Merlin’s gaze was pstered onto his phone, his head filled with thoughts as to how Janeth was faring back in camp, as well as how splendid her dispy had been in their battle against the Ice Wyverns.

  He had not talked to her since then, his phone having been damaged, and now he was thinking it would be awkward if he just randomly checked in. That was also considering the fact that she had gotten into trouble because he had asked her out on a date.

  He clicked his tongue, infuriated, as he scratched his head.

  “Am I boring you?” a soft voice came from the other side of the table. Merlin looked up, meeting Park Yuri’s quiet green eyes. “I’ve not even started speaking yet.”

  He shook his head immediately, dropping his phone on the table instinctively as he waved his hands. “Oh, sorry. It’s not that. I was just—”

  “It’s fine. I was teasing you.”

  Merlin bnked; she’d said that with such a straight face that he couldn’t help but be taken aback. What a cold way to make a joke. He sighed.

  “So? What is it you want to talk about?” Merlin asked, deciding to focus on the whole reason why Park Yuri had dragged him out of his room this evening.

  He had been sore after their fight, hoping to kick back and rest as soon as he’d gotten to the dorm, but she had surprisingly found his number through some arcane means.

  Anyway, it didn’t matter how they came to be seated in a cafe opposite each other; he was so tired he just wanted to rest, so it was better if they got over things quickly.

  Thankfully, Park Yuri shared his sentiment.

  “I’ll get straight to the point,” she began. Merlin swallowed, his anticipation peaking as she said that. “I want you to help with my training.”

  A gasp escaped Merlin. He blinked as he arched his brows. Park Yuri grimaced and he snapped himself back, ridding his face of the dazed look that had been etched onto it.

  “I’m sorry,” he started. “It’s just…I don’t understand. I should help with your training? Did I hear you correctly?”

  Park Yuri didn’t hesitate to nod. “You did. I want your help.”

  “Why?”

  “Why?” She tilted her head. “I don’t understand.”

  That’s my line…

  “I’m asking why you need my help with your training when you just absolutely manhandled me earlier?” Merlin was genuinely curious now. Was she out of her mind, or was she just kind of slow?

  “Manhandled?” Park Yuri seemed lost. “I did that?”

  Okay… She was just slow.

  Merlin cleared his throat. “I think you’re misunderstanding something here.” The cups of coffee they had ordered arrived then; Merlin thanked the waiter with a nod and immediately turned his attention back to Park Yuri. “Look, I was not holding back in our fight. I don’t get why you think that. You’re stronger than me. Way stronger. If anyone is to be training the other, it’s you to me.”

  And Merlin would honestly love that. If he dueled with Park Yuri time and time again, he would get a lot stronger. The problem was in how the duels would turn out if she kept blowing his actual capabilities out of the water. For instance, she could go all out and bst him with those fire roses of hers. If possible, he wanted to escape being turned into scorched cake.

  Park Yuri’s forehead wrinkled. She stared into her cup of coffee, then back at Merlin.

  “But,” she said, “you kept pulling new tricks out of your bag, so I thought you weren’t being serious.”

  Oh… Merlin jerked back slightly, his eyes widening. It was his fault after all. But what could he do? He always tried his best to win.

  He chuckled. “Haha… I understand. But I hope I’ve cleared that now?”

  Park Yuri nodded.

  “Still,” she went on. “I would like it if you assisted me.”

  Merlin grimaced, picked up his cup of coffee, and took a sip. His throat had gotten abnormally parched from their conversation.

  “I don’t get it,” he said.

  “I’ll expin,” Park Yuri bobbed her head. “You use anti-magic and I’m a Mage. It’s only normal that training with you is going to end up boosting my abilities,” she said. Merlin nodded. That much was obvious, but that wasn’t the essence of his question. “Yes, I understand that I’m probably still a bit stronger than you.” It wasn’t a bit, but Merlin didn’t interrupt. “However, I have this feeling that you’re going to get stronger, far stronger than the rest of us. You just, well, give me that uneasy vibe.”

  Uhm… Was that a good thing? And how long had he been giving off this vibe to her? Was that why she was staring at him back at the library like she wanted to gouge out his eyes?

  Merlin sighed. It seemed what he thought about the whole thing didn’t matter. Park Yuri was hellbent on training with him, and he honestly had no reason not to—that was besides being scorched, of course, but he would be optimistic. And, furthermore, this was a chance for him to finally scratch off one of the things he’d had on his bucket list for a while now.

  “Alright,” he said. Park Yuri’s eyebrows twitched upwards. That was the height of the emotions she had dispyed ever since he’d come across her. “I’ll do it; but on one condition.”

  Her emotions further intensified with a series of blinks. “A condition?”

  Merlin nodded. “You were not expecting me to risk my life for free, were you?”

  “Well, technically, you won’t be risking your life since it’ll all be a simution, and—”

  “Uh-uh…” Merlin shook his head. “Even in a simution anything can go wrong. Remember that the injuries only disappear when one leaves the simution. Have you considered what happens when one is struck with a blow that will kill them? It’s simple, really. They’ll die. With how strong your fmes are, that’s a possibility.”

  Merlin was not just speaking without any reasoning, he’d thought about the possible ways the simutions worked. From what he’d been able to glean from his experience, the residue of the pain inflicted within the simution always remained even if the injury disappeared, which meant that the pain was always registered. It was normal for people to die from shock, so the likelihood of one dying in the simution simply because their brain had registered the pain of dying was very possible. So, if he was to take that risk, then he had to earn his keep.

  Park Yuri stared at him like she didn’t understand what he was talking about. He blinked.

  “Do you need me to expin?”

  She raised her hand. “No. I get it.” She sighed. “What’s your condition.”

  Merlin smiled. “A bow and arrows,” he said. “I’d like ones specially made for me.”

  Park Yuri surprised Merlin by doing the impossible; she flinched, frowned, and blinked several times. Now, that was better suited to represent her height of emotions dispyed.

  “What are you saying?” she blurted. “You know the Academy doesn’t allow students to wield weapons.”

  She’d guessed that, because it was possible that he hadn’t known. However, that didn’t matter.

  “That’s why I’m asking you to get it for me, and not the headmaster,” Merlin said.

  “That… That doesn’t make it any better.”

  “It does.”

  “How come?”

  “Can you get them for me or not?” Merlin made sure the conversation didn’t take a sharp turn in another direction.

  “What do you need them for?” Park Yuri asked. “I won’t associate myself with a murderer, just so you know.”

  Merlin frowned. “Why would I be a murderer? Tch. Just… Get me the bow and arrows, okay? I need them, and I promise it’s not for any horrific thoughts that might be swirling about in your head.”

  Park Yuri paused, then clicked her tongue. “Alright. Do you have certain specifications in mind?”

  Merlin blinked. He had none, obviously. He had never touched a bow in his life, and the only reason why he was even considering dabbling in archery now was because he had finally grown past his childish phase of demeaning the Warrior path—the reason quite apparent—and he really needed a way to attack without having to put his body on the line. With archery, he could stay a safe distance away and fire mana-infused arrows at his opponents, like he had done against the Necromancer back during the Dungeon raid exam. It would make him a versatile opponent in battle, and the sooner he started to learn, the better.

  Park Yuri seemed to be rather quick on the uptake with his silence. She nodded. “I understand. I have a question, though.”

  “What is it?”

  “Why are you asking me to get you a bow and arrows? I’m just a student like you.”

  Merlin almost scoffed. Again, she had said that with a straight face. He settled for raising his brows instead.

  “You’re the granddaughter of the Guildmaster of the Silver Dragon guild, and the daughter of one of the greatest S-Css Mages,” Merlin replied. “Do you still need me to expin why I asked you?”

  She sighed. “No. I understand. I’ll get it to you as soon as I can.”

  Merlin would have liked a date, but beggars couldn’t be choosers, even though, technically, he wasn’t.

  “Let’s set up our training schedule then.”

  ###

  Merlin huffed as he completed his st bench press set for the night and sat upright. Sweat trickled down his forehead, soaked his chest, and gave him a sense of euphoria. He remained seated for a brief moment to catch his breath, then he pulled up his progress.

  [Progress to leveling up Strength: 83.75%/100%]

  [Progress to leveling up Agility: 99%/100%]

  [Progress to leveling up Intelligence: 26%/100%]

  [Progress to leveling up Perception: 4.5%/100%]

  [Progress to leveling up Resilience: 68%/100%]

  [Free Attribute Points received: 7]

  Merlin scoffed. He had bench-pressed sixty kilogram weights for an hour, of course split into sets, and yet his growth was abysmal. His Strength and Resilience had only moved up by one-point-five percent each and he had only received two free Attribute Points.

  But at least his Agility was knocking on the door to a level up. A simple run on the treadmill would achieve that for him, but he was so tired, so he settled on using his free Attribute Points to push past that threshold.

  Assign two Attribute Points to Agility and five to Intelligence…

  Merlin smiled as his body tingled with the sensation that came with him leveling up an Attribute, reminiscing about how his life had changed in more ways than one a few months back.

  [Progress to leveling up Agility: 99%/100%] → [0%/100%][Progress to leveling up Intelligence: 26%/100%] → [28.5%/100%]

  [Agility has leveled up!]

  [Agility Level 16 → Level 17]

  Merlin pushed the notification away as soon as he was done and moved on to his next agenda.

  Now that he had successfully pced an order for a weapon, he had to make certain that he was up to par with the way he channeled his mana to make sure he did not waste a good material once it arrives.

  He had been falling into trances every night whenever he was not beat as a means to attune better with his mana. The progress was visible, but it was still cking. After all, he had a feeling that when he could control his mana better, he would be able to employ it into doing a lot of absurd things. And that was because he was already doing crazy things with it, like his [Mana Whip] and [Mana Spring].

  I wonder why my mana is so different, though. The things I do, I doubt other Mages can do the same. Is this all because of the System, or does being a Deficient Mage share a hand? He clicked his tongue. Too much thinking. Practice instead.

  Merlin closed his eyes and plunged himself into a trance. He felt his body lighten, and the bench beneath his buttocks disappear. Then he fell into a sea, warm and familiar. It was the stream of consciousness deep within himself.

  Merlin let himself flow into the line of path of his mana, like he always did. As always, it was rather violent at his entrance, crashing and seemingly trying to cim ownership over his own body. It was like a battle between two consciousnesses that made up one body. This made it hard for him to truly understand his mana and attune with it to a greater degree.

  But Merlin didn’t give up. He pushed through, remaining in its midst for as long as he could; however, his consciousness was not meant to be split apart from his body for too long. And, like he had been jolted awake in the middle of a dream, he snapped back to life with a gasp.

  Tsk… Learnt nothing new this time. Expins the ck of a pop-up from the System stating my progress. He gnced down at his palms and frowned. What am I missing here?

  “It’s te, Master Merlin,” Eun-Wol said from behind, her cold tone startling Merlin from his thoughts and forcing him up from the bench.

  He turned around to see her standing at the door, one hand pced daintily over the other just slightly below her navel.

  How long had she been there?

  “Miss Eun-Wol,” Merlin greeted. “Sorry, I kind of lost track of time.”

  “Just Eun-Wol is fine, Master Merlin,” she replied and Merlin’s eyes twitched. He wanted to reply to her with the same thing regarding him being called ‘master’, but he kept quiet on that part. “If you don’t mind me prying,” she continued. “What were you doing?”

  Merlin blinked. “Huh?” Then he recalled that he had fallen into a trance; to anyone watching it would look like he was half asleep, or, perhaps, meditating. He decided not to lie. “Ah… I was kind of trying to, how do I put this, attune with my mana.” He noticed Eun-Wol’s brows jump up slightly. The cold maid had broken character for a moment there. Merlin went on, “Well, I really don’t know what I’m doing, but—”

  “How do you feel whenever you do that?” Eun-Wol cut in.

  Merlin pursed his lips. “Hmmm… Slightly nauseous? My mana is always so chaotic that it's disorienting. I barely manage to keep myself together after the whole process of feeling for it.”

  Eun-Wol blinked. “That’s because you’re doing it wrong.”

  Merlin had a dazed look. “Huh?”

  “It’s already remarkable that you’re able to feel for your mana, because, after all, attunement is a second year course here at Prestige Academy,” Eun-Wol said, startling Merlin and filling him with a sudden sense of achievement. She was basically saying that he and Nora had already taken a step into the curriculum of the second years at Prestige Academy, which was superb. “However, if you keep going at it in the same way as you currently are, you’ll only end up hurting yourself.”

  Merlin gulped. “What do you mean?”

  “If you keep testing the patience of your mana by willingly entering into a battle with it, one of these days, it will win. And you won’t like the outcome. It’s very bizarre, if I’m being honest.”

  Well, Merlin didn’t like the sound of that. But he liked the way the conversation was headed. He’d already had an inkling that Eun-Wol was not your run-of-the-mill Mage, but she was proving it now. For one, she seemed to be a far better teacher than Professor Jung. Which was why Merlin didn’t hesitate.

  “How do I win over it then?” he said.

  Eun-Wol paused. “It’s simple. Don’t focus on the structure of your mana as a whole, but its molecules and how they are bonded.”

  Huh? Merlin’s expression bnked. What about that was simple.

  But he didn’t compin and decided to figure it out on his own. However, when he looked at his palms and tried to begin the process, he was stopped.

  “Surely, you’re not pnning on doing that here and now, Master Merlin, are you?” Eun-Wol said and Merlin froze. “Please, head back to your dorm.” She turned around then paused. “Also, about coming to use the headmaster’s gym te at night, please don’t let that repeat itself. I like my sleep—a lot.”

  Merlin’s lips twitched. “I’m sorry.”