“Are you all right?”
On an empty bench.
Yustia approached me as I tried to steady my ragged breathing and carefully held out a water bottle.
“Thanks.”
I silently took it and poured the water down my burning throat.
As I drank, I managed to calm my violently pounding heart, if only a little.
“Sure enough, dealing with a spirit that has no form is pretty tough.”
I set down the empty bottle with a bitter smile, and Yustia looked over my knee as she murmured softly.
“Still, thanks to you, Taesan, we got it. Our second badge.”
The silver spirit badge held between her fingertips shimmered under the arena’s dim lighting.
It was a precious trophy earned at the end of our battle with Professor Pyuteori, but I couldn’t simply look at that brilliant light with joy.
“I’m still lacking.”
I rubbed my face with both hands and let out a sigh.
“When I’m behind you during morning class, watching the other students, I can see all of them improving little by little in terms of technique. They’re succeeding at synchronizing with spirits in ways they couldn’t last week, and they’re figuring out how to operate new skills.”
I continued, staring at the floor.
“The other students are definitely moving forward, bit by bit. But me? I still haven’t improved beyond throwing punches. Even the variable of shockwaves is ultimately just an extension of my muscle strength.”
“That isn’t true. You’re already strong enough, Taesan, so your growth just isn’t easy to see. You are steadily improving.”
A cheerful voice approached the bench.
“Yustia, Taesan. Did you have results today as well?”
It was Evan.
“Evan! Judging by your expression, it looks like you got a badge too? Thanks to Taesan’s efforts, we got our second badge.”
“I just received my first badge too. Finding a way to deal with the ice attribute wasn’t easy, though.”
Evan shrugged and smiled faintly.
During the last mock battle, he had shown a new realm through his own spiritification, and this time he had surpassed his limits and won a battle.
“Congratulations, Evan. As expected, you’re amazing.”
Yustia rose from her seat, delighted.
“So you two have your second badge as well. Professor Pyuteori’s battles are famous for being especially demanding, so I imagine Taesan’s physical force played a major role.”
Evan’s gaze turned toward me.
“The problem is that this ‘physical force’ is ultimately nothing more than punching. You’re continuing to improve by making use of your unique trait, spiritification, but I feel like I’m standing still.”
At my honest complaint, Evan seemed lost in thought for a moment and rubbed his chin.
“There’s no need to think of it that way, Taesan. Isn’t that overwhelming brute strength itself your own unique trait?”
At Evan’s words, I murmured softly and looked down at my clenched fist.
The small muscles around my knuckles were pulled taut.
Back when I was an athlete, before crossing into another world.
Even then, I had always faced my limits.
Opponents with longer arms than mine, opponents with faster footwork, and opponents who used overwhelmingly superior ground techniques.
To break through all those walls, I hadn’t simply strengthened myself with brute force.
It had been the timing of strikes, the sense to read an opponent’s breathing, and the battle of wits that controlled distance.
Intoxicated by the monstrous strength I’d gained thanks to this other world’s low gravity, I might have forgotten the sense for those fierce battles of calculation.
Relying only on strength is something amateurs do.
I might have adapted to this world’s gravity, but I still haven’t fully controlled my body.
And, drunk on my monstrous strength, I forgot the most basic techniques.
I needed a way to refine my body more precisely.
“Elvis?”
When I turned my head, Evan was waving happily at someone.
“Elvis!”
The man who approached at Evan’s call was Elvis, the fourth prince of the Kingdom of Gordin.
In his hand, a red badge that seemed freshly obtained gleamed brilliantly.
Elvis recognized Evan and gave a light nod.
“Evan. Beside you is Lady Yustia Rosenheart, I see. And… that human summon.”
Elvis’s gaze passed over Yustia and settled on me.
In his eyes, faint curiosity and the unique arrogance of royalty were subtly mixed together.
“Looks like you had good results?”
When Evan asked, pointing at the red badge in Elvis’s hand, Elvis casually shoved the badge into his pocket and replied indifferently.
“More or less.”
“It seems you obtained a badge as well.”
Elvis’s gaze landed on the silver badge in Yustia’s hand.
“Yes, we were lucky.”
“I’ve heard the rumors. That otherworldly summon of Lady Rosenheart’s may not have mana, but supposedly possesses overwhelming destructive power.”
His gaze remained on Yustia.
“I’m curious whether my golem summon can withstand that destructive power. If you don’t mind, how about we take this opportunity for a light practice battle?”
“We just finished a battle, so doing it right now is impossible.”
“It shouldn’t take long. It’s only a light practice.”
I slowly rose from the bench.
My muscles still hadn’t recovered, but no matter who the opponent was, I had no intention of avoiding it.
“I don’t mind.”
I stepped forward in Yustia’s place.
“Taesan, you shouldn’t push yourself. The fatigue from earlier still hasn’t gone away.”
Yustia tried to stop me, but I shook my head, telling her it was fine.
“If you’re curious about my destructive power, I’ll show you myself. I don’t know how tough that golem of yours is, though.”
“Good. Let’s see how far that confidence of yours goes.”
Elvis lightly snapped his fingers, and a massive magic circle spread out beneath his feet with a heavy vibration.
“Come forth, rock golem of Grandis.”
Ruuumble—!
With a roar that shook the earth, a massive rock golem three meters tall revealed itself.
Red veins of mana flowing between the rocks added even more to its intimidating presence.
“You said it was a light test, so I’ll attack first.”
I cracked my stiff neck from side to side and walked toward the center of the park.
“By all means.”
Elvis gestured with a relaxed expression, and the rock golem crossed its enormous arms, assuming a solid defensive stance.
I kicked off the ground hard and charged toward the golem.
The distance closed in an instant.
“Hah!”
Concentrating my entire body weight and rotational force into a single fist, I launched a blow at the center of the golem’s crossed arms.
Kwa-ga-ga-gang—!
Dark cracks spread like spiderwebs across the golem’s thick rock arms where my fist landed.
“Hmm……”
Elvis’s brow narrowed for a moment as he confirmed the cracks, but he soon calmly drew up his mana.
“It is certainly overwhelming. But that destructive power only has meaning if it lands. Rock golem, counter!”
No sooner had Elvis’s command fallen than the golem’s crossed arms instantly came undone, and a giant rock fist flew in, aiming for my side.
It was a nimble counterattack that didn’t match its huge frame.
“Kugh……!”
I instinctively leaned my upper body back and dodged the fist.
The moment the boulder-like fist, accompanied by a tremendous gust of wind, brushed past the tip of my nose, I used the recoil from that evasion to plant my hand on the ground and rotate my body.
Crack—!
As the golem staggered and lost its balance from the aftermath of the kick, an opening appeared perfectly.
I couldn’t let this chance slip.
Drawing in a deep breath, I compressed everything from my right shoulder to the tip of my fist to the very limit.
It was a wholehearted strike meant to pierce through the opponent’s defenses and deliver destructive force all the way inside.
Kwaaaaaang—!
With a roar that seemed to tear the air apart, my fist drove precisely into the center of the golem’s massive torso.
Merciless destructive force slammed into the rock surface, bursting out with a deep, rupturing sound.
“……!”
With this much, most golems should have been blown to pieces, or at the very least had their core shaken enough for the summoning to be dispelled.
But the sensation transmitted through my fist was completely different from what I expected.
“Is that all?”
Elvis’s calm voice rang out across the field.
When the dust cleared, astonishingly, the massive rock golem was still standing firmly in place.
Only shallow cracks remained where my fist had struck, and the golem’s form had not collapsed in the slightest.
“It really is tough.”
I shook out my tingling wrist and took a step back.
With that enormous body and red mana wrapped around it, it was no wonder my previous way of striking didn’t work.
“I didn’t expect strengthening my summon to show this much effect.”
Elvis smiled in satisfaction.
“Strengthening?”
Evan asked, puzzled, and Yustia beside him also stared at the golem in surprise.
Elvis continued his explanation leisurely.
“Yes. Unlike other summons, golem summons can have their bodies strengthened by being overlaid with stronger mineral materials or special mana. It isn’t evolution or growth, but a method of raising their fundamental durability through external resources. Now then, is it my turn?”
Elvis’s voice sank low.
The moment he reached out and gave an order to the golem, the red mana surged and wrapped around the golem’s enormous arms.
Thoom—!
With heavy footsteps that shook the earth, the golem rushed in at terrifying speed.
It was a nimble movement that didn’t match its size.
“Be careful, Taesan!”