The Last-Seat Hero Has Returned

57. Midterm Evaluation (2)

“Well then.”

Returning to my dorm room, I sat cross-legged on the bed.

Normally, I would be in the training hall, sweating profusely and swinging my sword, but there was no need to go to the training hall when practicing the ‘new technique’ I had been focusing on recently.

“Sss.”

I slowly inhaled and closed my eyes.

A darkened vision.

In a place filled only with black darkness, a massive flame surged.

The primordial fire.

A flame that was said to have burned the tree of creation in the distant past, roaring fiercely as if it would engulf the entire world.

An image (象) created by shaping the mind (心).

Walking through the world of imagery, I gazed at the fiercely burning flames.

‘Blaze.’

I reached out towards the fiercely burning flames and commanded.

The primordial fire did not budge.

So far, it was as usual.

‘From now on, it’s important.’

After the battle with Ashtaroth.

Every night, I continued to research ways to handle the ‘primordial fire,’ splitting my sleeping time.

Through repeated research, I discovered two characteristics.

‘One is that the primordial fire responds to my ‘death’ at intervals of about 5-6 hours.’

This was something I had somewhat known while training my mana.

The truly important thing was the second characteristic.

‘For five minutes when the primordial fire responds, if I command it with strong will, I can move the primordial fire according to my will.’

It felt like fishing, using my ‘death’ as bait to stimulate the primordial fire, and then reeling it in with the fishing rod of ‘will.’

‘Well, it’s not as simple as it sounds.’

Clicking my tongue, I focused my mind again.

“Hoo.”

Slowly exhaling the breath that filled my lungs, I created a mana bullet inside my body.

A mana bullet much smaller than a grain of rice.

The magic bullet that flowed through the blood vessels condensed in the heart.

And then.

Puff!

The condensed magic bullet exploded, and the heart burst.

For an ordinary person, it would have been a fatal injury that would have taken their life instantly.

Wooong!

The blessing of resurrection activated, and the shattered heart began to recover in an instant.

Before the heart was completely restored.

The primordial fire reacted to my ‘death’.

‘Now!’

Reaching out towards the fiercely blazing flames, I commanded with intense will.

“Bloom.”

The primordial fire, which had not moved at my command, slowly began to stir.

A small flame burning on the palm of my hand.

I brought the precariously flickering flame to my left chest.

Whoosh!

The small flame, no bigger than a candle, began to burn my heart and gradually grew larger.

‘It’s working!’

Soon, the flames began to engulf my entire body.

I opened my eyes and rose from the bed.

“Haa.”

Gray ash mixed with my exhaled breath.

Sizzle!

The sound of flesh burning echoed as gray ash rose like smoke through every pore of my body.

It wasn’t like the state of the fire god I experienced when I fought Ashtaroth, where infinite magic power surged.

‘My magic power is recovering.’

I could feel the magic power slowly filling the half-empty stigmata.

“Yes!”

I clenched my fist and shouted with joy.

Gray ash trickled down like grains of sand between my clenched fists.

‘Finally, you’re moving, you b*stard!’

The primal fire, which had always ignored my commands and burned arrogantly, now moved according to my will, sending an indescribable thrill through me.

“Well… it’s still far from what it was like in the Incarnation state.”

I clicked my tongue as I looked down at my body, which was emitting gray ash.

Unlike when my entire body was engulfed in flames and gray ash swirled around like a storm, the ash now rising from my body was faint, like smoke from a dying campfire.

‘Still, it’s something that it moved at all.’

Compared to the time when it didn’t even twitch at my command, this was a significant improvement.

“First, I’ve confirmed the effect of mana automatically replenishing.”

The next thing to check was.

Srrng.

I slowly drew my sword and infused it with mana.

Flames blazed along the blade as if it had been coated in oil.

Of course, it wasn’t the colossal flames that seemed to consume the world like in the Incarnation state, but the flames flickering along the blade exuded a fierce intimidation on their own.

‘The power of the primal fire is imbued in the mana itself.’

It felt as if the primal fire had melted into my mana.

Without needing to control the primal fire separately, the power of the primal fire naturally mixed in as I moved my mana as usual.

‘I can’t confirm its full power since I’m indoors.’

Considering the battle with Ashtaroth, the mana imbued with the primal fire was a powerful artifact in itself.

“Alright… so, ultimately, the effects are the automatic replenishment of mana and the power of the primal fire imbued in the mana. These two, right?”

There was no effect of increasing the total amount of mana like in the Incarnation state.

But the recovery and enhancement effects alone were more than enough reason to master this technique.

“For now, I guess I can think of it as a downgraded version of the Incarnation state technique…”

Even as a downgraded version, its effects were powerful enough that even mythic-level artifacts couldn’t compare.

“Let’s see, the name… yeah, let’s call it ‘Ignition’.”

Ignition, in the sense of lighting a fire.

It was a fitting name, considering that when the technique was used, gray smoke rose with the sound of flesh burning.

‘It’s important to give a technique a fitting name.’

Especially for a technique related to mental imagery like this.

‘If I use the Stigma Amplifier here.’

By increasing the ‘quantity’ of mana with the Stigma Amplifier and enhancing the ‘quality’ of the increased mana through Ignition, I could achieve a powerful effect.

From noble mtl dot com

If that happens.

“Do you think we could take on the Archbishop?”

Of course, the stigmata booster and the newly learned ‘Ignition’ were techniques with a five-minute time limit.

But at least within that duration, we would be able to wield immense power that wouldn’t be inferior to the Archbishop.

“Well… we won’t need to use either in this midterm evaluation.”

Is there any need to exhaust our resources just to hunt a mere visual-level beast?

‘I promised not to use the stigmata booster in the exam anyway.’

Using Ignition wouldn’t be a problem, but I wasn’t that desperate for the first place.

‘Besides, I can’t fully control the Primordial Flame yet.’

Since the Primordial Flame itself was a power with many unknowns, it was necessary to be cautious in its use.

“Well then.”

Psssshh.

As time passed, the sound of air escaping ceased, and the gray smoke rising from my body stopped.

And what remained.

“…First, let’s clean up the room.”

Looking around the room covered in ashes, I gathered the cleaning tools one by one.

* * *

The next day.

The examiner candidates armed themselves and moved to the test site.

“The time limit is 8 hours! Your midterm evaluation score will be determined by who accumulates the most points within that time!”

With Professor Lucas’s shout, the candidates lined up according to their chosen zones.

The zone I chose as the starting point was the mountainous terrain.

As the most common terrain, the line was nearly twice as long as the other zones.

“Alright, come forward in groups of ten to the warp device.”

Ten candidates in line stepped onto the warp device.

“When the warp device activates, you’ll be transported to a random location within your chosen zone.”

Professor Lucas continued as he powered on the warp device.

“You might end up right in front of a beast, so stay alert.”

“Yes!”

“Oh, and don’t forget to send a rescue request with your Hero Watch in an emergency. Don’t get yourself killed by acting recklessly. Got it?”

“I will keep that in mind!”

With a resounding answer.

“Then, good luck.”

The warp device activated.

The candidates disappeared with a blue halo.

“Dale.”

Yuren, who chose the mountainous terrain with me, looked back at me before stepping onto the warp device.

“…I will never lose.”

“It won’t be easy.”

I chuckled and followed Yuren onto the warp device.

Vrooom!

A floating sensation, as if I had risen above the clouds, enveloped my body along with the blue halo.

* * *

“Ugh… It’s been a while since I warped.”

I held my slightly dizzy head and looked around.

Dense bushes. Trees over 15 meters tall.

The smell of nature tickling my nose.

“Ha.”

A faint laugh escaped my lips as I looked around.

“I never thought I’d fall in the same place as my past life.”

It felt familiar, and upon closer inspection, it was the place where I had taken the midterm evaluation in my past life.

‘Whether it’s a coincidence or fate, I don’t know.’

Coming back here brought back memories of my past life.

“Now that I think about it, it was this day.”

A faint smile appeared on my lips as I recalled the memories of my past life.

The reason this place felt so familiar.

‘I experienced death here for the first time.’

While trembling in fear and moving my steps.

A beast jumped out of the bushes and bit my neck.

‘Back then, I thought my life would end there.’

Awakening the “Blessing of Revival” and coming back to life was not enough; I even traveled back in time to the past.

Thinking about it now, I realize it was truly a tumultuous life.

“Well then, shall we get moving?”

I knew that the “Unicorn” was first discovered in the mountainous terrain, but I didn’t know the exact location.

At that time, my head was filled with thoughts of why I was still alive despite having my head severed.

Rustle, rustle.

As I slowly moved my steps, parting the bushes.

“Graaah!”

A black figure burst out from the bushes with a ferocious roar.

“Oh dear.”

I lightly twisted my body to dodge the beast’s attack, then widened the distance and observed the beast that had emerged from the bushes.

A wolf-like appearance.

Ferocious teeth dripping with saliva and claws as sharp as blades.

Three blood-red, glistening eyes.

“Huh?”

Seeing the beast that had emerged from the bushes, I couldn’t help but let out a hollow laugh once again.

And for good reason.

“Wow, it’s been a while, hasn’t it?”

The beast that appeared before me was the one that had given me my first experience of “death” in my previous life.

“How have you been?”

I burst into laughter and waved my hand at the wolf beast.