Chapter 29

“What happened?”

Despite seeing the situation unfold in front of his own eyes, Sung-Ha could hardly believe it.

The residual flame left by the Inferno Ring would normally only explode in response to the explosion trigger, a mana pulse created by the caster. Therefore, it was possible to scatter the ensuing flames like Aria did in the duel, but it was impossible to lose control of the explosions.

But... it was taken away.

The moment Se-Hoon’s hand, wrapped in mana, touched the residual flames, the trajectory of explosions twisted and poured toward him instead.

Sung-Ha’s thought process momentarily halted upon realizing that he had lost control over the Inferno Ring.

Whoosh!

𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

Instinctively, he swung his fist toward Se-Hoon.

Bang!!!

The punch barely grazed Se-Hoon’s nose. If the first strike Se-Hoon had avoided was strong enough to force him to rest for at least four weeks, this one was strong enough to disable him for at least twelve weeks.

This bastard is about to lose himself.

Se-Hoon realized that Sung-Ha was almost no longer capable of rational thought from his eyes.

The most significant reason, among many, that Sung-Ha was called the Mad Dog was the fact that he would relentlessly execute something without regard for the consequences. Once he decided to do something, he would undoubtedly carry it out, regardless of whether it was disadvantageous to him or not.

It was a compulsion bordering on obsession, and the first incident that revealed this trait was the massacre of the Flame Sect.

He wasn’t lying when he told me that he was born this way...

Right now, Se-Hoon had been forced to realize that Sung-Ha’s grumblings, which he had dismissed as nonsense, were true.

He continued to skillfully dodge and deflect the punches thrown at him.

Thwoom! Bang!

He was able to pull this off thanks to the absorption of Lea’s Fatestone, Explosive Fusionite, using Iron Desire. Despite how the situation wasn’t bad for him, he coldly assessed the situation, looking for a solution.

The effect of Iron Desire is almost over... and honestly, my body is almost at its limit.

He believed that someone would interrupt the fight after hearing the sound of the explosion, but if they were even slightly later than expected, he would be hit by Sung-Ha’s punches and would suffer serious injuries.

I guess there’s no other way.

Though reluctant, he had no choice. Se-Hoon decided to give up the chance of forming a bond in favor of utterly destroying Sung-Ha.

Whoosh!

Suddenly, a massive fist wrapped in mana rushed toward Se-Hoon’s face.

Booom!!!

A shock wave swept across the entire surrounding area. Stopping for a moment, Sung-Ha examined the situation before him since someone had stopped his punch which could have crushed Se-Hoon’s head. Frowning, he saw that a blonde student, Jake, had caught his fist with both of his hands.

“Do you know him?” Sung-Ha asked Jake.

“Yes, well... for now...” Jake’s hands trembled as he answered Sung-Ha’s question.

Although he managed to block the attack, he couldn’t completely deflect the force, leading to the numbing of his entire body, starting from his hands.

What was he even thinking...

Jake thought that if he hadn’t intervened, the strike could have caused a serious injury, if not death, in the worst case. While Jake was feeling incredulous due to Se-Hoon’s reckless actions, Sung-Ha just silently looked past him at Se-Hoon.

“...”

Returning his gaze, Se-Hoon looked back at him, his hands still calmly raised in front of his chest, fully prepared to block. His demeanor showed no sign of being daunted, and at the sight, Sung-Ha withdrew his fist.

“Leave.”

“Yes, sir! Let’s go, Se-Hoon!”

Jake eagerly pushed Se-Hoon toward the exit of the park; he had just been waiting for Sung-Ha’s approval. Unable to resist the rough push, Se-Hoon could only turn his head to look back at Sung-Ha.

“Remember my words...”

“Stop talking nonsense and just go...!”

Se-Hoon, pushed by Jake, disappeared out of the clearing without being able to finish his sentence. Now alone, Sung-Ha closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

That was close...

He had actually considered severely injuring Se-Hoon after he took control of the Inferno Ring. Had that happened, the reputation of the Inferno Ring would have plummeted, putting himself and his master in a difficult situation.

Although belatedly, Sung-Ha was relieved that he regained his senses. He carefully recalled his memories right before Jake appeared.

“...”

He had no idea whether he had come back to his senses by his own will, or rather, because he felt an unknown threat. Reflecting on how inscrutable and imprudent Se-Hoon was, he murmured softly, “Lee Se-Hoon...”

After just one meeting, Sung-Ha made sure to remember Se-Hoon’s name. This was truly some significant progression toward their bond.

***

“Why on earth did you pick a fight with that sunbae?” Jake asked, mystified.

“I didn’t pick a fight with him. I just said one thing to him,” answered Se-Hoon calmly.

“... You do realize you could have died if you had messed up even once earlier, right?!”

Se-Hoon chuckled at Jake’s exaggerated concern.

“I could have died? At most, I would have just rolled across the ground a few times.”

“What?”

Sung-Ha’s Inferno Ring required delicate control of mana despite its explosive ability. Even though the punch Sung-Ha threw seemed deadly, he could have just released mana in the reverse direction to adjust the force as needed.

The last punch wasn’t meant to finish me off; he was just trying to knock me down.

Having spent an ample amount of time with Sung-Ha, Se-Hoon could immediately tell. That was why Se-Hoon had also stopped quickly before he exerted all the force he could.

He’s definitely softer than he was back then.

If it was the Mad Dog version of Sung-Ha, one of them might have ended up seriously injured. Se-Hoon smirked as he recalled the past.

[A bond has been successfully established with the subject ‘Yeom Sung-Ha’.]

There it is.

He calmly accepted the system notification that appeared before him.

It would have been strange if a bond

hadn’t

formed after that whole commotion. Everything up to now had been expected, so he started pondering the next issue at hand.

How should I extract this bond and increase the level?

Although he knew Sung-Ha well, strictly speaking, he was only familiar with Mad Dog Yeom Sung-Ha. Even if it was the same person, the different experiences he had gone through could have led to significant alterations in his personality.

The sight of Sung-Ha’s softer side made this especially clear; Se-Hoon couldn’t believe that Sung-Ha was the same person he once knew.

I might need to adjust my method a bit...

The effects of the Fatestone could have changed a bit as well. However, since his innate qualities wouldn’t be much different, Se-Hoon wasn’t too worried about it.

Well, I should think about that later...

After roughly sorting out his thoughts on Sung-Ha, he turned to look at Jake, who was standing puzzled by his side.

This guy is also quite something.

Without a moment of hesitation, Jake stepped in and blocked the attack without budging even an inch. The feat was quite impressive considering he was still a first-year and hadn’t even entered a Tower of Heroes.

He’s definitely going to be useful...

He reevaluated Jake’s worth and then looked down at Jake’s hands, which had blocked the attack.

“Are your hands okay?”

“Ah, they’re fine. My hands are tougher than other parts of my body.”

Jake flexed his hands to show they were alright. Besides the fact that they were slightly red, they were without any visible injury.

Tough hands, huh...

Se-Hoon mentally noted Jake’s characteristics and considered various ways he could make use of them.

“By the way, did you say anything weird while watching the duel in the arena?” Jake suddenly asked, changing the subject after remembering why he had come to find Se-Hoon in the first place.

“Anything weird?”

“Yeah. Like, did you say anything bad about... my sister?”

“By sister... you mean Aria Myers?”

At Se-Hoon’s question, Jake nodded.

“Yes. Did you say anything about her?”

“Well... I don’t think I said anything much.”

“Really? Then why did she...”

“All I said was that I don’t really like people like her because they’re so full of themselves.”

“...”

For a moment, Jake stared blankly at Se-Hoon’s response, and then sighed deeply.

“Maybe I should have warned you...” Jake murmured, stressed out. He looked at Se-Hoon wearily.

“You should be a bit more careful from now on. It seems like my sister has taken an interest in you.”

“In... me?”

“Yeah. She must have heard what you said in the arena.”

“...”

Se-Hoon reacted to Jake’s explanation incredulously. The fact that she could hear his voice accurately from hundreds of meters away in the arena, and amidst all the cheering and talking of all the students in the noisy stadium too, was absurd. At that level, it wasn’t a matter of good hearing anymore; it was a supernatural level of perception.

They do say she’s already at a level comparable to A-rank heroes... but even considering that, she’s a monster.

She had an unbelievable level of skill, fitting of a future top-tier hero. Realizing that he had inadvertently declared war on Aria, he thought for a moment before responding nonchalantly, “Oh well. What’s the harm in a little interest?”

“It’s not something you should take lightly. She’s actually...”

“Narrow-minded and sinister?”

At Se-Hoon’s probing response, Jake flinched as if he had been struck and immediately scanned the surroundings with a tense expression. His reaction served as silent affirmation of Se-Hoon’s question.

Se-Hoon chuckled and patted him on the shoulder.

“Don’t worry. She wouldn’t go as far as hiring someone to beat me up, right?”

“Well, she definitely won’t go that far, but your campus life might get a bit more difficult...”

“That’s fine. It’s what I wanted, actually.”

From what he had observed, Sung-Ha’s primary concern seemed to be winning against Aria. Thus, attracting the attention of his rival would naturally boost his presence. This would make it much easier to make Sung-Ha behave better.

“Why do you dislike my sister so much, anyway?” Jake asked, puzzled by Se-Hoon’s attitude.

Most of the time, blacksmiths crave for their equipment to be used by Aria. Se-Hoon, on the other hand, seemed to harbor some form of animosity toward her.

Jake’s questioning gaze made Se-Hoon recall a memory from the past.

“This sword is also nothing special.”

Her voice was saturated with boredom, and her gaze was filled with disdain. She then walked toward the legion of demons without hesitation. After that, one of the champions at the forefront of humanity, the Holy Swordsman, vanished.

“Well.”

What came after her disappearance was the Harbinger of Destruction, who was able to forge weapons from the remnants of fallen Harbingers.

“Her face doesn’t sit well with me.”

Though it was an event of the far future, he had already experienced it before the regression. Thus, he wasn’t able to look at that psychopathic narcissist without bias.

“I’m leaving.”

Se-Hoon ended the conversation and walked away, leaving Jake with a complicated expression.

Jake had assumed that there was some unknown history between them or that Se-Hoon genuinely judged people by their faces. Whatever the reason was, it was clear that they surely wouldn’t get along well.

“What the heck...”

Buzz-

Feeling the vibration in his pocket, he took out his phone and read the text.

Aria: Seems like you’ve made an interesting friend. Keep me posted on everything.

It seemed she was going to use him as a go-between in the future. Jake sighed deeply as his gaze fell on the second message that was sent.

Aria: This narrow-minded and sinister sister would like to ask for a favor. ^^

“Ah.”

It dawned on Jake that he might have gotten himself into bigger trouble than Se-Hoon did.

***

On Monday morning, Se-Hoon stepped out of the dormitory and furrowed his brow due to the sensations all over his body.

Guess I overdid it...

The current state of his body was the side effect of combining Explosive Fusionite and Iron Desire to enhance it. All around his body, he felt as if it were being torn apart piece by piece. Thankfully, Soul Honing made the pain bearable, but without it, his body would have already burst somewhere.

I can’t believe I haven’t recovered even after resting for a whole day.

Iron Desire had consumed Explosive Fusionite too fast, and the backlash was too severe. Deciding to use Iron Desire judiciously in the future, he arrived at the classroom.

“Whew...”

He slowly scanned the interior of the classroom after sitting down. A week had passed, and everyone seemed to have gotten somewhat used to each other. They were all chatting normally, though some flinched upon meeting his gaze.

“T-the exchange me-meeting is s-soon going t-to happen."

Hans, in particular, twitched and stuttered every time their eyes met. Perhaps Hans was more sensitive to Se-Hoon’s gaze, as he was the second-ranking student at the end of the day.

Interesting.

Se-Hoon smirked, deciding to tease Hans for a bit with his gaze, but then the classroom door banged open.

Rattle- Rattle-

A short, stocky professor entered on top of a cart golem. His striking entrance easily captured everyone’s attention.

Seeing the astonishment of the students at his entrance, he tapped the board behind him and shouted, “Pay attention!”

His voice was loud and boomed across the room; it was surprising given his small stature.

The students straightened up at his command, and the professor crossed his arms.

“For the next two weeks, I’ll be teaching the Metallurgy class. The subject I’ll be focusing on is Attribute Forging.”

Metallurgy, a compulsory major course, rotated professors throughout the first semester to expose students to various fields. It was a way of identifying their potential in more specific majors for the second semester.

“Some of you might think that you can just breeze through the basics. Feel free to think that way, and I’ll also freely give you failing grades.”

Lis, the cart-mounted professor, issued them a warning which made all of the students tense up. He was well-known in the Department of Blacksmithing, notably for once grabbing a student who relied on his family’s name and smashing his ribs with a hammer after throwing him on an anvil.

“I’m avoiding him to stay away from trouble. Remember that.”

“Ever seen anyone with more pride than a lion?”

“If you don’t want to be bitten, stay away.”

The students adjusted their postures once again after remembering the advice of their sunbaes. Se-Hoon gauged the atmosphere and smiled subtly.

He seems like a good professor.

Satisfied, Lis sat down on the cart and continued, “Before we start the lesson, let’s go over the evaluations of your project submissions from last week and distribute the budget accordingly for this semester.”

It was their first budget since entering Babel, and since the money could be used for personal expenses without much restriction, all of the students looked forward to it with anticipation.

“Come up when I call out your name.”

As Lis called out each name and handed out evaluation papers, the reactions varied between joy and dismay. As the process went on, everyone’s attention gradually focused on one person.

How much will he get?

It’ll probably be three times mine.

Having forged an overwhelmingly superior weapon, not to mention causing several disturbances since his enrollment, the budget amount was especially anticipated.

As everyone looked on with bated breath, “Lastly... Lee Se-Hoon.”

“Yes.”

“Your budget hasn’t been determined yet.”

The unexpected announcement surprised the cadets.

Then, with a displeased expression, Lis added, “Due to the overwhelming quality of your submission, it’s been decided that it will be included it in a public auction with the pieces of the second-year students this Wednesday. Your budget will be determined based on the auction price, so you need to wait until then.”

From Lis’s explanation and expression, Se-Hoon was roughly able to understand the situation.

Pulling mine aside like this... are they plotting something again?

If it was orchestrated by Michael, it could potentially be unfavorable to Se-Hoon. However, Se-Hoon decided it wasn’t worth worrying over. If it was a serious problem, In-Cheol would have intervened.

And... it might be an interesting scene to see.

“Understood.” He nodded calmly with a slight smile.

Lis became displeased at Se-Hoon’s unworried demeanor.

Does he not care enough to question it? Or does he think there is something good about this...

Lis had been prepared to object to In-Cheol’s decision if Se-Hoon had raised any objections, but it seemed that there had been no need. Sighing deeply, he changed the subject.

“Ok, now, back to the lesson... today, we’ll start with applying fire mana to the forging process. Specifically, we’ll learn how to handle residual mana so that the equipment’s durability doesn’t suffer.”

Se-Hoon’s interest was piqued at the mention of fire and residual mana, a combination that immediately reminded him of Yeom Sung-Ha.

This is quite timely.

He had been wanting to refine his basics before obtaining Sung-Ha’s Fatestone.

“And we also have a volunteer student that will assist with today’s lesson on residual mana.”

“A student?”

“Who is it?"

While everyone wondered who it could be, Se-Hoon had an inkling of what was going on and instinctively looked toward the classroom door.

“Come on in.”

The door slid open, and Sung-Ha entered with a stoic face, just like the appearance Se-Hoon had seen over the weekend.