Growing without entering the Academy is a very difficult task.
It’s not impossible, but unless you’re planning to go through absolute hell, it’s much safer and more efficient to just attend the Academy.
So, in this world, the difference between receiving an Academy education and not receiving one is much bigger than you’d think.
Especially in the early stages of growth, the gap is even more severe. You could say that the top freshmen get absolutely wrecked by the lower-ranked second-years.
And now, standing in front of me is Grain… As mentioned before, he’s specialized in exploration, but even so, he has enough combat prowess to maintain a top position among the current second-years.
My stats, which could barely pull off a massacre in the early first year, were meaningless compared to his.
But is winning right now what’s important?
No. Here, all I need to do is show that I’m not someone to be underestimated.
I don’t know how I’ll handle all the karma I’m building up later, but that’s a problem for future me.
“You seem to have time to daydream, huh?”
Before I knew it, Grain had rushed in and reached out to grab my clothes.
At the same time, I realized something. She had grown far beyond what I knew from the original story.
As an exploration-type, her main weapon was a bow, and the stats needed to use a bow weren’t agility but strength and magic power.
Strength was needed to pull the tougher, more durable bowstring.
Magic power was needed to add magical effects to simple arrows for stronger firepower.
In the end, archers in this world were just an extension of mages—unless you were some weird elf-like species that went to the frontlines with a bow, agility stats were naturally lower than you’d expect.
That should’ve been the case for Grain too, but…
‘She’s freaking fast!’
For some reason, her speed was beyond imagination.
I couldn’t see the exact numbers, but it was definitely higher than mine.
‘What the hell, my highest stat…’
For someone who isn’t even agility-focused to be at that level from the start of the second year…
Even if her growth is fast, isn’t this too much?
The theory that this world is an unreleased difficulty level became even more convincing, and my worries grew along with it.
Anyway, it’s not like I’m in a situation where I’m about to get completely wrecked, so I’ll focus on the present for now.
I dodged her outstretched hand by stepping back.
She immediately followed and tried to grab me again, but this time, I dashed forward and avoided her.
My body passed right through Grain.
“Huh?”
The dodge that allowed me to pass through a person’s body, which I first experienced in my fight with Lilith.
Except for Seria and Alkiné, who had watched my test process, everyone started doubting their eyes.
But there was no time to dwell on questions during a spar, so Grain, who had turned around immediately, tried to attack again.
Unlike her earlier attempt to grab me, this time it was a direct attack.
Trying to land a hit, it seemed like something felt off.
Whatever it was, it didn’t matter. I dodged everything.
One. Two… Ten.
After dodging all ten attacks, Grain’s assault finally stopped.
Is this it? I glanced at Grain, and his face was full of confusion. It seemed like he couldn’t wrap his head around my dodging.
If even he couldn’t figure it out, then this must be something beyond just a trait.
So, is my only trait that I can’t grow? Seriously, what kind of trait is that?
At that moment, as my focus wavered, Grain noticed the opening and charged at me again.
Oh, this motion can be parried.
Bare-handed techniques allow for bare-handed parrying. Unlike shield parrying, which deflects, this is more like grabbing and throwing, but it’s possible.
Almost instinctively, I caught his incoming fist, spun around once, and used centrifugal force to throw him.
It seemed like the system’s adjustments made it work without any resistance.
Whoosh!
It felt really strange because I didn’t feel any of the impact or weight that should’ve come my way—just the result of grabbing and throwing.
Grain, who had been parried, flew and slammed into the ground.
Uh… did I throw him too hard? From what I just saw, it looked like he face-planted.
Well, someone at the Student Council executive level wouldn’t get hurt that easily, so no need to worry.
At this point, they can’t say no if I want to join the Student Council, right?
Joining the Student Council is beneficial, so even if my secret gets exposed and I get kicked out later, it’s still good to join for now.
…But why is Grain still lying down? The parry shouldn’t have done much damage.
“Uh… Senior Grain? Are you okay?”
When I cautiously asked, he finally started to get up.
Not fully, though—he just went from lying down to sitting.
That’s when I realized something was off.
Grain is on the smaller side, and I, being quite a bit bigger, just threw her… I’m totally the bad guy here.
“Uh… Senior, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to go this far.”
So I apologized first, but Grain didn’t say a word.
Even when I tried to help him up, he just refused.
In the tense silence, Alkiné stepped in to sort things out.
“Rudion. Seria. I’m sorry to say this after calling you here… but can you head back now?”
It was a dismissal. Well, more like we’d already seen everything, and it was about time to send us back anyway.
“After tomorrow’s entrance ceremony, I’ll come meet you myself.”
Another meeting with the president was scheduled, but for now, it seemed like everything was over, so it was fine to leave.
Seria and I gave a quick bow to everyone and then headed out.
Avoided it.
Finally, the tumultuous events came to an end.
“I should properly look into this and that when I get back.”
With the possession and the entrance exam starting at the same time, I was too busy just trying to keep up.
Luckily, I learned a thing or two during the exam process, but I didn’t think that was all there was to it.
Now, it was time to figure it out.
///
“The president has a keen eye for potential, so she must have seen something in that cocky brat.”
That’s what Grain initially thought.
Even if the president personally recruited him, he was still a rookie who hadn’t received any education from the Academy yet.
At best, he’d be on par with Seria, or maybe slightly better.
That hasty judgment was his biggest mistake.
“…Huh?”
Before he knew it, he was on the ground, looking up at the cocky junior.
What had just happened was beyond comprehension. He tried to figure it out by risking side effects and using his special abilities, but strangely, he couldn’t understand anything.
Yet, the guy in question acted like it was nothing, as if it were natural.
Only then did Grain realize that Rudion wasn’t recruited for his potential.
“Now I can’t even oppose it.”
Having experienced the shock the president mentioned firsthand, he no longer had any grounds to refuse Rudion’s entry into the Student Council.
It’s fine. It was just a tantrum anyway.
Even if Rudion had lost to him and failed to prove his strength, he wouldn’t have seriously opposed his entry into the Student Council.
The president probably knew that, which is why she orchestrated this situation.
But regardless of his thoughts, the result was just embarrassing.
This cocky junior… I can’t even call him cocky anymore. After being so thoroughly defeated, calling him cocky would be like spitting on my own face.
It was his own fault for completely underestimating and disregarding the junior’s abilities.
He felt sorry for the two who had followed his lead. Glancing back, they too seemed shocked, as if they hadn’t expected him to lose.
“This is unbelievable!”
“President, please call them back. If we let them go like this, we’ll look like fools.”
They must be in such shock that they can’t even think straight. They saw it with their own eyes, yet they’re still acting like this. Probably not.
They’re doing this for my sake, so I can’t really say anything… sigh.
Anyway, even if they stepped up, he couldn’t imagine the outcome being any different from his own.
Knowing that, he got up and stopped them.
“Cain, Golid. That’s enough.”
“But still…”
“You saw it too, right? That’s not something we can define with our usual standards for freshmen. It’s completely beyond that.”
So, even his own traits didn’t cause an overload.
It wasn’t something that could be analyzed in the first place.
“We’ll head back first, Chairman. Please consider our suggestions as if they never existed.”
“Alright, got it. Go ahead.”
They left the room as if running away.
Cain and Golid followed him as he led them to a quiet café.
“You sure you’re okay? With that kind of ability, wouldn’t it be too much for you too?”
“Nah, not really. That thing… I couldn’t even detect it with my traits. I tried using my ability once today, thinking I’d take a pill midway… but nothing came up.”
“…Is that even possible?”
“That’s why I said it’s an exception. That’s already something beyond common sense. Trying to understand it will just give you a headache.”
Ironically, that’s why my head doesn’t hurt. Haha.
The dry laugh carried so many mixed emotions that Cain and Golid couldn’t say anything.
“Why are you looking at me like that? I’m really fine. In the first place, it’s meaningless to judge something like that based on whether they’re a freshman or whatever.”
“Grain.”
“Cain. Drop it. I’m gonna get mad.”
“Get mad if you want. But be honest with me first.”
Hearing his words, Grain took a moment to sort through his emotions.
He felt angry, bitter, and a whole mess of other emotions swirling around in confusion.
But the biggest emotion of all was…
“I’m so f***ing embarrassed. Damn it.”
It was shame. That’s why he ignored Rudion when he asked if he was okay.
No, the Chairman should’ve stopped me when I said I’d step up if he knew everything. Why did he just let me do it?
Wait… the Chairman did try to stop me. I was the one who stubbornly insisted…
“How’s Seria gonna look at me now…? I really wanted to make a good impression on my junior…”
“Sigh… Yeah, I guess that’s more important to you than your pride.”
As if he knew it would happen, Cain handed Grain a small note.
“What’s this?”
“That kid gave it to me before he left.”
The junior? I thought he left right away. I didn’t expect him to write a note and hand it over.
Maybe even as a junior, he had something on his mind.
What could he have wanted to say that he went as far as writing a note?
Curious, Grain unfolded the note… only to find something completely different from what he expected.
‘Got completely wrecked by a second-year freshman from the Academy, huh?’
This… this little…
“This crazy bastard! What kind of guy even does this?!”
The moment the title “junior” was downgraded back to “cocky brat.”
Turning shame into anger? Not bad, junior.
In Cain and Golid’s minds, Rudion’s image subtly improved. Even though he probably wrote it just to tease… meaning is in the eye of the beholder, after all.
