Academy’s Genius Swordsman

< 99. Second Heart (2) >

#99

“···ah?”

White mana wrapped around the blade. Glitter. Ronan’s head turned white with the exact same look as Nebula Clazier’s.

“…I guess it’s time for me to die.”

Ronan chuckled. I thought I slept enough in the airship, but I guess I wasn’t. When I released my concentration, the light of the sword went out.

‘It can’t be.’

Ronan closed his eyes. And he breathed mana into La Mancha again. I could feel the mana drawn from the tumor flowing down the hilt.

one second. this second. After waiting for three seconds, Ronan carefully raised his eyelids. Paah! A dazzling filament pierced the retina.

“Fuck.”

The black swords were flashing splendidly enough to be used as lights in places like parties. It was the same no matter how many times I tried. Ronan, who had been standing in place for a while, turned around.

‘It’s fucked up.’

It was a bummer now and I didn’t know. I had to figure out why this was happening.

After several trials and errors, Ronan headed to the Gallerion Hall, the main building of the martial arts department. Jardordin was not present because he was in class, and he didn’t know how to get to Sekrit’s office.

Still, if it was Nabirose, the former swordsman, he would have known something. profit. When the door to the first arena was opened, an unfamiliar landscape unfolded.

“If you’re all here, I’ll start… um?”

The students who should have been competing were sitting together with their weapons down. In front of the students, Nabirose was drawing something with chalk on a huge mobile blackboard.

It looked like a monkey that had been pierced by a cannonball, but I couldn’t figure out what exactly it was painted on. She made eye contact with Ronan and shook her head.

“Long time no see. Ronan. Did you have a good visit to the Dawning Tower?”

“…I just knew you had a good time.”

Ronan sighed with a confused expression on his face. Judging by Nabirose’s reaction, it seemed that he still didn’t know what he was doing in the Tower of Dawn.

Adeshan was among the students who had gathered. Seeing Ronan, she smiled and waved her hand.

“I was about to take a class on cores and aurors, and it turned out well. Come on, sit down.”

“The core … timing is killing me.”

Ronan stuttered and sat down next to Adeshan. Maybe it was because he had awakened the mana of the shadows, so his complexion looked much better than the last time. Seeing the shadows cast on Ronan’s face, she asked anxiously.

“Long time no see. You look bad, what’s wrong?”

“I’m done, senpai.”

“Yes···?”

“I, too, have become a nerd, no different than those bald worshipers.”

“Daddy, bald?”

Adeshan tilted her head at the unfamiliar sound. Ronan sighed again. It was a deep sigh, as if he was exhaling his lungs and then swallowing again. Nabi Rose resumed classes.

“great. Everyone already knows about the core, but let’s go over it again. Ronan, please answer me. What will happen if you pour water into a bowl made of woven straw?”

“Will it leak in a row?”

“okay. That’s the kind of heart that hasn’t been cored. A heart made of woven straw. There is no problem in circulating mana, but it is difficult to use it beyond that.”

Adeshan began to dictate what she said. Ronan realized that he and she were the only students here who couldn’t form the core.

Nabi Rose explained about the core while drawing hard. I thought I would be strong only in practice, but the theory class was better than I thought.

“In the end, making the core is changing the material of the heart. At least at the level of wood or pottery, you can only accumulate mana in your heart and use it as a power source. Now, look at this article.”

“···Article?”

Except for the terrible drawing skills. Ronan was shocked when he realized that the monkey who was hit by a cannon in the chest was actually a drawing of a knight operating a core. Nabirose explained how to operate the core by pointing to various parts of the monkey knight’s body.

“There are many ways to build a core. What I recommend is to train your heart steadily with mana. It’s the most basic and no side effect.”

In short, remodeling the ‘existing’ heart through steady training was the basic principle of creating a core. Nabirose emphasized the importance of the core several times because it was a necessary process for the auror to bloom.

The only way to bloom an individual’s unique mana, Auror, was to wait for change while accumulating the absorbed external mana in the core or circle. Before long, Nabirose spoke up.

“Nothing is given without effort. Concentrate on your training, thinking that you will turn straw into steel one by one.”

After finishing the theory quickly, she went to practical classes as usual. Except for Ronan and Adeshan, the rest were instructed to fight by actively utilizing their cores.

Only two people without a core had to swing their swords at the scarecrow in a remote corner. said Nabirose.

“Don’t be too offended. Because the two of you are special. Think of it as investing time in making a big bowl.”

“I know. But, Professor, I have a question for you.”

“what?”

“Is there any possibility that two mana can be manifested from one core?”

“none.”

It was a sharp assertion like a veil. Ronan bit his lips and asked again.

“Never? Whatever happens?”

“Exactly, nothing is known. It would be impossible without two hearts.”

Ronan closed his eyes and sighed. It was also not normal.

“okay. Damn it…but what’s going on with this?”

“What are you talking about?”

“I think I have a core.”

“what?”

Nabirose’s eyes widened. It didn’t seem so surprising that her independent daughter announced the news of her pregnancy. Ronan pulled the hilt instead of answering. The mana oozing out of the tumor dyed the blade pure white.

“This···!”

“But again, it doesn’t come from the heart. Am I being sold to the zoo now?”

“The nature of Mana has completely changed. What the hell happened?”

“So. Oh, can you see the twinkle?”

“Is it shiny?”

“it’s nothing.”

Ronan sighed in relief. Fortunately, the island war that could distinguish Nebula Clazier was visible only to his eyes. Nabi Rose, who placed her hand on Ronan’s chest, muttered in an interesting voice.

“… Really. Something that functions as a power source has settled next to the heart.”

“Is it the core? It wasn’t made for a good opportunity, but to be honest, it’s a bit scary.”

“You will see. If there is any sign that something is wrong, I will fix it, so give it a try.”

Nabirose pointed to the scarecrow with the tip of her chin. Ronan bit his tongue and grabbed the hilt.

‘Yeah, damn it. I knew.’

It sounded reckless, but he also knew that the only answer was to fight directly. La Mancha disappeared from sight for a moment. Scratch! The scarecrow, which had been cut into dozens of pieces, collapsed.

“fast···!”

Adeshan exclaimed. It was a quick sword that reached the heights. It was difficult to follow the sword even when the visual acuity of the body was strengthened with the mana of the shadow.

However, Ronan and Nabi Rose kept their expressionless faces. It was a speed that was no different from the sword attack that was cut by feeding mana in the past.

“I don’t know how to look at it this way. Show your swordsmanship once.”

“Is that so?”

aa – A strange sound of breathing escaped between Ronan’s lips. This time it was a sword. As he concentrated his mind and swung his sword, a crescent-shaped sword was fired by the sword.

Aww! The sword that flew in a straight line pierced the scarecrow’s neck and exploded. Along with the stone dust, the dusty island wars of butterflies sprung up in all directions.

“shit.”

Ronan frowned. Also, there was no difference in power or range. Ronan, feeling the change in his body, widened his eyes.

“Heh heh heh heh what is it?”

“Your complexion is bad. Are you okay?”

“Wait a minute… Heo Eok, something is strange…”

He hadn’t moved yet, but his breath was up to his chin. It seemed that more energy was consumed in the ship than when the sword was usually shot. Ronan, who suddenly lost strength in his legs, sat down. Adeshan, seeing his complexion deteriorated, exclaimed in embarrassment.

“Lo, Ronan…! wait. I’ll bring you some water.”

Adeshan ran to the office. The sword’s light went out. Ronan tried to change the power source back to the existing heart, just in case. Breathing slowly took hold, and strength in his legs began to return.

“Ha…what is this doing…”

“Is it operating separately from the existing core? Interesting.”

Nabi Rose touched his chin as if he was interested. Ronan let out a swear word. At this time, there was no difference from the existing cursed heart. No, I got more back.

It was fortunate that they did not share the existing heart and mana barrel, but this only slightly increased the total amount of mana available. It’s also a noisy thing that can be used at a banquet. Gradually, anger began to rise.

‘Nimi, is it the end of just glittering? Is it just getting harder?’

“First, I will look after the other students. Let’s try it in a way that doesn’t overwhelm us.”

Nabi Rose, who was observing Ronan, turned her back. Since it was strictly class time, it was impossible to pay attention to him alone.

Ronan, who was holding his breath, got up. He couldn’t comprehend what had happened to him.

‘There must be more.’

The unidentified power source was probably created under the influence of Vajura. It is a core that originated from beings with great power, good or bad, but this could not be the end.

Ronan changed the power source again. At the same time as the body became heavy, the sparkling mana came up on the sword.

Ronan, who moved in front of the advanced scarecrow, took a stance. It was known that the scarecrow for seniors made of discarded machinist engineers was ten times stronger than the general scarecrow.

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Most of the training was done mainly against Schlieffen and physical strength training, so it was the first time I tried tapping on it. Ronan looked up at the scarecrow and tilted his head.

“Well?”

The armor worn by the Scarecrow was engraved with the Grancia family pattern. It was probably received as a support item from Grancia.

I felt a sense of uneasiness in English. A knight in Grancia’s armor. Ronan, who had finally salvaged his memory, nodded. It had already happened several months ago.

‘He looked like that child. Were you surprised?’

The high-ranking scarecrow in front of him looked exactly like Sir Dolan Conchesto, who was the escort knight of the Duke of Grancia. A spy for Nebula Clazier, he sneaked into the dormitory in the middle of the night to kill Ronan. Ronan shrugged his eyebrows, suddenly remembering the way Dolan was fighting.

‘Come to think of it, the way the aurors were manifested was unusual.’

“Ronan, are you okay now? Water here…”

Adeshan with a canteen was approaching from behind, but Ronan didn’t notice her presence. Ronan raised his leg without thinking and hit the floor with his right foot.

‘Did you do this?’

thud! A wave of sparkling mana spread with a dull sound. Adeshan, who was carrying a canteen, lost his balance and stumbled.

“Damn!”

“senior?”

Ronan turned his head. The figure of Adeshan falling down caught my eye. Ronan, who hurriedly flew away, grabbed her and the canteen flying in the air at the same time.

“Oh, thank you…”

“What did you trip over?”

“Is that so? what?”

Adeshan looked around in a confused voice. There was nothing to trip over on the flat stone floor.

Suddenly, Ronan’s gaze, scanning the floor, reached Adeshan’s leg. changgang. La Mancha came out of his hand. A swear word escaped Ronan’s mouth.

“This shit.”

“what’s the matter?”

Ronan didn’t answer. His gaze still rested on Adeshan’s leg, exactly near his ankle. Suddenly Ronan squatted and grabbed her calf.

“What are you doing?”

“This···!”

Adeshan blushed in embarrassment. She desperately tried to remove Ronan, but he was stuck and motionless as if he had been a cicada.

Something like thin tree roots wrapped around her ankles. The sparkling mana roots were very similar to Dolan’s Auras.

‘Damn it, what happened?’

It was clear that he had manifested himself in the circumstances. It was in the midst of a New Year’s discussion in my head with a deepening question.

Whoa! Suddenly, the space right next to the two of them turned upside down. An old gentleman with a beard walked out with dignity.

“long time no see. Ronan-kun.”

“Hey, Kratir-sama?!”

“I was looking for you. If it’s okay with you… um?”

Adeshan’s eyes widened. It was Krava Kratir, the principal of the Phileon Academy.

Everyone’s attention was on them, but Ronan was concentrating on Adeshan’s ankle either way. Kratir, who saw the two of them belatedly, narrowed his eyebrows.

“…Did this old man interrupt an important moment?”