Chapter 80: The Day Before the Exam
The calendar advanced one more day.
[May 29]
[Only one day left until the midterm exam.]
[As usual, you continue the Spartan-style hellish training of Scathach, focusing on improving your physical strength and combat skills.]
[After three days of her merciless torment, you temporarily gain the debuff "Muscle Tear."]
[All your stats are temporarily lowered, and all body-related skill levels are reduced by one.]
[However, your endurance, stamina, and muscle strength have increased considerably; your learning progress has also slightly improved, and it seems you've vaguely glimpsed the next level…]
Early morning, the day before the exam, in the gymnasium.
"How do you feel?"
After finishing the Spartan training at dawn, Scathach handed him a towel.
"Phew…"
Eikou panted heavily as he took the towel from her hand, wiping the hot sweat off his face,
"After three days of being tortured by you, I think my body is starting to get used to this pace…"
"That's good,"
Scathach nodded lightly, somewhat thoughtful,
"Though your performance is still far below the standard in my eyes, as long as you keep up with my training intensity, the potential within you will sooner or later be fully drawn out by me."
"Thank you, sensei, but let's put that aside first…"
Eikou's gaze suddenly sharpened, he pointed at Scathach's outfit today:
"What I care more about right now is the way you're dressed — what the hell is going on here!"
The Queen of the Land of Shadows, who had trained her body to perfection, was completely opposite of her usual style today — she was wearing a tight-fitting gym outfit, along with fairly short sports shorts.
And Eikou keenly noticed that the gym outfit was a size smaller, almost sticking to her skin.
Scathach's mature, voluptuous, seductive body was tightly wrapped in that scorching hot outfit.
"Hmph hmph, so you finally noticed…"
She lightly pulled at the hem of her gym shirt, her face full of pride, showing off her feminine figure.
"I noticed from the start, I just didn't want to say anything,"
Eikou couldn't hold back and said,
"What's going on here? Don't tell me some crap like 'I ran out of clothes to wear so I had no choice but to put on my old school gym uniform, does it suit me?' — I swear I won't believe a single word of that!"
"How could that be, I'm not careless enough to not prepare clothes to change."
"Then what is this about?"
"Idiot, and you still don't get it at this point…"
Scathach rarely smiled, seductively blinked at him.
She lightly twisted her wrist, pulled the hem of her shirt down, making the seductive curves of her body stand out even more.
"This is the outfit I specially wore for you to see, a reward for training so diligently. How is it, do you like it?"
"???"
Scathach suddenly switched sides and went on the offensive, actively pursuing the man — it was like she had turned into a different person!
One moment she used training as an excuse to beat him up, the next moment she was using this seductive look to tempt him — this was exactly like giving him a slap and then a sweet candy!
Not only that, she deliberately wore something a size too small, really knowing how to cater to men's romantic fantasies. Could it be someone was coaching her from behind the scenes?
Eikou's face turned slightly red.
"What, not satisfied?" Scathach asked.
"No, it's great, you look really eye-catching." Eikou answered honestly.
"A straightforward answer, I like that."
Her smile was so subtle it was almost unnoticeable.
"You like straightforwardness? Then I have an even more straightforward suggestion — shorten the gym outfit a little, to be exact, please expose half of your chest and stomach, you can reference the illustration of Artoria Lancer Alter…"
Boom!
Before the words could finish, Eikou's head was smacked painfully.
"Don't get cocky," Scathach said unhappily, "you little bastard, did you do anything inappropriate yesterday?"
"What exactly do you mean?"
He reached up to touch the spot where she'd hit him, eagerly asking back.
"..."
Scathach thought of the club application being approved yesterday, thought of Zenobia — the solemn queen of the Middle East in charge of screening — she didn't expect that woman to actually approve the establishment of a club related to him.
That made her suspect Eikou might have some kind of connection with that queen.
"Yesterday, did you meet a woman named Zenobia?"
Eikou still looked innocent: "Who's Zenobia?"
In fact, the only thing he remembered from yesterday was helping "Enkidu" fix their body.
Looking at his expression, it didn't seem like he was lying.
Scathach nodded, choosing to believe him.
But that only made her even angrier.
Eikou, just by accident and without even realizing it, had conquered another woman — this was even more terrifying than flirting on purpose.
"I see… I see…"
The corner of Scathach's eyes slightly narrowed, her gaze sharpened,
"I can't tell you the reason, but from now on the intensity of your training will triple. Prepare yourself mentally to make sacrifices — this is something you'll have to endure."
"You've been… talking about what exactly this whole time?!"
[...]
[You were dragged away by Scathach and forced to train several more rounds.]
[Training intensity tripled.]
[But the amount of time she clung to you, along with the sea cucumber portion in your nutritional meals, also tripled.]
[After that, you focused on studying the entire day, entering the final stage of your last-minute review.]
[Your academic level improved slightly.]
[...]
[Even though you've been diligently reviewing these past few days, cramming like this is probably not enough to make it into the top 10 of the year. That goal is still far away, unless Scathach temporarily lowers her standards, your upcoming long vacation will surely be spent enduring torturous training in the Land of Shadows.]
[But even so, you don't intend to give up. At the very least, you want to fight to the end without regrets.]
[You seriously reviewed your lessons.]
[After class, you rushed to the library to continue reviewing.]
[Before the exam, your classmates also gradually gathered at the library, opening a lively group study session — some cramming for tomorrow, some reinforcing what they learned, or simply worrying about you.]
[Tonight the library became particularly lively, filled with an atmosphere of studying and heated discussions...]
[You and your classmates sat around the long table, studying together.]
[And here, you learned a secret related to the exam...]