Sparring (1)

Sunday morning, after finishing the first week's schedule at Siyoram.

I woke up early again today, same as always.

I didn't have the mental leeway to just lie in bed, drowsy and squirming around.

Breakfast was a nutrition bar again. Without any sense of taste, I had no appetite whatsoever. Even so, I had to get nutrients in, so I was eating stuff like nutrition bars and vitamins on a regular schedule.

I changed into my casual clothes and considered doing some physical conditioning, but stopped myself—I felt like I needed to go over my plans.

'So the second week begins...'

I sat at the desk in my room and sank into thought.

I planned to organize my results so far. Only one week had passed, but I'd already gained quite a bit.

I scribbled on the study tablet provided by Siyoram with the stylus.

'Physical ability.'

It had only been about five days, but my physical ability had improved noticeably.

The fact that I'd become a superhuman with abundant latent potential, the multiplier from the Blessing of Growth, the additional multiplier granted to a Special Admission Cadet, and Professor Atra's punishing lessons—all of it combined to spur my growth. As a result, my body's development was already evident after a mere five days.

'Mana.'

Yesterday, Professor Liana had helped me with my introduction to mana.

Thanks to her, I successfully took my first steps with mana, and I could now officially count myself among superhumans.

Of course, I'd only just begun the fundamentals. I still couldn't properly use aura, body reinforcement, or even basic magic, so there might not seem to be much of a difference—but simply being able to handle mana changed many things. It was probably safe to say my growth had accelerated yet again.

'Unique abilities.'

Spatial Perception, All-Rounder, Mana Affinity.

I'd started actively using all three unique abilities.

I hadn't felt it deeply yet, but I had the sense that subtle things were improving. I planned to look into this more carefully during sparring with Professor Atra.

Of course, even this was barely crossing the starting line.

I hadn't even begun to construct my "uniqueness," let alone fully grasped my own abilities, so...

Unique abilities are usually something you're born with. Like how Calamity Flame and Azure Sea are inherited from their progenitors. They can come down through a bloodline, or sometimes a person awakens an entirely different unique ability on their own.

What about acquiring one later in life? It isn't impossible. There are definitely cases of superhumans who awakened mana but initially had no unique ability, then manifested one after enduring grueling effort.

I didn't fit either case. I didn't inherit one through an established bloodline like some people, nor did I possess overwhelming inborn talent at birth. And I certainly didn't acquire mine through a lifetime of ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠devotion and effort.

None of that. I just got lucky fiddling with my game character's settings. That's all there was to it.

Unique abilities and constraints... thinking about it made my blood boil again. I frowned without realizing it. The memory of that dogshit game that added another cruel twist to a life I'd thought might finally be turning around resurfaced.

When you created a character in <Savior>, you could normally choose one ability to take with you. You could pick an ordinary ability commonly found in the setting, or one with a more special effect. You could even reject any ability and start with nothing. That was why I bled my guts out in the 1st Iteration. Wanting a vanilla experience, I'd chosen to reject the ability and start bare-handed. Thanks to that, I catastrophically botched it. Ironically, the 1st Iteration was the longest I'd survived out of all my cycles...

Anyway, the settings had a few screws loose. You started with one ability you could choose. Then, through the constraint settings, you could add special corrections to the player per constraint taken. Normally, if a player accepted one constraint, they'd end up with two abilities—the one from the constraint and the one they were originally supposed to take.

But not in this trash fire of a game. The first constraint gave you nothing. If you accepted one constraint, your total number of abilities was still just one. That first constraint was effectively nothing more than a stepping stone to qualify for a second constraint and a second ability. What kind of dogshit system was that? I'd even sent ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠an email to the devs about it, but only received a boilerplate reply saying, "We took that into consideration when designing the settings."

So, in practical terms, the first constraint you ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠took gave you nothing—it was a purely losing deal. I'd have loved to toss it, but to receive a second and third ability, I had to swallow that raw deal. In the end, I could only start the game after matching the ratio at 3 abilities to 3 curses.

'Tsk.'

That boilerplate reply from the devs—those people were another mystery. Who were the developers? What kind of people even made this dumpster fire of a game? I have no idea. I'd like to find out, but... with things as they are, I don't have the leeway to focus on that. So I'll set it aside for now. Once I have some breathing room, I'll look into it step by step.

Next question.

The original world and the game world. A realistic world without anything like supernatural abilities, and a world over here full of fantastical concepts like mana, unique abilities, dungeons, and towers. I am the 'original world' Lee Ha-yul. At present, I'm fairly convinced of this, because I don't have any other way to make sense of it.

I am the Lee Ha-yul who remembers the shitty old house—the one who fled after it burned down, wandered, half-starved, and ended up in an orphanage. The Lee Ha-yul who drifted after even that orphanage burned to the ground, eventually settled somewhere, and scraped by. Then what is this place? This world full of fantastical elements—who is the Lee Ha-yul of this side?

It's a question I'd had from the very beginning. I, the Lee Ha-yul of the original world, came over to this side. That's what I think. But there is a sticking point: my identity existed here even before I arrived. If this were only a game, I could just shrug and call it a setting, but once I accepted this place as a genuinely real world, I couldn't just let it go.

Now that I had a little breathing room, I finally looked into my identity here today.

Since the framework of South Korea seemed to be intact, a good number of the websites I knew also existed here. Thanks to that, obtaining documents online didn't take long. I thoroughly checked the various records displayed by hologram.

[Yeonseong Orphanage]

Recorded ages 0 to 7. I was discovered as a newborn left in front of the gate, and intake procedures were followed. Listed as ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠missing and presumed dead due to a fire. Detailed records were lost because of the fire.

[Ilbo Orphanage]

Recorded ages 8 to 18. Went missing, then found a year and a half later. At the time, I was discovered blind and with severe burns on my right arm. After going through procedures, I was admitted to the orphanage. However, because of my physical disabilities and the fact that I lived like a lifeless doll, there were no noteworthy records. Just before I was discharged, there was a fire at the orphanage. It was recorded that I sustained no particular injuries at that time.

'Hm...'

My brow furrowed. An unpleasant sensation made me rub my arm, and I could feel goosebumps prickling up.

Yeonseong Orphanage. I didn't know what that place was. It's an orphanage I'd never heard of. How many people even remember the name of an orphanage in the first place?

But...

'Ilbo Orphanage.'

That name was familiar. How could I forget it? It was the name of the orphanage I'd been in. It made my skin crawl. Disgust, or maybe more accurately, fear. When the name Lee Ha-yul had matched, I'd already had my suspicions, but to find genuinely similar details—it gave me chills.

The only real difference seemed to be that first part, Yeonseong Orphanage. In my original world, that period would have been spent at my parents' house. The shitty commonality was the fire. My parents' house had burned down, and the orphanage on this side had burned down too. There was also the shared detail of having wandered for nearly a year.

At the time, I'd naturally assumed I was going to die. You lose consciousness with your right arm on fire—of course you think you're dead. But my eyes opened. For some reason, only my right arm was left with horrific burns. Before I could even grasp how, past me had been clutching my starving stomach, drifting from place to place. Then, somehow or other, I ended up admitted to another orphanage: Ilbo Orphanage.

Back then, I was a ghost child with no birth registration. I heard that my birth was only registered once I was at Ilbo Orphanage, handled as a founding of a new family registry.

'Hah...'

It was beyond frustrating. I leaned back in my chair and let out a deep sigh. My head was tangled. Just the circumstances on this side were enough to give me a headache. Looking into it, I'd also discovered debt under my name. Apparently, I'd reached out to financial institutions for living expenses. The sum was tens of millions of won. I could only wonder how I'd even gotten a loan back then when I probably had zero credit.

Fortunately, Siyoram periodically paid out a stipend for maintaining dignity, so I could avoid being strapped for cash right away. But considering the interest, paying it off as fast as possible would be best. Once I surpassed the level of a lowest-grade hero or hunter, I'd be able to pay off tens of millions in no time.

'My head hurts...'

There was too much to think about, and my head was throbbing. Yesterday, I'd slept soundly next to Professor Liana and felt a bit better, but starting today, my sleep hours would shrink again, so the headaches would return.

She'd called it sleep training, hadn't she? It was harder than I'd expected. I hadn't thought I'd simply drift into a light sleep and wake up precisely one hour later, but I certainly hadn't expected to conk out and sleep soundly for hours, either. I was dumbfounded that I'd dozed off under Professor Liana's coat. She'd smiled and said everyone's like that at first, but honestly, I couldn't help feeling a little embarrassed.

'Was it the third week?'

I'd been pressing down on the desk out of sheer embarrassment when a thought struck me, and I tapped at my smartwatch. I pulled up the academic schedule file I'd downloaded before.

Today was the weekend of the first week. On Monday and Tuesday of the third week, there was a mandatory dungeon raid schedule for all first-years. The plan was to group the cadets of each first-year class into teams of four or five and send them into a Grade 4 Dungeon to carry out a mission. It was scheduled as a one-night, two-day trip. Dungeon raids and monster subjugation were essential parts of being a hero, so raid and subjugation schedules were recurring fixtures in the academic calendar.

Right after the dungeon raid, in the immediately following fourth week at Siyoram, we had entry into the Tower of Growth. The Tower of Growth was practically Siyoram's entire reason for existing. Its benefits were twofold: one was the Blessing of Growth applied to cadets belonging to Siyoram, and the other was the entrance ticket to the Tower of Growth. Inside the Tower, your already-corrected growth multiplier was amplified further, and you could experience the special trials the tower provided. Moreover, even if your body was damaged or you lost your life during a trial, it all remained an illusion. In other words, no matter the method, once the trial concluded, you were simply ejected to the outside. All negative traces like wounds vanished completely, while positive aspects like growth were all retained when you were ejected.

You could never warn someone enough about the dangers of real combat. But within the Tower, you could experience it without the risk of death or injury, and with the amplified Blessing of Growth on top of it. It was one of the most critical events at Siyoram for achieving rapid growth—a major long-term schedule lasting a full five days inside the Tower of Growth.

I turned things over in my head. The dungeon raid was in two weeks, and entry into the Tower of Growth was in three weeks. Nearly a month. By then, after entering the Tower of Growth, I'd probably have developed enough. With this growth pace, maybe by around the one-month mark I could start slowly using my knowledge of the original story to move through dungeons.

I'd already picked out the first dungeon to target. A dungeon near a small town in England. My objective was the reward I could get there.

The Confession Necklace. An artifact that vocalized the inner thoughts of its wearer. You could try using it as an interrogation tool, but the conditions were so cumbersome it wasn't very practical. However, my current situation was different. It was one of the ways I could circumvent the Curse of Silence. With just that one item, this miserable curse would be practically sidestepped.

'Good.'

I'd set a short-term goal. Having a realistic target in sight made my motivation surge even further. With that resolve, I stood up. The objective was set, so now it was time to move my body.

.

.

.

And so the second week at Siyoram began. It was a week of steady, unremarkable growth. In general lectures, I worked my mind; in major-specific lectures, I worked both my mind and body. I was working hard, and all of it was forward progress, so I could clearly feel myself advancing bit by bit. Fulfilling days.

"I request a spar with Cadet Lee Ha-yul."

The disruption came on Wednesday. During the general lecture, <Practical Swordsmanship Basics>, one cadet looked directly at me and spoke. He was a male cadet who gave off a strong impression of sharpness. He was putting on a blank expression, but beneath it, I could sense he was looking at me with clear disapproval.

"......"

...I wasn't ambushed by a monster, and this wasn't a life-threatening situation. This much probably counted as an ordinary, everyday occurrence.