When did she start looking at me?
Sansuyu was staring at me with her unique, emotionless expression.
"What are you?"
Her voice, murmuring without emotion, felt cold as well.
-Gulp.
Sansuyu, who came out into the corridor, strode right up to me. The scent of her sweat, rising from the wide-open door, was sweet. Now, I also saw her T-shirt was soaked with sweat and stuck to her skin.
"You."
"Yes?"
"What were you doing just now?"
Sansuyu's status was much higher than I imagined, so I responded, basing it on a respectful tone.
"I apologize."
I bowed my head.
Imitating someone's sword technique was considered disrespectful, and it wouldn't be strange if she killed me under the pretext of maintaining secrecy. Moreover, the Cornus family that Sansuyu belonged to was one of the most notable in Korea.
In short, I was in the wrong.
I waited for her words, keeping my head bowed.
"Why are you apologizing?"
It was an unexpected response.
"Pardon?"
When I unintentionally asked back, Sansuyu leaned towards me, who was bowing, and asked again.
"Earlier."
… Earlier?
I slightly lifted my head.
'!!!'
I was shocked and froze. In front of my eyes, a huge chest was declaring its existence.
E? F?
Considering she wore bandages and a sports bra, it might be more. Was it not worthy of the title 'World's Best Chest' and had more motherliness than the world tree?
"Answer."
As I lost my words, Sansuyu spoke again in an emotionless tone.
"Do you mean when I was imitating the sword technique earlier?"
"You imitated?"
"Yes, I apologize. I knew I shouldn't, but it looked so cool…"
Sansuyu, with her arms folded below her chest, looked at me with her vacant eyes.
"Show me."
"Pardon?"
"Earlier."
Did she mean to show her what I did earlier?
Originally, it was her sword technique, so I readily took a preparatory stance.
"This."
Having no sword, I looked around, and Sansuyu offered hers. The heavy wooden sword felt as if it was tailored for me. It must be Sansuyu's exclusive training sword.
"Then, I will begin."
"Mm."
Was she originally such an emotionless-looking person?
'Well, she was the person who sat high and alone in class.'
To put it nicely, she was the flower on the cliff. To put it badly, she was a beautiful loner with a large chest.
Wasn't it more accurate to say she had transcended worldly concerns than any other description?
Inwardly having such thoughts, I swung the sword.
-Whoosh!
There was no distortion in my stance.
Regardless of power, my talent and faith in the sword were unbeaten by anyone.
I rotated my left foot backward, took the first stance, and added elasticity to the movement with the strength of my waist.
When approaching, do it firmly. When retreating, do it without hesitation.
Although I couldn't mimic her unique petals in the movements devoid of any magic, I was showing a posture corresponding to hers.
"Swoosh, Huff."
A breath that cleansed the mind, my sword extending straight out from my grip.
Every muscle was utilized in the refined stance, something she probably knew much better than I did.
There were points to improve, but let's put that aside for now.
What I had to show was solely her sword technique, after all.
-Click.
Finishing stance.
Sansuyu's expression was as stiff as it was in the beginning.
The only difference was that her eyes were slightly larger than before, and her light yellow eyes were gleaming with light.
"How was it?"
"Pardon?"
"How did you do it?"
"I could do it because I saw it."
I conveyed the truth rather than a deceit.
Sansuyu listened to my words while tapping her forearm, maintaining her folded arms posture.
"Where's the mana?"
"Well… I don't have any mana yet."
"Why?"
Was she asking this now?
The conversation I thought I was getting the hang of suddenly broke off.
Was she asking why I didn't have Mana?
"I'm not sure. Maybe it will come soon."
"Really?"
Sansuyu extended her hand, seemingly uninterested. Not understanding her intention, I was lost in thought when she slightly narrowed her eyebrows.
"The sword."
"Oh, yes."
"Follow me."
"Pardon?"
Sansuyu, turning back towards the training room she was using, gestured for me to follow.
"Come on."
When I entered the room holding one of the wooden swords hung on the wall, the sweet body fragrance from before drifted strongly.
The scent of the sword was also fragrant, probably because it was made of wood, which was a bit awkward.
-Click.
Sansuyu turned the training room into duel mode and took her stance. There were no signs of her raising her Mana.
[5!]
[4!]
[3!]
I also took my stance and steadied my breath, adjusting to the decreasing time.
My swordsmanship already had a certain framework.
The epitome of orthodoxy.
The sword of my wooden master was accumulated through tens of thousands of sword techniques through deep learning technology.
I trusted my adaptable body and surrendered to an honest sword.
[2!]
[1!]
-Beep!
Sansuyu's body charged forward. Her agility was in the mid-5s or maybe more.
Her sword, taking the form of a swift blade, flew like a dagger towards my shoulder.
Wooden Swordsmanship First Form: Leaf Break.
-Shwa!
I perfectly deflected the first form the master showed the most, her swift and smooth strike.
"!"
Sansuyu, slightly opening her eyes, instantly stepped and shifted into the second stance.
A faint silhouette of petals was engraved behind her.
The strike I saw then.
I mimicked it and showed it exactly.
While stepping back, using the elasticity of my body, I made the trajectory of the sword unpredictable.
However, this was a sword technique unsuitable for the form of the wooden sword I held.
The sword I held was a black-colored wooden sword made of ebony.
It was a sturdy sword made using the wood of a tree similar to persimmon, native to Southeast Asia.
Its length was 102cm. A mass-produced item following standard specifications.
I realized this while watching.
The swordsmanship Sansuyu practiced was designed for a lighter stabbing sword, not this crude one.
'Maybe she didn't have a training sword.'
She and I were almost in the same stance.
Then, I made a change here, a kind of arrangement.
-Udook.
Due to hurriedly changing my stance, my surprised muscles let out a slight scream.
I forcibly aligned the center of my weight and power.
My swordsmanship was based on big data acquired by a wooden dummy.
Therefore, it was overly orthodox and, predictably, easy to follow.
However, this was different.
A new structure of swordsmanship was created by molding the unique swordsmanship of Sansuyu with my own hands.
-Shwaak!
Our swords intersected, cutting across us.
"...!"
Astonishment, incomparable to before, was ingrained in Sansuyu's eyes.
I secretly wanted to see that emotion.
After all, the reason why I had been developing my potential by foregoing charm and other stats was for this moment.
Wooden Swordsmanship Third Form: Pruning.
-Paang!
We, who had launched our techniques once, silently dropped the swords we were holding.
"...."
"...."
The match was not decided.
Neither of us had received enough damage to quit the match.
It was just the sword we were holding had shattered to pieces.
"You."
Sansuyu stared at me with a stiff face.
Shifting my feet slightly, I stepped on wood fragments. The normal destructive force wouldn't do this.
Maybe Sansuyu had unconsciously manifested Mana. The petals I saw were a clear indication of Mana.
'So.'
Then, how was I able to withstand her sword strike?
The reason could be inferred from Sansuyu's widened eyes.
Mana: 1
My Mana… it increased.
"Liar."
Sansuyu glared at me, biting her lip. Her emotionless face and contrasting reaction were quite cute.
"I didn't lie. I just…"
"Just?"
"Just realized my mana."
There was no need for a reason. It was the power of having a potential of 20.
I, who drew a legendary artifact with a luck of 10, what more could I have gained with 20?
"...."
However, Sansuyu seemed unconvinced by my answer.
She walked briskly out of the training room and casually spoke to me.
"Every day at 6, except weekends."
"Pardon?"
-Thud.
She left before even hearing my response.
Sansuyu exited the hall and glanced at me through the glass wall.
Every day at 6, except weekends. Did she mean to come then? Was she saying let's have a proper match or something like that?
'This is...'
This was friendship!
While I was grinning, Sansuyu slowly walked back and opened the training room door.
"Do you have something else to say?"
Sansuyu said nothing.
Seeming embarrassed for having stated a challenge and coming back immediately, she bowed her head and began picking up the wooden fragments.
Ah, cleaning.
I was quietly observing when Sansuyu, who had cleaned up all the trash, left the training room again.
-Zzareet.
She glared at me and ran away.
Laughing emptily while looking at the floor, there was not a piece of trash left.
Whether it was intentional or not, she had cleaned up my mess as well.
"She's quite likable."
As I wrote her name in the gallery of my mind, I returned to the dormitory.
I had decided that she was my next friend.
The Corneus family had been renowned for generations for producing many guards of the World Tree and was a prestigious house of swordsmanship.
The swordsmanship inherited from their ancestors was unparalleled, and everyone who inherited this profound sword became a remarkable person, without exception.
Sansuyu was the eldest daughter and a promising talent of the Corneus family.
From a young age, she awakened Mana, showed exceptional talent in swordsmanship, and also mastered magic to an admirable extent.
Therefore, she grew up embraced by the flower bed of attention.
She was praised endlessly at the gatherings of the wooden people, and she received and drank potions comparable to rare delicacies.
Naturally, her accomplishments soared.
Everyone praised her.
-You're doing well.
-If you continue like this, succeeding our family will be very easy.
-You will surely receive the grace of the World Tree.
No one thought it would become poison to her.
Praise, a name for the poison, was as good as a beautiful potion when used well, but any more, and it bound and burdened the receiver.
Sansuyu always struggled.
The inexplicable weight that pressed down on her shoulders. The fear she might betray them someday.
Having received too much attention in her childhood, her mental state broke at some point.
She could not feel emotions unless highly stimulated.
It was extremely painful. However, ironically, she had long forgotten even that pain.
"Please get in, Miss."
"Okay."
Sansuyu sat gracefully in the black sedan, waiting for her in front of the training room.
Students walking by were gaping at her composed and elegant demeanor.
She was a true blue-blooded noble.
"What class did you have today?"
"I sparred with Jung Siwoo in the afternoon practical."
"How was it?"
Jung Siwoo.
He was extraordinary.
His swordsmanship always surpassed hers; even his Mana and stats were equivalent to hers, who had consumed all sorts of potions.
So, whenever she sparred with him, her heart always raced.
It was both resentment and jealousy.
However, it was too late to recognize these emotions. She just vaguely speculated that it was one of the stimuli she could feel.
"Did you enjoy it?"
"Perhaps."
She didn't know if this was enjoyment.
Even jealousy was just a stimulus to her.
Then, an image of a man crossed her mind.
"…but Meeho."
"It's Jiho, Miss."
"Can our family's swordsmanship be copied just by watching?"
"What are you talking about? It's impossible. If it were possible, our family's swordsmanship would have been circulating on the internet."
"I see."
The man with a mask turned inside out. His name was unknown.
He recognized her swordsmanship at a glance and immediately made it his own.
Even she, who was called a genius, found it impossible.
-Thump!
At that moment, something stirred within her.
Envy and Jealousy.
But this time, it wasn't a pleasant stimulus; it was a rough stimulus that she couldn't explain.
If Jung Siwoo's jealousy inspired improvement, Lee Shiheon's was a terrible jealousy that caused her frustration.
'Siwoo? Shiheon? He's different.'
Recently, only two people had made her feel emotions.
However, she didn't have the discretion to judge that the emotions she felt for Siwoo and Shiheon were both derived from the same jealousy.
However, one thing was certain: the emotions she felt for Shiheon were stronger than the ones she felt for Siwoo.
She was outclassed in talent by both.
Realizing such a fact, her heart quickly became heavy.
She should always be leading the pack, but she wasn't.
"Dinho."
"It's Jiho, Miss."
"I'm sorry. The honor of our family…"
"What are you talking about, Miss? No one is looking down on you just because your ranking dropped a bit."
Sansuyu bowed her head.
Jiho, looking at her pitifully, let out a bitter laugh and suggested,
"How about making a friend?"
"A friend?"
"Yes. There's a lot to learn from friends, too. Perhaps it could even fix the chronic problems you might be harboring."
Sansuyu, rubbing her lips with her face, recalled the memories.
A friend.
There were always students laughing at the place where people gathered.
Was a friend someone who should always be laughing by your side?
Could she even laugh?
"…a friend."
She decided to at least try.
Jiho, who had been with her since childhood, was never wrong in any of his words.
"Jihu, thank you."
"It's Jiho, Miss. Let's start by remembering the name first."
All the way to the detached house, Suyu blankly stared out the window.
On the sidewalk in the distance, there were students holding snacks in both hands, chatting and smiling happily.
She felt a faint emotion.