“Thanks for all your hard work on the exam, everyone!”
Ugh! Huff! Sounds of exasperation echoed from all corners of the room.
Some breathed sighs of relief while others let out heavy sighs of despair, marking the end of the tumultuous major course.
“Even though it was a supplementary class, please give a round of applause to our teaching assistant who helped us during these ten weeks!”
Professor Cheon Kyujin sent off the students’ final evaluation exam papers to the office and pondered how to wrap things up.
“Professor, you worked hard too! Do you have any courses assigned for next year?”
“Unfortunately, no. Plus, I’ll be on sabbatical next year, so I’ll probably come back only after you all graduate—if you can graduate safely, that is.”
With a slight joke, the students began to relax a bit.
“We started with 50 students in the course, but now we’re down to just 28 elite members. Don’t worry too much; I’ll grade with drops included, so as long as you hit average, you should be fine with your grades. You all worked hard during the Winter Supplementary Semester, and this has been Professor Cheon Kyujin of Micro-Nano Soft Material Analysis. Thank you!”
With a grand applause, students began to log out one by one.
Though it was a brief time, Professor Cheon reflected as he sent off the students he had grown increasingly familiar with over roll calls.
There was the student who sat at the back and dozed off every day, yet miraculously aced the midterm.
That student had so much curiosity that she bombarded him with questions after class, leaving him at a loss at times. Naturally, such engagement was rewarding.
The first round of grading was entrusted to the teaching assistant.
With little time left until grading input deadlines and considering possible claims, grading had to start immediately.
The teaching assistant sought Professor Cheon’s permission and left the room first.
In the end, the last one remaining was the mysterious child he had met during the previous summer semester.
At first, he thought she was a former colleague trying to poke fun at him, but as the classes went on, it became clear she was genuinely interested in his lectures.
“Did you at least take the exam?”
“Well, sort of…”
“Haha, I’m really looking forward to the grades. Our students are all outstanding talents, so I’m worried about not measuring up to Nam-hee.”
“It’s not Nam-hee, it’s Na-me. NoName.”
“Na-me?”
“Yes.”
“I’m sorry for misunderstanding until now. As you can see, kids these days practically live in virtual reality, and this is only my second time teaching in virtual reality; it still feels quite odd. If it’s not too much trouble, I’d like to meet you in person outside of virtual reality.”
She wasn’t a student from his department, yet he was curious about the identity of this outstanding performer who showed up to class every day.
“I don’t have much time. If you really want to, we can meet during review sessions. You mentioned you’d hold those in person, right?”
Still, he was curious about the exam results.
Professor Cheon couldn’t help but wear a big grin at her response.
“Well then, I’ll see you later.”
“Do you know how to find your way?”
“…”
“If you don’t, I can tell you right now.”
*
After Ah-rin was adopted, I left the Merlin Orphanage without looking back.
For several months, I stayed at the Gung PC Bang, trying to catch some sleep.
If the shutdown law hadn’t been revoked two years ago, I would’ve ended up living among the homeless at Seoul Station.
Given that there were likely many cases like mine, the nuns seemed unfazed, and they sent me away with the 150,000 won that was originally mine.
It was no longer time to play. I needed to earn 30,000 won a day just to secure basic living expenses.
Yet my stubbornness not to play games lasted a long time, and I ended up setting my category to ‘Just Chatting’, conducting a bizarre stream solving kids’ homework for money. Apparently, that was my only talent.
With a minimum charge of 1,000 won, I quickly amassed some money after answering a few questions, even after accounting for fees.
[‘HoyaMuaHo’ donated 1,000 won!]
“I have vacation homework due tomorrow, but I can’t complete it! Please help me!”
“Thanks for the donation.”
I opened the attachment in the donation window.
Given my personality, I didn’t talk much, so only the background music of Berceuse echoed quietly in the air.
I set up a digital whiteboard next to the donation window and began explaining.
“This problem is based on soft materials, but ultimately, it is a math problem. So, we don’t need to analyze the soft materials. We just need to find the angle the problem asks for. See how this line is unnaturally bent?”
I drew a horizontal support line halfway through the bent line.
“Then here and here are parallel, and this one is 30 degrees. Here and here are also parallel, making this one 45 degrees. So, the two add up to 75 degrees.”
After teaching this a few times, I had memorized that this was a problem suitable for middle school first graders.
After solving these problems, I would close my eyes and rest.
The viewers didn’t disturb me much and entertained themselves, so I found great satisfaction in this setup. However, I was still struggling financially.
-Why pay for this?
-Just commenting would make us solve it anyway lol
-There are only 30 and 45 degrees, so obviously the total is 75 degrees. What a silly kid lol
-This isn’t even worthy of being called math; it’s basic arithmetic
-Honestly, this is such an easy win for me; why is anyone watching this?
-Your avatar is super cute, though
-I agree
[‘Daehagwonsaengsalryeo’ donated 1,000 won!]
“Do you take questions on complex analysis?”
Darn it, just as I was about to doze off, another donation sound dinged.
“… Yes.”
I was so groggy that it took me a moment to confirm the question.
-Haha, come on, quit being cheeky
-What’s the real identity of the streamer? They seem to know everything
There wasn’t a set charge, but when the questions seemed to drag on, I would raise the price myself.
If I charged 1,000 won for such questions, it was evident that a riot would break out in the comment section.
[‘Daehagwonsaengsalryeo’ donated 10,000 won!]
“Is this amount sufficient?”
Sufficient is an understatement. I carefully examined the content provided by yet another valuable viewer.
-But why is your nickname Daehagwonsaengsalryeo?
-Because when I fell into the lake by the school, I thought no one would save me if I just yelled ‘help,’ so I wanted to get used to it.
-Haha, before graduating, you might not even be human anymore.
“Just a moment!”
I needed help from the internet. I understood the concept, but I didn’t know the terminology in this world.
Feeling overwhelmed on how to search, I just typed out whatever came to mind.
-Internet rescue!
-No way, but the question content looks intense lol
-This person is so tricky
-Is the streamer really understanding this? Is their true form finally being revealed?
“Ah, here it is. To derive the conclusion, you must understand something called perfectoid space. I’m too lazy to explain, so just roughly refer to the Tree Wiki…”
-Tree Wiki has everything, doesn’t it?
I completely agreed with that sentiment. There were so few people who knew anything during my time at the Magic Tower.
“So you can define an open set like this. Fix the prime number p, and when you have such a field, you can extend the field like this.”
It wasn’t particularly difficult. It was just the unfamiliarity of the concepts that made it seem hard.
“Anyway, the formula you wanted can be derived like this. If you have any further questions, let me know.”
Seeing the prolonged silence suggested that the viewer was probably racking their brain to understand the formulas I had written earlier.
After all, there was no rush to erase anything.
-Why the heck do we learn this stuff? Is it essential for living?
-You’ve been harassing kids, and now you’re wondering where this knowledge is applicable? Lol
-What’s the use of a perfectoid space anyway? Haha
-So it makes sense to find the soft material angles?
The comments section transformed into a battleground once again. However, this time, I didn’t plan on being a bystander. I mostly sided with one perspective.
“It’s a foundational theory that allows for seamless navigation between fields and rings; it’s immensely important from a magical studies perspective too. You could use 3rd circle magic with just 1st circle qualifications, for instance.”
It’s incredibly crucial. The 9th circle magic known only to legendary dragons can never be cast by humans bound by biological limitations. But supposedly, if one attains the 7th circle, they could qualify for a conditional launch.
[‘Leviatan’ donated 1,000 won!]
“Make sure this actually makes sense. Are you telling me anyone could just fire guided missiles in games after a tutorial?”
“Why wouldn’t it make sense?”
[‘Leviatan’ donated 1,000 won!]
“Then prove it. Get World of Arseria running and show me.”
“What’s World of Arseria?”
[‘Leviatan’ donated 1,000 won!]
“You really don’t know? Anyway, if you install that, you can use mana almost identically to real life, so even permissions aren’t needed.”
Listening to the explanation, it sounded like a program that implemented mana into virtual reality.
I thought replicating mana would be difficult, but future technology truly amazed me.
“Let’s give it a go.”
I assumed almost any program would be installed in the PC Bang.
Indeed, I found that World of Arseria was ranked second in popularity.
Even more so than the League of Legends I had grown tired of.
If a world with mana was almost entirely akin to reality, I still couldn’t understand why people would want to log into a virtual reality version of it.
-Leviatan is a legendㅠㅠㅠ
-They’re doing it! They’re doing it! They’re doing it!
-The build-up is insane!
-So it turns out they were a mastermind, not just a troll haha!
[Would you like to connect to World of Arseria?]
[The current broadcast has been live for 2 hours and 17 minutes. Do you want to continue?]
[May the blessing of the World Tree be upon you.]
A tingling feeling, much like the one embraced when logging into League of Legends, overwhelmed my senses.
I skimmed through some tedious terms and conditions, and a new world unfolded before my eyes.
[There is no avatar information available. Would you like to proceed with the main avatar?]
[User Name: NoName, welcome!]
A bird chirped in the lush forest.
A cold chill and damp humidity enveloped my skin.
As I took a moment to observe my surroundings, the game assistance system kindly lowered an arrow, indicating where to go.
-It’s a tutorial, so hurry up and go.
-If you rescue a girl named Repi near the lake, you’ll be able to cast magic!
It felt incredibly realistic. The rustling of leaves with every step, the sunlight peeking through the trees. So this is virtual reality!
Before I could get lost in admiration, I heard wolf howls in the distance.
[Prologue: The Child of Prophecy]
Just as the chat had explained, a small girl was lying unconscious near a lake, surrounded by four wolves.
-What do you mean there’s no tutorial?
-Maybe they skipped it.
-How can we catch them without being told how to?
It seemed the mana circuits were completely shut down; magic couldn’t be used.
My body felt just like in the real world, yet I had to come up with a means to fend off the wolves.
I was neither a wizard nor a mercenary.
I had no experience in combat.
One wolf showed interest in me and approached.
As I stepped back, the wolf cautiously followed.
The wolf didn’t rush at all.
It had probably seen plenty of prey simply run away without looking back.
I suddenly fell over.
-????????
-What’s the streamer doing???
-LOL what is this?
-Wolves tear people apart! Bears tear people apart too! So am I supposed to play dead in front of a wolf?
-A miracle of three-step logic! Haha!
Playing dead it is. I’d wait and see.
The tactic of deceiving a predator is perhaps the most advanced strategy a human can think of.
Auwooo!
Like pack animals, other two wolves came to surround me.
They slowly circled clockwise, closing the gap.
As soon as the wolf judged that my escape route was blocked, it raised its paw, preparing to strike my head. I quickly grabbed its other leg.
“Cast: Circuit Reconstruction.”
The makeshift soft material I had secretly created activates on the bare ground.
The wolf is startled and leaps, but quickly stumbles and falls.
There are various reasons why magic can’t be used.
It could be a lack of understanding of mana, a lack of understanding of spells, or a lack of understanding of magic itself.
This can also occur due to constraints imposed on the caster; the mana circuit could be blocked or destroyed, or it might be impossible to operate due to a curse.
If it’s none of those, it might be due to the environment, but looking at the wolf’s size and horn shape, this forest indeed appears to be abundant in mana.
If I had to specify, one might call it a curse imposed by the system.
The circuit itself is open, but mana cannot pass through due to some special semipermeable barrier.
In such situations, the solution is simple. You can borrow the circuit of another creature.
The moment I grasped the wolf’s front leg, I induced a synchronization event that connects the earth-me-wolf and used the mana it had to synchronize its circuit with this ground.
Due to its lack of mana, I’d likely experience dizziness from mana exhaustion, but I would regain my senses shortly afterward. I needed to act fast before that happened.
The two wolves, faltering, changed their minds and charged at me.
Not wanting to miscalculate my mana levels and fall into mana exhaustion, I decided to apply the least expensive magic first.
“Cast: Friction Coefficient Adjustment.”
This spell smooths the surface of the ground and doesn’t require much effort at the atomic rearrangement level.
The naturally consumed mana is quite minimal.
Though predominantly a beginner-level magic that elementary students from the Academy might use, it was just the trick for these beasts.
The two wolves charged fiercely, losing their footing and slipping on the ground.
Then they collided with each other and didn’t know what to do.
Well, my goal wasn’t to eliminate them, and I could cast magic once I saved that girl, so I said goodbye to the puppies.
