(Arin's POV)
The first thing that greeted my consciousness was not agonizing pain, but a very distinct aroma.
The sharp, stinging smell of seventy percent alcohol mixed with the faint scent of lime from floor cleaner, and a hint of a familiar sweet aroma: apples.
My eyelids felt incredibly heavy, as if two copper coins were glued onto them with strong superglue. I forced them open slowly, blinking a few times to dispel the white fog blocking my vision.
The second thing I realized was a yellowish water stain on the ceiling shaped like a limping rabbit.
I sighed a long and deep breath.
"Hello again, Limping Rabbit," I greeted inwardly. "We meet again in the same place."
I had stared at that rabbit stain dozens of times over these two semesters. The Academy Infirmary was like a second home to me. This was my regular VVIP room. I felt I should start paying rent or at least ask them to hang my portrait on the wall as "Customer of the Month."
However, something was different this time. Usually, I woke up in quiet silence or accompanied by the monotonous sound of Edna's scolding. But today, the air in this room felt dense and suffocating. It felt heavy, as if a thunderstorm were trapped and ready to explode within these four white walls.
"Do you realize what you did, Crazy Old Man?!"
That loud shout made me jump in shock on the bed.
It was Karim's voice. The instructor usually stiff, disciplined, and speaking only when necessary now sounded hysterical like a market trader whose stall was forcibly evicted by security officers.
"You almost killed him! You almost destroyed our biggest investment! If his spine breaks, who will produce the antibiotics?! Who will pay my daughter's tuition installments?!"
"Calm down, Karim. The vein on your forehead is about to burst," a female voice chimed in with a cold and sharp tone. It was Doctor Edna. "But Karim is right. Medically, what you did was malpractice, Brook. You used a Gravity Domain on a student without mana. That is tantamount to dropping a piano on a chicken egg."
I tried to turn my head to the side. My neck felt stiff, but strangely not painful.
The scene beside my bed was truly absurd and ridiculous.
Instructor Karim was standing with a beet-red face, his hands clenched tightly at his sides, glaring wildly at the corner of the room. Beside him, Doctor Edna crossed her arms, tapping her foot on the floor with a fast rhythm indicating she was ready to inject someone with a high dose of rat poison.
And in the corner of the room, sitting on a small wooden chair that looked too small for his wide body, was Instructor Brook.
The Dwarf Knight seemed completely indifferent to the two people judging him. He was peeling a green apple with his large dagger that might have been used to behead Orcs.
Crunch.
Brook bit a piece of the apple with a crisp and loud sound, deliberately cutting off Karim's fiery scolding.
"So noisy," muttered Brook with a mouth full of chewing. "You two squawk like chickens."
"Chickens?!" Karim glared angrily, his neck veins bulging thickly. "I am the Head of Security Logistics for Rhyms Factory! And that boy lying in a coma is the Main Factory! You broke our money printing machine, Shorty!"
"And I am the doctor!" Edna chimed in, adjusting her glasses with an aggressive movement. "I am the one who has to sew him up every time you break him! You think surgical thread is free?!"
I cleared my throat softly to attract their attention. "Ahem."
Instantly, the commotion stopped completely. Three pairs of eyes turned simultaneously toward my bed.
"Oh, the Sleeping Beauty has woken from his dream," commented Edna flatly, though I saw her shoulders drop slightly in relief. She walked closer, placing the back of her hand on my forehead with an efficient but slightly rough movement. "Temperature normal. Pupils responsive. You are still alive, Arin."
I tried to get up and sit leaning back. Surprisingly, my body felt very light. No stinging pain, no bones shifted from their places. Just the usual soreness of heavy exercise. Yet, my last memory was the sensation of a multi-story building dropped on me by the pressure of Brook's axe.
"What actually happened?" I asked with a hoarse voice. "Why am I not... shattered to pieces?"
"That is a good question," snapped Karim quickly, pointing at Brook with a trembling index finger. "Ask that crazy instructor of yours. He carried you here like a sack of rice after knocking you out in the arena."
Brook did not answer the question. He just threw his apple core into the trash bin across the room.
Plop.
Perfect shot.
He stood up, walking toward my bed with steady heavy steps. His bearded face showed not a shred of guilt. He looked me up and down, his sharp eyes seemingly scanning every inch of my body looking for damage.
"You fainted," said Brook flatly.
"I realized that, Sir," I answered politely.
"You fainted after three seconds of withstanding my attack," he continued explaining. "Your feet were planted into the stone floor. Blood vessels in your eyes burst due to pressure. Your brain shook violently inside the skull."
I swallowed saliva that felt dry. The description sounded very terrifying. "So... why do I feel healthy now?"
"Because of money," answered Edna curtly from beside the bed.
I looked at her confusedly. "Huh?"
Edna picked up an empty crystal bottle from the bedside table and shook it in front of my face.
"Medium Grade Regeneration Elixir. Made by Royal Alchemists. This thing accelerates bone and muscle cell regeneration a hundred times in a matter of hours. Zero side effects, instant efficacy."
My eyes widened. I knew the price of that item on the market.
"Medium Grade?! That costs five hundred gold coins on the black market!" I shrieked in horror. My stingy instinct immediately took control. "Who paid for this?! Don't say cut from my shares! I am saving to buy new equipment!"
Edna snorted in amusement seeing my panicked reaction about money. "You miser. Calm down, Mr. CEO. Not from your pocket, and not from my thin hospital budget."
Edna pointed at Brook with her chin.
"He paid. Of course, taken from his personal savings."
I was speechless. My mouth opened slightly in shock.
Five hundred gold. That was probably an instructor's salary for a whole year. Brook, who always looked simple and indifferent to luxury, had just spent his savings just to heal me overnight.
"Instructor..." my voice weakened. "Why did you do that?"
Brook crossed his arms, his biceps tensing under his black shirt. He did not look at me, but stared at the window behind me with a distant gaze.
"I cracked your bones, so I fixed them. That is responsibility," he answered stiffly. "Besides, I cannot train a student paralyzed in a wheelchair."
"But five hundred gold is a lot..."
"Shut up, Kid. That is just useless shiny metal," cut Brook roughly. He finally looked into my eyes. His gaze was serious, no more playing around. "What is more important is... you didn't die foolishly."
"Yes, thanks to that expensive medicine," sneered Karim who was already sitting on the sofa, massaging his throbbing forehead.
"No!" snapped Brook loudly, making Karim jump in surprise on his sofa.
Brook brought his face close to mine. His gravity aura leaked a little, making the air around the bed feel heavy instantly. Edna took a step back instinctively due to pressure.
"The medicine healed the damage, Arin. But the medicine did not prevent you from becoming pulp when my axe descended," growled Brook low. "Do you realize what you did this afternoon in the arena?"
I recalled the event. "I... withstood your attack, Sir. Using Senior Aura and Piston Heart."
"You withstood a Gravity Domain," corrected Brook sharply. "Do you know what happens to an ordinary iron sword if it enters my attack radius when I am serious? The sword bends before touching my skin. Ordinary human bones would crush just from the compressed air pressure."
Brook pointed to my chest with his hard index finger.
"But you... you withstood it. Three full seconds. You took a direct hit from a Tier Four Master, and your bones only hairline fractured. You did not shatter apart. You fainted from brain concussion, not because your body failed to hold the load."
The room went silent instantly. Karim and Edna exchanged disbelief glances. They knew that surviving Brook's attack was an absurd achievement for a first-year student. Especially a student without mana.
"You should have died, Arin," said Brook, his tone not a threat, but an objective fact. "Logically, biologically, magically... you should have been a red stain on the arena floor."
I looked down, staring at my own intact hands. "So... I was just lucky?"
"Luck happens once. You did it repeatedly," refuted Brook firmly. "You survived the Grizzly Bear and Silver Golem. Now? You survived me."
Brook took a step back, then uttered a sentence that made Edna drop her medical clipboard to the floor.
"I have trained thousands of knights, Kid. Many talented. Nobles with abundant mana, sword geniuses, physical monsters. But they are all boring. They are bound by rigid natural laws."
Brook's eyes flashed strangely. There was fire there. The same fire I saw when Ghislain talked about crazy experiments.
"But you... You violate the rules of your own body. My instinct as an old soldier smelling of earth says... if you do not die young due to your own stupidity..."
Brook pointed at my face again.
"...you will become a Legend."
Silence.
The sound of the wall clock hands sounded very loud in my ears.
Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.
Karim gaped, his mouth wide open like a goldfish. "Legend? Brook, what did you drink before coming here? Bootleg alcohol?"
Edna picked up her clipboard awkwardly. "Okay, the concussion might be airborne. Arin is a medical genius, yes I admit. He is a cunning businessman, yes. But a Knight Legend? He cannot even light a candle with his mana!"
I myself chuckled. A dry and bitter laugh.
"You exaggerate, Instructor," I said while shaking my head slowly. "I am just a rat good at running from trouble. I use medicine, poison, and dirty tricks to survive. Legends are like Golden Knights or gallant War Heroes. They shine bright. Me? I just... survive in the shadows."
Brook's words just now felt too heavy for me to bear. Heavier than his axe.
I remembered when my body was flung in the arena this afternoon. How small I was in the face of Brook's gravity power. How easily he could destroy me if he wanted. Honestly, I felt inferior; it felt like an imposter pretending to be strong among giants.
"Rat, huh?" mumbled Brook softly.
Suddenly, Brook's large hand moved fast. He grabbed the collar of my patient shirt roughly.
"Hey! What are you doing?!" shouted Edna in panic.
Without warning, Brook pulled me down from the bed forcibly. I was dragged down, my bare feet touching the shocking cold floor.
"What is this?!" I protested loudly, trying to release his grip, but his hand was as strong as a locked iron vise.
"Come with me now," growled Brook.
"He is a patient!" shouted Edna, running to block Brook's path. "He needs rest! The medicine just worked!"
"Move, Woman," Brook looked at Edna with an aura that made the fierce doctor freeze in place. "He needs to see reality, not sleep on a soft mattress."
Brook dragged me out of the room. I was dragged like a burlap sack in the hospital hallway wearing thin patient pajamas.
"Let go! I can walk myself!" I shouted in embarrassment because several nurses looked at us with horrified stares.
"Shut up and walk!"
Karim tried to chase behind us. "Brook! If he gets sick again, you explain to the Duke! I do not want responsibility!"
Brook did not care at all. He took me out of the hospital building, through the bone-chilling cold night air, straight toward the dark Training Arena.
The sky was pitch black. Stars shone brightly above the quiet and silent Training Arena. The night wind pierced my skin covered only by thin hospital pajamas.
Brook finally released his grip right in the middle of the arena.
"Look at that," he ordered while pointing to the ground in front of us.
I rubbed my sore neck, then looked in the direction he pointed.
There, in the middle of the severely cracked stone floor, was a small crater. The trace of where I stood this afternoon when withholding Brook's attack. The stone floor sank ankle-deep, shattered to pieces due to immense gravitational pressure.
But that was not what made me speechless.
In the middle of that crater, lay my sword. The Adamantium sword given by Selena. The object said to be the hardest metal in the world, acid-resistant and Golem-impact resistant.
The sword was bent.
Its blade curved forming a pathetic curve, as if the metal surrendered resignedly because it was not strong enough to withstand the load imposed on it.
I knelt slowly, touching the sword with fingertips. It felt cold and permanently deformed.
"You see it, Kid?" Brook's voice sounded calmer now, standing behind me like a large shadow.
"The sword... totally destroyed," I whispered sadly. "Such a pity, even though this is expensive stuff."
"Screw the price!" snapped Brook. "Look at the meaning, Fool!"
Brook crouched beside me. He patted my shoulder which was still intact and strong.
"The hardest object in this world bent withholding my attack. The best Dwarven forged metal surrendered to gravity and pressure."
He pointed to my arm wrapped in thin bandages.
"But your bones? Your bones are still intact. You can still stand tall."
My eyes widened instantly. I looked at my arm, then looked at the bent sword alternately.
"You are harder than Adamantium, Arin," whispered Brook. His voice was full of soul-shaking conviction. "Your vessel... the body you built with pain, with serum, with crazy training hitting iron... today, your human body defeated your own iron."
I was stunned hearing that sentence.
All this time I always thought my body was my most fatal weakness. I always thought I needed the best armor, best sword, and best medicine to cover my mana-defective physical shortcomings.
But today, my sword failed to protect me. My armor was useless against absolute gravity.
What survived was me with my own bones and muscles.
"Never belittle yourself again," said Brook while standing up, staring at the vast night sky. "You are not a rat. A rat would explode if I slashed it earlier. You are a monster who hasn't realized he has sharp fangs."
Tears welled up in the corners of my eyes. Damn it, why were there tears? I quickly wiped the tears roughly before they fell.
Validation.
That was what I had been looking for all this time. Not money, not mere power. But the acknowledgment that I, the "mana-less trash," deserved to stand here. And I just got it from the strongest person I knew in this academy.
"Thank you, Instructor," my voice hoarse holding back emotion.
"Do not thank me yet," Brook grinned widely, his sadistic grin reappearing. "Because you have proven you do not die hit once... starting tomorrow, your training will level up to hell level."
"Level up?" I asked warily, a bad feeling starting to appear in my stomach.
"Starting tomorrow, I will not hold back at 'One Strike' level anymore. We will do real sparring. Until you can hit me back until I fall."
I stared at the bent Adamantium sword desperately. Then looked at Brook smiling like a demon finding a new toy.
"You want to kill me slowly, huh?"
"That is called affection, Kid. Tough love."
Suddenly, the sound of hurried footsteps was heard from the direction of the arena gate.
"THAT'S THEM! CATCH THEM!" shouted Edna hysterically.
Edna and Karim ran into the arena panting. Edna carried a large syringe in her hand, while Karim carried a thick blanket.
"Brook! You kidnapped my patient in the middle of the night in thin pajamas?!" raged Edna, immediately wrapping me aggressively as if wrapping a burrito. "If he gets pneumonia, I will sue you in military court!"
"And if he freezes to death, who will sign my bonus check next month?!" added Karim in panic.
I looked at the three of them alternately.
Brook who was crazy about war and violence. Edna who was crazy about cleanliness (and money). Karim who was crazy about position (and money).
They were not a harmonious family. They were a bunch of dysfunctional adults united by their respective greed and ambitions.
But tonight, under the stars, surrounded by their noisy scolding... I felt warm.
I laughed. Initially soft, then louder until my stomach hurt.
"Why are you laughing? Fever, huh?! Is your brain damaged again?!" Edna placed her hand on my forehead in panic.
"No," I answered while smiling widely, staring at my bent sword lying pathetically. "Just thinking... I have to ask for a new sword compensation from the Duke. And this time, I will ask for one harder than Adamantium."
"You leech," sneered Karim, but he smiled in relief seeing me laugh.
"Let's go home," invited Brook, walking ahead of us all. "Tomorrow you have to wake up early. New hell awaits you here."
I walked haltingly following them, helped by Edna who was still grumbling at length about health standards.
One month left until the Exam in the Dungeon.
My enemies thought they could break my spirit with dirty games and air traps. But they didn't know one important thing.
My bones were harder than Adamantium. And my head was far harder than that.
"Just you wait, Vesper," I whispered softly to the blowing night wind. "You will not face an ordinary student. You will face a monster."