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Chapter 63

He had probably endured quite a few insults before he’d gained his reputation.

The Instructor of the Hunt said, “You should understand the importance of points by now. Luan Bednicker, you currently have 11 points. If you lose to me, you will drop to 9.”

“I don’t mind.”

“Is that so?”

The Instructor of the Hunt glanced behind himself.

As he did, a few knights standing at the back approached and began observing the spars between the other young heroes, probably to stop any fights from getting too extreme.

“I heard that you use your fists.”

Since he was still a grand master, he had probably heard about the duel between myself and Hector.

Although there were iron swords available, I wasn’t even considering using them.

That was just how confident I was.

“That’s right.”

“All right. I will face you with my bare fists as well.”

Although it sounded like he was looking down on me, I wasn’t bothered.

Rather, it was an appropriate handicap.

“And I will only use one hand. That should make things fair.”

“...”

“What’s with that expression?”

“I think you’re going too far.”

“I will be the judge of that.”

“Hm. I guess.”

I gave a silent nod, but internally, my fighting spirit was roaring.

More than the fact that my opponent was strong, it was the call of my pride as a martial artist at being looked down upon.

***

Among the nonsense I hated hearing, one of them was “You can’t show your true power in a real fight.”

The purpose of spars and duels was to prepare for a real fight. But even if you were undefeated in practice, there was no point if you couldn’t repeat that performance in a real fight.

‘You can’t show your true power in a real fight’?

That’s backward. What you show in a real fight was your true power to begin with.

However, even with that, I had never denied the importance of spars.

“...”

The Instructor of the Hunt had a very particular aura about him.

Although this was a spar, a fearsome killing intent was wafting out of his entire body.

It was enough to make me nervous even though I knew he was doing it on purpose. If I were some other young hero who didn’t understand that, then it would be difficult to even keep a clear mind in front of this man.

Dash—

The moment the Instructor of the Hunt kicked off the ground, I felt the heavy pressure of a muscular beast charging right toward me.

He made the first attack?

That was unexpected.

In a spar like this, it was usually the weaker fighter who was granted the first attack.

Also, this man was my instructor.

Ah. Is that why?

Maybe since he was an instructor in the position of educating me, he was going on the offensive to make this more realistic.

Honestly, even without that, I’d guessed that his fighting style was like this.

Regardless, I didn’t think that arguing with him about the conventions of sparring would get me anywhere.

I didn’t dodge the Instructor’s charge. Rather, I ran right toward him.

The moment the distance between us began to close, I saw the Instructor of the Hunt slow slightly.

I immediately noticed a shift in his weight... and the moment his upper body turned, I could see that he was going to throw a kick.

Fwip!

It was an iron rule to not use mana during a spar. Despite that, I was still surprised by the sound made by the Instructor of the Hunt’s kick.

How was he still able to throw such a fast kick without mana?

I didn’t think I’d ever seen someone who had trained their body like this, even in my past life as a mercenary.

Although I managed to dodge it by the skin of my teeth, I wasn’t confident I could dodge the next attack as well.

Honestly, half of this felt like luck.

Or is it?

Maybe the Instructor was going easy on me.

I didn’t feel too bad about it now.

Since I now knew the Instructor of the Hunt’s level, I was able to accept the difference between an Instructor and a young hero without issue.

If I didn’t take this seriously, I would crumble.

But if I faced him head-on, I would lose within five breaths.

What a missed opportunity...

It would’ve been much more fun to fight the Instructor of the Hunt with my grown body rather than the lacking mass I had right now.

But on the other hand, it was exciting.

Being able to fight such a strong opponent while my condition was bad meant that I would be able to gain a lot more experience from this one encounter.

I created a few different strategies in my mind as I bent my hips.

First, I decided to use one of the few advantages I had: my smaller stature.

Swoosh. I instantly dashed close to the Instructor and punched forward with my palm.

Although it didn’t carry any internal energy, this was the form of the Second Technique, flaming wheel.

Bam.

The attack landed.

No matter how tough someone was, they would have a hard time not staggering when they were hit directly in the stomach like this.

Many openings were momentarily created in the Instructor of the Hunt’s body, but I didn’t continue my assault. Instead, I fell back.

Swipe. By a hair’s breadth, the Instructor’s palm wisped past the edge of my chin.

I didn’t just stand there and watch his hand move away; I immediately reached out and grabbed the Instructor’s wrist.

It was his right hand.

The fact that he responded with his right hand means he’s not using his left.

He wasn’t using his left hand by his own rule, and I had grabbed his right hand.

And the distance we were at was the distance that I preferred.

I turned his right hand as I punched the Instructor on his chin.

Crack!

His chin became red from the hit.

My first actual hit.

Although it was proof that my attacks worked, it didn’t feel particularly good.

That was because of the Instructor of the Hunt’s expression.

He didn’t look like someone who had just been attacked.

Before I could even think about attacking again...

Bang.

A sound rang out right as I felt extreme pain in my abdomen.

My vision went black for a second and strength left my legs.

Before I could recover either my mind or my body, I was kicked again. I rolled on the ground about two rotations before jumping up on the spot.

“Cough.”

I let out my breath a beat later than I wanted to as I looked directly in front of me.

I saw the Instructor of the Hunt charging toward me like a besat.

I didn’t have the time to recover my stance as I clashed with the Instructor.

We exchanged blows at close quarters.

I took a responsive stance to defend against the Instructor of the Hunt’s attacks, and I was able to realize how I had been attacked.

It was his knee.

That wasn’t all. The Instructor of the Hunt used his elbows multiple times to try and hit me.

...What a liar.

I couldn’t help but laugh.

The Instructor using only one hand hadn’t been a penalty to begin with.

* * * * *

* * * * *

He mainly fought by using his legs.

It’s an interesting martial art...

Was this the unique martial art used by the warriors of the plains?

In any case, getting hit by either his knees or his elbow was painful enough to blank my mind for a split second.

If he had used mana in any of those attacks, each of them would’ve been a fatal blow.

Unexpectedly, I concluded that his fighting style was actually similar to mine.

Each technique of the White Sun Form was designed to be fatal as well.

Usually, the way I fought started with responding to every new situation that popped up, which I guess could be called fighting without a plan, before using the appropriate White Sun Form technique at the pivotal moment to end it.

As I began to see the similarities between my martial arts and my opponent’s fighting style, my brain went into overdrive.

I forgot that I was in a fierce battle and began to be overwhelmed by my imagination instead.

The latter half of my White Sun Form was still incomplete.

I began to think that maybe I would be able to find some clues in this spar.

***

Most of the spars ended pretty quickly.

To be precise, they didn’t take more than five minutes.

In the first place, since these were spars, everyone focused more on attacking, and it was only natural that the fights ended quickly as a result.

“You lost.”

“I lost...”

“Kugh.”

Many of them lowered their heads in despair.

Most of the people who had lost wouldn’t be able to eat dinner tomorrow.

On the other hand, the ones who had won looked very happy.

Although the use of points hadn’t been fully discovered in detail, they still knew that the points were as valuable as their lives.

“I... I lost...”

Hector accepted his defeat with a stunned look on his face.

Sellen retracted her sword and expressionlessly responded, “Well fought.”

Seeing her reaction, Hector bit his lips.

His clenched fists were shaking.

He didn’t resent his opponent. Rather, he couldn’t overcome his shame at his own weakness.

He had declared proudly in front of Luan that he would be the better between them in this training camp and would produce better results.

But since making that declaration, he had lost in such an unsightly way.

“...Were you hiding your strength?”

He didn’t care if it just sounded like a loser’s poor excuse; Hector couldn’t erase the feeling that the figure in front of him had suddenly become stronger.

Sellen Goodspring.

She, who had not a single similarity with a warm spring breeze, looked back with her icy eyes.

“Not at all.”

“Then are you saying you became this strong in such a short amount of time?”

“I guess.”

And I’ll become stronger in the future, Sellen thought but didn’t say.

In the first place, Sellen had the potential to become stronger faster than anyone else in the world.

She had never told this reason to anyone... or at least, she had planned not to.

—You said you’d tell me a secret if we meet again.

Curses.

Stupid girl, were you out of your mind?

Why did you say that and create such a tricky situation?

...Of course, since she was the one who had said it, there was nothing she could do but curse herself.

Sellen clicked her tongue as she looked for Luan.

She was curious who he was fighting, but Sellen couldn’t easily find him.

Instead, she looked over to where a lot of people had gathered and walked over there.

Thankfully, she didn’t need to push past the other young heroes because they parted for her.

In moments like this, she was a little thankful for her fame, troublesome as it usually was.

In any case, beyond the crowd, she found Luan... as well as the Instructor of the Hunt.

“Heh.”

She had wondered which idiot would end up fighting the Instructor, but it was him?

What had happened?

Sellen knew that Luan wasn’t an ordinary kid, but most of the young heroes here shouldn’t have known that.

Since his reputation was as low as it could be, she had expected someone to come and challenge him...

Did he plan to fight the Instructor from the beginning?

Although that sounded crazy, she thought it might be possible for a crazy guy like him.

Regardless of her internal grumbling, Sellen soon stopped thinking about it.

“...”

“...”

Rather, she understood why everyone had gathered here and why no one was talking.

First of all, the two of them were fighting bare-handed.

Considering that most of the young heroes here used bladeless spears and wooden swords, it was an odd choice to see them fighting without a weapon.

But after spectating their battle for a bit longer, those questions disappeared.

Rather, wouldn’t it be safer for the two of them if they were using wooden swords?

The Instructor of the Hunt, Tanko.

Everyone knew just how strong that grand master was.

Sellen actually knew a little more about Tanko than ordinary young heroes would.

That man was quite the expert not just at hunting but also against humans.

That was because he was a great warrior of the plains.

The wide open area in the eastern part of The Empire... There, if one wanted to gain the title of “great warrior of the plains,” one needed to be an expert in every aspect.

Naturally, this included hunting, but it also included combat.

One of the tasks that needed to be accomplished to become a great warrior was to gain the respect of the 27 main tribes in the plains.

And to gain their respect, one usually needed to defeat someone in combat.

From what Sellen knew, Tanko had gained the most victories as a great warrior in the history of the tradition.

The Undefeated Warrior.

He wasn’t truly undefeated, but none opposed Tanko being called by that title.

Then...

Considering that the spar looked equal, was it because, right now, he wasn’t fighting as a great warrior but as the Instructor of the Hunt?

Of course, Sellen was able to quickly deduce with her sharp eyes the penalty the Instructor had imposed on himself: Tanko wasn’t using one of his arms.

Swoosh!

Luan dodged the Instructor’s kick.

In that critical opening, the Instructor of the Hunt threw out a punch.

“Woah...!”

Exclamations could be heard from many people.

Sellen was probably one of them.

Luan dodged in mid-air by twisting his body before grabbing onto the Instructor’s arm.

It looked as if a huge snake had wrapped around the Instructor’s arm.

Crack!

He’s breaking the joint!

Sellen was surprised.

Even to Sellen’s eyes, the technique looked very precise and refined.

At this rate, the shoulder could pop out, and if it became serious...

The Instructor slammed down on Luan’s back with his left elbow.

Crunch!

“Kugh.”

Luan’s body fell to the ground. However, when Luan lifted his head, there was a smile on his face.

“You used your left arm.”

“...”

The Instructor of the Hunt looked down at his arm with a stern expression.