The best way to blossom my talents.
The direction to take advantage of the unique jet-black.
While thinking about the topic that Bahil had brought up, Simon looked at the green field of flowers that surrounded him.
"Professor."
"Yes."
"Do you have any feedback you could give me on the curse that I just used?"
"Oho."
Bahil smiled.
"It's a great mindset to look back at yourself calmly without letting your results go to your head. Very well. If I had to say something, you need to put more emotions in your curse."
"Ah. Like when you're commanding your undead?"
For an instant…
Was it his imagination that Bahil's expression turned cold?
Simon blinked his eyes to see if he was seeing things, and Bahil had returned to his softly smiling face.
"Yes, it's similar. Emotions are a crucial element of all dark magic after all."
Bahil put back down his hand on Simon's shoulder.
"Please don't forget what I told you earlier."
With the snap of Bahil's fingers, Simon could clearly hear the clamor of the surrounding students.
Bahil patted Simon's head gently and turned away.
"Professor Bahil!"
Rick raised his hand. Bahil stopped and asked him,
"What is it?"
"C-Can you please assist me too? It's quite hard to bloom the flowers so..."
"It's an inferior's mindset to rely on luck and make things easier. Keep trying over and over again."
"Ah... yes."
As Rick lowered his hand, Meilyn, who was sitting next to him, smirked before snorting.
Simon, who was filled with the aftertaste for a moment, strained his eyes and made his hands face each other.
'Alright. This time, by myself...!'
And just like that, before the bell announcing the end of the class rang,
Simon was able to perfectly master the 'Curse of Transmitting'.
* * *
The next class was Hong Feng's Combat Magic.
They were headed somewhere after riding the hippos again. The place Hong Feng chose for today's class was an open, empty park of bamboo forest.
After warming up with hard running like usual, Hong Feng taught the students basic combat techniques such as punches and kicks.
Everyone was stretching their jet-black-infused fists or feet, keeping a distance from each other. The assistant teachers went around and corrected the students' postures or taught them some know-hows on infusing the jet-black.
And…
"Here!"
Slap! Slap!
"Place more force over here!"
Simon's face was flushed red as he took a stance. Hong Feng was hitting Simon's thigh with her palm.
"Your arm's position should be here! The opposite arm will become an axis when you stretch out your foot! Hold in your stomach! Hold in your stomach!"
"Y-Yes!"
It was a tough situation for Simon.
It was natural for a professor to guide their students while touching them, but it wasn't easy to pocket his feelings in the situation where a beautiful woman like Hong Feng stuck close to a young boy in full vigor.
"Simon! Are you going to keep on relaxing your toes?"
"I'm sorry!"
Simon quickly adjusted his posture to avoid being hit again. Hong Feng folded her arms and nodded her head as though she didn't find it that bad.
"Alright. Prepare for the spin kick."
Simon moved his legs. The left foot came forward.
"Jet-black management."
He rotated his body as the jet-black moved towards the center of his waist.
His heel naturally lifted up, and the waist and body turned into the ideal posture. The folded right foot stretched out and…
Whooooosh!
His leg passed through the air. The jet-black that flowed out from his feet left a long, black trail like paint.
It was indeed a picturesque kick.
"Well done!"
Hong Feng clapped her hands and smiled broadly. Simon bowed his head despite sweating profusely.
"You've succeeded in performing the spin kick, but four basic postures were ruined. You were looking in the wrong direction, you couldn't use the power in your waist, and you needed to spin your heels more. And… the timing in releasing the jet-black was too fast when hitting."
"...I'm sorry. I'll be more careful."
"Mhm! But still, you're doing good enough, Simon. Practice more!"
Hong Feng tapped Simon on the shoulder and left to look after the other students.
A short break was given.
"Mmmmm."
Rick, who had been carelessly sitting on the grass, blearily opened his eyes.
"Cami."
"Yes, Rick?"
"Like the Curses class, don't you think the professors seem to favor Simon these days?"
Cami, who was modestly sitting next to Rick, covered her mouth and smiled.
"I don't think it's that much, is it?"
"Mmmm- Anyway, something's strange."
"Gosh. You loser."
Meilyn, in a gym uniform, approached, clicking her tongue.
She had her sky-blue hair tied up with a string today, when it had been always down on her back.
"And you call yourself a Kizen student? Try to get yourself in the eyes of the professor by yourself if you have time to be unsightly jealous of others."
Rick chuckled.
"What do you mean jealous? I'm just expressing my doubts. And you're not in a position to say that, are you, Meilyn who proudly lifted the curse and climbed up the hill during the Combat Magic class."
Meilyn's face reddened.
"Agh! Stop bringing that up again and again. Honestly!"
"I don't wanna~ I'm gonna keep bringing this up until it rots~ And have you talked to Professor Hong Feng during the class today? You're definitely out of her favor."
"Why don't you be careful of being out of my favor before that?"
As Meilyn raised her foot and threatened Rick, he laughed and rolled down the grass to run away.
"Good grief."
After letting out a big sigh, she turned her head and looked at Simon.
"Hey."
"What?"
"You try teaching me."
Simon put on an expression asking where that suddenly came from. Meilyn blushed before clearing her throat.
"You're good at Combat Magic. I'm asking you to look at my posture since Professor Hong isn't coming to me."
'So that's what she meant.'
Meilyn got flustered and quickly added as Simon smiled without saying anything,
"Y-You know that I'm dealing with Cyclops during the performance assessment, right? My movements will improve with your cooperation, and so our performance assessment score will—"
"I'll teach you even if you don't say those things, so don't worry."
Simon stood in front of her with a kind smile.
"Try taking the stance."
"..."
Meilyn kept on clearing her throat in embarrassment and then muttered, "Thank you," so quietly that no one could hear it.
Soon, she awkwardly took up the kicking posture. Simon squatted down and scanned her body up and down.
"That's terrible."
"I-I know!"
Yelled Meilyn.
Simon stretched out his finger.
"First of all, you're too stiff. Just by looking at your posture, it can clearly be seen that you're lacking in self-confidence. Relax your body a bit and try taking the stance again as naturally as possible.
She nodded and stood comfortably. The stiff feeling disappeared slightly.
"Put your left foot a little further back, and both fists lightly clenched in front... No, that's your right foot. The left foot is the foot opposite to the hand you use when you're eating."
"I-I know that, dumbass! I was just confused because I'm nervous!"
She retorted, but she quickly changed her posture.
"Standby after gathering the jet-black around your waist. Yeah, that's right. And then, you put your strength in the ball of your foot and turn it."
"Like this?"
"No no. I'm not telling you to turn it like you whirl a top. You have to turn it like you're twisting with your waist muscles. And when you turn, your jet-black should be on the back of your thigh..."
"Here?"
Simon shook his head as she put her hand on her leg.
"A little higher."
"Here?"
"No, you went too much. A little bit lower."
"This one, right?"
"That's just a knee."
"Ah. Gosh! It's not even bare legs. I'm in my gym uniform! Just touch it!"
She burst out. However, in the fit of anger, her shout was too loud.
Meilyn's voice echoed riding the mountain ridge, saying "Touch it… Touch it… Touch it…"
"..."
Ears pricked up everywhere.
The female students who were obsessed with love stories began to whisper. You could even see Camibarez covering her mouth gently.
Meilyn blushed and flailed her arms violently.
"No, no! That's not it! I'm asking him to position me! Position!"
But the truth didn't matter at this point.
Watching the rumors spread rapidly, starting from the female students, Meilyn's expression went vacant.
Then, she turned to Simon hurriedly.
"Wh-What should we do? Go say something!"
"I don't know. Anyways, I'm gonna touch you since you told me to."
Simon approached with big strides and precisely placed his hand on Meilyn's gym uniform.
"You gather and place your jet-black here,"
He then grabbed her ankle.
"and move it here while turning your body."
'You crazy bastard!'
Now wasn't the time for this!
Simon spoke in a low voice as Meilyn's face had turned as red as it could and her lips started trembling.
"Just do as you're told."
"H-Huh?"
"It'll cause the opposite effect if you are hopping mad. You need to show that it's a misunderstanding."
Simon stood up with a nonchalant face and grabbed her arms and shoulders, correcting her posture.
Meilyn nodded with the confusion of the moment and fixed her posture. Those who came to see after hearing the rumors saw Meilyn.
"So he was really fixing her posture, huh?"
"Meilyn is quite odd after all."
"Simon's so kind~"
Finally, after correcting her posture, Meilyn turned and kicked her legs up to the sky. Her legs rose up with her strength, but she lost her balance and fell to the grass, landing on her butt.
"Hahaha!"
A roar of laughter could be heard around them. Simon also smiled and placed his hand on his hips.
"You still have a long way to go, but well done."
"...Ah, yeah."
At that moment, the female students, who were observing them nearby, spoke to Simon. They were also asking Simon to teach them how to kick.
Simon smiled kindly and corrected their posture.
'...What's with this guy?'
Meilyn slightly bit her lips.
The Combat Magic class ended after some time. Kizen had prepared the teleport magic circle this time too for the students, who had used up their stamina and lay down, exhausted.
"Meilyn! I heard the rumors!"
Rick showed up giggling, resting the back of his head on his head. Meilyn, who was talking to Camibarez, glared at Rick.
"Hey, don't do it. I swear."
"No, it's not about you, but it's a story about my friend. So, we were talking about what kind of conversation a man and a woman would have had if words like 'touch' and 'posture' were being discu—"
"I told you not to do it!!"
Meilyn took out her bag from the subspace and began to beat Rick up.
Rick screamed as he tripped into the grass as he tried to run away, and Simon and Camibarez laughed.
"Uwaah! Uwaah! Don't just stand there and stop her!"
"Let's go, Cami."
"Yeah!"
The two turned away from Rick and quickly went to line up for the teleport magic circle.
"By the way, Cami, do you remember what our next class was?"
"Ah! I do remember. It's Summoning."
Upon hearing that, Simon's lips curved into a huge grin.
'Finally!'