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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: JayM
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Clang!
Clang!
When I arrived at the sparring grounds, the sound of blades clashing could be heard.
‘The level is high.’
I went up to a high place and quietly watched the sparring match.
It wasn’t the match between Yeon Mi-rae and the man named Arthur, but one between other cadets of the same age.
‘Yeon Mi-rae’s sparring match… It’s not over already, is it?’
Thinking that, I looked for Yeon Mi-rae, and she was sitting in the spectator seats while watching the other cadets’ sparring.
It seemed like it wasn’t her turn yet.
‘Then the man named Arthur is….’
He was harder to find than I thought.
I hadn’t heard of the appearance of the man named Arthur. I only heard that he was a British international student who called himself Arthur.
‘There’s more than one or two international students here who look British….’
And among those international students, there was no cadet who was male and looked particularly strong.
Who on earth was this guy named Arthur?
‘Don’t tell me he hasn’t come to the sparring grounds yet?’
I even had that thought.
As I was quietly watching the other cadets spar at the sparring grounds, the instructor in charge of the sparring session spoke.
“Next! Arthur! And Yeon Mi-rae!”
At those words, Yeon Mi-rae stood up from her seat.
It wasn’t just her.
From the group where the international students were gathered, a male cadet stood up.
‘…That guy is Arthur?’
A man with golden hair and blue eyes.
So, a man with blonde hair and blue eyes.
He picked up a sword prepared for sparring and headed to the sparring grounds with Yeon Mi-rae.
But according to my senses, that guy wasn’t an aura user.
The energy in his body wasn’t aura, but….
‘Mana…?’
Then it meant that he was a mage, not an aura user….
Of course, there was no law that said that a mage shouldn’t use a sword, but….
‘…No, wait a minute. In the first place, he’s not even human.’
Looking closely, he wasn’t human.
That didn’t mean he was a monster, though….
Ah, right.
‘It’s a doll, isn’t it?’
It was a doll.
It was an elaborately made doll, like the one I was currently using now.
In a sense, it was a more elaborate doll than mine.
It was a doll whose completeness had been increased in a different way from mine.
‘If I had increased my doll’s completeness by adding things like spells, the other side had increased their doll’s completeness with orthodox craftsmanship.’
In other words, I thought it was a doll made by the original owner of the Puppetry skill registered in the Awakener System’s database, or their disciple… If not that, they could be someone who had researched puppetry on their own.
So….
‘That means Yeon Mi-rae… lost to this doll?’
Now I roughly understood.
Looking at the structure of the doll named Arthur, I thought it probably couldn’t operate mana properly.
But Yeon Mi-rae had definitely said that she had engaged in the sparring match against Arthur with her internal energy restricted and using only swordsmanship.
That doll named Arthur probably only used swordsmanship too.
‘Then it’s not unreasonable for the doll to have won.’
If they had obtained a swordsmanship demonstration video of an outstanding swordsman and had programmed the doll to perform that swordsmanship….
If that swordsmanship was superior to Yeon Mi-rae’s….
Then it wasn’t unreasonable for Yeon Mi-rae to have lost.
‘And here I was, thinking there was a person of Yeon Mi-rae’s age who was better at the sword than her.’
No matter how much of a genius of the sword Yeon Mi-rae was, she was still young.
Her swordsmanship was bound to be inferior compared to the swordsmanship that those who could be called geniuses, prodigies, or talents of a similar level to her had honed for decades after becoming an Aura Master.
At the same time….
‘This is as good as a fortuitous encounter for Yeon Mi-rae.’
A sparring match with someone who performed a superior art would have a good influence on her growth.
As I was thinking that….
“Sparring, begin!”
The sparring match between Yeon Mi-rae and the doll that called itself Arthur began.
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The first to attack was Arthur.
He swung his sword at a fast speed, as if he wouldn’t give Yeon Mi-rae time to respond.
To someone who didn’t know, it would have looked like he was swinging haphazardly, but the cadets currently in the sparring grounds were all kids who had some expertise in the sword.
Therefore, they knew that even though the sword Arthur was swinging looked like it was being swung haphazardly, it wasn’t in reality.
“……”
Yeon Mi-rae repeatedly dodged or deflected Arthur’s sword.
It wasn’t that she had dodged or deflected easily.
Yeon Mi-rae had done so while focusing all her nerves on her opponent’s sword.
‘Master must be watching this sparring match.’
It wasn’t that she had noticed Han Geon-woo’s presence.
Because Yeon Mi-rae still couldn’t feel the presence of the doll if Han Geon-woo had hidden it with determination.
But she had received Han Geon-woo’s word.
That he would come to see this sparring match.
‘I can’t put on a shameful performance in front of Master.’
Losing was, of course, out of the question, but even if she won, she didn’t want to win shamefully or by using a cheap trick.
In the first place, it was a sparring match where they competed in swordsmanship.
Clang!
Yeon Mi-rae, who was having such thoughts, struck the sword that Arthur had thrust out and went on the offensive.
Even though she had been thinking of other things while defending, she hadn’t missed her opportunity.
Because Yeon Mi-rae’s realm was too high to miss a golden opportunity just because she had been thinking of other things.
Swaaak…!
Arthur narrowly dodged Yeon Mi-rae’s sword.
The corner of Yeon Mi-rae’s eye twitched upon seeing that.
‘Again….’
It had been the same in the last sparring match.
Arthur had accurately grasped and dodged her sword.
Even when she mixed in feints and did a surprise attack within them, the man named Arthur had dodged them leisurely as if he had expected it and had dodged the real move as if he would never be hit.
There was also the method of momentarily letting go of the sword and pushing it to increase the range, but if she did that, there would be no way to block Arthur’s sword.
‘I thought I had gotten somewhat used to mind games through my sparring with Master, but….’
But a mind game was only meaningful if the opponent responded to it.
Arthur, for the most part, had focused on attacking and had only accurately dodged Yeon Mi-rae’s sword.
Seeing that, Yeon Mi-rae felt that an attack against Arthur was meaningless.
‘What am I lacking?
Why doesn’t my sword reach Arthur?
What is the difference between him and me?
Muscle strength?
Speed?
Technique?
Judgment?’
“……”
Yeon Mi-rae couldn’t figure it out.
Because while facing Arthur, she felt that her talent was inferior to him in every aspect.
‘Ah… The world is wide.
The only thing I’m superior to Arthur in is my high realm.
In all other aspects, Arthur is overwhelming me.
…Did I grow too quickly and fail to build a solid foundation?’
If Han Geon-woo had heard her thoughts, he would have muttered ‘In what way is that not building a solid foundation,’ and he would have been dumbfounded, but at least, that was how Yeon Mi-rae had judged it.
“Huup…!”
‘Then, I will build a solid foundation.’
Since muscle strength and speed were problems that couldn’t be solved in a short time, then first, she would improve her technique and judgment.
And right before her eyes was an existence with far superior technique and judgment than her.
A man who performed swordsmanship as efficiently as a machine.
A man who made judgments as accurately as a machine.
‘I’ll make everything you have my own.’
She suddenly thought of the Chimera with human genes implanted in it, the monster that Han Geon-woo had fought before.
The talented monster that had been able to roughly imitate Han Geon-woo’s technique just by seeing it once.
‘Master said that he had never seen anyone with a greater talent for the sword than me.’
Yeon Mi-rae believed Han Geon-woo’s words.
Since there was no way Han Geon-woo would lie….
Then her, Yeon Mi-rae’s, talent for the sword must be superior to that of the talented monster that had fought Han Geon-woo.
No matter how much of an abnormal being that monster was….
‘There’s no reason why I… can’t do the same.’
And so, Yeon Mi-rae began to analyze…
The sword of the man named Arthur in front of her.
The swordsmanship that a certain sword master had honed over a lifetime, though she didn’t know it.
She disassembled, analyzed, and reassembled it.
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‘That swordsmanship is….’
I smiled while looking at the swordsmanship that the doll named Arthur was performing.
‘Sir Sergei’s swordsmanship?’
An Aura Master from Russia.
At the same time, one of the most famous Aura Masters in the world.
He was an ability user known as a politician and a soldier, while also being an Aura Master.
From what I heard, it was possible for him to become president if he set his mind to it, but since he supported the current president, that wouldn’t happen.
For reference, his swordsmanship was also known as the official swordsmanship of the Russian military.
Because he personally taught his swordsmanship to the soldiers for the improvement of Russia’s national power.
‘If we’re talking about the characteristics of Sir Sergei’s swordsmanship….’
It was the fact that offense and defense were clearly separated.
When attacking, focus only on attacking.
When defending, focus only on defending.
And looking at the soldiers who performed Sir Sergei’s swordsmanship all at once, they would often give off a sense of pressure by all performing the same movements at the same time.
‘It’s swordsmanship that brings to mind the formal style of the military.’
So it also suited soldiers well, and it was also used for ceremonial purposes during events.
Thanks to that, there was a lot of data on Sir Sergei’s swordsmanship, so the puppeteer who had made Arthur must have been able to program that swordsmanship into the doll named Arthur.
Clang!
Yeon Mi-rae blocked Arthur’s attack and struck his sword at the same time, attempting a counterattack.
But the doll named Arthur moved along the optimal path and dodged Yeon Mi-rae’s sword, and while it observed Yeon Mi-rae’s movements, it maintained an accurate distance.
‘At this rate, it seems like none of Yeon Mi-rae’s attacks will reach Arthur unless she prepared for a mutual loss….’
Arthur also hadn’t completely digested Sir Sergei’s swordsmanship.
‘…Only offense.’
He was accurately executing only the stances related to offense, and for defense, he was only dodging or deflecting after seeing Yeon Mi-rae’s sword.
But that alone was enough.
In terms of physical ability, Arthur was superior.
Considering the condition that Yeon Mi-rae wouldn’t use internal energy, there was no reason why Arthur couldn’t dodge Yeon Mi-rae’s attack.
However….
‘…No, don’t tell me…’
Yeon Mi-rae’s movements began to change.
It wasn’t just that she had gotten used to Arthur’s attack or something like that. Rather, her swordsmanship itself was changing.
‘…Is she stealing the swordsmanship that Arthur is using?’
And it wasn’t just simply stealing it either. She had begun to incorporate it into her own movements.
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T/N – If you noticed something missing in this chapter at the end compared to the raws, it’s because I took out two paragraphs at the end of this chapter and transferred it to the next. My reason is that the chapter didn’t feel like it ended properly with those last two paragraphs and it felt like they fit the beginning of the next chapter more. Just FYI.
Also, I like this chapter. It emphasizes Yeon Mi-rae’s growth. Let’s face it, the MC is already OP enough currently, and if he ever improves, it’ll only be later on when he’s all grown up. So the focus of growth and development will need to be on the side characters instead. And I’m happy with Yeon Mi-rae’s progress here.
If you find any mistakes, feel free to point them out in the comments.
