Vol 3 Chapter 13

Startled by a hand suddenly patting his shoulder, Kapros opened his eyes. The silver-white blade of the sword he was holding was shimmering as if wrapped in a heat haze. When he moved his hand in surprise, he felt an unfamiliar flow disturbing the air, accompanied by a strange humming sound.

"This is..."

As Kapros muttered, unable to hide his surprise, Ilumine nodded.

"That's mana injection. It's exactly right. You've done it properly."

So this is...!

At the same time, Kapros noticed the skill proficiency rapidly increasing in the skill window he had left open.

The percentage gauge that hadn't changed no matter what he did had suddenly risen by 7.6 percent! As he stared blankly, both dumbfounded and moved, Ilumine continued speaking with a smile.

"Lord said that state is the foundation of his magic swordsmanship. If you keep that in mind properly, you shouldn't have any major problems from now on."

"...I see. Thank you."

It was only after a while that Kapros expressed his gratitude to Ilumine.

"That's about all I can teach you. Next, quickly take out the magic book."

Inferno and Blizzard, the two spells that had astounded Kapros as soon as he mastered Blink and opened the book. Wondering if Ilumine could open a path for these as well, he took out the book, and Ilumine told him to open the pages first. The first thing he saw when he opened it was Inferno.

[ Inferno ]

Flames of hell.

"..."

"...Is that all?"

Kapros deeply sympathized with Ilumine's incredulous mutter. Even he had been so dumbfounded when he first saw this.

At first, he thought only that short sentence appeared because he hadn't mastered Blink. But that wasn't the case. At least with Blink, there had been some explanation of the magic, but Inferno didn't even have that. Just looking at the words "flames of hell" made it impossible to guess the nature of the magic or how to use it.

"Inferno... 6th circle..."

As Ilumine flipped through the book as if something had occurred to her, a glimmer of hope rose in Kapros's heart, which had been utterly frustrated until now. But that was short-lived.

"...Ah."

Ilumine suddenly lifted her head towards the sky. Seeing her expression as if she was gauging something, Kapros reflexively tensed up. That expression, could it be... Already...?

"The moon has risen."

Looking at Ilumine, who seemed slightly apologetic but utterly resolute, Kapros felt deeply dejected.

"Haa..."

It really seemed like nothing in the Superior quest was going to be easy. He closed the book with a sigh.

"It can't be helped."

"Right. It would be good to practice more mana injection."

Kapros bowed his head in greeting and walked towards Kran, who had been watching while leaning against the wall. Kran patted Kapros's back with a smile.

"It's okay, it's okay. As you said, you've found at least a pinhole-sized breakthrough when you couldn't find a method all this time. Isn't that fortunate?"

Well, that was true, but.

In the short time since meeting Ilumine, Kapros had come to realize many things anew. What he had done so far, what he had missed, and what he lacked...

Ilumine was right. What had he been doing all this time? Had his unknowingly relaxed discipline disturbed his mind and finally made him forget even his goal, leading to the situation just now?

...Certainly, he had become incomparably more relaxed since meeting Yu-wan and Kran. It wasn't that he regretted meeting them. This was just a problem with his own mind. He was already a person who found it difficult to pull himself together. But at least he had wanted his mind to move forward steadily without change.

Come to think of it, the stagnation of training in MIST wasn't the only problem. How long had it been since even his sword training in reality, which he had started with great determination, had been going in circles without progress?

'Progress...'

Until now, he had thought it was just 'no progress,' but thinking about it again, that was laughable too. It wasn't that there was no progress. He had just been relaxed.

How pathetic, this guy called Kapros. This mentality was even worse than when he was in high school.

Feeling like he wanted to beat himself up, as Kapros was leaving the cave, Kran suddenly looked at his face and stepped back in surprise.

"What's wrong, are you angry about something?"

Ignoring Kran, who was subtly taking a guard stance with both hands raised as if wondering if Kapros was angry at him, Kapros answered carelessly.

"I'm just pathetic."

Looking up at the sky, he saw a crescent moon. As he stood there, unable to move easily due to the bitter taste in his mouth, Kran, who had been silent for a moment, said "What?" while scratching his head and approached Kapros.

"What's there for you to be pathetic about? You're the top mage who even earned the nickname FM, you're good-looking, tall enough, and your personality is... well, ahem! Ahem! Hem! ...A-Anyway."

It seemed like he was trying to compliment Kapros, but his personality... What was with the awkward trailing off and fake coughing at the end? Kapros sighed and opened his mouth, properly making eye contact with Kran.

"It has nothing to do with that. It's just... I was surprised to realize that I had somehow forgotten what I had set as my initial goal."

"Uh... What? Is that all?"

Kapros had spoken with a bad feeling, but Kran suddenly reacted even more nonchalantly than before, laughing and wrapping his arm around Kapros's neck.

This guy...

"Does it seem like you need another Screw Ball?"

"No, I'll pass on that... Kehehehe."

Now he's even laughing... He's really pushing it.

As Kran laughed while shaking, not releasing his arm from Kapros's neck, Kapros didn't even feel like hitting him and just stood still. Kran's laughter soon subsided.

"Puhehehehe. I wondered what you were being so serious about... It's nothing much."

"...You say it's nothing?"

"Yeah. It's not a big deal, right?"

When Kapros sharply questioned, Kran looked at him with eyes full of kind mischief. The moment their gazes met, Kapros tightly closed his mouth. What was that look...

"Most people don't worry that seriously about such things."