Chapter 226: Executive General Meeting (1)

‘This isn’t a problem that will yield an immediate answer.’

It meant preparing himself for the worst-case scenario, no matter what.

Lennok thought this as he rapidly began grading the remaining exam papers.

After finishing the grading for Magical Manipulation Theory, only the Elemental Magic Theory papers remained. They primarily contained discussions on water-elemental magic.

While he didn’t often favor water-elemental spells, it was inconceivable that Lennok wouldn’t know about the necessary mana flow.

The difficulty of mana manipulation in water-elemental magic varies greatly depending on how one maintains the water’s flow.

While the difficulty of water manipulation performed in alignment with the water’s natural flow isn’t too high, manipulation doesn’t work well when going against or being unrelated to the flow.

To solve such problems, one could forcefully twist the flow with powerful mana manipulation abilities, or use artificial tools or terrain to alter the flow, but—

The most crucial aspect is to induce the correct flow and design the scenario even before casting a spell.

This is a consideration of the most important quality for sorcerers, including wizards: the ability to thoroughly grasp the environment and set the stage before using magic.

It was precisely because these abilities could be cultivated that Aris had included discussions on water-elemental magic in the midterm exam questions.

“……”

While the students who received the papers surely sweated over solving the problems before them, Lennok could step back and vividly visualize the entire process in his mind.

Even in such minor details, Aris’s thoughtfulness towards her students was evident.

To ensure that it would be sufficiently helpful even for students who learned elemental magic only as knowledge, without actually practicing it.

Hoping that the students who grew up under her tutelage at this university could become wizards who proved their own qualifications.

If Lennok had attended university like other wizards, he might have learned magic from Aris in this way.

It wouldn’t have been difficult to achieve unparalleled results in all exams… Sometimes, he thought of that unexperienced future as an undergraduate at Rebatenon.

Lennok’s reverie was abruptly cut short by a pair of bright blue eyes looking up at him from right beside him.

“……”

“……”

“……”

“I was just going to finish grading this… and then go in. It was an interesting topic, so it gave me some food for thought.”

Instead of answering, Aris simply gazed at Lennok.

After a long moment, her voice finally emerged.

“For all that, I didn’t hear a sound from outside…”

“……”

“It was strangely quiet, you see…”

He had cast a silence spell to muffle his call.

The use of magic itself wasn’t detected, but it seemed the very perfection of the silence spell had, ironically, aroused Aris’s suspicion.

Realizing intuitively that further protest would be useless, Lennok silently held up the exam papers.

Every single exam paper in his hand was accompanied by Lennok’s meticulous annotations.

Aris silently took them, looked them over intently, then sharply turned her body.

Lennok remained silent and walked with her into the library.

The 8th-floor archives of the library, which had an entire floor rented out under the name of a Rebatenon Magic University endowed professor.

Under the bright sunlight pouring through the glass wall, hundreds of exam papers were piled on the spacious, extended desk.

Aris pulled a chair from the opposite side and tapped the desk.

Her swept-back blonde hair fell onto the desk, glowing brightly in the sunlight.

“……”

She still said nothing, but Lennok also saw no need to speak.

Aris’s face, staring blankly out the window, was deep in thought, unlike before.

Along with that, the mana that constituted her as a wizard slowly rotated around Aris, vibrating subtly.

Lennok could tell.

‘She’s already made her decision.’

All that remained was to directly elicit and confirm his answer.

Time would be all that was needed.

Lennok nodded in satisfaction.

He was incredibly busy with the conflict against the Cartel, but for something like this, shouldn’t he make time he didn’t even have?

A new Level 7 Saint Wizard.

Witnessing such a moment of transcendence, rare even in this city of tens of millions, would be a truly valuable experience for Lennok.

It had been over three days since the rumor spread throughout Vulcan’s underworld that the Cartel’s execution squad had been annihilated by a single person.

Since handing Girard over to Eolara, Lennok had been waiting to see what answer the Cartel would provide.

He didn’t expect a meaningless war of attrition to continue, but this world wasn’t always governed by rational decisions.

No matter how hard Lennok tried, he could never truly know what conversations were happening among the Cartel’s leadership.

In the worst case, it wouldn’t be strange if an all-out war with the Cartel broke out right now.

Sharpening the necessary blades in preparation for that day was a rational judgment.

“Your arm’s too high.”

Wham!

“Your leg balance is awkward.”

Thwack!

“Your head’s shaking again. Are you not going to do this properly?”

CRACK!!

“Ugh, AAHHH!!”

Unable to bear it, Weian let out an incomprehensible yell with all his might.

His face was already swollen and bruised beyond recognition.

“Why do you only hit my face, you bastard?!”

“Why, you ask…? Because that’s where you hit to drop someone in one go, obviously.”

Mad Manson, who had taken charge of sparring with Weian, replied indifferently.

“Conversely, I have a head that doesn’t even flinch when hit.”

Manson’s action of tapping his iron-plated head with his hand was truly infuriating, but Weian, knowing this, couldn’t recklessly charge him.

Several sparring matches had taken place in Jenny’s bar’s backyard.

This was because Weian had already thoroughly learned through his body how powerful Manson truly was.

He would block Weian, who charged with all his might, holding two blades in reverse grip, using only a single pipe in his hand, and precisely beat him in areas that wouldn’t cause him to lose consciousness.

Normally, he was a guy who terribly hated work and spent all day just enduring Jenny’s nagging at the bar.

But his swordsmanship was undeniably genuine.

So much so that even the Antares Office mercenaries, who usually ignored Manson, would come to watch the sparring sessions.

“Hmm.”

“Interesting.”

“Isn’t it?”

Velber, Velita, and Dray, as well as other Antares Office mercenaries whose patrol shifts were free, formed a circle and watched the sparring.

The heat was so intense that even Lennok, who was helping Jenny improve her understanding of basic business, opened a window and looked out.

“Alright, come at me again.”

As Manson flicked the iron rod in his hand, Weian immediately got back into position.

Though he had yelled in frustration, he knew that such an opportunity wouldn’t come easily.

An opportunity to charge at an opponent vastly stronger than himself without fearing for his life.

Even this match would not have happened if it weren’t for Manson’s whim, as he disliked going out on patrol duty.

“Hyaaaaah!!”

He tried to refrain as much as possible from using the mana sensitivity he had awakened during the previous operation.

While it significantly boosted Weian’s skill on the spot, it had the drawback of his body reacting instantly to the sensitivity, making it hard for him to grasp how to continue the fight himself.

What Weian needed now was an opponent who could fully accept his fighting style, refined by his vastly increased mana and physical strength.

Manson was certainly a very suitable teacher in that regard.

Even if his methods were incredibly malicious and cruel for a teacher.

“Do you know why people don’t use dual-wielding weapons often?”

Manson continued speaking nonchalantly, yet swung his hand mercilessly.

Whump, whump!!

Crimson bloodstains appeared on the end of the pipe in his hand.

It wasn’t just a nosebleed; actual blood mixed with discharge flowed from skin that had been beaten until it burst.

Even after the sensation in his face disappeared, Weian didn’t stop, closing the distance toward Manson.

Though it was sparring, it clearly showed the extent to which he was determined in this match.

Seeing his resolve, Manson continued.

“Because it’s difficult and annoying.”

WHAM!!

As Weian’s jaw snapped sharply to the left, Manson stepped forward and kicked Weian’s wobbling knee.

CRUNCH!!

“Holding weapons in both hands actually makes it harder to maintain your body’s balance. If you can’t use two weapons effectively, it’s worse than not having them, but conversely, to push dual-wielding to the extreme, you’re bound to lose your balance.”

Thwump, thwump, thwump!!

“So, wielding weapons in both hands is only possible for what you’d call ‘geniuses’. And only for those whose brains are… split like this, on both sides.”

Manson said this, pointing to the top of his head with the hand not holding a sword.

Weian looked up at him with blurry eyes.

“But in my opinion, you’re not that type of genius. You just got lucky by ending up under a guy like Dray, and managed to cling to your meager life.”

“……”

“If that doesn’t work, you just need talent that truly surpasses common sense, to roughly smooth over problems that arise during combat. But I’ve only seen two people who can do that. One of them is…”

Manson said this, subtly glancing upwards.

Lennok, leaning slightly out the window, was looking down at him with an indifferent gaze.

“…Well, I don’t want to talk at length. Let’s get to the point.”

Manson, poking Weian’s fallen body with the pipe, said.

“It’s a waste of time. You’d better change your weapon.”

“It’s not over…!!”

“I’m saying it’s a waste of my time, you know? Any more of this and I’ll just be turning you into a cripple…”

Manson’s words, as he was about to turn, abruptly stopped.

SWISHHHH!

The sound of the blade cutting through the air was different.

A reverse-grip strike immediately followed as Manson tilted his head back.

Manson, turning with a deep arch in his back, simultaneously put one hand on the ground and flipped his body, stomping his foot down on Weian’s head.

CRACK!!

A heavy blow, strong enough to crack the cement ground.

But conversely, that meant Weian had instantly evaded that exchange and began closing the distance on Manson.

The rookie who couldn’t even properly read Manson’s moves just moments ago now charged ravenously, as if he had become a different person.

“Heh heh…!!”

Manson grinned, rotated his inverted body to deflect Weian, and regained his stance.

He gazed at Weian, whose head was wobbling, and smiled in satisfaction.

“If you could do that, you should have used it earlier… Now I can finally warm up.”

“…Ugh…”

Weian offered no reply.

He had challenged Manson to improve his skill without relying on mana sensitivity, but conversely, without relying on it, he couldn’t even contend.

There was only one way.

His head wobbling like a drunkard, he charged forward, thrusting the twin blades in his hands straight ahead.

He halted abruptly right in front of Manson, who was about to swing his pipe in time.

SCREEECH—!!

Weian, lowering his head and body low in place, gritted his teeth, infused mana, stomped the ground, and spun.

At that moment, everyone watching the sparring held their breath.

TATATATATANG!!

The intricacy of dual-wielding that Manson had spoken of.

As if to mock that very statement, Weian began dancing frantically in the air.

He rotated his body with powerful recoil from kicking off the ground, fully utilizing the essence of dual-wielding, and completing an entire cycle of offense and defense while maintaining perfect body balance.

The flashes drawn by the three iron weapons instantly overlapped dozens of times, conjuring frigid sparks in the air.

“Hahaha!!”

Even with the completely changed combat pattern, Manson, instead of retreating, nodded his heavy robotic head and laughed.

The mercenaries watching also nodded quietly.

“It’s my first time seeing it in person, but at that level, well…”

“They say he’s a madman himself, but I can understand why he hasn’t been stabbed once yet.”

Velita nodded at Velber’s words.

“Weian is impressive, but Manson’s skill is truly on a different level.”

“Is Manson’s swordsmanship really that exceptional?”

Lennok, who had been listening to the mercenaries’ conversation below, asked.

Clearly, even with the initiative of the offense shifted to Weian, they seemed more focused on Manson than Weian.

“Oh, were you listening?”

Velita, startled, looked at Lennok and gave an embarrassed smile.

Velber looked at Lennok and nodded.

“Weian’s talent is great, but his fundamentals are still lacking. Especially, wielding twin swords and even holding one in a reverse grip itself means he relies heavily on his innate sense. In other words, he’s not at a level where he can distinguish between real combat and sparring.”

“Hmm.”

“But Manson is still continuing the fight, parrying Weian’s attacks like that.”

“Look at the pipe Manson is holding.”

Manson’s pipe, which Velita pointed to, still had not a single scratch on it.

“Unlike before, even with such fierce blade clashes, the fact that he’s continuing this sparring without the pipe being cut or broken is… a very difficult feat.”

Dray, who was watching from the side, listened and expressed his admiration.

“He’s an incredible technician. Very different from the personality I heard about in rumors.”

“And he even says that isn’t his combat body… There must be a reason why he’s still active as a freelancer in this field.”

“……”

Lennok knew this, but Manson preferred to actively utilize various tools instead of merely fixating on swordsmanship.

Normally, it wouldn’t be strange for him to pull out various implements to instantly knock Weian’s head off amidst that intense-looking exchange.

Lennok, resting his chin on the windowsill and looking down at the two, casually threw out a remark.

“Is he twisting mana around the end of the pipe and scraping away Weian’s attacks right before they reach their peak…? It’s not even a manipulation-type magic, so it’s quite remarkable that he’s calculating that timing directly with his body.”

Unless he had the aid of a mana user, it was certainly something that couldn’t be achieved with merely his devastating reflexes.

As Lennok thought this and was about to turn his gaze away, he noticed the astonished expressions of the mercenaries looking up at him from below the window.

“…Was something wrong with what I said?”