The Extra's Rise - Chapter 418

Chapter 418: Exchange Program (3)
“Wait, what did you just say?” Ren asked, his purple eyes narrowing as he stared at Seol-ah as though she’d just announced a national tragedy.

Seol-ah, whose golden eyes held all the mercy and compromise of a particularly unforgiving glacier, simply pointed one elegant finger toward the imposing hill that loomed ahead of us like a disgruntled titan.

“Climb,” she repeated, with the serene certainty of someone who knows they won’t be the one doing the climbing. “No mana allowed.”

The hill—though ‘hill’ was rather like calling a shark a ‘swimming thing with teeth’—thrust upward with jagged determination. Its surface was a hostile collection of sharp rocks, precarious handholds, and the occasional patch of vegetation that looked as though it had made a terrible real estate decision and was now committed to making the best of it.

I tilted my head back, surveying what would be our playground for the day.

“Climb that?” Ian spluttered, pointing a shaky finger at the geological affront. “Without mana? And seriously, why is there even a hill this close to the Academy? Did someone order it from a catalog of training obstacles?”

The last part was a reasonable question.

Seol-ah, apparently deciding that explaining the hill’s provenance would consume valuable suffering time, simply clapped her hands together. The sound was like the starting pistol at a race nobody had signed up for.

“You Mythos students get a head start since you’re likely… unaccustomed to this.” Her voice carried the polite implication that Mythos students were soft, pampered creatures who would benefit from a handicap. “Starcrest students will follow ten minutes after you begin climbing.”

Without waiting for further complaints, Seraphina darted forward, her silver hair catching the sunlight as she moved. There was something almost hypnotic about the way she approached the climb—not with resignation or determination, but with the comfortable familiarity of someone greeting an old acquaintance. It was easy to picture her as a child scrambling over the rocky terrain of Mount Hua, where vertical was considered a perfectly reasonable direction in which to build a home.

And just like that, the challenge began.

For me, the climb wasn’t particularly demanding. Even without accessing mana, the strength I’d developed permeated my body—muscles that had been repeatedly broken down and rebuilt, bones that had grown denser from stress and recovery, reflexes honed through countless hours of training. Integration-rank had changed me on a cellular level, my nervous system now a finely-tuned instrument that processed information with supernatural efficiency.

I soon overtook Seraphina, who moved with the grace of a mountain cat but hadn’t yet reached Integration-rank. She was close—perhaps another month of dedicated training would push her through the barrier. Watching her methodical, precise movements, I felt a flicker of pride in her progress.

“Show-off,” she called up to me, though the smile in her voice removed any sting from the words.

The physical training had purpose beyond simply making us miserable. In a world dominated by mana, it was easy to forget that the body itself was the foundation upon which all else was built. Raw physical power, when properly channeled through mana, amplified every technique. For close-combat specialists like myself and Lucifer, it was essential—but even for ranged combatants like Rachel, Cecilia, and Rose, physical conditioning provided the stamina and agility that could mean the difference between life and death.

I continued upward, each handhold and foothold part of a larger pattern—a deliberate reinforcement of the foundation that would support what was to come. The burning in my muscles was a familiar friend, the strain a reminder of the journey still ahead.

Seraphina and I reached the summit first, with the others arriving in staggered waves behind us. Most of the Class A students maintained their lead over the Starcrest contingent, though Rachel, Cecilia, and Rose—more accustomed to spellcasting than cliff-scaling—lagged somewhat behind.

“I never expected you to be such an expert mountain climber, Arthur,” Seraphina remarked, a small, amused smile playing on her lips as she caught her breath.

“Well,” I replied with a grin, “it’s a handy skill to have.”

She chuckled softly. “Even when you can fly?”

“One never knows what life might throw at them,” I said, shrugging. “Sometimes the most straightforward solution isn’t available.”

Seraphina stepped closer, her normally icy demeanor warming as she lowered her voice. “You know, a kiss at the top of a mountain is considered quite romantic in Mount Hua tradition.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Maybe so, but technically, we’re still on school time.”

She pouted and turned away, though the slight curve of her lips suggested she wasn’t genuinely offended.

Soon after, the rest of our classmates reached the peak in various states of dishevelment. Lucifer arrived looking as though he’d merely taken a brisk walk, while Jin’s normally immaculate appearance had suffered notably from the ascent. Rachel stumbled over the final edge looking like someone who had recently discovered several muscles she hadn’t previously been on speaking terms with.

Rose arrived next, her auburn eyes narrowed in a glare that could have wilted flowers at fifty paces. Her normally perfect brown hair was escaping its braid in rebellious wisps, giving her the appearance of someone who had been through a minor natural disaster.

“Arthur Nightingale,” she announced, marching over to me with purpose, “the next time you suggest ‘it’ll be fun to join the combat training program,’ I am going to turn you into a toad.”

“You don’t know the spell for that,” I pointed out reasonably.

“I will learn it specifically for you,” she promised, but there was a reluctant smile fighting its way through her scowl. Rose had always been more stubborn than frail, a trait that had served her well in magical theory, if not in physical exertion.

Before I could respond, Cecilia arrived at the summit, somehow managing to look both exhausted and perfectly composed—an impressive feat that only a princess of the Slatemark Empire could achieve.

“Gods above,” she muttered, collapsing dramatically against my shoulder. “I’ve climbed the palace stairs hundreds of times, but at least those had the decency to be symmetrical.”

“Good,” Seol-ah announced once everyone had reached the top, clapping her hands with the bright enthusiasm of someone announcing free dessert rather than continued torment. “Now we’re going to do this climb ten more times today.”

A chorus of groans rose from the assembled students. Cecilia’s curse was creative enough to make even Ren look impressed, while Rachel’s expression suggested she was mentally drafting her last will and testament.

“Arthur,” Rachel murmured, sidling up to me with a theatrical sigh, “I’m exhausted. Carry me down?”

I chuckled, flicking her forehead lightly. “Nice try, but no. You need to build your stamina like everyone else.”

She glared at me in mock outrage, rubbing her forehead. “I’ll remember this betrayal.”

“Well, you’re not carrying Rachel down, because obviously you’d only carry one person—and that would be me, right?” Cecilia interjected, elbowing her way between us with the diplomatic subtlety of a battering ram. “Right?”

“If anyone’s getting carried, it should be me,” Rose announced, joining the growing huddle around me. “I’m the one who gave up a perfectly good afternoon reading for this… geological punishment.”

I looked at them all, then at Seraphina, who watched the exchange with the calm amusement of someone surveying a particularly entertaining storm from a safe distance.

“I think,” I said carefully, “that I’ll be carrying exactly no one down this hill. We’re all going to walk down like the capable prodigies we are, and then we’re going to walk right back up again. Nine more times.”

The collective disappointment was palpable.