Distrust the Axe and It'll Chop Your Foot
Distrust the Axe and It'll Chop Your Foot
Siyoram adjusts its curriculum slightly for each academic year.
First-year cadets focus on elevating their innate abilities.
For those who lack fundamental knowledge or haven't discovered their aptitudes, the academy crams a variety of basics into them during a few months of free semester.
Cadets only gain the right to freely choose their classes after completing the Tower expedition and the midterm evaluation. In practice, the second half of the year becomes the real free semester.
They spend one year stuffing in knowledge, restricting outside activities, and nurturing their fundamental abilities inside a safe cradle.
In only a single year.
This is how Siyoram cadets achieve a completely different dimension of growth compared to outsiders.
There are many reasons, but at its root is the existence of the Tower of Growth.
The Blessing of Growth.
The Tower's authority granted by Neriel Claidia, the Tower Master of Growth.
'If I remember right, the base multiplier was five times?'
Even if you only consider the base multiplier, it's five times.
What would take others five grueling years outside can be completed in a single year here.
And that's on top of periodic entry into the Tower of Growth and a world-class education.
It is literally a space for growth.
Day five of the Tower expedition.
From day four onward, aside from getting caught up in the fights that were breaking out everywhere as if to mark the finale, nothing special happened.
My own skill aside, with the Second Seat and the Top Seat forming a team to guard my front and back, it was hard to fall into real danger.
To put it bluntly, I was being carried.
I endured the genuinely grueling trials on days one and two. And I overcame elimination crises through my various connections. Now, I am training moderately and reaping the benefits.
On top of that, I even obtained the Origin Egg I had long since given up on.
Things are so sweet my teeth might rot. Ultimately, I'm making it through thanks to my connections, I suppose... but what can I do? Siyoram itself encourages networking.
So, in my spare moments, I trained.
When I was being chased without a moment's peace, I was too mentally scattered to notice, but now that I'm observing my body with relative calm, I can feel the changes in real time.
It was absurd. The more I move my body, the more I grow. The more I use mana, the more my core and circuits develop—I can feel it.
"Urghghk..."
Right then, I heard groaning from nearby.
The source was Hong Yeon-hwa. She sat slumped on a stump, letting out moans. At the sound of her death throes, Baek A-rin asked, puzzled.
"Why have you been like that for a while?"
"My body's a mess. Must be the Calamity Flame. I guess I overdid it..."
At Hong Yeon-hwa's grumbling, I stopped training and focused my awareness on her mana.
I examined the enormous amount of mana contained within Hong Yeon-hwa in greater detail.
It didn't take long to sense the discrepancy.
Her mana, which usually carries an aura that could burn anything, was tangled and unstable.
"Ah... you did push your output way too high against the boss. I told you not to use the Expansion Ability."
"Flame Bloom was the only way to kill it in one blow. Who knows what would've happened if it got away there."
"Jeez, so? Need help?"
Baek A-rin raised one hand. A freezing energy rippled over her palm. It was the manifestation of Azure Sea.
Most Calamity Flame users suffer from chronic output strain.
Not a lack of output, but strain. Calamity Flame, boasting the greatest output among Unique Abilities, often harms its own user.
One method of lessening that burden is to receive the aid of Azure Sea.
Characterized by the healing properties of Water Energy and Cold Energy, Azure Sea is a specific remedy for reducing Calamity Flame's burden.
At Baek A-rin's question, Hong Yeon-hwa groaned in hesitation before shaking her head.
"It's fine. I'll deal with it myself. We're inside the Tower, and besides, they say you have to get used to taming this alone."
"That is true. Doing it alone to achieve Harmonization is best, but..."
With an output that's exceptional even within her family history, Hong Yeon-hwa's strain is even greater.
She'd likely been suppressing it with her innate control until now, but after rampaging this time, the strain is hitting her.
'Will it be the same this time?'
But if things proceed similarly to the original, this will be growing pains.
The mana-draining use of Flame Bloom, combined with the multiplier from the Blessing of Growth, stimulates Hong Yeon-hwa's Calamity Flame and triggers a transformation.
It was a recurring event in the original work.
In every iteration, Hong Yeon-hwa's Calamity Flame changed after her first Tower expedition.
Calamity Flame is such an exceptional Unique Ability that it's said to undergo a sort of inner trial every time it changes. The same goes for a few other top-tier Unique Abilities, like Azure Sea and Taesan.
According to the Hong Yeon-hwa from the original script, in her case it is a trial that forces her to overcome and burn the guilt, great and small, that she's accumulated throughout her life, using it as kindling.
Either way, Hong Yeon-hwa would overcome her trial with ease and evolve her Unique Ability once more.
'...Calamity Flame.'
While I was thinking, the word 'Calamity Flame' snagged in my mind. I discreetly rubbed my right arm. Even through the fabric of my sleeve, a strange sensation came through.
On the day of the Freshman Welcome Party, I distinguished Hong Yeon-hwa because I felt her mana before I heard her voice.
The flame curled within her body, carrying a sense of power that could burn the world, left me with no choice but to recall the word 'Calamity Flame'.
That's how I could tell them apart. Users of Calamity Flame contain a fire within their bodies. Even if I wanted to look away, I couldn't help but notice.
My right arm? My own mana was just like clear spring water. There was no trace of fire.
And yet, I used Calamity Flame. It's a strange thing.
One of the many incomprehensible things I've been experiencing lately.
Will I also undergo the Calamity Flame trial?
Mulling it over, I riffled through my memories of the original. There was only one reference case.
'3rd Iteration.'
The 3rd Iteration character, 《Three Ends》
If the 2nd Iteration was a standard warrior character, cultivated using knowledge from previous cycles, the 3rd Iteration was an anti-army combat character that actively utilized various exploits.
A character who, through a combination of every hidden piece discovered in the 1st and 2nd Iterations and some unexpected luck, possessed, albeit half-complete, the three Unique Abilities of Calamity Flame, Azure Sea, and Taesan.
The idea was that, just as Azure Sea reduces Calamity Flame's burden, the three Unique Abilities might produce a synergy that lessens each other's strain.
In practice, it did follow a similar course. They complemented each other, reducing their weaknesses, and as a result, the output increased.
Although the 3rd Iteration was an awkward early run overall, its output alone was comparable to the later iterations.
The problem was that it couldn't handle that output and ended in self-destruction.
When I first created the character, I chose the Unique Ability 《Vessel》 to extend the limits, but the physical body was too weak, and it all went to hell.
There was no event like the Calamity Flame trial for the 3rd Iteration.
Of course, that version was a half-baked one and only a minor reference. Reality might be different.
I had already heard about this matter from Hong Yeon-hwa.
She suggested that we go together to her family home and get tested, just in case.
Since I was equally clueless, I had already accepted.
Truthfully, I felt a bit anxious. From the Calamity Flame family's perspective, some outsider had just appeared wielding their Unique Ability.
When I showed that anxiety, Hong Yeon-hwa reassured me that it was safe and absolutely wouldn't be a problem, so I nodded along.
Come to think of it, didn't the original story say that the supervising professors observe the Tower trials? Did they notice the scene where I used Calamity Flame...?
'Probably got caught...'
There's no way they wouldn't be watching the Top Seat and Second Seat subjugate the boss.
Still, since it's such a sensitive issue, I was privately praying they would keep it secret.
The professors wouldn't be insane enough to go spreading rumors everywhere, shouting 'That bastard used Calamity Flame!'
I let go of the worry and resumed training.
We killed some time like that.
Hong Yeon-hwa tamed her Calamity Flame; Ellia and Baek A-rin each did their individual training.
The atmosphere was rather relaxed.
How much time had passed?
- Crack
Suddenly, I heard something breaking. I tried to turn my head toward the source of the sound.
Time slowed. The perceived flow decelerated. My actions were so sluggish it was maddening.
I realized intuitively. It was time to exit.
'We're leaving now.'
Simultaneously, my consciousness grew hazy. It felt as if my consciousness was being forcibly sucked out.
It was long, yet short. Life inside the Tower, and this moment I'm experiencing now too.
A contradictory impression, but that was how I felt.
- Ding!
My consciousness was dyed in darkness.
* * *
- Ding!
[Passing the Trial of Growth (Floor 1)]
[Number of cadets eliminated: 18]
[Points acquired: 750]
[Full points will be reflected for maintaining survival until Day 5]
[The Player(?) is exiting the Tower of Growth]
[《Blessing of Growth (Tower Entry)》 is being retrieved]
* * *
- Whoosh
Wind brushed my cheek. My hair stirred faintly. It was different from the wind I'd felt moments ago.
The air touching my skin was also different. Unlike the humidity-filled air before, the weather was relatively dry.
My sluggish consciousness returned. Countless vibrations traveled up through the legs that planted me on the ground.
'......'
I blankly exhaled and clenched one fist.
- Crunch...
The Giant Strength I felt in my hand was unfamiliar. It felt several times lighter than before I entered the Tower.
Discharged from the Tower, all the negative aspects—wounds, fatigue, and such—had vanished entirely, leaving only the positive changes behind.
While I was examining this incredibly foreign body condition, the bustling presence of the discharged cadets reached my ears.
"Ah, we're out."
"Shit, I was messing around on the first day and got instantly killed. That's seriously shitty."
"Yeon-hwaaaaa, you bastard! Why did you kill me too—!"
Dejection, satisfaction, rage, and more. A whirlwind of emotions swept through the plaza.
Those who had been eliminated relatively early and spent their time in the training rooms seemed gloomy, while those who survived to the end were comparatively bright.
I left the Tower.
The moment I realized that, my spatial perception, which had been suppressed until now, unfurled wildly.
As soon as the crushing pressure vanished, the perception bounded out, expanding its domain vigorously.
The unstable map in my brain regained its color. Though only spatial information, the shapes began to register clearly, and the colors came through properly.
'......'
Still, from the perspective of someone who had suffered all sorts of hardship inside the Tower, this felt nothing but bitter and unsatisfactory.
When it first manifested, it nearly killed its owner, but when it's actually important, this useless thing...
100 meters, 200 meters, 300 meters in radius... it gradually spread out.
400 meters, 500 meters, 600 meters... it had grown larger in the meantime. Despite being suppressed, perhaps it has been steadily growing.
700 meters... 800 meters...
'Huh?'
It kept expanding. As if a spring that had been suppressed to its limits had been released, the amount of information multiplied exponentially.
It exceeded one kilometer. And it didn't stop.
That wasn't all.
It didn't end with the broadening range.
The density of the information was increasing. The quality of the information being observed and transmitted was rising.
The Tower of Growth was swallowed by the range. The observed information flooded into my mind.
The axis of space, the walls, the repulsiveness, the principles of restraint and silence, the internal expansion laws and the protective outer barrier...
Magic formulas inscribed across every corner of the site. Formulas that were modified, formulas being manifested, the total amount of supplied mana and its circulation...
Humans, outer clothes, skin, muscles, bones, blood, nerves, circuits, cores, hearts, mana, internal organs...
Space is observed.
- Crackle...
My head felt strained. My brain simmered. Unable to handle the sheer volume of information, the speed of my thoughts gradually dulled.
It was a familiar sensation. Faint, but clearly intense—this memory.
A sensation similar to the time on the first day when it almost killed me tore through my head.
My blood ran cold.
'Ah.'
What the hell is wrong with this bastard.
Clenching my teeth, I harmonized my spatial perception.