Chapter 29
What is mana?
It was a question whose answer could vary greatly depending on whom one asked.
Scholars would call it the primordial substance that makes up the world. Theologians would say it was the seed of power sown by the Celestial God Arus when he created the world in ancient times, while mages would describe it as an infinite, unformed substance containing the potential to become anything through processing.
But to swordsmen, the definition of mana was extremely simple.
Everything.
Mana affected muscular strength, reflexes, the power and duration of aura, and even the control of body and mind.
With only a slight exaggeration, one could say that mana was a swordsman’s everything. Every ability a swordsman needed was connected to mana.
Of course, that did not make mana omnipotent.
No matter how much mana one possessed, it was useless without the ability to use it properly. And its efficiency varied tremendously depending on how it was controlled.
For example, imagine filling a canteen with water. One person might create a small stream and transfer the water into the canteen without spilling a drop, while another might try to fill it by pouring out all the water at once.
Both could accomplish their goal. But the former would inevitably be overwhelmingly more efficient.
Mana worked the same way. Its efficiency depended on how precisely one invested the necessary amount in the required areas. That was why swordsmen paid close attention not only to the amount of mana they possessed, but also to its control.
Even so, to use mana well, one first needed a sufficient quantity. That was an undeniable reality.
That was why swordsmen born with abundant mana were objects of envy in their own right. Even commoners with large mana reserves sometimes married into noble families as breeding stock.
That was how important it was, so Tean’s pride in front of me was only natural. My mana reserves were below average.
To be more precise, if one averaged things across the entire continent, I would rank among the upper tiers. But this was the academy. Naturally, the standard for “average” was different here.
And even by the academy’s standards, Tean possessed an outstanding amount of mana. He held an overwhelming advantage over me in both the power of his sword strikes and his endurance.
I was also quite exhausted at the moment. Perhaps Tean had been waiting for precisely this opportunity.
I was the bastard who had single-handedly taken down his seven lackeys. If he defeated an opponent like that one-on-one, his control over the group would only grow stronger.
He was certainly a clever bastard. Unfortunately for me.
With a boom, Tean’s massive frame charged in once again. It was a straight line—the unique way Tean charged, ignoring everything except the opponent he had chosen as his target.
After exchanging blows several times, I had realized it. Facing him head-on was only to my disadvantage.
Fortunately, Tean was not particularly skilled at controlling mana. If I chose to stand against him, I could withstand him a few times. If my strike landed on a vital point, Tean was still human and would inevitably fall.
But that would only work a few times. As time passed, it was obvious that I, with my inferior mana reserves, would grow increasingly exhausted and struggle more and more. Rather than exchanging blows, it would be better to evade his attacks.
At least one fortunate thing was that he had not followed up with another strike as powerful as the first one I had blocked.
The footprint where I had first received Tean’s sword strike was still there, half-hidden beneath the dust. A deep depression in the earth.
It bore witness to the power of Tean’s sword strikes. It was terrifying.
Tean’s sword came crashing down from above. It was still in its scabbard and therefore had no edge, but judging from the terrifying sound it made as it tore through the air, taking even one blow would be fatal.
My body twisted, having predicted the sword’s path in advance, and narrowly avoided the strike. But that was not the end.
Tean wielded that massive sword as though it were a fork. After the heavy downward slash came a horizontal cut without even the slightest pause.
Naturally, I could not evade it. I barely raised my blade in time to avoid a fatal blow.
With a hollow clang, my body was sent flying into the air. I had felt something like this when sparring with Seria, too.
I thought that as I rolled across the ground. Grains of sand brushed against me between my ragged breaths. I had inhaled a mouthful of dust.
Crazy bastard, I cursed inwardly as I quickly got back to my feet. But instead of charging at me again, Tean chose to whistle in admiration.
“Impressive, Ian. Your movements really are something else. To be honest, I didn’t expect you to hold out this well.”
“It’s more than just holding out. I’m planning to punch you in the mouth in a moment.”
Tean let out a snickering laugh, as though he had heard something amusing.
“If you do, I’ll accept my defeat like a man. A man of the Southern Kingdoms takes responsibility for the result of a fair fight.”
The bastard who had been covertly instigating the harassment from behind the scenes had the nerve to talk about fairness. I ground my teeth, but I had to admit that Tean had good reason to be so confident.
That was the academy for you. Talent could still be measured by human imagination when it came to gifted students, but some of those called “geniuses” were beyond even that.
Talent truly bestowed by the gods.
The academy was where talents from across the continent gathered. Even among them, those who stood at the top possessed abilities on an entirely different level from the struggles of the middle- and lower-ranking students.
Take Seria, for example.
If she drew her sword with the intention of crushing her opponent, neither Tean nor I would last long. We refrained only because there was a very real chance that both of us would lose our lives.
Tean understood his own limitations. That was why he subtly provoked Seria without pushing her to the point of drawing her sword. He even encouraged other people to join in.
Did someone like that really have the right to dredge up Seria’s painful memories?
No one had any such right. Least of all a bastard like Tean.
What should I do? What could I do?
A single strike would be enough. If I could land a counterattack, that would suffice. But I had no time to keep thinking.
Tean was coming toward me again.
I tried to move aside, but the impact I had taken left my muscles creaking and unresponsive. In the end, I raised my blade once more to block him.
Boom, boom, boom. Successive blows crashed down, and a stifled cry escaped my lips. Tean finished with a horizontal slash.
My body was sent flying like a ball struck by a bat.
I rolled across the ground and inhaled dust.
I was a complete mess. I regretted it a little.
I had reacted too emotionally. At first, my temper had flared so violently that I could not think at all, but now that I considered it, figuring out how to deal with the aftermath was another problem.
My arms had no strength left in them. I needed to stand, but Tean was no longer charging at me. He was merely walking toward me at a leisurely pace.
“Back then.”
Panting, I staggered to my feet. My questioning eyes turned toward Tean.
He still seemed unwilling to let his guard down, carefully watching my movements as I rose.
“How did you do it?”
“……Do what?”
“The day you first sparred with that rude brat.”
I wanted to answer that I did not know, but filling my lungs with air was more urgent. I glared at Tean without saying a word.
Tean was approaching me, tightening his grip on the hand holding his greatsword.
“It was an attack you couldn’t possibly have evaded… but somehow, at one moment, you avoided it. As though space itself had warped.”
Crazy bastard. If I could do that, I would be the academy’s top student.
Manipulating time and space belonged to the highest tier of magic. Naturally, there was no way an ordinary swordsman like me could do such a thing.
That was a realm permitted only to the few superhumans called “masters,” who could distort the laws of the world through the power of their minds.
And yet—I evade.
For some reason, those words lodged themselves deeply in my mind. It was an itchy sensation, as though I were on the verge of remembering something.
And “feet”—feet.
My eyes turned toward a certain spot in the dirt-covered clearing. The next moment, Tean’s sword swung again.
I rolled my body with all my strength. A heavy impact rang out where I had been. Tean shouted.
“At this rate, you’ll tire yourself out in no time… Ian!”
“Fuck off!”
I hurled myself aside again as I shouted back. Tean drew his sword’s path with almost absurd honesty, in a straight line, as though he considered nothing else.
Yes, only now could I hear a hint of ease in Tean’s voice. So I rolled across the ground, staggered back to my feet, and widened the distance between us.
Tean looked at me with a relaxed expression. He had realized that I had reached my limit.
My breathing was ragged, and even my sword had become a burden. I returned it to my belt without hesitation.
It meant I would focus entirely on evasion. Tean seemed to find that rather amusing.
“Are you going to try recreating the evasion from back then? Good, good… I’ll enjoy the show. Hm?!”
Then Tean kicked off the ground without even considering a counterattack. It was a straight-line leap, and the sturdy leg supporting his massive frame reached the ground first.
That was when his posture faltered.
There was a crunch as his ankle twisted. “Huh?” Tean looked down at his feet.
It was difficult to see through the dust, but a shallow depression remained there.
The footprint from when I had first received Tean’s blow.
It was only shallow. Even so, there was a clear difference in elevation between it and the surrounding ground. And when a massive body like Tean’s moved, it generated a corresponding amount of momentum.
He only needed to stagger very slightly. That alone would bring him down.
But Tean was no easy opponent. Despite the pain of his twisted ankle, he gritted his teeth and tried to finish bringing his sword down. At the same time, he attempted to recover his balance.
That was why I had even discarded my sword.
My body shot forward and narrowly evaded Tean’s sword strike. Tean’s bloodshot eyes swept past me. It was the look of a man who knew I would not let things end here.
A splendid instinct. The hand axe came free from my waist in a flash.
With a satisfying smack, it struck Tean’s chin.
His posture had already been collapsing. Added to the weight of his body and the momentum of his charge, the hand axe rattled Tean’s brain.
Even so, Tean tried to hold on. His toughness was monstrous. He planted both feet on the ground and stood. That was when I threw my entire body at him with all my strength.
Tean rolled across the ground for the first time. With his brain already rattled and his body rolling across the ground as well, he must have been completely disoriented.
But I had already rolled across the ground so many times that I had adapted to it. The moment Tean inhaled sharply and looked up at me in confusion…
I was already holding the hand axe, ready to strike the face of Tean, who lay pinned beneath me.
Whack, whack, whack, whack. The hand axe battered Tean’s face in rapid succession, and blood burst forth with every blow.
The edge was not sharpened, but because the hand axe was short, it could be swung at a speed no sword could rival. That was also why I had abandoned my sword as a means of counterattacking Tean.
No matter how excellent a swordsman he was, Tean still lacked experience. He could not help but be inexperienced at judging how to respond to weapons other than swords.
The hand axe battered Tean’s head again and again, but each time, Tean turned his head in an attempt to hold on to his senses. There was no way he could manage it.
With a sharp crack,
the end of the hand axe sank deep into his temple. That was the end.
If Tean’s toughness had been lacking, it might have killed him instantly. But his body, strengthened by mana, was tougher than I could have imagined, so he would probably survive.
Tean’s head dropped limply. He had fainted. Countless bruises were already etched across his face.
Tomorrow should be interesting, I thought as I rose to my feet. The fatigue came crashing down on me belatedly.
My body tilted to one side. I wanted to collapse right there. But I could not.
As I tried to hang the hand axe back on my belt, I heard someone shout.
“I-I am Lupin, the third son of the proud Count Rynella family of the Empire!”
I glanced over my shoulder. The refined-looking man, who had apparently regained consciousness at some point, was sitting on the ground and pointing at me.
He was trying to act tough, but I could feel it. Fear dwelled in his eyes. He had not even properly wiped away the blood that had splattered while I battered Tean.
With bloodstains still smeared across his head and face, it was only natural that a noble young master would be frightened.
“H-how dare you touch me?! If you kneel and beg for forgiveness right now……”
“Hey.”
The man who had introduced himself as “Lupin” immediately flinched at my quiet call and looked at me with fear in his eyes.
His eyes trembled violently. Instead of answering, I threw the hand axe.
With a sharp thunk, the hand axe grazed past the side of Lupin’s head and buried itself in the ground. Lupin let out a delayed shriek and crawled frantically away.
It was an almost acrobatic throw. Even after thinking about it again, I had no idea when I had acquired such skill, but it did not matter right now.
I was tired and wanted to go home. So I trudged past Lupin.
Then I pulled the hand axe from the ground. Lupin was on the verge of tears by then.
“Do third sons of count’s families say ‘I want to get beaten up’ like that these days?”
“Hngh, hngh……”
Lupin could only draw harsh breaths. He looked ready to burst into tears at any moment. Finally, I whispered softly into his ear.
“There won’t be a next time. You learned that today, right? That I’m a madman.”
Lupin’s head bobbed vigorously. I patted him on the shoulder, then straightened from where I had bent to whisper in his ear.
Only seven groaning bodies and one man trembling in terror as though he might wet himself remained in the clearing.
It stayed that way until someone discovered the scene.
*
I learned what had happened to Tean during swordsmanship practice the next day.
Several students happened to be mocking Seria loudly enough for her to hear.