Chapter 306

Posted by Kuze, ? Views, Released on April 8, 2025

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306

First-Year Dormitory Large Bath.

The large bath located in the middle of the bathhouse is always the most popular spot among students.

But currently, only two people were using the bath.

None other than the Student Council President and Vice President of Lumeran Academy occupied the place.

For the first-year students, it was a d*ath sentence.

The Lumeran Student Council.

At another school, it might just be regarded as a mere school authority, but in the Hero Academy, the power of the Student Council is immense.

They are the leaders of the Hero Candidates, the ones who will grow to lead the future of the world as true heroes. To the newly admitted first-year students, it was an intimidating combination that they could not help but feel overshadowed by.

“Really?”

“Yes! Professor said to me… uh? What’s the atmosphere like? Is something… cough!”

“Why are you so tense? What’s… cough?!”

The students entering the bathhouse gasped upon spotting Leo and Hark.

“We’ll just ignore them and wash.”

As Leo smiled faintly and spoke, the male students, having craned their necks, moved to the sides apprehensively and started washing.

Seeing this, Leo said,

“Do you think it’s necessary to make the first-years feel self-conscious?”

“I haven’t made them feel self-conscious.”

Hark glanced sideways at Leo.

“They’re just scared.”

Hark gave a snort and leaned his head back, yawning lazily before asking,

“I heard something interesting happened in Damian this time.”

The story about Leo’s group overcoming Dwenno’s Hero Record had already spread throughout Lumeran.

At Hark’s words, the first-years, who were still cautious, suddenly opened their eyes wide and focused on Leo.

“How was it? The Great Heroes.”

“Exactly as Senior Hark would imagine.”

“As I imagine.”

Hark, having conquered many Hero Dungeons for Lumeran, knew extensively about Heroes’ Worlds.

But even he had never experienced a Great Hero’s World.

“Envious.”

Hark got up quietly with a heartfelt sigh.

“Slap!”

“I’m leaving. It doesn’t sit well with me when first-years are looking at me anxiously.”

Hark gave a sidelong smirk as he stared at Leo and raised his voice.

“You, since you’re President, at least come to the council a little more. Don’t keep dumping all your duties as President on me.”

With Leo smiling faintly in response, Hark departed.

‘Well, I should probably focus on school matters a bit more while preparing for the midterm exams.’

“Master Leo!”

“Congratulations, Master Leo, on completing the Hero’s World of Dwenno!”

“Of course, only someone of Master Leo’s caliber…”

At a time when no one from the first-year group dared to approach Leo,

Austin, Valerie, and Jullan, members of Leo’s Slayer Order, stepped forward.

They were the only first-years who could approach Leo without hesitation, having trained with him since the time of the Zerdinger Family.

“Oooh! Senior Leo!”

At that moment, another voice approached Leo quickly.

“Congratulations, Senior Leo! I mean, who else but Senior Leo could conquer Lord Dwenno’s Hero Record!”

Fritz, a first-year from the Department of Magic, of the Shadow Origin, had appeared and began to enthusiastically praise Leo.

This was the type that fanatically worshipped Leo and approached him without hesitation.

“Senior Leo.”

Habidden subsequently greeted Leo politely.

As Leo received the respectful salutations from his juniors, he wore a look of mild puzzlement.

“Where’s Luke?”

At Leo’s question, Fritz replied,

“If you mean Luke Eldar, he should be training at the dojo by now.”

“At this hour?”

“Yes, he’s very dedicated.”

After finishing his bath, Leo headed towards the dojo behind the first-year male dormitory.

Being late into the evening, there was only one person currently at the dojo.

Luke was silently running around the dojo floor.

His entire body was drenched in sweat, and his limbs shook with exhaustion.

Thud!

“Gah!”

After a brief run, Luke collapsed onto the ground, pressing his hand over his mouth as he tried in vain to suppress a gag.

“Huff! Haff! Huff!”

Having undoubtedly exceeded his physical limits, Luke was breathing heavily when Leo approached.

“You’re training hard.”

At the sound of Leo’s voice, Luke was startled and looked up.

“Senior Leo! You’re back!”

As Luke tried to rise, he lost his balance, stumbling to his knees. His legs trembled violently.

Luke’s arms and legs, already past their limit, refused to obey him any longer.

Adorning his wrists and ankles were magical bracelets crafted by Leo himself.

“Actually, they were originally designed by Luna.”

A tool created by Kyle for Beiha and Berkiya’s training, and subsequently used by Leo to train Celia, Chelsea, and his own knights after entering Lumeran Academy, it was an artifact designed to suppress the user’s physical and mana energies.

Its purpose was to repeatedly push the wearer to their breaking point, expanding their potential as they consistently faced their limits.

‘Since Luna and Aron were terrible at nurturing their disciple’s potential…’

Despite their mastery in magic and combat, Luna and Aron failed in understanding the nuances of teaching their disciples to extend their boundaries.

“Have you ever removed the suppression artifact?”

“Yes, as Senior Leo said—it’s fine to remove it but doing so even once will reduce its effects.”

When one wears Luna’s suppression artifact, their body feels as heavy as if submerged in the deep ocean, and their mana’s movements become sluggish.

Living constantly at one’s limits is a perfect practice for expanding one’s boundaries.

And this method was especially effective for Luke, who had taught himself everything.

Thus, unlike other new students enhancing their already established boundaries, Luke was instead filling his completely empty potential.

‘Therefore, his ignorance about himself.’

An empty vessel, Luke could not comprehend how much or what exactly had been filling his boundaries.

Because his abilities were sealed before he had a proper understanding of them, Luke had no knowledge of just how much stronger he had become or where his current limits stood.

Though it was certain he had grown stronger, Luke himself could not feel it.

But, what would happen if he were to remove the suppression artifact now?

Once he realized how much stronger he had become, he would naturally also understand his limits.

After that, re-applying the suppression artifact would only hinder his growth as his body, now aware of its limitations, would resist unnatural constraints.

‘They will perceive the suppression as a restriction.’

“Isn’t it hard?”

“I had expected this would be hard.”

“You must feel like you’re standing still while everyone else progresses.”

The first few months post-enrollment are when new students typically grow the most.

It’s also a time where rankings can drastically shift. Failing students make great leaps forward, while top students occasionally falter.

But Luke’s rank, regardless of all that, had always been at the very bottom.

To others, his lack of improvement was glaringly obvious.

Moreover, Luke was also known as one of Leo’s mentees.

Leo Flove, an unprecedented student in the history of Lumeran Academy.

Being mentored by Leo was what drew much of the attention Luke had been receiving.

Luke himself was also labeled as unprecedented—but as a joke.

A student of Lumeran Academy who showed no sign of growth.

The luckiest dunce in the history of Lumeran, barely passing.

These were the perceptions his peers had toward him.

In Luke’s perspective, it was an extremely distressing situation.

Upon Leo’s question, Luke clenched his fists tightly.

“Distressing, yes.”

Luke’s eyes sank.

“Because while everyone else moves forward, I stay in one place.”

Already behind and not moving forward—it was a distressing situation indeed.

And with the midterms coming up, the gap was only bound to widen significantly.

Of course, if the suppression were lifted, things could be different.

But…

“Senior Leo did tell me.”

In a voice filled with determination, Luke declared,

“Our goal is to become the representative of our year.”

Though the students ranked at the top seemed like distant, unreachable figures,

and their goal seemed almost impossible,

to be honest, Luke lacked confidence.

But…

“I believe Senior Leo said I can achieve it. So, I will.”

Nothing but Leo Flove’s guarantee.

And Luke placed absolute trust in his words.

Leaning forward with a nod, Leo said,

“Yeah. Then come to the second-year classroom after classes end tomorrow.”

“Huh?”

“I promised to teach magic after returning from Damian, right?”

Luke widened his eyes.

“I know someone who can teach you magic.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. But,”

Leo smiled meaningfully.

“Keep it a secret that you’re learning magic.”

“Huh? Why?”

“Nothing beats a secret card when it comes to catching your opponent by surprise.”

The next day, after the first-year class had ended, Luke hurriedly packed his schoolbag.

“Looks like he’s going to practice again.”

“How did someone like him end up being the Student Council President’s mentee? Or better yet, how did he even get into Lumeran Academy?”

“Leo-sempai must be in trouble. Are they not both going to end up repeating the grade?”

Murmurs from his classmates were heard.

Luke sighed. He had been hearing similar things for the past two weeks, but it wasn’t something he could get used to.

‘Maybe I’ll have to endure this noise for the rest of this semester.’

As Luke was feeling dejected,

“Do you know?”

An authoritative voice suddenly spoke out.

“There is nothing more contemptible than talking behind someone’s back, right? And you ridiculed Senior Leo just now?”

“Uh? Shasha?”

“No, I mean, it’s not what it looks like! We didn’t have such intent!”

The class leader, Shasha, turned and glared coldly at Luke’s classmates.

With Shasha, the top student of the first-year and a princess of the Rodren Empire, the juniors’ faces turned pale immediately.

“Hmph.”

Shasha, giving a smirk, approached Luke.

“Luke, where are you off in such a hurry?”

“I’m on my way to meet Senior Leo.”

“Leo-sempai? May I accompany you?”

Shasha asked gracefully, holding her fan.

Shasha, being class president, was kind to the entire class despite her young age and carried a charisma befitting a future emperor.

Because Luke had received much help from her, he was inclined to invite her along.

“Keep it a secret that I’m learning magic.”

But recalling Leo’s words, Luke scratched his head apologetically.

“Sorry, I think I need to go alone.”

“Ah, what a pity. I wanted to hear about Senior Leo’s latest hero’s world adventure.”

Shasha closed her fan with a soft click and gathered her bag.

As Luke left the classroom and rushed toward the second-year building,

he stood nervously outside the second-year classrooms.

Soon after, the group of second-years, classes having ended, came out in a rush.

“Let’s eat! Food!”

“There’s a new menu at the Hero’s Tower restaurant!”

“Let’s hurry before it gets crowded!”

A group of second-year female students hurried past.

Then, spotting Luke, they paused.

“First-year? What’s he doing here?”

“Brave. He even looks kind of cute.”

“Isn’t he Leo’s mentee?”

As the second-years began to focus on Luke, he shrank back further.

“Are you Luke Eldar?”

“Yes, yes! Yes!”

At the cold voice, Luke responded anxiously and then was startled upon seeing the speaker’s face.

‘It’s Duran-sempai!’

Duran was staring down at Luke with his characteristic arrogant expression.

Seeing Luke’s increasingly worried expression, Duran curved his lips into a smirk.

“Hmph, Habidden is clearly more impressive.”

Duran wore an expression that seemed strangely satisfied, while Luke cautiously asked,

“W-well, Habidden is among the best in the first-year Knight’s Department, isn’t he?”

“You admit it, huh? You have good judgment.”

Luke’s statement caused Duran to appear even more pleased.

That’s when another voice broke in.

“It’s funny. Considering you’re treated as Leo Flove’s second, you seem rather self-congratulatory about being chosen by Habidden.”

‘E-Eliza-sempai!’

Among the first-years, Duran and Eliza were notorious for being the two scariest people.

Confronted with both of them, Luke became even more frightened.

“Someone who couldn’t even be chosen by first-years is talking big, huh?”

Duran teased Eliza with scorn.

“Hmph. Just a mentee. All you do is cause trouble, whoever you are. No one even considered accepting one.”

Eliza snorted.

At her side, Karl mentioned nonchalantly,

“The one who got dumped by Shasha and ended up doing misdeeds—”

“Why are you bringing that up now?”

Eliza strangled Karl’s neck with her whip.

As the sight grew more intimidating, Luke became increasingly fearful.

“Hey, what are you doing there? Come over here.”

Leo called Luke.

“Yes! Senpai! I’ll be going then!”

Luke bowed politely to the other seniors before following Leo.

Seeing this, Duran mentioned,

“I think I should also talk to Habidden as a mentor today.”

“I also need to talk to Juen.”

Karl, just narrowly released, scratched his head furiously.

Other second-year students also seemed poised to check on their own mentees now.

Eliza, left alone, smirked and headed toward the dormitory direction.

Watching her go, Karl asked,

“Eliza, want to come along?”

“Why should I join you, a magic department guy, when I’m not even in the summoning department? And what about your mentee conversation?”

Eliza shot a sharp retort, but Karl smiled.

“Juen asked me to tell her about the Phoenix King, so I figured I’d do that.”

“Hmph, worth a listen, then.”

Eliza crossed her arms and approached Karl.

*

“Is Senior Leo going to teach me magic?”

“My grasp of magic fundamentals is rather outdated these days. I’m delegating it to someone familiar with the latest trends. You’ll likely find it interesting.”

Leo responded calmly to Luke’s gleaming question.

And their destination was none other than the second-year magic department building.

Upon entering the building, Leo made his way to Ren’s office.

Knock knock.

“Professor Ren. This is Leo Flove. May I come in?”

Ren, who usually greeted visitors with open arms, was uncharacteristically quiet.

While Leo was about to knock again, there came a weary voice.

“Student Leo has arrived.”

Anna emerged, her voice oddly exhausted.

“Professor Anna. Is Professor Ren out?”

Anna sighed deeply, looking up at the ceiling in response to Leo’s inquiry.

She hadn’t slept, evident from the dark circles under her eyes, and her face was pale with fatigue.