Nano Machine

Late at night, Yeowun finished training with the Augmented Reality simulation and was on his way back to the dorm. He was exhausted from the four hours of training. Nano healed his wounds right away, but it still made him tired.

‘I only won once out of the fifteen duels.’

Yeowun sighed. Without the battle tutorial, the first duel was over after five exchanges.

‘Crush his head? I was so foolish.’

Nano’s voice rang in the embarrassed Yeowun’s ears.

[Your ability will increase as you gain experience. Master’s choice of movement and right skill will increase as you progress.]

He had lost six times straight in the beginning, but he began to react to Mukeum’s attack starting from the seventh duel. Yeowun was able to launch counterattacks that Mukeum’s avatar could not react to starting with the tenth duel. And on the last one, he was able to win after thirty exchanges.

‘But it was only a victory with Mukeum using only three of his attack skills.’

Chun Mukeum’s avatar had limited actions because Yeowun did not have all of the data, but it still was hard to defeat Mukeum. This made Yeowun even more eager to train.

‘Whew. I will defeat that avatar easily in a few days!’

[Understood, Master.]

It was Yeowun’s first goal, but there was a piece of information that Yeowun did not know. Chun Mukeum’s avatar was created with what Yeowun had experienced in the real battle, but Avatar Mukeum had full knowledge of what martial arts skills that Yeowun could use. This meant that if Yeowun achieved victory over the avatar that knew all of his movements and never got exhausted, that was a great feat already.

As he returned to the 8th group’s room, people fell silent.

‘He’s here!’

‘He doesn’t even have any wounds!’

It was apparent that the other students had heard about what happened. It was enough to let the students know where Chun Yeowun stood in power. However, they were still afraid of the Loyal Clan’s power over the Cult itself, so they didn’t dare to walk up to Yeowun and speak to him.

As Yeowun walked down the middle toward his bed, the students opened the way for him to walk past. This was a different feeling from the day he entered the academy when people looked at him with disgust or sympathy.

‘Is this what it feels like to have power?’

He just had defeated one of the princes, but it made such a big difference that it almost made Yeowun laugh out loud.

‘Where’s my bed?’

Yeowun glanced around to find his bed, and someone came running to him. It was the 23rd cadet, with a blue cloth over his head. He politely pointed at the bed with both hands and guided Yeowun.

“Your bed is here, Prince.”

“Oh.”

The 23rd cadet was acting as if he were Yeowun’s servant. The other students became confused.

‘What? What is he doing?’

Most students were confused, but for the 23rd cadet, this was his chance to take the risk. He was beaten in front of everyone for his failure and the promise to look after his clan was gone.

‘Bastard!’

Chun Mukeum kept on saying that he was going to wipe out the 23rd cadet’s clan when he got out of the academy, making the cadet even more angry. When he saw Mukeum appear four hours ago with wounds, he made his decision.

‘If I’m going to die, I’ll just take the risk.’

He then decided to stay on Chun Yeowun’s side for the competition of the heir to the throne. And with that decision, he was now thought of Yeowun as his master.

“You aren’t like what you were before.”

Chun Yeowun knew that the 23rd cadet had changed after they met in the medical room. He wasn’t just fearful of Yeowun now.

“Do you want something from me?” Yeowun asked.

The 23rd cadet hesitated for a second, but he soon knelt down with one leg and gathered his both hands in respect and said, “I, 23rd cadet Hu Bong, will serve you as my master!”

Students murmured among themselves in shock and Yeowun was also surprised. He always thought he wanted a force for himself, but he didn’t think it would happen so early.

“You want me to be your master?”

“I am sorry about my rudeness in the medical room. Please take me as your servant and let me serve you as my master!”

Yeowun then began thinking. Unlike the Guard Jang who was sent to protect him by the Lord’s order, seeing Hu Bong who wanted to become his servant willingly fired something up within him.

‘Please! Please!’

Hu Bong looked up at Yeowun and he grinned and nodded. Hu Bong then bowed with his head down on the ground in excitement.

“Thank you! I will serve you forever!”

And it was then—

“HAH! I didn’t expect to see such crap!”

It was Chun Mukeum. He came back together with Jahyun who had finished his additional training.

“You insect. How dare you pledge loyalty to a peasant?!”

Jahyun was tired, but he frowned and spat angrily at Hu Bong. This scared Hu Bong and he began to shake. However, he didn’t move his head and only looked at Yeowun, and therefore Yeowun made a decision. Yeowun’s head turned slowly toward Jahyun.

“You dare speak ill of my servant?”

“What?”

Yeowun’s cold voice shocked Jahyun. If it was the Yeowun he knew, Jahyun would have charged to attack right away, but he had already heard that Mukeum lost accidentally.

“It is you who is the insect that follows someone’s tail around.”

“W-what did you say?”

“What’s with the stuttering? Are you afraid?”

Yeowun taunted and Jahyun became angry.

“Peasant!”

Jahyun then jumped to attack at Yeowun. However, Yeowun twisted his top torso to dodge and struck the back of Jahyun’s neck.

“ARGH!”

Jahyun’s eyes rolled back and he passed out. His attack, the basic fist skill of Loyal Clan, was what he had been practicing the entire evening that allowed him to do this.

“He’s nothing compared to the avatar.”

Yeowun mumbled and Hu Bong looked at him with shock and admiration.

‘Ah! My decision wasn’t wrong!’

He had his doubts, but watching Yeowun put the subject of another prince in his place with that one attack made his doubt disappear.

“What? You want to fight me again?”

Yeowun looked at Mukeum who was glaring at him at the entrance. However, Mukeum did not react as expected.

“…Hmph. You enjoy what you have for now. Nothing will change.”

Mukeum then ignored Yeowun and went over to his bed and laid down.

‘Did Chun Mukeum just ignore him?’

‘Impossible!’

Mukeum’s action astonished all the students. Mukeum was known for his violent nature, but he just avoided fighting Yeowun. And beginning with this, the 8th group dorm had changed. The students began showing interest in Chun Yeowun. They didn’t act like Hu Bong, but they now began to question things with ‘maybe’ in their heads.

Soon, it was the day of the second test. Every student gathered at the training ground, ready with their real swords and iron shields.