Chapter 12: Preparation

I made eye contact with Serena, who was doing sit-ups.

A few strands of hair were stuck to her damp forehead.

Honestly, I wouldn’t have been surprised if she was slacking off—but seeing her work this hard made me feel bad for doubting her.

Who would’ve thought something like this would make me feel proud?

“You’re doing great. Keep it up.”
“Hehe. It feels good to sweat again after so long.”

‘After so long,’ huh…

There was no other reason Class 8 was considered the weakest.

[Lazybones, they are.]

Exactly.

They couldn’t be strong if all they did was fool around instead of training.

Before we talk about talent or potential, these kids need to learn diligence. Just like there’s no point arguing about how much water a bowl can hold before it’s even filled.

I don’t plan to blame them for wasting their time. Laziness is part of human nature. People who are diligent are the exceptional ones—these kids are just average.

The defeatism that permeated the class probably didn’t help either.

“In the mornings, we’ll focus on physical training like we’re doing now. In the afternoons, you’ll spar with me to build experience.”

I gathered the kids and explained the new schedule.

As I was wrapping up, Ellie, who had been glancing around nervously, raised her hand hesitantly.

“U-um, about the new team member you mentioned…?”

I had told them I was going out to recruit someone, but returned alone. Of course they’d be curious.

[Shall I go, my liege?]

The cat lounging in my mental space sat up.

‘Stay put.’

Yu Hyesun was going to be marked as missing. She had asked for it herself—she was tired of her sponsor, Crown’s constant surveillance, and the annoying followers who wouldn’t leave her alone.

It wasn’t a bad outcome for me either. If people knew I was close to Hyesun, they might grow unnecessarily wary.

“Unfortunately, she already has a team, so it didn’t work out. More importantly—why don’t we do a practice match? It’ll be a good way to gauge where everyone’s at.”

“Sounds fun! So, how should we split the teams?”

Serena subtly moved to stand by my side. She was radiating the kind of energy that screamed “Pick me to be on your team.” The others also looked at me hopefully.

[Heheh. Popular, aren’t we?]

Not that it really mattered.

“All of you versus me. Let’s go with that.”
“Huh? But…”

Serena glanced sideways at the girl standing awkwardly in the back. Their eyes met, and the Ex-Class Rep, Ariel, gave a sheepish smile.

I knew what she wanted to say.

Even if she didn’t look like much, Ariel ranked 6,200th overall. You’d be hard-pressed to find anyone in the entire dorm with her level of skill.

She was the pride and symbol of Class 8.

Proof that this class wasn’t just a garbage heap. A guardian figure who helped them cling to what little pride they had left.

Even after her status hit rock bottom, the students of Class 8 still had blind faith in her abilities.

And now I was saying I’d take on all five of them, including Ariel?

Maybe I was being a little arrogant.

“Come at me.”

My calm, collected demeanor slowly began to change the air around them.

“…We’ll play nice.”
“Don’t. Go all out. This is a skill test.”

Serena and the others exchanged determined glances.

In an instant, the five of them moved with perfect coordination and surrounded me.

Ariel in front. The rest covering the sides and rear.

Let’s do this.

Just as I was about to activate my Talent, Yu Hyesun, who had been silently observing, made a suggestion.

[My liege. Try not using your Talent in this match.]

‘…Then I’ll probably lose.’

If I lost after saying all that, it’d be so embarrassing I might just throw myself into the nearest river.

[You can use body enhancement, can’t you?]

Ability users could enhance their physical abilities in proportion to their Talent.

Yureon once crushed steel with her bare hands and ran faster than a speeding car.

That kind of raw power was just as impressive and desirable as Talents. So, countless ability users—especially those whose Talents weren’t suited for combat—poured their efforts into mastering physical enhancement.

And most of them failed.

What good are muscles that can swat away every raindrop if your eyes can’t even see all the raindrops falling?

What good are legs that can outrun a car if you don’t have the balance to stay on your feet at that speed?

To use body enhancement freely, you needed innate talent—a natural feel for it.

As for me, I might’ve been gifted at manifesting abilities…

…but when it came to the senses needed for body enhancement, I was painfully average.

[Trust in me, my liege. If it seems hopeless, you can simply use your Talent.]
‘Alright.’

It was a bit out of the blue, but if that’s what she wanted, I’d do it.

“Here I come!”

I remained still, and the kids must’ve taken it as me yielding the first move—they launched their attack.

Ariel charged in, her lower body transformed into flames.
From Serena’s hand, thick wooden vines shot out.

The other three seemed to be hanging back, waiting to observe the situation.

“Hyaaah!”

Ariel was the first to strike, her fist thrusting forward in a clean motion.

As expected from someone ranked in the 6,000s—her fundamentals weren’t bad.
Compared to Yureon, she was like a newborn baby, though.

I dodged lightly.

Right on cue, Serena’s vines aimed for my back.

[Quite the teamwork they’ve got!]

No kidding.
Their coordination was surprisingly sharp—something I never would’ve expected.

Under normal circumstances, that strike would’ve landed.
Then again, under normal circumstances, I would’ve intercepted them from mid-range before they even got close.

“…….”

But strangely, I didn’t feel threatened by their precise combination at all.

I twisted my body instinctively.
By the narrowest margin, the vines just missed me.

Seeing me off-balance, Ariel’s eyes gleamed—like a predator lunging at exposed prey.

‘Too shallow.’

The recoil from twisting my waist turned into rotation as I pivoted my foot.

I spun and aimed a roundhouse kick right at Ariel’s exposed jaw.

“Guh!”

Ariel’s body flew into the air.

I didn’t stop there—I grabbed hold of the vine still extended from Serena.

Then I yanked it with all my strength.

“Huh?”

With the vine still connected, Serena came flying straight toward me.

I was prepared in case she attacked mid-air, but she flew at me helplessly and exposed her neck far too easily.

“Urk!”

Meanwhile, Ariel reverted her lower body back to human form mid-air.

She was trying to use her falling momentum to land a crushing blow on the crown of my head.

Shff.

I leaned slightly, dodging with ease.

As her leg barely grazed past my face, our eyes met.

Her face twisted in shock—she hadn’t expected me to avoid that so easily.

Snap—I reached up and caught her by the neck.

“……Huh?”

It all happened in barely a second.

The entire exchange, start to finish, took no more than five seconds.

The rest of the kids stared with confused expressions as I held both Serena and Ariel, dangling by their necks.

“Eek…”

Their confusion turned to horror.
Then to fear.

Their will to fight shattered in that instant.

‘But I thought I had average physical aptitude?’

My gifts were all centered around Talent.

Even Durek had said so—
The most elite combat instructor in Telon, who had seen countless talents with his own eyes.

But just now, my movements had been reminiscent of Yureon.

[It seems the familiar contract is working as intended.]

With that, the situation became clear.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Familiar contract.

A master and their familiar, connected by soul, share a portion of each other’s stats.

My movements just now were a result of my link with Yu Hyesun.

[It appears roughly 30% of my power has been transferred to you.]

That was only 30%?

I felt like I moved as well as Yureon just now, and yet that was only 30%.

It hit me all over again just how much of a monster Hyesun really was.

[Do not compare close combat with that wench, Yureon. Unlike me, for her, physical enhancement is merely a support skill.]

Just how vast was the gap between me and Yureon?

Thinking about someone that gifted coming after my life sent chills down my spine.

[My liege, you must learn to see yourself objectively. From where I stand, anyone who reaches this level in just a month looks more monstrous than anyone else. I’m sure Yureon thought the same.]

“Mo-Monster…”

Right then, Ellie, who had collapsed to the ground, muttered the word aloud.

She looked like she was about to give up on the fight—but I couldn’t let that happen.

I still wanted to test my close-combat capabilities.

I tossed the two wheezing girls aside and charged at the remaining three.

…And so, the underdogs’ training continued.

The next day.
And the day after that.

I sparred with Yu Hyesun in the private room.
Class 8 sparred with me.

We steadily built our skills.

Time passed like a beam of light…

———————————————————————————————————————————————————————-

-One month…

-Two months…

-And then, five months later—

-At last, we stood on the verge of the Evaluation Match.

“Senpai, what are you watching?”

48th floor of the Hero Association HQ.
PC lounge in Break Room #3.

The senior hero wearing a headset panicked and quickly closed the page.
A sleepy-eyed junior hero peeked over from behind his chair.

“Looked like a video. Just to be sure—don’t tell me you were watching something adult in the holy halls of the Hero Association…” “No! Of course not! Definitely not that!”

Flustered, the man reopened the page.

A plain, pitch-black background with a single embedded video.

“Some kind of livestream?”

The woman scanned the video title with curious eyes.

[Live] D-1, 22nd Evaluation Match | Betting | Three Emperors Top 12

“Evaluation Match? Is that a game? Evaluation… Match… E-va-lu—”
“Ahem.”

“Wait. Evaluation Match?!”

Realizing what it meant, the junior hero let out a high-pitched screech.

“A-are you insane?! I’d rather you were watching p*rn!!” “Whoa, calm down! I’m not the only one watching this!”

“What kind of bulls—”

He nodded subtly to the side.

As the woman turned her head with a creak, she locked eyes with another man—who gave her an awkward grin.

She rushed over and peeked at his screen.

Same page.
Same stream.

Trying to comfort her, the senior hero muttered,

“I’m not placing any bets. Just watching. You never know—these guys could end up our enemies one day. Gotta scout future threats, right?” “Well… yeah…”

That was true.
But still…

“But how are we even able to watch an Evaluation Match? Isn’t that villain territory?” “If you dig through the dark web, nothing’s off-limits.” “I mean… just the fact that it’s being broadcast doesn’t make sense.”

It was practically a livestream exposing the Villain Association’s main forces.

Shouldn’t the villains themselves be shutting it down?

The woman’s thoughts were tangled with confusion.

The man let out a short laugh and revealed something even more absurd.

“They actually encourage it.”

“What?”

“How do you think villains fund themselves? Through robbery or raids?” “Well, yeah… that’s part of it…”

“That’s only a fraction.”

The man gave her the kind of look you’d give a clueless kid.

It stung her pride, but she couldn’t help but press him for details.

“The bulk of their money comes from hacking, smuggling, or gambling. And there’s no gambling event on Earth more extreme and massive than the Evaluation Matches.” “This is insane… this is so f*cked…”

The woman stomped her feet in frustration and turned toward the exit.
The man, now sweating, rushed to grab her arm.

“W-wait, where are you going?” “Where else? I’m reporting this! This is a villain funding operation!”

“You think this is their only source of funds? And besides, these broadcasts are more helpful to us than harmful! Come on—don’t you think there’s value in knowing your future enemies ahead of time?”

That was a solid argument.
Her resolve wavered.

She finally pulled her arm free and gave a reluctant nod.

“Fine. Then I’ll inform the others.”

“…Others?”

“Like you said, right? Heroes need this kind of info. So we should share it.”

“Wh-who exactly are you gonna share it with…?”

With a completely straight face, the woman replied,

“Who else? The top-ranked heroes, of course!”

Ep 3.5 Prep (End)