The Scumbag's Guide To Heroism novel Chapter 209

Chapter 209: 209 | A Rivalry Flag Has Been Accepted

The ten-minute hydration break scattered Class 1-B across Field Epsilon like shrapnel from a controlled detonation. Some students clustered near the water station Steele had indicated with a jerk of her chin. Others found spots in the shade of the equipment building. A few just stood where they’d been standing, processing what they’d witnessed.

I grabbed a water bottle from the cooler and took a long drink while my brain ran through everything I’d just seen.

These students were strong.

Not uniformly, not in the same ways, but the raw potential assembled on this field was genuinely impressive. Suki’s voice-based paralysis was the kind of ability that changed the shape of engagements entirely. Rina’s comfort wool sounded soft until you realized she could functionally remove someone’s will to fight. Theo’s kinetic banking meant the harder you hit him, the harder he hit back. Camille’s projectile accuracy at thirty feet was better than most second-year students I’d read about in the Academy files.

And then there was the instructor herself.

Imara Steele stood near the equipment rack reviewing something on her tablet, her posture radiating the kind of authority that came from years of doing exactly what she was training us to do. She was compact and muscular in a way that communicated functional strength rather than aesthetic goals. Her dark skin caught the afternoon light, and her military-short natural hair emphasized the sharp angles of her face. She was probably mid-thirties, maybe younger, with the kind of bone structure that would make her beautiful at any age if she ever decided to deploy it in that direction.

She didn’t. Her expression was a locked door with a sign that said "Do Not Enter" in seven languages.

But underneath the professional distance, underneath the clinical assessment and the public transparency and the zero-tolerance policy for underperformance... Imara Steele was objectively attractive. The kind of woman who could make you forget your own name if she decided to look at you a certain way, which she never would, because she was your instructor and you were a bug under her microscope.

The System notification pulsed at the edge of my vision, the one I’d been ignoring since it appeared earlier.

〘 Rivalry Flag Detected: Imara Steele. Accept Rivalry? Unlocks: Rivalry Missions, Progression Bonuses, Specialized Rewards. 〙

I’d been avoiding this prompt since it first appeared because something about making my instructor into a rival felt like it was crossing a line I hadn’t fully mapped yet.

But standing here, watching her evaluate her tablet with the focus of a surgeon reviewing scans, I reconsidered the calculus.

She didn’t believe my adrenaline explanation. She’d clocked the gap between my registered abilities and my entrance exam performance. She was going to keep pushing until she found the answer or I gave her one she could accept.

Which meant she was going to push me harder than anyone else in this cohort.

And honestly? That might be exactly what I needed.

No one better to force growth than someone who refuses to accept your limitations. No one better to drive improvement than a teacher who sees through your cover story and demands you prove what you’re actually capable of.

I mentally accepted the rivalry flag.

〘 Rivalry Accepted: Imara Steele. Rivalry Mission Tree Unlocked. First Mission Available After Assessment Completion. 〙

The notification dissolved, replaced by a faint warmth in my chest that I chose to interpret as validation rather than the beginning of something complicated.

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