-Good~morning~! Ba-ba-ba─
─Thud.
Instinctively, I whacked the source of the noise. The annoying notifications from my smartwatch finally stopped.
I grimaced as consciousness reluctantly rose.
“Ugh…”
I squirmed around. The warm, soft pillow hugging me and the blanket wrapped around my body were softly urging my still-sleepy mind to go back to sleep.
I managed to lift my arm and turned on the smartwatch.
[Saturday AM 5:30]
Yesterday was Friday, where I switched from swordsmanship to spear fighting. At Shio-ram, I usually avoid any disturbance on weekends.
If it were the old days, I’d still be deep in slumber. If I happened to wake up early, I’d enjoy that cozy, sleepy feeling while rolling around in bed.
“Ugh…”
I can’t do that now. With this thought, I wiped away tears and resisted the temptation. I half-heartedly sat up, stretched my arms, and tried to shake off the last remnants of sleep.
Feeling somewhat more awake, I crawled out of bed.
I gathered a towel and clothes, and cautiously turned on the tap in the bathroom.
Splashing cold water on my face sent jolts of freshness through me, scaring away the lingering drowsiness.
“…?”
As I vigorously rubbed my face with the towel, I realized something. There must have been bruises, and being this rough would surely hurt.
But there was no pain. Thinking about it, something felt off.
Tilting my head, I closely examined my reflection. My face was clean, not a single bruise in sight.
‘Wait a minute.’
After a brief silence, I pinched my cheek hard. It hurt—normal pain, at least.
The bruises had disappeared overnight. I pulled up my pajamas and inspected my body; it looked entirely pristine.
“?”
What’s going on?
Just a day before, they had been there right before I went to bed.
Yet now, nothing remained.
I racked my brain trying to understand… but I still had no clue.
They call it recovery training, though Hong Yeon-hwa had mocked it as an old-fashioned, useless method.
Professor Atra had told me not to rely on any external healing, but if it got too unbearable, to seek it out myself.
So I didn’t receive any healing. I’ve been used to taking hits for a long time.
Pain is unavoidable, but I put up with it since it meant I’d get stronger faster.
Professor Atra’s teachings were undeniably tough. Others had mentioned that her methods were on the brutal side.
But it showed results. I could feel it myself. My proficiency in combat had skyrocketed in just two days.
She, like Professor Riana, was a new instructor who had just joined this year.
However, what was strange was that unlike Professor Riana, she hadn’t opened up any courses?
Her only responsibility was the afternoon combat class for special entrants—basically, just me.
If that’s the case, then why even have a title as a professor? But that’s not unusual at Shio-ram.
After all, Shio-ram kind of blended various educational institutions together.
When it was first established, it ran haphazardly—considering the times— and over time, it changed as things were added.
In fact, even the naming seems mixed up. They claim to be a military academy, calling students cadets, while referring to teachers not as instructors, but professors.
There’s a system where students can choose their subjects like in a university, but sometimes they have to take assigned courses, like in a free semester.
Classes were split by grade, and during the free semester, afternoon classes split by major and grade…
It’s all quite a jumble.
-Drop.
I completed my quick washup, carefully turned off the tap, and patted myself dry with the towel before heading out.
I didn’t bother putting on any cosmetics.
In my old world, I avoided cosmetics as a hassle and saw no point in skin care, but because of Agaphansus’s nagging, I at least started applying some moisturizer.
What were those names again? Skin? Toner? Essence? They seemed to have the same outcome regardless.
Anyway, while I had just slathered them on back in the old world, there was even less reason to do it here.
I threw on some clothes—basically the standard attire provided by Shio-ram.
It was a stylish, well-designed hooded tracksuit rather than a uniform-like design.
With some socks and arm sleeves to finish the look, I was ready to go.
The arm sleeves reminded me of footed socks. I had become so accustomed to wearing them that they no longer felt uncomfortable.
I shoved a handful of nutrition bars into my pocket and stepped out the door.
While waiting for the elevator, I munched on most of the nutrition bars. Upon passing the lobby, I arrived at the bus stop nearby.
“Gahh…”
I stretched my arms high and kicked out my legs, twisting my body here and there to loosen up.
The stiffness began to fade. I exhaled deeply, feeling the cool morning air brush against my face.
I could take the bus, but with no hurry, I decided to jog over. A speed I hadn’t felt before.
It’s been barely five days. My body had grown significantly in that short time.
The growth had started with my transformation into a superhuman. Boosted by the blessing of growth, further amplified by my special entrance.
Since my growth had just begun, the felt changes in my physical abilities were refreshing.
After about a 20-minute jog, I finally reached my destination.
This wasn’t the hard-packed earth and sand of the old training ground. It was filled with lush green blades of grass.
One of the parks easily found on the grounds of Shio-ram.
Crossing the entrance, I was greeted by the soft morning light and fine mist typical of dawn. The lake in the center was particularly shrouded in fog.
I walked along the path leading in, arriving at the vicinity of the lake. Checking the time, I found I had plenty of time left before the appointment.
I glanced around and sat down on the weeds nearby.
There were no people since this was the first-year section, and given the early hour.
“…Sniff sniff.”
As I sat there zoning out, a breeze blew by. Unintentionally, I took a deep breath, as I used to enjoy places filled with such fresh grass scents.
But there were no scents to be found. No refreshing grass scent? No coolness of early morning air? Absolutely nothing.
‘…Ugh.’
Instinctively, I snapped to frustration. The slightly lifted mood dropped sharply.
This is really dull.
Just as I was lost in thought about yesterday’s training, my spatial awareness picked up someone approaching.
A massive amount of mana. I couldn’t help but doubt if one person could gather that much magical energy.
“Oh, you’re out early?”
[No, I came out early because I had nothing to do.]
Even here, surrounded by the green grass, my eyes were drawn to striking green irises that formed delicate curves.
Wearing a warm-toned turtleneck sweater that hugged her neck and a black long skirt—not her usual wizard robe from the classroom, but casual clothes.
Professor Riana smiled brightly and reached out to me. What she extended was a picnic basket.
“?”
“I was a bit late because I was packing this. Let’s share it as an apology!”
Finishing her sentence, Professor Riana didn’t wait for a response and hurried me along to a nearby table.
I hesitated for a moment but eventually followed her.
Opening the basket on the table revealed neatly arranged sandwiches. There were also some fruit drinks she had brought along.
“Here! A special gift for you!”
She eagerly handed me one of the particularly stuffed sandwiches and an orange-flavored drink.
[Thank you.]
After expressing my gratitude, I accepted the sandwich and drink. I briefly looked at the contents and took a bite from the edge.
…Naturally, it had no flavor. A rather bleak situation. While I chewed absentmindedly, Professor Riana spoke up.
“How does it taste? Does it suit your palate?”
[Yes. It’s delicious.]
It probably wasn’t bad.
“I’m relieved to hear you say it’s delicious!”
She smiled, relieved, and took a bite of her sandwich.
Perhaps because it was early morning, the weather felt chilly. But due to my physical transformation, rather than feeling cold, I felt refreshed.
In this early dawn, casually munching on a sandwich at a table in a foggy park felt quite peaceful.
“Let’s finish this, have a short break, and then go in.”
[Yes.]
Meeting Professor Riana wasn’t for any specific reason.
Somehow, ever since our last introduction, she had felt apologetic towards me and offered to help me with mana initiation.
Mana.
A symbol representing the superhuman, alongside unique abilities.
Many superhumans do not possess unique abilities. While vital to superhumans, they aren’t universally granted.
It’s a power that is either innate or very difficult to awaken through acquired effort.
However, mana is something most superhumans can handle. Unless it’s a very rare case, all superhumans manage to wield mana.
Just utilizing mana can break the norms of what I had known.
At the moment, I couldn’t wield mana. More accurately, I could probably do so because of my mana affinity, but I intentionally hadn’t tapped into it.
No matter how great my unique powers were, I still lacked deep knowledge about them.
So I thought it better to learn from a skilled individual like Professor Riana and had been suppressing my eagerness.
Initially, I focused on spatial awareness, which would replace my eyesight.
After opening my vision with spatial awareness, I dabbled a bit with jack-of-all-trades skills like simple cooking and various techniques, and through dueling with Professor Atra, had grasped swordsmanship, martial arts, spear techniques, and evasive maneuvers.
Now was about the time to delve into mana affinity.
All three of my unique abilities were passive, none of them active. Mostly they were all multi-functional, so handling them collectively would be more efficient.
It was a thread I had picked up during the new student welcome ceremony. If I managed to work on all three together, I might expect some synergy.
My heart raced with mild anticipation.
Support me by donating at least $10, and you'll have the right to request any novel from Novelpia (excluding 19+ content) using a newly developed tool.
