ALL NOVEL Chapter 31
When I first caught a glimpse of his shooting skills, he was nothing more than an absolute beginner.
Just the perfect level for a magician aspiring to become a marksman.
Selena’s judgment was spot on.
However, Lev Denec began to put in more effort than expected.
Even when professors occasionally came to check the talents and potential of the students,
shiiiiiiiiiing!
He showed no concern for this, nor did he butter up to anyone, but was solely focused on practice.
Days turned into weeks, and one day he dragged his exhausted body to practice, even at a late hour.
When Selena, observing him keenly, realized his growth was more pronounced than she expected,
He was no longer just a marksman emerging from mere practice.
It might be an exaggeration, but the instinct of an archer that only someone who has shot at a living target and felt the sensation could exude.
Even if he was running towards the same goal as her, there was no awkwardness in their presence.
Selena was acutely aware of this.
Watching his growth, she found herself reflecting on her own progress.
Starting from the lowest tier among marksmen, his unwavering commitment to practice was deserving of applause, leaving his past behind.
Thus, she felt an urge to help him more.
Someday, she hoped he wouldn’t crumble under the wall of talent like she did.
At first, she aimed to correct his posture.
‘It should have been like that…’
shiiiiiiing!
The crossbow that everyone had laughed at, deemed lacking in personality and strength,
Now shot bolts like a seamless extension of his being.
He had grown to the point where he could be unambiguously called an archer.
Even though she, who could not use wind archery, had
gulp…
Unknowingly tightened her grip on Selena’s hand.
Lev Denec.
He was the one to first extend his hand.
Perhaps he was requesting an embrace, one of humankind’s customs.
Though she held a rather conservative view on romantic relationships,
He faced the fate of expulsion if he lost in battle.
Perhaps this would be the last time.
She thought, maybe wrapping things up like this wasn’t so bad.
As if reaching out to her past self,
In the end, Selena clasped Lev’s hand.
*
crack!
The status window appeared before me, gripped by Selena’s hand.
[Entering interaction status with ‘Selena Windforce’]
[You can use the following skills]
[Skill Theft]
[Abyssal Healing Method]
‘Skill Theft.’
——————————————————
[Selena Windforce]
Selectable Skills
[Absolute Sight] [Lv.1]
——————————————————
…
Through Skill Theft, I could glimpse the archer skills possessed by Selena.
‘Wind Archery…’
Among them, the wind archery I sought was indeed included in the unselectable skills.
Unselectable Skills
——————————————————
[Archer’s Sense] [Lv.2]
[Chain Shooting] [Lv.3]
[Burst Shooting] [Lv.4]
[Calmness] [Lv.2]
[Quick Shot] [Lv.3]
[Parabolic Shot] [Lv.4]
[Insight] [Lv.3]
…
[Wind Archery] [Lv.0] (Passive) (Basic Skill)
: Contracts with the spirit of wind to wield the fairy’s archery.
(*Currently, this skill is deactivated due to the curse of the Sharpty family.)
Acquisition Difficulty: (blank)
——————————————————
‘As expected.’
The wind archery was stuck at level 0 due to the Sharpty’s curse.
For other fairies, normally, it would start at level 1 the moment they encounter the wind spirit.
Even though Selena is the third main heroine of the [Reincarnated Hero], by the author of [Reincarnated Academy], she couldn’t use wind archery even by chapter 3.
In the previous chapters, Caeran had no interest in Selena, a regular archer, causing her presence to fade into the background until the latter half.
…Thinking about it makes me mad again.
Anyway, this situation worked in my favor.
——————————————————
[Skill Theft] [Lv.Ex] (Active) (Basic Skill)
: Steal and learn one skill possessed by the target.
However, you can only choose the skill with the lowest level among those possessed by the target.
(1 use only)
Acquisition Difficulty: Quite high
——————————————————
The condition for Skill Theft applies only to skills lower in level than any other, allowing me to steal only the level 1 Absolute Sight right now.
Moreover, it doesn’t permit duplicate levels.
So, it was essentially an unusable skill.
However, if I could lift the deactivation of wind archery, I could obtain the level 0 wind archery through circumvention specifically from Selena.
The lack of an acquisition difficulty even proves this.
If successful, it would be a huge win.
Calming my excited nerves, I concentrated my mind.
Then, using the Abyssal Healing Method that I had registered in the skill window,
whoosh!
All the mana in my body flowed out in an instant and transmuted to Selena.
This decision would have the biggest impact of all my previous choices.
Her becoming a perfect archer, minus just wind archery, was monumental.
ding!
[Successfully lifted the curse: Sharpty family curse]
Did it work?
It was really no big deal.
From a gaming perspective, it was merely the removal of one debuff she had in her status.
Classic vibes.
At that moment, Selena seemed a little uncomfortable, opening her mouth.
“How long are we doing this?”
“…”
“Is a human handshake normally this long?”
A bit of bewilderment surfaced on her expressionless face.
She attempted to pull her hand away.
I didn’t let go.
“…?”
gulp!
I needed to use the next skill, Skill Theft.
swish!
Once again, the selectable skills began to rearrange for her.
——————————————————
[Selena Windforce]
Selectable Skills
[Wind Archery] [Lv.0]
——————————————————
‘Got it!’
The four characters caught my eye.
Wind Archery,
And it was selectable.
I silently rejoiced and selected wind archery.
[You have acquired a skill!]
[Wind Archery]
[*Skill can be registered upon contracting with the wind spirit.]
A skill for fairies,
Effectively, it was akin to me obtaining a hidden skill.
The game was about to get a whole lot easier.
How could one counter the theoretically possible combination of stealth + wind archery?
As I gradually relaxed my grip, Selena pulled her hand back.
“This is unnecessary contact.”
“Oh, sorry. I was just so glad.”
“…?”
And calming my uplifted emotions, I started packing my things.
I had something else to do.
I wasn’t satisfied with just this level of wind archery.
Selena’s expression had a hint of ‘What’s going on?’ mixed into it.
“Congratulations.”
“What…?”
“I said good news would come.”
While sowing confusion in her, I quickly made my exit from the practice room.
*
Left alone in the practice room was Selena.
After Lev disappeared, she stared at her hand.
“…”
As the warmth of their contact faded, a gentle breeze coolly wrapped around her hand.
It was likely her first time holding a guy’s hand.
A handshake was a human custom, and unless she was one of the few fairies communicating with humans, there was really no reason for such an action.
Even that Galeon understood that skin contact was something Selena extremely disliked, so he avoided it as much as possible.
“Why?”
Yet, that handshake with him felt strangely…
In hindsight, it was not so bad.
If she had found it unpleasant, she would have pulled away much earlier, but during the handshake, an unexplainable thrill jolted through her, releasing something that had been suppressed.
In the midst of this mysterious sensation,
Ah, I’m just so happy!
Congratulations!
I’m sure there would be good news!
He had left those incomprehensible words and disappeared in an instant.
Among them, what stuck in Selena’s memory the most was the phrase about being happy.
Happy? About what?
About shaking hands with someone who helped her?
Selena’s head, which had no interests outside of archery, began to swirl in confusion.
However, she found that in times like this, it was best to keep her head cool.
“Calm down.”
Closing her eyes and reflecting, she could encapsulate the situation in a single line.
‘Lev Denec is…’
And she calmly recited that line as if reading a poem.
‘Lev Denec has a liking for me. That’s the deal.’
Considering his tendency to attract incidents, when he felt happiness, it surely came from external stimuli or another person.
Thus, it meant he was glad to shake hands with someone named ‘Selena.’
Of course, this could just mean ‘Selena who helped train him.’
But the critical hint was elsewhere.
Humans find it hard to hide their feelings and often move away from their positions.
Indeed, it was something she had observed about the selfish behavior of humans since childhood.
Lev Denec had also quickly vanished from her sight.
Applying this to the current situation, his intentions could hardly be seen as bad.
In summary, this could be viewed as an action borne from embarrassment.
“… Huh.”
Having concluded this train of thought, Selena let out a soft sigh.
She indeed felt a significant emotional impact from Lev Denec’s actions.
However, Selena had little interest in human affection,
What’s more, he might leave soon.
It was not a situation she could think deeply about.
‘Still, I’ll go watch the duel tomorrow…’
thud!
At that moment, a distant thunk echoed.
When Selena turned to the source, there were no people in sight.
It was already past dawn; the students had all returned.
And what lay there was…
A popular potion for fatigue recovery among the students.
“I’ve repaid you.”
Muttering the note scribbled on the corner of the potion, Selena too began to pack and headed for the dormitory.
*
Returning to the dormitory in Claris Academy, Raphae Cheong-gwan, just like Selena, Aria sat on her bed hugging her pillow.
It was a day when the pudding she liked was on the takeout menu.
So she had bought it to enjoy after coming back from the practice room, yet she hadn’t even opened the packaging.
She had witnessed something.
The new relationship between Lev Denec and Selena.
Of course, she knew that the two would train together.
Up until then, she felt obligated to monitor him as he was a figure of concern, sometimes checking in to see that there were no issues and casting recovery magic on him.
Fortunately, the dark magic that had initially raised her suspicions didn’t linger.
He was genuinely training and nothing more.
However, when he concluded by holding Selena’s hand,
His mana had fluctuated.
Neither dark magic nor casting a spell could account for it…
Thus, the only reason would be that his mana’s energy had momentarily disrupted due to emotional reasons.
When magicians can’t concentrate, their mana becomes unstable, causing them to fail in their spells.
Aria had observed this through Melissa many times.
In conclusion, Lev Denec had once again become flustered over Selena to the point of losing all his mana while trying to do something.
“Was it really that good…?”
For some reason, Aria’s tone had taken on an impersonal quality.
Surely, she had brushed against him on the bumpy carriage ride in Evenbaugh and had unintentionally touched fingers while passing the recovery potion too.
And even amidst the blanket, there had been unintended skin contact.
Indeed… even when he had healed her, it hadn’t felt as if any magic’s energy had been present…
thump…
Aria buried her beautiful face into her pillow.
It felt as if something had died.
Aria still hadn’t defined her feelings toward Lev Denec.
However, she had a clear opinion of Selena.
She was a beauty, as befitting her fairy race, tall and possessing an attractive figure…
‘She was indeed a beautiful one…’
Regrettably, Aria, coming from a commoner background, had never consciously evaluated her own looks.
Even among nobles, many would have envied her remarkable beauty…
“Wait…”
Aria raised her head again.
Her lovely lavender hair cascaded down like silk.
He might just be after school’s popular figures.
Let’s think this through.
When had his mana surged like that… surely…
“Yeriel, Selena, and… Melissa too, I heard they felt it… and…”
These three were undoubtedly beauties.
“Edwin…?”
“…”
-…
‘…there’s no way that’s true.’
A chain of misunderstandings nearly came undone,
In the deep of night.