The Academy’s Unrivaled Professor - Chapter 48

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Academy Absolute Professor Episode 48
A Taste of Foundation Work
The dawn before first light.
Behind the Sacred Hall, Kang Hyun stood on the uneven earth, tamping it down with deliberate steps.
‘The bedrock layer runs pretty deep.’
Kang Hyun could see straight through the ground using his Qi.
‘Should I dig it out myself?’
It would save on excavation costs and spare him the time.
Shring!
Kang Hyun drew his Real Sword.
He’d bought it from a nearby Weapon Store—it served him well enough.
‘I really do need to forge a proper blade eventually.’
Go into battle against an Asura with this?
He’d be dead before he even summoned a Celestial Deity.
Before long, the students began trickling through the darkness one by one.
“Huh?”
“Professor?”
The students exchanged puzzled glances.
Their professor should have been lounging at an angle on some boulder or platform by now, drinking.
‘Why’s he holding a sword?’
‘The atmosphere feels different from usual.’
As they all gathered, Kang Hyun kept his gaze fixed on the ground before him.
As if mentally calculating measurements and costs.
Time passed in silence.
“Everyone here?”
“Yes, Professor!”
“Then sit down over there.”
Kang Hyun intended to show them something useful while he was at it.
A glimpse of the power behind the Martial Techniques they would learn later.
Swoosh.
As Kang Hyun raised his sword, anticipation flickered across the students’ faces.
They trusted their professor well enough, of course, but they were still curious.
About the true nature of that Martial Technique they’d heard so much about.
“This is just a taste. I showed you the Imperial Sword Form last time, so we’ll skip that. I’ll start with the Five Tiger Single Blade.”
“…!”
The legendary Five Tiger Single Blade?!
Seo Hae-in tensed more than anyone else.
Rumble!
Though the technique was originally meant for the curved saber, Kang Hyun had reached a level where weapons hardly mattered.
Hadn’t he demonstrated it with nothing but a tree branch in front of Ma Cheol-woong before?
Roaaarrr!
The moment he finished speaking, five tigers materialized in the air before him, one after another.
Each one so ferocious that merely meeting its gaze made the blood in your legs run cold.
Kang Hyun brought his sword down toward the ground.
Crash!
The earth split open.
It tore and cracked like an explosion of dynamite.
With each strike Kang Hyun delivered, the five tigers seemed to rake their claws across the ground in unison.
“Gasp!”
“…What in the…”
Roaaarrr!
Each time the tigers roared, boulders the size of houses erupted from the earth in great cascades.
‘Can a human even unleash a Martial Technique like this?’
‘This is truly a Grade 2 technique…! It’s overwhelming…!’
Seo Hae-in, in particular,
‘Am I really going to be able to master this?’
Just watching it made her forget to breathe. What would it feel like to actually wield it herself?
That was when it happened.
Swoosh.
Kang Hyun extended his empty left hand.
“What?”
The wooden sword tucked at Yun Hyun-jong’s waist slipped free with a smooth whisper and settled perfectly into his left hand.
A catch so natural it seemed to defy effort.
“Next is the Invincible Dual Swords.”
Snap!
His form shot upward like a dragon through the jutting rocks.
At the same moment.
Three-second sequence!
Emergent Dragon Cross Strike!
Crack!
The two blades carved a perfect cross through the air, cleaving the rocks into quarters.
Not just one—several at once.
Thud-thud-thud!
“Hah.”
Yun Hyun-jong inhaled sharply.
The cuts were so precise the stone faces gleamed like obsidian.
“Catch.”
Kang Hyun flicked his wrist and tossed the wooden sword back to Yun Hyun-jong.
The moment Yun Hyun-jong caught it, his hands trembled.
The wooden sword burned hot.
“Next is the Demon Suppression Sword—for you, Do-jin.”
With only a single real blade in hand, an entirely different aura poured from Kang Hyun’s body.
“To suppress demons, you must become something fiercer and more savage than they are.”
A low, rumbling growl.
A dense, crimson-tinged strong qi coalesced along Kang Hyun’s blade.
Demonic Oath Sword!
Breakheart Bloodwind!
Where the Moyong family’s swordwork was elegant, the Kongdong sect’s was crude and vicious.
Crackle-crackle-crackle-crack!
Each stroke drove forward with the singular will to shred everything in its path.
“Ugh!”
“Whoa!”
A tremendous wind tore across the field, and the students squeezed their eyes shut, shielding their faces with their arms.
It was as if a tempest itself had descended.
‘That…….’
Gwak Do-jin felt his blood ignite.
‘That’s the path I must walk.’
The massive boulders had already been reduced to pebbles.
Thud-thud-thud!
As thousands of stones rained down from the sky, Kang Hyun tilted his blade to meet them.
“Last one—Han Tae-ho, watch closely.”
A swallow.
Han Tae-ho gulped.
Every student anticipated which martial technique would come next.
‘Plum Blossom Sword.’
‘A first-rank technique!’
Kang Hyun said nothing by way of introduction.
When Hwasan’s master swordsman displayed a technique, the Martial Realm’s finest needed no words to recognize it.
Why?
Because of the scent.
“Oh…….”
“This fragrance…….”
The delicate aroma of plum blossoms began to drift from the blade.
Whoosh!
Kang Hyun’s sword began to move with a flowing, dance-like grace.
It had none of the blunt heaviness of the techniques before it.
Soft, blindingly beautiful—a sword dance!
“This is the Plum Blossom Sword.”
Red sword energy bloomed from the tip of Kang Hyun’s blade, scattering like hundreds of plum blossoms caught in wind.
‘So beautiful…….’
‘Is this a martial technique? Or an art form?’
The students were entranced by the mesmerizing sword dance.
The plum blossoms blooming in the empty air were breathtaking in their beauty, but the moment they saw the petals sweep past and reduce stones to fine sand, no one could call it beautiful anymore.
Crack-crack-crack!
Every last rock shattered to pieces.
After the sword dance ended, Kang Hyun calmly sheathed his blade.
‘The penetration was perfect.’
Watching Kang Hyun’s satisfaction, the students stood frozen like statues.
The Five Tiger Single Blade, the Invincible Dual Swords, the Demon Suppression Sword technique, the Plum Blossom Sword—
Each of those displays seemed so unreal, transcending human limits so far that reality itself had blurred for a moment.
“What are you doing?”
Kang Hyun threw the question out casually.
“You done watching? Pick up your wooden swords and get to work.”

* * *
As Kang Hyun entered the Professor’s Office after dawn training, he saw Baek Yu-yeon inserting silver needles into a practice dummy.
“Baek Yu-yeon.”
“Yes, Professor.”
“How far along are you in the material?”
She’d memorized the texts long ago.
He was asking how much of the practical work she’d completed.
“I can handle most of it without mistakes now.”
“Then it’s time to move to real practice.”
“Real practice?”
“Acupuncture is useless if you only study theory. Every person’s Qi and blood vessels are different, and bone thickness and muscle depth vary too.”
“So what should I do?”
“Wait a moment.”
Not long after.
Knock-knock.
Someone tapped on the Professor’s Office door.
“Come in.”
The door opened to reveal none other than Hwang Ye-rim.
Baek Yu-yeon’s eyes went wide.
“P-Professor Hwang?”
“Yes, it’s been a while, Yu-yeon.”
“What brings you here?”
In truth, Baek Yu-yeon felt guilty.
She’d been skipping all her major courses without a word.
Kang Hyun’s mouth curved upward.
“I called her. Starting today, take this one to the Medical Office and work her hard. There’s no better place to learn practical skill.”
“I’m sorry?”
Baek Yu-yeon’s face went pale, and then she took on the expression of an abandoned puppy.
“But… I still have so much to learn from you… Are you really casting me out?”
At that desperate look, Hwang Ye-rim’s brow twitched slightly.
‘Look at this girl.’
She felt a subtle sting.
Here she was, a Martial Medicine professor no less, coming to fetch her personally—and Yu-yeon clung to this contract instructor like that?
What on earth had this temporary professor taught her over the past two months that had made such an impression?
She’d rushed over thinking she was taking Yu-yeon to the Medical Office, but some of her satisfaction deflated.
“No one said anything about casting you out. Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays you report to the Medical Office and assist Professor Hwang. Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays you come to my research lab.”
At those words, relief and joy bloomed on her face at last.
Hwang Ye-rim, whose expression had been complicated, looked at Kang Hyun.
“I have to admit, I’m a bit surprised, Professor.”
“About what?”
“I thought you might want to keep Yu-yeon all to yourself. She has such talent.”
“Is she some kind of possession to monopolize?”
Kang Hyun let out a dry chuckle.
“The path of medicine is broad and deep. Experience matters just as much as theory. I trust you’ll guide her well, Professor.”
Hwang Ye-rim’s eyes wavered.
In those words, she glimpsed genuine care for Baek Yu-yeon.
“Thank you for trusting me with this. The Medical Office could use the extra hands anyway.”
Hwang Ye-rim was extending her gratitude with a formal bow.
Baek Yu-yeon, who had been gauging the mood, ventured carefully forward.
“Professor Kang.”
“Yes?”
“If I’m going to use acupuncture on patients in the Medical Office, I’ll need to demonstrate the techniques you taught me in front of Professor Hwang, and I might have to explain the principles too… Is that all right?”
She was asking whether it was acceptable to discuss the Celestial Meridian Comprehensive Theory and Heavenly Medicine Precious Acupuncture with Hwang Ye-rim.
Because to Baek Yu-yeon’s mind, these were contents that would astonish the entire world.
“It’s fine. What good is it to hide a technique that saves lives?”
After all, a technique is something you cannot use without skill, even if you know it.
Moreover, both techniques were merely stepping stones toward mastering the Water Element Meridian and the Reverse Tendon Meridian.
“If anyone asks, tell them what you know.”
“Thank you.”
It was a warm exchange, but Hwang Ye-rim felt strangely unsettled.
‘What in the world is that supposed to mean?’
Asking for permission to explain the principles to her?
It carried the unmistakable implication that she had learned some tremendous secret technique beyond her comprehension.
‘Absurd.’
No matter how exceptional Professor Kang’s skills were, martial techniques and martial medicine were entirely distinct fields.
She had been an authority in martial medicine, having gained vast practical experience in Korea’s top Guild medical corps long before joining the Academy.
‘Let’s see what this is about.’
A quiet fire kindled in Hwang Ye-rim’s pride.
She watched Baek Yu-yeon with barely concealed determination.
‘So for the past two months you’ve skipped every single one of my specialty lectures to study under this professor. I’m going to watch exactly what you’ve learned, right there in my Medical Office.’

* * *
Not long after Baek Yu-yeon left, Lee Se-ah returned from the Administrative Bureau.
“Kang.”
She extended a silver card toward him.
“What is this?”
“Your Hunter License, issued by the Association.”
“A Hunter License?”
Taking the card, he saw a photograph, a name, and a grade printed on it.
[Grade A Hunter, Kang Hyun]
“Why Grade A? Why not Grade S?”
“Oh, that.”
Lee Se-ah smiled as she explained.
“The Korean Association can only issue up to Grade A.”
“Then what about Grade S?”
“That falls under the World Association. You need to be registered as a Grade A Hunter for three years, then accumulate at least ten survival records in Grade A or higher dungeons before you qualify for evaluation.”
That’s why Grade S hunters receive VIP treatment anywhere in the world and have their identity protected.
It means the world officially recognizes them as transcendent beings.
“They’ve made it needlessly complicated.”
Kang stuffed the card into his pocket with indifference.
After all, grades held no significance for him.
Grade S or Grade A—by his measure, they were the same.
‘I can earn it slowly when I feel like it.’
“Oh, and.”
Lee Se-ah withdrew some documents from her bag and handed them over.
“This is the file on Do Jung-hyuk.”
“Right?”
“His parents divorced when he was young. He lives with his mother now, and she has considerable wealth—apparently she inherited a substantial sum from her father.”
“I see.”
Kang nodded.
“So that’s why he went through the elite track?”
“Exactly. He took private tutoring courses. His mother seems quite involved in his education—more intensely than average, I’d say.”
“Hm.”
Kang skimmed through the documents and rose to his feet.
It was time he met Do Jung-hyuk as well.

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