Blind and Mute
Blind and Mute
A vast space sunk in darkness.
The only source of light within was the countless holograms floating in the air.
The holograms displayed key areas inside the Tower of Growth, which the first-years had just entered.
"It's already been a year. Time really flies."
Holograms were projected over the table, and the people seated around it watched.
In the silent space where everyone remained silent and stared at the holograms, a languid voice broke the silence.
It was Lee Su-yeon, the homeroom professor of the Usu Class.
She toyed with the ends of her wavy purple hair as she stretched her arms overhead, still looking lethargic.
"If I remember right, the first-years had their very first Tower entry just a few days ago."
"You say that, but you haven't changed a bit."
"Even ordinary people don't change much in a year."
Still not fully awake, Lee Su-yeon frowned and kneaded her shoulders with a groan.
"Isn't the difficulty a bit higher than last year?"
"The result of factoring in the cadets' average. The average has risen significantly from last year, so we adjusted the difficulty accordingly."
Lee Su-yeon wasn't a newly hired professor this year, but this was her first time serving as a homeroom professor, so there was plenty she didn't know yet.
Albert, homeroom professor of the Gogu Class and a veteran who had handled the first-years for over a decade, supplied the answer.
Several other professors who'd been listening to Lee Su-yeon and Albert nodded inwardly as well.
Lately, the cadets' foundational levels had shot up. The trend had been holding for the past few years, and this cohort in particular was being widely praised as a once-in-a-generation golden generation in Siyoram's history.
The first-years' first Tower entry was always held on the '1st Floor' of the Tower of Growth. That had never once been changed.
The theme was survival. The environment: a vast forest teeming with monsters.
Five days of survival in a monster-infested forest, armed with nothing but a single primary weapon.
During the last dungeon practice, they had allowed preparation. The cadets could bring survival supplies, and even items that offered direct combat assistance were permitted to some extent.
The grading criteria for dungeon practice prioritized cooperation during the subjugation process over individual combat prowess.
Even the mightiest superhuman inevitably runs into problems they cannot solve alone, so the evaluation standards had been set accordingly.
This survival trial was different.
They were handed a single primary weapon and thrown into the forest. No other supplies were allowed. They had to survive for five days with nothing but that weapon and their wits.
And amid the surrounding monsters—and the even more dangerous competition between cadets.
The difficulty was unmistakably higher than the dungeon practice. And higher than the previous year's as well.
But that wasn't what Professor Lee Su-yeon had been getting at.
"Wasn't it a 6th Rank last year?"
"Yes. Last year it was a 6th-Rank Alpha, the 'Earth Stone Tree Statue.'"
The homeroom professor of the Cheongmyeong Class, Lee Ha-nez, answered after checking the data.
On the third day of the five-day survival trial held on the 1st Floor of the Tower of Growth, a special monster appeared in the center of the zone.
This monster awarded an exceptionally large amount of points. It served as a mechanism that gave the cadets a shared objective, encouraging cooperative competition.
Last year had been the same.
Earth Stone Tree Statue. A monster rated at the 6th Rank. As the name implied, it was a Golem whose body was woven from earth, stone, and wood.
"Last year... haha. Surprisingly, it was taken down by a single cadet."
Last year, that monster had been subjugated by one person alone.
"The successor of Taesan? It made such waves that even I heard about it. Word is they beat it to death in a straight-up brawl, head-on."
"A Golem, which already has regeneration and durability on top of that, smashed apart from the front—I couldn't believe my ears when I first heard it."
A 6th-Rank Alpha.
6th Rank, sitting near the bottom of the monster classification that runs from 1st Rank to 8th Rank.
Looking at a simple chart, you might be tempted to dismiss it as a weak monster. That would be a massive mistake.
Around the 6th Rank, you're looking at the kind of threat that appears as the boss entity of a Grade 4 Dungeon.
It's far more common than most people imagine for low-ranking superhumans and soldiers who enter a Grade 4 Dungeon for a straightforward subjugation to be wiped out when the boss appears.
6th Rank. Even for a cadet who'd made a name for themselves in the academy, taking one on was a tall order.
"Right, last year was a 6th Rank. So why, this time—"
Lee Su-yeon pointed at a section of the data.
[Deployed Monster: 5th-Rank Alpha 'Parasitic Moth']
"A 5th Rank? And an Alpha at that?"
The difficulty was high. The overall environment was similar. But the rank of the deployed boss entity was different.
"Last year, a 6th Rank was taken down by a single cadet."
"Does that alone justify raising the difficulty? That was the Taesan successor soloing it. No matter how high the average is now..."
"This year's first-years include the heirs of the Calamity Flame and the Azure Sea. With the other cadets cooperating, it shouldn't be an unreasonable challenge. Moreover, Cadet Hong Yeon-hwa already has a proven record of solo-subjugating a 5th Rank, doesn't she?"
Well, that part was true.
Lee Su-yeon bobbed her head, then abruptly shifted the topic as if the thought had just occurred to her.
"That aside. Isn't this a little too unfair to Cadet Lee Ha-yul?"
Cadet Lee Ha-yul. At the sound of that name, the gazes of the professors who hadn't been taking part in the conversation converged.
Lee Ha-nez, the Cheongmyeong Class homeroom professor who had been engaged in the discussion, returned the question.
"Unfair? No special restrictions have been imposed on him."
"Not that. The points. The points."
Lee Su-yeon flicked her finger. The holograms hovering in the air spread out in every direction.
[Special Admission: 1,000 Points]
"That's way too blatant. It's practically screaming, 'Kill this target.'"
"How would we know the Headmaster's intent?"
Lee Su-yeon's expression soured. The Headmaster's intent. She could not, for the life of her, grasp what the Headmaster was thinking.
The special admission cadet. After his admission was confirmed, all sorts of rumors had swirled, but through the growth rate and evaluations displayed during sparring and dungeon practice, he was clearly a cadet with 'potential.'
She understood that he had potential. But was there really a reason to dangle that many points over him before that potential even bloomed?
Lee Su-yeon mulled it over, then shifted her gaze. She looked toward where Professor Liana, the homeroom professor of the Ipchun Class—the class the special admission cadet belonged to—was seated.
She was the one teaching Cadet Lee Ha-yul. Surely Liana had some thoughts on the matter. Lee Su-yeon meant to ask.
"......"
Normally, Professor Liana's reputation was excellent. People said it was because she always responded with a kind smile.
But right now, uncharacteristically, Liana was staring vacantly into empty space, looking somewhat dazed.
Something was clearly off. Come to think of it, just a little while ago, there'd even been a ridiculous, baseless rumor floating around among the cadets.
What was it—something about her teasing a male cadet while smelling him. Utter nonsense. The cadets who spread such absurd rumors so openly were probably in for a world of trouble.
Either way, Liana didn't seem to be in a normal state of mind.
Lee Su-yeon shut her mouth again and, with an awkward expression, shifted her gaze slightly to the side.
Nearby was someone who was present at this gathering despite not being a first-year homeroom professor.
Sharp golden eyes that drew attention, and a mana presence whose ferocity was concealed but unmistakably there.
It was Professor Atra, who was in charge of the special admission cadet's major coursework. Since she was his instructor, she had been admitted to this meeting as well.
"What do you think, Professor Atra?"
She barely knew Professor Atra. They'd exchanged greetings a handful of times at brief faculty gatherings. That was the extent of it.
Lee Su-yeon asked. Atra, who had been resting her chin on the back of her hand while watching the holograms, flicked her gaze over.
What did she think? She'd heard the entire conversation, so she knew what the question was about.
"......"
Atra cast her mind back over the recent days. Her life hadn't been all that long, but even so, the past few weeks had been some of the most densely packed.
The first meeting. His unimpressive skill and growth rate.
After that. Day by day, a growth rate that steepened bizarrely fast, and talents blossoming across a dizzying range of fields.
His attitude—always diligently following her instruction with no sign of cutting corners. And the way he'd followed her with such simple trust, even though there must have been plenty he found puzzling.
And then, the dungeon practi—
- Urrp... bleeegh!
The way he'd looked at her with revulsion.
A pointless memory. Atra pressed her lips together firmly. She set aside her stirring emotions and voiced what she thought.
"Well..."
Considering the average of the cadets she'd observed recently,
and judging Lee Ha-yul from her position as the one who had been teaching him up to now—
"He won't simply be a victim."
Lee Ha-yul was by no means the underdog in this exam.
He was already a superhuman who was sufficiently blooming.
* * *
Nothing's been going my way lately.
It was like that in the previous world, and it's been like that since I came here.
My life has just been plagued by a middling sort of misfortune.
It's never the overwhelmingly crushing kind that pushes you to absolute despair, but it's also the vicious kind that kicks the ladder away every single time you let yourself feel a shred of hope.
- Fwoosh
The wind brushed past. It was oddly chilly.
I stilled my body, which had instinctively curled up, and burrowed deeper into a more secluded spot.
This was the place I'd barely managed to find, practically crawling along the ground, after suddenly going blind.
It was a spot at relatively low elevation where boulders had settled against each other, leaving a gap just big enough for a person to hide inside.
I squeezed my body into the hollow and covered myself with a large branch I'd gathered earlier. I'd layered on several like that, so it should offer basic concealment.
With a little magic layered on top, it'd make for a decent hideout.
'......'
After steadying my breathing, I tried to unfurl my Spatial Perception.
...
I couldn't. It just twitched feebly, as if pinned under a boulder. I couldn't deploy it properly at all.
The Spatial Perception that had served as my eyes was gone. The smartwatch that had served as my voice was gone, too. All I had on my wrist now was the exam watch, whose only function was tallying points.
'What the hell do I do now?'
It felt like this was already a disaster from the very start.
First Tower entry, first trial. Whatever you want to call it, it doesn't matter.
This event is what you'd call a classic player-griefing event.
Competition between cadets allowed.
For the ones who've always found the special admission cadet irritating, this is a golden opportunity. And even for those who don't dislike him but are simply curious—it's the kind of setup where they might be tempted to poke at him a little.
There's a tangible payoff, too.
The 1,000 points hanging around the special admission cadet's neck.
The points earned in the Tower don't just count toward your grades—they can also be used as a sort of currency.
You steadily accumulate points like this, and later you can exchange them for items from the catalog Siyoram provides.
One thing's for certain: if someone takes the special admission cadet's 1,000 points, there's a lot they could get with them. Even if these points alone won't be enough right away, there's absolutely no downside to having them.
Most likely.
Right now, countless cadets are probably hunting for me with fire in their eyes.
'Ah...'
I dragged a hand down my face and let out a sigh.
Feeling stifled, I lifted my head. I couldn't see anything.
My vision was sealed. Even if I still had Spatial Perception, its range was limited—I wouldn't have been able to see the sky anyway.
Even if I had my sight, the leaves overhead would've blocked the sky.
There was nothing to see above.
Dejected, my head drooped back down of its own accord.