Practice Opponent

Time passed quickly.

Always attending classes with the kids, handling the professor’s assignments and pop quizzes splendidly, the short second semester came to an end.

―Cadet Yu Seha, make sure to take the sesame-leaf mint durian-flavored candy after this.

―Yu Seha~ look this way~ oh how good~ whose child are you to listen so well?

―Yu Seha. For the time being, I won’t give you a butcher’s knife. I’ll grade all class evaluations based on how well you assist Miss Mahana beside you. What? You want a fair grade? No. What knife for the kids?

―Yu Seha, class evaluation will be based on how soft and chewy your cheeks are.

“…”

There were years’ worth of embarrassments and shames he couldn’t even bring himself to say aloud, but Yu Seha endured them all.

He was teased by the kids every night, yet he endured.

‘Kkheuhk…’

He felt proud of himself.

Anyway, during the second vacation he stayed home the whole time.

It wasn’t Yu Seha’s idea; the other kids discussed it among themselves and suggested it to him.

A precaution against any possible external danger.

And because being together was preferable to pursuing the opportunities of or .

They spent small, precious days together and made memories with everyone.

In the meantime, Peng Jin-ah finally mustered the courage and visited the officetel.

And along with her came Plum Blossom Sword Empress Wei Ga-ryeong as well.

“Jin-ah unni…”

“I- Ju Na-young…”

That night, the two looked at each other and had a rather deep conversation.

At times Peng Jin-ah tried to bow her head, but Ju Na-young, as if saying it wasn’t necessary, embraced her instead.

“Unnie, unnie. Then… you’re coming in too, right? Right?”

“…I—I don’t have the qualifications…”

“Of course you do. That oaf confessed he wasn’t going in the first place. You’re qualified too.”

“…”

Ju Na-young occasionally made a mysterious ‘euhheuheu…’ sound and said inscrutable things. Peng Jin-ah, hearing them, flushed bright red like a radish and didn’t know what to do.

The certainty was that the two had succeeded in returning to their original relationship.

Time flowed calmly.

The greenery that once glowed had turned brown, moving into a season of falling blossoms and then into bitter cold. Before they knew it, Yu Seha and the kids had advanced to their second year.

They were about to enter the second-semester break that would lead them into the third year.

“Huuuu…”

Yu Seha sat cross-legged in Peng Jin-ah’s exclusive training ground, now empty.

He inhaled deeply, letting the breath travel through his whole body. It was a method he maintained even during sleep.

From there he practiced his breathing and energy regimen.

Currently Yu Seha had a body that had grown to approximately thirteen years old.

Just as he was getting used to it, he and the others noticed something at once.

“…He’s here.”

The three answered simultaneously.

White smoke billowed around Yu Seha. The smoke was unusually dense.

A huge resonance filled the training ground, as if a white dragon made of steam had appeared.

A minute later, the smoke vanished as if it had never been.

Yu Seha slowly stood up.

His long hair flowed glossy to his waist, uncut.

His clothes had been torn to shreds from being too small, leaving him practically naked.

He turned his head.

In the mirror on the wall, sunlight fell across the reflection of a youth who was exactly twenty years old—an attractive young man who had grown up.

“Oh, recovered better than expected? The scars are all gone… How is it?”

“…”

Yu Seha didn’t react even to the sexual jokes. Having been around them so much, he had grown used to the two shameless transcendents.

Yu Seha clenched his fist.

Tendons and bones resonated together as the surrounding muscles tensed tightly.

It was definitely a human body, but every component felt completely different. Especially, his inner magnitude had expanded so much that even Yu Seha was astonished.

So much so that there seemed to be no end.

At the center of it was his innate ability [Reverse-Heaven Eyes], which even Yu Seha couldn’t fully comprehend.

For the first time in a while, Yu Seha checked his <Stats>.

“Wow…”

A spontaneous exclamation escaped him.

Exactly—system-wise, ‘150’ denotes the demigod tier.

These were the stats right below that tier.

Considering he had no buffs, this was certain.

Compared to when I paid the price… I’ll be stronger now… and only get stronger going forward…

“Rehab?”

It was a reasonable point. After all, he hadn’t had any real combat experience for months. Insane specs aren’t the same as battlefield experience.

“But I don’t think there’s anyone who can spar with you…”

To be precise, the ranks didn’t match.

Right now, Yu Seha was at the top tier of S-rank with no buffs.

The only names that came to mind were his teacher Peng Jin-ah and Plum Blossom Sword Empress Wei Ga-ryeong… but neither was in Korea.

Then the Tyrant quietly remarked.

“Descendants…? Ju Na-young? Oh—of course. Our kids are training and they’ll reach A-rank… ah!”

Right, that’s true; it wasn’t like Ju Na-young was the only descendant.

Yu Seha pulled clothes and his phone from his bag and called someone at once: S-rank hunter Ju Ye-young.

Kwak-kwak-kwak-!!!

A high-grade sparring hall filled with lightium.

With a tremendous roar, crimson conflagration formed a sea of fire.

It was infernal chaos—literally hellfire.

The blaze reduced everything it touched to ash.

The owner and caster of this blaze was none other than Ju Ye-young.

Her hair tied in a ponytail, she wore training clothes that emphasized her sensuous figure.

Ju Ye-young spread both hands as chakra patterns traced her ten fingers, each forming part of a sorcery that fused into a single ability.

It was a sign she was using the Epic-grade skill [Flames Spreading to the Heavens] to its limit.

It took only half a second to reach this point.

She demonstrated mana control worthy of an S-rank and projected the flames without hesitation.

Bang-!!!

The blaze swirled again, yet Ju Ye-young’s expression remained unmoved. No—her expression did shift, into something hollow.

She raised a brow and looked ahead.

At the hottest center she swallowed dryly at the sight of a calm boy who seemed to be taking a stroll.

Yu Seha, sword at his waist, was staring straight at her.

It was ridiculous… it couldn’t be… there was no denying it.

A sudden call, a blunt “Could you spar with me just once?” and the match was set.

When she saw him arrive at the Dragon Sword Mir clan and not as a child but as someone who had paid every price and fully recovered, Ju Ye-young intuited it.

She intuited she could not win: the boy before her—otherwise unremarkable save for his looks—had reached the pinnacle of an Awakened.

Ju Ye-young realized he had risen to a position that even a lifetime of effort might barely touch.

She gathered flames in both hands and smiled.

She too was a veteran who had risen from B-rank to S-rank.

A life of struggle was natural; competing with countless strong opponents was everyday life.

At some point she couldn’t do that anymore. An S-rank hunter, clan master, and public figure—various titles and public scrutiny had robbed her of freedom.

So facing a true challenge again was joyous. She once again realized how happy it was to find an opponent who, even if she wagered everything, would not be broken or even scratched.

“Yu Seha, you don’t want me to go easy on you, right?”

“Of course.”

“I’ll begin.”

“Please do.”

Ju Ye-young clenched her hands; a dragon-wing pattern appeared on the backs of them. She deliberately omitted an <Incantation>, a chant she could skip because of her mastery.

Yu Seha looked up; though there was no sound or spatial tear, a house-sized meteor was already falling—an attack meant to smash a Kirin’s head: the <Ultimate Skill> ‘Destruction Sword Fist’, commonly called a Petit Meteor.

Yu Seha watched the approaching meteor and closed his eyes for a moment.

What he would test in this sparring were, indeed, two abilities.

The first was [Complete Devour].

Yu Seha poured strength into his right arm; in an instant it was sheathed in red-dragon scales. Then, as if a physics engine had glitched, it ballooned into an enormous limb—a ridiculous dragon foreleg easily eight meters long. He seized the Petit Meteor and crushed it at once.

“…”

Ju Ye-young stared blankly at the scene, then turned to the outer wall of the training ground where her daughter watched, gasping for breath.

―Yo, yonggg~♡

Her unique pink aura, the dragon tail spinning at high speed… she was unmistakably lovestruck.

Ju Ye-young had been told in advance that Yu Seha could use the Red Dragon’s power; she’d given consent and signed a contract promising that the <Red Dragon> power would never be granted to other forces.

So she wasn’t greatly surprised, but she couldn’t help being amazed.

“…Huh.”

The level was different. His proficiency with dragon power went beyond mere concepts—the very spectrum of power he wielded was of another tier.

Including Ju Ye-young, no one in Dragon Sword Mir could create such a gigantic dragon arm.

Normally, the match would have ended at this level. They had agreed as much.

But Ju Ye-young wanted to see more. Like a child cheering at bursting fireworks, she wanted to examine Yu Seha’s power further.

And Yu Seha felt the same.

“Yu Seha, may we extend a little longer?”

“Of course.”

As soon as the words ended, Ju Ye-young used <Dragon Transformation>. With two pairs of wings spread, she opened her mouth.

One second, two seconds, three seconds.

The flames charged at a speed incomparable to Ju Na-young’s, and soon turned into the dragon’s judgment: the <Breath>.

It was effectively Ju Ye-young’s third ultimate skill.

“Dragon king wooaaaang!!!”

Yu Seha watched the straight-on incoming breath and reverted his arm back to its original form.

“Good…”

The strength and utility of [Complete Devour] were confirmed.

Now to examine the second power.

The supreme swordsmanship.

‘Ghost-Shadow Sword.’

It was time to verify that.