A fming arrow whizzed past Merlin’s left shoulder, almost grazing him if only he hadn’t broken his forward run and swiveled to the side just in time. However, the danger wasn’t over. After all, a cluster of Hakyun’s pestering rocks lunged at him where he had shifted to, stealing from him the brief moment he had taken to catch his breath.

  Maybe he had been way in over his head to request to train against two Mages. He didn’t even have the time to deconstruct a spell. There was no way he could win against them if things continued the way they were going.

  He gritted his teeth, his expression becoming tense.

  “What’s the problem, Mel? Where did all that bravado you had a moment go?” Chima wore a nasty grin as another fming arrow materialized between his bow and its string, saving him the stress of having to nock it. He pulled and fired. Zero hesitance.

  Merlin dodged, but he realized that things were going nowhere, and Chima was most likely taking it easy on him. He should have taken it into consideration that Chima had reached Tier II in spell casting already.

  Melee, my ass…

  He had to figure out a way to get over his current hurdle.

  Chima and Hakyun’s tactic was rather simple—in fact, it was so simple that they hadn't said a word to each other but understood completely what to do. Chima would fire arrows at Merlin to keep him from approaching, and as soon as he dodged, Hakyun would have his rocks try to deal some damage.

  The problem was that their simple method was working so efficiently because Merlin—he wouldn’t lie—had kind of underestimated what they could do.

  Hakyun, for one, was more than just the rock slinger he had told Merlin he was. He could control the trajectory of his rocks, turning them into what could be cssified as homing missiles.

  Merlin had a good feeling that deciphering how that worked was the key to winning the duel. Chima, on the other hand, was clearly holding back, if not he would have been the more troublesome Mage between the two. But as it was, Merlin had the liberty to focus on Hakyun.

  And that was what he decided to do. First, he had to figure out how Hakyun’s spells worked. It would have been faster if he could just rely on Reader Mage’s description, but his roommates were not giving him any breathing space to do that.

  “You guys have good teamwork,” Merlin said as he stood up. He shouldn’t be talking, he knew. He was expending valuable energy. He was just really amazed that, despite how much they bickered, they understood each other so well. And, well, he wanted to see if he could steal that moment he was yet to have.

  Chima smirked. “Buying time for your anti-magic, aren’t you?” He nocked another arrow and fired. Merlin rolled out of the way, but this time he was not so lucky. Two of Hakyun’s rocks hit him in the tummy, taking the wind out of his sail and dropping him to his knees. “You must have forgotten that we teamed up during the exam. I know your ability takes time to work.”

  “Oh, really?” Hakyun said, surprised. “I was wondering why our spells were still in full effect. That expins it. Ugh… At this rate we won’t get to see any anti-magic.”

  “We can see it after he gives up,” Chima replied. “We’re not giving him a chance to use it while this battle goes on, understand?”

  “Of course!” Hakyun roared. “I ain’t losing.”

  Merlin chuckled as he stood up to one knee, the dizziness that had pgued him slowly receding. They were right. He needed time to use Reader Mage. However, that was not the only ability he had. And…he had been meaning to test his newest Perk for a while now. Thankfully, this didn’t need as much time as Reader Mage to activate.

  Hakyun’s rocks homed in on him once again, Merlin jumped out of their path of flight, and was met in his new position by Chima’s arrow, which he dodged quite easily by crouching.

  In that brief moment, he activated Reader’s Bookmark.

  [Perk: Reader’s Bookmark Activated]

  [Bookmarks (1): Fsh Step (Requires at least 190 milliseconds reaction time to function)]

  [Conditions to function met: Agility Level: Level 16 (190ms reaction time)]

  [Intelligence Level is low; effectiveness will be reduced]

  Merlin was pleasantly surprised. This was the first time such a detailed description on what his level meant had been dispyed before him. However, he did not have the time to be amazed, because Chima was back to nocking another arrow.

  Really? Only two seconds? Did that guy have something against him? And how was he so strong while holding back?

  He clenched his chin and mentally requested for Fsh Step to be activated.

  [Bookmark: Fsh Step, Chosen.]

  [Bookmark: Fsh Step, Activated.]

  In that instant, Merlin felt his legs lighten, every single description of [Fsh Step] as it was in Singurity Mage flooding his head. A move Kieran had created to boost his speed by surrendering himself to his inherent, primal survival instinct. A move so powerful if mastered would render every attack pointless as they wouldn’t hit.

  Merlin was so pleased he could smile. That move was his now.

  The air shimmered from the heat of Chima’s arrow as it whistled towards Merlin, who nimbly evaded it by shifting sideways a lot more smoothly than he had expected, amazing both him and his attackers.

  “What?!” Hakyun shouted. “When did he start moving like that?!”

  Chima gritted his teeth. “Just send your rocks at him!” This time he nocked four arrows at once and released them all at Merlin. “Were you joking all this time?”

  That was quite the hypocritical statement.

  Merlin, however, remained unfazed. Even though the [Fsh Step] he was able to use at the moment was a toned down version of the original, it was still effective enough. His te night rereads of Singurity Mage was paying off. And, goddamn, Kieran was really an absolute powerhouse cheat code. He had known, but that didn’t make it any less amazing.

  And to top it all off, [Fsh Step] was not even close to the absolute abilities the darn protagonist had.

  Merlin was jealous—jealous that he wouldn’t be able to get even close to what Kieran could do.

  But now was not the time to be feeling down. More arrows were being sent his way. He dodged all of them, though, as well as those stubborn rocks of Hakyun.

  By now, he would have been able to close the gap between himself and his roommates if only Chima had not increased the number of arrows he was firing.

  On the bright side, Merlin was thankful that his Resilience was at a somewhat high level, because he could feel that he still had a long way to go before he ran out of breath.

  However, he was not engaging in a battle of stamina here. He had to win. That was all. And, finally, after countless weaves and rolls, he understood how Hakyun’s spells worked.

  His first spell, Rock Sling, as he had called it, worked in just the same way every spell being unched worked. He was simply infusing the rocks with his mana and propelling them forward. However, his second spell, which was the real pest in the fight, was a more complicated one. Merlin guessed that what Hakyun did was make his mana act as some sort of magnet, which forced the rocks to hone in on it no matter where they were. But this was supposed to lead the rocks back to its caster, and that was why Merlin had been confused at first as to why the rocks kept coming to him instead.

  Merlin had found out the reason why now, though, and it was because Hakyun always kept one rock close to his location when the others missed; the missile rocks were honing in on the singur rock that was close to him.

  He smiled.

  “What’s so funny?” Chima growled, no longer wearing his smug smile.

  Merlin tilted his head slightly. “What’s wrong? Where did all that bravado you had a moment go?”

  Chima’s eye twitched and he instantly fired another set of arrows, saying no more. He was fired up. Which was good. Because it would hurt Merlin if the d didn’t take things seriously before he lost. After all, Merlin was assured of his victory now.

  He dashed forward.

  “Wait! What are you doing?! Are you pnning to kill yourself?!” Hakyun shouted, surprised at Merlin’s actions. After all, arrows of scorching red heat were flying directly at him.

  Merlin did not dodge the arrows this time by jumping completely out of their path. He faced them head-on, only turning his body a bit so that they did not strike any vital points. The arrows, four of them, met his skin as they fshed past him, scorching his flesh as a sizzling sound poured into his ears. Merlin’s Resilience was not strong enough to counter the pain of fire, he realized that as a numbing pain soared through his nerves and into his brain. But he did not stop. And because of his barbaric action, Chima was taken aback, which stalled him and gave Merlin the opening he needed.

  At that moment, Hakyun muttered something in frustration that Merlin couldn’t grasp—most likely a curse word—and sent a wave of rocks towards him. Merlin nimbly swerved out of their way and they all missed him—except one. He caught the rock that was meant to stay behind, startling Hakyun, and hurled it towards Chima.

  Hakyun gritted his teeth as all his rocks rushed for his teammate. He had no choice here. He immediately canceled his spell and all the rocks dropped to the floor.

  Merlin appeared in that instant before Chima like a thief in the night, turning the tides of their duel in his favor. Chima jerked back instinctively, put away his fire bow and tried to conjure up a sword instead.

  But…

  “Back to your humble beginnings, huh?” Merlin muttered with the shadow of a smile as he grabbed Chima’s hands, cmping down on his wrists. “You’re too te, though.”

  [Perk: Reader Mage Activated]

  [Analyzing spell…]

  [Analysis complete]

  [Spell: Fire Sword.Category: Novice, Tier ISpell Wielder: A-Css Mage.Spell Description: A spell formed by shaping the fire formed from the coalescing of the elements of oxygen in the air, the mana of the Mage, serving as the fuel, and the heat of the human body.]

  [Deconstructing Process: Fire cannot be formed if one of the three requirements of oxygen, fuel, and heat isn’t present. The easiest to banish is fuel. Close off the flow of the Mage’s mana by turning yours into a barrier.]

  [Deconstruct?]

  [Yes?]/[No?]

  Hell yeah!

  Instantly, Merlin’s mana surged out of his palms and wrapped itself around Chima’s hands, the sparks that had been crackling to life there, forming the silhouette of a sword, vanishing into oblivion.

  [Deconstructing…]

  [Deconstruction Complete]

  [Progress to leveling up Intelligence: 31.5%/100%] → [36.5%/100%]

  [Free Attribute Points received: 5]

  [You’re welcome, Merlin Tyrrell]

  The deconstruction had not even taken a second, which was testament to how much Merlin had grown.

  Hakyun found himself perplexed at the sight, gaping, which caused him to turn into stone where he was, giving Merlin the opportunity to close in on him as soon as he let go of the dazed Chima.

  A second ter, Merlin’s hand was pced on Hakyun’s shoulder and a smile etched on his lips.

  “I win.”