My Disciples Grind, I Get 100x Their Progress

Why did Julian miss?

The answer might sound absolutely ridiculous, but that’s genuinely what happened.

The moment Eland suddenly froze, staring at Julian with an expression drowning in pure terror, that same terror caught Julian off guard too.

’I thought he was staring at something terrifying right behind me.’

As a result, Julian lost his focus for a split second, instinctively trying to sneak a glance behind himself, at whatever had made Eland look so genuinely horrified.

Right at that exact moment, One Slash had already reached the point of no return, and the attack ended up releasing without any precise aim at all.

Then, the next second... Julian understood even less than before.

’They’re scared? They’re all terrified?’

He blinked a few times, unable to say a single word. Watching them all bow their heads, apologizing over and over, faces drained pale, Julian just stood there in silence.

Then, he felt Kina’s gaze on him.

”Master... you’re incredible.”

’Kina...’ Hearing that, Julian looked at her with a completely flat expression. ’...I don’t even understand what’s happening right now, and suddenly I’m incredible?’

Of course, Julian wasn’t stupid enough to fail to piece together what was actually going on. He’d figured it out well enough, could it be they’d all suddenly panicked because of just how overwhelming One Slash’s power seemed to be?

To be fair, a D-Grade skill really should be genuinely powerful and rare. So none of this was particularly surprising on its own. What Julian couldn’t wrap his head around was why they were reacting this excessively.

Julian was only Rank-F, and with that, he couldn’t even use his skill again right now, meaning he was genuinely helpless, incapable of putting up any kind of resistance at all.

’Ugh... why even bother thinking about it?’

Besides, wasn’t this actually a good outcome?

Because thanks to this, Julian had just managed to slip past his own crisis entirely. He had no idea what was making them so terrified, but Julian wasn’t about to let this opportunity slip away.

He cleared his throat internally a few times, then arranged his face into a completely dignified, stone-cold expression.

”I don’t want anything like this happening again.”

The moment those words dropped, everyone present immediately bowed down before Julian once more.

”Yes! Yes! Of course, my lord, no one will ever do this to Kiena again. N-not just Kiena, I’ll make certain that anyone associated with Kiena won’t be harassed either. Ah, not just that, I’ll personally support Kiena and help her grow. I’ll provide her with anything she needs.”

’Oh...! Isn’t this incredible for you, Kina!?’ Julian had only said a single sentence, yet one benefit after another kept piling up before him.

Julian felt the urge to squeeze out even more, but on second thought, he figured it’d be better not to get too deeply involved. Once this misunderstanding eventually got resolved, he’d need a solid excuse to defend himself again.

So, yeah, this was more than enough for now.

’Oh, wait, not quite done yet.’

Julian glanced briefly at Roland, and his expression immediately hardened, though internally, Julian was watching him with genuine irritation.

”Your son...” Julian let those words hang, then paused for a moment, considering what he should say next.

But right then, Julian’s silence was interpreted as a clear signal that he was displeased with Roland, leaving Eland to decide the punishment on his own.

”My son, I’ll make sure he learns a fitting lesson for what he’s done! I’ll bring him back to our estate, my lord, and forbid him from returning to the Academy for several months. I’ll lock him in confinement and make sure he experiences a life close to what the Slums are like for the next few months!”

Eland’s terror was excessive, and how he responded to everything Julian implied was equally excessive, to the point where Julian started to feel genuinely uneasy about it.

’Uh... this... is this actually going to be fine?’

Julian felt a flicker of fear. Given a personality like that, wouldn’t this become a massive problem the moment Eland eventually figured out this whole misunderstanding?

But what else could he possibly do?

Julian could no longer take back anything he’d said or undo whatever Eland had already declared, and he was too terrified to speak further, afraid he might say something even more disastrous.

After weighing it over for a moment, Julian let out a small sigh. ”You may all go.”

Everyone immediately scrambled off, scattering in every direction. That left Julian alone with Kina, who looked to be in an extraordinarily good mood.

Naturally, Kina must have felt an enormous sense of relief after everything that had just happened. Especially since, this time, she’d gotten to witness even more of Julian’s charisma firsthand.

That line, ”Do whatever you want. You can trust me,” which Julian had once told her, had turned out to be something Julian genuinely followed through on.

Kina’s trust in her Master shot up to an utterly absurd level in that moment. She wrapped both arms around her Master’s arm, rubbing her face against it repeatedly, giggling with delight.

Meanwhile, Julian himself felt completely drained. He found himself missing his beloved back home (his bed), genuinely exhausted and craving sleep.

After hesitating for a moment, Julian checked his status, noticing only that his Flash Step had just leveled up, without being able to tell exactly how far it had climbed.

[STATUS]

Name: [Julian Clair]

Rank: [F] — [60.0%]

Talent: [Unbroken Mask] — [SSS-Grade]

Skills:

• [Unshaken Facade]

• [One Slash] — [D] — [33.7%]

• [Flash Step] — [D] — [1.7%]

Unique Authority:

MASTER

Disciple Slots: [1/5]

Kina had climbed roughly nine percent, and that alone had been enough to push Julian easily into D-Grade. Especially with the added insight Kina had provided, since she’d been actively tinkering with the fundamental rules governing Flash Step, giving Julian even more ways to make a quick escape.

After surveying his progress with genuine satisfaction, Julian turned his gaze to Kina.

”Kina.”

”Yes, Master...?”

”You want to enter the tournament, right? Let’s go handle the registration process right now.”

That way, Julian wouldn’t have to deal with the hassle of showing up early some other morning later on. He wanted to get it out of the way now, so he could finally rest in peace for whatever time he had left today.

”Okayy~”

With that, Kina eagerly, almost overly eagerly, led Julian through the Academy grounds.

The registration office turned out to be quite a distance away, so Julian had to walk, and endure, considerably more than he’d expected.

Julian made his way down a corridor, and just as he turned a corner, he accidentally bumped into a female student.

Brak!

”Oh, sorry.”

Julian was a little startled, since his own build was considerably larger while the girl was clearly much smaller, Julian was obviously fine, but the girl wasn’t.

The girl stumbled and fell, clearly struggling. And that’s when Julian noticed she was walking with her eyes closed, carrying a cane in her hand.

It was Kina’s classmate.

”Oh... Ilunia, are you okay?”

”...Kiena?”

Kina immediately helped Ilunia back to her feet. Given everything they’d been through together before, Kina had spoken with Ilunia a few times since, which had made Ilunia the one classmate who actually treated Kina decently.

Fundamentally, their relationship was fairly good, even though they didn’t know each other particularly well.

”What are you doing here?” Kina glanced around, clearly noting they were quite far from their classroom, and this wasn’t anywhere near where the dormitories were either.

Ilunia looked hesitant, but the small, fragile girl simply smiled sweetly. ”It’s nothing. I was just taking a walk.”

”Hmmm, so are you heading back now?”

Ilunia nodded. ”Yeah, I was planning to head back now.”

”I see...”

After that, Kina asked a few more questions, since after talking with Ilunia a few times now, she’d started to feel that the girl was a little too fragile, overly so.

That made Kina feel a pang of frustration watching how helpless Ilunia seemed, to the point where Kina had occasionally decided to offer her a bit of small help.

Meanwhile, Julian wasn’t paying attention to their conversation at all, because a translucent blue screen had just appeared right in front of him.

It was a Talent, carrying SSS-Grade potential.