Lukas returned to the 12th Training Room. As soon as he opened the door and stepped inside, he heard a familiar voice.
“You’re back.”
It was Leo.
There was still time to spare, but it seemed that he had been waiting there for a while already.
Lukas looked at Leo and said.
“What about your injuries?”
“I went to get them treated.”
“What about a break?”
“I rested enough.”
The answers came back smoothly in a clear voice.
Lukas then asked the most important question.
“Are you ready?”
“I am.”
The answer came once again without any wasted words. Leo’s firm resolve could be heard in his voice.
Lukas smiled faintly.
Leo’s willpower was exceptional when one looked at it objectively. The fear he felt when facing Demons was enough to drive normal people crazy. If he really was a coward, then he wouldn’t have dared to confront the Demons at all.
But Leo faced his fear. He faced it and looked for ways to overcome it.
Nevertheless, he became desperate and lost because he couldn’t find a clear solution.
Then, just as he was about to give everything up, he saw hope.
It was impossible to describe the joy Leo had felt at that time. Lukas’s harsh training might have made his body and mind feel like they were about to break, but on the other hand, his mind felt more comfortable than ever.
Leo’s face said so.
“From today on, call me Master.”
“…”
Leo froze for a moment before bowing his head. His shoulders shook slightly.
“Yes, Master.”
Then he raised his head again and spoke, his expression changing.
“…umm.”
“What is it?”
“This might be rude to ask, but…”
He looked at Lukas’ body and continued.
“Are you okay, Master?”
“…”
Lukas sighed.
To be honest, he wasn’t okay.
* * *
A week passed.
During that period, Lukas focused only on Leo’s training.
They touched upon numerous fields, but the main focus was martial arts. If the foundation wasn’t right, then it would have been meaningless no matter how beautiful the building that was built on it was.
“Huk, huk…”
Today’s training had just ended.
Leo panted like he was about to die.
Only a week had passed, but his cheeks had become thin and bruises covered his entire body. His body had become like this even though he received treatment every day.
Although he looked haggard, Lukas was more fond of him now than he was a week ago. That’s because his eyes were alive.
“We’ll stop here.”
“Puha!”
As if he had been waiting for those words, Leo’s body collapsed.
Nevertheless, he didn’t relax his respectful attitude as he kept his breathing as quiet as possible so he wouldn’t disturb his Master.
Lukas had told him that he could just lie down without caring about such courtesy, but Leo seemed strict in this regard.
After a while, Leo, who had calmed his breathing to an extent, opened his mouth.
“The Warrior King Fist that I use seems to feel different from Master’s.”
Lukas was teaching Leo the Warrior King Fist.
Of course, he didn’t ask Leo to forget or disregard the martial arts he’d learned before. It wasn’t something that he’d be able to easily forget anyway, and it was better to use martial arts with which he was familiar.
But Lukas hoped that Leo would have been able to combine the two martial arts and eventually mix them completely to create his own martial art.
Of course, such a task would not be easy.
“I modified it to suit your body. Your physique is smaller than the average man’s. Was there anything that made you uncomfortable?”
Lukas’ voice was slightly worried as he asked this. After becoming an Absolute, he’d gained extensive knowledge in various fields. Martial arts was one of them.
But apart from gaining deep knowledge, Lukas didn’t have much confidence in himself.
That’s because he had no affection for martial arts. It could be said that he’d just absorbed the knowledge.
This was due to the fact that he’d already devoted his life to Magical Science.
Martial arts wasn’t something that one could have dig into and see the end of with a flimsy mindset. It was impossible even for Lukas.
Fortunately, Leo shook his head.
“No. But I heard that it was impossible to modify an established martial art unless you were at least a Master.”
Leo’s eyes were filled with respect and reverence.
His face was still expressionless, but his eyes shined like stars.
“…as expected, Master is a great person.”
“…”
In all honesty, Lukas hadn’t expected Leo to react like this.
He was fully prepared to be somewhat resented by this boy. Unlike Min Ha-rin, he was pushing himself forward without hesitation.
For Leo, this training was closer to torture.
At the same time, he rarely said words of praise, and usually, all he did was give advice that was closer to criticism.
Nevertheless, at some point, Leo began to show him respect. Maybe Lukas’ shock therapy was working. Or maybe it was because Leo thought it was.
‘He must be curious about me.’
By now, Leo must have realised that Lukas was no ordinary Priest or Monk. Nevertheless, he never mentioned anything about his identity. And he never showed any signs of curiosity.
Since Leo acted in such a way, Lukas didn’t bring it up, either. In any case, he would naturally find out on his own someday.
Instead, there was something more important for Leo right now.
“What are you going to do about Gerard? He won’t let you go.”
Leo’s expression became serious at those words.
“I will have to deal with it sooner or later.”
“Have you thought of any countermeasures?”
“Yes. I’m going to defeat him in an official duel. And I’ll have a qualified person be the judge. If he loses the duel in front of an audience, he will understand.”
Lukas nodded before speaking in a firm voice.
“I won’t interfere.”
“Thank you.”
“It won’t be easy for you to win. Even if you follow my training perfectly, it would still take you a month before you’re ready.”
Leo seemed to think about something for a moment before speaking in a firm voice.
“Then I’ll defeat Gerard within two weeks.”
He wasn’t bluffing.
Lukas had learned Leo’s way of thinking a bit. This boy would never say anything that he couldn’t take responsibility for.
‘His talent is definitely enormous, but…’
Leo was also a transformer. (TL: Okay my childishness aside, would you guys prefer ‘transformers’ or ‘revolutionaries’? The first is closer to the true meaning while the latter sounds better from an english perspective.)
This meant that if he was raised properly, he could become someone on the same level as Lee Jong-hak.
Even so, it wouldn’t be easy for him to defeat Gerard in a month.
Regardless of his personality, Gerard’s ability was comparable to Min Ha-rin’s when she was still a Swordsman. After all, Nina wouldn’t recommend him so confidently without reason.
But Lukas decided to trust his student.
“…come to think of it.”
Recently, he hadn’t been paying any attention to Min Ha-rin.
No, he hadn’t seen her for the week that he was training Leo.
Of course, at this point, there was nothing for him to guide her on. There was no need for any great enlightenment until she reached at least 3 stars.
What she had to focus on now was increasing her mana and honing her senses. And it was important to increase the number of branches of magic that she could use.
Min Ha-rin was very intelligent. Even if she was confused about something, she had the ability to read through a book and understand the problem on her own.
Nevertheless, since he had a new student, it was about time that they got to know each other.
“Is your body okay?”
“Yes.”
“There’s someone I’d like to introduce you to.”
Leo’s eyes shined when he heard those words.
“Do you have another Disciple, Master?”
“Right.”
“So it’s my Senior Martial Brother.” (TL: Fun fact, the word the author used for ‘senior brother’ is the same as ‘death penalty’)
Lukas tilted his head before revealing the fact that Min Ha-rin was a woman.
“Senior Martial Brother… isn’t that of eastern origin?”
“The origin of the martial art I learned is said to be closely related to Shaolin from China. The format they followed is also the same. Of course, I learned the martial art informally as a child, so I didn’t have a real Master or Senior Martial Brothers…”
Leo began to ramble a bit at the end. Perhaps he had been longing for such a relationship in the past.
‘So he was learning Shaolin martial arts.’
This wasn’t particularly surprising. Europe was an area where swordsmanship, magic, and sorcery were developed instead of martial arts.
Therefore, it was common for European Martial Artists to learn martial arts from the east. Leo was the same.
“Mm…”
Lukas felt troubled.
If Min Ha-rin and Leo were learning the same things, he would have been able to develop a bond between his students, but they were learning different things.
Min Ha-rin was learning magic.
Leo was learning martial arts.
They had the same Master, so they could be said to be from the same school, but there was not much of a difference in their initiation dates, so something like seniority would be hard to establish.
‘It was unintentional.’
This was the first time he’d taken on two students at the same time.
Lukas shook his head.
“I’ll think about that later. First of all, Ha-rin is older than you, so don’t be rude.”
“Understood.”
He didn’t think Leo would be rude in the first place, but he still said it anyway.
Min Ha-rin was in the 11th Training Room, right beside them.
The 11th and 12th Training Rooms had been lent to Lukas due to Nina’s consideration.
In any case, most of the hunters were busy carrying out missions, so the training rooms were currently unused.
Click.
He opened the door and saw Min Ha-rin.
She was squatting in a corner, reading a book, and when he looked closely, he noticed that she was wearing glasses.
She looked up when she heard the door open, and her expression changed.
“Ah…!”