#29 Training

 "......."

 I stared blankly, at a loss for words. The cityscape sweeping down the mountainside. Beautiful spiritual creatures and sacred beasts at play. The Spirit Realm had a beauty all its own, different from anything in the physical world. This view, at least, I would never forget.

 "Kyu-ru-rook~"

 Was it happy to be back? The creature tickled my ear with a swishing tail.

 "You returned sooner than I expected."

 A calm voice pulled me from my reverie. I turned. The White Deer was looking down at me.

 "Baekrok."

 "I thought you would come. How is it? Being back in the Spirit Realm."

 "...Not bad."

 Baekrok smiled, pleased, as if I'd just complimented him.

 "Is that so? Then the wait was worthwhile."  

 The wait? Now that I thought about it, this was Daejeon. A considerable distance from Ihyeon Park. How had he known to find me here?

 'Don't tell me he's been following me this whole time?'

 Before I could voice the question, Baekrok made a request, point-blank.

 "There is something I would like you to do. Will you hear me out?"

 "Something you'd like me to do?"

 "That's right."

 Baekrok began to walk slowly.

 "A dungeon. But I cannot force you. Whether you accept is entirely your choice."

 I mulled it over. Clearing a dungeon was exactly what I wanted. Baekrok had to know that, at least roughly. So why the caution?

 'Is there a catch?'

 Listening to the offer first seemed wise. For better or worse, I'd learned things from Baekrok. I nodded, and he continued.

 "I would like you to enter the dungeon with me."

 I tilted my head. Was there a dungeon Baekrok couldn't handle alone? He shook his head, apparently reading my reaction.

 "Alone, I think, would be too much for you."

 Baekrok had seen me fight inside a Spirit Realm dungeon. If he was saying it would be difficult for me even so—

 'Then this place is on a much higher level than last time.'

 The dungeon with the Cave Predator hadn't exactly been low-level, either. It might have rivaled Aranea's dungeon in Gyeongsan. What kind of dungeon was this? I gave him a questioning look, and Baekrok answered.

 "It's a somewhat tricky and overwhelming place."

 'Overwhelming.'

 That was exactly what I wanted. No matter how high the dungeon's level, Baekrok wasn't the type to eat monsters.

 'Monsters from a dungeon like that...'

 ...would certainly be worth devouring. I might be able to raise my level faster than I'd thought.

 "You seem inclined to accept."

 I had nothing to lose. He seemed to read that in my eyes and gave a calm nod.

 "The operation is three days from now."

 'Three days.'

 An awkward span of time. Too short to go to the Academy, too long to waste doing nothing.

 "What about other dungeons?"

 "You really are—"

 Baekrok shook his head, side to side.

 "It's not that there aren't any, but they're places you don't need to go right now."

 I knew the Spirit Realm's circumstances well enough not to push. I was still chewing on my frustration when Baekrok spoke again.

 "I know you possess the Devouring skill, but you seem a touch impatient."

 It wasn't Devouring, it was Evil Devouring. Baekrok studied me for a moment, then nodded.

 "If you wish to grow stronger, I believe I could assist with that."

 "Assist? How?"

 "I felt it while watching you fight the other day. You have a pronounced habit of excessive evasion. Enough that one could guess the sort of battles you've been through."

 That was only natural, considering every opponent I'd fought had been monstrously strong.

 "Committing fully to evasion is better than half-measures. However—"

 Baekrok vanished. His B-rank skill, Shrink Ground. I'd already read it with Intuition and Perception, so I wasn't startled. Instead, I ducked low.

 'Next?'

 "You have good instincts."

 A hoof came down from above. I read that, too, and launched myself away with Elasticity. But—

 "?!"

 A wall of mana blocked me, and I slid down. The instant I tried to evade any other way, Baekrok's hoof was already stopped above my head.

 'He's this fast?'

 Far faster than I'd ever imagined. I hadn't expected to be handled in an instant.

 "Impressive."

 Baekrok exhaled a short breath of admiration.

 Because beneath his jaw, a tentacle as sharp as an awl was poised, too. I'd managed some small reaction, but whether it could have killed him remained an open question.

 "Do you understand now?"

 I nodded at Baekrok's question. I thought I grasped what he'd been trying to say.

 'I could have dodged without Elasticity.'

 But I'd burned Elasticity anyway to guarantee the evasion. The result was what had just happened.

 'So that can happen.'

 As expected of a sacred beast who'd lived for ages—Baekrok was seasoned. I'd thought I'd never lost a tactical exchange. I was reminded, fresh, that Status wasn't everything.

 'Even though his Status is ludicrously higher than mine.'

 "I'll correct this bad habit of yours."

 "Why?"

 "Whatever the circumstances, I'm the one who made the request. And it's not something that does me any harm, either."

 This was starting to feel familiar. The last time I'd asked him to teach me about mana, Baekrok had set clearing a dungeon as the condition. Of course, that had been a win for me anyway—an exception.

 'This time, it's the reverse.'

 He was offering to teach me as payment for clearing the dungeon.

 '.......'

 I'd been surprised when he suddenly attacked. But thinking back, I might have been able to fight a little longer. A lingering regret: what if I'd responded just a bit more calmly?

 'What if I'd dodged normally, instead of using Elasticity?'

 What if I'd triggered Ghost Flame (C) or a Gust in that gap? I couldn't guarantee I'd win, but I wouldn't have been suppressed so easily.

 '...If I could fight him again.'

 That regret remained.

 Under the gaze of Baekrok, whose eyes held deep amusement, I nodded. As if he'd been waiting, he took the lead.

 "Good. Follow me."

 ***

 "Hey! You gonna straighten up or not?!"

 Hong Yuri, bandages wrapped around her abdomen, shouted and then winced.

 "Ah, fuck... hurts like hell."

 Woo-taek, who'd been lightly tapping the wall, glanced over.

 "That's why you shouldn't have checked out so early. It hasn't even been a few days."

 "Mind your own business, yeah? I'm busy as shit running this one ragged. What, you itching for it too? Want me to run you ragged for the first time in ages?"

 Woo-taek flinched and averted his eyes.

 "Good grief, look at you. Before, you were begging me to train you. Got absolutely hooked on it."

 "I'm still working hard at it." 

 His answer came without a hint of hesitation. Hong Yuri snorted but didn't press further.

 "So, how is he?"

 "He's got talent, but—"

 Hong Yuri paused, mulling over the right answer.

 "He's got talent for mana. Has the sense for it, too. Picks up the theory fast. But he's no mage."

 "What do you mean?"

 Hong Yuri crossed her arms and tapped her fingers, muttering with a hint of regret.

 "If he wasn't such a physical klutz, I could've done something with him..."

 She tossed the chalk aside and dumped the rest onto Woo-taek.

 "Hey. My time's up, okay? You watch him."

 "Huh?"

 "Figure out how to throw it yourself!"

 She kicked the door open with her foot, then immediately clutched her side. Woo-taek sighed as he watched her go.

 "...That's why I told you not to kick things."

 What a personality.

 Woo-taek turned his gaze back. The piece of chalk she'd just thrown had been reduced to powder.

 "Oh."

 He hadn't heard an impact, which meant it had been pulverized in midair. Curious, he threw a piece himself. Just as he'd expected, it crumbled and fell as dust.

 'He's good at this.'

 Mana Detection. Sitting with his back turned, the kid had detected the incoming chalk and crushed it with mana occupying empty space.

 'One seems easy enough.'

 Two pieces—he barely pulled it off. When Woo-taek threw three, there was a sharp "Agh!" and a hand went to the back of a head. Eun-ha, turning around with a sulky glare, furrowed his brows.

 "Senior? Where's the Vice-Leader?"

 "Who knows. She left in a rush."

 She'd kicked the door open, yet he hadn't even noticed.

 "So. How long have you been at this?"

 "Huh? Let's see...?"

 Eun-ha tilted his head, looked at the clock, then began folding his fingers one by one. When the count passed three, Woo-taek thought—ah, so it's been that long—and then:

 "Five hours?"

 "What?"

 The words that followed knocked the wind out of him.

 "Five hours? You mean five days?"

 "Why would I do this for five days?"

 Eun-ha's baffled response made Woo-taek laugh in disbelief.

 'Hayeon took two days.'

 It looked simple at a glance, but it wasn't.

 Three problems were baked in. The first: you never knew when or how many pieces would come flying. That forced you to maintain continuous Mana Detection and total focus. The second: reaction. Detection and response were separate beasts. Before the chalk reached you, you had to crush it with the mana you were sensing through.

 'Crushing it isn't the real issue, honestly.'

 Focus and reaction were basic. If you couldn't do that, Hong Yuri wouldn't have assigned the drill in the first place. The real problem was the third: mana volume. The amount of mana you could move was limited to exactly the mass of the chalk. Meaning you had to reduce the chalk to powder using a volume of mana equivalent to the chalk itself.

 'That's the hard part.'

 Without perfect timing, it wouldn't all turn to dust. Shards would remain. Only one of two things could get you there:

 'Prediction, or Intuition.'

 And here this kid was, pulling off two pieces in five hours, like he'd been born with the skill, as casually as breathing. Woo-taek laughed bitterly and remembered his own attempts.

[You have mana to spare? Wasting it again?]

[Heh. Go on, then. What are you waiting for? You think you can survive just because you've got more mana than me?]

[Are you telling me to kill you?]

[Getting cocky, huh? If you don't want to get yourself killed, figure it out yourself.]

The nonchalant remark was punctuated by a piece of chalk laced with an absurd amount ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠of magical power. I'd heard that Kijun from Team 2 had mouthed off once, and the next day he'd been carted off with a hole in the back of his head. In any case, this training wasn't as easy as it looked.

'Still... two in five hours?'

The only word for it was talented. What exactly had Hong Yuri been dissatisfied with?

"......."

Woo-taek was lost in thought, prompting a quizzical tilt of the head from Eun-ha.

"Senior, aren't you going to throw?"

"Ah. I'll throw."

The thought of how they'd come back from Administration to Search Team 3 crossed his mind.

'I had my doubts back then,' he reflected.

But if their talents could outweigh their clashing personalities... With an inward nod, Woo-taek was about to resume the chalk-throwing when his phone rang loudly, cutting through the moment.

"Ah. Hold on."

He gestured for Eun-ha to pause and quickly answered as he saw ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the name flashing on the screen.

"Yes, Team Leader."

[Woo-taek. Have you seen it?]

Seen what?

[Right. I guess you haven't yet.]

"What are you referring to?"

[Alpha (Jirisan Warg). There's a video circulating of Alpha (Jirisan Warg). It won't be hard to find. It's on NewTube.]

"......."

[It's spreading fast... Watch it first, then get back to me.]

"Understood."

He'd meant to search for it, but there was no need — the video was already rocketing up the trending rankings.

"......."

A short clip. Barely a minute long. It was from a few days ago, the incident now known as the Night of the Great Battle. The very location. The onlookers staggered as a sudden gust of wind swept through them, and Woo-taek's gaze sharpened.

'There.'

It was only a fleeting instant, but his eyes caught a black shape passing through the frame. It was hard to see properly because of the video's framerate, but—

'Most likely.'

Even he had barely been able to make it out. If that were all, there was no way the video would have become such a sensation. Just as he expected, the clip replayed once more in slow motion, then froze.

'As expected.'

A large Black Wolf with a white skull was captured, albeit blurrily. It rose from the gaping hole in the ground, vaulted over the crowd, and vanished — all in less than a second. A split second when the powerful gust of wind had stolen everyone's attention, and it had exploited that opening.

'Probably one of its skills.'

The very same wind-creation skill he'd witnessed in the Forest Dungeon. Woo-taek briefly considered what medium had been used to film it.

'Most likely a CCTV mounted on a building.'

That Alpha (Jirisan Warg) possessed a Stealth-type skill was almost a certainty now. But Stealth didn't mean turning invisible. That was probably why the camera had been able to capture Alpha (Jirisan Warg) unlike the people struggling against the wind.

A glance at the comments revealed a flood of skepticism calling it a hoax, alongside louder voices worrying that a monster had been set loose.

"Senior. What's going on?"

"Alpha (Jirisan Warg) is on NewTube..."

Woo-taek answered on reflex, then cut himself off too late.

"Alpha (Jirisan Warg)?"

A gelid light flared in his eyes at the name.

***

Dozens, hundreds of Mana Bullets shot in from every direction.

'Dodge sideways?'

No — I dodged downward. Three Mana Bullets sailed harmlessly overhead and embedded themselves in the ground. I didn't have time to pause; the barrage kept coming.

'Four from the right.'

Intuition and Perception traced the trajectories of the incoming projectiles. Everything I could see, I could evade. I spun around at once.

'...!'

One was already inches from my face. Startled, I snapped Elasticity into action and barely slipped away — only to be skewered from behind by the next salvo.

'When did—?'

The moment the first Mana Bullet punched through me, a second struck before I could even move. With no other choice, I unleashed Gust. The remaining projectiles were shredded in midair and scattered into nothing.

"Are you alright?"

"I'm fine."

There was no pain. The wounds could be healed with Regeneration.

'Thirteenth time.'

My thirteenth failure. I looked down at the floor, riddled with countless holes as if it had been sprayed by a machine gun.

'...I have to dodge all of that?'

Was the old man serious? If I could just run, then sure — I was confident I could outpace the incoming Mana Bullets. But Baekrok's conditions had included "staying in place as much as possible."

"Is it difficult?"

The problem wasn't whether it was a little or a lot difficult. The question was whether it was even possible. When I shot him a look full of that very question, he answered calmly:

"If it were impossible, I wouldn't have asked you to do it."

But how? How was I supposed to dodge Mana Bullets that came at me almost simultaneously? Before I knew it, the next wave of Mana Bullets stood ready, awaiting their turn.

"Do not try to see them."

"......."

"Recall the purpose of the training."

'The purpose of the training.'

To dodge with minimal movement, not excessive motion. Baekrok had told me not to try to see them. The answer had to lie somewhere in that direction.

'Feel them?'

Dodging something without looking at it wasn't hard. But how was I supposed to dodge this many without looking?

'Is he talking about Detection?'

I tried to detect the incoming Mana Bullets, but sensing something without physical substance wasn't easy. In the end, I couldn't keep up with their speed and had to suffer my fourteenth failure.

[Regeneration (D) Lv.3 proficiency at maximum. Regeneration (D) Lv.3 → Regeneration (D) Lv.4]

Forget dodging — the only thing climbing was Regeneration's proficiency. As I waited for the next round, Baekrok told me to rest. I answered that I was fine, but he shook his head.

"It's not your stamina — it's my mana that's running low."

Disappointing, but there was nothing to be done about it. Baekrok had Mana Regeneration anyway, so it wouldn't take long. I sat down, and as if she'd been waiting for exactly that, the fairy dragon flew over and coiled herself atop my head.

"She's remarkably attached to you."

I asked why he was looking at us as though it were a marvel.

"Fairy dragons rarely bond with others. And cases of actual Metamorphosis are rare to begin with."

"But there are plenty of dragon bugs, aren't there?"

You could find them easily enough in both the Spirit Realm and the Corporeal Realm. When I posed the question with that in mind, Baekrok smiled.

"How many of them do you think actually undergo Metamorphosis? One in a thousand? One in ten thousand? It may be even rarer than that. Most don't even try to undergo Metamorphosis to begin with."

"You're saying they live their whole lives as larvae?"

"Because there's no need to risk the danger of Metamorphosis if they don't have to."

Baekrok, who had remarked that becoming an egg was a perilous process in itself, folded his long legs and settled into a crouch.

'Then the reason there were dragon bugs in the Corporeal Realm...'

What if the condition for Metamorphosing into a fairy dragon was similar to leveling up? If it definitely required gaining experience points, then achieving it in the Spirit Realm was impossible.

'Because there's nothing to eat.'

You might be able to accumulate mana here, but you couldn't get experience points unless you engaged in cannibalism. There were no monsters — no, no spiritual creatures — weaker than dragon bugs in this realm.

"Even when they do undergo Metamorphosis, most simply live alongside fairies and never seek to grow further. But that little one is different."

As if she knew the topic had turned to her, the creature perked up with interest.

"She's already grown."

I checked with Insight at his words, and she truly had.

'Why didn't I notice?'

Had I been too busy? At some point, her weight had gone from 126g to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠182g. Her mana in particular had climbed from 76 to 82.

"You seem not to have noticed."

As if sulking, the fairy dragon swatted my ear with her tail. But it felt like little more than a light pat.

"They grow by feeding on Impure Matter."

"Impure Matter?"

That moment, what came to mind was Eun Ja-rim's wound. A wound that I suspected had been inflicted by the Chain of Corruption. Did that mean the corruption wasn't merely something to be treated, but was actually her food?

'Impure Matter?'

A thought flickered through my mind, but I quickly dismissed it.

'I don't even know if it's possible or not.'

There was no point in getting hung up on it. Baekrok spoke again.

"Are you not more curious about the dungeon? I didn't go into much detail before."

"Who was it that started firing Mana Bullets at me without giving me a chance to ask?"

Even under my incredulous gaze, Baekrok paid it no mind as he continued. The old goat had a brazen streak.

"In truth, calling it a dungeon is almost embarrassing. It's nothing more than an endlessly sprawling wasteland and rocky peaks."

His description called Ihyeon Park to mind.

Maybe crossing the boundary meant transitioning into a different space entirely.

"The other monsters aren't much of a problem, but the boss is a different matter."

"You know what it is?"

"There aren't many beings I cannot catch if I run at them."

Shrink Ground. When I thought of that skill of his, I could believe it. If all he needed to do was confirm its identity and leave, it wouldn't have been hard.

"So, the boss?"

"A 'Large Snake' that crawls upon the earth, I'm told."

A snake that crawls upon the earth?

'Don't all snakes do that?'

Then it dawned on me that what he was emphasizing wasn't the crawling — it was "large." Which meant—

"A serpent?"

"Precisely. An Earth Serpent. That is the dungeon's chieftain."

I frowned.

'A serpent, huh...'

It was nothing more than an unremarkable, overly large snake — but it was that very size that was the problem.

'It's too damn big.'

A body stretching dozens of meters was a weapon in and of itself. The elephant was the mightiest land animal not because it fought well, but because of its sheer mass. And if this was a serpent that made an elephant look laughable by comparison?

"My mana is recovering ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠now. Shall we resume right away?"

I nodded without a moment's hesitation. There was no point in wasting time. And so, the training began again.