Chapter 411
“You little…!”
Lement’s eyes flashed at Luke’s words.
“The real deal starts now? Where did you pick up that insolence!”
His opponent was a first-year dropout from Lumene.
A worthless guy who shouldn’t even be here—he should’ve been kicked out.
Just getting knocked to the ground by Luke’s surprise attack was enough to make his blood boil.
And now Luke was talking like he was about to counterattack.
Lement felt like he was going to lose his mind.
Rumble—!
As the ground began to shake, Luke readjusted his grip on his sword.
Craaaash—!
A wave of earth crashed over Luke like a massive tsunami.
The power and scale were nothing like the spells Lement had used so far.
Luke lowered his stance and tightened his grip.
‘No room to dodge!’
This was clearly different from the earlier attacks.
An attack meant to erase him completely.
Luke clenched his sword harder.
‘If there’s no opening, I’ll make one!’
He focused his Aura into a single point at his blade’s tip.
Flash—!
Screeeech—!
As he swung, a silver flash erupted.
Craaaash—!
At the same time, the wave of earth swallowed Luke.
“Worthless piece of…”
That was when Lement’s face twisted.
Whoosh—!
“What?”
Breaking through the thick dust, Luke charged straight at Lement.
Clang! Crackle—!
Luke’s strike, wrapped in silver Aura, slammed into Lement’s shield spell.
Thud—!
Luke was thrown back.
“You bastard! What kind of trick is that?!”
Lement shouted, flustered, and unleashed a barrage of spells.
Bang! Craaaash!
—
“No way.”
“That guy can use Aura like that?”
“What the hell is going on?”
The entire first-year class erupted at Luke’s unexpected movement—Luke, the one they’d always looked down on.
“Wow, he was hiding something like that?”
“Hmph. So he did have a trump card.”
Juen’s eyes widened, and Sasha covered her mouth with her fan, narrowing her eyes.
Haviden, arms crossed, let out a snort.
“That much is obvious.”
Aina just stared at Luke, blank-faced.
“Well, I didn’t think it’d be easy since he’s the class representative’s mentee, but I didn’t expect him to be hiding something like this.”
(T/N: Just putting it out here, Eliana has been calling Leo, class rep ever since so that’s normal.)
In the second-year stands, Eliana exclaimed as she ate popcorn.
“But his control is still clumsy.”
“Of course it is. It’s his first time using that much power.”
“Oh! Class Rep!”
Eliana waved at the voice from behind.
Leo reached for Eliana’s popcorn.
Eliana desperately tried to defend herself from the sudden raid, but Leo snatched a handful anyway, and she pouted.
As Leo sat down, Chloe tilted her head.
“If he had that much power, why was he labeled a dropout?”
“He had to suppress his power for a long time because of the special nature of his training method.”
Leo spoke as he brought the stolen popcorn to his mouth.
“Luke’s background is unique compared to other hero candidates. He learned everything on his own.”
“In that sense, he’s a bit like you.”
‘I’m completely different.’
Leo was born with everything complete except for the vessel.
Luke wasn’t.
He was pure blank.
He couldn’t even handle the vessel properly.
It was only after coming to Lumene that he learned a proper Aura cultivation method.
No matter how special Luke’s Mana traits were, and no matter how talented he was, his starting line was bound to be different from other Lumene students—students who already had a completed vessel.
‘He would’ve grown amazingly even with normal training. But he wouldn’t have reached this kind of explosive growth.’
That was why Leo had focused on building Luke’s vessel in an extreme way.
It was obviously a brutal path for Luke himself.
‘His starting point is already far behind, and the people around him are sprinting while he’s standing still… it must’ve been frustrating.’
Of course, Luke could’ve chosen an easier route if all he wanted was faster progress.
But Luke was the one who walked the hard road to the end.
“He’s only just equipped with a vessel.”
Leo chuckled as he watched Luke.
“Even the strongest first-years would be caught off guard if they underestimate him.”
‘He always had a good eye. His observation was sharp, and his combat sense was solid.’
Leo had only provided a large, blank canvas.
Now it was up to Luke to fill it.
—
Bang! Bang! Craaaash!
“I’ll finish you!”
Lement roared, eyes bloodshot.
Half out of his mind, he kept firing spell after spell.
But despite the countless attacks raining down, not one of them hit Luke.
Luke’s eyes darted, tracking each spell’s trajectory.
‘My body is light. And I’m not getting tired.’
Leo hadn’t sealed only his Mana.
He’d sealed Luke’s physical abilities too.
And in that state, Luke had pushed himself to the brink every single day.
He’d run like crazy every day, only to feel like he was stuck in the same place.
Days of stagnation with no visible progress.
But that stagnation felt like it had been for this moment.
Luke’s body didn’t stop advancing even as it moved now.
As if every hardship from the past was being repaid all at once.
Everything he’d trained without missing a single day was paying him back now.
Thud—!
Luke leaped, stepping on a massive rock spear flying toward him.
He spun, knocking aside the stone arrows raining down from above.
Clangclangclang—!
Lement’s attacks didn’t let up.
Veins bulged on Lement’s forehead as he watched Luke evade and deflect everything.
“Ha! Are you trying to wear me down?! You’ll get tired, or you’ll get hit by magic before then!”
That was true.
No matter how tireless Luke felt, and even if he could read the spells’ paths—
Lement wasn’t standing still.
As Luke tracked trajectories and moved, Lement was also reading Luke’s movement lines, layering his attacks into more complex patterns.
Lement Morlock.
A scion of a prestigious magical family, and third place in the first-year Magic Department.
He possessed an overwhelming amount of mana compared to other students.
‘If it turns into a war of attrition, I’m at a disadvantage.’
He’d lifted the seal and gained aura incomparable to before, but that didn’t mean his reserves were overwhelming.
Aura is the fuel knights burn.
The moment his aura ran dry, his physical abilities would plummet.
‘And closing the distance isn’t easy, either.’
He’d tried several times, and failed every time.
Lement blocked his approach with countless protective spells.
Lement hadn’t earned third place in Lumene’s Magic Department—where talent crawled and flew everywhere—by luck.
He wasn’t just skilled at magic; he had plenty of combat experience.
He was already sick of fighting Aura-wielding knights.
‘If I get clipped even once, or if I slow down, I lose.’
Luke’s silver eyes fixed on Lement.
His gaze glowed.
Whoosh—!
Lement curled his lips as Luke suddenly changed direction and charged.
‘You fool!’
Luke’s sudden leap in ability had thrown him off for a moment.
And he was furious that Luke had managed to land even a brief hit.
But Lement regained his composure quickly.
‘There’s no way I lose to Luke Elda!’
Lement’s attacks were pressing Luke down.
‘You’re fast, sure—but that’s it!’
Lement was aiming for first place in his year.
For a traditional mage like him, the biggest threats were Haviden and Aina from the Knight Department.
Both were knights who crushed opponents with absurd speed.
Lement had anticipated those battles.
His primary element was earth.
And earth mages specialized in defense.
‘The moment you step into my domain, you’re done.’
Lement’s eyes flashed.
Thud—!
At that moment, Luke broke through the outer layers of defense and stepped into Lement’s domain.
Craaaash—!
Lement’s magic triggered, striking at Luke.
Whoosh—!
Luke instantly pulled away.
Clangclangclang—!
Spells burst from the ground and shot toward him, but Luke swung his sword and knocked every one aside.
Thud—!
Luke kicked off the ground and moved behind Lement in an instant.
Whoosh—!
And he struck from Lement’s blind spot.
“Useless! There are no blind spots in my magic!”
As Lement roared, the magic triggered again, striking at Luke.
Luke slipped out of the domain again.
A situation where he could only evade and defend, unable to attack.
Like being stuck in a swamp.
That was when Lement smiled in satisfaction.
Step—!
Luke stopped.
Lement, mid-barrage, paused when he saw Luke freeze.
Then he slowly curled the corners of his mouth.
“Given up? Sorry, but I’m not letting you off after humiliating me…”
“I’m going.”
Luke drew a deep breath, readjusted his grip, and lowered his stance.
“What?”
The moment Lement frowned—
Thud—!
‘He disappeared?’
Lement jolted.
His detection spell caught Luke’s movement.
‘No, he’s even faster!’
Lement poured mana into his defenses and expanded his domain even further.
Ziiiing—!
The instant Luke stepped inside, the domain reacted.
Rumble—!
Every kind of earth spell erupted from the ground and crashed down on Luke.
Luke deflected and dodged everything as he closed the distance.
“You fool! You think you can reach me just by getting a little faster?!”
Lement sneered.
Then—
Whoosh—!
Luke shattered Lement’s first line of defense.
Lement’s face stiffened.
‘No. He can’t reach me.’
Lement forced up even more mana.
Rumble—!
Rising earth tried to seize Luke.
But—
Flash—!
Luke’s silver eyes flared, and silver streaks tore through the air.
Slice—!
Sharp sword energy bisected the spell.
Shock filled Lement’s face.
Luke had spent the entire last semester rationing nearly nonexistent Mana.
Because of that, he’d learned delicate control—and that control maximized his efficiency.
He’d drilled himself to draw the most out of the least.
As Luke broke through the second line, Lement squeezed out everything he had.
“Not yet!”
Whooom—!
A massive magic circle formed around him.
Every spell he could cast manifested at once, aimed at Luke.
And then—
Whoosh—!
‘He’s… getting faster?!’
The silver streak reached Lement’s nose.
Thud—!
Luke kicked off the ground with his left foot.
“Wait…”
Using it as a pivot, Luke drove his right foot into Lement’s abdomen.
“Hold…”
Baaang—!
Aura concentrated at Luke’s foot pierced through every shield spell in an instant.
Bang—!
Hit head-on, Lement flew back and slammed into the wall.
Rattle—! Thud—!
Lement collapsed to the floor, eyes rolled back, unconscious.
“Hoo.”
Luke exhaled and stood where he was.
“Victory, Luke Elda.”
(T/N: That was sooooooooooooooooo satisfkingfying!!)
Mel smiled and declared the result.
“Oooooooo!”
Cheers erupted from the upperclassmen.
“His ability to read and evade trajectories is almost artistic.”
“He’s got good eyes. I like him.”
A completely unexpected victory.
And the way Luke broke through Lement was a spectacle.
Applause poured down from the upperclassmen.
In contrast, most first-years stared at Luke in disbelief.
“N-no way.”
“That dropout…”
“Wait—if Lement lost, doesn’t that mean he’s one of the strongest first-years?”
“I’ve been ignoring him and laughing at him this whole time… how?!”
Some first-years went pale.
“That’s not all he’s got.”
“Right. He didn’t use ‘magic.’”
Sasha narrowed her eyes at Juen’s words.
At that, Juen stood.
“Do your best, first place in the Magic Department.”
“I’m going to win.”
Juen snorted and headed for the waiting room.
Aina stood as well.
Nearby, Haviden spoke.
“Looks like you’re worried about Luke Elda?”
Aina still hadn’t taken her eyes off Luke.
“Not at all.”
She answered shortly and walked toward the waiting room.
Haviden scoffed as he watched her go, then looked at Luke and muttered.
“He’s become worth defeating.”