Legendary Hero is an Academy Honors Student - Chapter 82

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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82.

Aura.

A word that refers to the power that emerges when burning the mana accumulated in one’s body.

The most basic method of use is physical enhancement.

And once you become familiar with handling aura, it becomes possible to infuse it into weapons to increase their strength and make them sharper.

When you reach that stage, you can imbue attributes according to each individual’s inherent nature.

A prime example was Selia’s flames.

While all students focused on Ain’s lesson, Leo thought to himself.

‘[Hero’s Breath], huh. It’s been given quite a grandiose name. Arron simply called it breathing.’

Well, considering Arron’s status in later generations, it wasn’t strange for such a name to be attached.

Hero Arron.

The most courageous and greatest warrior in history who made the impossible possible.

‘…Or so he’s known.’

Leo let out a bitter laugh.

While later generations only highlighted Arron’s tremendous courage, the truth was that Arron was a very timid beastman.

‘He wasn’t just timid—he was an incredible coward.’

His build was also small compared to other beastmen, so when he showed his frightened side, you’d really wonder if this was truly the hero.

‘But in the end, he was the most courageous in battle.’

Arron’s appearance as he overcame his fear and fought enemies head-on was the driving force that made the impossible possible time and again.

‘The one who was the biggest coward always took on the greatest risks, saying he would protect us.’

Leo smiled as he recalled Arron.

‘[Hero’s Breath]… It’s a fitting name.’

While Leo reminisced about his past life.

Ain was explaining the principles of the new technique to the students.

All students were concentrating intensely at the mention of aura amplification effects.

“The [Hero’s Breath] I’m teaching you is different from the original. After all, [Hero’s Breath] itself is a technique exclusive to beastmen. If used as is, humans would have difficulty achieving proper effects.”

Professor Ain had brought a portable blackboard to the Training Ground and was conducting the lecture.

With a human body diagram drawn, Ain was explaining in detail how to breathe and how to operate aura in sync with breathing.

Seeing this, Leo narrowed his eyes.

‘It’s fundamentally different from Arron’s breathing.’

It wasn’t strange that it was different.

In his past life, Arron had tried to pass on his breathing technique to other beastmen as well.

But not a single beastman properly mastered it.

Rather, the one who learned Arron’s breathing was Leo, a human, not even a beastman.

“The technique itself isn’t difficult. However…”

Ain raised his hand.

Crackle—!

Frigid aura formed in Ain’s hand.

Despite the small amount of aura, powerful force burst forth.

“Just because you learn it doesn’t mean you can immediately aim for powerful aura amplification effects. As you all know, training is most important for aura skills. [Hero’s Breath] is the same.”

Seeing this, Leo’s eyes lit up.

‘It’s not simply unleashing power beyond limits, but maximizing aura efficiency!’

The breathing Leo learned from Arron was a power that drew out beyond one’s limits.

While the effect of increasing aura output efficiency was the same, the current [Hero’s Breath] had the difference of being able to amplify aura even without drawing out one’s maximum aura capacity.

‘It seems they’ve developed it through endless research in aura studies.’

A question arose on Leo’s admiring face.

‘If it’s developed to this extent, why do beastmen still only transform during the full moon?’

Transformation was a racial characteristic of beastmen.

On full moon nights, the beast blood flowing in beastmen’s bodies awakened.

When transformed, beastmen gained much more powerful strength than usual.

Arron was the only beastman who could transform at will, even when the full moon wasn’t up.

‘If Arron’s breathing is being inherited as [Hero’s Breath], there should be no reason for that? Plus, one more thing…’

Leo looked at Ain.

‘Why doesn’t Professor Ain have any aftereffects?’

While Leo pondered.

“Now begin practice. If you can manifest aura with [Hero’s Breath], that’s success.”

With Ain’s words, students began focusing on breathing practice without exception.

“Huff! Cough?”

“Th-this is quite difficult with just breathing?”

Confused voices came from among the students practicing as Ain had taught them.

It was inevitable.

‘The most important point of this technique is breathing.’

The principle by which [Hero’s Breath] can momentarily increase aura output is extremely simple.

The principle of using aura is similar to flames burning.

‘What’s most needed for flames to burn is oxygen. Conversely, to combust the aura crouched inside the body, atmospheric mana is needed.’

The basic principle of [Hero’s Breath] was to take in more atmospheric mana to increase aura’s explosive power.

Simply put, it was increasing the compression ratio of mana taken in while breathing.

As such, manifestation was impossible with ordinary breathing.

Leo attempted breathing as Ain had taught.

Since he was already using Arron’s breathing, he could easily follow [Hero’s Breath] even though the form had been modified.

‘Now if I operate the mana…’

Leo’s aura stirred.

‘Now if I just manifest it…’

The moment he tried to manifest aura at his fingertips, the aura scattered.

Leo made a bewildered expression.

‘What?’

He tried [Hero’s Breath] several times.

But he couldn’t use aura with the [Hero’s Breath] Ain had taught.

‘What is this? Is my method wrong?’

It was a rare moment when Leo was stuck in class.

Whoosh—!

Swoosh—!

Crackle—!

Aura manifested simultaneously from three directions.

“Hmm— so this is how it feels.”

“I succeeded, but the aura amplification effect is really at a minimal level.”

“It’s not particularly difficult.”

Exclamations burst out from here and there.

“They pulled that off in one go?”

“As expected of the Knight Department monsters…!”

“Hey! I told you not to call me a monster! Who called me a monster!”

Selia flared up.

Watching this, Ain curled up the corners of his mouth.

‘Selia, Chen Xia, Duran… As expected, in terms of talent alone, they’re legendary level.’

Talent that was hard to see throughout the entire grade was present simultaneously in one year.

‘This year’s first-years are a blessed generation.’

Thinking so, Ain glanced at Leo.

‘On the other hand, Leo is unexpectedly struggling.’

Since Leo, who always had high comprehension in classes, couldn’t even manifest it, it was bound to be unexpected for Ain.

‘It can’t be helped though. While other students are devoted only to training, Leo is pursuing both magic and summoning.’

For Ain, it was inevitable to feel regretful that Leo, who possessed talent that could rival or even surpass Selia, Chen Xia, and Duran, was taking courses from other departments simultaneously.

After an hour passed, the majority of students had successfully manifested aura using [Hero’s Breath].

Ding-dong-dang-dong-

When the class bell rang, Ain crossed his arms.

“We’ll proceed with the next class after a break. The next lesson will test various aura amplification effects using [Hero’s Breath]. We’ll be measuring records, so everyone make sure to get sufficient rest.”

The students gathered in groups and took their break.

While Leo was drinking water at the fountain, Selia approached him.

“So you’re human after all. Seeing you struggle in class.”

Leo was the only student who couldn’t manifest aura with Hero’s Breath.

“Young Master Leo, shall I teach you the technique?”

Leo shook his head at Chen Xia’s question.

“No. I’ll practice a bit more on my own.”

Leo smiled and shook his head.

Duran, who was watching from afar, spoke with his characteristic arrogant expression.

“That Leo Flobe bastard. To think he can’t even handle something this simple. How disappointing.”

“Um, Duran? This is definitely not simple though?”

“Could you consider our feelings when you speak? It hurts. Sob sob sob.”

One female student from the Knight Department clutched her chest with a sad expression.

“Cut out that pathetic acting.”

“Tch.”

Most were Knight Department students from the central region who followed Duran.

“Anyway, Leo Flobe is taking all three departments, right? There’s bound to be limits. By the second semester, he won’t even be a match for you in Knight Department grades, will he?”

When one male student spoke in a carefree tone, Duran narrowed his eyes.

“I don’t care about that stuff.”

“Huh?”

“Whether that guy’s Knight Department grades are worse than mine or not, I won’t be satisfied unless I defeat him.”

Duran gritted his teeth.

“I’ll defeat him and become the year representative. That’s my only goal.”

The other students shrank back at the murderous aura Duran was emitting.

Meanwhile, Leo remained lost in thought throughout the break.

Once again, he operated his aura as Ain had taught him.

But as expected, the aura scattered just before manifestation.

‘Hmm… Right, that’s what it was. This doesn’t suit me.’

Professor Ain had said he modified [Hero’s Breath], which originally only beastmen could use, so that humans could use it.

But Leo was already learning Arron’s breathing technique.

‘In the end, mine is the original. My aura is adapted to my method.’

It was literally a fundamental problem.

‘From the start, it’s a technique that’s incompatible with me.’

Leo’s eyes lit up as he found the cause.

‘Then I should try grafting only the necessary parts from what Professor Ain taught onto my breathing technique.’

In any case, the breathing technique Ain taught was optimized for humans.

The Hero’s Breath that Ain had newly recreated was attractive to Leo as well.

‘If I can obtain the power to maximize aura operation efficiency, that would be attractive to me too. Plus, I might be able to overcome the aftereffects.’

The aftereffects Leo possessed.

That was the recoil from aura amplification.

Though Kail and Arron used the same breathing technique, there was a crucial difference between them.

‘The fundamental difference… race.’

Leo looked down at his hands.

Unlike Arron, who would transform into beast form when exerting power beyond his limits, thus strengthening his vessel as well, Leo was human.

He had to endure the recoil from drawing out power beyond his limits entirely with his body.

The burns he suffered when using Jerdinger’s aura until now were also for that reason.

“We’ll begin measurements now. Students whose names are called, step forward.”

While Leo was lost in his own world, the measurements began.

There were three types of measurements.

Attack, speed, defense, evasion.

Crack-!

“Fast!”

“Though he lost to Leo in an aura step duel at the beginning of the semester… now there probably isn’t anyone faster than Duran in our year, right?”

Duran, who received the highest score in speed, sneered as he looked toward Leo.

The fastest in the Knight Department was Duran.

Next were Selia and Leo with roughly equal speeds.

But unlike usual, due to Hero’s Breath, Selia took second place.

Next were defense and evasion.

In this area, it was practically Chen Xia’s solo stage with her water attribute.

And the battle for second place in defense and evasion was between Leo and Duran.

“Duran won!”

“Ah. The gap is finally widening.”

“Well. It was strange up until now anyway. Isn’t this natural?”

The Knight Department students murmured.

“What is Leo doing?”

Seeing Leo completely unable to keep up with the class progress, even Selia was slightly flustered.

While Class 5 students also looked at Leo with worried eyes.

“Finally, attack power measurement.”

Maximum attack power was measured one by one.

Boom-! Whoooosh!

During Selia’s turn, a tremendous storm of flames swept through.

“It definitely seems stronger than before, right?”

“It seems to be the effect of Hero’s Breath.”

The students clicked their tongues.

Though it wasn’t a dramatically noticeable change, Selia’s flames were definitely stronger than before.

Selia, who had sheathed her sword, looked at Leo, who was the last turn.

The definite first place in attack power was Selia.

And second place was Leo.

‘This is what happens when you neglect Knight studies.’

While Selia frowned at her cousin’s poor performance.

Soon it became Leo’s turn.

Seeing this, Ain glanced down at the measurement board.

‘Leo Flobe. Perhaps this might be a crossroads in your school life.’

Leo was still ranking in the top tier in all measurement values.

But in today’s measurements, he fell behind compared to his competitors.

More precisely, he was the only one who stayed in place.

‘No matter how genius-level talent you possess, there are limits to taking three departments simultaneously.’

Ain looked at Leo’s back.

‘Now make your choice.’

It was when Ain was observing Leo intently.

‘Phew! Done.’

Leo, who had been adjusting his technique throughout class time, finally finished.

‘I’ve optimized it for myself for now.’

He could now manifest aura much more naturally than before.

Leo took a deep breath.

‘Should I give this a try?’

Whoosh—!

Leo, having infused his sword with maximum aura, took a deep breath.

The mana in the air compressed and was sucked into Leo’s body.

‘I swing the sword!’

Whooom—!

Leo swung his sword while breathing.

The mana that entered his body was strongly compressed.

‘Huh, wait. Why is this so effective?’

Leo was flustered.

An aura amplification effect much stronger than usual was generated.

‘Wait! If this happens, the recoil will be even more…!’

Whoosh—! Craaaash—!

A wall of flames shot up high.

Everyone’s jaws dropped at the firepower that far surpassed Selia’s.

Thud—!

Ain unconsciously dropped his pen.

‘What the hell… is that guy.’

He felt goosebumps rising all over his body.

‘How should I even describe this?’

There was only one question in his mind.

What would be the appropriate word to evaluate the student before his eyes.

He had now far transcended the realm where he could simply be called a genius.

‘Right. This is like… a monster.’

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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