Just then, a miracle occurred.
A burst of intense gray light erupted from Adolf’s body. Though it lasted only an instant, he truly felt a powerful force surging from within him. In that moment, his dynamic vision reached its utmost limit, piercing through Bell Hodhua’s movements. With a barely perceptible sidestep, the sword blade just barely shaved off a lock of his bangs.
“What!?” Bell Hodhua cried out in shock at the sight, clearly caught off guard that his attack had been dodged.
At the same time.
“Die!”
With a furious roar, Adolf swung his knight’s sword and charged forward in a single stride toward Bell Hodhua. In the blink of an eye, he knocked the other man flat to the ground.
In that same instant, drained by the inexplicable surge of gray light, Adolf felt every ounce of strength leave his body, and he lost consciousness.
…
Adolf had no idea how much time had passed when he suddenly snapped his eyes open. He found himself lying in the academy’s infirmary, his body covered in wounds and wrapped head to toe in bandages. Before he could fully process it, Luna, Adel, and Koen slowly walked into the room.
“What exactly happened?” Adolf asked, his memory of the events hazy. “Did I win, or did I lose?”
This alone showed how deeply he cared about the outcome. He was a young man with immense pride and an unquenchable thirst for victory—especially against one of those blood race fiends he despised most.
Luna knew Adolf all too well. She wasn’t surprised, but she did feel a profound helplessness.
Koen replied, “You didn’t win…”
Adolf’s face fell in utter disappointment. Ah… so he’d lost after all. He still couldn’t beat those damned blood race members.
But then Adel added from the side, “However, you didn’t lose either.”
“Uh… what do you mean?” In an instant, a spark reignited in Adolf’s eyes, banishing his earlier despair.
In the conversation that followed, Adolf pieced together the rest of the story. In short, he and Bell Hodhua had fought to a draw. The very moment he’d struck down his opponent, Adolf himself had blacked out.
To be fair, Bell Hodhua’s raw strength far outclassed Adolf’s. The senior had simply gotten careless, failing to dodge, which allowed Adolf to seize the opening and land a decisive blow.
Be that as it may, the result stood—a low-grade freshman, enrolled for just two months, had held his own against the middle grade’s 9th Rank, ending in a stalemate. Word of the feat spread like wildfire across the entire Knight Academy City. Adolf had already been a rising star; now, his fame was unstoppable.
He became an idol to the human students.
Adolf’s mood lifted a little, though he wasn’t jubilant. Deep down, he couldn’t stomach a tie. He craved outright victory, a chance to crush every last blood race member.
Just then, Luna spoke up again. “By the way… what was that strange power you unleashed?”
“I have no idea,” Adolf admitted. “My body suddenly glowed, and this power just surged up out of nowhere…” He truly didn’t understand it; this was the first he’d known he possessed such a force.
As the two pondered in silence, Koen—ever the knowledgeable high-grade student—spoke up. “It’s most likely your 【Supernatural Ability】.”
“【Supernatural Ability】? But they didn’t detect any superpower when I enrolled!”
Indeed.
Adolf had been granted special admission as a once-in-a-century prodigy of the sword. Luna, on the other hand, had been accepted for her 【Supernatural Ability】.
Koen remained firm. “I can’t say why it didn’t show up at enrollment, but that power was unmistakably your 【Supernatural Ability】. In this world, some rare ones awaken later in life…”
The debate went nowhere, and the topic of Adolf’s mysterious power was eventually shelved.
Koen had a keen eye. Sensing Luna’s lingering frustration, he decided to give the pair some space. With a flimsy excuse, he ushered Adel out of the room.
Now, the quiet infirmary held only Luna and Adolf.
Back at the Kaen Town Orphanage, Luna had always been the one lecturing him. Truth be told, Adolf still didn’t know how to handle her. The girl was gentle one moment and fiercely stubborn the next.
Sure enough, alone at last, Luna couldn’t hold back. “Adolf, if you keep throwing yourself into battles like that without a care for your life, I’ll leave the Knight Academy on my own and go back to the Kaen Town Orphanage. I won’t talk to you ever again.”
Adolf was straightforward to a fault. He didn’t yield. “I don’t think I was wrong…”
“You…!?” Luna’s eyes widened in genuine anger as she glared at him.
“If we just keep running and hiding, we’ll never move forward. I’ve already lost my parents. I’ve lost Watermelon. I refuse to lose anyone else because I’m too weak!”
As he spoke, an astonishing willpower blazed in the young man’s eyes. Faintly, that scorching gray 【Mana】 flickered once more.
Luna fell silent, struck by his raw confession. She was beginning to grasp the depth of pain buried in Adolf’s heart.
Adolf seemed to realize his tone had been too harsh.
After a brief pause, he softened his voice. “I know Watermelon might be gone for good… but I cling to that one thread of hope. I’ve made up my mind. I’ll grow stronger—strong enough to stand unrivaled in the world, surpassing even the legends of the academy’s history. Then I’ll head to the Central, join the Central Knight Order, and find Watermelon again. Luna, I’ll bring him back.”
Luna stared in shock at Adolf’s words.
She’d assumed he simply wanted to become a mighty human knight, safeguarding the innocent. She never imagined he’d planned so meticulously, with sights set so far ahead.
The boy she’d known had truly grown into a man, his horizons vastly expanded.
“Those legends from the academy’s history…?”
Luna murmured the words, her face a mask of complex emotions. The Knight Academy’s annals brimmed with fleeting prodigies and eternal legends. Over the past few centuries, two figures stood out: one human, one blood race.
A teenage female blood race member had enrolled for a single day. That very afternoon, she’d felled her Platinum Knight instructor with one effortless strike—no superpower needed. Then she dropped out, deeming the academy bereft of anything worth learning.
The next moment, Adolf named her. “Snow Hill, direct descendant of the Hill Family—one of the Four Great Dukes—known as the Ice Princess. She’s the mightiest knight alive, beyond all ranks. Rumors swirl that she’s even stronger than Diamond. But she’s not my goal. It’s the other one…”
“You mean Lance?”
“Yeah! The only man in history to graduate the Knight Academy as a Diamond Knight…”
Lance—a human!
Adolf spoke with fierce conviction, yet even he felt the goal’s dizzying remoteness. Still, his confidence burned unwavering.
Right now, he was merely a low-grade student at the Knight Academy. The chasm to Lance or Snow Hill spanned middle-grade students, high-grade students, Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, and Diamond.
Without question, this wasn’t merely Bronze versus a king. It was the gulf between a casual player and a god-tier cheater.
