Chapter 11
The dueling arena became as silent as a tomb.
Everyone had expected the match to be decided within one or two exchanges.
But no one had predicted that Kain would be the victor of that exchange.
'What on earth just happened?'
'What did I just see?'
'Bolio lost...? Really?'
Among them was a disciple who had witnessed Kain's magic demonstration in front of the clan head yesterday.
The magic Kain had shown then was neat and clean, but it hadn't felt particularly strong.
But now, Kain had used that clean magic to perfectly pierce through Bolio's magic, which boasted an overwhelming amount of mana.
'Did Bolio not go all out? No, it didn't look that way.'
'The mana I felt from Bolio's magic was definitely enormous.'
'There's no way I could have broken through that.'
'How did he do it?'
They say you only see as much as you know.
The disciples were in confusion, but the instructor, Rowen, was observing Kain with intrigued eyes.
'Indeed... there was a reason why the Lord sent him straight to the second floor.'
At least in the duel just now, Kain's magic and combat sense were nearly perfect.
'First of all, his magic itself is incredibly refined.'
Not only Bolio but most disciples focused on increasing the size and firepower when training in fire magic.
'And it's not like that's a wrong method.'
If someone with average talent tried to train all magic under perfect control from the lower circles, their skill improvement speed would inevitably be very slow.
'Because the enlightenment gained from suffering for a long time in the lower circles is often obtained effortlessly once they rise to the higher circles.'
This isn't just a story about magic.
No matter what you learn, once you become proficient in more difficult and higher-dimensional tasks, the tasks below naturally become easier.
To quickly improve one's fire magic skills, the standard method is to first increase firepower and then eliminate unnecessary parts as if pruning branches.
'No, there are even people who reach the 7th Circle with just firepower without pruning at all, and are soon looking towards the 8th Circle.'
Richter Bederman, the current head of the Bederman clan who supported the declining Siers clan and allowed them to maintain their lineage, was such a case.
But Kain's magic had the exact opposite direction.
Despite being in a lower circle, it was free of unnecessary elements, and he perfectly controlled his movements.
Moreover, what about his sense for practical combat?
'Instead of pouring all his mana from the start to complete his magic and then clashing with the opponent's full power, he first visually confirmed the opponent's magic and then optimized his own magic accordingly.'
Kain had waited until Bolio had fully completed all his large Fire Balls, gathering only mana without fully forming the spell.
And after grasping the structure and weaknesses of the opponent's magic, he completed his spell accordingly.
'To instantly twist the flow of mana inside the Fire Ball with the rotation of the Fire Needles...'
And what about the Fire Arrow?
Bolio's Fire Arrow looked plausible in form, but crucially, the power wasn't well concentrated at the arrowhead and was dispersed.
Kain used that to further concentrate mana on his arrowhead and completely split Bolio's Fire Arrow head-on.
'If the angle had been off even slightly, Kain's Fire Arrow would have also been caught in the flames of the arrow's body.'
Because he had pierced it head-on without a single millimeter of error, he could minimize mana friction, cleanly split Bolio's magic, and continue forward until the end.
'Truly, it's hard to believe if you hadn't seen it yourself.'
To show this level of combat, one must either have heaven-sent talent or experience from numerous battles, or both.
The latter wasn't the case, so in Kain's case, he must have been born with tremendous talent.
'To have such talent and yet not learn fire magic until now...'
How much of this talent had he been wasting all this time?
If Kain had learned fire magic from a younger age...
'...That's a meaningless hypothetical.'
Judging from his conversation with the clan head when he visited the Lord's residence before, Blake Siers probably knew that Kain originally had talent.
'That's why he could issue that ultimatum of an official declaration.'
Even so, the question of why Kain only learned fire magic now still remained...
'There must be a reason why the Lord hasn't told me.'
Anyway, rather than regretting what had happened so far, it would be better to think that it was fortunate that Kain had changed his mind and started learning fire magic now.
'It's not certain exactly when he formed his circle, but...'
If he's already this good, there's no choice but to have high expectations for his future growth.
'And the guys here seem to have been stimulated by watching Kain.'
Rowen scanned the expressions of the disciples surrounding the dueling arena.
Some disciples were simply surprised by Kain's victory, but several others clenched their fists as if making a resolution.
And they looked at Kain with challenging eyes.
'Good.'
The corners of Rowen's lips curled up slightly.
"...I lost."
Bolio, who had squatted down with his eyes tightly closed, regained his senses and walked towards the center.
Then, he extended his hand.
"And I apologize for my rudeness earlier. You are more than qualified to be on the second floor. No, it's laughable for me to even question your qualifications."
Kain surprisingly and readily extended his hand in return.
"Knowing that is enough."
"......"
Bolio grasped Kain's hand with a slightly strange expression.
Soon releasing his hand, Bolio turned and walked towards the edge of the field.
'That's the second time already. Being overtaken by a direct line member.'
A bitter smile touched his lips.
'In the end, initiated disciples can't compare to the direct line, huh.'
He had diligently trained until now, believing that initiated disciples could reach high levels, surpassing the direct line if they only put in the effort.
He had wanted to become a more outstanding initiated disciple than the direct line members who received various privileges and favoritism.
But it seemed that he couldn't compete with those who had inherited the direct lineage's blood and talent after all.
"Not bad."
And then, Bolio turned his head at the voice that came from behind him.
Kain was looking straight at Bolio.
There was something different from his earlier blank expression.
"For Fire Ball, even if you reduce the number, focus on maintaining the overall flow of mana until the end. And for Fire Arrow, pay attention to the mana density at the arrowhead, especially the very tip."
Kain spoke slowly and clearly.
"Since you have clear strengths, you'll see good results if you train while paying attention to just a few things."
Having finished speaking, Kain turned and left the field without waiting for an answer.
Bolio stared blankly at his retreating figure.
And muttered.
"...Thanks."
***
'He's not a completely hopeless guy.'
That was Kain's honest assessment of Bolio.
He had thought that Bolio would be terrible at his skills and would whine and refuse to admit defeat even after losing, but this time, he had been wrong.
'His maximum mana capacity is quite high, and the circulation speed at which he draws new mana from his dantian even after using it is also fast.'
However, he had focused too much on firepower, so his efficiency was poor compared to his mana reserves, and there were many weaknesses in his flow.
If he corrected those shortcomings, he would not only advance to the 3rd Circle in the near future but also accelerate his growth.
'Though it depends on what he himself does.'
In fact, the points Kain had made were things that anyone with good observation skills could point out.
'It's impossible to teach him in more detail than this. Unfortunately, I don't have the talent for teaching.'
If he learned from this duel through his own experience and tried to correct himself, he would grow; if not, he would hit a wall.
Kain decided not to worry anymore about a problem that was out of his hands.
"Kain, that was a good duel. You used your mana very efficiently."
Kain bowed his head at Rowen's evaluation.
"Thank you."
"So, since you used it so efficiently and probably have a lot of mana left, how about doing some more duels?"
"...Excuse me?"
Rowen smiled and said.
"Just duel once each with the people here who volunteer to have a mock duel with you."
"Do I really have to do that...?"
"I'll give an additional 1 evaluation point per person."
"I will gladly do it."
"Good."
To advance to the next floor, one had to pass a test, but the accumulated evaluation points also had to exceed a certain level.
For Kain, who had newly entered the second floor at an awkward time, this opportunity to make up for evaluation points was welcome.
'Rowen, was it? He's planning to have me duel to quickly build up the experience of the second-floor disciples.'
It was to give Kain a merit and to give other disciples a chance to duel with Kain.
Soon, one by one, disciples who wanted to challenge Kain came forward and stood on the field.
"Begin the duel!"
The first opponent was Matthew, who had been next to Bolio.
He was strong in simultaneously manipulating multiple Fire Needles like his own limbs.
'If I win against Kain here, I'll surpass Bolio in one go. Plus, I'll get points from the instructor. Heh heh.'
He boldly summoned the maximum number of Fire Needles he could handle.
"Fire Needle."
"Fire Needle."
But Kain summoned exactly one more Fire Needle than the number Matthew had summoned.
After simultaneously controlling the Fire Needles to mark each one, he sent the remaining one flying towards Matthew's forehead.
"End of duel! Kain wins."
"Damn it...!"
The next to come out, Bryer, had a special skill in summoning and launching Fire Balls from multiple angles.
"Hahaha! Behind you, Kain!"
As Bryer, sensing victory, shouted,
"Gah!"
Bryer groaned and sat down as a Fire Ball struck his back first.
"End of duel. Kain wins."
The turn immediately moved to the next person.
"Kain, I've been watching you during the previous duels. You always wait until you see the opponent's magic to the end before preparing a counter. If that's the case, I have a method. I won't cast any magic until you attack first..."
"Fire Arrow."
"Gah!"
"End of duel. Kain wins."
Rowen's voice, announcing Kain's victory, rang out as usual.
Several disciples came up as the turn changed, but most of them couldn't withstand even a single exchange and were knocked out.
"End of duel. Kain wins!"
"End of duel. Kain wins!"
"Instructor, I haven't even started yet?"
"Oh, sorry. Begin the duel!"
"Gah!"
"......"
After dueling with all the volunteers, Kain was able to step off the field.
"Good job, Kain. I'll calculate your points right away."
"Thank you."
With this, Kain had secured a good amount of evaluation points, and there would be no more disputes about him immediately entering the second floor.
Because everyone who could cause trouble had been defeated by Kain in this duel.
"That's it for the morning duel training. We'll have the theory training we missed this morning after lunch, so be sure to attend."
"Yes!"
"Yep!"
Lunchtime.
Fortunately, the lunchbox that Alice had packed was in the training room.
As he was about to return to the training room, he heard familiar voices.
"Kain!"
"Kain!!"
"It's you guys..."
It was the twin brothers, Edward and Fohn.
"Actually, there was something I wanted to ask you."
"Huh?"
"W-what do you want to ask?"
"Why did you defend me in the training room?"
-Phew, are you going to pretend not to hear again? Tch, keep living like that and you'll really get expelled! You loser!
-We don't know anything anymore!
"Didn't you call me a loser and curse my expulsion a month ago?"
The twin brother’s eyes widened at those words.
"Hey, when did we ever say that!"
"A month ago."
"No, that time... we were trying to teach you magic, but you kept ignoring us, so we got angry..."
Kain tilted his head at those words.
They were trying to teach him magic?
'Since I don't remember, was that perhaps before I regained my memories of my past life?'
Edward and Fohn quickly added when they saw Kain's lukewarm reaction.
"The expulsion... we didn't mean that seriously! Really."
"Y-yeah. Believe us."
"I believe you."
"Really?"
Misunderstanding just from the surface of words was Kain's specialty even in his previous life.
So, if someone said it was a misunderstanding, he tended to accept it unless there were signs of lying.
Edward and Fohn's expressions brightened as soon as Kain believed them.
They hesitated a bit and then spoke as if they had made up their minds.
"Kain. Thanks for earlier. For stepping in and fighting for us."
"Th-thank you."
Kain answered honestly.
"If you hadn't stepped in, it would have been easily resolved on the spot."
"Gasp!"
"Was that how it was? Sorry!"
"Still, it was well-intentioned, and the result wasn't bad. I wanted to express my gratitude."
In any case, they had spoken up with good intentions when Kain was being unfairly challenged.
Although it was unnecessary meddling, it ultimately set the atmosphere and earned him quite a few evaluation points.
The twin brothers' expressions brightened at Kain's words of thanks.
"But why didn't you two apply for a duel with me?"
At those words, the twin brother’s expressions changed to something akin to being caught red-handed.
"W-well, that's..."
"Because we can't win anyways..."
"And... we didn't want to fight you."
Kain sighed softly.
"A duel isn't a fight. If you want to improve your skills, it would be better not to avoid duels in the future."
"Okay..."
"Ah, I won't avoid them..."
The twin brothers looked dejected, as if they had been scolded.
But soon, they spoke again with bright expressions.
"Kain, are you going to eat lunch?"
"I should."
"Then let's eat together!"
"What?"
Words he had never once heard from their mouths during his time in the main building in his previous life came out of them.
