15. Hell Training (3)
After barely slipping free of Silvia's clutches, I found an empty lot and began training where no one would see me.
I'd bought a wooden training dummy, set it up, and used it as a target, throwing my sword at it again and again. The process was, of course, anything but smooth. My mana vessel was so small that a little practice drained it dry, and a few more throws after that set my arms and legs trembling uncontrollably.
I'm gonna die.
Mornings were stamina drills with a gravity bracelet strapped on; afternoons were sword-throwing until I dropped, grinding away at sword manipulation. Even back when I was living my life at full throttle, I'd never been this busy. It was, quite literally, a hellish week that wore both body and mind down to nothing. If it hadn't been for Lucy's cheering and her buffs, I'd have come down with a fever and collapsed ages ago.
Still, the results are solid. Cheers to that.
A faint smile tugged at my mouth as I called up my status window, wanting to see what a week of training had actually bought me. The time had been truly miserable, but because of it I'd grown stronger than I could even compare to before.
...Going from one to two meant I'd gotten twice as strong, right? Something like that.
Now this is starting to look like something.
Behold this shining status window. Strength, stamina, and agility had all reached D−, the same level as an ordinary adult man. A little more training and I'd have the body of an athlete. And it wasn't only my physical ability that had climbed.
Those hour-long meditations before bed were worth it.
Mana — the source of everything in this world, the foundation beneath both magic and aura. To grow it, I'd meditated for an hour every night before sleep. A hideously boring process, but a necessary one. The result was enough mana to throw a sword at full power three times.
And the highlight is still waiting.
Even this far, the gains were excellent, but one important thing remained. Learning skills had opened a skill window that had never existed before.
Two new skills. I clicked Sword Throw first and read the description.
A sword was never a weapon made to be thrown, yet you have uncovered a possibility no one else ever found.
— You grow more proficient at throwing swords.
— The destructive power of a thrown sword increases.
So sword throwing counts as swordsmanship. Figures.
Naturally, a skill called Sword Throw didn't exist in Akasal. What did exist amounted to Throwing and Javelin Throw. But the sword-art creation function of my Extreme Sword Physique had triggered, and a brand-new skill — Sword Throw — had been born. Now I could throw harder while spending less strength.
And this. The one that matters most.
The skill I'd wanted so badly was finally complete, so I touched the skill window with a trembling heart.
A bizarre sword art born where skilled throwing meets exceptional mana control. It is still far too pathetic to deserve the name of sword manipulation.
— You may alter the sword's path three times.
— This skill can grow.
"Hnnn — this is it!"
A jolt of accomplishment ripped through my whole body like lightning. Ever since the idea had struck me during the entrance exam, I'd trained for sword manipulation without pause, and at last it was mine. An F-rank skill, the lowest grade there was — but I didn't care. It said right there that it could grow, and more importantly, it was already plenty useful.
"I can even do this."
I tossed the wooden sword lightly into the air. First, a thrust straight at the wooden dummy. Second, a full three-hundred-sixty-degree spinning slash that sent the dummy flying. Last, I called the sword back to my hand and caught it.
Throwing a sword was no longer a one-and-done. I could use it a second time, even a third.
In theory, anyway.
Honesty compelled me to admit the technique still had very little real combat value. In an actual fight the sword might bury itself and refuse to come free, or someone might simply snatch it on the way back. I still had plenty of weaknesses, and overcoming them meant I needed a sub-weapon.
I should buy a few daggers, and learn Quick Draw while I'm at it.
A dagger is small, easy to carry, and — above all — a sword, which meant it fell under the Extreme Sword Physique. A little practice and I'd handle one like I'd been born to it. Quick Draw was the same logic. It looked useful when an enemy closed to point-blank range, or when they were faster than I could possibly expect.
A method I never would have imagined. Silvia's the one who made me think of it.
I felt a small flicker of gratitude toward her.
...Of course, I still couldn't stand the sight of her. Why did she swing a sword at me every single time we met? Anyone watching would take her for a sword demon.
"And this little routine ends today, too."
That demonstration just now had emptied my mana vessel. Daytime training was over; all that remained was to go home and rest. For the record, today was Thursday — the day the academy's hellish first week finally came to a close. Starting tomorrow, department classes would shrink to a third of the schedule, and common classes would fill the rest. The real events, the mingling between students, were only just about to begin.
First priority: avoid Silvia and Estelle.
Sharing a class with either of them was something I refused, no questions asked.
A day passed, and Friday arrived.
On any other week we would have had class today as well, but the professors knew perfectly well how hard the students had worked. As a reward, they gave us the day free.
"In our Monster Studies class, we teach you how to hunt monsters properly! Students aiming to become knights or combat mages, come take our class!"
"Aren't you curious about the continent's long history — the tales of ancient kingdoms that fell to ruin? Come hear our Continental History class!"
"I'll keep this short. Do you wish to know the might of the Celestial God, whom evil gods fear and before whom demons tremble? Come to Divinity Studies, and you shall."
Throughout that free time, professors from the various common classes came through, pitched their subjects, and left. They were all specialists, and they did this every year, so every pitch managed to sound interesting. Even so, these weren't classes you could simply take because you felt like it.
Which ones you should take depends on how you want to grow your character.
Common classes weren't just for killing time or bumping into a particular NPC. Take one, the way you took a department class, and specific stats went up — and on top of that, you could obtain special traits. Traits you couldn't acquire by any ordinary method. Choosing well mattered a great deal to how a character grew.
The problem is, I can't pick the classes I actually want.
Every student at the academy took the common classes together. Department didn't matter; they all sat in one room. Which meant a high chance of running into Silvia and Estelle, people I normally had no reason to cross paths with.
Ideally I'd take the combat classes and the administration classes...
Silvia would be in the combat ones. Estelle would be in anything involving money. Just ignore them and sit through the lecture, you say? Absolutely not. Their instincts were beyond anything I could imagine, and there was no telling when my artifact might be neutralized. If I could help it, never meeting them at all was best.
No choice. Divinity Studies and Magic Studies it is.
Said like that, it sounded as if those two were second-rate, when the truth was the exact opposite. Both were extremely efficient classes. They didn't quite match my build, that was the drawback, but shift my thinking a little and I could find a use for them somehow. I already had a few ideas stirring.
I should pick up the Piety trait, and Demon Specialist is essential... would a Magic Eye be worth grabbing too?
While I was sorting through classes like that, the dismissal bell rang before I knew it. All that was left was to head back to the dorm, rest, and over the weekend submit the list of common classes I wanted.
"There's an announcement. Everyone, wait a moment."
"Huh?"
Students were rising one by one, ready to head for the dorms, when Professor Lucilla suddenly stopped them cold. None of them had the faintest idea what she was about to say. I, at least, had a rough guess.
"Headmaster Gustav says the reward he promised is ready. Visit the Main Building within the week — today included."
The room erupted.
A chance to take a single item from the Academy Vault. That was the reward Gustav had put on the table, and for the students it was nothing short of a heaven-sent fortune. Pick an elixir and grow your mana, or choose a weapon and patch the holes in your offense. The truly precious and dangerous things would be off-limits, of course. Even so, being able to obtain an A- to C-grade item this early in the game was more than enough of a windfall.
So what should I pick?
I ran the possibilities through my head at speed. Out of more than a thousand items, what did I need most right now?
Yeah. It has to be that one.
No matter how I turned it over, only a single item came to mind. The moment I left the lecture hall, I headed straight for the Main Building.