The sound of a monstrous punch reverberated through the entire space, while thick smoke completely blanketed Urek’s current position.
Selene’s eyes almost bulged right out of her skull, and the lollipop in her mouth fell straight to the floor.
As for Wenya, she was also having a remarkably hard time processing the event; her eyes dilated into full circles as she failed to fathom the crazy scene playing out in front of her.
"Whoa... that’s a bust. I had just learned from someone that an OP main character sells incredibly well..." Urek’s figure emerged from the settling smoke he had created, turning his head toward Selene.
"Is my performance satisfactory, Instructor Selene?"
He wanted to wave his hand to get her attention, as she was still staring blankly at the scene...especially at the strength testing meter.
"Uhh... yes! It’s good, just the average strength for a talented individual," she lied shamelessly, staring at the full view of his structural output displayed on the monitor.
[- 4,892 Power Strength!] -]
[- Good job! You Are Doing Well! -]
"Oh... is that so? What a disappointment," Urek grumbled, dissatisfied that his fifty percent exertion wasn’t higher.
"Y-yes! It’s a complete disappointment... ha ha, you definitely need to work harder!" Selene lost all her previous aura as a bossy instructor, entirely at a loss for words.
’You are claiming to be disappointed when you only used fifty percent of your power?!! That has got to be the greatest joke of all time!! ’
She desperately wanted to slap the absolute shit out of the man standing before her, but because she had chosen to raise the bar earlier, she couldn’t exactly complain now.
In reality, the minimum passing strength for a Tier 1 core was only five hundred points, but she had quadrupled the requirement simply because she wanted to tease him.
Now, Selene was being forced to eat what she sowed.
"What’s the average strength of the Savior anyway?" Urek inquired.
He genuinely wanted to know; that piece of shit hero was notoriously strong, and mere words weren’t enough to describe his plot armor.
As if regaining her footing, Selene smirked proudly.
"Compared to the raw strength of the hero, young man, you are merely a pinky finger."
"Oh? Then what was his exact output when he was still a Tier 1?"
"Don’t get depressed, okay?"
"Yes, I won’t."
’I have already accepted that reality, after all...’
Urek just wanted a point of reference; he didn’t actually give a shit about how strong the protagonist was.
His grand strategy relied on Trojan horse tactics, not brute force.
If you can’t defeat the hero in a straight fight, then simply join his party... and cuckold him!
"It was fifty thousand points... using only fifty percent of his power," Selene stated smugly, bracing herself to witness his eyes bulge out in sheer terror.
Unfortunately for her, there was absolutely no reaction at all.
"That’s definitely not too shabby..." Urek mumbled under his breath, quite satisfied that he would have to take his sweet time to cook something.
"What?! Are you not surprised?! Are you not deeply depressed?! What do you mean ’not too shabby’?!"
Selene finally cracked, her voice echoing through the facility like a revving truck engine.
"Should I be surprised, Instructor Selene?"
"Of course! The normal reaction of anyone else is like that!" Now, Selene wanted to violently slap his deadpan face.
"Pffttt... Hahaha."
A soft, melodic giggle cut through the tension.
Both Urek and Selene abruptly turned their heads toward Wenya.
"..."
"..."
"..."
A long, profoundly awkward pause stretched through the air as both of them stared intently at her.
"W-what... don’t stare at me like that..." She looked like she wanted to dig herself into the deepest pit imaginable, thoroughly mortified by her own sudden outburst.
"L-Lady Wenya... you genuinely just laughed..." Selene’s facial expression defied explanation; it was as if a tidal wave of conflicting emotions was actively drowning her.
"I am merely a background extra here," Urek mumbled, completely clueless about what was going on.
"W-what’s wrong with doing that...?" Wenya stammered, her feet tiptoeing anxiously as she averted her gaze, desperately covering her flushed face with her hands.
"N-nothing is wrong with it, of course! Ha ha... it is perfectly normal to laugh."
"D-don’t say... another word about it..."
"O-of course!"
"Uh, is there something wrong with the goddess laughing?" Urek interjected.
"N-no, don’t! Stupid, you silly, you dummy!!"
And just like that, Wenya completely vanished from view, fleeing the training grounds entirely.
’Damn... This is absolutely not a part of the original script. What the hell is wrong with the plot direction now... There wasn’t a single footnote indicating she would act like a shy maiden in the entire web novel...’ Urek was having an immediate existential crisis.
Wenya laughing?
There wasn’t a single speck of that behavior documented across all 9,999 Chapters.
Yes, she would occasionally feel shy when receiving a direct compliment from that shitty hero...those cringe-worthy Chapters where Urek had wanted to curse the author for adding useless romantic fluff.
But her laughing?
That genuinely angelic, unscripted giggle?
He was completely clueless as to the shell.
"Ha ha... I think I will provide you with a special reward today, young man," Selene spoke up, a vein bulging on her forehead as she narrowed her eyes into a predatory squint.
"Please be gentle..."
"Gentle my ass! Take this!"
And thus, the brutal beating session commenced.
***
Meanwhile, on the other side of the estate, inside Wenya’s private chambers:
"W-what on earth is happening to me... that wasn’t like me at all..."
She buried herself beneath her covers, mumbling.
She couldn’t believe she had actually let out that angelic giggle in front of an outsider.
Her cold, unyielding persona had been drilled into her head for years.
While her somewhat easygoing demeanor toward Urek was merely her unique way of displaying her baseline goodwill, actually breaking character to giggle and laugh was out of the question.
Wenya was already twenty-seven years old, and it was her first time in ages displaying such a vulnerable expression.
And it was all because of a random young man she had literally just encountered yesterday due to some street ruckus...a complete coincidence.
Even the fated hero, her own younger brother, had never made her feel that sense of lightheartedness.
"S-silly me... I even resorted to throwing petty insults at him."
Naturally, she wasn’t experiencing genuine romantic feelings for Urek.
She was merely incredibly embarrassed and flustered that she had made such a glaring mistake.
Yes, it was a mistake...but a remarkably beautiful one.