Today’s schedule mirrors the actual National Exchange Tournament.
The outdoor big screen was playing last year’s National Exchange Tournament footage, so you know they were serious about the reenactment.
Instead of a meal, I popped some calorie pills and headed to the training arena.
This was necessary due to a process called “steeping.”
Over three weeks, you can face up to eight matches, which leaves little time for recovering mana and aura.
So, all participants soak in a specially processed high-concentration mana spring right before the match to replenish their low mana and aura levels.
I heard it doesn’t hurt; it just feels like taking an ice-cold bath at Lake Alaska.
After changing clothes in the locker room, I wrapped a white towel around my head.
According to Tree Wiki, surprisingly, you sweat a lot.
[No Entry Except For Related Persons]
When I got to the magic recharge room in the basement of the stadium, a crowd of representatives from the national teams was mingling there.
The facility looked like a public bathhouse.
Everyone was dressed sharply in suits while I, in my ochre-colored jjimjilbang outfit, felt rather out of place.
“Na-me is here!”
“Oooh!”
“Come over here, Na-me!”
“She’s way smaller than I expected.”
“But according to overseas evaluations…”
“Gah! So cute…!”
Right before entering the spring, the coaching staff rattled off the precautions.
“If you feel any tightness in your chest or difficulty breathing, don’t hold back—let us know immediately. Please soak your hands and feet slowly first.”
I glanced at the bath.
It didn’t look that dangerous, did it?
It seemed no different from the puddles you often see during the rainy season in my past life.
“Wow, Na-me-na-me-na-me!”
A girl with long hair, who was already in the mana spring, strutted out, cutting through the water.
She was a cute girl with a delicate yet dog-like appearance.
“Hello.”
“Eek! I’m sorry, water got in my nose. You’re way cuter in person!”
Love Kim rubbed her sharp nose and gave me a pure smile.
Didn’t her parents say they were both combat mages?
Just by looking at her, she surprisingly seemed distant from any combat profession.
“Ugh, it’s cold.”
I dipped my big toe into the mana spring.
“Should I hold your hand?”
“No, it’s fine.”
“Ah, don’t be so modest, heehee.”
Love Kim sprang up.
“You’re… quite tall.”
“What? Hahaha! I’m a bit taller than others, just a smidgen?”
With a sturdy frame of 177cm, I had a baby-like face on top.
But it didn’t really convey an unbalanced feeling. Maybe it was just because I was pretty.
The broad, well-defined shoulders and the triangular back, with muscular arms, certainly screamed Magic Duel Competitor.
Emika also bulked up right before matches.
“Hey, Love Kim! Make sure to soak all the way up to your neck!”
At the coaches’ shout, Love Kim quickly submerged up to her upper lip.
Ignoring the warnings, I climbed the steps and entered the spring without needing any adaptation time.
The water wasn’t very deep, so standing upright felt just right.
“Na-me!”
Plop—
Turning around, Love Kim poked my left cheek with her finger.
“Gahh! You’re so cute! Your skin is all baby-soft!”
“I’m not that old, you know.”
“Then can I speak casually to you, Na-me?”
“Yeah, whatever you want.”
“If I keep touching you, I might get addicted. Heehee, so soft and squishy.”
“Your skin is nice too, Love.”
I pulled her hand away and said, “No, my skin can easily turn red, and I’ve got a few freckles under my eyes. I like Na-me’s mochi-like cheeks better. Wow, this is mochi-rido-huda; have you ever tried mochi-rido-huda, Na-me?”
“I don’t really know what that is.”
Her hand squished my cheek again.
I wondered if she truly didn’t pick up on the hints or if she was just pretending.
Fortunately, the General Manager of the national team, William Robinson, showed up and shooed away the immense giant fruit flies buzzing around us.
“Welcome to the training camp. I’m William Robinson, GM of the Korean National Team. Since you’re steeping, let’s skip the handshake.”
“I’m Na-me. I’m not fully joined yet.”
“As a player, you should have that kind of guts. I really like your first impression.”
“It’s like I’ve practically ruined your joint training plan, yet you don’t seem to bear any ill will?”
William Robinson paused his paperwork and turned to me.
“What’s wrong with a talented player taking an extra month of vacation?”
“Erm.”
“As long as Na-me is truly a talented player, that is. The truth will soon be revealed.”
Looks like he’s all set for today’s duel with gritted teeth.
Love Kim, with a big smile, started telling me about the training over the past month.
“I’m glad you came in late, Na-me. The training was hell, no, it was more like a nightmare… but all the coaches are super observant, so that’s a plus.”
“Is that so?”
“I know everything about you now. What your main hand and foot are, your average casting speed, accuracy, aura equilibrium ability, and even your tactical decision-making preferences. If I tell you one thing, Na-me always casts with the left hand when holding a sword, right? It’s always more efficient that way.”
“You’ve really done your homework. It’s important to know your opponent, but don’t get too fixated on just that.”
“I can do that. Honestly, in terms of objective power levels, I’m ahead of you Na-me. So reducing variables step by step is key to boosting the winning rate.”
“On what basis did you determine objective power levels?”
“What else? Of course, the Aura Heart… Didn’t Na-me know those basic things? After the duel, I’ll teach you everything I learned.”
“Heh, well, first you need to beat me. Good luck.”
Looks like I’ve got another friend who seems to think highly of themselves.
Where are these hilarious kids coming from?
I almost want to create a fake god to express my gratitude.
After Love Kim finished steeping, she went out.
With all the coaches gone, the magic recharge room fell silent.
So that’s what it means to be pampered from head to toe.
I personally couldn’t handle that level of burden.
As time went on, sweat started pouring down my face.
Mana was filling up my Aura Heart, and my body began reacting with heat.
I circulated the mana through the seven sections of my Aura Heart, steadily storing energy.
An hour passed,
two hours,
and when it reached two hours and fifty minutes, a new field of vision opened up.
It was clear as day, just like when I used the Demon King’s Horn; the Mana Stream was vividly visible to me now.
The door to the recharge room opened, and Love Kim returned from lunch.
“Are you still here? What are you going to do if you overcharge! Wait a second; I’ll go get the coaches!”
Talk about being a busybody!
In any case, the excess mana would just be gnawed away by the erosion, so it’s no biggie.
I stepped out of the spring and wrung out my hair that soaked up the water.
My fingers and toes were all wrinkly now.
[Arrogance: Hibris]
I tried to manipulate the aura of erosion, but Hibris’s effects still didn’t activate.
Clearly, the main body remains inside me, but has the initiative gone elsewhere?
This quantum mechanics mystery is baffling.
“It’s fine, Love. I’m used to overcharging.”
*
Unlike Love Kim, who devoured Nutella, bananas, and honey rice cakes, I skipped lunch.
It was personally difficult for me to focus when my stomach is too full while fighting.
“From today, the duels will be best out of three. Na-me.”
“Yes, go ahead.”
“While I won’t strip you of your national qualifications, if you lose this match, you’ll have to accept our training without complaint. Understood?”
“Whatever conditions you add don’t matter to me.”
“And Love Kim. If you win this match, I’ll extend the rental period for the Armed Artifact not until the National Exchange Tournament, but until you become an adult, regardless of your future grades.”
“Yes! That’s awesome! A one-of-a-kind limited edition made by Leviev!”
“Wait a sec, didn’t we cover that in an article earlier—”
“Na-me!”
The General Manager shouted loudly.
“What?”
“Enough talk, just take the match seriously. When it comes to a duel, think of your opponent as a scoundrel who sold out his country! Practice as if it’s real, and real as if it’s practice!”
“GM, that’s unfair! Don’t call me Lee Wan-yong!”
“Haha…”
Love Kim was totally clueless.
Little did she know, the UK rejected that idea and sent it back.
Before entering the duel arena, she patted my shoulder and struck a fighting pose.
“Let’s have a great match! I won’t go easy on you just because you’re younger than me!”
“I was planning to go easy a bit, but now I can’t possibly!”
“Gahahaha! So cute!”
“Whoa, whoa! Stop pinching my cheeks! That’s against the rules before even the fight starts, isn’t it?”
I’ll just let it slide. She is a good kid.
She might not be aware of etiquette and has no clue about the circumstances.
“Fifteen minutes, ten minutes rest, then fifteen minutes, proceeding under hand-free rules. If there are no objections, let’s head to our designated positions.”
Love Kim went to Area A, and I stepped fifty steps to set up in Area B.
It was roughly the distance between first and second bases in baseball.
Suddenly, the lid on the floor opened up, and the barrier crystal sphere popped up.
I touched it, charging the barrier.
Members of the audience started gathering in the stands.
One of them was Park Tae-seok, the principal of Aspen Academy in Busan, who I had met once before.
The crystal sphere sank into the ground.
Love Kim prepared her Aura Heart.
The blood-red mana thrashed around in her abdomen.
What kind of material is stored in that aura? How powerful could it be?
How would she react when a kid she thought was a genius brutally stamps her down?
I was excited about the duels to unfold and exhaled with a euphoric breath.
“Man, I’m going insane.”
*
During the ten-second countdown, Na-me stood completely still for five seconds.
Sometimes, kids not used to dueling are so nervous they can’t even hear the beep sounds.
But Love thought Na-me was definitely not that kind of kid.
“How dare you start warming up late with me right in front of you? Is this for real, Na-me? I didn’t realize it was so annoying until it was my turn!”
Love Kim gritted her teeth.
She had heard how critical the early game was from the training coaches, pounding it into her ears.
She was expecting a fierce battle on even grounds.
But Na-me’s provocation, giving her a handicap from the start, threw a wrench into her plans.
The innocent and clueless expression on Na-me’s face sparked inner fury.
“This is a duel, a duel, a duel!”
Having received a handicap, she needed to win overwhelmingly.
[2]
[1]
[Unique Magic: Roseus Pantera]
Vrrrrrrrrr!
A crimson beam of mana shot towards Na-me.
The grass where the beam passed through was scorched black, and embers crackled.
[Cast: Total Reflection]
With a simple total reflection spell, Na-me redirected the beam back at 180 degrees.
But that was precisely the intended opening of Roseus Pantera.
As Na-me absorbed the mana of the total reflection magic circle, the beam increased in power twofold as it flowed into her.
With the absorbed mana, she expelled it through her hands and feet, creating a powerful local field.
[Delayed Casting: @@#&%]
[Delayed Casting: @##@$##]
Love secretly trapped two spells and charged in for close combat.
“Gahhh!”
The rose-tinted mana on her hands transformed into the appropriate weapon at the moment.
She swung the mace mercilessly towards Na-me’s head.
BAM-BAM-BAM!
Na-me’s body, twisting her arms in an X shape to block, was pushed back significantly.
It didn’t inflict as much damage as expected, but it dealt meaningful harm to the barrier.
Love dashed forward to close the five-meter gap quickly.
Then, Na-me, who had been pushed back, strangely bent her body and sprung forward like a spring, defying the laws of physics.
[Creation: Neodymium]
[Cast: Magnetize – Roseus Pantera]
What an unbelievable situation unfolded as the unique magic circle turned into a powerful magnet.
“This is insane…! What the heck?”
Swearing came out involuntarily.
The two girls’ bodies were increasingly drawn to the center.
[Cast: Forge – Lance]
Na-me pulled out a long, sharp spear from the ground.
An uncontrollable smile spread across the small girl’s face.
“If you don’t dodge, you’re gonna get hurt!”
