Cube, Archery Range.

While Moren taunted Kim Hajin, in the VIP observatory, Ah Hae-In sat on a chair that watched directly to the archery range through a big window. All around her, the room was adorned with food and multiple decorations.

“...Grand Duchess Ah Hae-In, is that your nephew?” A 5-Stars Magician that volunteered to attend her during the competition, asked as he looked at Baire Moren who was standing in the archery range.

“Unofficially, yes. Officially, I’m the founder of the Ah clan, so I have no relatives.” She said with a smile as she looked at her nephew.

{He grew up so well.} She smiled.

As she said, she did have a family from a sister that’s still French. But that was unofficial. Still, she does care for her nephew and her sister, and most of the reason that she’s currently there is because of the chance to see her nephew.

In her eyes, he looked good, especially since they paired him against an average-looking male.

“...Ah, it’s starting.” The 5-Star magician that until then was admiring her, suddenly spoke as he saw the competition beginning.

“Is it?” Ah Hae-In asked with a tilted head before placing her hand on an orb that was right in front of her as she turned to look at her attendant. “I just have to continue doing what I did before, right?”

“Yes, you can start with a light earthquake.” The attendant said.

Until now, Ah Hae-In was the one in charge of creating the different magic phenomena that have been working as obstacles to the archers in the competition.

“I can do what I want starting from the 350-meter range, right? Since no one managed to get to the 350-meters range yet.” She smiled as she looked at the competitors.

“...Yes.” The attendant answered with an awkward smile. “But the obstacles have to be the same for both lanes.”

At his admonishment, Ah Hae-In burst into laughter before stopping to shoot a look at the attendant.

“Would I be able to do that? Don’t you know how much I cherish my nephew?”

“Ah...Hahaha…” The attendant broke into an awkward laugh as sweat filled his face and the back of his neck. “Well, it’s not a test, but a small festival for cadets… I’m sure it doesn’t matter what you do. Do as you wish, Grand Duchess. Cadets will feel honored just by having you participate…”

At the show of excessive loyalty, the Grand Duchess smiled. Her eyes were still fixed on her nephew. In all honesty, it wasn’t rare for the attendant to react as such, after all, in South Korea, there were only 87 8-star magicians.

They were basically nobles among magicians, and were the equivalent to the Highest-Ranked Heroes, falling short only from the Master-Ranked Heroes.

Offering a single archery competition among the multiple competitions that were held at the festival was nothing if it was in order to bribe such a figure. It would be an insanely low price to pay if it could make Ah Hae-In come as a guest lecturer to Cube sometime in the future.

“If you say so.” Ah Hae-In said as her smile deepened.

***

On the shooting range. Hajin put down his bow as he let out a deep sigh as his hand clenched the bow harder.

“Damn…” He muttered. {I can see why no one has managed to pass the 320-meters range…}

Right now, Hajin just finished shooting in the 250-meters range. And the reason why he was so tense was the earthquake that just shook the ground he was standing on. The earthquake was strong enough to make him feel its effects on his legs even after the round finished.

“Wow, you’re pretty good.” Moren, who was standing in the lane beside him with a relaxed smile commented as he looked at him. “I guess it’s true that you have a Specialized Gift.”

Different from Hajin, Moren was totally relaxed, and you could see that even in his smile. The earthquake that happened during his turn was completely different from the one Hajin had to withstand.

“Tsk… You sure are relaxed.” He said.

“Are you sure it’s not you who just trained lazily?” Moren answered with a mocking grin.

“Ha…” Hajin sighed. {This guy sure is irritating.}

Opening his eyes wide, he turned to look at the observatory, from where the magician in charge of the obstacles would be.

In there he could see a western woman with red hair and white skin, she was conjuring some magic while looking at the shooting lanes. Beside her, another magician occupied flattering her. She was wearing a cape that had eight stars, and even while sitting, Hajin could still notice her short size.

{Ah Hae-In…} Hajin thought as he recognized the magician.

She was one of the magicians that he wrote about. Thinking about it, he turned on his smartwatch and looked through his setting, before sighing.

“Hey, your aunt is over there.” He said to Moren as he nodded towards the observatory. “Are you gonna go say hi afterward?”

“Huh? What do you mean?” He said with an oblivious tone, but the corner of his mouth was still curled upward.

“Your aunt keeps harassing me.” Hajin said.

“What do you mean?” Moren tilted his head, seemingly confused. “Are you making excuses because you think you’re going to miss? Just hurry up and shoot, please.”

Hajin clicked his tongue before he raised his bow. Immediately a strong earthquake broke out beneath me, but just as he thought the earthquake was the only thing coming, hail raining down on him.

{This is ridiculous…} Hajin thought as the desire to win grew stronger in him. As the hail hit him and obstructed his view, he focused on the mark and shot, successfully hitting it.

“Ha…” After the obstacles cleared out, he let out a deep sigh.

“Wow, congrats.” Moren said as he gave him a mocking grin as he prepared for his turn on the 300-meters mark. But different from Hajin’s obstacles that felt like trucks made of ice, Moren’s hail felt more like simple snowflakes. He quickly took aim and shot his mark perfectly.

“It’s your turn next.” Baire Moren said with a smirk.

“…” With a forceful smile, Hajin silently kept shooting through the heavy obstacles which were clearly different from Moren’s.

[Both sides have surpassed the first place record! From the 350-meters mark, the target will move 50% faster and the participants’ turn order will change! In other words, Baire Moren will go first!]

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Soon they both surpassed the first-place score, the 350-meters mark, and the rules of the game changed, which also included a new obstacle would be added. With a sigh Moren raised his bow nervously

He looked to the front, waiting to see what the next obstacle would be. And just as both Hajin and Moren were anxiously waiting, huge vines broke out from the ground and rose all around them.

“Whoa! What’s this!?” Moren shouted in surprise as the 10-meter tall vines shot out from the ground and covered the shooting lanes.

Some of them that were especially close to Moren, started to slam the ground beside him. But as any archer who would cultivate their patience and calmness, Moren remained posed. He knew he just had to stay inside the archery plate. Besides, the vines on the shooting lanes were gently swaying back and forth.

But, even if the obstacles were not something he should worry about, the new speed of the target was enough to make him fail his next shot.

“...Ah!” Moren groaned as his shot missed the target.

[Ah! Moren regrettably missed his target!]

With Moren failing, it was now time for Kim Hajin to shoot, and just as he raised his bow, the vines suddenly turned fiercer. Swaying in fury, almost as if spamming. Completely different than in Moren’s turn.

Hajin clicked his tongue as he pulled the arrow on the string. And just as he prepared, the swaying vines turned even fiercer than before, making it insanely hard to shoot through them.

Just as the target shot out, Hajin took a deep breath and activated bullet time. Though even if he was inside the slowed-time space of bullet time, he couldn’t find a way to actually shoot through the vines. They were covering every possible spot between him and the target’s path.

“Scan…” As bullet time was running out, Hajin let out the breath he’s been holding in, and scanned both the bow and the arrow with a mutter.

Suddenly, numbers 43 and 46 appeared on the bow and arrow respectively, strengthening the concept behind them.

After he slightly leaned the arrow nocked on his bow to the right, Hajin opened his eyes wide and shot.

Instants felt like seconds, or even minutes as he followed the trajectory of the arrow, which flew straight while bending weirdly, shooting through a small gap between the furiously waving vines. And just as it was about to miss the target’s trajectory, the bent arrow spammed slightly before turning left and shooting straight towards the target with the speed of a bullet, hitting the 350-meters mark right on the center.

Silence spread through the archery range for a couple of seconds.

[...Veritas class’ Kim Hajin! He succeeds on the 350-meters mark!]

As the announcer shouted the entire range became wild with shouts and amazement with the declaration of victory.

“Ha…” Hajin let out the breath he had been holding in.

“...The hell?” Moren looked dazedly at the space where the arrow hit the mark. “How did that arrow bend?”

He then turned to look at Hajin.

“Did you use magic?” He asked with a frown.

“You think your aunt wouldn’t have noticed if I did?” Hajin scoffed at him.

“Then what-”

“This is the difference in our leagues.” Chucking his bow in front of him, Hajin quickly interrupted Moren. “Even with all the blatant favoritism your aunt was giving you, you still couldn’t go over the 350-meters mark. I think it’s not me who has been lazing around instead of training.”

Hajin then snorted and moved away from his plate. And as he left the archery range, Hajin turned on his smartwatch, and just as he thought, a new ability appeared on his Master Sharpshooter’s Gift, making him smile.

“I knew it…”

[You performed a curving arrow. Master Sharpshooter’s proficiency EXP increases by 15%.]

[Low-rank Gift, Curve Shot, has been added to Master Sharpshooter.]

*Curve shot

- Long ranged attacks will curve depending on the shooter’s will. (The extent of the curving will change depending on the Gift’s grade and the type of weapon)

{So now I’m able to shoot curved bullets?} Hajin smiled as he thought about his new ability. Master Sharpshooter has broad usability, making it possible for Hajin to use any skill he learns with the bow, on a gun.

***

“Uh…” At the same time that Hajin walked out of the archery range, on the VIP Observatory, the magician attending Ah Hae-In was currently sweating cold, as he trembled.

He couldn’t even find the correct words, no matter how much favoritism was given to Baire Moren, Kim Hajin was the one who came out victorious at the end.

“Pfft…” Just as the magician was gritting his teeth, Ah Hae-In simply chuckled. Her face was full of smiles as she watched the result of the competition. “Why are you so scared? It’s only natural that my nephew would lose against someone like him.”

“Ha...Haha…” The magician smiled awkwardly. “I-Is that so…?”

“Of course.” She said with a chuckle, before waving her hand. “Anyways. I’m jealous. That’s what a specialized Gift is?”

As she looked at the retreating back of Kim Hajin, the feelings she once had surged once again. As a child, her dream had always been to become a Hero, but ironically, her body never developed, while her Gift was completely focused on Magic.

With no other choice, she could only become a magician, albeit a really successful and powerful one, mind you.

“…” The magician just kept smiling awkwardly, before a message came to his smartwatch. Looking at it, he frowned for a second before turning to look at Ah Hae-In. “Um… Grand Duchess? Will you come to see the magicians' duel?”

“Mm? Why would I? I was thinking about inviting my nephew for lunch to console him.” She lifted an eyebrow.

“W-Well… Kuhum… It’s just that I received interesting news, and thought that maybe it would pick your interest?”

“Is that so? What could it be more interesting than having lunch with my nephew?”

“W-Well…” The magician started sweating. “I-I’m certain that nothing w-would b-be more interesting than that… It’s just that… There’s a cadet who’s participating this time in the duels…”

“Um?” She frowned. “What’s interesting in that?”

“W-Well... It’s just that t-the c-cadet it’s… not a magician…” He said while smiling awkwardly.

“Huh?” Once she heard him, she stopped frowning. “A cadet… that’s not a magician… participating in the magic duels? Is he mentally ill or something? And you, why would you allow for someone like him to participate?”

“Um… I-I d-don’t think so.” He shook his head. “Also… It’s not prohibited for cadets to choose any competitions to participate in… It’s just that we never thought someone like that would choose to fight in that competition… After all, it’s prohibited to use anything other than magic…”

“Ho…” She smirked as she rubbed her chin. {Is he maybe an attention seeker? Or is he just delusional? How will he even fight if he doesn’t know how to use magic? Or does he think that magicians are something so trivial that he could win easily?}

After a little bit of pondering, her interest was definitely picked.

“I’ve decided.” She said as she stood up, turning to walk towards the exit of the room. “I want the VIP Observatory for myself, and please call my nephew, I’ll have lunch with him while looking at the show.”

“Y-Yes!” The magician said with an excited grin.

***

“You ready?”

Walking towards the Colosseum that was selected for the Magic Duel Competition, Olivia asked Cristopher as she looked through the new bag of food she bought.

“Yeah.” Cristopher said as he yawned.

“You look relaxed, master.” Rachel asked as she tilted her head, a slight worry could be seen in her eyes.

“Because I am.” Cristopher said.

“Can you be cockier?” Olivia snorted. “It’s not the usual duel we are accustomed to… It’s a strictly magic one. How will you fight when they won’t allow you to use close combat? Are you even good at using magic?”

“You have actually seen me using magic, though?” Cristopher said as he tilted his head.

“Huh? Have I? When!?” Olivia asked dumbfounded.

“What do you mean when? Whenever I shoot fire bullets. That’s magic.” Cristopher said with a sigh.

“Really!? I thought it was something from your Gift!” Olivia opened her eyes wide.

“...Yeah. Me too…” Hajin also said as he looked at him in confusion. “With how fast you use those things, I thought they had something to do with a Gift…”

“Huh? Fire bullets? What are those!?” Emma asked Olivia and Hajin, before turning to Cristopher “Do you also use a gun!?”

“Pfft… Right. No. I don’t use a gun.” Cristopher just snorted as he shook his head. “And also no. That has nothing to do with a Gift. It’s simple magic. Anyways, we’re here.”

As Cristopher spoke, they arrived at the coliseum, and they could soon see a lot of cadets, some wearing normal cadet uniforms and other wearing robes, going inside.

“Well, good luck, man.” Hajin said as he went towards the audience entrance.

“Yeah. Try not to lose.” Olivia said with a smirk as she followed Hajin.

“Wait for me! Cristopher, good luck! We’ll be cheering for you!” Emma shouted with a smile as she rushed behind Hajin and Olivia.

“Tch. Where does she get that much excitement from?” Cristopher sighed as he looked at Emma run towards the other two.

“Um…” Rachel, who looked at them go ahead, turned towards Cristopher, and nodded at him. “Good luck, master.”

“Thanks.” Cristopher smiled as he patted her head. “Also, be sure not to accept anything from Olivia, she may try to mess around with you.”

“Haha…” Rachel chuckled awkwardly. “I’ll be careful. I’ll be going then.”

“Sure thing.”

As everyone left towards the audience seats, Cristopher started walking towards the waiting area for participants.

{Mm? So it’s that midget, huh…} As he was walking, he sensed a magician close by, the reason he took note of her was basically that she was exuding a high amount of magic power. {Mm? She’s small, but it’s not to the point of calling abnormal. Or is it because I come from South America? 1,51 meters isn’t that weird back home...}

As he moved towards the waiting area, he just thought about random things as he ignored the looks the other participants were giving him. Most of them were not really happy that a Hero cadet came barging into their competition.

{You’ll learn your place soon enough.} Most of them thought with a sneer as Cristopher simply sat down, putting on his headphones to listen to some music while he waited.