Episode 13. Limit Test (1)

After successfully completing the first party class.

I received a ‘bonus point’ that I had never received in my past life.

And not just one, but two points.

“A three-eyed monster is worth 1 point, a four-eyed monster is worth 3 points.”

“Then why is it 2 points?”

“Because you destroyed the restraint magical tool.”

“I didn’t destroy it.”

“Don’t you know that the party is collectively responsible?”

Damn it.

“If we’re talking about responsibility, doesn’t the professor also have some responsibility?”

“My responsibility?”

“You never said we couldn’t kill it.”

“Don’t you know what ‘capture’ means? It costs a fortune to raise a training monster, so of course you shouldn’t kill it.”

“I have no rebuttal, so it just makes me angrier.”

Ugh.

Swallowing my frustration, I leaned back on the chair in the professor’s office.

“By the way…”

Professor Lucas’s gaze turned towards me.

“Why do you keep coming here during your free time like it’s your own home?”

“Well, these days, there are all sorts of rumors, so I get unwanted attention when I’m outside.”

In that sense, Professor Lucas’s office was the perfect place to avoid the eyes of the candidates.

“Ha, look at this cheeky brat. Am I your friend or something? Huh? Are we friends?”

Just as Professor Lucas was about to start a lecture about how dare I use his sacred office as a hiding place.

“Last fall’s cultural festival.”

“Huh? What about the cultural festival?”

“There was a poetry contest held with the intention that even heroes need some literary and artistic sensibility.”

“…So?”

“Not many participated, so it didn’t get much attention, but the winner of the poetry contest was a touching love poem submitted by an anonymous candidate.”

“……”

“A beautiful poem filled with tender and longing emotions towards a woman he had a crush on.”

“Really? I’m so far from poetry that I didn’t even know such a contest existed.”

“Is that so? How strange…”

I slowly got up from the chair and pulled out a book titled ‘Advanced Combat Training’ from the professor’s bookshelf.

To be precise.

A white sheet of paper hidden between the thick pages.

“If you didn’t even know the contest existed, why do you have the poem that won last year?”

“You, you, how did you…!”

“Hmm. But aren’t you curious? The identity of the candidate who suddenly appeared, submitted a poem anonymously, and won.”

“Ugh!”

“Professor Lucas.”

With a grin, I unfolded the white paper.

Inside was a touching love poem written in Professor Lucas’s handwriting.

“You write poetry well, don’t you?”

I recited the beautiful lines written on the unfolded paper.

“My beloved, whom I loved so dearly.”

“Stop that!”

“I could never forget you in my lifetime.”

“Stop!”

“Even though I knew it was a love I could never have.”

“Stop it, you brat!”

“I will continue to think of you alone.”

“Ahhhhh!”

Thud!

With a roar like a beast, Professor Lucas lunged at me.

An incredible speed that you wouldn’t expect from someone nearly 2 meters tall.

In an instant, Professor Lucas reached out for the white paper in my hand.

“Ha!”

I tried to dodge by spinning my body, but.

“Where do you think you’re going!”

Professor Lucas, as if anticipating my move, instantly changed direction and snatched the white paper from my hand.

‘Fast.’

I hadn’t used my full strength to dodge, but I didn’t expect it to be taken so easily.

It made me realize why Professor Lucas is considered one of the top experts among the school faculty.

“Haah, haah! You brat… how did you even find this?”

“I discovered it by chance while cleaning here during last winter vacation.”

Well, to be precise, it wasn’t last winter vacation but the winter vacation nine months from now when I’m in my third year.

But it’s true that I found it while cleaning.

“Cleaning? Why were you cleaning my office… Ah.”

Professor Lucas furrowed his brows and let out a low sigh.

Usually, during school vacations, candidates return to their hometowns or go on trips to resorts, but candidates like Dale, who are orphans and receive state funding to attend school, are exceptions.

During vacations, their living allowances are cut off, so they stay at school and do odd jobs like cleaning and facility maintenance to make ends meet.

“…Ugh.”

With no further questions, Professor Lucas crumpled the paper in his hand and let out a low sigh.

“Hmph. Whether you found this by chance or not, without evidence, no one will believe you…”

“Ah, of course, what you have now is a copy. The original is safely stored elsewhere.”

“Damn it.”

Professor Lucas cursed and threw the crumpled paper into the trash can.

Sigh.

A deep sigh escaped from the professor’s lips.

“Fine, fine. I get it, you brat. Come and go as you please, or even set up a home here if you want!”

“Thank you, Professor.”

“Thank you, my ass.”

“In that case, can I ask for one more favor?”

“You shameless brat…!”

“Can you spar with me?”

“…What?”

Professor Lucas’s eyes widened.

He looked me up and down and opened his mouth with a look of disbelief.

“Spar? You want to spar with me now?”

“Yes.”

“Well… if it’s a spar without using magic power…”

“No. I want you to go all out.”

“……”

Professor Lucas’s gaze turned towards me.

The look in his eyes seemed to say, ‘Has this brat gone mad?’

‘Well.’

It’s a natural reaction for a mere candidate to request a full-power spar with a professor.

Especially with Professor Lucas Kane.

‘The bloodthirsty hound, Lucas Kane.’

He was a hero strong enough to rank within the top 100 among thousands, tens of thousands of heroes.

Of course.

The ‘ranking’ here doesn’t refer to the ‘comprehensive evaluation ranking’ used to rank candidates.

It’s the Three Kingdoms Hero Comprehensive Ranking, created by enthusiasts who love ranking people.

A real ranking, far superior to the comprehensive evaluation ranking of candidates who haven’t even received their official hero certification yet.

‘Of course, its accuracy is much lower compared to the candidate comprehensive evaluation ranking.’

Since it’s not based on fixed tests like for candidates, but rather on various rumors and achievements, its accuracy isn’t that high.

But even with low accuracy, being ranked within the top 100 among tens of thousands of heroes proves one’s strength and level as a hero.

A candidate who has just started practical training is not someone to request a spar with.

‘That’s why he’s perfect for this test.’

It’s been nine days since I returned from the future.

In over a week, there’s still something I haven’t been able to confirm.

That is.

‘What exactly is my current level?’

Before returning, after all my comrades died, I wandered the continent alone for thousands of years.

I developed the swordsmanship I learned from Yuren, the martial arts from Berald, and the magic theory from Senior Sophia in my own way.

You might think, what’s the point of training alone in a ruined world?

‘But if I didn’t do that, I would have gone insane.’

Even in the midst of extreme loneliness, training in the swordsmanship, martial arts, and magic I learned from my comrades made me feel like I was with them.

‘The problem is.’

Whether I truly ‘developed’ what I learned from my comrades.

‘Being chosen as the worst dullard in the history of Raynald School, how much could I have improved?’

Frankly, there’s a possibility that I regressed rather than improved.

As evidence, despite training for hundreds, thousands of years, I couldn’t even grasp the edge of the ‘ultimate’ that Yuren always talked about.

‘So, I need to know.’

After the world was destroyed.

Whether the hundreds, thousands of years of effort I made to forget my loneliness truly developed me.

What level of ‘full power’ I can unleash now.

‘To know that.’

I needed a proven strongman like Professor Lucas.

“A full-power spar… with you and me?”

Professor Lucas sneered and glared at me fiercely.

“I thought you’ve changed lately, but have you really lost your mind, Dale?”

“I know. It’s an absurd proposal.”

“Then why?”

“Because it’s something I absolutely need right now.”

“……”

Perhaps sensing the sincerity in my eyes.

Professor Lucas turned his fierce gaze away and let out a deep sigh.

“Fine. I was curious too. Just how much power have you been hiding?”

Creak.

The professor stood up, pushing the chair back.

The atmosphere in the office changed instantly, as if a beast had awakened from its slumber.

“You know, right?”

Professor Lucas picked up two axes hanging on the wall.

Not practice axes, but sharp double axes that gleamed ominously.

“The meaning of a full-power spar.”

A sticky, bloodthirsty aura came towards me.

I smirked and nodded, pulling out the real sword I had prepared.

“Of course.”

* * *

The sparring arena located within the school.

“Five minutes.”

Professor Lucas held only one of the two axes and drew a circle on the floor with his toe.

The diameter of the circle drawn by his foot was about 1 meter.

“Do whatever it takes to get me out of this circle.”

“…Didn’t you say it was a full-power spar?”

“Before going all out, I need to see if you’re worth it.”

Ah.

So that’s how it’s going to be?

“Alright.”

I nodded and drew the sword from my waist.

“Inhale.”

Slowly inhaling, I focused my mind on my left chest.

A halo of light emanated from the Holy Mark and enveloped my body.

“Here I go.”

For the first time since returning.

A ‘full-power attack’.

Whether this attack would work on Professor Lucas was something even I wasn’t sure of.

‘My physical training and magic power are still far behind compared to my past life.’

But it doesn’t matter.

Because I have the legacy of my comrades, honed over hundreds, thousands of years.

“Exhale.”

As I exhaled.

Thud!

I stomped my foot.

Sun Sword.

Second Form, Moon Slash.

Kaaaaaaang!!!

With a sound like tearing metal.

“…You crazy.”

Professor Lucas, who barely blocked the slash with his axe, was pushed out of the circle drawn on the floor.

His wide eyes, filled with shock, turned towards me.

“How was that?”

I looked at Professor Lucas, who had been pushed out of the circle in an instant, and raised the corner of my mouth.

“Am I worth going all out for?”

What happened didn’t even take five seconds, let alone five minutes.

*The poem featured in this episode is partially quoted from poet Yi Sang’s ‘This Kind of Poem’.