! How could an individual mage dye such a vast area with a world of his own!?”
“...Senior. That really is a form of magic.”
“?!?!”
Only after hearing Lee Han’s full explanation did the fifth-year upperclassman awkwardly accept it.
“S-so there was such a great magic... Junior. I’m truly astonished.”
“You’ve never heard of it?”
“Well, I always ask about easy spells...”
Caten had heard <Low-Grade Flame Barrier> explained dozens of times, yet had never once heard of Lesser Worlds or Personal Worlds.
“And as far as I know, something like that is impossible with swordsmanship. Hmm. You can twist the area a sword passes through... but I can’t even imagine changing a region that large.”
Unlike a mage’s Lesser World, a swordsman could only momentarily twist reality within the brief area cut by the sword.
Since it was manifested through instinct and sensation, that limitation was only natural.
Of course, from a mage’s perspective, even this felt like an outrageous cheat, a shortcut...
“Then again, that isn’t what matters. It’s not as if I’m ever going to reach that level anyway.”
“Junior. What kind of thing is that to say? Don’t start defining your own limits already. You can do it. When you learned swordsmanship last year, what kind of resolve did you have?”
“Hmm.”
Lee Han hesitated. It did not seem wise to admit he had taken it hoping to coast to easy grades.
“I... wanted to walk the path of the sword seriously, at least a little...”
“I knew it! Junior, just as I refuse to give up on magic, you must not give up on swordsmanship either.”
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