บท 21: Volume 1 Chapter 20 – What Even is the Eye of the Mind? (3)
Sierra Camaro lasted about one minute longer than Edington, but still didn't manage to injure or wear out Jin.
After her was David McChi, but Jin's spar against him ended in a similar way as his two previous ones. However, David was somewhat more tenacious than Sierra and Jin had to exert more strength than before, due to which his opponent ended up with a broken rib.
A simple fracture can easily be dealt with by the Runcandel medical team. As long as the injuries aren't fatal—such as amputated limbs or damaged vital organs—the medical team can fully heal the victim in an instant.
"Urgh, that was enlightening, Young Master. Thank you for your guidance! Urgh!"
Jin flinched when he saw David lose consciousness and fall over, all the while keeping a smile on his face and a thumbs up.
Just… how many more of these muscle-brained lunatics are there in this crazy clan?? Even if Jin was David's superior, no sane person would smile and show gratitude to the man who just destroyed one of their ribs.
Moreover, it wasn't a forced statement. David was truly grateful from the bottom of his heart. Jin hid his discomfort and lightly nodded back.
'Well, come to think of it, I used to behave the same way while learning and training magic under my master before my regression. I shouldn't be judging David right now.'
Jin's master—who was two years younger than him—wasn't your ordinary teacher.
They once scorched Jin with lightning for hours on end to 'teach him lightning magic', and also sent him flying in the air for an entire day to 'teach him wind magic'. And they were laughing the entire time.
Each time something like this happened during his training, Jin would be thanking his master with a smile on his face like the current David. The desire to 'become stronger' can sometimes turn humans into muscle-brained maniacs.
'I really wasn't thinking straight back then, was I?'
Swoosh, swoosh.
Jin lightly swung his wooden sword around, waiting for his next opponent.
"I am Mesa Milkano, Young Master."
"I am aware of your name. You're the second daughter of the Milkano family."
"It's an honor to have you remember me. I won't be as easy to deal with as the other cadets you faced before me. Today, I will definitely defeat you, Young Master."
"I look forward to it."
Mesa positioned herself and prepared for battle. She then calmly began circling Jin without showing any openings. No wonder she was the strongest of Garon's beginner class cadets.
She wasn't behaving the same way as when she was mercilessly attacking Bellop.
Mesa was looking down on Bellop and attacking without considering the consequences. However, Jin was a completely different opponent compared to Bellop, so she completely changed her attitude and approach to the duel.
'Mesa Milkano. I remember that in my first life, she passed all the exams and qualifications required to graduate as a cadet, and was quickly deployed to the main house as a guardian knight. I never interacted with her personally, though, so I don't quite remember the details of her life.'
She was the perfect example of an elite.
Even though she hadn't seen through Bellop's true strength, Mesa was still an extremely gifted fighter.
Jin had sparred against Mesa a total of seven times until now. He had lost the first two times, and won the remaining five. And each time, the difference in their skills and strength was getting wider and wider.
And through his duels against talented individuals like Mesa, Jin realized how impressive his gift with the sword was—a gift he never got to use and experience to the full extent in his first life due to the Bladed Illusion curse.
'I still need to face six more opponents after Mesa. But holding back my strength and energy while facing Mesa is a bad idea. I need to defeat her in a direct confrontation in order to plant fear in my next opponents' heads.'
His spars against Edington, Sierra and David were merely appetizers.
The duels against the real elites of the beginner training class started with Mesa. And for the 14-year-old Jin, defeating them all head-on in succession would be demanding and strenuous.
Therefore, Jin was planning on planting a 'misconception' in the other cadets' minds during his duel against Mesa: that they would never be able to win against Jin in a head-on battle.
'Having a frontal clash, while still looking relaxed and calm the entire time. Those are the two key points I need to keep in mind during this spar.'
This time, Jin was the first to make a move.
His attacks consisted of the most basic of stabs and slashes. Not a single irregular or odd movement was added. Mesa easily parried and avoided his attacks, but as the offensive continued, her thoughts got complicated and heavy.
'Why is the young master only using such basic attacks?'
While they were your standard attacks, each move was heavy and sharp. Mesa's hands and wrists were going numb from parrying all of them.
However, that wasn't the reason why her mind was boggled.
'When will he start going all out?'
'He had the opportunity to send my sword flying just now, but he didn't.'
'He's definitely doing this on purpose. But why…'
While Mesa racked her brain, Jin continued swinging his wooden sword with a composed expression. Even when Mesa twisted her body in order to escape his sequence of basic attacks, he still adhered to the fundamentals.
'Is he looking down on me?'
Ugh!
Mesa ground her teeth and stomped on the ground in order to stabilize her stance.
"Fine, allow me to entertain you, Young Master!"
Once Mesa fixed her posture and gripped her wooden sword tightly, her worries vanished. She also began using only the most basic of attacks in order to face Jin.
Soon, all the fancy techniques and complex movements completely disappeared from their duel. They were each taking turns attacking and defending. It had become an extremely simple fight.
A simple battle of brute strength.
Mesa was quite confident and proud of her physical strength. She wasn't being conceited, as she had learned the basics of aura manipulation back at the Milkano castle before coming to the Runcandel Clan.
Bang, skrrrt! Boom!
Explosive sounds echoed throughout the training ground as the two fighters' wooden swords hit each other. This battle of brute strength had already lasted for over five minutes. The other cadets could only watch the duel with wide eyes.
Huff, huff.
Someone was now out of breath. It was the sound of Mesa panting.
'I'm… being pushed back in terms of physical strength?'
Even Mesa knew that she couldn't win against Jin in this spar.
But she believed that her physical strength surpassed his, if not equal. Mesa couldn't accept that she would get pushed back by someone younger than her.
She was still not aware of the gap between ordinary people and people of Runcandel descent—who own blessed bodies.
"Haaah!"
Mesa suddenly shouted loudly as she swung down her wooden sword. She was attempting to regain full control of her emotions, but it ended up being the cause of her defeat.
Jin didn't avoid the strike containing the entirety of Mesa's strength, and received it head-on.
Mesa had expected him to step back in order to dodge her attack, so she was planning on swiftly dashing forward to deal the final blow after her swing.
But even if Jin received her frontal attack head-on, Mesa had a backup plan. She would let go of her sword at the last moment, grab his sword arm, swing her legs upwards and catch his neck and shoulders in a front triangle choke.
In other words, this was Mesa's trump card. Even Garon judged that her plan was reasonable.
However, the situation didn't develop the way Mesa had been expecting.
Crack!
"Eh...?!"
The wooden sword she was swinging downwards with all her strength shattered as Jin's sword hit it in an upwards swing.
'How come? It's not like Young Master Jin used aura just now…'
As Mesa asked herself the question subconsciously, Jin's wooden sword had already reached her neck, waiting a few millimeters away from her skin.
Pheww.
Jin exhaled deeply and fixed his breath.
"…It's my loss, Young Master."
"That was a great duel, Mesa Milkano."
While he replied calmly, Jin's forehead was drenched in sweat.
Mesa then shifted her gaze down to her broken sword. This was neither a trick nor an illusion. Jin hadn't used aura either. So why was her wooden sword the only one that broke?
'Dammit!'
As she watched Jin head to one side of the training ground to get a new wooden sword, Mesa finally realized the reason behind this phenomenon.
"I can't use this one anymore."
Every onlooker believed that the duel between Jin and Mesa was one of brute strength with no intricacy or elaborate techniques.
However, there was one hidden truth within the battle.
While Jin and Mesa were exchanging blows one after another, the boy had aimed for the center of Mesa's blade each time.
On the other hand, Mesa's attacks had affected the entire surface of Jin's wooden blade.
Jin's resolve to break Mesa's sword, versus Mesa's resolve to face him in a head-on battle. Mesa's wooden sword breaking was by no means a coincidence.
She had believed that this was a battle of 'brute strength', but in reality, it was a battle of 'accuracy'.
There wasn't a big difference in their strength and stamina. However, the cause of her loss was the difference in their accuracy and persistence.
'Is this even humanly possible?'
Mesa asked herself as she bit her lower lip.
A few seconds later, she came to the conclusion that it was indeed possible to achieve such a feat. As long as one was more skilled than their opponent and predicted the development of the battle, it would be easy to achieve.
However, she had never thought it would be possible to pull it off right here, right now. Despite being in the renowned Runcandel Clan's training class, it was still the 'beginner' training class. No one was supposed to be skilled enough to pull this off.
'So, is this what it means to be a Runcandel? I'll have to devote myself to my training, and next time, I'll definitely…!'
Mesa returned to her seat.
Even if one was expecting to lose, actually experiencing the defeat always left a bitter taste in the mouth. Mesa's heart was filled with pain from the defeat, but also gratitude for having learned an important lesson from Jin.
Following his duel with Mesa, Jin faced the remaining six cadets. However, he was able to win without much difficulty. No one else faced him head-on like Mesa. Therefore, none of them could steal control over the flow of the battle from Jin.
When the final opponent fell before Jin, the other cadets all gulped audibly.
In their eyes, Jin had easily defeated all the challengers after Mesa.
However, it wasn't as easy as it appeared to be.
Having faced ten extremely talented cadets one after another, Jin was somewhat out of breath after his final battle.
'Great, I still have some energy left.'
Jin hadn't made an example out of Mesa just to save his energy as much as possible because he feared he couldn't defeat all ten cadets.
Even if he hadn't planted a misconception in the other challengers' minds by breaking Mesa's sword, he could've still defeated them all.
"Excellent work, Young Master. With this, you shall be permitted to attend the intermediate training class starting next year. Congratulations."
"Huff, huff… Thanks, Garon. I'll be in your care until next year."
"Should we end the morning training session now? It's almost time for lunch."
"How long until lunchtime?"
"There's about ten minutes left. Is something the matter?"
"There's one more person I want to face."
Garon froze at Jin's words, and stared at the boy's eyes.
"Who do you have in mind?"
Jin slowly turned his gaze to the cadets.
In one corner of the group was a boy sitting with a blank expression, scratching his head.
"Bellop. Bellop Schmitz."
All the cadets' gazes turned to Bellop in an instant.
Garon's eyes opened wide as the name escaped Jin's mouth.
'…Has the young master seen through Bellop's hidden talent?'
The person in question was looking around, dumbfounded. He and the other cadets had no idea why Jin had chosen him.
"Get up. Come on over and fight me."
Jin lightly threw a wooden sword towards the startled boy.
"Y-Young Master? I… Um, I'm—"
"Bellop Schmitz!"
Jin suddenly yelled his name, to which Bellop instinctively stood up.
"You cannot survive within this clan if you continue acting like that. Get over here. I'll knock your sleepy head awake."
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