Mightiest Melee Magician

3 weeks had passed since the end of the first semester tests.

In the past 3 weeks, I diligently learnt Martial Arts from Lord Coulter.

I also learnt the 6 forms of the Heavenly Martial Arts that were the standard for the knights during this time period, and now I only needed to practice them in real scenarios.

Thanks to this,

Skill ‘Body Arts’ has increased.

Body Arts has reached level 10.

Title ‘Whole Body a Weapon’ has been attained.

As a reward, the effects of the skill ‘The Mad Magician’ will be empowered.

As my Body Arts reached level 10, I obtained a pretty unique way of fighting thanks to the title.

As an effect of ‘The Mad Magician’, you are now able to imbue magic into any part of your body.

That is, the passive effect obtained by the title ‘Whole Body a Weapon’.

You are now able to ‘materialize’ your magic in every part of your body. For example, your trapezius muscles or your collar bones.

Until now, the areas I could imbue my magic onto was restricted to my hands and feet.

Thanks to the effects of reaching body arts level 10, I was now able to ‘materialize’ magic from any part of my body.

This was a significant change.

Straang had said this before,

“Draka was… a type of living bomb.”

“A bomb? Why?”

“Normal martial arts couldn’t damage Draka at all. Think about it. What’s the point in kicking him? If you touched Draka’s body, magic would activate, as if you lit a bomb’s fuse.”

“……”

Like casting magic through your abdomen…

Just a small act like bumping shoulders was enough to engulf them with fatal magic when magic could be cast on oneself.

Meaning, if they touched me, I would explode.

“Is that possible?”

“If your strength is good enough, definitely.”

I could fight like Draka.

The fact that I could cast magic from my entire body would mean that I needed to rapidly expend all the mana I ‘collected’, which could lead to lots of wasted mana.

However, this meant little to me.

My ‘mana’ was related to my ‘strength’.

And my ‘strength’ was supplied at a near-limitless speed.

The last 3 weeks.

If I were to pick out another thing I gained, it would be my rapid increase in strength.

The basic 30 strength I gained daily due to the daily quest.

And Straang had recently advanced to Rank 3, so my strength swiftly exceeded 2000.

Currently, if I were to have a rematch against the Shoulderbone Ogre, I was confident that I would never lose.

And thanks to my growing tenacity, even if I used magic nonstop for an hour straight, I would not tire.

Seeing this, Straang looked quite astonished.

“You. Isn’t your rate of growth too fast? The time Draka took to get 2000 strength was over a year and a half after he met me.”

A year and a half.

I wasn’t surprised.

Because this didn’t mean I was stronger than Draka.

It was just the difference caused by the gap in ‘perception of time’ between a human and a dragon.

Whatever the case, it was encouraging to hear that my growth speed was fast.

“Well, your body has also gotten pretty good.”

It was as Straang said.

My figure that was smaller and skinnier than others a few months ago had become strong and solid, to the point where you couldn’t even compare the two.

Straang talked while obviously checking out my whole body.

“Hm… the body of a human is very interesting. For it to be able to change this much in such a short amount of time. It’s truly beautiful.”

Of course, I sometimes got surprised when I took my baths.

Like, ‘this is my body?’

However…

“I don’t want to hear that from a guy.”

I didn’t especially want to hear that from a male spirit.

As I muttered in a woeful tone, Straang’s face became redder.

“What are you talking about? I’m a girl.”

“…What?”

Wait, hold on.

Did I hear that wrong?

Ignoring the fact that a spirit even had a gender…

“How did you become a girl?”

“What do you mean how? I was like this since I was born…”

“You didn’t say!”

“You didn’t ask!”

“……”

This was the first time I was done in by Straang.

Right.

I didn’t ask for her gender.

I did sometimes think her voice was weirdly androgynous.

Since her tone of voice and behaviour was too much like a ‘mischievous little boy’, I couldn’t even imagine otherwise.

Was this what they called a ‘stereotype’?

“To think I was a guy…”

Acting like she was injured, Straang talked while covering her eyes.

“I’m shook. You’re too much.”

“……”

Saying you’re ‘shook’.

Where did you even learn to say that?

Wait, before that, since I’ve been misunderstanding her as a guy, I should apologize, right?

“I-I’m sorry.”

As I apologized, Straang removed her hands from her eyes.

“I’m kidding.”

“……”

You damned teddy bear looking…

* * *

* * *

Straang insisted that she was a ‘she’ until the end.

“Are you really not gonna talk to me?”

“……”

“I’m really a girl.”

“Yeah, I don’t believe you.”

I don’t know where she got it from, but Straang had gotten a piece of cloth and put it around her waist.

She said while grabbing both sides of her skirt (cloth fragment),

“I’m telling the truth though! I can’t even show you that to confirm.”

“……”

Just what were you gonna show me?

This kid who wasn’t even wearing anything until a few moments ago.

Whatever.

After thinking back on all those reactions, Straang was probably telling the truth.

Their physiological sex was probably female.

However, this was a different problem for me, who had shamelessly changed my clothes in front of Straang.

Hmph.

I was hurt too.

As I pouted, Straang spoke up while narrowing her eyes.

“There was nothing to even look at.”

“What? So you admit that you were looking?!”

“No I didnt? I didn’t look at your lower part when you were changing!”

“…really?”

“Yep, but you know that little dot on your left butt cheek…”

“Yo, what the hell!”

“Ehehehehehe…”

Was this the Strength Spirit, or the Pervert Spirit?

I really couldn’t tell anymore.

As we were walking through the academy garden while having this unsatisfactory conversation, someone hurriedly ran up to me.

“Ruin!”

“…Hm?”

It was Jason.

He spoke after running up to me, a glow of excitement on his face.

“Haven’t you seen it yet?”

“What are you talking about?”

“Right now, at the academy entrance, the list of participants for the Grand Festival got posted!”

Grand Festival Participant List.

Individual and group competitions.

In total, 31 of the top students' names were posted publicly on the list at the academy’s main entrance.

The reason Jason was overly excited…

“I knew it! I knew you would be selected as the academy representative!”

My name was written on the ‘Individual Competition’ section.

Being deeply moved, Jason grabbed me into a hug.

While pushing him off my body, I asked,

“What about you?”

“Eh?”

“Were you selected for the Group Competition?”

Jason Damon.

The ‘potential’ this friend had was definitely high.

After the 3rd test, Jason heeded my advice and continued to train hard.

This let him show a pretty decent performance for the 4th test.

And if my predictions were correct, he had a high chance of getting selected to be part of the 30 people for the Group Competition.

“Me? Fufu. Check it yourself.”

And this prediction of mine came to fruition.

At the main entrance that was currently swarming with people, as soon as I found the list for the Grand Festival, it wasn’t hard to find his name.

<31st place, Jason Damon>

I could find it looking from the bottom up.

“Thanks Ruin! It’s all thanks to you!”

Jason hugged me again with a deeply moved expression and said it was thanks to me.

The only thing I did was to encourage you, saying you would do well.

“Well, it’s all a fruit of your hard work.”

“No. Your encouragement planted the seeds of confidence within me. I really thought I was trash before!”

“……”

Anyhow, looks like that small ‘encouragement’ was a huge help for him.

He barely qualified, but it was good nonetheless.

This Grand Festival would definitely help both Jason and I grow.

I silently looked to my name which was at the top of the list.

<1st place, Ruin Ardell (Representative)>

Then, I skimmed through the entirety of the participant list.

The name I was looking for was ‘Michael Galehill’.

However,

‘As I thought… It’s not here.’

31 people.

Between them, I couldn’t find the name of Michael Galehill.

In some sense, it was only natural.

It was unreasonable to send a student who was undergoing Expulsion Evaluation to such a huge competition.

On one hand, it was quite regretful.

‘Why did you have to take the potion…’

If he hadn’t doped on an illegal potion…

Maybe, if he had taken the test fair and square…

From the point of the academy, he would have been a great strength while they prepared for the Grand Festival.

It would have been a good experience for Michael too.

However, that was the end of the regrets.

This was comeuppance for all the evil deeds committed by House Galehill.

‘I need to do it.’

Now, in place of Michael Galehill, I needed to fulfill my part.

The Grand Festival.

The Individual Competition, which received the most spotlight, placed importance on the individual’s capabilities.

However, the Group Competition from the Olympiad was different.

The team needed to score an Arrow Ball into the opponent’s goal to gain points.

Mimicking the historical battlefield, the Chiken Gorge, they constructed a huge battlefield to allow 31 vs 31 battles.

This was the ‘Chiken Gorge Battlefield’.

These event-like competitions required great teamwork between everyone and the ‘Leader’.

And the person who needed to unify these 30 people into one was the Academy Representative.

Me.

A representative…

How long had it been since I represented this academy?

It was when I was 10, when I entered the academy.

The day of the entrance ceremony.

As I got into the school with the best grades, I represented the new students.

And I was subject to their gazes of jealousy and misgivings.

However, in the 5 years after, I could only watch from afar as Michael Galehill received all his congratulations.

And so, the 5 years before today passed by in an instant.

“Damn, Ruin is the representative?”

“What did I say? Only Ruin could be it!”

“Ruin! Ruin!”

“Woaaaah!”

I would represent the academy again.

I could no longer see those eyes filled with jealousy and misgivings.

Agreement, Pride, Confidence, Recognition.

All these emotions were mixed into a huge wave and flowed towards me.

The cheers and claps that were poured out on me.

With a heart that became steadily warmer.

And a mind that calmed into a silence.

I finally felt truly happy.

No.

Should I say I finally found my place?

Right.

As I was cheered on like this, I could finally feel it.

‘This position is mine.’

I now had no intention of giving up this position.

I had a thought.

‘In the Grand Festival… and also at the graduation.’

Now that it came to this, I’d keep on winning.

——