Back at the barrier, a proctor who had not been there before stood on the inside.
‘I almost ended up late.’
The incoming students’ attention was directed toward the sky, which was close to a natural disaster, so it was fair to say I was outside their notice.
“Can I try?”
The proctor, who had been looking up at the sky, heard me and checked his wristwatch.
“Regardless of the result, I commend your courage.”
Everyone except me was looking at the strange thundercloud draped across the sky, so I kept my sense of alienation as company.
Just as I was about to raise the feather toward the barrier, for some reason, the moment when the Heavenly Hound had passed its Authority down to me flashed through my mind.
‘Will it happen this time too?’
But even the fact that I could cross the barrier meant I had received help from the Thunderbird.
Ending that pleasant imagining, I raised the feather.
CRACKLE!
With nothing more than the feather being raised, the lightning-attribute mana reacted violently.
It looked as if the mana were showing endless courtship to the Thunderbird like a puppy that had recognized its owner.
“This time it’s over here!”
“Do you know who he is?”
Unintentionally, I stole everyone’s attention from the sky, but I did not care.
‘If you were going to be like this, why did you act so calm......?’
When we spoke, the Thunderbird had acted as if she had let everything go, but though it was rude to say about a Divine Beast, she had one hell of a temper.
Now, at the feather’s desire to break free from my hand, I quietly let it go.
‘Take care of this.’
Toward the feather, which floated up slowly as if time had stopped, the lightning-attribute mana broke free from the barrier and burst with sounds of tearing air in every direction.
BOOM, BOOM, BOOM, BOOM!
Each strand was like a sharp greatsword.
“What...... is this?”
The sunglasses of the proctor watching the sight from up close slid downward.
‘Not yet.’
It was certainly threatening even now, but because I knew it was only the preparatory stage, it did not feel frightening.
And from our short conversation and the feather, I had grasped the Thunderbird’s temperament to some extent, so I knew this much was just her being cute.
The lightning-attribute mana that had escaped the barrier completely then surged toward the feather in order.
“Student...... no!”
Up to this point, it was good, but even though the feather had floated up, I had overlooked that it was still right next to me.
SNAP!
The moment the proctor reached his hand toward me from inside the barrier, one strand of mana rushed toward me like one of those disobedient kids every group had one or two of.
“No......!”
The proctor slowly clenched the hand he had stretched toward me. In an instant, he had treated me like a dead man.
However.
‘This...... is more than I expected.’
There was one thing the proctor did not know. No, that everyone did not know.
‘It might actually feel a little cool.’
That was the fact that my mom was the type to hit the person beside her when she laughed.
Please do not underestimate the touch of Mom, who tore magical beasts apart left and right.
“I’m okay!”
When I told the proctor my condition, he repeatedly rubbed his forehead with the hand he had clenched.
“What are you doing, being so reckless? Keep it reasonable!”
“......?”
Keep what reasonable, ah......
Come to think of it, even if it was a feather, it was no different from the Thunderbird, so it seemed they could not see it.
The gazes of the others, which had all been arrogant, had also changed a little.
‘But...... won’t this make it look like I’m throwing a damn fit for no reason?’
That concern suddenly occurred to me.
I had never experienced school life before, and this was my first time meeting people my age, so I had been looking forward to it quite a bit.
‘I was trying to get along.’
But at this rate, my first impression would not be very good.
As if unaware of how I felt, the thunder, which had become irregular at some point, began to strike heaven and earth.
And......
‘Right, hurry up and wake up.’
That resounding, violent sound was like a signal flare announcing that the Thunderbird would soar again.
“......Wait, this is something even I-.”
However, a mere human could not avoid the backlash that came with the Thunderbird’s manifestation.
***
Fortunately, my fingertips and toes were tingling, but judging by the fact that I could move, it seemed I was not dead.
“What happened?”
The last thing I had seen was a massive lightning strike covering the area. The white space now dominating my surroundings seemed to be in the same vein.
“To think...... I would truly receive help from a human.”
Soon, a woman’s husky tone, despite its beautiful voice, echoed as if ruling the space.
“I told you we’d meet again, didn’t I?”
Knowing that the owner of the voice was the Thunderbird, I did not make a fuss.
“But why has this insolent brat been talking down to me since earlier?!”
She was throwing a temper, but the authority had drained clean out of the Thunderbird’s tone.
“Doesn’t it feel friendly?”
The truth was, I had not meant to speak casually to her from the beginning, but the problem was that the Divine Beasts I had spoken with until now had been cute, like the Heavenly Hound.
So my casual speech was close to a habit, and it would be strange to take it back now.
“Well, fine.”
Fortunately, though the Thunderbird seemed bewildered, she did not appear to take issue with it.
‘......Now what?’
The Thunderbird’s attitude changed in an instant. Now, she had regained the authority of a Divine Beast.
“......”
That gaze, as if she were observing my soul, was deeply violent.
Without any explanation, the Thunderbird raised the hammer she held in her right hand with a fierce air.
“Swallow the screams of the worthless.”
THOOM-!
The hammer had clearly been aimed at empty air, but a roar loud enough to make my bones tingle filled the space.
A strange ringing lingered in my ears.
‘Couldn’t she explain something before doing this?’
There was no helping it. Divine Beasts were always unkind to humans. I thought the reason was that they had never communicated with humans before, so they were awkward.
What the Thunderbird raised next was a strange sickle shaped like a question mark.
“Carve away the flesh of the worthless.”
FLASH-!
Behind the sickle that slashed diagonally downward, lightning energy followed like a skein of thread.
“......”
For a moment, I fell into thought.
‘Should I clap or something?’
This was also my first time meeting a Divine Beast of such high caliber, so I did not know how to react.
Fortunately, the Thunderbird spoke in a lightened tone and created a more comfortable atmosphere.
“I would like to pass something down to you, but with your current body, it would be impossible. Therefore, someday, when you need my aid, call me.”
It was difficult to follow the flow of the conversation. However, I did not bother asking.
‘Looks like it’s about time for her to go.’
As I said earlier, Divine Beasts were unkind to humans.
As expected, as if every moment had been an illusion, the flash of light that had covered the area soon disappeared along with the Thunderbird.
‘They’re all so shy.’
I thought the Thunderbird had left in a hurry because saying thank you made her embarrassed.
“Huh?”
But ironically, judging by the incoming students and the proctor around me, my location did not seem to have changed, yet for some reason, snow was falling from the sky.
Everyone was looking at the elegant snowflakes.
“......Oh no.”
I sighed and squeezed my eyes shut.
Because the beautiful sentiment of a feast of heavy snow on a warm day was not allowed to me.
‘I didn’t think it would shatter.’
The snowflakes that had all been beautiful were, unfortunately, fragments of the barrier.
“......Ha, hahahaha!”
The proctor received the fragments in both hands with empty eyes.
‘It’ll look like I caused an accident.’
I had felt special because only I could perceive Divine Beasts, but in this moment, all I felt was awkwardness.
To everyone else, it would look as if I had thrown a fit and smashed the barrier apart.
I carefully asked the proctor, who was still receiving fragments with both hands.
“Do I maybe have to compensate......?”
Considering the spell formula that had composed the barrier, and even from the eyes of someone like me who knew nothing, the lightning-attribute mana had been quite pure.
At my question, the proctor covered his empty gaze with his sunglasses.
“Forget it...... But this is quite a mess.”
I did not need the proctor’s explanation. Even a stray mutt passing by would know at once that the entrance screening standard had disappeared.
In addition, it was difficult to say that the number of incoming students who had yet to challenge it was small.
“The barrier was the screening standard, right......?”
The pitiful tone of an incoming student waiting behind me pinched my ears.
“It was. It isn’t anymore.”
I quietly cleared my throat.
“......Ahem.”
Clack! Clack!
The proctor approached me, stepping on the fragments rolling across the ground.
“Name?”
“I’m Lee Wonwoo.”
“You’re the first guy to smash the barrier apart. ......The first. Yes, that’s right. I’m telling you kids, it’s a first.”
At any rate, I could not hear it very well.
‘This is what you call a positive function.’
Right now, I simply thought it was fortunate that the proctor was wearing sunglasses.
He was clearly staring holes through me, but my heart felt much more at ease.
“Phew...... Lee Wonwoo? Student, you pass. The rest of the screening will be put on hold. Everyone come in for now. Once the higher-ups give their opinion, I will announce it separately.”
Not much had gone as expected.
However, the word pass was the first step of the Hero who would trample through all of this and move forward.
***
The place I arrived at under the proctor’s guidance was the dormitory lounge. It was not an ordinary structure.
Even the small furnishings held mana, so it felt as if I were entrusting my body to mana’s embrace.
‘I don’t need to go on a separate overseas trip.’
I was inwardly impressed, but I had already stood out as much as one could. If I acted like a country bumpkin here, I would stand out even more.
So I looked around while pretending to be as unfazed as possible.
“Nice to meet you. Your name’s Wonwoo, right?”
“If it’s okay, can you tell us what kind of magic that was? No, more importantly, what type are you?”
While that was happening, three or four incoming students, now students, approached me in an instant.
“......Type?”
I wanted to talk too, but there was the problem that I could not explain it.
Even if I told them the truth, they would not believe me.
-I just brought over a Divine Beast feather that had fallen!
‘Who’d believe that?’
Even if it were me, I would quietly distance myself while pretending not to show it.
“Forget it. Drop it.”
“But I wonder if he really needed to go that far over some nothing barrier.”
Within the attention, there were also kids whose gazes carried hostility. However, everyone here was no ordinary person.
“It’s true that he’s amazing.”
Since everyone had overcome the barrier, they knew destroying it could never have been easy.
‘Let’s breathe a little first.’
Other than my parents, I had always been alone, so this kind of attention was unfamiliar. I barely slipped out and naturally sought out a slightly secluded spot.
“Hi!”
“Uh, yeah.”
Since it had come to this, there was no helping it. I had no choice but to close my eyes myself and create my own world.
‘By the way, she said she’d come if I called, right?’
The Thunderbird had said that someday, when the time came, I should call her. However, the method of calling her was also homework I would have to figure out from now on.
‘What’s with this?’
But my forearm had been bothering me for a while. It was hard to think I had become sensitive because of all the attention I was receiving.
“......?”
The moment I rolled up my left sleeve, my head tilted to the side on its own.
‘That’s the Thunderbird, right? It looks different like this.’
A bluish-gray Thunderbird mark was engraved on my arm.
Coincidentally, it was above the cute mark that had formed when I received Authority from the Heavenly Hound as a child.
‘She acted like she wasn’t going to give it to me.’
This meant the Thunderbird had passed her Authority down to me in the form of a special ability.
In this way, Divine Beasts were clear about favors and grudges.
‘What was she trying to tell me?’
One question was that, unlike the Heavenly Hound’s mark, the Thunderbird’s mark was empty inside, all shell and no filling.
Suddenly, I recalled the Thunderbird’s words that I was not ready.
‘Ah, does she mean I need to reach the proper caliber?’
I was not certain, but I instinctively felt that someday, if I filled this unstable mark, I would be able to handle her special ability.
“......This’ll be fun.”
It would be a pleasure solely for me. After all, even this mark would not be visible to anyone else.
“That guy’s carrying something quite precious, isn’t he?!”
However, as if informing me that my thought was shallow, an obnoxious tone reached my ears.
‘......Did I mishear?’
Even when I looked around, nothing stood out especially. Since I had been caught up in the Thunderbird’s resurrection, there was a possibility that my physical condition was not good.
“Heh heh! Stupid bastard.”
However, at that obnoxious voice insulting me again, I immediately turned my gaze.
‘Her......?’
What entered my field of vision was a blonde female student who resembled a reed field draped in sunlight.
Even with my eyes closed, she would still be a foreigner, and she was pretty enough that people would turn to look at her while passing by.
“......”
But her complexion was pale, and the aura I sensed indirectly was unstable.
‘No. There’s no way.’
Still, it made no sense. The voice I heard had clearly been male, and it had been terribly obnoxious and thin.
“What are you looking at, you bastard? Heh heh!”
The voice I heard again came from her. Fortunately, it was not the female student speaking.
‘Is she possessed by something?’
In any case, it was probably not a being of the Demonic. The Academy would not be that lax.
That did not mean it seemed to be a Divine Beast either. There was no way I would fail to sense their unique aura.
In that case.
‘Let’s see your face, you.’
When I activated the Heavenly Hound’s special ability, the bewitching screen finally disappeared.
‘......This just feels unpleasant.’
All I could do was make as sour an expression as possible.
What I saw was something with the head of a horse and a human form below that.
‘Well, would you look at that.’
Before I could even identify what it was, the female student’s frosty gaze and sharp voice flew toward me as if slapping my cheek.
“What are you looking at? You’ve been staring at me for a while.”
“......”
This, too, was a difficult problem.
After all, I could not say that a horse-headed human was riding on her shoulder.