“Don’t use your father’s move. I’ll teach you another simple move so you won’t be found out.”

  Before the test, Burn took time to teach Yvain about Force, like he did in the previous loop. But Yvain hit a wall the moment he was just about to uand something.

  Yvain dashed forward. The movements he learned from Burn and the days he spent in a futile attempt to scratch the surface of the man’s defense now seemingly paid off.

  Well, Burn wasn’t a leeacher. Even though he told Yvain to try and scratch him, the man also occasionally pushed him to the brink aed Yvain’s own defense.

  And he was relentless.

  So relehat these arrows seemed slow—

  TWANG! TWANG! SWISH! SWISH!

  Yvain wondered if even Burn couldn’t force him to awaken with that ruthless training, would this elf princess be able to do it with her arrows? Even now, her arrows seemed slow pared to Burn’s attack.

  But… the closer he got, the sharper and faster the arrows came. Twenty feet toward the fg, and she started to shoot two arrows at a time. Now, it had bee parable to his usual training.

  But not enough!

  “I uand why it takes years for Force Art users to master their body. There is a pattern to it, but there’s too much of it,” Yvain muttered after he finished his training with Burn.

  “Why? Vision arts don’t use patterns?” Burn asked.

  “Patterns in Vision arts are created to trol it. inally, it’s a free expression of pure energy. Without patterns or… spells, you still use your Vision,” Yvain said. “But there’s nothing but rules and patterns in Force Art.”

  “That’s because you’re using your body. Imagine your body as a mae. A meism. It only fun with certain rules and patterns. That’s why you only reprogram it.”

  Using mana.

  Spells were the same. They were desigram Vision into an easier-to-trol form. But Vision specialties, the stro form of Vision art, came straight from the soul, thus it wasn’t a program—but something unexpinable. Something beyond the w of magic, or any rules or patterns.

  SWISH! SWISH! SWISH! SWISH!

  Oh, Yvain couldn’t believe he was still so imprinted with the idea of Vision that he got another enlighte in the middle to awaken his Force.

  Why was it so tradictory? Why were Vision and Force such opposites that he could only advan one side and not the other?

  It was so frustrating. So—

  G! SWISH! SWISH! STAB!

  “Ugh!”

  Yvain’s immediate rea was almost to use his Vision to heal himself, but he mao stop it. Thirty seds left, with a deep stab wound in his left arm.

  Drip—drip…

  As his blood taihe ground and the people around wideheir eyes, uo turn away, Yvain hit an epiphany. In the end, both Vision and Force had the same goal.

  And that was to achieve perfe—in their own point of view.

  trol perfe, and freedom perfe. Which was it? Freedom using the soul, the blessing of God, or trol from mortality, the curse of God? Which was the true perfe?

  The answer… was none.

  Because God’s blessing was what God inteo create, not freedom. And God’s curse was human’s tool to create its owiny, not trol. The soul was God’s desiginy. And the body was a human's achievements, choices.

  Awakening—

  The moment Yvai his body allow Mana to course through it, Yvain uood.

  “He’s using his Force?!” The partits, shocked by Yvain’s sudden burst of energy, started quite a otion. Eveher groups started to notice them.

  “Hah—” Yvain smiled, his entire body ecstatic. “So this—this is Force?”

  Bance.

  It wasn’t trol, but bance. Maybe it was for others, but for him, it was just that. It was what he wanted, and what his body could ha was his iion, and his limits. This, was Force.

  “You… just awakened?” Nahwu couldn’t believe her eyes. The boy who bribed his way to the test iionally broke his prote spell to force awaken himself?

  “Senior,” Yvain called her, making her flinch. He broke the arrow in half, not immediately pulling it out from his wounded arm. “Let’s tihe test.”

  Nahwu gathered herself together and realized that this must be a farce. Was it possible for someoo awaken their For the middle of a test like this? The timing was so perfect it was fake! It must be!

  He must've already awakened before and just performed this miraculous awakening!

  Nahwu drew her bow—three arrows at a time. Releasing them to the air, she had imbued her own Forergy to trol them from three different dires.

  It was a fact that this boy was bribing the academy to ehe test. He was still cheating! Now, she mustn’t let him pass. She had to show him what real power was—not something a cheater could achieve!

  “Princess Nahwu! What are you doing?!”

  “Are y to kill him?!”

  She heard the examiners yell at her from above, but she didn’t stop. The three arrows whistled through the air, creating a sharp sound so loud it could cut a limb off.

  But Yvain—

  SWISH! SWISH! G!

  One arrow down as he dodged the two aroyed one. Yvain dashed forward faster than ever, while Nahwu drew her bow once more with more arrows, with her two arrows still in the air.

  “How many arrows you trol, Senior?” Yvain smiled, and it looked like a mock to her. “I wonder—whie will be a feint—”

  Nahwu shot ahree and Yvain found his answer.

  One arrow flew straight at him, which he struck with his sword, while the other two almost slipped away as they bent their dire past him, a them go, all four arrows in the air as one lost its energy, slowing and falling.

  Three at a time?

  SWISH! SWISH! SWISH!

  Yvain prepared himself to destroy all three within te of the fg. Ten seds left.

  G! G! SLASH!

  He was able to stop all three when he saw a shadow from above him—CLASH!

  Nahwu swung her bow at him, but Yvai her with his sword, g both ons just as he mao stop all three arrows from skewering him.

  “The thing is—” Yvain raised his wounded arm toward his left backside.

  STAB!

  The fourth arrow lodged itself hard into his wound, and Nahwu couldn’t believe he saw it ing.

  “—even without using his Force, my Papa’s feint is more intricate than this,” Yvain slipped away from Nahwu’s attack, sshing her bow in half.

  Five seds left. And Yvain walked leisurely toward the fg four feet aulling two arrows lodged in his arm as he did.

  Thankfully he hadn’t pulled the first arrow out yet. The sed arrow was fueled with Force, so without another arrow lodged there, it would pierce past his bone and flesh straight to his vitals.

  It was a rick, letting him see that the fourth arrow had lost its energy and slowed, gradually falling, then distrag him with her melee attack using her bow, only to pierce him from behind.

  Yvain pulled his scarf from his ned tied his wound tight. He couldn’t heal himself with Vision now in front of everyone, but he didn’t know how to heal himself with Force yet.

  “Ah! Young Lord Mossflower, you teach me how to heal your wound with Force?” Yvain thought asking wouldn’t hurt, but then he realized that everyone was still frozen in shock.

  Even the examiners above still had their jaws on the ground. It was plete silehe roup's test paused, and all heads fag toward the red fg.

  “W…”

  “WOAAAAAHH!!”

  “Sir Sator!”

  “Whaaaaaaaaat?!”

  When hundreds of teenagers saw something cool, they couldn’t themselves around it, and just started cheering.

  “What is this? A new Fenius emerged?” one of the examiners asked.

  “We have to quickly take him under someone. But you said he’s from that Sator family?” the other said.

  “Then, this would be difficult.”

  “ATTENTION!”

  As the lead examiner’s booming voice echoed withiadium, everyoarted to settle. Yvaihed a sigh of relief after his body got the treatment of a dirty mattress being spped, pushed, and hugged all around uhe sunlight.

  “Evan di Sator, you pass.”

  The lead examiner, a man in his forties, announced. He tinued, “Go to the infirmary and treat your wound.”

  “Thank you, sir. I will excuse myself,” Yvain said, bowing politely and walking away clutg his arm. He thought to himself that he would just use his Vision when no one was watg and go to the Visioment’s test.

  He was curious about how they tested their partits without them needing to awaken their Vision.

  “Wait up~!”

  Yvain had left the stadium, and was about to heal himself when he saw both the red-headed boy from earlier and An Mossflower following him.

  “You…” Yvain looked at the red-headed boy, asking, “You haven’t takeest yet. What are you doing here?”

  “Like I said, why are you following…” An asked.

  “What? You’re worried about me? Haha, don’t be,” the red-haired boy said.

  “I was forced to e here anyway. Even if I don’t take the test or fail, my parents will still enroll me.”

  An frowned, and Yvain raised his eyebrows.

  “My name is Matthearadscha. You see, my dad, Duke Padparadscha, and my mom, Princess Bianca, the headmaster of this school, will enroll me no matter what.”

  Matthew ughed. “Basically, I have no choice.”

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  Monday, I'll start my st year of college. After spending three months of summer vacation grinding with three different part time jobs, it's time to spend everything in the course of another year! Well, isn't this just the humble life of a poor movie major.

  Fun fact about me, two years into college, I took 2 years break across the pandemic because of financial difficulty. I worked so hard to raise more moo prevent myself from having to give up on my degree, and while still having schorship, it wasn't bad. That was how I avoided stude.

  I am still lucky for my healthy body, but st year, I actually colpsed and fell sionths. After that, I noticed my body wasn't the same as before. Well, the studies said that human actually start dyiing old as early as 25 years old, so maybe it's just it. I've bee an elderly 24 years old now! Hopefully soon I'll get my degree and not waste it at all by getting a det job, hahaha *sweating nervously* Who will hire me, man...

  Is this me having quarter life crisis? I'm not old enough for midlife crisis, right?