Ivan rolled his eyes back, drool running from his mouth as he lost consciousness.
Shuren looked down at him and thought inwardly.
‘His Rings probably can't be restored anymore.’
In Ivan's current state, even if a Divine Physician came, restoring him to how he had been before would be difficult.
Some people would say Shuren had gone too far.
But Ivan had been the one who started the fight.
And even if Shuren had lost, Ivan would have tried to break his Rings.
‘We simply fought under equal conditions.’
Meanwhile, the instructor stared at Shuren with a horrified expression.
He had expected Ivan to suffer internal injuries that would leave him bedridden for a few months at most.
He had not expected Shuren to completely destroy his Mana Rings.
The incident had grown so severe that the instructor struggled to process what had happened.
‘How did he even do that?’
The instructor could not understand it.
Mana Rings were not something that could be destroyed so easily.
One had to completely overpower the opponent, and that required a clear difference in skill.
Ivan might have had a terrible personality, but his ability as a trainee was genuine.
He had originally ranked first among his entire class.
Yet Shuren had shattered the Rings of someone like that?
The instructor could not even estimate Shuren's true level of strength.
‘Ah! This isn't the time for that!’
The instructor snapped back to his senses.
There was no time to stand around being shocked.
‘This is fucked!’
Ivan might have had a rotten personality, but he was still indisputably a direct-line Pellantz.
And now the Mana Rings of a direct-line child had been destroyed.
That alone was serious enough.
But the person responsible was Shuren, the child already receiving so much attention.
The instructor wanted to tear his hair out.
“Shuren! I clearly told you to stop, did I not?!”
He shouted furiously at Shuren.
“How could you disobey an instructor's order?”
“Instructor. It was simply something that happened during the duel.”
Shuren answered as though it were no big deal.
The instructor tried to respond, but Shuren continued speaking before he could interrupt.
“Disgracefully, Ivan refused to accept his defeat and used a technique meant to threaten my life. I merely counterattacked in self-defense.”
The instructor found himself at a loss for words.
Shuren was not wrong.
“Compared to my life, destroying his Mana Rings seems rather mild.”
The instructor had nothing to say.
‘He hasn't even been enrolled for long, yet he already knows the rules inside and out.’
Once he calmed down, the instructor reconsidered the incident.
‘If I dig into this deeply, a large part of the blame falls on my own poor supervision.’
Ivan had already failed once and was someone who required special attention.
If the instructor had intervened more actively and ended the duel sooner, things might never have escalated this far.
One could even say this result had occurred because the instructor's intervention came too late.
“This happened because Ivan's reckless actions kept piling up until they finally exploded. The higher-ups will see it that way too, so please do not worry too much.”
“R-right.”
The instructor nodded.
Shuren's attempt to reassure him was now making him wonder which of them was supposed to be the trainee and which was the instructor.
Shuren looked away from him and scanned the surroundings.
‘There he is.’
His gaze landed on Neville, who had sided with Ivan.
“When Ivan wakes up, tell him this. A loss is a loss, so don't forget to hand over the Elixir.”
“Y-yeah…….”
“And tell him not to think about backing out. Everyone here witnessed the duel. If he refuses to honor it, I'll have him brought before the Judicial Tribunal.”
Neville nodded vigorously.
As the name suggested, the Judicial Tribunal was the institution responsible for passing judgment within the Pellantz main family.
If someone was brought before it, the party at fault would be punished.
It did not matter whether they were direct line or the direct line's grandfather.
No one could escape it.
“And Jake got pretty badly hurt too. You there, you, and you.”
Shuren pointed at several trainees.
“Can you take him to the infirmary?”
“Y-yeah…….”
The trainees quickly moved to carry Jake away.
They felt as though something terrible might happen if they disobeyed Shuren.
The duel left the atmosphere in the training hall awkward.
The instructor was in no position to continue class either, since he had to deal with the aftermath.
‘Looks like there won't be any class today.’
After reaching that conclusion, Shuren left the training hall and headed toward the dormitory.
‘Whoa.’
His body suddenly staggered.
He barely regained his balance and straightened himself.
‘I pushed myself a little too hard.’
Now that the duel was over, everything he had forgotten came rushing back.
Dizziness.
Muscle pain.
The pain in his Mana Circuits caused by the Calamity Flame.
‘This is the first time I've gone through this much in this life.’
Shuren felt bitter.
In his previous life, he had hated pain.
Now, he almost welcomed it.
Pain was proof that he was growing.
It was also proof that he was still alive.
His hatred for the Pellantz Family was strong enough to let him endure all of it.
‘I'll feel better after some rest.’
With that thought, Shuren entered the dormitory.
***
Just as Shuren expected, the day's classes were changed to self-directed training because the instructor had to deal with the aftermath of the duel.
Shuren rested alone in his room while quietly regulating his Mana Circuits.
Knock, knock.
That evening—
Jake came to Shuren's room.
“What is it?”
At the question, Jake hesitated for a moment before speaking.
“Th-thanks for today.”
Jake was so unaccustomed to expressing gratitude that he practically squirmed in place.
“If it were me, I would've waited for Ivan to wear himself down instead of stepping into the duel halfway through. But you didn't do that because you were thinking about me, right?”
Jake's guess was correct.
‘Haah. Damn loyalty.’
Shuren shrugged.
“If you're that grateful, hand over your Cyanberry Elixir to me too.”
“Ah…… I don't get those anymore.”
“Right. Your family cut you off.”
Jake's expression immediately darkened.
‘It was just a joke. Look at his face.’
Shuren waved his hand dismissively.
“Forget it. It's not like I did it because I wanted something from you. That bastard just pissed me off, so I paid him back.”
“R-really?”
Jake's expression brightened again.
“But how did you end up fighting Ivan in the first place?”
At Shuren's question, Jake explained what had happened.
He told Shuren about the events from that dawn.
“So that's what happened.”
After hearing the whole story, Shuren nodded.
In short, Jake had challenged Ivan to a duel so Shuren would not be disturbed.
Jake had done something rather admirable.
‘That's more like it. Makes training him worthwhile.’
Strictly speaking, theirs was still a transactional relationship in which Shuren trained Jake in exchange for information.
Even so, praise was deserved when praise was due.
“But will you really be okay? You destroyed his Mana Rings…….”
Jake was worried.
He had been unconscious during the height of Shuren and Ivan's duel, so he had not known what happened.
But after waking and learning about the outcome, he realized how serious it was.
“Ivan was held back after destroying someone's Mana Ring too. But you're a new trainee, Shuren, and your opponent was direct line. I don't know what kind of punishment they'll give you.”
“Why go out of your way to worry? It was a fair duel in the first place.”
“But you destroyed his Mana Rings.”
“That was self-defense. Anyone could see the duel was already over, and that bastard charged at me trying to kill me.”
There was nothing wrong with what Shuren said.
The problem was that his opponent had been a direct-line Pellantz.
“Ivan is direct line. So Pellantz will probably try to punish you somehow. I know because I'm direct line myself.”
Ironically, being cast aside by his family had allowed Jake to understand how the main family operated more clearly.
‘Of course, I've already thought about what Jake is saying.’
The main family probably would not let this incident pass quietly.
But Shuren was actually hoping they would react.
Thanks to the Family Head, Shuren was already receiving as much attention as he possibly could.
Ordinary achievements would make it difficult to score points with the upper ranks of Pellantz.
An incident of this magnitude was necessary to firmly imprint his existence in their minds.
From that perspective, this incident had been a success for Shuren.
“I expected it. If they want to punish me, let them.”
Shuren did not bother explaining what he was thinking.
‘He really is relaxed because he's strong. His nerve is incredible. Is this what being cool looks like……?’
Meanwhile, Jake interpreted Shuren's attitude however suited him.
***
The next day.
Shuren entered the training hall full of anticipation.
‘What kind of punishment will they give me?’
He even hummed to himself.
Even while training, punishment was all he thought about.
Of course, he was not happy about being punished itself.
But the severity of the punishment would represent how much attention the Pellantz higher-ups were paying him.
By the training center's rules, Shuren had done nothing wrong.
The only issue was that he had seriously harmed a direct-line child.
So if Shuren was punished, it would effectively be punishment for offending those above him.
For a punishment to come down, someone higher up would have to ignore the training center rules and interfere.
And the harsher the punishment, the higher within Pellantz the person giving that order would likely be.
‘Considering how serious the matter is, Instructor should tell me about it sometime today.’
Speak of the tiger and it appears.
The instructor entered the training hall immediately afterward.
“Instructor, you're here.”
Shuren approached and greeted him warmly.
“You look exhausted.”
Just as Shuren said, the instructor's complexion was darker than usual, the skin beneath his eyes sagged, and his hair had not been properly arranged.
“I've been dragged around everywhere because of someone.”
That someone obviously meant Shuren.
‘Still, he doesn't seem to hold a grudge against me.’
The instructor's complaint was purely about his increased workload, not directed at Shuren personally.
In fact, Instructor Baran and the other instructors were already sick to death of Ivan's reckless behavior.
Since Shuren had finally dealt Ivan a blow, they were secretly rather satisfied.
“And this.”
The instructor took out something wrapped in packaging.
“This is the payment for the duel, sent by Ivan's side.”
“Good. They sent it quickly.”
Shuren grinned as he accepted the Cyanberry Elixir.
“And your punishment has been decided.”
At last, the instructor said what Shuren had been waiting to hear.
Shuren's ears practically perked up in anticipation.
“Normally, a Disciplinary Committee would have been convened and you would've been summoned. This time, though, the ruling was made without even giving you a chance to defend yourself.”
‘What a complete mess.’
That was what Shuren thought inwardly.
But if anything, he liked it.
It was proof that the Pellantz higher-ups were pressuring the process because their interest in him had increased.
“What was the ruling?”
“Three days of disciplinary confinement.”
“What?”
The fact that disciplinary proceedings had been opened and confinement imposed at all was significant.
But considering what Shuren had done, the punishment itself was extremely minor.
“Originally, they were going to hold you back for three years.”
Three years was severe.
It was also roughly what Shuren had expected.
He would have had to take classes with the new trainees every year, repeating the same program three times no matter how good his results were.
‘I was planning to use the fact that I'd be held back anyway to spend all three years beating the hell out of every incoming batch my way as a protest.’
But instead, he had received only three days of confinement.
“Why was the ruling changed?”
“I do not know that either. I cannot tell you the reason, but it looks as though someone above interfered.”
The instructor shook his head.
“Anyway, keep that in mind and stay quiet during your confinement.”
“……Understood.”
Shuren nodded and returned to the dormitory.
‘Things didn't go the way I expected.’
Still, judging from the instructor's words, the higher ranks of Pellantz were undoubtedly watching him.
‘Should I consider this enough to have made an impression?’
Shuren scratched his head.
When he entered his room in the dormitory, he noticed something unfamiliar sitting on the desk.
‘A piece of paper?’
He did not remember leaving it there.
Shuren picked it up.
A moment later, he smiled.
‘Looks like I succeeded after all.’
It was an invitation from the Pellantz Family Head.