I Really Am a Genius

Quincy, sitting in his wheelchair, slapped the table with his hand and yelled: "Plenty of people in the Church run funeral parlors! What makes yours so special?" Karen looked around the table and smiled faintly. "If you order as a group, I can offer a discount." "Fuck!" "Fuck!" Karen's well-measured response won unanimous praise from everyone around the table. In this crowd, a string of curses was the highest compliment one could receive. Soon after, dishes were served one after another, and everyone chatted as they ate. The gathering went by much faster than expected, as after the squad-wide meal wrapped up, smaller cliques would break off for their own gatherings. These cliques weren't about vying for power or influence; they were simply small circles formed around shared interests and vibes. After all, certain niche hobbies weren't suitable for inviting just anyone along. Before settling the bill, Neo stood up first and had Karen gather the unopened beers from the table to follow him to the cashier. "Five untouched beers," Neo said. "Very well, sir, we'll deduct them from the total." After paying the bill, Karen asked Neo, "Captain, are you heading back?" "I'm going to see Elisa. After every mission, I always visit her, and she waits for me. What about you? Are you going back?" "Yes, I am." "You could wait for Peige and the others. It looks like they plan to take you somewhere. It should do you some good." "Understood, Captain." "I'll take my leave first." Neo stepped out of the barbecue restaurant, his silhouette quickly melting into the night street. Soon, the others emerged from the private dining room one by one, discussing where to go next. Peige walked over to Karen of her own accord. "Want to come with us somewhere?" "Sure." "You agreed so easily," Peige said, a little surprised. "Did I? I didn't notice." Peige had driven a convertible. Karen originally intended to take the front passenger seat, as the back was noticeably cramped, but then he saw Gray and Fanny walking over as well. So Karen took the back seat. When Gray arrived, he sat beside Karen, both men having to bend their knees slightly. Fanny slipped into the passenger seat and glanced back at Karen. "Cramped?" "It's all right." Fanny chuckled. "The VIP car was returned to the administrative office. We can only request it when executing missions." "Ah, I see." Peige drove for about twenty minutes, arriving at an industrial plant area. Some factories had already called it a day, while others were still running night shifts. A burly man sat guarding the entrance. Seeing Peige arrive, he immediately greeted her with great respect and opened the gate. Karen followed them inside and found the interior bustling with activity. It looked like a combat gym, with quite a few people training inside. Strangely enough, a section of the massive factory floor had even been partitioned off into a firing range, where people were practicing shooting. It was truly a harmonious coexistence of the primitive and modern firearms. Everyone bowed their heads and greeted Peige and Fanny politely. No one dared make any cheeky remarks; the two of them carried themselves like gang bosses on their home turf. Peige led the group deeper inside, down a flight of stairs, and pushed open an iron door. Behind it was a self-contained area, laid out identically to the floor above—half shooting range, half combat arena—yet this spacious hall held only the four of them. Moreover, the storage lockers in the combat arena held not just boxing gloves, but a wide variety of cold weapons. Fanny spoke up: "I still need time to modify your revolver. Why don't you practice combat techniques with Peige and the others today? Of course, I wouldn't mind if you just watched me shoot." "I'll practice other things first, then." "Follow me," Gray told Karen, picking up a spear from the rack. "Pick one." Karen remembered that during the hunt that night, Gray's weapon had been a black spear. Naturally, the weapons here were of ordinary craftsmanship, without the slightest connection to sacred relics. Karen originally thought about choosing a scimitar, but after a moment's hesitation, he picked a longsword. "Get up here." Gray was already in the ring, having wrapped the spearhead in cloth. Carrying the longsword, Karen stepped into the ring as well. Peige sat below with a bottle of beer, watching, and didn't forget to chime in: "Karen, Gray and Wende are acknowledged as the strongest in our squad after the captain. Make sure you learn well from him!" Karen recalled that during the slaughter that night, he and Gray had each pursued and eliminated a target individually, while the others worked in teams. "No spells allowed," Gray said. "Anything else goes." "All right." "Then, let's begin." Gray stepped forward. Karen dropped his stance, lowered his knees, and charged with his longsword held across his chest. *Bang!* With effortless grace, Gray parried Karen's longsword aside with the shaft of his spear, spun smoothly, and whipped the butt of the spear backward. *Bang!* The butt struck Karen square in the chest, sending him flying several meters back until he slammed into the ropes at the edge of the ring before tumbling to the floor. Gray looked at Karen and smiled. "You've never had any formal training?" Then he added: "No, wait, you haven't even had informal training." "Yeah, that's true." Karen rubbed his chest and slowly got back on his feet. "Your physical conditioning is pretty mediocre," Gray remarked. "Maybe you could specialize in spells, or study formation arrays like Marlo. Or practice marksmanship like Fanny. The path of close-quarters combat demands far too much accumulation." "I'll keep that in mind." Karen stood back up. He didn't feel insulted, because Gray was simply stating the truth. As for his physical conditioning... since waking up, Karen had nurtured the original "Karen's" body—which had been all for show and utterly useless—to a level that was still pleasing to the eye, but very mediocre physically. To push his physical enhancement further would be arduous, mainly because he wasn't keen on enduring that kind of hardship. Gray approached once more, executing another parry followed by a spear sweep. Karen was flipped onto the ground again. Gray could have taken the opportunity to land another blow to Karen's chest, but he held back. "Peige?" Gray looked toward Peige. Evidently, this training session had been Peige's idea. Peige looked at Fanny, who was also standing nearby. After all, Peige had never seen Karen fight. "This isn't even training anymore," Gray said. "I don't even know where to begin offering advice." Fanny was at a loss as well. "You can use spells. Let's try again, if you trust me," Gray said. "All right." Karen chose to trust him. When someone offered to teach you, hiding your abilities would look petty. Most importantly, he trusted the atmosphere of this squad. *Dark Moon Blade!* Red marks surfaced across Karen's body and spread over the blade of the sword. Seeing this, a faint black sheen also appeared over Gray's body. Immediately, Gray stepped toward Karen again. Halfway there, he halted. A suit of blue armor had materialized around Karen, shifting with fluid motion. "I'm worried that if I take a couple more falls, I won't be able to walk," Karen explained. Gray shook his head. "Splitting your spirituality to defend while attacking is foolish. It weakens your offensive power without providing optimal defense. You should learn to switch in an instant based on the flow of battle." "Understood. I'll keep that in mind." Karen nodded earnestly, showing that he was taking the advice to heart. Yet Karen still didn't dispel the Sea God's Armor. There was one thing he couldn't very well tell Gray outright: his spiritual reserves were so vast that he didn't care about the split. He worried that saying so would backfire—for instance, making Gray think he was asking for a beating. Besides, because Gray had never seen Ophelia fight, he had no idea what spell Karen was using. This was completely normal; some spells simply didn't circulate outside, and not everyone in the Church's circles possessed Hoffen's breadth of knowledge. Gray stepped forward again. This time, Karen wasn't in a rush to strike. Gray's spear swept in first, and bolstered by his heightened speed, Karen instantly lashed out with his sword. *Clang!* Karen's strike was still blocked by Gray. Yet Gray noticed that even though his ordinary spear was enveloped in his own power, it was beginning to melt where it made contact. Gray quickly pulled back his spear, intending to parry Karen away, but in the next heartbeat, Karen spun around, locking Gray's spear again, and rapidly closed the distance behind him. Sparks flew from the friction between sword and spear. Seeing him close in, Gray immediately kicked at Karen. But his foot failed to break through Karen's armor, failing even to transmit the concussive force. Instead, Karen's armor exerted a pulling grip on his leather shoe. The distance was close enough. With his back to Gray, Karen held the sword in his right hand and slammed his left palm hard against the pommel. The sword shot backward, aimed straight at Gray's chest. *Hum!* The pendant on Gray's chest flashed, releasing a green light that deflected the blade. Gray seized the opening to bring the spearhead crashing down toward Karen's shoulder. *Bang!* Even with the protection of the Sea God's Armor, Karen felt a shockwave ripple through his entire body, forcing him down on one knee. Gray, meanwhile, opened up distance from Karen, retreating several paces in rapid succession. Below the ring, Peige and Fanny exchanged glances. They could tell Gray had been overly confident earlier, but he had also been forced into a clumsy position. Karen stood back up. Before he could speak, Gray snapped in annoyance: "Were you pretending earlier?" "What?" "Is this amusing to you?" "What was I pretending?" Karen asked. "You've trained before." "I haven't." "Then what was that just now? Spells can boost your speed, attack, and defense, but how could they possibly elevate your moves and application alongside them?" "Do you mean that move just now?" Karen asked. "You used it earlier." "You just learned it?" "Yes." "Do you think I'd believe such a stupid lie?" "I'm really not lying to you." "Fine. Then I'm going to take this more seriously. You might get hurt." "The captain mentioned we have an important mission coming up soon. Please go easy on me," Karen reminded him earnestly. "There's plenty of time for Quincy and the others to stand up from their wheelchairs." With that, Gray attacked Karen once more. In the next exchange, the sword was knocked from Karen's grasp. After taking three consecutive spear thrusts, his Sea God's Armor finally shattered. But once he broke through the armor, Gray didn't press the attack; he chose to hold back. "I already told you, when attacking, focus on attacking; when defending, focus on—" The Sea God's Armor reappeared around Karen. "..." Gray. The armor had shattered earlier because the burst of damage had exceeded its tolerance limit, not because Karen had run out of spiritual energy. Karen picked up his longsword again and took what he considered the right stance—though in the eyes of a professional, it looked utterly amateurish. "Again!" The one shouting wasn't Karen, but Gray. Karen would never have yelled that. He could already sense Gray's competitive pride flaring up, so he certainly wouldn't provoke him further. In the next round, Karen lasted a bit longer, but it still ended with Gray thrusting twice into his armor, shattering the Sea God's Armor once more. And then, The Sea God's Armor appeared again. "Again!" ... "Again!" ... "Again!" ... Gray felt as though this armor—breaking and reappearing over and over—was a mockery aimed straight at him. But gradually, he had to acknowledge the terrifying spiritual reserves of this new recruit! By the time he shattered Karen's Sea God's Armor yet again, fatigue began to set in. It was like how cracking an eggshell was easy, but peeling an egg was far more tedious. He was constantly peeling eggshells off Karen. He also knew this new recruit trusted him not to inflict real harm, which was why Karen kept attacking aggressively rather than retreating into pure defense—even though adopting a defensive stance would have let him hold out much longer without leaving openings for Gray to break his armor. More importantly, through each exchange, Gray genuinely noticed that the kid was turning the moves Gray had used earlier right back against him. This wasn't merely copying forms. Moves were fixed, but knowing when and how to chain them required experience and situational awareness. On top of that, he had to adapt them across different weapons—from spear to sword. This wasn't simple mimicry. It was... comprehension. Gray pressed his lips together and swallowed hard. At this point, there were only two possibilities: either this guy had been hiding his strength all along and was re-enacting Gray's moves just to toy with him, or he was genuinely learning on the fly. But this learning speed... fuck! "Tired yet? Want to take a break?" Fanny called out. Hearing that, Gray prepared to lower his spear. "I can keep going," Karen answered. "..." Gray. Left with no choice, the sparring resumed. Finally, after breaking the Sea God's Armor two more times, Gray felt the arm holding his spear growing numb. He was genuinely exhausted. For him, this was an asymmetrical battle; he had to expend far more energy just to hold back and control his power and momentum. What's more, breaking through the armor on this guy was becoming harder each time. "I'm tired," Karen called out. *Whew...* Gray breathed an inward sigh of relief. "Can we do three more rounds?" "..." Gray. The third-to-last round. Gray and Karen remained locked in combat for nearly five minutes—the longest round between them so far, as both traded blows without either resorting to pure defense. Finally, Gray had to ramp up his output, no longer restraining his strength. With a forceful thrust, he broke through Karen's parry, shattered the Sea God's Armor, and knocked Karen flying. The next second, Gray felt a twinge of regret. Then, seeing Karen stand back up with the blue armor covering him once more, Gray felt a faint wave of dizziness wash over his mind. The second-to-last round. The two clashed for another nearly five minutes. Three times during the bout, Gray gave himself more leeway, yet he still failed to breach Karen's defense. In the end, Gray's spear rested against Karen's armor, and Karen voluntarily raised his sword, conceding the round. In all their exchanges, this was the first time Gray hadn't managed to break Karen's armor, even though he had won. The final round. The two fought fiercely for a full ten minutes! Gray no longer held back, but his energy was steadily depleting, whereas Karen was weaving the moves and experience he had absorbed into a cohesive whole, fighting with precision, clarity, and methodical rhythm. Of course, it was also somewhat shameless of Karen—he was taking advantage of the fact that Gray wouldn't truly harm him to grind his opponent down bit by bit. In the end, lacking the protective energy coating, Gray's spear snapped cleanly when parrying a strike from Karen's sword. Seizing the opening, Karen slashed toward Gray's neck. Gray instinctively raised his arm to block. Karen twisted his wrist, flipping the sharp edge into the flat of the blade. *Bang!* Gray was knocked flat on the ring, faint scorch marks visible where the blade struck. Karen immediately dropped the longsword, dismissed his spell, and hurried forward with a sincere apology: "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry." Lying on the canvas, Gray let out a long breath and said: "It's fine. You just haven't learned how to pull your punches yet." Fanny and Peige climbed into the ring. Fanny helped treat Karen's scrapes, while Peige gave Gray some stamina-restoring potion to drink. Once his minor wounds were tended to, Karen walked over to Gray, who was now sitting up, and bowed respectfully: "Thank you, Mr. Gray." "I used to think I was a genius," Gray said. "Then I met the captain, and I realized he was the real genius. Now, having met you, my definition of 'genius' has been completely rewritten." "I'm truly grateful to you, Mr. Gray." Gray rolled his eyes at Karen and said: "Tomorrow night, right back here." Karen's spirits lifted instantly. "Understood, Mr. Gray!" Gray stood up. "I'm heading back to rest. I'm wiped out." Once Gray left, Fanny looked at Karen and asked, "Gray has always been full of pride. Aside from the captain, he looks down on everyone in the squad. We had to ask him right in front of the captain before he reluctantly agreed to give you pointers." Peige leaned in close to Karen and took a deep breath. Karen leaned back slightly. "It's just the smell of sweat." "No, it's the scent of a genius." "I'm no genius," Karen said. Because this time, while using Dark Moon Blade and Sea God's Armor... he had sensed the power of his family faith system activating in tandem. Yet that power circulated solely within his bloodline; no outsider could possibly detect it. The exact same thing had happened when he first learned Dark Moon Blade and Sea God's Armor. So, this Inmerlais family faith system inherited from Diss only flared up when he needed to tackle high-difficulty learning, aiding his comprehension and mastery? Whenever this occurred, Karen felt as if his grandfather were standing right behind him, watching over him. Because of that, Karen felt as though he had cheated. Whenever people called him a genius, he actually felt a little embarrassed inside. "Oh, look who's being modest," Fanny teased. Karen said, "I'm really not being modest. I'm not a genius. I just have good genetics." "Fuck!" Fanny said. "Fuck!" Peige chimed in. Fanny asked, "Which genius *doesn't* have good genetics?" *Huh, she's right.* Karen suddenly felt Fanny made a lot of sense: could relying on genetics really be called cheating? If that counted as cheating, wouldn't everyone with a family faith system be cheaters? And wouldn't the priests borrowing power from gods be cheating just the same? In an instant, Karen's thoughts cleared and his conscience was completely at ease. He smiled faintly. "You're right. I really am a genius."