Chapter 132
Chapter 132: Rank 3 (12)
Ji Gang-seok’s sparring proposal.
It was not a party battle but a 1:1 duel between Yoo Ji-han and Ji Gang-seok.
“The party leader, Yoo Ji-han, is the most important aspect of a party. I will assess whether he qualifies for Rank 3 by facing him directly.”
“No way!”
However, Yang Ji-cheol immediately opposed after hearing this.
Ji Gang-seok was a member of a Rank 2 party representing the Knife Guild.
It didn’t make sense that Yoo Ji-han, still only a Rank 4, would decide on his rank through a duel with Ji Gang-seok.
“The sparring assessment has already concluded in the 3rd Exam!”
“That’s that, and this is this.”
“……!”
“Just so you know, this is merely a bet. I don’t mean for you to completely knock me out.”
“So that doesn’t make sense…!”
“Ji-cheol, wait a moment.”
Yoo Ji-han, who had been listening to the discussion, stepped in to block Yang Ji-cheol, who looked at him with incredulous eyes.
Yoo Ji-han then said, fulfilling that expectation.
“What are the conditions for my victory in this bet?”
Calmly inquiring about the victory conditions, Yoo Ji-han was met with rapid calculations from Ji Gang-seok, who had been trying to push through a duel with Yoo Ji-han in the interview.
“Don’t hold back, just last for exactly 10 minutes… No, just 5 minutes against me.”
“5 minutes?”
“If you either surrender, get knocked out, or sustain injuries serious enough that you can’t continue the duel within those 5 minutes, you lose.”
“Hmmm…”
“What do you think? Sounds doable, right? You’ll just have to avoid me for less than 10 minutes! I won’t even use any attacking skills!”
As Ji Gang-seok taunted him while Yoo Ji-han fell into thought over the conditions, Kim Si-hu and Min Yu-ri looked at him with worried expressions.
Regardless of how many minutes the time limit was, this was something they couldn’t provide help with as teammates.
But then, Yoo Ji-han spoke up.
“Can I ask one thing?”
“What is it?”
“If Ji Gang-seok falls, does that count as a condition for my victory?”
“…What?”
“Does that mean if I knock down Ji Gang-seok, it’s also a victory condition?”
It wasn’t a question about running away to withstand the time limit. It was a question based on the assumption that Ji Gang-seok would be completely defeated.
‘Is this kid serious?’
Does he dare to bring me down?
Ji Gang-seok laughed in disbelief at such an audacious provocation.
No Rank 4 hero had shown such an attitude toward Ji Gang-seok until now.
Actually, this was unprecedented even including all Rank 3 heroes.
“Haha! Of course, it does!”
“Then I’ll accept the duel.”
Yoo Ji-han calmly accepted the duel.
Yang Ji-cheol shouted to dissuade him.
“Ji-han! Are you really going to do it?!”
“If he refuses, we will drop from our ranking, right?”
“That’s true, but…”
“If they’re offering a guaranteed chance for an upgrade, then why not give it a shot?”
With that response, Yoo Ji-han glared at Ji Gang-seok.
Equally sitting in the interviewer’s seat, Ji Gang-seok glared back at Yoo Ji-han.
Neither side was willing to back down.
*
After Yoo Ji-han’s party interview was halted, they spent time in a space set apart from the usual waiting room.
They had to wait there until all interviews were concluded since other parties were scheduled for their upgrade assessments.
“Are you really okay with this?”
“Yeah.”
“……..”
Min Yu-ri wore a worried expression.
She had seen the strength of the heroes in a Rank 2 party through videos or from a distance.
Some of those scenes included terrifying moments where the surrounding area, including buildings, was annihilated.
So, it was only natural for her to be deeply concerned about Yoo Ji-han, who was going to fight alone against such beings.
“I can manage for 5 minutes.”
Yoo Ji-han fiddled with the sword crafted by Nam Ho-yeol.
Due to his past identity, he often couldn’t participate in official friendly duels with other guilds.
Besides the battles he had experienced against intruders, his only experience sparring with high-level heroes was with Lee Mi-a, who had been cooperative.
“Should I cast a buff on you beforehand?”
“That’s…”
Kim Si-hu offered to cast a buff right before the duel began.
If it was just 5 minutes, it could hold.
“Actually, you could just teach me a spell instead.”
“Huh?”
“It was about time to learn a new spell. Do you have a good buff?”
“Hmm…”
Yoo Ji-han asked Kim Si-hu for a new buff.
While staring at the ground in deep thought, Kim Si-hu spoke.
“I have one.”
“What kind?”
“The buff I used when I defeated the Barbarian…”
“You’ve already finished that?!”
“No, no! It’s still incomplete, but it’s usable.”
He felt a bit worried; however, he couldn’t think of a better spell right away.
“What’s the name of that spell?”
“It’s Honey Buff.”
“……”
“In English, it’s called Honey Buff.”
Upon hearing the name of the new spell, Yoo Ji-han closed his mouth.
Then, with forced cheerfulness, he replied.
“Does it really have to be that name?”
“Otherwise, it can also be called ‘Blessing of the World Tree’.”
“Oh! That’s much better.”
“I still think the Honey Buff sounds cuter though…”
“No! The latter is definitely better. Right, Yu-ri?”
“…That’s right?”
Even Min Yu-ri nodded, prompting Kim Si-hu to agree reluctantly, looking disappointed.
He soon rose from his seat and produced a pearl of learning at the tip of his magic staff.
A flow of magical energy sufficient for the required buff flowed into the pearl.
Swoosh—
The magical energy quickly surged within the pearl.
The chaotic flow of magic was dizzying, making it hard to follow with the eyes!
It was undoubtedly part of the powerful buff he had used while battling the Barbarian.
‘Quite complicated…’
Yoo Ji-han fixed his gaze on the pearl of learning, attempting to memorize the magic pattern.
The complexity and difficulty were much higher than the haste spell, Haste, he had learned before.
However, his eyes didn’t miss even the smallest changes in the magic within the pearl.
‘Incredible focus.’
Yoo Ji-han seemed completely immersed in the magical energy within the pearl.
Perhaps due to needing to learn the spell within a limited time, he displayed far greater concentration than usual.
Kim Si-hu was slightly taken aback.
“Okay, that’s it.”
“Huh? Already?”
“……?”
In response to Yoo Ji-han’s remark declaring he was ready, Kim Si-hu blinked in surprise.
Min Yu-ri, who was watching beside him, had a similar reaction.
“You’ve barely repeated it a few times.”
Inside the pearl of learning, Kim Si-hu had been repeating the pattern necessary for using the buff with visualized magical energy.
And he had only repeated the pattern five times.
It was an absurdly insufficient amount of time to learn a single spell.
“Isn’t this wrong?”
Yoo Ji-han wrapped his body in the magic pattern he had deciphered.
[Blessing of the World Tree]
Whoo—!
As he activated the magic, an intangible power quickly enveloped Yoo Ji-han’s entire body!
Even though it was incomplete and lacked substance, it was an adequately effective spell.
“Oho, this feels pretty good?”
“Eh!”
As Yoo Ji-han’s demeanor suddenly changed, Kim Si-hu quickly grabbed his arm.
“This is…!”
Veins stood out more prominently on his arm than usual, and the muscles in his arm were as hard as rebar.
The thin layer of magical energy enveloping his skin was clearly the magical pattern corresponding to the incomplete Blessing of the World Tree!
Confirming the enhancement of his body through the buff, Kim Si-hu shook his head.
“This is something… If other mages find out, they’ll really dislike you.”
“Why?”
“What do you think they would feel learning that a warrior is learning magic faster than they are? They’d probably feel a sense of self-loathing.”
Kim Si-hu commented that other mages would feel self-loathing upon seeing Yoo Ji-han.
Even Min Yu-ri seemed a bit dumbfounded and said to Kim Si-hu.
“Si-hu, is it really possible to learn magic this quickly?”
“There’s no way! Ji-han is just too special. Even as a Spirit Master, I’ve never heard of anything like this.”
Just a little while ago, the warrior Yoo Ji-han couldn’t even use common skills.
Since forming a contract with the Sylph, he had been displaying outstanding abilities, as if a long-closed passageway was finally wide open.
“Chirp, chirp!”
While Chilla clapped silently in celebration.
Kim Si-hu looked at Yoo Ji-han, whose expression was awkwardly bashful about receiving praise.
‘What a scary talent.’
Considering that Yoo Ji-han had never used magic before, Kim Si-hu had always intended to slowly teach him magic while adhering to the basics.
Even Kim Si-hu, who was known to be a genius, couldn’t help but acknowledge this talent.
It was hard to say it was perfect, but at the very least, the speed at which he acquired new spells was excessively fast.
‘I’ll definitely have to completely revise my plan for teaching Ji-han magic.’
With a somewhat complicated expression, Kim Si-hu looked at Yoo Ji-han’s face.
If this guy absorbed magic like a sponge soaking up water…
It wouldn’t be a problem if he strayed far from the fundamentals.
“It just needs a bit of refinement.”
“Where?”
“Make the magic enveloping your right leg thinner…”
As Kim Si-hu adjusted Yoo Ji-han’s magical energy.
Other parties’ interviews began to conclude one by one after entering the interview area.
*
All interviews concluded late in the evening.
It was only after the sky darkened that Yang Ji-cheol came to find Yoo Ji-han.
“Ji-han! You’re not thinking of backing out, are you?”
“Yeah.”
“……I will now escort you to the sparring arena.”
Yoo Ji-han’s party followed Yang Ji-cheol to the sparring arena prepared by the Hero Department.
Having arrived first, Ji Gang-seok was stretching his neck inside the arena.
Crack! Crack!
“It was stiff, but this worked out nicely.”
Ji Gang-seok entered the sparring arena unarmed.
He considered it a luxury to use tools against a Rank 4 hero.
With this attitude, Yoo Ji-han briefly looked toward the entrance of the sparring arena before handing his sword to Kim Si-hu.
“Hold this for a moment.”
“Sure.”
He then entered the sparring arena.
Looking at the weapon left behind defiantly, Ji Gang-seok remarked.
“Are you serious?”
“Yeah.”
“You’ve really lost your mind.”
“Well, who knows?”
It was a proud display given the opponent he faced, someone he should have fought seriously.
‘What an arrogant little punk.’
That was Ji Gang-seok’s assessment of Yoo Ji-han.
“The sparring time is a total of 5 minutes. If there is no clear winner within that time, Yoo Ji-han will be declared the victor.”
With the interviewers from earlier present to witness the duel, Yang Ji-cheol asked while observing the distance between the two.
“Are you ready?”
“Yeah.”
“Then… start!”
Ding!
The timer set for 5 minutes began to count down.
Finally, the sparring commenced.
“Hmmm.”
The beginning was quiet.
Ji Gang-seok, gently rubbing his palms, seemed relaxed as he looked at Yoo Ji-han across from him.
1 second, 2 seconds, 3 seconds.
Time flowed without stopping.
If time were to flow all the way through, it would mean victory for Yoo Ji-han, and yet Ji Gang-seok just stood and watched.
‘What’s he doing?’
At that moment, when the spectators began to wonder about the duel, Ji Gang-seok finally moved his feet.
BOOM!
A powerful explosion resonated from where he pushed off, so vigorously that the floor of the sparring arena even buckled slightly.
‘I’ve been waiting for this!’
Ji Gang-seok had no intention of letting Yoo Ji-han slide through this duel from the start.
The leader of the Knife Guild, Moon Kyung-gu, had asked him for a favor, even giving him a stack of money.
He intended to show results equal to what he received.
‘How should I handle this?’
Moon Kyung-jin, who had suffered severe injuries, nearly losing a leg, was the result of Yoo Ji-han’s doing.
He planned to deliver pain to Yoo Ji-han that would leave him broken.
Even if he made a ‘mistake’ during the duel to inflict wounds that could not be healed, it shouldn’t matter much since it was an event held by the Hero Department that he had consented to.
‘First, I need to break his waist.’
Like a large cannonball, Ji Gang-seok rapidly distanced himself from Yoo Ji-han.
Crack, crack!
He concentrated explosive magical power in his thick legs.
He aimed a kick straight at Yoo Ji-han’s side.
It was a powerful strike capable of shattering the skeletal structure of a robust monster in an instant.
“Ah!”
Min Yu-ri screamed, sensing the unusual force.
Then the two collided.
BOOM—!!
A colossal impact shook the entire sparring arena!
The shockwave from the impact surged through the air and reached everyone watching the duel.
Kim Si-hu, startled, unconsciously clenched his fist.
But….
“……?!”
Inside the sparring arena, Yoo Ji-han had both hands gripping Ji Gang-seok’s shins.
He perfectly blocked the opponent’s attack, which had seemed so threatening, without a scratch on him.
Ji Gang-seok, who had extended his leg outward, murmured.
“…Who are you?”
“I’m Yoo Ji-han.”
At his calm reply, Ji Gang-seok’s face twisted in disbelief.
