Chapter 1175: Blooming (6)
The outermost undeveloped district of the mega-city Vulcan. A green plain stretched to the horizon.
Hundreds of various spell-armaments were haphazardly stuck into the unkempt grass.
Amidst the countless weapons, a woman with disheveled hair and a young man with a youthful face were fighting.
CRASH!!!
Long, curved spear shafts collided and bounced off each other.
The woman’s leg shot out, knocking the retreating young man’s legs from under him, sending him sprawling, sweat beading on his brow.
“K-kh…!!”
Despite losing his balance for a moment, the young man, with astonishing reflexes, parried the spearhead falling from above him.
The sturdy spear shafts scraped against each other in the air, sending off fierce sparks.
KAGAGAGAK!!!
In the fleeting moment he was falling backward, an ultra-high-speed exchange of blows continued dozens of times.
But the young man’s resistance ended as his spear-wielding wrist was stomped on and twisted.
“You imbecile.”
CRUNCH!!
Peshia, with one foot on Weian’s wrist, sneered in a contemptuous voice.
“How many times have I told you not to swing a spear with just your wrist?”
“No, wait…!!!”
“If you don’t listen, you get beaten.”
There was no answer.
Before Weian could say anything, the blunt spear shaft rained down on his entire body like a club.
PUBURBURBURBURBUK!!!
“UGH!! ACK! Owowowowow!!! KYAAAK!!”
Weian’s pathetic form was instantly covered in hideous bruises, accompanied by bizarre screams.
Lennok, sipping tea while sitting in a gazebo set up at one end of the prairie, gazed idly at the scene.
“If he gets any worse, I might have to intervene.”
[Ugh….]
Davi asked, horrified.
[Do organic beings really only learn things in such barbaric ways?]
“Your center of gravity is all over the place, you bug.”
Peshia glared at Weian as if he were an insect.
“I told you to use your weapon freely, not to distribute your strength however you wanted.”
“But I’ve never used a spear before, how am I supposed to know?!”
Weian screamed, rolling around in the grass.
“I’ve only ever used tonfas in my mercenary work!!!”
“Don’t give me that bullshit. Adamant Thunder said you’re an extreme sensation-type.”
CRACK!!
Peshia, with one foot on Weian’s neck, let out a ghastly laugh.
“If you’re someone who relies entirely on innate senses, you should be able to wield any weapon you pick up for the first time. Are you messing with me right now?”
“No, I didn’t say I was a sensation-type, Van just arbitrarily–”
“Hey.”
CRUNCH!!!
Peshia’s spear shaft slammed down next to Weian’s head, creating a small crater in the grass.
Weian, his neck suddenly feeling vulnerable, swallowed hard, his face pale.
Peshia stared down at Weian with a chilling expression, as if ready to kill him.
“Listen, you idiot. I hate it when weaklings talk back to strong ones the most.”
“…Hiccup.”
“If that crazy wizard bastard said you’re a sensation-type, then you’re a sensation-type. Why don’t you know your place? It makes me genuinely want to kill you.”
“……”
Suddenly, Weian’s expression turned serious.
Perhaps because he knew that Peshia’s abusive words, despite everything, ultimately pierced to the core of the matter.
“K-kh…!!!”
“Live your whole life thanking that wizard bastard, you fool.”
Peshia smiled, watching Weian force himself to stand despite the pain.
“If you were part of my legion, I wouldn’t bother with this kind of training; I’d just cut off your head and hang it on a flag.”
“……”
Weian didn’t answer anymore.
Instead, he grabbed the hilt of a sword casually stuck in the field and slowly drew up his mana.
Weian, breathing heavily and calming his ragged breath, raised his sword with a pale face.
“Hmph… Let’s go again. I’m ready.”
Seeing this, Peshia also raised the blunt spear shaft she held.
“One weapon per exchange. Keep switching and endure.”
“……”
“If you make a mistake like that again, I’ll smash your head in, regardless of what Adamant Thunder says.”
CRASH!!!!
Peshia and Weian clashed once more, and Weian tumbled miserably across the ground.
But even as he rolled, he snatched a curved sword stuck askew, parried the incoming spear thrust, and then drew a short spear to defend his lower body.
Peshia thrusting her spear with incredible speed, and Weian parrying by rapidly discarding the weapon he was holding.
TURTUTURTUNG!!!
“Kueeugh…!!!”
Dozens of weapons bounced off and scattered behind Weian.
Peshia’s cruel hands mercilessly battered Weian’s entire body, ignoring his death-screams mixed with curses.
From behind Lennok, who was watching the two spar, an antiquated male voice echoed.
“Tower Lord. Have you been well?”
“Azlan.”
The Guardian of Turyeonmun and an 8-level spear user.
Purity, Krod Azlan, wearing a pure white robe, smiled as he looked at Lennok.
“Your complexion looks a little better than when I last saw you. That’s a relief.”
“…Because I’ve been receiving more good-for-you medicines than I need from all over the place.”
Lennok gave a bitter smile.
The unidentified ‘small gathering’ formed around the Fearsome Blood King had, absurdly enough, proven somewhat helpful.
Perhaps it was because each individual was a remarkable talent capable of supplying rare knowledge or materials from across the continent.
Or perhaps Lennok had simply been too neglectful of this kind of health management until now.
Either way, Lennok didn’t deny that his condition was slightly better than during his last health check-up.
“I thought it didn’t mean much, but it’s not like it had no effect. I should try a drastic treatment and think about it.”
“I understand that for those who follow the Tower Lord, your health is a matter more critical than any other.”
Purity nodded.
“It’s a joy to hear that their worries and concerns have borne some fruit.”
“I didn’t realize the Tower’s companions were so concerned about my health.”
“Even if they didn’t say it directly, I believe everyone was always thinking about it.”
Purity, stroking his chin, spoke in a slow tone.
“If I may be so bold, Tower Lord, you appear so excessively flawless that it ironically makes you seem more unstable. Everyone must vaguely sense it.”
“……”
Hearing such things from another person felt quite complex.
If Purity, a born warrior, felt such an impression, then perhaps other companions had similar thoughts.
“In a few days, Lord Felix and others will also be visiting this place for training.”
Purity, naturally taking up a guard position in front of the gazebo where Lennok was seated, spoke.
“This is land in the undeveloped district that was purchased in Turyeonmun’s name, abandoned for a while without a caretaker. I believe it’s perfectly suitable for use as a training ground while the Magic Tower is under construction.”
“Yes. It doesn’t seem bad.”
“So, are you here today to see the young man Lord Grisbern is guiding?”
Leaving Lennok unanswered, Krod turned his gaze towards Weian.
“I don’t know about other talents, but his empathic ability alone is truly astonishing. I understand why the Tower Lord occasionally observes him.”
“Weian’s empathic ability is among the top few of all the superhumans I’ve ever seen.”
Lennok replied.
“Because it’s a talent developed to an oddly extreme degree in one direction, it might even bloom in a unique way.”
“If that’s the case….”
“But I didn’t come here today because of Weian.”
WHUMP!!
As Peshia kicked Weian in the solar plexus, Weian’s body flew up and tumbled across the prairie.
Unable to hold his ground, Weian rolled backward and hit his head on a gazebo pillar behind Lennok.
THUD!!
“Guh…!!”
Weian, convulsing his limbs and groaning, met Lennok’s gaze with blurry eyes.
“Va, Van….”
“Weian.”
Lennok called Weian in a calm voice.
“Why did you make that judgment in the last exchange?”
“Uh, huh?”
Weian, coughing and struggling to sit up, widened his eyes at Lennok’s question.
Lennok looked down at Weian with an impassive expression and asked.
“You saw the angle of Peshia’s leg rotating at the end, yet you didn’t dodge. Can you tell me why?”
“W-well… I don’t really know.”
The young man, leaning against the gazebo pillar and momentarily pondering, replied with a baffled expression.
“It felt like if I dodged there, something even more dangerous would happen… or something like that….”
“And so?”
“But then, thinking about it like that, I couldn’t figure out how to counter it, and my hands got tangled… cough!!”
Weian clutched his solar plexus, continuously hacking out dry coughs.
Lennok looked down at Weian and said in a level voice.
“You are correct, Weian. If you had dodged that kick, the spear shaft would have come from your blind spot and struck your chin, knocking you unconscious. Peshia intended to end the training with that attack.”
“……”
“Your judgment was correct in hindsight, but you couldn’t trust that judgment because there was no basis for it in the process of reaching it.”
Lennok set down his teacup and looked down at Weian with a cool gaze.
“Every judgment, no matter how trivial, must have a basis. Even when you have to make an irrational choice, there must be a reason. Only that consistency will prevent you from hesitating in a fleeting moment.”
“Cough!! Th-that’s…”
“The reason you can’t adhere to that principle is ultimately because your empathic ability transmits excessively too much information. It’s because you can’t control and regulate it yourself.”
“……”
“If controlling and regulating your empathic ability is difficult, and balancing judgment and intuition remains challenging no matter what you do–”
Lennok asked in an almost casual tone.
“What if you tried the opposite?”
“…The opposite?”
The moment Weian, with a blank expression, echoed those words,
the blunt spear shaft slammed down behind Weian’s neck, making a chilling sound.
CRACK!!
“Gah…!!”
Peshia, who had been standing behind the instantly unconscious Weian, spat and turned away.
Sweeping back her disheveled hair, she flung away the spear shaft she was holding and then sharply turned her gaze to Lennok.
“Adamant Thunder. What are you looking at with such amusement?”
Peshia grabbed the water bottle placed in front of the gazebo and chugged it down as if to crush it, glaring at Lennok with bloodshot eyes.
“You must have come to mock me for having to train this ignorant bastard because of you, didn’t you?”
“That level of paranoia is a sickness.”
Lennok, leaning back in the gazebo, asked leisurely.
“How are Weian’s training achievements?”
“I don’t know what nonsense you’re spouting. You’re the one who handed that brat over to me.”
Peshia gave a chilling smile.
“You should already know that apart from his excessively sensitive empathic ability, every other part of him is completely useless.”
“……”
“There’s nothing to commend him for besides his instantaneous reactions based on his empathic ability and his subconscious reflex speed. On the contrary, the moment he starts thinking, his hands get tangled, and he loses his fundamentals.”
Peshia looked down at Lennok and tilted her head back.
“It’s faster to just rip out half his brain to stop him from thinking than to correct him through training. Give up.”
“Hmm, rip out half his brain, you say…”
“…Tower Lord?”
Seeing Lennok seemingly ponder seriously, Purity and Peshia wore bewildered expressions.
“That crazy bastard… I was speaking metaphorically! Wizards are truly unpredictable. What on earth do they think about every day?”
“No, Weian’s stunted growth is due to his excessively overwhelming empathic ability.”
Lennok said, looking at the unconscious Weian.
“Strictly speaking, it’s not his fault. In fact, if he had less empathic ability, Weian would be much stronger now.”
“Hah.”
“He probably knows that himself. It was Weian who heard about you from Felix and asked for training.”
“That’s precisely what’s disgusting and offensive.”
Peshia’s eyes gleamed.
“This pathetic bastard dares to think he’s similar to me and tries to compete. What does he expect to achieve with such amateurish thoughts, like ‘if I’m a sensation-type, maybe I can learn something’?”
“……”
“In that regard, that dull bird-brain is at least better. At least that idiot knew how to think about what he lacked.”
“Comparing Felix and Weian would be quite meaningless to both of them.”
“Khaha, you’re spouting that kind of nonsense again.”
Peshia’s lips stretched into a ghastly grin as she glared at Lennok’s impassive face.
“You have an odd tendency to be unusually lenient towards bugs that can’t even reach your toes. You forcibly try to recycle trash that doesn’t even need your attention.”
“……”
“Pathetic sympathy. Feigned humanity. Does it make you feel better to put on such a show of hypocrisy?”
“I don’t forcibly look after or care for anyone. There are others who can do that.”
Lennok stared at Peshia with an expressionless face.
“And, frankly, if we’re using talent as a criterion, I don’t perceive much of a difference between you and Weian.”
“…What?”
“Ahem.”
Peshia’s expression twisted, and Krod, who had been standing guard beside them, cleared his throat as if stifling a laugh.
Realizing the meaning of Lennok’s words belatedly, Peshia’s face instantly turned bright red.
“You bastard, you… you fucking piece of shit…!!!!”
But even as Peshia cursed vehemently, she couldn’t bring herself to deny his words, and her hands trembled.
Perhaps because she, more than anyone, knew that comparing the talents of others held no meaning for Lennok himself.
The difference in talent between Peshia and Weian would ultimately be as good as non-existent before a grander criterion.
Lennok ignored Peshia’s intense reaction and turned his gaze away.
“Because not everything is decided by innate talent alone. What’s important is what one desires and yearns for… it lies in the direction of one’s will and aspirations.”
Lennok said, looking at Weian, who was stirring as if trying to regain consciousness.
“I believe Weian’s desire to become strong is genuine. I also know that he has suffered from the imbalance of his innate talent.”
“……”
“Whether he can do it or not, I know his earnest desire to at least be given a chance.”
Lennok stood up and chuckled at Peshia.
“So, I’m asking for a favor for now. Seeing Felix’s growth, it seems you have a talent for teaching. Just make sure he doesn’t die.”
“…What utterly arrogant words.”
Peshia laughed.
“For someone born with such talent, you act as if you understand the minds of ordinary people. What could a monster like you possibly know?”
“……”
Lennok didn’t answer.
Krod, too, was deep in thought, as if replaying Lennok’s words in his mind.
Momentarily hesitating at Lennok’s unexpected reaction, Peshia eventually clicked her tongue and sharply turned her head away.
“Dammit, what kind of ridiculous favor is this… did you come all this way just to say that?”
“No. My business wasn’t with Weian.”
Lennok shifted his gaze.
“My business was with you from the start.”
“What?”
“Ethan Bajour has returned to the legion. A parade to commemorate him is scheduled to be held soon.”
Lennok asked, seeing Peshia’s stiff expression.
“I plan to meet him before the parade begins, and I’d like your opinion. Do you intend to accompany me?”