At first, I thought I misheard.
They gave me a steel sword, but here they come charging at me with a wooden sword!
A wooden sword attacking a steel sword? That’s insane, right?
Plus, I’m supposedly a blind guy! Sure, they say I have sensing abilities, but I’m literally blindfolded!
Normally, that would make me sound crazy, but when I think about the difference between me and Professor Atra, I can’t help but wonder if there’s some kind of deeper meaning behind this.
She’s the professor specializing in combat. I can only guess, but she must be at least the level of an advanced hero.
So without hesitation, I drew my sword.
I gripped it tight, preparing for her charge.
I swung with all my might to resist. Surely she’d just block or dodge my swings, right?
Turns out I was spot on. My blade never even grazed her.
With some mystical movements, she dodges everything by a hair’s breadth. Stabbing? She just turns her head away. Swinging in a straight line? She sidesteps without a single move backward.
It’s as if she could see the future; deftly avoiding my attacks with a poker face, she brandishes her wooden sword.
– Whack! Whack! Whack!
“Here, here, here.”
After evading me, her counterattack begins. It’s like she’s casually dancing with her sword, striking my whole body with that wooden thing.
Head, shoulder, arm, ribs, thigh, calves… she’s really distributing the pain evenly.
I bit back a scream, fearing once I let one out, curses might just come pouring out as well.
It’s not excruciatingly painful, but it’s definitely bad enough to make me wanna scream. Holding back the cries is torture!
Is this what they call Spartan training?
While avoiding all of my swings, she keeps casually offering advice on how to swing better and gently approaches to hit me wherever she pleases.
It was a merciless beating devoid of blood or tears. I started doubting whether I really meant it when I said I didn’t care about the special admission.
Honestly, I suspected she might hate me based on her expression, but it was just a dull, emotionless face.
– Whack! Whack! Crack!
The beating continued.
.
.
.
Finally, after what felt like hours of being thrashed by that wooden sword, the class ended.
“That’s enough for today.”
Professor Atra approached me, who was sprawled out on the dirt floor like a wreck.
As if to offer some kind of reward, she placed a water bottle next to my head. In that moment, water felt essential, so I stretched out my trembling arms.
Before I knew it, evening had come, and the ground was painted in a pale orange sunset.
“I’ll be conducting classes in this format for a few weeks.”
Oh, great.
As water slowly dribbled down my throat, I nearly gagged.
I was about to get beaten for a few more weeks? My eyes twitched in sheer disbelief.
The thought of being pummeled again tomorrow was almost enough to make me cry.
My whole body ached. Yesterday’s pain was from overuse, but today’s was from getting beaten up.
“And avoid getting recovery and healing from other superhumans whenever possible.”
Ugh… I had a hunch why that was.
“If you used healing abilities, your injuries would disappear immediately, but most of today’s training would be lost, and it would hinder your natural healing ability. So, stick to natural healing as much as possible.”
Body growth occurs through the process of recovery after torn muscles.
When the rough exercises tear the muscles, they assure themselves they won’t tear next time and grow.
Healing abilities vary in effectiveness, but most are remembered as ‘instant healing’ or ‘healing amplification.’
If you slap instant healing on torn muscle, it’ll heal before it even has a chance to grow.
Healing amplification is similar. Although it’s less than instant healing, relying on outside help would slow the growth.
In short, I’d have to return home covered in bruises.
“Just so you know, this schedule was set under the assumption that your sensing abilities can replace normal vision. And based on my expectations, I’ve determined your sensing can replace vision, so we’ll stick with this schedule.”
Noticing my confusion, Professor Atra added further explanations.
“Make sure you arrive at my sight tomorrow.”
With that said, she turned her back on me.
Lying back on the ground, I felt the breeze brushing against my face. I exhaled slowly, lost in thought.
Even though I was lying on the dirt, with the sky above me, I couldn’t see the sky. This feeling was frustrating.
Once again, I realized the importance of spatial perception.
I felt so sorry for cursing spatial perception at first. What if it couldn’t replace my vision? I wouldn’t even be sure I was alive.
No matter how annoying that ability was at the start, right now, I couldn’t do without it.
Sigh.
I let out a deep breath as I replayed the recent spar in my mind, thanks to that trusty spatial perception.
In my life, I’ve hardly swung a sword. Aside from the times I’ve cooked for myself, I can’t think of any other time I’ve held a sword.
And when it comes to combat? Forget it! I’ve taken a beating, but hitting someone else? Rarely happened.
My recent spar with Professor Atra—every sword I swung was just mimicking the movements I had seen in friendly spars before.
Katsuki Yusei and Hong Yeon-hwa’s match. Both used wooden swords, and their magic was at a solid strength level. Neither used their unique abilities.
The rules were almost identical to the one I just experienced.
When I compared my movements to those of Hong Yeon-hwa and Katsuki Yusei, I realized I was a mess.
“Hmm…”
My self-evaluation revealed a disaster. Something that shouldn’t even be on the same comparison level…
When placed side by side and focused on, I was left stunned at how utterly clumsy I looked.
Katsuki Yusei had a flow to his movements like a gentle stream.
Even though he was being pushed back by Hong Yeon-hwa, he still maintained a seamless connection in his swordplay that kept obstructing her attacks.
Hong Yeon-hwa’s style was bold and brazen, almost reflecting her personality.
Every single move packed a punch, making it difficult for the opponent to defend. Yet, the movements weren’t slow either, creating an attack hard to dodge.
While her large, flashy movements might seem to have many openings, they were all traps, and charging in without knowing could easily cost one their head.
Because of that, Katsuki Yusei, who relied on a defensive sword style, got swept up in Hong Yeon-hwa’s flow and ultimately lost.
Both had roughly equal skill with the sword, but their match-ups didn’t sit well. Beyond skills, there were significant disparities in stats.
Right now, Hong Yeon-hwa had personally taken down a rank-5 monster. Though Katsuki Yusei contributed heavily, dodging the monster’s attacks and hitting it was more Hong Yeon-hwa’s skill.
Compared to me…
My swordplay was choppy. I felt like a leaky faucet dripping low on water.
Each strike from me just shattered continuity, and in the gaps, Professor Atra rushed in effortlessly. Despite me landing some strikes, the quality told everything.
My disrupted flow was entirely Atra’s fault as well.
Every time I tried to get ready, she’d push on. I could barely lift my sword before she jabbed. Even when I succeeded, she would immediately counter before I could gather myself.
I didn’t have strong attacks like Hong Yeon-hwa either. My own stats were pretty much bottom tier, and I lacked her ability to sense and exploit openings.
In short, my score was a flat zero.
How about Professor Atra?
Throwing out all the images I had conjured of her up till now, I pulled the image of Atra I’d observed throughout the spar into focus.
…She really didn’t have any standout traits.
She held a solid stance. She would push in appropriately, stopping me before I could strike. Break the flow before I could react. When the flow was interrupted, she’d batter me.
When attacked, she would evade by a hair’s breadth. It wasn’t unexpected moves but rather standard stances that allowed her to evade. It was how anyone could rationally respond.
And then her attacks would follow.
It was textbook-like movement. Most of what I saw in the martial arts books I browsed was reflected in her style. Overall, it was quite plain.
Meaning, I could follow along, too.
I kept turning it over in my mind. There was more than enough material to analyze. For several hours of getting beaten, I observed, recorded, and cataloged Atra’s motions.
Katsuki Yusei’s movements. Hong Yeon-hwa’s movements. Atra’s movements… and mine.
I placed them on the same level, focusing on comparing and analyzing.
How I planted my feet, how I breathed, how I managed intervals, the way I held my sword, when I adjusted my posture, the weight distribution in my lower body, the twist of my shoulders, the direction of my pupils, how I handled my line of sight, the switch from defense to offense.
I processed the information. Converted it into data.
Applied the data to myself. Fixing what needed to be fixed, tearing down what needed anew. I ran a mental simulation; if it didn’t feel right, I’d tear it apart again.
The result was the same defeat, but through that process, in my imagination, I felt myself moving forward a little bit.
I kept repeating the mental simulations. I ran over the data I had obtained from my spatial perception again and again.
As the sun dipped below the horizon, the sunset vanished along with it. Following that, the night sky unveiled its stars, shining down on the earth.
At some point, a tickling sensation crept into a corner of my mind. I couldn’t scratch it myself, but the prickle of anticipation was a confusing yet delightful feeling.
Before entering the dorms, I had felt something similar after toiling away with my spatial perception in my studio.
But this time, it wasn’t just spatial perception.
“Jack of All Trades.”
Combat techniques, body techniques, martial arts, sword skills, spear techniques, crafting skills, cooking skills, magic manipulation techniques, and so on. An all-purpose ability that gives you at least some talent in every skill!
I caught wind of a sign of change. I even grasped how to grow!
A proud smile blossomed on my face.
.
.
.
“Oh, the review!”
After lying there dazed for a while, the thought finally hit me.
I hastily got up and headed toward the dorms. Thanks to the 24-hour running bus, I arrived swiftly.
And just like that, my day came to an end.
“Who the hell are you?”
[Me?]
“What the hell… who did this?”
The next day, when I faced Hong Yeon-hwa in the classroom, her face twisted into something akin to a demon’s.
I felt an overwhelming urge to flee at that moment.
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