Chapter 18
The students split to either side, forming a circle around Leo and Duran.
The atmosphere buzzed with excitement at the prospect of a title match between the freshman representative and the top entrant.
“Who do you think will win?”
“I’m going with Duran!”
“Yeah, he was famous even before school started, right?”
“But Leo’s the freshman representative. Won’t he show us something?”
“Come on, he wasn’t even first in the entrance exam. Plus, I heard he doesn’t even know [Aura Step].”
Every first-year expected Duran to win.
In the midst of this, Celia asked anxiously,
“Will you be all right?”
“Don’t you trust me?”
“You just learned [Aura Step] in theory a minute ago.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll win.”
Duran pointed to a large tree attached to the distant wall of the training field.
“The rules are simple. We go around that tree and the first to return here wins.”
“Got it.”
Both began warming up before the race.
Leo removed the bracelets and anklets from his wrists and ankles, recalling the [Aura Step] theory Professor Ain had just taught.
When the warm-up was finished and they stood at the starting line, a student acting as referee raised his hand.
“Ready.”
Leo tensed his muscles.
“Go!”
The two launched off the ground at the same time.
At first, Leo took the lead.
Seeing Leo’s back, Duran frowned.
‘He’s insanely fast.’
“All right! Go, Leo!”
“Go, Leo!”
Carl clenched his fist and shouted, while Chelsea hopped with excitement.
But Celia’s face was still clouded.
‘Duran hasn’t even used [Aura Step] yet.’
Right now, both were running on pure physical strength.
Even Celia had to admit Leo’s physical abilities were extraordinary.
So it made sense that he was faster without using [Aura Step].
But that was only in the early stage.
When Duran activated [Aura], the distance between them rapidly closed.
Crackle—! Golden sparks wrapped around Duran’s legs.
It was [Lightning Aura].
“I’m going ahead, slowpoke.”
With a sneer, Duran surged forward.
Duran rounded the target point far ahead of Leo, dashing at a tremendous speed.
Anyone could see Leo was about to lose.
That’s when Leo suddenly accelerated toward the training ground wall.
“[Aura Step]? Didn’t they say the freshman representative couldn’t use [Aura Step]?”
“Was that a lie?”
The students murmured, and Celia’s eyes widened.
‘No way, how does that monster learn everything so fast?’
As she screamed inside, Leo came up on the wall at full speed without slowing down.
Bam bam bam—!
“Wait, isn’t he going to crash?”
“He’s going to run into the wall!”
The students shouted as Leo charged at the wall at a terrifying speed.
Wham—!
At that moment, Leo focused power into his legs and jumped.
With both feet on the wall, he looked up at Duran’s back.
Crack—!
Leo’s leap was strong enough to crack the wall, using that force to chase after Duran.
The students who saw it were stunned.
When Duran looked back in response, his face stiffened.
He saw Leo flying toward him like a bullet.
‘This guy!’
Though caught off guard by the unexpected pursuit, Duran quickly regained his composure.
‘He lost his momentum landing on the ground!’
Duran, still at full speed, wasn’t worried about being caught.
Leo pushed off the ground and took off again.
With [Aura Step] activated, his speed was now on a different level.
Still, the gap with Duran didn’t close.
Now they were halfway back to the starting line.
“Go, Leo!”
“Run, Duran!”
The students cheered from both sides.
Celia bit her lip lightly.
‘No, he won’t catch up.’
Leo knew it too.
Fwoosh—!
Just then, flames burst from Leo’s toes.
‘The way Professor Ain walked through the air before.’
Leo recalled Professor Ain’s demonstration.
He couldn’t copy it perfectly, not as a beginner in [Aura Step].
But he could adapt the method.
Activating [Phoenix Breath], Leo concentrated [Aura] at his toes.
Fwoosh—!
And then…
‘Push off the ground!’
Bang! Boom!
The sudden explosion made the students pause.
Celia’s jaw dropped.
‘Phoenix Step? Leo shouldn’t have mastered that yet!’
Boom—! Boom—!
Small explosions echoed in succession.
With each one, Leo began accelerating at an incredible rate.
Burning through all the [Aura] he had, Leo caught up right behind Duran.
“Ugh? This guy!”
“Going ahead, slowpoke.”
Leo grinned and pushed hard off the ground.
Boom—!
“Leo Flove!”
Duran shouted as he glared and chased right behind Leo.
Though the gap didn’t widen, Duran couldn’t keep up with the fully accelerating Leo.
Leo’s [Aura] flames and Duran’s [Lightning Aura] raced through the air.
And by the slimmest margin, Leo crossed the starting line first.
“Wooooooah!”
“That’s crazy! He’s so fast!”
The students shouted in amazement.
“Huff—! Huff—!”
Duran panted heavily as he glared at Leo.
Leo also leaned on his knees, sweating as he caught his breath.
“Whoa! That was incredible! Wasn’t Duran the fastest among the first-years? And Leo still beat him?”
Carl exclaimed as Celia said,
“If it was a long-distance race, he wouldn’t have won.”
“Huh?”
“Celia’s right. Duran’s [Aura] capacity is way higher.”
Leo nodded at Celia’s words.
“But I still won. See? I told you I’d win.”
“Geez, yeah. You’re amazing.”
Celia shook her head at Leo’s smug expression.
“Leo! Here’s some water!”
“Thanks.”
Leo smiled gently as he took the water bottle Chelsea handed him.
“Even as a guy, he’s cool. No wonder he’s popular with the girls. Is this what they mean by a gentleman with good manners?”
Carl admired him, but Chelsea shook her head.
“He’s not a gentleman.”
“Huh? Why?”
“At the entrance exam, he threatened to burn my butt to a crisp if I didn’t cooperate with him.”
Chelsea’s face turned sour as she grumbled.
Hearing that, Carl muttered,
“A perverted gentleman, huh.”
* * *
“As I thought yesterday, it’s no wonder Professor Albi recommended him as the freshman representative.”
On the roof overlooking the training grounds, Professor Ain muttered to himself.
“Aren’t professors supposed to break up student quarrels, Professor Ain?”
Assistant Professor Clariana sighed deeply, pointing it out.
Ain chuckled.
“It’s an annual tradition, isn’t it?”
At Lumeln, students are chosen from various cultures around the world.
On top of that, their backgrounds are all different.
That’s why situations like this happen every year at the start of the term.
“Knowing that and still not stopping it is a bigger problem, don’t you think?”
“This year’s first-years have a lot of potential heroes. The academy as a whole is paying attention to them. That’s why I think it’s important to start sorting out the real talents from the beginning.”
Professors at Lumeln aim for equality among all students.
But being human, it’s only natural to have a favored protégé.
Though cold on the outside, Ain is passionately devoted to his students and is greatly respected by them even after they graduate.
Ain himself is proud of his students.
But if there’s one regret, it’s that none of his students have become heroes yet.
“To raise a hero… Clariana, you know how much I want that, don’t you?”
“Of course you do.”
Clariana sighed, took out a notebook, and asked,
“So, what should we do?”
Even if it’s a provisional class, having a competition without a professor’s permission is against the school rules.
“They didn’t even fight, just let it go.”
‘He really likes Leo, huh.’
Although Professor Ain cares about the rules, he overlooked it this time.
Clariana looked at Leo chatting with his friends and burst out laughing.
* * *
After class, Leo sat in the student café.
In no time, the story of Leo and Duran had spread throughout the entire school.
“You’re the talk of the school on the very first day!”
Carl gave a thumbs up as Chelsea, sipping fruit juice through a straw, replied,
“Leo’s performance was definitely impressive.”
“Hey, Chelsea Rewallin, why do you call Leo ‘big brother’ but just call me by my name?”
“Because I feel like it.”
Chelsea stuck out her tongue.
“Why you—!”
“If you don’t like it, then call my brother ‘big brother’ too!”
“Just call me by my name. It’s easier.”
Celia gave up cleanly.
“The next class is Summoning Studies. Anyone else taking it?”
Carl pulled out his schedule and checked.
“I’m taking it.”
The other three looked at Leo as if to say, ‘What’s the point?’
Knight classes teach you techniques, and magic classes improve your resistance to magic.
That’s why they’re popular as minors, but Summoning Studies is useless for anyone without talent.
At their reaction, Leo took a sip through his straw and muttered inwardly,
‘I wonder what kind of faces they’d make if I told them I’m taking all three majors.’
After parting ways with the others, he headed straight to the classroom.
As he walked, he thought about the reward he got from the entrance exam.
Normally, conquering a living hero’s world wouldn’t earn you a reward.
‘But I received one.’
It was something unusual.
And there was another question about the reward.
‘Why was it a pact with the Fairy King?’
The rewards you can get from a hero’s world are related to the power possessed by the master of that world.
‘Professor Albi is a pure magician.’
Normally, he should have received an ability related to magic.
But the reward Leo received was a summoning ability.
The last recorded contractor of the Fairy King in history was Luna.
Since the Age of Calamity, the contract with the Fairy King had been lost—until Leo.
‘But just having the pact isn’t enough to form a contract.’
To summon a phantom beast, you need a catalyst related to it.
The catalyst for summoning fairies is a leaf from the World Tree.
All World Trees were destroyed by Erebos during the Age of Despair.
Now, to form a contract with a fairy, you’d need to go to Fairy Land, where the fairies live.
‘But Fairy Land is the domain of the elves, a place humans can’t go. And even then, there’s no guarantee I could meet the Fairy King.’
Right now, it’s a reward with no use.
“You’re taking Summoning Studies too?”
Someone spoke to him from behind.
Turning around with a puzzled look, he saw a girl standing there.
‘Let’s see… She was the top student from the east, wasn’t she?’
