[System]
Disciple Skill Progress detected.
Skill: [One Slash]
Source Skill Rank: [F]
Progress Gained: [+15.00%]
MASTER Authority activated.
Return Multiplier: [100×]
[Status Update]
[One Slash] — [F] — [0.0%] → [One Slash] — [D] — [4.0%]
Watching Kina in mortal danger, Julian had no idea what he was supposed to do. His mind went blank for a moment, and he froze in place, completely still. But the very next second, his head suddenly flooded with information about One Slash.
How to channel his Mana, how to position himself, how to focus everything down to a single point, an overwhelming amount of information imprinted itself in his mind all at once, as though he’d spent his entire life training with that power.
Julian took a breath, not even sure when exactly he’d started moving. But he found the knife already in his grip, both feet planted firmly together, the blade raised in one hand, held straight above his head.
His gaze shifted to Kina, then to the man.
’Damn it, this had better work!’
If it didn’t, they were both going to die right here. Julian drew a small breath, channeling his Mana, wrapping the knife in raw, untamed energy.
He never even noticed that Kina was staring at him, her face a mix of desperate hope and sheer, gut-wrenching terror.
As for the man, he never had the chance to notice anything. No, he did notice. But by then, it was already too late.
The Mana in Julian’s body drained out at a staggering rate. Because the skill’s actual quality far exceeded his current Rank, he had to pour in far more than he had, nearly everything he had left.
Julian let the knife fall, a thin white line splitting through the air, the man turned, and had no time left to react before that pale white line tore straight through his body.
Slice!
Spray!
His body split apart from the side, organs bursting out in a violent spray of blood. Kina collapsed onto the floor, clearly stunned by what had just happened. Blood splattered across her body as she stared at the pool of blood and the Scavenger’s corpse.
As for Julian, he stood frozen, catching his breath in slow, shallow pulls.
[System]
Personal Rank Progress detected.
Source Rank: [F]
Progress Gained: [+10.00%]
Direct Progress applied.
Multiplier: [1×]
[Status Update]
Rank: [F] — [30.0%] → Rank: [F] — [40.0%]
"Ah."
That small sound slipped past his lips, followed by a wave of panic as he realized he’d just killed someone, entirely without meaning to. Cold sweat crawled across his whole body, followed close behind by nausea and guilt.
’I didn’t mean to do that... I thought he’d be able to block it?’
His breathing grew heavy. But what was done was done, nothing he did now would ever bring that man back to life, he’d been wiped from the face of this world, permanently, for good.
That single life, gone, and it would never exist again.
The thought made the world around Julian feel like it was spinning. He felt dizzy, but he refused to let himself be swallowed by it.
’He wanted to kill us first. He was clearly no good person, he didn’t hesitate for a second about killing Kina, which means he’s done this plenty of times before.’
In short, something like this was probably just normal in this world. A world where everything came down to strength, where anyone could be killed at any moment, where even a good person could turn ruthless the second they crossed paths with someone truly evil.
’Right... that’s exactly what I just did. I killed to survive.’
His stomach churned violently, vomit rising in his throat, but Julian kept forcing it back down before it could actually come up.
He held himself together.
"M-Master..."
Julian looked up and found Kina staring at him, eyes glassy with tears, and yet, at the same time, practically glowing with bright, unrestrained hope.
She scrambled up, closed the distance to him, then, without a shred of shame, wrapped both arms tightly around his.
"I knew it! You’re definitely an incredible Master! You only used One Slash, but the power behind it was on a completely different level from mine!"
She’d turned into a tail-wagging little puppy the second she’d gotten a taste of "food."
Julian had barely any energy left after everything that had just happened. He’d been through so much in such a short span of time, and all of it had drained him mentally down to nothing, so he glanced around briefly, his expression cold on the surface but genuinely bleak underneath, and said:
"...Let’s get out of here first."
***
’Master is clearly no ordinary person!’
Kina clung to Julian’s arm as tightly as she could. Terrified of being left behind, they made their way down the corridor of the long-abandoned building.
’That explains why he could trigger a system notification. This has never happened before, not even for Hunters who are already incredibly strong.’
At first, Kina had assumed Julian was probably just some freelance Hunter, maybe even another Scavenger, to the point where she’d been planning to use him for her own ends. But the moment she’d agreed to become his disciple, a system notification had gone off immediately, reading like this:
[System]
A Master and Disciple bond has been formed.
Then her status had changed to look like this:
[STATUS]
Name: [Kina Mivelo]
Master: [Julian Clair]
Rank: F — [34.1%]
Talent: [Lower Swordmanship] — [F-Grade]
Skill: [One Slash] — [71.12%] — [F-Grade]
Before now, no one had ever known that a person could form a Master and Disciple bond the way it had just happened to Kina. She had no idea whether this was some rare, special occurrence or just a matter of some simple trick, but one thing was clear, the fact that her Master had known about all this was exactly why she’d chosen to trust him in those final, desperate seconds.
That thought pulled her mind back to what had just happened.
’He used One Slash, it was definitely One Slash, but the level of it was on a completely different plane!’
With her new status as Julian’s disciple, and given just how dire her situation currently was, Kina had no intention of hesitating even a little.
She was Julian’s disciple now, disciple to a mysterious Master. She was going to stick to him like glue and make the absolute most of her position.
"Master! Master! How did you pull off that attack just now? That was One Slash, right?!"
Her Master stayed quiet as ever, but Kina wasn’t about to give up that easily.
A single, offhand remark from her Master’s lips had handed her a complete moment of enlightenment, just imagine, her mastery of One Slash had jumped by a full 15% in an instant, that was an absolutely massive amount!
What if Kina actually got real, proper training from him?
She’d surely grow incredibly strong in no time at all, wouldn’t she?
She’d finally be able to prove to all of them that she wasn’t the worthless trash they’d always called her.
As for why exactly Julian had chosen her, Kina had no clear idea. But since she’d already been chosen, well, why not make the most of it?
Right then, Julian glanced her way. That same empty, cold gaze of his always made Kina’s nerves spike, but she pushed through it and flashed him a bright smile.
"Could you tell me exactly where we are right now?"
Right, it was obvious now, Julian was clearly no ordinary person. He was standing right here in this place, and yet he had no idea where "here" even was?
’Just like someone who’s just woken up after being asleep for a very, very long time!’
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