NOVEL WEB Chapter 736
I woke up early in the morning like any other day.
Sweat was pouring down, but my body was shivering cold.
Ignoring my twitching muscles, I got up.
Zing—
“Ugh…!”
A sharp, fleeting pain coursed through my entire body.
I lay back on the bed, closing my eyes and thinking.
‘Hmm. Today’s training is a bust.’
* * *
It seemed that the National Exchange Tournament’s open training was going ahead as scheduled.
But it looked like quite a few athletes were absent besides me.
The cold virus had swept through the Fort Worth Athlete Village.
My immunity was at an all-time low, and I caught a fever along with it.
Slurping—
Wrapping myself in a blanket, I headed down to the 1st Floor Training Center with a hot cup of tea.
Vwooooosh—!
“What’s that noise?”
People in white hazmat suits were spraying disinfectant everywhere.
It seemed that the dining area, gym, and training arena were all under lockdown.
“Are you currently disinfecting the place?”
“Yes, that’s correct. The facilities will be available for use again tomorrow morning.”
“Where are you disinfecting, specifically?”
“You can consider it the entire Training Center. The 1st Floor and the basement. The adjacent training arena is the same.”
“What about the upper floors of the hotel?”
“No, that’s out of our jurisdiction.”
“Thank you.”
I nodded and thanked the kind disinfecting staff.
I bought a boiled egg from the 1st Floor Convenience Store and took the elevator.
[3rd floor]
“Hmm? Ellie, what are you doing over there?”
Kain Eli was loitering in front of my room.
“Hey, Na-me. I didn’t know you weren’t in your room. I thought you were still sleeping inside.”
“Yeah. The dining area is closed, so I was on my way to the convenience store. Cough cough… Don’t come too close since I caught a cold.”
“Hehe. I caught a cold too, so it’s fine. See? I’m staying back instead of going to the open training.”
“Oh, right.”
Rustle rustle—
Ellie pulled something out of a plastic bag to show me.
“You didn’t take any cold medicine, did you?”
“Uh, no.”
“I figured you wouldn’t, so I brought some. I thought you’d just tough it out, since you don’t have a team doctor to take care of you or anything.”
“I’m fine. I’ll be sure to take the medicine. Want to come into my room?”
“Yay!”
Ellie’s arms shot up in excitement.
“Wow, I can’t wait…! What will it be like in the room of the top-ranked player in magic dueling?”
Shaking her medium-length hair excitedly, she bounced around.
But my room was extremely normal.
Three carriers were lying on the hallway floor.
A laptop and a hologram projector were placed on the round table.
And there was just a bed and a capsule.
Thud—
Ellie lifted something she had kicked with her foot.
“Na-me, there’s some gadget lying around here.”
“That’s Ban-sil.”
“Ban-sil?”
“It’s a wand I’ll be using for the National Exchange Tournament. There’s no spare, so be careful—”
“Kyah!”
“Huh?”
Ellie flinched, causing Ban-sil to fly into the air.
The wand dropped toward the floor.
“Don’t!”
Without hesitation, Ellie dove for it.
Her reflexes were impressively quick, befitting a magic duel athlete.
Clap clap clap—
“Oh. Nice catch.”
“Ugh… Why leave such a precious wand lying around like that…”
“It’s okay. It’s sturdy.”
If it weren’t sturdy, I wouldn’t be able to use it in a match.
But Ellie seemed to breathe a sigh of relief, as if she had been through a near-death experience.
“Phew, my head suddenly feels dizzy.”
“There’s ice water in the refrigerator.”
“What about you?”
“I’m just catching up on work while I’m resting.”
“Na-me. Is it okay to work so sloppily in front of outsiders?”
“Ellie just has to stay away from me. If you sit across from me, you can’t see anything.”
I opened my laptop and checked my emails.
Meanwhile, Ellie, like an owl, turned her head to look around.
Eventually, she lost interest and flopped down onto the desk.
How much time had passed?
Tap tap—
Staring at the screen for too long had made my eyes bloodshot.
‘Maybe I should wrap it up here.’
It felt like working while dealing with a cold fever was too much to handle.
“Kuwwww.”
“?”
I shut my laptop, and then snuck up behind Ellie, who was collapsed on the desk.
Oblivious to the world around her, she had fallen sound asleep.
“Hmm.”
I grabbed both of Ellie’s shoulders and gauged her mana waves.
I should really show this defenseless girl the taste of the Korean massage I learned from Principal Gu On-yu.
[Cast: Static Induction]
Zzzzzt—
The more aura residue accumulates, regardless of individual strength, the more tingling sensation one feels in their body.
She should have been startled and scream by now.
“Mmm… Huh…”
“Wait? Why isn’t it working? Did I set the mana waves wrong? It should be right.”
“Hehe, that feels good…”
Instead of being in pain, she was grinning with a smile.
Eventually, Ellie opened her eyes, scratching her head as she got up.
“Hmm? Did you give me a massage?”
“That’s right.”
“Wow, thank you! But you know what? The massage you gave me is really similar to the one from our hometown! Want to try it too? Are you interested?”
“No, not really. Kyaa! Wh-what did you just do to my body!”
Ellie grabbed my shoulder and released her aura.
The faint electric sensation spreading throughout my body was beyond creepy.
“Whoa… Na-me, your muscles are seriously tense. You’ve accumulated a lot of aura residue too. This is a serious problem.”
“I’m really fine, so relax. Huh? I decided to rest today anyway, so by tomorrow…”
“Do you really think that? Noname, you know it won’t be easy for your body to feel better by tomorrow.”
“Ugh…”
“Why not just accept this once? I’ll make sure it won’t hurt.”
Gulp—
The muscle soreness that had developed over the past few days was really annoying.
Just relying on the medical capsule’s treatment won’t get me back to peak efficiency training for tomorrow.
“Not going to hurt. I promise.”
“Okay! Trust me, I’m a professional!”
Following Ellie’s instructions, I lay face down on the bed.
She placed a fluffy pillow under my head and knelt beside me.
“To do this properly, you’d need to take off all your clothes and target the upper gluteus medius, but…”
“Huh?”
“But this might seem really strange to people from different cultures. Plus, you might think it’s odd for us to be this close, right? So I’ll skip that part.”
“Wait a sec.”
A sudden memory came to mind.
Wasn’t it not just ‘similar’ but ‘exactly the same’ massage?
[Cast: Static Induction]
[Joint Cast: Static Induction]
Yeah, I wasn’t even surprised by the double casting.
But afterward—
Swoosh—
Ellie’s hands pierced through the magic circle!
“What? How did she do that?”
Doon— Doon— Doon—
The aura magic brushing against my wrist continuously released mana shockwaves.
With a feeling of resignation, I buried my face into the pillow.
As soon as her warm hands touched my shoulder blades—
Thud—
“Uwaaaaa!”
I couldn’t help but let out a mortified scream into the pillowcase.
* * *
“Uuuugh.”
I wrapped myself in the blanket and cooled my heated head.
Strangely enough, my muscle soreness and fever seemed to have subsided almost completely.
But in exchange, I felt more flustered due to embarrassing emotions.
“Hehe, it’s okay. Everyone who gets a massage for the first time reacts this way. It’s totally normal.”
“It wasn’t my first time.”
“Really?”
“I learned it from a teacher I know. They also said they were taught by their mother.”
“Maybe they learned it at our shop? We’ve been in business for over a hundred years. But we don’t handle the magic circles like this, right?”
“Definitely, yeah.”
“Then we are the originals. This is truly a secret technique from our family.”
“Can you show me again?”
“It’s not hard, but…”
[Cast: Static Induction]
Swoosh—
Once again, her arms passed through the magic circle.
“Ah, I get the principle. It’s like blowing bubbles through it.”
“Wow. Na-me, you’re so sharp! That’s right, but just because you understand it doesn’t mean anyone can do it.”
It wouldn’t really be practically useful in day-to-day life.
However, it seemed like a technique to release extremely delicate mana waves through one’s hands, like a massage.
I became curious and asked Ellie about her background.
My great-grandparents seemed to run a small shop in the countryside, and then my grandparents moved the business to Hanoi and opened a massage shop.
The shop quickly became popular, and now it has established a chain with ten branches.
“The courses they offer are for a select few loyal customers, just like my parents and grandparents at the main store. I learned it too, but honestly, I have no intention of taking over the family business at all.”
“Whoa, they probably opposed fiercely when their daughter wanted to do magic dueling.”
“Hehe, that’s right. I fought with my parents a ton. It felt like years of arguing, but considering I’m here now, the outcome is pretty obvious, right?”
Ellie shrugged her shoulders proudly.
She also said that once she had firmly decided on her career path, her parents supported her fully.
Ellie lifted the blanket and sat beside me.
She leaned against the bed frame and tilted her head back.
“Ah, I really want to win in the National Exchange Tournament. I want it, I want it.”
“Are you worried?”
“Of course I am…! Isn’t it normal to be worried?”
“I don’t really get that. You should just enjoy the process.”
“Hah. That’s something only champions can say. It’s like those rich people saying, ‘You don’t need money to be happy.’”
“Hehe.”
“Of course, if my family hadn’t been rich, I wouldn’t have made it this far. So I’ve always worked twice as hard. On the other hand, I find other friends a bit ridiculous… Why can’t they take advantage of such good opportunities like me?”
“Usually, it’s not easy to have such mature thoughts at a young age.”
“Pfft!”
Ellie chuckled heartily.
“What’s so funny?”
“It’s just so weird to hear a kid like Na-me speak like an adult! Anyway, when I was selected as a national representative, it felt like I had everything in the world?”
“Being a national representative is impressive.”
“Yeah, it was so awesome! My parents came to congratulate me, and even our school principal received a flower garland from the prime minister. Not to mention all my friends. It would have been perfect if I had a boyfriend.”
“None? I thought Ellie would have been really popular.”
“No, there was one girl who was in the way…! Ahem, I’m not trying to talk about that right now. Sigh, why are there so many strong people in the world?”
Ellie leaned her head against my shoulder, lamenting.
“Everyone is just so strong… I just sat and looked at the sky in my little well. Korean representatives? Their casting is unbelievably fast. Japanese and Chinese representatives? Their martial arts are out of this world. The European representatives are all over 180 cm tall, and the Americans? Don’t even get me started.”
“Don’t let your spirit break. That’ll hurt your performance.”
“I know. Yeah, I can win. I’m not scared…!”
“That’s right, that’s the spirit.”
“So I feel really embarrassed! Why did I look down on other friends like that?”
Even though she was complaining, Ellie’s cheerful personality was still intact.
“Na-me, tell me your secret technique. I want to be strong like you, please!”
“I do have a secret technique.”
“What is it?”
“Just be born again.”
“Hey!”
“I’m serious. Once is a bit lacking; it needs to be twice.”
“Wow, I feel so bad. Did I actually get a massage and still be rude? My sister is gonna get mad!”
With a huff, Ellie pouted.
I was enjoying the conversation when suddenly an idea flashed through my mind.
“Wave… penetrate… rotation… spear techniques?”
“You’re seriously going to get mad…”
“Ellie.”
“Yeah?”
“Ventus Cochlea, I mean having a spiral magic circle on your arm while using a spear, right? How difficult is it to control that?”
“How hard you ask?”
Ellie pretended to think for a moment before answering with difficulty.
“If you just find a way to control it, the destructive power…”
“I’ve never used it that way before.”
“Huh?”