“Silence.”

The trainees’ voices quieted down at the Instructor’s single word.

The trainees who had just sparred took off their armor with the help of the assistant instructors.

When they removed their helmets, the victorious trainee’s triumphant face was revealed.

The defeated trainee’s face was the opposite.

“20 seconds is shorter than I thought, isn’t it?”

“But isn’t the distance a bit too far?”

“20 seconds is long, considering the current situation.”

The Mages whispered in low voices.

Most of the trainees, except for the 25A team, had no experience fighting Hunters in real situations.

There was no comparison, so it was a bit rambling.

“Alright, next!”

The Instructor called out the second pair for sparring.

They also wore armor and stood facing each other.

If the first spar was filled with anticipation and excitement, now a faint tension flowed.

The Swordsman took a stance, ready to charge with his sword.

The Mage prepared to cast, drawing up mana.

“Begin!”

With the Instructor’s signal, the Swordsman and Mage began their actions.

Magic flew, and the Swordsman sprinted.

The Swordsman dodged the magic with his developed dynamic vision.

The Mage, flustered, got his casting tangled.

As the magic formation scattered, his expression clearly showed his dismay.

He tried to cast magic belatedly, but it missed every time.

Each failed attack was a bitter blow to the Mage.

With each failure, the distance rapidly closed.

Thud.

The Swordsman, who had approached unnoticed, pointed his Plastic Sword at the Mage’s neck.

Given the ample time, his posture was quite elegant.

“Isn’t the Mage at a disadvantage?”

As the Mage lost consecutively, the Mage side raised a question.

Then, the Swordsman sitting right next to him immediately interjected.

“The distance is far, isn’t it? They’re breaking through it with just their bare bodies. What’s the disadvantage? The risk is high when magic fails. The first round was pretty even.”

“That’s why there’s armor, right? Honestly, if you just use a fire spell in a real fight, you can just block it…”

“I’m telling you, it’s the same. We don’t break through such a long distance with bare bodies in a real fight either.”

The two exchanged a few words, glancing at the Instructor, and then fell silent the moment their eyes met with the Instructor’s.

In the meantime, the next combatants had already stepped forward.

They stood in their designated spots, wearing armor.

“Begin!”

With the Instructor’s signal, the third spar began.

The Swordsman charged towards the Mage.

However, the third spar unfolded a bit differently.

The Mage continuously fired Magic Missiles to suppress the Swordsman’s charge, and whenever an opening appeared, he precisely used 2nd Circle attack magic to bind the Swordsman’s feet.

Once his feet were bound, the Swordsman couldn’t advance. He couldn’t find an opportunity to charge due to the constantly incoming magic.

But that was only for a moment.

The moment he allowed one attack, he began to take all the subsequent attacks.

The advantage of long-range attacks was still evident.

Thus, the Swordsman wasted all his time being pummeled by the magic shot from a distance.

The Mage won when their casting was faster and more accurate than the average Swordsman’s movements.

Although 1st Circle Magic didn’t show much stopping power, hitting with 2nd Circle Magic was enough to push even a Swordsman back.

It also hurt due to the impact.

The condition was to use 1st Circle Magic for harassment and then land a 2nd Circle Magic.

If they failed to cast a powerful magic spell, they immediately conceded distance and lost.

The Swordsman’s victory depended on dodging magic and having a fast charge speed.

Methods such as predicting where magic would fly and dodging it, or using feint movements to make the opponent waste a turn, also appeared.

Dodging 2nd Circle Magic gave a significant advantage, as it took the Mage a considerable amount of time to prepare new magic.

And so, the class atmosphere grew more and more heated.

Before long, the score was 4-4.

Now, only one spar remained.

“Trainee Ryu Jigwang, Trainee Kim Songcheol, step forward.”

The names of the two trainees were called.

“Oh, come on, is that even possible…? It’s that senior…”

“Not yet. Not yet. Not yet. Not yet…”

“Still, Jigwang is the best among the kids here.”

When Ryu Jigwang and Kim Songcheol’s names were mentioned simultaneously, faint hope and despair appeared among the Swordsmen.

On the other hand, the Mages’ aura already seemed triumphant.

It was natural.

There was no one among the trainees who didn’t know Kim Songcheol.

‘What should I do…?’

Kim Songcheol, putting on his armor, had a complicated mind.

It was because of his worry about ‘how’ to win.

Judging by the level, he felt he could finish it quickly if he put his mind to it.

But this was training.

Winning wasn’t the important thing; he had to spar appropriately so that his opponent could also train.

While Kim Songcheol was pondering, the sparring preparations were already complete.

He snapped out of it to find himself in armor, and in front of him, Trainee Ryu Jigwang, also in armor, had finished preparing to charge, his eyes gleaming.

“Begin!”

With the Instructor’s booming signal.

Ryu Jigwang set off, and his approaching figure was visible moment by moment.

‘First…’

Kim Songcheol first launched a Magic Missile.

Thwack!

Ryu Jigwang swung his sword diagonally and batted away the Magic Missile.

It was a skill shown by trainees who were good with swords.

Kim Songcheol was surprised not by Ryu Jigwang deflecting the Magic Missile, but by his speed.

‘He’s faster than the other kids?’

He had only wasted one turn on a Magic Missile, but the distance had closed quite a bit.

RuptureRuptureRupturePow!

Kim Songcheol continuously fired Magic Missiles.

About six or seven Magic Missiles flew out sequentially.

It wasn’t even the fastest casting, but the trainees were astounded.

“What is that?”

“What’s flying in a volley…?”

They had never seen Magic Missiles fired in such rapid succession.

But Ryu Jigwang didn’t panic.

He instantly flipped his body, hurdling over the torrent of Magic Missiles, and as soon as he landed, he shot forward at an incredible speed.

Kim Songcheol fired Magic Missiles again, but this time Ryu Jigwang simply endured them with his body and pushed through.

Thump, thump, thump!

He deflected one or two, but the rest he just took with his body.

Even though it must have hurt considerably more than other Magic Missiles, he just ran with a frown.

‘He’s just coming straight in…’

It was meant for him to dodge, and it was a speed he could have dodged.

He told them to practice dodging magic, but to think he would just rely on his armor and charge in.

‘He’ll dodge this time.’

Kim Songcheol deliberately cast Lightning Spear slowly.

Of course, it was slow compared to his maximum speed, but objectively, it wasn’t slow at all.

Crackling!

A Lightning Spear was fired towards Ryu Jigwang. Ryu Jigwang deflected the Lightning Spear with a slight twist of his shoulder.

It was a tiny movement, and his speed didn’t slow down at all.

‘Look at this?’

Kim Songcheol laughed as if dumbfounded.

Ryu Jigwang had been hiding his Thread power.

To be so serious about a mere training session.

That was a part Kim Songcheol hadn’t grasped.

Thanks to that, Ryu Jigwang was right in front of him.

“I won.”

The swordsmen were already shouting victory.

The distance between the two was only a few meters.

At this range, most mages were as good as defeated.

Furthermore, Ryu Jigwang accelerated even more at the last moment, increasing his speed.

He had finally revealed all of his Thread power.

‘He’s fast?’

In response, Kim Songcheol hastily cast the 2nd Circle Magic, Air Blast.

The moment Ryu Jigwang’s sword extended, a magic circle appeared between them, and a sudden gale erupted.

“Uh…?”

With a small sound, Ryu Jigwang’s body shot up into the air.

He flew almost touching the ceiling.

Considering the high ceiling of the gymnasium, it was almost 10 meters.

The problem was that he adjusted the angle, fearing injury if he fell backward completely.

“Whoa!?”

Exclamations burst out among the trainees.

Even a swordsman would surely be injured if they fell from a height of 10 meters.

‘I’m screwed…’

Kim Songcheol’s heart pounded.

He had never used Air Blast on a human before.

A human body was lighter than Kim Songcheol thought, and the power of Air Blast was much stronger than that of other trainees.

A list of all the magic Kim Songcheol knew flashed through his mind.

But there was no usable magic.

In the Republic of Korea, most magic focused on offense.

The only usable magic he had at the moment was 3rd Circle Telekinesis, but Kim Songcheol was only 2nd Circle.

“He’s falling!”

Ryu Jigwang’s body accelerated, rapidly approaching the floor.

In a hurry, Kim Songcheol used Air Blast one more time.

A magic circle appeared beneath Ryu Jigwang, who was falling as if to hit the floor.

A large gust of wind shot out again, pushing Ryu Jigwang up once more.

This time, he went up almost 10 meters again.

He couldn’t reduce the output much because he was determined to prevent the fall.

Besides, he had never even tried to ‘use magic weakly’ before.

Ryu Jigwang touched the ceiling once more and fell.

Kim Songcheol responded with Air Blast again.

This time, the power was slightly lower, reaching only about 7 meters.

“What is that?”

“He’s completely playing with him, isn’t he?”

“If he had used that from the beginning, he wouldn’t have even gotten close, would he…?”

After it repeated about three times, the trainees shook their heads and muttered.

It was like an uncle playing with his nephew.

Kim Songcheol’s ‘magic bouncing’ completely crushed the trainees’ competitive spirit.

It was an opponent they couldn’t even compete against from the start.

Ryu Jigwang, who was being ‘magic bounced’, also chuckled dejectedly and raised his helmet guard.

“Can I get one more for free?”

“…Are you serious?”

When Ryu Jigwang had gone up about 2 or 3 meters, Kim Songcheol waved his hand, signaling that it was over.

Ryu Jigwang flipped his body in mid-air and landed lightly.

Kim Songcheol, who had been fiercely trying to ‘use magic weakly’ for the first time, secretly wiped the sweat from his hands.

“I thought I could at least put up a fight… but I couldn’t. Good job.”

Ryu Jigwang, having landed, took off his helmet and bowed his head.

“Tsk.”

Kim Songcheol clicked his tongue, gave a silent nod, and took off his armor.

In the end, the Mage team had won, but there was no particular talk about the match.

“Can you do that too?”

“Nah, not that high.”

Instead, the swordsmen and mages gathered together and discussed the Air Blast output.

It was something that usually didn’t happen.

There were also mages looking at Kim Songcheol with even brighter eyes than usual.

As Kim Songcheol returned to his seat, they immediately bombarded him with questions.

“Did you practice reducing the output regularly?”

“I was wondering that too. It’s not a normal training, is it?”

As expected, the mages had a discerning eye.

The swordsmen just assumed he gradually used it more weakly, but from a mage’s perspective, gradually reducing output required extremely precise control.

Perhaps that’s why they didn’t think Kim Songcheol had done it on the spot.

“Well… I practiced occasionally.”

Kim Songcheol vaguely brushed them off and sat down.

He couldn’t very well say that he had sent someone flying 10 meters and was sweating profusely trying to deal with it.

And so, the chaotic final sparring match ended.

The professor concluded the lecture by giving an explanation of the sparring content and adding a few more remarks.

He didn’t bring up anything about Kim Songcheol in particular.

“Dismissed.”

The class was over.

Kim Songcheol was about to leave with the other Trainees.

“Trainee Kim Songcheol.”

The Official Position called out to Kim Songcheol.

“That was an impressive spar. If you have time, let me take you for a ride sometime.”

The Official Position was smiling, as if Kim Songcheol’s prank was amusing.

“…To be honest, it was an accident. I didn’t intend it.”

Kim Songcheol scratched his Official Position badge and said awkwardly.

“Oh… was that it?”

The Official Position seemed unaware as well.

“Yes. So you just stood there?”

“Yes, well… anyway, this doesn’t seem to be the right place, does it? I’ll move you up one level.”

The Official Position said he would move him up one level, but in reality, if Kim Songcheol moved up one level from his current skill, that would be the end.

For Magic, the 3rd Circle is one level higher, and there is no level above that.

This was because the Training Institute’s system was for trainees to Graduate once they became 3rd Circle Masters or reached 4th Circle.

“Will it be okay?”

Kim Songcheol asked.

“Which side are you worried about? Yourself? Or your opponent?”

“Of course, myself. I can only use 2nd Circle Magic so far.”

As a Trainee, the difference in rank was significant. Higher-level Swordsmen would be much faster and stronger.

“…Give it a try. It’ll be fun.”

The Official Position simply gave a strange smile without any clear explanation.