The Blacksmith's Last Hope
This class will probably be canceled too. 'I should be able to train for about two hours.' Since each class typically lasted two hours, factoring in break time left me with roughly that much leeway. My top priority was creating an environment where I wouldn't be disturbed during training. For safety, I had originally planned to find a cave in the mountains or build a makeshift shelter, but...
'Meiri tagging along is turning out to be helpful in its own way.' With her by my side, most potential dangers had already vanished, making everything much simpler.
"Go ahead and train comfortably. I'll help."
"Is that okay?"
"I figured I should at least do this much since I'm following you around."
Even if she didn't fully understand human society and culture, her lack of social awareness was a separate issue—she understood her own position quite well. Though that position was simply following me, she had accurately grasped how it affected me.
"Mm, thanks."
"I'm actually pretty helpful, you know."
"Uh... yeah."
Meiri's sudden self-promotion caught me off guard, and I nodded without thinking. Even with her choppy, abrupt way of speaking, her emotional expression and communication were strangely perfect. Not being able to communicate verbally and conveying emotions were apparently two different things—either way, she was turning out to be quite useful.
'Enough idle thoughts. Time to get to work.' She was even standing guard so I could focus; I couldn't afford to waste time on distractions.
'Only natural mana can generate and absorb mana from the outside.' The reason natural mana had to be used was precisely because of this unique property. While other special types of mana required self-production to be usable, natural mana could convert external mana into its own. In other words, it was the key to breaking the contradiction of being unable to use mana yet still being able to wield it.
'It's the only hope for those who can't use mana.' Of course, since Lee Seokhyun was the only one in Fade who couldn't use mana, it was more accurate to call it his only hope.
Since this was my first time attempting it directly, tension coursed through my body.
"Then I'll start."
"Got it. If I send a danger signal, stop immediately."
"Okay."
If the second-ranked first-year was standing guard, the chances of running into danger during training were drastically reduced. Trusting Meiri, I closed my eyes right away and moved the millet-grain-sized natural mana within my body.
'Oh... it's working.' The natural mana that hadn't even considered moving at first finally stirred. It was definitely slow—if this pace continued, it might take twenty-four hours of nonstop effort just to complete a full circulation—but the fact that it moved at all was what mattered.
The reason for circulating it was to make mana usable naturally in any situation. After all, the places where mana could be stored were limited, and to draw it out from there, the pathways had to be well-established. Continuously repairing, supplementing, and developing these pathways was what mana circulation was all about.
'It's the most basic of basics, but one of the things you have to do for life.' The power to clear blocked meridians to increase mana output or enable faster casting—that was why those who used mana risked their lives for efficient circulation.
'First, let's start by moving the mana storage location to the heart.' Since I couldn't use regular mana, changing its position would be more efficient. Normally, one would cultivate mana at the body's center and position it somewhere reachable instantly from anywhere, but in Lee Seokhyun's case, moving the storage to the heart to receive even a little of its power would be advantageous. Natural mana was stable enough to rival water mana in that regard, so placing it in the heart posed no danger whatsoever. Moreover, this kind of work was easier to do in the early stages when the quantity was small, so it had to be the top priority.
'Hoo...' Breathing naturally, I focused every nerve in my body on the natural mana as much as possible. Thanks to the new effect from reaching 60% proficiency in Mind-Body Training, I gradually slipped into an unconscious state. Calm and free from all distractions, I poured all my strength into relocating it. From the dantian to the navel. From the navel to the solar plexus area. Just as I was about to move it to the heart at last—
Thud.
"Ah."
The flow broke. As if to say it wasn't anyone's fault but that my level was still insufficient, the natural mana no longer showed any intention of moving. Reaching the solar plexus area with my current proficiency was already a significant achievement, so I decided to be satisfied with that.
"Are you done?"
"I think I can do more later. How much time has passed?"
"If we head to the External Arts Hall now, we'll make it just in time."
"...? You're going too?"
"Of course."
Meiri looked at me as if wondering why I was asking something so obvious.
'She wasn't originally someone who took External Arts classes, was she?' Meiri was supposed to become one of Lee Hwaryeong's most cherished disciples, filling her schedule from the first class to the last entirely with magic department courses. But suddenly External Arts?
'Don't tell me she asked about my timetable and copied it exactly?' So that's why she asked. Just in case it wasn't, I spoke to Meiri right away for confirmation.
"Did you match your timetable with mine?"
"Yeah."
"Why?"
"Just because. And anyway, if it doesn't match while I'm auditing, I'll change it."
Ah, I see. Her expression seemed to ask why I kept questioning something so obvious, so I shut my mouth. The vibe she gave off was practically screaming, 'Matching the timetable is correct, but the details aren't really my concern.' Since aligning our schedules wouldn't cause any major problems, I decided to just let it go.
'Alright, let's head to the next class.' The next class was, in fact, the core reason I had entered Mirinae Academy in the first place.
'I never thought I'd actually end up swinging a hammer.' It was the blacksmithing class.
++++++++++
Bakhtor was an outstanding blacksmith and a professor at Mirinae Academy, one of the figures wielding significant influence in society. He had forged the king's weapons, created the hero's sword, and made tremendous contributions to magic engineering—an extraordinary talent. Yet even he couldn't escape one inevitable fate.
'Even after abolishing the ranking restrictions and not setting any enrollment limits...' It was the fate of unpopular courses: cancellation. The reason Bakhtor was popular was because the weapons he made were excellent, not because students wanted to learn his blacksmithing techniques. Students wanted to hone magic and martial arts to become heroes, not blacksmiths who supported them. These two factors had intertwined perfectly, resulting in no one choosing Bakhtor's class.
"Still, this year I survived."
As if to rescue Bakhtor, who faced cancellation every year, three students had enrolled in the blacksmithing course this time. And all three were from S-class. Though he had been holed up in the forge and didn't know their personal details, he could tell this was the final opportunity granted by the gods.
'As soon as they come in, I'll greet them lightly and immediately teach them mana forging.' Bakhtor had realized that the reason his lectures had never been popular was because they were too conventional. In other classes, students immediately used mana to cast magic or trained with swords and felt themselves growing, but blacksmithing began with getting used to fire and learning to strike iron, so the sense of achievement was relatively low. Therefore, to solve this, he had decided to advance the curriculum a bit earlier.
"Creating weapons directly using mana—this is the best way to feel a sense of achievement, isn't it?"
Bakhtor could already picture his disciples smiling happily as they learned mana forging. They would become so eager to learn that they would eventually take an interest in blacksmithing itself and silently tackle even difficult tasks. The mere thought filled him with pride, so he opened all the classroom doors and waited for his students.
"Hello."
"Hello."
"Welcome!"
And the moment his students finally entered, he sprang up and welcomed them as loudly as possible. Then, perhaps due to the sorrow of having been in a canceled state for so long, Bakhtor launched straight into explaining what they would be doing.
"What we'll be doing from now on is mana forging. Using this specially crafted hammer of mine, you'll store mana in it, strike objects, and try to complete artifacts."
Contrary to Bakhtor's expectation that gasps of admiration would follow and his students' eyes would fill with anticipation—
"Ah, I'm just auditing, so is it okay if I only watch for now?"
A cold rejection, and—
"My mana manipulation is still immature, so I don't think I can properly use mana. Mana forging might be difficult for me."
A reasonable excuse that utterly crushed Bakhtor's expectations.
'...'
A prospective disciple who didn't need to participate directly since they were auditing, and a disciple who couldn't take the best lesson he had prepared due to inexperience. Faced with this combination, he slumped his shoulders and nodded.
'This class will probably be canceled too.' Though one student had yet to arrive, the future of cancellation was already clearly visible, so Bakhtor despaired. In the meantime, he failed to notice the sparkling light in Lee Seokhyun's eyes. The future was not so easily predicted.
++++++++++
"What? He went to the External Arts Hall?"
"Yes... that's correct."
"Damn it!"
Benras found himself in an extremely bewildering situation. Right after class ended, while hurrying to the dormitory for a quick review, he had been surrounded by a group who appeared to be seniors—and they had asked about Lee Seokhyun's whereabouts.
'The class rep really does have something going on, doesn't he?' Naturally, the word "class rep" now fit Lee Seokhyun perfectly in Benras's mind. He wondered what kind of trouble the guy had caused starting from the very first class. How had he managed to become the target of seniors who barely interacted with others—let alone research students?
'He's even worse than the rumors.' The sight of them was so lacking in so many ways that it made one question whether they were truly the same human species, sending chills down his spine. If vampires from stories actually existed, they would probably look exactly like this. Pale skin and lips that seemed devoid of blood flow—that was terror itself.
"To think he went to the External Arts Hall."
"That's over 200 meters away, Senior!"
"Impossible! Impossible! How can someone move from the Magic Hall to the External Arts Hall? We don't have that kind of stamina!"
"Then we can't sleep? Then we can't sleep? Then we can't sleep?"
"I've already used more than half my stamina just getting here from the lab. If I take more than five steps, I'll probably collapse. What do we do, Senior?"
"Rest first! We'll rest here for about two hours and recover enough stamina to walk again!"
What kind of conversation was this? Benras vaguely understood why everyone had strongly advised against becoming a research student. These people were closer to zombies than humans.
"We can rest for two whole hours! That's impossible!"
"Senior Vermu is a god! Senior Vermu is a god! Senior Vermu is a god!"
"I'll take responsibility! Two hours of rest!"
With those words, they really did begin collapsing to the floor one by one, as if dead. That was surprising enough, but what horrified him most was Lee Hwaryeong's reaction as she calmly watched the scene.
"Hmm... So Gi Juseon lets the kids go outside..."
She really was too kind for her own good. With those words, she gathered her lecture materials and left her seat.
'This... is considered kindness?' It was a moment that made him deeply contemplate what it truly meant to study a subject in depth.