Adaptation (2)
"Just like the game."
After twenty-odd minutes of walking, I arrived at the forest on the outskirts of the Academy. It wasn't just the city's outskirts, mind you—the city itself was built around the Academy, which is why it's called that. The Academy's influence is so overwhelming that the entire city is treated as an extension of it. And as the name "Union" implies, it's an institution sandwiched between multiple nations, maintaining strict neutrality, so all the more so.
Anyway—the official name of the forest I'd arrived at was Helenia. This vast forest sprawled across two-thirds of the Academy city's perimeter and stretched on and on, its danger levels divided by depth, from the outer edges bordering the Academy all the way to the lethal interior far beyond. With such a conveniently varied environment, the Academy often used it as a practical training ground.
I currently stood at the outermost edge of Helenia Forest. My plan was to safely hone my combat skills and grind out levels here, where only weak monsters spawned. If this were a game, I'd have been flying around by now, but honestly, in real life the most physical activity I'd ever done was a bit of gym work—killing something was a first for me. I needed to get used to it.
Chirrrrr—
Listening to the crickets, I drew the sword at my hip.
The fact that Agility and Magic Power were abnormally high among my base stats told me how Lucian was meant to be played, even though I'd never touched him before. Mix Illusion into close-quarters combat to throw enemies off, then shred them at speed—that was the gist of it. He could be used as a serviceable standard swordsman, or you could build him as an assassin or an illusionist.
"Of course, that'll take some actual development first."
The most practical option right now was the swordsman build. Assassin required too many techniques to learn with my body for me to want to touch it yet, and an all-in Illusion build clearly wouldn't produce killing power without sufficient Magic Power and proficiency. If I wanted to get comfortable quickly and grow steadily, swordsmanship was the way to go for now.
Swordsmanship is the foundation of everything, after all. If I try it and something else looks better, I can always switch.
"Grrrraaaaghh—!"
"Ah."
Right as I was musing, a sharp cry echoed from beyond the underbrush. I cut off my thoughts and gripped the sword with both hands. It was the first time I'd ever held one, yet my stance wasn't half bad.
Skill: [Basic Swordsmanship Lv1]
Thanks to the skill I'd newly acquired earlier. The skill window had originally been completely empty, but just like in the game—once I committed to the default growth path of "swordsman" and took up a blade, I was able to learn the corresponding basic skill. I'd even done a few practice swings beforehand to get a feel for it. Having knowledge stamped straight into your head seemed like it would carry into actual combat just fine, but practice never hurt.
"Krruk!"
Crack—
I held my ground, sword leveled in a middle guard, when something emerged from the underbrush with an eerie cry. Grey fur, pointed pricked ears, a large body and face reminiscent of a big dog, bared sharp fangs.
"A wolf."
A wolf, no matter how you looked at it.
"But why is it alone?"
Wolves were pack animals. That held true for this creature too—the Silver Wolf, a wolf that had absorbed magic power and become a monster. And yet this one had appeared before me all by itself.
"It even looks a bit skinny."
Its ribs were just barely visible beneath its hide.
"Kicked out of the pack, huh?"
I could infer as much from the lore—in the setting, Silver Wolves exile any packmate deemed obsolete. A smile curved my lips as I leveled my sword at the beast.
"Perfect. I was a little worried about fighting something too strong right out of the gate."
"Krrhehheung!"
Perhaps it took my smile as a taunt, because the scrawny thing came charging at me with everything it had.
Whoosh!
I twisted my body slightly and deflected the onrushing wolf with the flat of my blade. Despite what felt like decent footwork, the impact was surprisingly heavy.
"So reality really is different, huh."
"Grrrrr…"
Watching the wolf growl at me from across the way, it truly sank in. If this were a game, I'd have shredded it with flashy inputs in seconds—but this wasn't a game. It was an opponent perfectly suited to my current level, and yet somehow it felt like I couldn't afford to move without thinking.
"Phew. This is just another thing to adapt to. Come on, then."
"Krraeng!"
The moment my words ended, the wolf lunged. Again I shifted just slightly out of its path—but this time, unlike before, I carved a deep gash across its torso.
Splurch!
"Grrrrreung!!"
Blood sprayed, and the beast's furious howl rang through the forest. Gravely wounded, it broke away again, and this time I didn't wait—I charged straight at it.
"Grrrrrr…!"
The wolf tensed, hunching backward. I sprinted toward it and, this time, drew my magic power up.
[Illusion]
My ability activated in tandem. I manipulated where the wolf would perceive me to be, warping it from reality just a little.
"Krrheheung!"
The wolf immediately burst forward as if to counterattack, claws and fangs bared and sharpened. Retreating now was a death sentence anyway—bleeding out and starving as it was. Driven by the single-minded desperation to devour me and recover, it was going all in.
Vmmmm—
A faint blue glow rose from the wolf's body. Magic power. The single greatest difference between beast and monster surged out of it, and in an instant its speed increased. And then—
BOOM!
The charging wolf slammed its head straight into the dirt.
"Kyaiing?"
It had attacked an enemy whose stance was clearly broken—so why was its own face buried in the ground?
Shffk—!
Before the starving wolf could even begin to solve that riddle, its head and body were separated.
"Phew. So that's roughly the feel of it."
Shaking the blood from my blade and wiping the splatter off my clothes, I thought to myself. I didn't know if my body had always been this light, but it had gone remarkably well.
"Adaptation might be easier than I thought?"
Ding-!
Right as I was celebrating, a cheerful alarm chimed.
"Hm, so this is the gist of it. Stats… where should I allocate them?"
The level cap for characters in Union Academy was 200. With 2 stat points to distribute per level, that meant a total of 398 points obtainable through leveling alone. That alone was a bit lacking, of course—further gains were possible through consumable elixir-type items and bonus options attached to equipment. Efficiency dropped off as you went, but early on, training raised stats quite well too.
Consuming an elixir increased distributable stat points just like a level-up, and stats gained from equipment were displayed separately as a + value next to the base. Right now, Strength was boosted by 1 thanks to my iron sword.
"Hm. I'll put the stat points into Magic Power for now."
After brief consideration, I invested both points into Magic Power. Stamina was my lowest stat, but as I said—in the early game, when training efficiency is high, jogging a few laps pays off better.
"Using my ability is fun too, and either way I need high Magic Power to use sword aura or enhancement."
Sure, my base stats were absurd, but compared to fully leveled veterans, I was laughably behind.
"You needed an average of at least 25 to place in the ranks at admission, right?"
Still, reaching that goal would be far easier for me. What an average character would need a brutal, sweaty grind to achieve, I could hit at around level 5.
"Well then, may as well give it my all."
By my reckoning, one week remained until the Academy entrance exam. I'd grind out as many levels as I could in that time. Goal set, I set off deeper into the forest.
"God, limited units really are something. Insane."
A week of backbreaking toil later, I smiled at the reassuring status window. First off, my level had climbed from 2 to 14. I distributed the 24 stat points I'd earned along the way, setting a few aside in reserve for the Special Stats I'd unlock later. And apparently all that hard training paid off naturally as well—Stamina rose by 3 and Strength by 2 on their own, and I'd picked up new skills. They were basic supportive skills that supplemented my body's movement, but the difference between having them and not was huge.
"If I were an average character, I'd only just now be hitting an average of 25."
And I was already eyeing an average of 30, points in reserve or not. Every time I've raised a limited character, I feel it—not only is the ability blatantly overpowered, the base specs are genuinely busted. Since he lets me enter the Academy at a high rank, I get plenty of perks during development, and once I pick up percentage-based stat-boosting items later on, the compounding efficiency is astronomical.
Walking along, I found myself grateful all over again for possessing Lucian, my very own cheat character. Because today was finally the day—the Union Academy entrance ceremony.
"Phew… so today's finally the day. The day I unveil everything I've honed to the whole wide world."
"Yeah, right. You barely scraped past the minimum requirements, and listen to that tongue run."
"Wh-what?"
"If you were even half a tongue's-width stronger, you still would've passed. Tsk tsk."
"Why, you! And what makes YOU so great?!"
"Hooo, hooo. Maria. I'm so nervous, what do I do?"
"You'll be fine. You can do it. Relax your body and take a deep breath. Okay…"
"Coming through."
I shoved my way through the noisy crowd gathered at the entrance and strode purposefully toward the exam hall. With weather this sunny, things were already looking up. A tune almost whistled its way out of me.