The Second One
The Second One
Time passed, and the first day of the second-semester tower entry arrived.
Cadets, residents, staff, professors—everyone had their hands full.
Last time, the rush came from the preparations. This time, the tower entry schedule was only just beginning, and a bustling energy already filled Siyoram.
"What? Why are the second-years gathering at the plaza?"
Hong Yeon-hwa, who had clung to me tight in her sleep the night before, looked around and asked.
Just as she said, plenty of second-years were heading toward the plaza.
"They say it's not a competition this time, so the first- and second-years are entering at the same time. Next week, the third- and fourth-years go in."
"Ah, right... I see."
Baek A-rin, walking with us toward the plaza, answered. Hong Yeon-hwa, who had been nodding along casually, scowled and shot a glare at Baek A-rin.
That day... the day I treated Baek A-rin to dinner.
Ever since then, Baek A-rin had been dropping by more and more often, staying for dinner.
I didn't know the reason. Maybe she just wanted to eat with Hong Yeon-hwa.
I had no reason to turn her away, so I cooked for her without complaint.
Yesterday was the same. She showed up without warning, took a seat at the table, and we ate together like it was natural.
But even after dinner, she didn't go home. She just lingered.
Baek A-rin stubbornly endured Hong Yeon-hwa's pointed looks that seemed to demand when she planned to leave.
Then, as smoothly as a snake slithering over a wall, she claimed a room and spent the night.
Thanks to that, we didn't need to meet up separately—we were all moving together from the dormitory.
'...I hope no weird rumors start.'
I scratched my cheek, suddenly remembering the stares we got in the first-floor lobby.
When I came down with Hong Yeon-hwa, Baek A-rin, and Ellia, those strange looks directed our way had lodged themselves in my mind.
Of course, we hadn't done anything worth feeling guilty over, but rumors don't care much about the truth.
Still, I wasn't too worried.
If anyone ran their mouth, a letter stamped with the seals of Calamity Flame and Azure Sea would end up in their family mailbox.
So I got on the bus without much concern.
.
.
.
For the first time in a while, Siyoram's Central Plaza was packed.
Was this the first full assembly in half a year? Time really did fly. It felt like just yesterday since the first-semester tower entry.
A strange feeling settled over me as I stepped into the Central Plaza.
And I observed the ivory tower rising from the plaza's center every moment.
Even now, it scattered the Blessing of Growth in real time, accelerating my explosive growth. Soon it would bestow a trial and help me grow once again—this colossal tower...
'......'
I pulled back my observation for a moment.
The Authority of Observation had grown far more familiar than before. If I strained myself, I might even manage to probe a little deeper now.
...But I didn't force it. I still hadn't forgotten the memory of trying to uncover a secret and collapsing in a pool of my own blood.
I had no desire to cause a disaster by poking around and losing my tower entry opportunity.
'After this tower entry, I should request a consultation with the Vice Headmaster.'
The atmosphere was as chaotic as it had been in the first semester.
Cadets were flooding in by the second, gathering by class under their professors' guidance.
With the second-years assembling too, it was even more crowded than last time.
'Senior Lee Ji-yeon is... here too.'
She stood among cadets who seemed to be her friends.
She looked well-liked—I observed plenty of cadets coming up to greet her, and caught glimpses of Lee Ji-yeon playfully reassuring a nervous friend.
She looked like a completely different person compared to that wilted state I'd seen her in before.
I genuinely couldn't understand why someone like that turned into such a mess around me.
Anyway, we headed straight for the Ipchun Class, where Professor Liana was directing everyone.
At least now we had one experience under our belts—even without the giant hologram above Professor Liana's head, we were gathering smoothly.
"Lee Ha-yul! It's been a while!"
[Good to see you too, Julia.]
The moment we joined the Beginning of Spring crowd, we were swamped with greetings and well-wishes from those who'd arrived early.
Most of my messenger history consisted of people asking if I was okay.
It did feel a bit strange—like that alone proved I was a walking disaster magnet—but since people were worried about me, replying to every message one by one had become exhausting work.
Still, I supposed it meant I'd earned a decent reputation. Though most of them were probably trying to get a foot in the door with me.
"At least there's no competition this tower entry. The thought of competing against Lee Ha-yul... phew."
"Compete? I don't think it's even a competition anymore..."
"I know. That's why I said it."
Among them, the one who spoke with a relieved sigh was a support-major cadet named Loreine.
A guy with distinctive lavender hair... I'd met him during the first-semester tower entry.
He was the one who, the first time we met, had tried to gang up on me with a 'three-on-one' strategy. And got his head lopped off.
I exchanged a few words with the Beginning of Spring cadets before approaching Professor Liana.
Thanks to the cadets who now moved on their own without needing direction, Professor Liana looked relaxed. Beside her stood my teacher, arms quietly crossed.
As I approached, both Professor Liana and my teacher welcomed me warmly.
"Ah, that's right."
[Hm? Huh? Mmmgh...]
Then it happened. Professor Liana, who'd been stroking my head with a smile, narrowed her eyes and—without warning—pinched my nose and pressed down firmly.
[Whyyy...?]
It didn't hurt, but I was confused.
When I asked, puzzled, Professor Liana let out a soft laugh.
"That's your punishment for teasing a professor the other day."
[Huh...]
Punishment for teasing a professor?
I hadn't done any—
...anything... oh. I did do something, didn't I?
Actually, now that I thought about it, quite a lot of things.
What goes around comes around. Karma. I had no choice but to offer up my nose for a while.
"Take care in there."
"I know you'll do well enough, but learn a lot and come back."
Unfortunately, entry was about to begin, so we couldn't chat for long.
Not long ago she'd been pressing down on my nose, and now I savored the hand brushing through my hair before returning to my spot.
"...Hmph."
[Ehhh...]
In that brief moment, Hong Yeon-hwa, looking sulky about something, grabbed my cheeks.
This time, for reasons I truly couldn't fathom, I had to endure having my cheeks kneaded.
.
.
.
Those unjustified hands only retreated when the professor stepped onto the podium to announce the guidelines.
"I will now go over the instructions for this second-semester tower entry."
The announcer was the same as in the first semester—Professor Albert Caniazel, the homeroom professor of Gogu Class.
Being the eldest and most experienced, he seemed to take charge of these schedules.
"The theme of this tower entry is Contemplation. Your objective is to face and overcome yourselves as manifested inside the Tower."
Overcoming yourself... that's no easy task. Even the struggle in basic mental discipline is hard.
And this is fighting an actual puppet—a manifestation of your own body, abilities, and techniques. It couldn't possibly be easy.
"The enemies manifested will be based on your state at the moment of entering the Tower of Growth."
But there was a silver lining. The version of yourself manifested by the Tower was only as strong as you were at the point of entry. Any growth achieved inside the Tower wouldn't be reflected.
In other words, if you grew stronger within the Tower, overcoming your manifested self wasn't impossible.
On top of that, the Blessing of Growth was amplified inside the Tower, so if you kept clashing against it, your growing real self would eventually win out.
When you laid out the conditions, they weren't insanely difficult.
"The tower entry will last five days. Cadets who overcome themselves will be moved to separate training chambers for the remaining time, or may request special enemies to be manifested for simulated combat."
And if there was still time left, you could train separately to wring every last drop of benefit from the amplified blessing, or manifest other enemies for sparring.
'If I have time left, I'll try that too.'
The conditions might not be that harsh, but they weren't easy to clear either. Plenty of cadets barely scraped through with time running out.
I could also go in and barely pass—or fail to pass entirely and get kicked out.
Of course, my Blessing of Growth was applied at a higher level than most, so barring something unusual, I'd get through.
"—That concludes the explanation for this tower entry. I encourage all of you to observe yourselves from another's perspective, identify your strengths and weaknesses, and move forward. Now, Ipchun Class will enter first."
Having finished his concise explanation, the Gogu Class professor promptly began guiding the entry, as if there was no time to waste.
The arched entrance at the base of the Tower of Growth.
Cadets lined up and filed unceasingly into the entrance, where a dark hue rippled.
During the first-semester tower entry, they'd staggered the entries to avoid the scenario of combat erupting the instant someone entered.
But this time, since everyone would be placed in separate spaces anyway, they were entering without delay.
Last time, Gogu Class had entered first. This time, Beginning of Spring was at the front.
"Ha-yul, do well in there."
"Grow lots and lots, and let's meet again!"
"If you clear it early, I'll see you in the training chamber!"
[Got it! I'll be rooting for you all too!]
Thanks to that, I was able to stand before the Tower of Growth without much waiting.
I smiled brightly and waved my hands at the encouragement pouring from behind me. Then, so the cadet behind me wouldn't have to wait, I pushed myself straight into the entrance.
My second tower entry.
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.
.
My hazy consciousness suddenly sharpened.
Senses that had dulled for an instant now stood on edge.
A dry wind buffeted my body. The sound of clothes flapping struck my ears.
I immediately checked my condition.
'Body: no abnormalities. Core and circuits: normal. I made it in without issues.'
There was the usual slight sense of foreignness, but not enough to be uncomfortable.
I clenched my right hand tightly. Again, no problems.
My left prosthetic arm was fine, and the Sky Wing Feather had followed me in. In the first-semester tower entry, it would've been confiscated, but since this wasn't a competition, there were no restrictions.
Besides, if the real body brought an artifact in, the replica would be manifested carrying it too.
The air was gritty. I felt my lips drying out. I tapped the ground with the tip of my foot—not undergrowth or grass, but a hard surface.
'Authority manifestation: Observation.'
I re-manifested the Authority I'd briefly set aside. A sharp ringing shot through my head for a moment.
It felt like something was pressing down.
Repulsion. The space was pushing back against my observation range.
During the last tower entry, I hadn't been able to overcome this. My spatial perception had been suppressed, forcing me to operate as a blind man in the truest sense.
Not this time.
Observation, having shaken off the pressure in an instant, unfurled. Information about the area centered on me flooded in like a tide, and the map that had briefly gone dark updated.
I was standing on wasteland. A brownish-red horizon where vibrant green was hard to find. The moisture had long since dried up—I observed cracked earth everywhere.
'Is this the default setting? I heard it varies by cadet...'
I stroked my chin for a moment.
This wasn't a place overflowing with vitality. You could wring some out of the earth if you tried, but it wouldn't compare to absorbing it amid lush vegetation.
In other words, this wasn't a space where spirits could freely thrive.
Good terrain for an earth spirit. And with a decent wind blowing, not bad for a wind spirit either.
But for any other spirit, this place was far from friendly.
'Hm...'
I stood in place for a moment and readied myself. I layered defensive spells in abundance to prepare for an ambush and activated basic Body Reinforcement Technique.
It wasn't ideal terrain for spirits, but for the sake of keeping pressure on the enemy, I released plenty of them anyway.
While doing so, I thought about how to handle the version of 'me' that would soon appear.
'First...'
My manifested Unique Abilities: All-Rounder and Mana Affinity.
The Body Reinforcement Technique and Aura techniques I'd mastered on that foundation. The various martial arts and weapon techniques I'd trained to a high level.
The countless spells I'd indiscriminately observed and stored from magic tomes.
Necromancy, cobbled together by trial and error.
Spirit Arts—commanding five attributes and hundreds of spirits freely, and capable of launching Spirit Manifestation if needed.
Techniques reproducible through the Expansion Ability Myriad Transformations. Unique Abilities reproducible through Homogenization...
Calamity Flame, Azure Sea, Taesan, White Night, Illusion Dream, Thorns, Body Amplification, Hardening, Reverse Mirror, Accumulation, and more.
Thanks to the Authority of Observation, zero-blind-spot responsiveness and flawless movement precision.
Various tools stashed in the subspace created through the Authority of Space—spatial walls and other applications.
Durability correction from wearing the Proof of Protection. The Authority of Protection that blocked most attacks...
'This is annoying...'
My brow furrowed.
Countering this was going to be a pain.
There were too many options. Even if I worked out one countermeasure, it could simply pull out another.
A countermeasure for every possible move? No such thing existed. The only way to shut down that many options was to crush them with overwhelming force before they could do anything.
Or cut off mana at the source. Ah, but then Myriad Transformations would fire off something imitating a technique that only consumed Heart Power.
Would Authorities even be manifested?
The Authority of Protection probably would be, but I wasn't sure about Space and Observation.
'...First, I'll just have to charge in and see.'
No amount of deliberation here would produce a better answer. Doesn't theory-crafting usually end up collapsing spectacularly the moment you hit the field?
I'd experience it firsthand, then figure out a countermeasure afterward.
Wasn't that exactly what the resurrection function was for?
Then it happened. At the very edge of my slowly expanding observation range, a living being registered.
'It's here...?'
Right as I was about to respond, my body locked up. The details flooding my mind... I examined them closely.
The figure was immensely tall. Nearly two meters. Beneath a shabby appearance, the muscle was solid and dense.
The man wore armor that was barely distinguishable from scrap.
His helmet had long since been lost, leaving his head fully exposed.
The armor encasing his body was in such a state it could only be called the remnants of fragments.
The black martial uniform beneath the armor was hideously frayed and torn to shreds.
Both arms were wrapped thickly in blood-red bandages.
In one hand he held a sword, its tip dragging along the ground—and the blade was in terrible shape.
The lusterless black blade was a piece of scrap metal, chipped and worn down to nothing. So wrecked you'd wonder if it was even worth selling to a junk dealer.
'......'
The thoughts that had been flowing smoothly ground to a halt.
My mind was racing—forming a hypothesis. I just wasn't sure if it was right.
Armor reduced to fragments... Suppressing Iron Armor.
A high-grade artifact. Its defense wasn't outstanding, but it had strong self-repair and was sturdy enough to block at least one serious attack.
The black uniform too ruined even for rags... Black Wind Robe.
A high-grade artifact. It boosted agility and had useful built-in mana storage and discharge functions.
The blood-red bandages... Blood-Restraining Seal. A mid-to-high-grade artifact. It absorbed blood to suppress bleeding and status abnormalities, and grew longer the more blood it soaked up.
The sword dragging across the ground... a mass-produced black iron sword with no special traits.
A distinctive appearance and equipment combination.
And a set of equipment that lingered, familiar, in one corner of my mind.
'Uh... no way...'
The man, who had kept his head deeply bowed, slowly lifted it.
A face plastered thick with scars of every kind.
My breath stopped.
It was clearly different... but it was an achingly familiar face.
'My face?'
Because it closely resembled the face I observed every moment—my own.
In that instant, the dead pupils of the man's blankly staring eyes constricted.
Within those pitch-black pupils, like the abyss itself had been scooped into them, my distant figure was reflected.
An alarm—call it instinct, survival sense—screamed.
I moved instantly.
At the same moment, the man gave his sword the slightest flick. The blade, twitched with utter indifference, blurred for an instant as if wreathed in mist.
'You son of a—'
The curse never finished.
- Shk.
The danger signal cut off.
Myriad Combat Arts Expansion Ability: Grain-Rain Seasonal Boundary - Swift White-Wing Severance.
Belatedly, my severed head soared through the sky.
* * *
[Authority "Growth" manifests.]
[Trial of Growth activates.]
[Authority "Knowledge" manifests.]
[Authority "Observation" manifests.]
[Accessing Tower of Knowledge Internal Observation Records: "2nd."]
[Authority "Harmonization" manifests.]
[Connecting Tower of Knowledge and Tower of Growth.]
[Authority "Space" manifests.]
[Connecting to Tower of Knowledge Internal Observation Records: "2nd."]
...
[Manifesting recorded being.]
[Incomplete Manifestation.]
[2nd Iteration.]
[Struggle-Seeking Asura.]