Mana (1)
Mana (1)
- Gooood~ Moooor~ ning~! Da da da—
—Thwack.
I instinctively swatted the source of the noise. The smartwatch's alarm cut off with a smack.
I grimaced as consciousness was yanked to the surface against my will.
"Nnnngh..."
I squirmed.
The pillow in my arms and the blanket wrapped around my body—warm, soft things—were gently coaxing my newly-awake mind right back to sleep.
I barely managed to lift my arm and check the smartwatch.
[ Saturday AM 5:30 ]
Yesterday had been Friday, when we sparred and I switched from the sword to the spear. Siyoram generally leaves you alone on weekends.
In the past, I'd still be deep asleep. If I happened to wake up early, I'd spend the time burrowing around in bed, savoring that pleasant drowsiness of just coming to.
"Nnnrgh..."
But I couldn't afford that now. With that single-minded thought, I fought off the temptation, eyes brimming with tears. I barely hauled my upper body upright, stretched my arms out high, and worked the stiffness out.
I shook off a bit more drowsiness, then slipped out of bed.
I grabbed a towel and clothes and headed to the bathroom, carefully turning the faucet.
I splashed cold water onto my face. The moment the chill sank into my skin, the resisting sleepiness fled in a panic.
"...?"
I scrubbed my face roughly with the towel hanging nearby, then caught myself. I should be bruised—doing that would've hurt.
There was no pain. Now that I thought about it, something was strange.
I tilted my head and properly inspected my face with Spatial Perception. Clean. Not a single mark.
'Huh.'
I paused for a second, then pinched my cheek. It hurt, but it was normal pain.
The bruises had vanished overnight. I hiked up my pajamas and checked the rest of my body. Pristine, as if asking when there had ever been a bruise.
"?"
What's this?
They'd definitely still been there right before I went to bed last night. Yet now they were completely gone.
I wracked my brain for a reason, but still came up with nothing.
It was called recovery training, but it was the training method Hong Yeon-hwa had evaluated as outdated, dogshit efficiency.
Professor Atra had also told me to avoid external healing if possible, but said to handle it myself if I really couldn't stand it.
So I hadn't received any healing. Getting beaten up had been familiar for a long time.
The pain couldn't be helped, but I was gritting my teeth and enduring because apparently it'd make me stronger faster.
Professor Atra's teaching was genuinely tough. From listening to others, her methods fell on the harsh side of the scale.
But there were results. I could feel them myself. Where combat was concerned, my proficiency had climbed steeply in just two days.
Like Professor Liana, she was a new professor who'd joined this year.
The odd part, though, was that unlike Professor Liana, she hadn't opened any lectures?
At most, she'd taken charge of the special admission cadet's—my—afternoon combat instruction. I didn't know why that merited the title of professor, but at Siyoram, that wasn't all that unusual.
Siyoram was essentially a hodgepodge of several educational systems to begin with.
When it was first established, it ran in a rough-and-ready improvised manner befitting the era, and as time passed, things were tacked on and changed.
The terminology itself is a jumble. Ostensibly modeled on a military academy, it calls its students "cadets" while calling its teachers "professors" rather than instructors.
There's a system like a university where you pick your own subjects, and cases like the Free Semester where you have to take assigned courses.
The classes are also divided by year, and during the Free Semester, afternoons are split into majors and grades for lectures... really a mess, all in all.
- Drip.
I finished a quick wash. I carefully turned the tap off, patted my face dry with the towel, and came out.
I didn't bother with any skincare products.
Back in my original world, cosmetics were a hassle too, and I never felt skincare was all that important, so I ignored it—until Agapanthus's nagging got me to at least use a moisturizer.
What were they called again? Skin, toner, essence, something-something... They all looked the same to me, just different names.
Anyway, I'd put them on carelessly in my original world, but here I felt even less need for any of that.
I threw on some clothes. Just the casual wear Siyoram provided, really.
Not the uniform-like formal wear, but a hooded tracksuit with a clean design. Add socks and arm sleeves, and that was it.
The arm sleeves now just felt like socks for my hands. I wore them so often that they weren't uncomfortable anymore.
I shoved a fistful of nutrition bars into my pocket and headed out the door.
Most of the bars were gone by the time the elevator reached the bottom. I passed through the lobby and arrived beside the bus stop.
"Nnnrrgh..."
I stretched my arms overhead, stretched my legs the same way, twisted my whole body this way and that. Some of the stiffness loosened up. I let out a deep breath and kicked off the ground. The chill morning air swept across my face.
I could've taken the bus, but I wasn't in a rush, so I ran there on my own two feet. It was a sense of speed I wouldn't have felt in the past.
Had it even been five days? In that short span, my body had grown tremendously.
Growth that had just begun upon becoming a superhuman. Amplified by the Blessing of Growth, then amplified further by the Special Admission boost. Because the growth had only just started, I could keenly feel the change in my physical abilities.
Maybe a little over twenty minutes of running. I arrived at the destination's entrance.
Not an old-fashioned training yard filled with hard dirt and sand. Lush green grass stretched everywhere.
One of the parks easily found across Siyoram's grounds.
As I crossed the entrance, the pale dawn light and a thick veil of mist greeted me. The lake in the center was especially shrouded in fog.
I followed the walking path deeper inside and reached the lake area. A check of the time showed I still had a bit to spare before we'd agreed to meet.
I glanced around, then plopped myself down on a patch of weedy ground nearby.
This was the first-year section, and given the hour, no one else was here.
"...Sniff."
Sitting there blankly, a breeze passed by. Without thinking, I inhaled. I'd always liked places full of grassy scents, so this was a habit.
And there was no scent at all. Fresh grass? The crisp coolness of early dawn? Nothing.
'... Ugh.'
I'd done it on instinct and now I was just annoyed. The small lift in my mood plummeted right back down.
Seriously, life's not worth living.
I was sitting there thinking that and reviewing yesterday's sparring in my head when someone entered my Spatial Perception range.
Immense mana. A quantity that made you question whether that much could be concentrated in a single person.
"Oh, you're already out here?"
[No, I had nothing to do so I came out early.]
Green eyes that drew attention even in this place overflowing with green grass curved gently.
A warm-toned turtleneck sweater that wrapped up to her neck, and a long black skirt. Everyday clothes rather than the mage's robe she always wore in the lecture hall.
Professor Liana smiled brightly and extended her hand. She was holding out a picnic basket.
"?"
"I was a little late getting this ready. Let's share it as an apology!"
Without waiting for a reply, Professor Liana trotted off toward a nearby table.
I thought for a moment, then followed her.
When she opened the basket on the table, beautifully arranged sandwiches came into view. There was also fruit juice she'd brought separately.
"Here! A special gift!"
She plucked out a sandwich that was noticeably stuffed and an orange-flavored drink, then thrust them toward me.
[Thank you.]
I expressed my thanks and took the sandwich and drink. I examined the contents for a moment, then bit off the corner.
There was no taste, of course. Utterly depressing. As I chewed, Professor Liana spoke up.
"How is it? Does it suit your taste?"
[Yes. It's good.]
I imagine it probably is.
"I'm a little relieved to hear it's good!"
She beamed at me, saying she was glad, then took a bite of her own sandwich.
The weather was chilly, probably because it was dawn. But maybe because my body had changed, the impression was less "chilly" and more "pleasantly cool."
Early morning. Idly munching on sandwiches at a misty park table—it felt remarkably peaceful.
"Let's finish this, rest for a bit, and then get started right away."
[Yes.]
Meeting Professor Liana wasn't for any special reason.
Ever since our earlier introductions, Professor Liana had seemed to feel a little sorry for me, and she was the one who'd offered to help me get started with mana.
Mana.
Along with unique abilities, the defining symbol of a superhuman.
There are plenty of superhumans who don't possess a unique ability. Unique abilities are an immensely important power for a superhuman, but that doesn't mean everyone can have one.
They're either innately born with it, or a power arduously bloomed through postnatal effort.
Mana, however, is handled by nearly every superhuman. Barring extremely rare cases, superhumans wield mana.
Simply utilizing mana can produce phenomena that shatter the common sense I originally held.
Right now, I didn't know how to handle mana. More precisely, thanks to Mana Affinity, I felt like I could, but I'd avoided it on purpose.
No matter my unique abilities, I was still a layman with shallow knowledge.
I'd figured it was better to receive guidance from an expert like Professor Liana, so I'd held back until now.
At first, I'd mostly poked at Spatial Perception, which would serve in place of my eyes.
Once my field of vision opened with Spatial Perception, I'd lightly tapped into simple cookbooks and various skills to test the waters of All-Rounder, and through sparring with Professor Atra, I was now prodding at swordsmanship, unarmed combat, spear arts, footwork, and so on.
It was about time to start poking at Mana Affinity.
All three of my unique abilities were passive, not active. Most were also abilities similar to all-rounder types, so poking at them all together would be efficient.
The clue I'd picked up at the Freshman Welcome Party. If I poked at all three at once, I could expect some synergy.
My heart fluttered with faint anticipation.