That Guy's a Total Psycho?
After cleaning up that gang of delinquents, nothing else happened. Or more accurately, the atmosphere made it clear nothing would happen.
“……”
The training room I returned to was deathly silent, and my instincts told me the heavy mood was entirely because of me. It didn’t feel like an atmosphere I was meant to deal with. The moment I faced that suffocating pressure, I became certain of one thing: my school life here wasn’t going to be easy.
Of course, time passed quickly regardless. The academy hadn’t given us much time to explore the campus in the first place. During those short hours, I focused more on physical training than sightseeing. I needed to strengthen this pathetic body at least a little.
The Iron Horned Bull subjugation and this recent spar had proven that my traits were far more useful than I’d expected. At the same time, though, it also made me realize how limited I still was even with those traits.
Roughly speaking, my current level was probably around the top ten of the entrance exam—or maybe a bit below them. Considering their mana reserves and stamina, I’d lose any prolonged fight. In a short, decisive battle, though, I might have a chance.
So, just as I’d originally planned, raising my stats came first.
“Huu…”
After finishing my last set, I collapsed onto the floor with a thud.
Erectile Dysfunction, Eye of the Transcendent Lv. Max, Heavenly Martial Body Lv. Max, Blessing of Mana Lv. Max, Beloved of the Spirits Lv. Max, Calmness Lv.1, Composure Lv.1, Patience Lv.1, Swordsmanship Lv.1, Frailty Lv.1…….
The short training period hadn’t produced any dramatic stat growth. The slight increases were probably thanks to the experience I’d gained from beating up those delinquents, which had fully integrated into my body. Still, this much growth in such a short time was pretty dramatic by normal standards. In game terms, raising even a single stat through pure training in this timeframe was considered a win.
One thing I noticed while training was how heavily Calmness and Patience were carrying me. Having done repetitive training like this before possessing this body, I knew that with this frail physique I shouldn’t have been able to move for this long. I should’ve collapsed from exhaustion ages ago. The fact that I could endure even while gasping for breath and my arms were shaking like jelly was clearly the influence of those traits.
“Well, that’s not the important part anyway.”
I’d need to keep training like this going forward, but this time I had a specific reason.
Click.
When I opened the small box I’d kept safely in my pocket, a brilliantly glowing medicinal pill emerged. It was the elixir the dean had given me to supposedly cure my Erectile Dysfunction. Honestly, I didn’t think it would actually fix the problem, but the pill’s overall efficacy still looked decent. Even if it didn’t cure me, I needed to absorb as much of its power as possible.
And for that, I first had to raise this body to a certain baseline.
“This should be the absolute maximum I can manage right now.”
Since this was originally just a background-setting segment with no events, this was the most growth I could squeeze out of it. At this point, it was all about learning how to handle and manipulate this body properly.
“Alright then…”
I poured some water into a cup and slowly placed the elixir in my mouth. I’d only ever seen it in the game, never actually consumed one, so I wasn’t sure if I needed to swallow it with water like a normal pill. As it turned out, that worry was unnecessary. The moment it touched my tongue, the elixir melted like powder and slid straight down my throat.
Immediately afterward, the reaction hit.
My stomach grew burning hot, and that energy began circulating throughout my entire body. Thanks to Blessing of Mana, I instantly recognized it as mana. Moving the energy felt as natural as if it had been imprinted in my mind. I circulated it exactly as my instincts directed, then gathered all the mana at once and drove it toward a single point.
But…
There was absolutely no reaction.
The mana simply brushed past that spot as if it didn’t exist. It was a truly miserable, heartbreaking sight.
The academy buildings, which combined highly advanced science with magic, were impressively vast—fitting their reputation as the best in the world. The campus was so enormous that mana-powered trains ran between each major building. With grounds that large, roughly seven thousand students attended the academy. Even accounting for some third-years graduating early or joining guilds ahead of schedule, the number was still massive. And that was just the students. Adding in staff, shopkeepers, and instructors would balloon the total even further.
It wasn’t common to see an institution with this much land inside what was essentially a single facility. Most new students, however, were too busy training to properly explore it. Their eyes were glued to the academy’s wonders.
“It really is huge.”
Lee Seol-ha, walking with notepads and writing tools already prepared in both hands, was no exception. She had originally planned to tour every facility, but like most students she’d ended up spending most of her time stuck in the training rooms. Because of that, the academy still felt somewhat unfamiliar to her.
To think she would spend the next three years here. Her body had adjusted, but her mind still hadn’t. It hadn’t even been two full weeks since she’d arrived, so mentally she was still in that small house where her parents used to wake her up every morning.
Still, she couldn’t be late for the first lecture.
Seol-ha glanced around the academy’s interior with curious eyes and quickened her pace. When she finally reached the lecture hall, she carefully opened the door. After closing it softly behind her, she scanned the classroom.
Just like she’d felt in the training rooms, the new freshmen had already formed clear factions. There were roughly three major groups.
One blindly followed the granddaughter of the Sword Saint.
Another centered around the German genius and the French Meister, forming a group of foreign students.
And the last revolved around Ferdin Artus—his followers looked more like subordinates than simple allies.
Classes hadn’t even started yet, but she didn’t bother wondering how they’d already formed such groups. They’d probably managed it on their own.
Thinking that, Seol-ha took a seat in a quiet corner. She wasn’t particularly interested in the factions themselves. What she cared about were the leaders of each group. It was simply her nature—she enjoyed analyzing people.
Her hand moved busily across her notebook, jotting down observations about each of them.
Cheon Yu-ha, the Sword Saint’s granddaughter: extremely quiet, hates anything bothersome.
The German genius: complete opposite personality. Loves talking to anyone.
The French Meister: slightly arrogant, but possesses strong pride in his own creations.
And Ferdin Artus: hides his true intentions well. What he shows on the surface seems very different from what lies beneath, but she couldn’t read any deeper than that.
After writing down what she’d observed over the past few days, Seol-ha twirled her pen between her fingers. She had a decent amount of information, but there were still two people she hadn’t been able to analyze properly.
“Lee Sungjin and Tana Erhen.”
The top and second place finishers in the entrance exam. Normally, students who placed that high would form their own factions, but those two showed no signs of doing so. In fact, Lee Sungjin had gone and beaten up members of Ferdin’s group.
Was he actually crazy? Or had he done it with some kind of plan in mind?
Clatter. Clatter.
“Hurry up and get inside already!”
“H-hiiiiiiik!”
That was when the commotion started outside the lecture hall. The door rattled noisily, and voices arguing could be heard from the hallway. The repeated noise eventually drew the attention of even those who had been ignoring it, and everyone turned toward the entrance.
“What the hell? Are they fighting?”
“Why aren’t they opening the door?”
Seol-ha was also frowning at the door. She thought to herself with a mental scowl, Just what kind of lunatic starts a fight on the very first day of class?
Whoever it was, they clearly wanted attention. There was no other reason to cause such a scene.
Slide.
As everyone’s eyes focused on the door, it finally opened, and a male cadet burst into the room looking absolutely terrified. One of the students near Ferdin widened his eyes and called out.
“Kang Seok! What are you doing?!”
Kang Seok. Seol-ha furrowed her brow, feeling like she’d heard that name before. It was definitely familiar, but he wasn’t in the top rankings and didn’t have any particularly memorable traits…
“Ah.”
“Ugh, I told you to open the damn door. What the hell were you doing out there?”
Along with Seol-ha’s short moment of realization, someone else walked in through the door Kang Seok had just fled from. At the irritated voice, the students who had been staring at the terrified boy immediately shifted their gazes.
Tall stature. Well-trained physique. Neatly arranged hair and a deeply furrowed face.
The top freshman of this semester. The student currently at the center of the most rumors.
Lee Sungjin.
From the moment he appeared, he’d already beaten someone up.
Seol-ha silently revised her evaluation of him from “unknown” to “complete psycho.”