Hunter Academy’s Battle God
Chapter 230

After the sun set and night fell, EunAh got up from her bed and drew the curtains apart. She'd seen many landscapes in her life, but what she saw through the window looked like a world of stars.

The lake was pitch-black and calm, and the moon shone over it, reflecting like a mirror.

"A full moon…" Such a beautiful view would naturally make someone sentimental, but she didn’t allow herself to indulge in such feelings that night.

"Hmm, as expected,” Velvet said. “I was right… the culprit was the police officer who first visited the house!" The girl was sitting on EunAh’s bed in a clear invasion of personal space, engrossed in a detective novel.

'How noisy…' EunAh found herself smiling. Although Velvet was a demanding and talkative child, she wasn't bothered by it at all. "What are you reading?"

Paf—

EunAh jumped onto the bed and hugged Velvet, who dropped the book, twisted her body, and laughed out loud. "K-kyahang-! Mommy EunAh, it tickles!"

EunAh only bothered Velvet for a brief moment. Her mind soon became preoccupied with the story she'd heard earlier. 'So YuSung went to see the ShinOh family…' It was a place filled with his past traumas, where he’d met the people who’d abandoned him and confronted his memories.

She remembered his relieved expression and wondered how he could be so strong-willed. 'If it were me… I can’t even imagine it.' She simply couldn’t picture herself visiting a family who’d abandoned her. Maybe that’s why she believed YuSung was so amazing for being able to go through all of that and come out with a smile.

'Come to think of it… I've never seen YuSung show weakness.' Even though she’d never seen him cry, he couldn’t always be okay. 'I'm sure he must have also had days when he cried alone…' Just as she relied on him, she also wanted to be a pillar for him.

Of course, she’d thought she was just being greedy before, but him having gone to such an important and frightening place with Sumire probably meant something, right? Maybe that girl had seen a more private side of him. EunAh sighed.

"M-mom… Did something happen?" Velvet asked in worry.

"It's nothing. I was just thinking about a few things." EunAh hugged Velvet and closed her eyes as she basked in the little dragon’s comfort and warmth. After a moment of thought, she calmly said, "Velvet…?" The atmosphere was much heavier than usual.

"K-kyahang…?"

EunAh stoked Velvet’s head and quietly asked, "You said you could read thoughts… right?"

Velvet was only a hatchling, so her abilities weren’t as advanced as EunAh was hoping they were. "I… I’m a genius, but… I can only sense feelings for now!"

Hmm- EunAh pondered for a moment and then seemed to come to a decision. "Really? Then… how does YuSung feel when he sees me?"

"Like he’s seeing a bed~ Comfortable!" Velvet laughed as if the answer to the question were obvious.

EunAh wasn't satisfied with such an answer. "C-comfortable? It isn't like his heart races, or he gets excited…? Just ‘comfortable’?" She felt somewhat displeased that he didn’t feel more than that. "Then…! What about his feelings toward Sumire?" She subconsciously tensed in anticipation.

Velvet put a finger on her chin and pondered for a moment before laughing out loud again. "To Dad, Mommy Sumire is like a blanket. She makes him feel warm!"

"Hey!” EunAh exclaimed. “What are we, a bedding set?"

"Kya! K-kyahang…"

Teasing Velvet wouldn't change anything. 'Well, YuSung's just that kind of person…' Next, EunAh changed her question—she wouldn’t be asking about YuSung. "What about me? How do I feel when I see YuSung?” It was hard to believe she was asking about her own feelings.

Velvet just smiled at her. "Kyahang~ You already know!" The dragon girl was right.

EunAh buried her face in the pillow and mumbled, "How annooyyiinngg-"

* * *

Rustle—

YuSung slowly walked across the moist soil and listened to the sound the branches made as they were stepped on. He was following a single point of light.

Beep—

He passed by a strange bird making odd sounds deep within the forest and reached his destination. 'I've arrived.' He saw a calm lake with a full moon high above. The beautiful view made him smile.

'It's more than I expected.' Ordinary people would have been amazed by the view alone, but there was something else that he was focused on. "Should I check it?"

* * *

* * *

Fsst—

He manifested mana, and it flickered in the air like sparks—it was the phenomenon of a mana surge. 'Human mana is powerful and orderly.' Most hunters’ mana shared similar characteristics because it was unified at a species level. ‘The mana within nature itself is much more refined and free than the mana within humans.’

When he closed his eyes, the inky lake in front of him felt like a white canvas. To fill the canvas, he needed to block out his sigh and sense the other world.

Mana: a force dwelling within all life, a primal force that even emanated from natural objects. Detecting the mana flowing through the world in detail was extremely difficult, but it was a necessary step for him if he wanted to complete his own Battle God Style.

Swoosh—

He raised his hand and resonated his mana with the nearest source he felt, and the resonance created ripples similar to those that appeared when you skimmed a stone across a calm pond.

Whir— Thump—

Just as different objects and life forms had different mana properties, mana also had different shapes.

'Point…' Some were like grains of sand, too fine to even detect.

'Line.' Others stretched out like trees, reaching toward where they wanted to go, but the nature of mana couldn't be explained with shapes alone.

'Wave…' It was impossible to know where some of the mana originated from. In a way, such mana was like a musical instrument—you couldn’t guess what it would sound like just from the shape of it.

'I won't know until I touch it.' He couldn’t know the true nature of a certain type of mana until he touched it, which is why he was stacking it layer by layer. Just like adding notes and rhythm to a score to complete a song, he was engraving a picture on the black canvas of the lake’s mana.

- ♪

For mana, a dot was a rest. The dot didn’t completely stop, though. It was also a line in and of itself that vibrated with the other notes to create a beautiful, triangle-like arrangement.

♩ ♪

The mana vibrating through his fingertips felt like a classical piece of music to him.

♩ - ♪ ♬

'Yes…' His small resonances were creating vibrations that he felt through his body as they moved past him and continued into the world. 'Now I understand.' The canvas, which had previously been filled with only a single type of mana, was now complete with all sorts of shapes and an organized score, creating a beautiful arrangement of vibrations.

'The picture was already complete.' All he’d done was look deeper into the world.

Blink—

He slowly opened his eyes.

Fwoosh—

Shapes…

Pictures…

Vibrations…

A score…

A brilliant performance of light played out in front of him.

It was something only he could see, and it made him smile. The lake being calm had been his misconception—the mana rising from nature and vanishing into the distance created a beautiful and desperate melody.

Tap—

He touched a dot, a rest in the musical score, the foundation of the picture.

Snap—

Next, he cut a long, extended line with his index and middle fingers, causing the score to lose direction and fall toward the ground.

Swoosh—

He inserted his palm into the twisted score of mana, breaking nature’s symphony.

Swoosh—

He imagined the Spring.

Battle God Style 6th Form - Butterfly's Dreams.

Mana stretched from his body, through his harm, and past his hand. After squeezing it into the twisted gaps, he formed a new ending for the symphony.

Crack—

The new symphony rejected mana—the foundation of a hunter’s power and life itself.

Crack—

In a way, it was like ripping apart a completed canvas.

Crash—!

The beautiful picture shattered, and fragments of mana scattered, completely erasing any mana in the area.

Crash—!

When he saw the beautiful canvas shattering and the void in mana left behind, YuSung muttered, "So this is my own 6th form…"

After facing the real world, a new world opened.