Episode 8
“But only if I wasn’t mistaken back then.”

Melin’s eyes gleamed with a deep, intense light.

“Maybe he’ll show an unexpected side again.”

She had watched the duel with that hope in her heart.

But what unfolded far exceeded her wildest expectations—something utterly unbelievable.

Bam!

A loud, sharp sound echoed through the training ground.

“What the—?”

Melin’s eyes widened in shock.

She wasn’t the only one. Every single one of the mages present reacted the same way.

It was impossible to ignore.

Someone had fallen.

Not Chris, but Canin.

Blood streamed down his face, struck squarely by a wooden sword.

One single blow.

Chris smirked and glanced around at the Black Swamp Knights.

“The Black Swamp Knights aren’t much after all. Anyone else want to step up?”

---

Silence fell over the arena.

The mages were stunned.

“What just happened?”

“How did Canin get taken down like that?”

No one could make sense of the scene they’d just witnessed.

As soon as the duel began, Canin had aggressively pushed Christian back.

“Though he’s a spawn, Canin is a first-rank mage. There’s no way that punk could handle him.”

“How long will he last?”

“Ten seconds?”

“Five?”

Everyone was predicting Canin’s defeat.

Then, in an instant, the match was decided.

Christian’s wooden sword pierced through Canin’s attack and struck him squarely under the nose.

And that was the end.

“What the hell?”

“Did Canin let his guard down?”

But this was the second time.

Could it really be just carelessness?

As confusion rippled through the crowd, a haughty voice rang out across the training ground.

“Anyone else want to try? From what I’ve seen so far, it seems many of you have some regrets about facing me.”

Chris curled his lips into a mocking smile.

“Come on, anyone. I want to see if the Black Swamp Knights really live up to their reputation. Frankly, I’m not convinced.”

The mages’ faces flushed with anger.

They looked at each other and then pointed to one among them.

A full-fledged member of the Knights, a ‘second-rank’ mage, stepped forward.

“My name’s Thorn.”

“Well, I guess I don’t really need to tell you that.”

“You’ll regret insulting the Black Swamp Knights.”

“That’s for me to find out.”

Chris flicked the tip of his wooden sword.

“Bring it on.”

Thorn’s face flared with fury at the insult.

Clang!

Wooden swords clashed.

Chris felt a sharp jolt in his wrist.

“Just as planned.”

He smiled inwardly, satisfied.

He had deliberately provoked the Black Swamp Knights.

He expected a second-rank mage to step up.

“I figured no higher-ranked mage would bother facing a punk like me out of pride.”

The opponent now was just right for his situation.

At least, with his current abilities, he could barely hold his own against a second-rank mage.

“Though my magic energy is lacking, I can handle this.”

Clash! Thud! Screech!

The wooden swords struck back and forth.

As time passed, the training ground grew quiet.

Everyone began to sense something was off.

“What are you doing?!”

“Finish this quickly!!”

On the surface, Thorn, the second-rank mage, was pressing the attack.

But he couldn’t end it.

In fact, he wasn’t even close.

“What the hell? I can’t break through!”

Thorn’s crude counterattacks were interrupted repeatedly.

Whenever he tried to overpower Chris with brute force, Chris dodged skillfully or his attacks failed to land as intended.

“The two before me weren’t careless after all.”

Thorn swallowed hard.

He couldn’t understand it.

He was clearly stronger.

Yet somehow, he felt like he was the one losing ground.

To be precise, Chris seemed completely at ease, while Thorn was desperately struggling.

“This makes no sense.”

Meanwhile, it wasn’t just Thorn who was shocked.

Deputy Commander Melin was equally stunned.

“This can’t be.”

Melin couldn’t hide her surprise.

“I wasn’t mistaken back then.”

Every move Chris made was chilling.

Was he just talented?

No, quite the opposite.

That was the problem.

If he had overwhelmed his opponents with refined swordsmanship, it wouldn’t be surprising.

But Chris was gaining the upper hand with awkward, unpolished moves.

He was doing the impossible.

“How the hell is that even possible?”

It was beyond comprehension.

Sure, if someone had an extraordinary natural combat sense, maybe such a thing could happen.

But no matter how much of a genius, could it really be true?

It was hard to believe, yet it was happening right before their eyes.

The arena fell into a deathly silence.

Everyone stared wide-eyed at Christian.

Meanwhile, Chris thought to himself.

“Time to wrap this up. I think they’ve seen enough.”

There were two reasons he’d caused such a ruckus today.

First, to earn recognition among the mages.

In a society where strength is everything, being acknowledged through power is the highest honor.

Defeating a full-fledged second-rank mage would definitely change how people looked at him.

“And there’s a more important reason.”

Chris’s eyes darkened.

He saw the mage swinging a wooden sword at him.

But he saw much more.

The position of the wrist gripping the sword.

The angle of the hand.

How the arm muscles tensed.

How the feet stepped forward.

How the magic energy extended and strengthened the strike.

In other words, he was witnessing the Black Swamp Knights’ basic sword technique—the ‘Mud Sword Style’—in action.

“So this is how it really looks.”

He had watched their training sessions from a distance while jogging before.

He had a rough idea of their movements, but spying from afar had its limits.

That was why he’d arranged this encounter.

“This should be enough.”

With that thought, he swung his wooden sword.

Whoosh!

Magic energy spread through his body.

His magic energy was barely enough to reach first rank—extremely weak.

But that didn’t matter.

What counted was not how much, but how it was used.

Even with the same magic energy, the difference in application was worlds apart.

Unlike Thorn, who wielded strong magic energy but couldn’t land a hit, Chris’s sword easily pierced through Thorn’s defenses.

Bam!

Chris’s sword struck Thorn’s temple.

Hit in a vital spot, Thorn’s eyes rolled back and he collapsed unconscious.

“……”

A suffocating silence pressed down on the mages.

No one could accept what had just happened.

The shock was so overwhelming their minds momentarily refused to process it.

But only for a moment.

A wave of astonishment swept through the arena.

“Damn… that punk heir is really that strong?”

“He’s not strong. His magic energy and sword technique are terrible.”

“That’s what makes it even more incredible. How the hell is that possible? He’s barely reached first rank in magic energy.”

“Wait, didn’t he not even train magic energy before? When did he reach first rank?”

It wasn’t just admiration.

It was pure, incomprehensible shock and disbelief that swept through the mages.

At that moment, a single word flashed across every mage’s face.

‘…Genius?’

They all swallowed hard.

If he wasn’t a genius, this was impossible.

And not just any genius.

“How much talent does it take to pull off something like that?”

They were elite mages.

They’d seen so-called geniuses before.

Many here were considered to have exceptional talent.

But none had ever displayed anything like this.

“That punk was hiding that kind of talent all along.”

The mages’ gazes began to shift.

Their mindset was simple.

Survival of the strongest.

They bowed to the powerful and looked down on the weak.

Chris had been despised not just for his reckless behavior, but fundamentally because he was weak.

A pathetic punk who acted out.

If he had been strong, many would have tolerated his occasional wildness.

Of course, even the strong were strictly punished if they crossed the line, but the mages of the Magic Empire were generally lenient toward the powerful.

“Good. Just as I expected.”

Chris quietly rejoiced inside.

He’d planned for this reaction all along.

Still, he showed no sign of pleasure on the outside, keeping his face cold and distant.

He thought that would win the mages’ favor more.

His plan worked perfectly, and the mages were once again impressed.

“He doesn’t seem the least bit arrogant. Does he think this is all just normal?”

“He seems much more like a true mage than before.”

Chris’s face was naturally sharp and harsh.

Now, with his complete transformation into a noble-looking gentleman, his cold, stern expression gave off an air of supreme arrogance.

And arrogance from the strong was something the mages admired.

They valued honest pride over clumsy humility.

“I’ll be watching him closely from now on.”

As the mages’ perception of Chris shifted, he did something no one could have imagined.

“This wasn’t meant to end so soon.”

“Disappointing. I think I had too high expectations for the Black Swamp Knights.”

“!!”

Once again insulting the Knights, the mages’ faces flared with anger.

No matter how much they respected strength, insulting their own order was unforgivable.

Just as the mages were about to step forward in outrage, Chris made an even more shocking statement.

“Deputy Commander, what do you think of my words?”

“!!”

Chris curled his lips into a sneer—an unmistakably obnoxious one.

“It seems the order’s poor performance isn’t entirely without fault on your part, Deputy Commander.”

Everyone held their breath.

That madman was openly provoking Deputy Commander Melin!

‘Crazy bastard.’

‘Changed? Not a chance. He’s just gotten even crazier.’

‘Shouldn’t someone stop him?’

Melin let out a bitter laugh.

“Young master, I understand your joy at an unexpected victory, but aren’t you overstepping your bounds a bit?”

“Well, we’ll see about that.”

Chris tapped his wooden sword against the ground.

“Perhaps, Deputy Commander, you’d care to demonstrate the true strength of the Black Marsh Knights.”

“!!”

He was challenging Melin to a duel.

Her expression turned icy.

“Fool, if I go all out, you’ll be dead within a second.”

She dropped all pretense of politeness.