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Chapter 12: Sometimes, Logic had to be beaten up

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Weak.

The boy’s body was really weak. Not weak in comparison to his peers, but really weak, in comparison to his skills. In his current body, he could pretty much show only a small fraction of his actual ability.

 A tiny fraction.

Even that however, would probably be too much. Too much, too risky.

 That was his logic.

Sadly, he decided to go against his logic, just this once. Once in a blue moon, so they say.

His logic however, managed to get the news, and organized a protest.

His logic was protesting within him, en mass.

He could even smell the burning of Molotov cocktail. The sound of bricks being thrown. The crowd was marching to the Presidential Palace – his mind.

Sorry logic, but – Fuck you!

He actually sent his internal troops to suppress them.

Kill them all..! No hesitation!

The order had been issued.

He screwed his logic, just this one time. He could almost hear them moaned in pain.

Yet in his mind, the opportunity outweighed the risk. His blood boiled when he saw the youngsters doing their best, thus he wished to honour them.

Julia’s eyes were the final push he needed.

‘I’ll show you guys no mercy—’

He shut his logic down, his instinct had full authority.

...

The boy sprinted.

His head to the front, his movement agile, as if he was sliding on a smooth floor. Those who witnessed this, could not believe their eyes. The candidates had a look of disbelief, audience blanked.

Julia’s mind froze.

Doran’s hugged his large shield, his big eyes, bigger.

The twins’ mouth was wide opened.

His sister, Kristine blanked out.

Everyone all around, seeing the movement, was as if being struck by lightning.

He’s fucking using Artes?

That was on their mind.

Yet strangely, they could not sense any mana being channeled. Especially so for the knights, since their experience should be more than enough to sense one this close.

He moved, clearly ahead of his peers, jumping right into the tight tunnel.

Didn’t we already said twice already, Artes are forbidden?

The judges’ eyes were evident of their judgement. Those who broke the rules, no need to waste time with them. Especially so for Sir Medron.

He was fuming in anger.

However, the lack – no, the fact that they did not even sense mana distressed them.

The judges and knights around, all turned to the magician at the starting line; the middle-aged man wearing green robe and old-fashioned mage hat.

He was one of the experts in sensing mana, thus they were asking him for an answer.

We are going to disqualify him – Your confirmation.

The mage noticed their gaze, and knew instantly their unspoken inquiry. He closed his eyes for a moment, trying his best to sense mana from the boy.

…

Nothing.

…

Zero.

…

Nada.

He shook his head.

Knowing that was not enough, he raised his hand, waving in denial.

Still not enough, he made an X mark with his hands.

I did not sense any mana – no evidence of foul play.

The judges frowned. Without any evidence, they could not disqualify him.

Yet how come his speed was that fast?

Without using mana, just purely physical, only High Master knights could do so. Or at least, one with absolutely healthy body. Within the empire, they were, how many?

Even Sir Medron could not do it – he was old.

The other candidates had only jumped into the tunnel, but already, Krone came out. Within his mind, he was seeing a different view than the others.

In front of him, was not the obstacle course, but a chaotic city under attacked. He had to slip into tunnels all the time, not knowing if he would be buried alive, or –

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“Survive.”

Small? Tight? No matter – he had squeezed himself into a hole even he never imagined he could fit before.

Back then, he was lucky – really lucky to survive. Had he not only trained in just two Artes, he would most likely dead.

That was because, with just two, he had to use them all the time. Thus, his mastery increased faster than any of his peers. These two were “Slid de Aur” and “Aurelian Arte”.

Also known as Air Sliding and Mana Coating.

His movement right now, was related to Air Sliding – exactly the reason which made Sir Medron filled with anger.

That was because they clearly stated that Arte were forbidden for this course. Other candidates obliged.

If this was not unfair, then what was it?

He however, knew he did not break any rules.

He did not use any mana, the essential aspect that made a technique called Arte.

No mana, it cannot be called an Arte, but a body technique.

His feet moved into the nineteen stutter steps.

Two, four, six…

Candidates saw multiple legs coming from him, stepping into the wheels as he ran pass. His eyes did not even see the wheels. As soon as he finished, he sprinted – no, much correctly, he shot himself towards the four-metre high wall.

Thud-thud.

His feet smashed into the wall twice, raising him up over it. With his hand pressing onto it, he jumped over.

“The hell—”

“Hell no! You can’t do that with just physical—”

“Fuck you! That’s cheating!”

“Judge – Disqualify!”

Some candidates, forgetting the ideal manner of a knight-aspirant, started to swear. The others on the run had only come out of the tunnel.

Meanwhile, Krone did not climb the net, he simply jumped. With his hand, he pulled himself up as if swinging a rope – Image within him, buildings with steel bars coming out due to bombardment. He had to reach the top – hordes of death awaited below.

One, two, three –

Three hand swings, and he passed the 8-metre net.

His movement was too abnormal! No human can do that, not without mana.

Right, a demon! A demon might just be able to.

Screw this demon!

Similar thought played in the candidates’ mind.

Passing the pyramid box, he encountered the pool. Within his mind, the image of a lake appeared, debris were around – courtesy of the Union's artillery and Air Cruisers.

The rafts became the debris.

One, he jumped.

Two, his feet barely touched it.

Three, he slid along, then kicked it.

Four, his hands landed, pushing up high, rolling multiple times in the air.

His feet landed, spiraled, pressed, kicked the ground. Dust flew.

Image – at his back, explosions of mana arrows and fireballs. Encircled by enemy troops, if he stopped?

Death.

The others had just come over the wall.

For the balance beam, a long log being cut in two.

His image – an imperial capital’s building, cut in half by a Wraith-like Grand Beast. Two feet landed, sliding on it as if skating ice. His companions were sliding with him, encircling the Grand Beast.

“The hell?”

“He’s skating?!”

“You can do that—?”

“No, no— not possible…”

Next, for the swinging logs.

Image of an escape route within a cave complex, guarded by golems standing at intervals. The route was long, and the golems were too hard and time-consuming to destroy. He cannot stop, a worse enemy was pursuing. Fortunately, the golems’ speed was so-so. One of his trait, Adrenaline Rush came in full play – further boosting his movement. Recognizing their pattern, he moved in a waving motion, barely avoiding each of their hit.

At the time, a close escape.

His movement was eerie, as if he had no hard time at all moving past the swinging logs in one-go. Had even a log hit, the pain’s no joke.

The audience was dumb-founded.

“Kristine!”

Among the audience, Kristine fainted, her uncle caught her.

Her mind could not process what was happening. Krone had shown beyond human movement, so her mind shut down.

This time, even children of the military had a look of dissatisfaction.

No fucking way that was done without using Arte!

“The fuck’s happening?”

“Oi, don’t swear— The knights can hear you.”

“In my whole life, I never swear – but right now. Fuck manners!”

“Disqualify!”

 They said so in a clear protest.

The judges shared their sentiment. What they were waiting now, was evidence.

There ought to be one!

In front of Krone, a hill.

His mind recalled that time.

That time they had to rush to the hill before the enemy did; to destroy a rift before the Union could defend it. The beasts seemed disinterested with the Union's army, not attacking them unless someone went too close.

For the wall climb, he traced the time when his squad had to climb a hill.

A vertical climb, by the sea. Crescent moon was covered by the clouds. It was a dark, cold night. Violent wind kept them off balance from time to time, while the sound of screaming seagulls and ocean wave hitting the rocky shore filled their surroundings.

The order was clear; other routes were too heavily guarded, and they had to climb it, to destroy yet another rift.

Not even looking for long, his feet touched the rocks, while his hands pulled him up. It was as if gravity was too low for him, and the climb was too swift to be true.

This one was truly child’s play, compared to then.

With one step onto middle of the stairs, he leaped for the flying fox. Equipping the safety belt, he checked the handle for a second, then jumped. The image of escaping a mountaintop using this flashed, beasts rushing from their back.

He released the handles, and released the safety. Now in front of the monkey bars, he tapped the white powder and his other hand.

Many considered this one to be the hardest of all obstacles – as it was 15 metre long with around 30 bars.

Hard?

Ha!

The image of him and his comrade, traversing the “Lungs of the World” – the lush ocean of jungle in Kharlussian central region. Swarmed with otherworldly beast below, they had to move above the giant trees, covering two hundred kilometre toward their objective – in a mere two days. Minimizing mana to avoid the Grand Beasts, they had to use their hands, grabbing tree branches along the way.

Hard?

That was hard!

His feet tapped the ten vertical logs, jumping of and tapping his feet past five walls as high as his chest. This kind of movement, he did so all the time; using the body of beasts to jump over their rush. Once their rush was avoided, they were not so efficient. After the passing the front group, he wreaked havoc in their midst. Red fire from Flamme Vyrusha licked the whole group of beasts ten metres around…

– He managed to stop it.

Almost activating the Arte, he came back to his current self.

‘A trance, damn… That was dangerous…’

Krone was surprised at himself. Entering trance outside battle was rare, even during training. Trance could be useful, but dangerous at the same time.

For a second, the magician sense mana, but it disappeared in an instant. The knights noticed this as well, turning to him.

He shook his head, denying their request.

Indeed, request – not question.

Request, since they already made their mind that he was cheating. To them, that was the most plausible explanation.

The magician denied them – He was not of highest rank, but in sensing mana, he was of highest authority there. The boy did not channel it into an Arte or Magic, so it cannot be said as breaking rule.

Guys, that’s not a proof.

From afar, his expression spoke his message.

Sir Medron was puzzled.

‘How can this be?’

That movement was beyond logic – Without mana, if a grandmaster performed it, he would believe it. However, who was the boy?

A mere fourteen years old!

Grandmaster?

Even if he reached a practitioner level… At his age, one would call him genius!

‘Who was this boy?’

He was already carrying the heavy sandbag, while his peers either had passed the swinging logs or in the process. He leapt onto the balance beam – Again, sliding his feet. Unlike on the other beam before, his feet had to tap five times to continue sliding. The image flashed – of him carrying his injured comrade, sliding on the roof of houses while escaping enemy pursuit. He gripped his teeth, as if determined not to let it go – even if his life had to be the trade.

At the end, he placed the sandbag on the soldier’s arm, as careful as possible.

“What…”

“Am I seeing things?”

“That boy, don’t tell me he’s treating that sandbag as—”

Beside Sir Medron, Natalia and Kent, other knights noticed the peculiarity as well. They could not quite tell for sure, but that scene certainly struck their inner feeling.

They could imagine the boy carrying his injured comrade on his back!

How is this possible?

The candidates, lacking experience, could not tell.

From afar, those with sharp eyes; Ron, Ryan and Julia noticed the peculiarity as well. Observing the knight’s reaction, they concluded these guys certainly see something.

The twins noticed something weird, yet they could not guess.

Doran, the big boy, was clueless.

His eyes sparkled in admiration. None in his wildest dream he would imagine, that the one he called brother before, was this talented!

The image of a certain legendary figure; a legendary knight, training this brother of him, filled his mind.

He was shivering in excitement!

Meanwhile, sprinting for a steep ramp jump, Krone placed his hand directly on the rope by the wall. Running to the side, he pulled himself up using the rope, directly passed the wall then went down.

He jumped low into the underground hole.

Swoosh— Swoosh—

A loud sound reached the ears of the judges, as if something big, no, large movement were made underground.

Krone went out of the hole, faster than the fastest before.

“This child!”

“Is he really, cheating?”

“No, not that simple,"

By this time, the complaints and protest from the candidates already died down. They stood there, looking like idiots. They saw as he took the rope, so relaxingly moved to another, then landed with his eyes closed.

His face was tranquil, as the image within him.

That moment was the easy part of his mission, when he was underground, crossing over a river of lava using one metal chain as support. None in his team of one hundred had any hesitation crossing, as it was just too easy.

A mere fifty metre; with a support in the middle, falling into the lava would be the epitome of carelessness and stupidity.

It was like a teen crossing one metre drain, nothing special.

'The heat’s annoying though,'

He opened his eyes, wandering why it’s cold.

‘Oh yeah, I’m here. Trance again? Risky, really. Need to control this next time. Ah, I’ve beaten up my logic…’

Surrounding him was silence.

Near the hill, his four contenders paused, looking at him quietly. The magician’s eyes at him, his calculating mind encountered error, seriously.

Audience afar, looked there blankly.

Soldiers all around, forgot their duty.

The candidates watching, cannot believe such ability.

The five judges stood up, shaking their body.

Their dear logic was beaten up badly.

Their brain might even suffer internal injury.

Fortunately, his sister Kristine, fainted early.

Thinking logically, would cost you dearly.

What happened, in actuality?

What is reality, what is fantasy?

God, where are you now, really?

Manage your law seriously!

Chaos in everyone’s mind.

Finally, the chaos beat off the government body, their logical constituents.

Their mind shut down.

Krone, noticing this unusualness, wondered if he did it badly.

“Umm, everyone?”

…

…

…

[That day we realized, our logic had to be beaten up to be stronger… badly. So badly.]

- Sir Medron.

======= Chapter 12 End =======