At the preparatory school.

  Hulim looked at the few people in front of her in confusion.

  Why meet here? We’ve already graduated.

  Hmm...... But it’s vacation now, and the school is empty anyway, so it doesn’t matter.

  But Fran answered Hulim’s unspoken question.

  "It was this guy’s idea! He’s been dying to test the gap between him and you now. Honestly, he’s so overconfident!"

  Fran flipped her hair with her right hand and glanced disdainfully at Ander beside her.

  "Hey hey hey~! Don’t pin all the blame on me! Didn’t you want to do this too?!"

  "Huh?! I did not! Stop lying!"

  "You totally did......"

  Watching the two start bickering, Hulim roughly understood why they’d met here.

  The preparatory school’s playground was indeed very spacious.

  Hmm...... But when did these two get along so well?

  "Are you three going to fight or not? Teacher Colette and I took time out of our busy schedules—not to watch you kids play house!"

  Kunun, who had been standing with his arms crossed, spoke up. Beside him stood Colette, who was smiling and watching the commotion.

  "Ah~?! Are you an idiot? Who’s playing house with this guy?!"

  Fran shouted angrily at Kunun.

  "Ah?!"

  Veins popped on Kunun’s forehead.

  "You little brat—do you really think I can’t discipline you now that you’ve graduated~?"

  Crack! Crack!

  Kunun cracked his knuckles, making crisp sounds.

  "Before your fight, should I test your current level and see how much you’ve improved this year~?"

  "Uhh...... N-No need......"

  Threatened like this, Fran seemed to recall the fear of being dominated by this devilish instructor during her student days. She stepped back and quickly backed down.

  "Now now, Teacher Kunun. The kids are just being lively—no need to get personally involved!"

  Kunun glanced helplessly at Colette beside him. He was already tired of complaining about this colleague who always enjoyed watching chaos and had a mischievous personality.

  "Ahem! Since Teacher Colette says you’re lively, channel that energy into something useful!"

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  After coughing, Kunun said to the three.

  "You asked us to be referees, so show us your true skills seriously! If you mess around and waste our time, I don’t mind adding extra training even though you’ve graduated!"

  "Who’s wasting time?!"

  "You really want to fight me, don’t you, you little brat?"

  "......"

  Fran quickly covered her mouth.

  After glaring at her, Kunun raised his right hand.

  "When you’re ready, you can start!"

  The three spread out across the playground.

  "Begin——!"

  As Kunun lowered his hand, the relaxed atmosphere between them disappeared instantly.

  Fran and Ander, who had just been arguing, now looked at Hulim with serious expressions. Fran held her wand in her hand, while Ander gripped a sword—and on his right wrist, he wore a bracelet-type magic tool.

  "Hulim, please don’t hold back. We want to know just how big the gap is between us, and how much effort we need to catch up!"

  Ander said earnestly.

  Across from him and Fran, Hulim stood casually, holding her wand in her arms with her right hand.

  In response to Ander’s request, Hulim simply nodded calmly.

  "Okay."

  "Alright...... Then we’re coming——!"

  As soon as the words left his mouth, Ander and Fran moved simultaneously.

  "Wind Slash!"

  Fran cast magic while moving, maintaining a constant distance from Hulim.

  On the other side, Ander charged toward Hulim at full speed.

  It was clear they had a tactic—and their coordination was quite tacit. One suppressed from a distance, the other raided. Anyone with similar strength to them would most likely be defeated. But......

  Bang!

  "Huh?!"

  Kunun froze in place, stunned. Colette beside him also had a stiff smile on her face.

  Neither of them had seen what happened.

  When Ander and Fran attacked, Hulim remained motionless the entire time. Even as the Wind Slash flew straight toward her, she didn’t move an inch. Kunun and Colette both thought the Wind Slash would hit her—

  But the Wind Slash suddenly split in two in front of Hulim, then vanished into the air, as if cut by an invisible blade.

  Ander saw this too, but he couldn’t stop now. He gritted his teeth and rushed toward Hulim with all his strength.

  Just as he stepped within three meters of her—

  Whoosh!

  Hulim suddenly disappeared from where she stood.

  "What? She’s gone?!"

  Ander looked shocked.

  In the next moment, a powerful impact hit the back of his neck.

  "Ugh——"

  His eyes lost focus instantly, and he fell forward.

  "Huh...... Huh?!"

  The change happened too fast—Fran didn’t have time to react.

  At that moment, Hulim, who was mostly facing away from her, suddenly pointed her wand in her direction.

  Boom——!

  In an instant, a Fireball exploded right in front of her.

  "Ah——!"

  The flames didn’t hurt her, but the powerful shockwave from the explosion sent her flying.

  Fran rolled along the ground for a long distance before finally stopping. But her dizzy mind made it impossible for her to stand up.

  The result was obvious.

  Less than two seconds after Hulim made her move, both the long-range and close-range attackers had fallen.

  "The...... match is over! Hulim wins!"

  Kunun announced the result with a complicated feeling. He thought even he wouldn’t last much longer than these two against Hulim.

  It had only been a year—and she had become even more terrifying......

  "Teacher Colette, is Manacos Magic Academy really this powerful? A student only studies there for a year and their strength skyrockets to this level! Hmm...... It seems I underestimated it before."

  "Huh...... Huh?"

  Colette looked dumbfounded, only blinking to ease her embarrassment.

  I graduated from Manacos, and I never knew it was this powerful......

  On the other side, Hulim had already woken Fran and Ander up with Healing Magic.

  But while the physical injuries were healed, the mental blow remained.

  "The gap is this big......"

  Ander never thought he’d encounter a peer where he couldn’t even fathom how large the gap was.

  "......No need to be so discouraged. Think about it—if you ever go to the front lines against the Demon King’s army, you might encounter even bigger gaps."

  "Uhh...... Y-You’re right......"

  Ander’s lips twitched slightly as he thought to himself: You’re really bad at comforting people......

  "Alright, now that your match is over, I have things to do. Ander, don’t be late for training tomorrow!"

  Kunun said as he walked past them.

  "Yes, Instructor Kunun!"

  "Mm."

  Kunun nodded, gave Hulim a strange look, and then turned to leave.

  Ps：My Patreon’s updated to Chapter 201 — if you love advance chapters, go check it out! Thanks a bunch!!（3/month）