Chapter 271
My health began to recover at a rapid pace as [Natural Healing (A)] activated.
The gauge filled up with each breath.
The old man didn't realize it, since I didn't have many wounds on the outside, but my healing ability was actually better than that of a troll.
‘If this......is good enough, shouldn't my fallen arm be reattached?’
The internal wounds on my body gradually disappear, and I'm already about 80% healed.
It took me about 3 minutes to get this far.
When I felt strong enough to move, I went to visit the old man who had entered the room.
The old man, who was packing his luggage, looked at me in surprise.
"What, you're still recovering from your wounds, why are you following me?"
Apparently, he was looking for something.
"I'm fully recovered."
"What? Are you a troll? If you can recover just by taking a breather......Is it true?”
The old man muttered in a tone of disbelief, as if he understood my condition just by looking at me.
He stretched his back, got up, and slowly walked over to me.
"How in the world did you manage to recover so much?"
"......I'm rather healthy."
"You're beyond healthy, you're ridiculous."
He touches me here and there to make sure I’m okay, and then starts scanning the room again.
"What are you looking for, anyway?"
"I'm looking for one of my old things, but I can't seem to find it."
The old man makes a grunting noise, then starts humming and looking again.
"I'm pretty sure I put it around here somewhere...Ah! I found it, man!"
He pulled something pure white out of the bottom drawer of his desk.
"What is that?"
"Something I used in my early days."
In his hand, he held up a white bandage. Diiscover new stories at novelhall.com
"It's a taping bandage I used to use when I was training. I used it because my fists would get hurt if I trained with my bare hands."
The old man threw the bandages at me.
"You can use it. They say it's enchanted with some kind of magic, but it doesn't get dirty."
At the same time, an item window pops up in front of me.
[Name: Master's Bandage]
[Rank: Unique]
[Type: Equipment]
[Description: A taping bandage used by masters of a field. When worn, it grants the wearer 20% more training efficiency.
If soiled, it is quickly restored to its original state by clean magic.]
Crazy.
It was an item with an ‘experience amplification ability’ that was said to be more difficult to obtain than most unique items.
Apparently, the old man hadn't bothered to check the item's abilities.......
No, is it obvious that he didn’t know?
This is a historically auto-enhanced item.
‘I seem to recall that it's pretty tricky to fulfill that condition.......'
I wonder how long and how hard he had to use it to make it unique.
"...... Thanks."
"Sure. Don't be stupid and hit rocks with your bare hands, wear it. Now, go back inside and get some rest. We'll talk about stopping by the DMZ later."
......No, you're the one who made me hit rocks with my bare hands.
* * *
The day finally came.
"Ewww, this is so unfair. Why do we have to spar in the second week of school?"
Jin-woo is slumped over his desk, groveling furiously.
Today is the first day of sparring since the second semester began.
And.......
"Eugene Han. Are you ready?"
"......Yes."
It was also the day of the competition to bring Kang Hyun to Familia.
"Wow. You're a hot commodity this morning. You’ve already been notified of the duel as soon as he arrived."
Young-jae, who was watching the scene, giggled and walked over to my seat.
It's become a morning ritual to gather in my seat.
Se-ah turns around, and Jin-woo's head snaps up from where he's slumped over his desk.
"You're finally looking this way."
What the hell is he talking about, this asshole.
It seemed that this school trip would be a comfortable one.
* * *
After lunch, the kids from the other classes begin to gather in the training room for the afternoon sparring.
Then, someone spots us in the distance and approaches.
"Hello."
It was Choi Yeon, who came running over as soon as she spotted the children from Familia.
"Choi Yeon, I heard you're sparring against Jung Hoon today."
"......?"
"Duel~"
"Oh, yeah. That's right. He asked me to spar, so I decided to accept."
Choi Yeon accepts Se-ah's words as if it's nothing.
As she said that, I noticed a familiar sword at her waist.
It was the East Sea Dragon King Sword, the sword she had gotten in the East Sea not long ago.
"That's the sword you're going to use?"
As I recall, it didn't have any special abilities other than being used in the sea.......
But Choi Yeon gently drew the sword from the hilt, checked the blade, and nodded.
"Yes, this sword. It's solid."
"Ah."
It was definitely a semi-legendary weapon, so it must have been extremely hard.
Still, it wouldn't make much of a difference, since she was fighting with her skill and finesse rather than the sword's specs.
"Isn't Eugene sparring today, too?"
"Me? Yes."
I sighed as I looked at Kang Hyun, who was warming up on one side of the room.
"......Kang Hyun is a bit of a pain in the ass."
"Eugene. You're strong, you'll be fine."
Choi Yeon patted me on the shoulder as if to comfort me, "Then. I'll go," and then walked back to her class.
A few moments later, the instructors who would be supervising the duels began to walk in.
Kang Hyun walked right up to them and held out a piece of paper.
The instructor's eyes widened for a moment, and he looked back and forth between me and Kang Hyun, then chuckled and nodded.
"Okay. I think we're good."
With those words, the duel was practically sealed.
One by one, the students began to file into the distributed dueling areas.
"Eugene Han. Kang Hyun. Arena E."
The students follow the instructor's call.
"Go, Boss!"
"Come on, Eugene~"
"Fight on!"
While walking silently with the support of the children, girl voices rang out from somewhere, ‘One, two, three~ Fighting, Eugene Han~’
I was about to turn my head to see what was going on.
"Aren't you going?"
"Yes."
I followed Kang Hyun into the arena.
His eyes lit up when he made eye contact with me.
I spoke softly to him.
"You remember your promise, right?"
"If I lose, I'll join Familia. I remember."
"Good, then I just need to make sure I win."
"I'll do my best against you."
After a brief exchange of greetings, we both walk to our respective camps.
The most noticeable piece of his equipment is the flask strapped to his waist, which holds an impressive amount of water for its size.
I looked at the tape tied to his hand, thinking about how he would come out from the beginning.
‘Yeah, let's see if I can get an experience pump.’
Just then, the instructor's voice came over the loudspeakers inside the arena.
-Cadets, prepare for battle. It's worth noting that our arena has the highest number of observers than any other arena.
......We have a lot of people over here.
-Both of you get ready.
On cue, we lower our bodies so we can move at any time.
My opponent is Kang Hyun and I want to make sure he's convinced.
-Begin!
─I was going to crush him.