Chapter 39
I’m translating the chapter in full and shaping the in-universe chat and status-like content into the required HTML blocks while keeping the prose natural in English.CHAPTER_TITLE: Human Combat (1)
Wednesday of Lim Paran’s second week at Sielm Academy arrived before I knew it.
Because of the accident during yesterday’s sparring match with Professor Seres, I’d gone straight to the infirmary and finished getting treated there.
Fortunately, the damage to my bones and the important parts of my body had been minor, and I’d been told that if I rested for a few days, I’d recover. So I hurried back to the dorm, thinking that I should go to bed early today.
- Buzzz buzzzz buzzzz
Then, a few hours after I got back to the dorm, a familiar alarm tone kept echoing from my bracelet.
Wondering what was going on, I pressed the bracelet and turned on the hologram...
...
"Ah..."
After opening the link in Han Riae’s message, I found a photo of me walking along with my hand wrapped tightly in bandages.
Even I could see that the image of me walking hurriedly with my face twisted into a grimace made me look like some injured victim.
Just from that message alone, even though it was only text and not her voice, I could feel Han Riae’s shock and anger, and I quickly insisted on the truth because it seemed like all of that emotion was aimed at Professor Seres.
Only then did she seem to understand a little, because she simply warned me again and ended the conversation.
After finishing the day like that, today came around.
The hand that had been soaked in blood and reduced to a rag was gone, replaced by my usual hand, its wounds completely vanished.
I was sure Sielm’s medical facilities were excellent, but part of it was probably also because the pure mana in my Mana Erosion had focused on healing my hand.
However I looked at it, Mana Erosion seemed to have become an essential part of my life. From what I’d heard, recovery training was supposed to continue for months before it really paid off, but thanks to Mana Erosion amplifying my recovery speed, my physical abilities and healing seemed to have increased at an exponential rate.
I packed my things while looking at the hand with no sign of injury, and as always, I arrived in the classroom early.
"Paran!... Huh? Your hand was definitely..."
Yoon Hwayeon came into the classroom soon after, and the moment she saw my hand, she spoke to me in obvious surprise.
"Oh? According to the photo that was posted online, your hand was in a cast yesterday, but today it looks completely fine?"
"Ah, maybe because of the recovery training, or because my healing ability improved, it got better in a day."
"Ohhh... So you’re one of those superhumans whose growth hasn’t even properly started yet. Your rate of improvement is definitely unusual. Would you show me the healed hand?"
Unlike Han Riae, who knew that I was doing recovery training, Yoon Hwayeon only marveled at my astonishing healing speed and asked to see my hand.
Of course, it wasn’t as if showing her would cause me any loss, so without much thought I held out the hand that had healed completely.
"Hmm... That really is amazing. It’s interesting enough that it healed in a day, but to recover this cleanly, without even a scar... That’s incredible."
Yoon Hwayeon stared at my hand for a moment with curious eyes, then stopped her inspection with clear admiration.
For a moment, she looked as though she might actually reach out to touch it and check, but perhaps remembering the entrance ceremony, when I’d briefly lost consciousness and collapsed, her fingers flinched and drew back.
"Thanks for giving me such useful information. I should get back to my seat now, so goodbye~"
With that, Yoon Hwayeon turned to leave, but after a brief hesitation, she came back to me again.
"Oh, and Paran... when Riae comes in, be careful how you act..."
"Huh...?"
Yoon Hwayeon whispered it to me briefly, then sauntered back to her seat without answering my confusion at all.
Be careful how I act?
Still stuck on her words, I fell into deep thought for a moment, then shook off the stray thoughts and took out the book I’d been reading.
While I waited for class to begin, Han Riae came into the classroom.
"Riae!—"
"Lim Paran."
Huh?
There was something I’d seen on the internet before. If your parents, your own family, or a friend you were extremely close to called you by your full name, you were supposed to be careful.
At that instant, I could see frosty blue mana flaring out from Han Riae in my mind’s eye.
"R, Riae...?"
"Lim Paran... Haah... Your injury."
"Ah, it’s gone..."
"The scar?"
"There isn’t one..."
"Phew..."
Cold, icy mana burst out for an instant, and the moment my Mana Erosion absorbed it, a shiver ran over my entire body, making me tremble all over.
Han Riae’s mana was usually warm, but for some reason, when that chilly power suddenly spilled out, I was reminded once again of her nickname: Ice Wall.
"Haah... I’m glad you’re trying hard, Paran, but don’t get yourself hurt, all right?"
"Mmph... y-yes..."
Han Riae suddenly cupped my cheeks with both hands and spoke to me in a worried tone, and of course I had no choice but to accept it.
For me, who had just tasted that chill, it was the moment I resolved to be more careful from now on.
.
.
.
"All right! It’s Wednesday of week two! There’s an important announcement about the schedule, so everyone stand up and pay attention!"
Professor Han Seohwa, the homeroom teacher for Wolchun Class, had begun speaking about the morning schedule.
"Your academic schedule has been sent through your bracelets, and I introduced this on the very first day of class, but there are probably still a few cadets who’ve forgotten it. Coming up in week three is your group monster subjugation practicum, an important event for all of you!"
Monday and Tuesday of week three were the days when all first-year cadets were required to take part in the dungeon-clearing practicum.
It was a one-night, two-day schedule, a training period that gathered many cadets into one space and had them compete to see how many monsters they could hunt down and how many points they could earn.
Hunters were, in essence, the ones who protected civilians and ordinary people from monster threats and cleared dungeons.
It was only natural that Sielm, which trained those hunters intensively, would include dungeon-clearing experience in its academic schedule.
Even if they hammered the dangers and features of dungeons into your ears until you were sick of hearing it, wasn’t seeing it once better than hearing it ten times?
Of course, this was still an academy with cadets who were growing, and the dungeon itself was not a real dungeon. It was more accurate to call it a kind of room blessed by the Tower of Growth.
That was why, even if you suffered injuries there, or some accident happened that should have severed a limb or left you with a permanent disability, the moment you stepped out of the dungeon, everything would return to normal as though none of it had happened.
Normally, when you entered and exited an experiential dungeon like that, any positive gains such as loot or physical growth were supposed to be left behind inside as well. But because of the absurd blessing that allowed you to leave while keeping all of the Tower of Growth’s positive effects, you could return with your combat power raised by a ridiculous amount.
Put simply, all the negatives disappeared, and all the positives came back amplified.
For most of those trying to enter Sielm, the dungeon practicum was one of the things they looked forward to most.
They could experience tremendous growth in a short time, and they could do it in a safe place without risking their lives or suffering real injuries.
"And the list of team members who will participate in the dungeon practicum will be posted all at once over the weekend, so please wait for it!"
With that, the morning announcement period came to an end.
.
.
.
Because next week’s schedule was the dungeon practicum, the morning theory courses were packed almost entirely with lessons about dungeons.
There were fascinating bits of information about dungeons that weren’t covered in the books I read every evening, along with details about the kinds of monsters that inhabited each one. If I just let them go in one ear and out the other, it would have been a waste.
I wrote the information down in my notebook, and during the breaks between classes, I sat at my desk and went over what I had learned again.
I kept reviewing everything diligently, thinking that this was far more useful than the other theory classes.
"You’re working hard, Paran?"
"Ah, yes... I know less than everyone else, so I need to cram it into my head somehow."
While I was looking through the notebook where I’d collected my class notes, Han Riae patted my head and continued speaking.
"We’ve got an class next, so should we clean up and head out soon?"
"Ah, yes."
I’d been so absorbed in the information from dungeon theory that I’d lost track of time.
Hurriedly stuffing my notebook into my bag, I headed to Sielm Gymnasium for this common course: Basic Human Combat.
* * *
As the name made immediately clear, Basic Human Combat was a class that taught combat against other people.
It was a class where the use of basic mana was restricted, and the focus was entirely on raising physical ability and weapon mastery.
And today, it was sparring among cadets.
All the cadets found opponents of roughly their own level, and my opponent was...
"You’re Lim Paran, right? Spar with me."
A combat-major cadet with a tall build and lean muscle showing beneath his skin was my opponent.
...
My body, as if it were only natural, gave me a pathological tremor.