chapter 31
031. Main character
Gilbert became Professor Brianna’s exclusive student and began receiving her teachings every morning. It was the beginning of an arduous daily life that began even before the sun rose, but he began to grow day by day as he received the maximum effect of the award badge.
Gilbert had been Professor Brianna’s exclusive student numerous times in multiple playthroughs, but this was the first time he was seriously taught the Winter Sword. In the game, he trained just enough to obtain the Winter Sword, as it was only moderately corrected.
But now that it has become a reality, even if there is a game system, there is no correction effect like a game. When I obtained Lionheart, the method of mana practice was different from what I had in mind.
However, Tactical Combat’s skills did not go anywhere. Even if he learned it properly, as it was a virtual reality, Gilbert’s fighting style was almost similar to Professor Brianna’s.
Gilbert, who was learning MMA in real life, was good at fighting using his whole body, so his progress was surprising even to Professor Brianna.
“Attack sharper, Gilbert!”
“Sigh!”
After catching his breath, Gilbert slid into Professor Brianna and swung her mana-covered elbow as if it were her sword. Professor Brianna, who smiled faintly at the surprise attack from the explosive acceleration, also canceled out her attack with her elbow wrapped around Mana.
Boom!
The sound of a heavy object colliding rang through the training center. After that attack, Gilbert sat down. This was because her mana was at its lowest due to the training that started early in the morning.
Professor Brianna announced the end of her morning training by watching the sun rise.
“Thank you for your hard work. So that I can go back after practicing Mana Her.”
“I understand.”
Brianna sat down and quietly watched Gilbert begin the Mana exercises. He frowned at the defenseless sight, but then sighed and shook his head.
The new exclusive student who came in this time was a little unpredictable. Her swordsmanship style was similar to hers, and even though she became his exclusive teacher, she tended to believe in herself too easily. Even on the first day of training, she had commented on how carelessly she was practicing mana like she is now, but the response she got back was impressive.
Did she say that the place where she, her exclusive teacher, is under her watch is the safest?
When she heard that, she tried to say something more, but she had nothing to say because the student said she believed in her teacher. As she was on the receiving end of the teachings, her words about not trusting her teacher were nothing more than a contradiction.
When the sun, which was rising little by little, fully appeared, Gilbert’s eyes, which had been trying to catch his breath, slowly opened.
“Gilbert. I’m sure you told me not to practice mana defenselessly, right?”
Professor Brianna, who stayed in her position until her student opened her eyes, lit a double wick in her eyes and scolded Gilbert. But Gilbert still answered with an unchanged expression and stood up.
“It was because the teacher was there.”
“What will he do if I go somewhere in the meantime?”
“If it were Master, I thought he would stay.”
Brianna clicked her tongue, speechless at her firm belief. It was because she felt like she was the only one getting involved even if she said it for no reason.
However, Gilbert acted because he knew enough about Professor Brianna. She was a person with a strong sense of responsibility and was quick to respond in times of emergency, so Gilbert simply made the most reasonable choice.
However, Professor Brianna, who was unaware of this situation, only thought that Gilbert was placing too much trust in her.
“I think we should stop arguing without meaning. I’m starting to regret why I took you on as my exclusive student for no reason.”
“Then thank you for teaching me today.”
“I just did what I had to do.”
Gilbert laughed inwardly at Professor Brianna’s blunt words and grabbed the doorknob of the training room to return to the dormitory.
“Gilbert. Something suddenly occurred to me.”
“Are you talking about something that came to mind?”
Gilbert, who was about to go out, turned back when Brianna grabbed her ankle.
“Yes. Although the announcement is to go out today, there will be a first comprehensive evaluation.”
Demeia Academy was conducting a periodic comprehensive evaluation to measure grades.
Comprehensive evaluations are conducted a total of 7 times during the academic year, and each cadet is evaluated by creating an environment that allows cadets to use the lecture content they normally take in the right place.
Among them, the first comprehensive evaluation began about a month after the start of the new year, and now was exactly that time.
Gilbert quickly counted the days after hearing Professor Brianna’s words. Roughly a month had passed since the entrance mock competition, so it was time for the first comprehensive evaluation to begin.
‘This is the beginning of the next main story.’
The main story that followed Teacher Yan was the first comprehensive evaluation. This part was called the first chapter of the main story among gamers because there were many events in it.
“This first comprehensive evaluation will last for a week, so I will briefly stop practicing in the morning until the evaluation is over. I don’t want to hear excuses that your grades are not good because of my teaching.”
“Thank you for your consideration.”
“There is no need to be thankful. Since you are my student, I will not tolerate receiving bad grades.”
“Okay, then, I’ll just leave.”
Gilbert left the training room, leaving behind Professor Brianna’s cold eyes.
Gilbert returned to the dormitory, took a hot shower, and began to check the plan he had made in advance for the first comprehensive evaluation. Considering that Tactical Combat’s difficulties began from the first comprehensive evaluation, there should not have been any gaps.
From the time he finished showering until he arrived at the classroom, Gilbert’s checking of his plan was like endless revisions to his plan.
***
Ian knew very well that he was a genius. No matter what he started at a young age, the time it took him to reach a certain level was shorter than that of others, and it was not difficult for him to catch up with those who started before him.
At that time, he wondered why he couldn’t do this easy task, but as he got older and learned that everyone has different talents, he was able to realize that he was different from criminals.
People around him were busy praising the Linebarrel family for the emergence of an unrivaled genius, and as he was loved as the youngest member of the Linebarrel family, he naturally came to recognize that he was a special person.
And there was an incident that put the emphasis on that thought. That was the day Ian got to ride the giant soldier.
Ian first boarded a giant soldier when he turned 15. The moment the contract with the artificial spirit was completed and the Giant God Soldier was activated, Ian was able to feel a sense of unity as if the Giant God Soldier had become a part of his body. That sense of unity immediately led to the manifestation of characteristic skills, and everyone turned upside down when they realized this fact after observing Ian’s ride on the Giant God Soldier.
With God’s blessing, the people of the continent were able to acquire characteristic skills, but many people died without being able to acquire characteristic skills throughout their lives because they did not know the conditions for their manifestation. Even if he had acquired characteristic skills, there were many useless characteristic skills, but Ian had awakened a characteristic skill related to the Giant God Soldier.
He was once called an unrivaled genius, and now he is called a genius of a century that will never be seen again. Naturally, the Linebarrel family gave him the best teachers and lavished support on him. Whatever Ian needed was within his grasp.
When Ian saw this situation, an idea occurred to him.
If there is a main character in the world, it is none other than yourself.
It was around that time that his attitude changed. He paid special attention to his actions in line with the character of the protagonist, and did not have any prejudice in dealing with people. If you think that it exists for the protagonist himself anyway, he was the same whether it was a noble or a commoner.
In that way, he gained the full support of his family and even the residents of the territory, and developed his dignity as a protagonist.
Time passed and the day came to prove the blue blood. The raw meat of the empire was the Demeia Academy, where talented people came, but he believed in his own genius and hero theory.
There were certainly more talented people in Demeia Academy than any of the people he had seen in the estate. Wherever he went, there were people who had been called geniuses at least once, but he couldn’t shake the feeling that he was inferior to the main character himself.
Ian’s thoughts did not change until the entrance mock competition began. This time, the protagonist had no doubt that he would receive everyone’s attention and earn the famous Commander’s Award badge.
And so the entrance mock battle began, and Ian met him.
Gilbert Lionheart.
He was a famous idiot in the social world and was the first person to apply for commander in the entrance mock battle. Until then, Ian had thought that he was a supporting villain who would make him shine, but he realized this when he came face to face with the Giant God Soldier.
He was not a supporting actor or anything. As a genius and the main character, his ability to control a giant god soldier that pushed him hard made it difficult to dismiss him as a supporting actor. It was clear that his reaction speed was slower than that of himself, who was controlling the giant soldier with his characteristic skills, but he must have had some kind of coordination, so he followed along tenaciously and stopped him.
Ian, who lost his composure in the fierce battle, lunged at Gilbert. At that moment, Gilbert demonstrated a ridiculous evasive maneuver, roasted Ian, and proudly led the entrance mock battle to victory. Needless to say, he took the commander’s award badge that should have been given to Ian originally.
Rumors were even spreading that he had become the exclusive student of Professor Brianna, whom he had set his sights on. Ian thought that the rumor was just a malicious rumor and that Professor Brianna would come forward and put it to rest herself, but she remained silent without any reaction.
That meant only one thing. In fact, Gilbert became Professor Brianna’s exclusive student.
From then on, Ian designated Gilbert as his rival and the ultimate villain who must be surpassed.
Perhaps the same was true for Gilbert, who did not hesitate to sabotage him by telling him not to neglect his physical training every time he ran into him in the training room. Although it is basic common sense that a knight handling a giant god soldier must train his mana, he continued to give strange advice to train his physical strength.
Ian passed the advice over with a smile and looked for an opportunity. Ian was a genius, but he had the self-control to smile when dealing with his nemesis, no matter how ugly his face was.
Then the opportunity finally came. He had an opportunity to use the card he had prepared just in case. There was no flaw in what the protagonist and genius planned.
Everything will go as planned by the ‘main character of the world’, and when everything is over….
Applause will pour out to the protagonist who overcame adversity.
He really believed that fact and had no doubt about it.