The moment I sank completely into the shadow, a different scene entered my vision.
‘This is too high, isn’t it?’
Up to this point, it was like a dimensional gate. The problem was that I was falling upside down.
Literally, my head was preparing to land.
WHOOSH-!
With the single-minded determination to protect my head, I twisted my body in midair and landed on my legs.
‘Why did that work so well?’
I was surprised because it worked better than I had expected. However, Jio, who had never learned how to step back, answered with his head.
KABOOOM!
To be honest, it was fairly high, so I was worried to some extent. In that instant, Jio’s thumb shot up through the ground.
‘I’m the crazy one.’
After cleanly ignoring him, I looked around.
It was an unusual place. It was an enormous building whose scale was impossible to gauge.
‘It isn’t ordinary.’
However, I kept feeling a sense of disharmony. It felt as if the structure might change and be created anew at any moment.
I did not know how far current technology had reached, but in a world where dimensional gates existed, it did not seem impossible.
Just then, a familiar voice rode a strand of wind and headed toward me.
“What’s he doing here? Did I or did I not tell you to bring only Lee Wonwoo?”
It seemed the instructor had been hiding his presence in a corner. Beside the instructor was the female assistant from yesterday, who had led us here.
‘I knew it.’
I had been able to see through it because I sensed the same nature as the shadow from when the female assistant disappeared.
However, the atmosphere was not very good. Because the instructor seemed to be scolding the assistant.
“I’m sorry. Were they together...... No, wait. But why is this my fault? It’s that huge guy’s fault, isn’t it?”
“......?”
The female assistant’s expression distorted as if thin ice had cracked.
‘They feel similar?’
Incredibly, the female assistant’s atmosphere was quite similar to Instructor Wagner’s.
Moreover, even though it was obvious insubordination, the instructor merely nodded.
“Logical. But I did have him in mind too. Good work.”
I pushed my way between them and asked, in order to resolve my curiosity about why they had brought me here.
“Instructor, you called me here, right?”
In that instant, the instructor’s face brightened. Perhaps he was even looking at me with moved eyes.
On the other hand, however, a dry shadow fell over the female assistant’s face.
“I told you. I said he’d notice. Hurry up and hand it over.”
What exactly was she supposed to hand over?
I had succeeded in cutting in, but for the most part, I could not understand what they were talking about.
Fortunately, that question was quickly resolved.
“You got lucky once and now you’re acting smug.”
The cash the female assistant pulled from her coat soon passed into the instructor’s grip and went into his coat.
It was a coordinated movement more fluid than a stream.
‘They made a bet over me.’
Apparently, they had made a bet based on my reaction. But could a person really change this much?
I found myself seeing the female assistant in a new light. With her hair loosened as if it had felt suffocating, it was honestly impossible not to look at her.
She was practically the essence of Eastern beauty.
“What are you looking at?”
“I’m sorry.”
But her behavior and atmosphere were no different from the instructor’s. Thanks to that, I learned a new side of Heroes.
‘Always be careful around beauties.’
I learned why honey traps were dangerous. This was why Heroes could be called a gathering place of eccentrics.
“In any case, I was thinking of taking charge of you all from now on. What do you think?”
I did my best to listen closely to the instructor’s following words.
“So, to be precise, it’s an assigned teacher.”
***
The instructor ended his long speech with a deep exhale.
“Phew...... That’s what it means for a teacher to take charge of students.”
Using the Academy’s assigned teacher system as an excuse, the instructor wanted to take charge of us.
Jio, who had not said a word and had only been making his eyes sparkle, opened his mouth.
“Has the time finally come......!”
Unable to suppress his boiling passion any longer, Jio had somehow taken off his shirt.
‘Why is he faster only in things like this?’
I dared say that the speed at which he took off his shirt rivaled the speed at which the instructor drew his sword.
“Now! Then only you are left.”
In an instant, three people’s gazes turned toward me, but this much was not enough to make me feel pressured.
I maintained flexible thinking and began to consider it.
‘First of all, it’s not something I absolutely have to do.’
I had a choice, because the Academy was also a place where one learned the responsibility that followed one’s choices.
‘First, I’ll definitely be able to get stronger quickly.’
I remembered the sight of the instructor facing the Head-Pressing Spirit before.
So there was no reason to refuse the instructor taking charge of my education and training.
‘I’ll be able to gain experience quickly too.’
Moreover, carrying out missions would probably help me fully blend into the life of a Hero at last.
‘I’ll definitely have more chances to encounter things too.’
Lastly, missions were not limited to inside or outside the Academy, so in that process, I might also encounter various Divine Beasts.
“......Mm.”
Even so, there was only one reason I had not accepted this sweet offer yet.
“But if I become a direct disciple, does that mean I won’t be able to participate in things like festivals or athletic meets at all?”
I wanted to experience school life. If I could do that together with kids who had grown up aiming to become Heroes, it would be even better.
The instructor stared at me as if he were looking at the neighborhood fool.
“......Of course you can. I’ll make a special effort on that part.”
Only then could I shake off my worries.
“Then I’ll do it too.”
Was this the end? As I was thinking that, the instructor suddenly formed a sinister smile.
He was truly impossible to pin down.
“However, we should show some sincerity to our dignified president. Therefore, we will conduct an evaluation. Haha!”
“......”
Could this really be the person who had faced the Head-Pressing Spirit yesterday?
Yesterday, the dry gaze he had turned on me had contained only murderous intent. He was someone with martial power great enough to destroy the Head-Pressing Spirit in an instant.
“Heh...... This will be worth watching.”
But right now, the instructor looked like he would be far lighter than a feather if the two of them entered a weight contest.
In the end, the female assistant stepped in.
“Ah, move aside already! The evaluation is simple, and honestly, everything he said is right, so just do that.”
“......?”
It was not particularly helpful, so I wondered if there had been any need for her to step in.
“Even if you’re ready, the facility mechanism isn’t ready yet. Warm up on your own.”
The identity of the disharmony was revealed.
‘What I felt was right.’
It seemed this desolate building transformed into something when some kind of device was used.
Because of that, it could probably provide experiences similar to real combat in various environments.
‘This is stretching, right?’
To be honest, I had thought Jio would be stiff.
“Hut! Hut!”
However, his warm-up movements, accompanied by strange shouts, were impossible to even think about following.
They somehow looked like ballet movements, and despite how greasy they were, he was actually quite good, so I had nothing more to say.
At times like this, not looking was the best option.
‘I wonder what will come out.’
I was loosening my joints lightly when the instructor quietly approached me.
“Listen while you warm up. By the way, do you know the name of that scary-looking girl from yesterday?”
It seemed he intended to have the conversation we had not been able to have yesterday.
“As far as I know, she was the Head-Pressing Spirit.”
At my answer, the instructor’s brow narrowed. Judging by his reaction, he had originally intended to tell me.
“How do you know that?”
“I saw it in a book.”
As I said earlier, what had melted away the time of someone like me, who had not even attended school, was nothing but extensive reading.
‘I’m glad it wasn’t pointless.’
Since I could see Divine Beasts, perhaps it was only natural that I would take interest in myths and legends.
“You really are a strange one.”
I inwardly understood the instructor’s reaction.
Most of the Academy’s students probably had not enjoyed the luxury of reading books like I had.
‘It must’ve been hard for all of them.’
Now that I was experiencing it myself, I knew it even more clearly. They had lived while learning martial arts and magic in order to become Heroes.
In that process, they too would have learned knowledge about magical beasts, but it would be difficult to compare their depth with mine.
‘But this is really...... how should I put it? Peaceful.’
I knew an evaluation would be held soon. Since it would take place here, there would be no travel time either.
In other words, a battle could begin right away.
In that situation, this kind of question and answer might not suit the mood.
‘......It’s nice.’
Because of that, I could feel that the instructor was loosening the atmosphere in order to rule out the possibility that we would fail to bring out our true ability due to tension.
‘But why is he acting like that?’
I was looking forward while slowly warming up my joints, but at some point, the instructor had gone silent.
Having him stand there silently felt a little burdensome, so I had no choice but to look at him.
When my eyes met the instructor’s like that, I could only look back.
The instructor’s tone was somewhat lonely and serious.
“What were you thinking when you faced her?”
‘He was concerned about what happened yesterday.’
It felt like he was scolding me, asking why I had not run away, yet also like he was apologizing. It was a strange atmosphere.
I felt I should not answer lightly, so I replied seriously.
“Because I was the only one there.”
In that instant, the female assistant, who was standing a little away, smiled.
Of course, it was not as if I had gone there without any measures. If things had become dangerous, I had planned to call the Thunderbird, and the Great Sage Equaling Heaven had also been watching over me. But I could not say that, so I selected an answer befitting a Hero.
“Right. I understand.”
I had inwardly expected the instructor to ask how I had found that place, so I had prepared something in my own way, but the conversation ended there.
“Now, then.”
When the instructor opened with those words, Jio, who had been warming up, returned to my side with a triumphant air.
Because I had never had an opportunity for someone else to evaluate me coldly, my heart secretly beat faster.
‘This is a good opportunity.’
The instructor lightly placed his hand on a long pole connected to the floor and said,
“Everything that moves, other than you two, kill it or subdue it. The evaluation ends when the only things moving inside are the two of you.”
The unknown fear of not knowing what might be lurking transformed into curiosity inside me.
“Then I’ll see you later.”
Press!
The instructor pressed down on the crystal ball he had been touching with enough force to break it.
***
RUMBLE! BANG!
The building itself seemed to be alive and breathing. It also felt as if I had entered the belly of a magical beast.
The desolate interior transformed into a shopping arcade that might exist in any city.
‘They decorated it well.’
However, it was not an ordinary shopping arcade. I indirectly learned that ordinary did not exist for Heroes.
After all, there were huge holes here and there large enough for three people to fall into, and there were stairs that led directly from the first floor to the fifth floor.
‘It’ll take some time to adapt.’
In short, it was a large shopping complex reinterpreted as a modern labyrinth.
“Jio......”
At some point, Jio had disappeared from my side.
“......Oh.”
My voice also scattered here and there, as if it had gotten lost in the labyrinth.
‘To think they can even imitate the influence of a magical beast.’
The influence of a magical beast that had risen to the caliber of a demigod, which affected surrounding objects and nature, had also been recreated as a similar environment.
‘There’s enough possibility.’
Since the evaluation stage had been set up in such detail, a magical beast that suited a labyrinth fairly well naturally came to mind.
“Could it be a Minotaur?”
Moreover, if it were Instructor Wagner, he might really have captured and released an actual Minotaur.
If so, this was not a problem I could take lightly.
‘It is royal blood, after all.’
The Minotaur was undeniably the son of a royal family that had established a kingdom with the help of a Sea God. One rather peculiar point was that not a single drop of blood was shared between the king and the Minotaur.
In other words, the queen’s blood had mixed with the blood of someone else, and for it to become a bull-human-shaped magical beast, what kind of blood would......
“Let’s stop there.”
My head was spinning.
In every sense, it was not an easy opponent.