After Knox finished getting "baptized" by the girls' stares, Hong Feng clapped her hands, drawing everyone's attention.
Clap, clap.
"Students! Time to wrap it up. We'll head out again in ten minutes."
At her words, the assistant professors sprang up and shouted,
"We're leaving in ten minutes!"
"Finish your meals and get ready!"
They moved around, spreading the word. The students, who had been lounging comfortably, finally started clearing their trays and stretching.
"We're going again?"
"I thought we'd just ride the hippos back after resting…"
Murmurs spread as they gathered up again.
Once the students had lined up, the assistants approached and began fastening plain, white bracelets onto their wrists.
When Simon, Rick, Jamie, Claudia, Cindy, and Merida lifted their arms, they immediately noticed how heavy the bracelets felt.
"Channel Darkness into the bracelet," Hong Feng instructed.
Without suspecting much, the students did as they were told.
"Huh?!"
"W-What is this…?"
Their bodies suddenly sagged, knees nearly buckling under them.
"You all know the Exhaust Curse, right?"
Hong Feng placed her hands on her hips and smiled.
"The next course is over there."
She pointed toward the steep hill they had just climbed down. At the top, an assistant was waving a flag.
"You're going to climb all the way back up — while carrying the Exhaust Curse."
Every student's face went pale.
"Wait… seriously?"
"Isn't this way too much?"
But no one dared complain to the professor. Hong Feng spun lightly on her heels, smiling brightly.
"Let's begin right away. I'll be checking who falls behind."
Just before Hong Feng could start the race, someone suddenly raised their voice.
"Excuse me, Professor Hong Feng."
Everyone — the students, the TAs, even Hong Feng — turned toward the sound. Standing there with his hand politely raised, was Knox.
Hong Feng tilted her head, intrigued. "Student Knox, is something the matter?"
Knox lifted his wrist, showing the bracelet. "About this bracelet — the curse doesn't work on me."
His tone was perfectly normal, yet for some reason, everyone felt like they'd just heard a foreign language.
Hong Feng blinked. "…What do you mean, Student Knox?"
"It's exactly as I said," Knox replied calmly. "The bracelet — or more precisely, the Exhaust Curse cast through it — has no effect on me. I have fairly high resistance to curses."
Silence spread through the group. Confusion deepened.
"What…?"
Hong Feng walked over and examined Knox's bracelet herself. The curse was clearly active.
But Knox only continued, completely unfazed.
"In our previous Katarology class, quite a few students saw me get hit with more than three stacks of the Exhaust Curse. It still didn't work. If you need confirmation, Professor, you can ask Hector over there."
He smiled lightly as he pointed at Hector — without a shred of sarcasm or malice.
That was precisely what made it worse.
Everyone here knew exactly what Knox was referring to. And the person directly involved — Hector — stiffened as every head turned his way. His jaw tightened, but with the TAs and Hong Feng watching, he forced himself to answer.
"…Yes, Professor," he said through gritted teeth.
Fortunately, Hong Feng understood right away and didn't press him any further.
"Hm. Looks like you've got quite a sturdy body, Student Knox," Hong Feng said with a smile, giving his shoulder a light tap.
She thought for a moment, then added, "In that case, I suppose I'll have to give you a different bracelet."
Turning to the assistants, she raised her voice.
"Bring me the Heavyarms bracelets."
The TAs immediately hurried off. Knox didn't think too deeply about it — only the name stuck in his head. Heavyarms…?
It reminded him of that certain Gundam covered head to toe in projectile weapons, somehow flipping around like it was born in a circus.
Before long, the assistants returned.
Each of them carried one bracelet — and they were clearly struggling. Their shoulders slumped, legs shaking, sweat dripping down their faces.
Yet when Hong Feng took them, she lifted all four with ease, two in each hand, as if they weighed nothing.
She turned back to Knox with a soft, almost sweet smile.
"Student Knox, these will be your bracelets."
Knox felt a very bad feeling just from looking at the bracelets.
Around him, the students stared as well — some curious, some even a little jealous, completely unaware that the bracelets on their own wrists were practically angels compared to what Knox was about to wear.
With a mischievous smile, Hong Feng casually dropped the four bracelets.
Boom.
The ground shook. Cracks spread from where they landed.
The students swallowed hard.
Especially the ones who'd been jealous a moment ago — they desperately wanted to go back in time and slap their past selves.
"Now you understand these bracelets are a little… special, right?" Hong Feng said.
In their heads, every student shouted the same thing:
This isn't "special"! This is ridiculous!
"Student Knox," Hong Feng continued, still smiling kindly, "to keep things fair, I'll give these four to you. They don't contain curses, but the weight will more than make up for it. With your body, it shouldn't be too much of a problem — and they'll be great for training."
Knox stared at the bracelets, speechless. A quiet sense of doom washed over him.
In the end, he simply accepted his fate, picked them up, and strapped one onto each wrist and ankle — like a prisoner putting on his own shackles.
He then noticed a few students trying very hard not to laugh.
That wouldn't do.
"Professor Hong Feng," Knox said politely, smiling, "I noticed some students looked… eager to try these. Maybe they could also—?"
To the students, that smile didn't look gentle at all. It looked like the smile of a devil.
Hong Feng nodded thoughtfully. "I see. Perhaps I should replace everyone's bracelets?"
The entire group froze. Cold sweat trickled down their backs.
But then she waved it off.
"Hmm, let's save that for later. I already planned for everyone to use Heavyarms bracelets eventually. For now, your current ones are fine. If you wore Knox's right now, you'd probably end up crippled."
The students breathed out in relief—and then froze again.
Too fast… We relaxed way too fast…
Once the little "bracelet skit" was over, Knox tested his limbs.
The weight clung to his wrists and ankles — the bracelets truly lived up to their name. He slowly moved his arms and legs, getting a feel for them, then nodded to himself.
"Not bad," he muttered, a confident smile tugging at his lips.
The students stared at him like he was some kind of abnormal creature.
Well — for the girls, it was more like a handsome abnormal creature.
Soon after, everyone stiffened up and lined up at the start, grim expressions across their faces.
Simon, standing toward the back, was already soaked in sweat.
Just walking to the starting point while carrying the curse was exhausting enough. He wasn't even sure he could make it back up that brutal hill.
"Alright then — begin!"
At Hong Feng's shout, Class A surged forward with a thunderous rush.
At first, despite the heaviness pressing down on them, everyone tried to maintain their dignity and walk upright.
Halfway up the increasingly steep slope, though, that dignity shattered completely. Nobles and commoners alike ended up crawling across the dirt like worms.
"Huff! Huff!"
"Ghk…!"
Groans and ragged breathing echoed everywhere. Their bodies were smeared in mud, but with Hong Feng and the assistants watching, there was no choice but to keep moving.
Huuu…
Simon's scraped hands dug into the rough ground, pushing him a few more inches forward.
Each movement felt impossibly heavy. His vision blurred and the sky seemed to turn yellow.
Not far from him, Hector was struggling in nearly the same condition.
…Damn it. You again.
Jaw clenched, Hector shot Simon a glare.
Then, someone streaked past them — just like that certain "passing-through" Kamen Rider.
Both of them looked up, stunned.
Knox. Even though his bracelets were far heavier than anyone else's, he was running — actually running — and he was smiling.
"Passing through~!" he called cheerfully as he went by.
Several students genuinely wanted to curse him on the spot. Others could only stare in awe. Those bracelets were practically demonic, and yet…
Claudia, who was a bit ahead of the other girls, glanced back at Knox. For a moment, her eyes dimmed — then she shook her head, refocused, and pushed herself even harder.
Under everyone's shocked gazes, Knox reached the flag first.
"Congratulations, Student Knox. First place," Hong Feng said.
"Thank you, Professor," Knox answered with a smile.
The assistant beside her blinked, snapped out of it, and hurried to check his name off the list.
Seeing Knox finish first — with those bracelets — ignited something in the two boys behind him.
As Simon and Hector neared the top, the slope grew even steeper. Clearly locked in second and third place, they pushed with everything they had left.
"You can do it!"
Hong Feng pumped her fist.
The assistants clapped and shouted encouragement — and Knox, now sipping a drink, cheered as well.
Strangely, Knox's cheers seemed to hit harder than anyone else's.
The boys felt a competitive fire flare up, partly inspired… partly wanting to curse him again.
Meanwhile, the girls actually felt more energized — as if they'd just been buffed.
Just as Simon and Hector reached out toward the flag—
Tap.
Someone calmly walked over their outstretched arms.
While the two were coated in mud from head to toe, this person passed by gracefully, skirt fluttering, not a speck of dirt on her.
The sky-blue-haired girl. Meilyn Villene.
"Congratulations. You're second," Hong Feng announced.
"Thank you, Professor," Meilyn replied politely.
The assistant checked her name, while Simon and Hector stared in disbelief.
"How did you do it?" Hong Feng asked.
Meilyn lifted her head slightly.
"I calculated a resistance formula to neutralize the curse and walked up."
Simon felt like a hammer had struck his skull. There was a way to dispel the curse — and he'd just crawled like a worm instead.
"Well done. Take a rest."
Meilyn accepted the drink from the assistant. After a short hesitation, she walked over near Knox, sat beneath a tree, and leaned back against the trunk — not too close, but clearly nearby.