Perks

I'd picked up a stat point, and getting on speaking terms with Mun Su-rin was a huge gain in its own right. This wasn't a game, of course — she wasn't going to fall for me just because we'd seen each other's faces once — but it would come in handy later.

After that, I wandered around to get a feel for the local geography. I focused especially on the back alleys where people were least likely to go. I had six years to get through this place, and there was no telling when I might need to run.

The buildings were massive, which meant there were plenty of gaps between them that a person could slip through. Fine during the day — but at night, those passages would get pretty creepy.

Once I'd roughly memorized the layout of the alleys, I headed back to the dorm. I sat down at my desk and pulled a notebook and pen from my bag.

"I should probably figure out these perks first."

The perks were the only real key I had to working this situation. Honestly, I still didn't even know why I'd received them. I didn't fully understand this "God of Bets" either.

Then again, transmigrating into an eroge was already absurd. Getting a few perks on top of that wasn't exactly the weirdest part.

While I was thinking about it, I figured I might as well get them properly organized.

First up: Mana Sensitivity.

When I called Mana Sensitivity to mind the way you'd open a status window, a skill display appeared in front of my eyes, just like in a game.

In this world, ability users could objectify their own talents and skills. A status window, basically — except you didn't have to say anything out loud. You just thought about the part you needed, and it appeared on its own.

Anyway. Mana Sensitivity. If I had to explain it, it was the ability to feel mana — but ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠I still didn't really get it.

The ability to sense and comprehend ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠mana?

What the hell did that even mean? Could've written a little more detail.

Maybe I should try reading a textbook. Studying always starts with the textbook.

I pulled out the textbook for Introduction to Mana Studies, a course with a reputation for being brutally difficult.

That was it?

After that it devolved into some bizarre academic paper that didn't look like it would help me at all.

Control it like moving blood?

I clicked my tongue and pictured blood flowing from my heart all the way out to my fingertips.

Nothing happened.

"Yeah, it would've been weirder if I suddenly felt something... huh?"

Something was there. Inside my body, inside this room, inside this world.

It had always been real. I had simply never perceived it until now.

The instant a single line of text made me aware that mana existed, the awakening began.

Sensations I had never known. The feeling of possessing the entire world. Joy, pleasure, ecstasy, weightlessness, rapture.

A tide of bliss crashed over me. And yet something at my center held me fast, and because of that I kept my mind.

The act of awakening to mana. I lingered in that trance, savoring the moment, before I finally came back to myself.

"Haa..."

A minute, maybe? But I felt like a completely different person from the one I'd been before.

I reached back to the same shelf, pulled down a book titled Practical Basic Magic, and opened it to the very first page.

Even the most basic spell was a fairly complex magic formula, six lines overlapping and intersecting in every direction.

Fwoosh—!

A flame bloomed in my palm.

"Holy shit. That's actually insane."

Magic had always been the domain of pure talent.

The textbook Existential Basic Magic introduced the fundamental magic circles, but to operate as a proper active ability user, you had to construct a magic system of your own. Everyone had different forms and attributes that worked efficiently for them.

Failing that, you had to learn the standardized public magic circles. Most people picked that process up at the academy.

I had skipped every one of those steps.

I cupped my hands and pictured the concept of flame, and once again a sphere of fire ignited in my palm.

Fwoosh—!

Even with a phenomenon this bizarre unfolding in front of me, I wasn't surprised at all. No sense of disconnect from reality, no cognitive dissonance. Mana had already become a natural phenomenon to me.

If anything, I wondered why I hadn't been able to do this until now.

"So this is Mana Sensitivity..."

Doing something that should have been impossible, and doing it easily. A perk, in the truest sense of the word.

Next: Clear Mind. This one I genuinely didn't understand.

Looking back, the fact that I hadn't panicked after suddenly transmigrating into a game was already strange. The way I'd assessed the situation and immediately started trying to do something about it — that might have been Clear Mind at work. And whatever I'd felt holding me together during the mana awakening might have been this perk too.

Then again, I might just be that damn good. I couldn't be sure yet.

Still, it was stamped as a perk the same way Mana Sensitivity was, so it would come in handy eventually.

Last: Memory Supplement.

The most irritating part was the notification that had popped up when I received it: 80% compulsion.

Why 80% and not 100%? I traced the memory back.

In the chat, that goddamn god had asked, "Let's make a bet, yeah?" and I'd replied, "Bet or whatever, do what you want."

Fuck... this world really was overflowing with absurdity.

But the perk itself was good. It didn't just improve my memory — it made it nearly perfect.

I could recall every single word from my conversation with Mun Su-rin, every expression on her face, even the wavelength of her mana. If I wanted to, I could probably draw not just the layout of the café we'd talked in, but the floor tiles.

This was going to be useful. I'd been worried about how I was going to keep up with academy classes. With this, I didn't have to worry at all.

That finished organizing the perks.

Starting tomorrow I had to actually go to the academy, and honestly, I was pretty nervous.

Victoria Academy trained ability users. It was the best in Korea, and widely recognized as one of the top three academies in the world.

And I had to walk into a place like that tomorrow. Never mind combat experience — I'd never even hit anyone. Whether I could adapt was the real question.

"Maybe I should check out the training center after all?"

It was ten at night. If I wanted to start my first class tomorrow in decent condition, I should have been getting ready for bed. But the urge to visit the training center at least once kept growing.

"Yeah. I should go. That's the right call."

I'd pulled all-nighters even the night before the college entrance exam. Cramming was basically my entire life strategy.

I headed for the training center, packed with the latest equipment. Victoria Academy had gone unnecessarily flashy with the place.

The training center was a single building designed to house every kind of training — physical conditioning rooms, mana training rooms, the works.

I tapped my smartwatch against the entrance.

I crossed the first-floor lobby and headed for the elevator in the back.

The third-floor mana training room was almost empty. Not surprising. Almost nobody would come to train at ten at night on the day of the entrance ceremony.

If anything, I should have been surprised there was anyone here at all.

I stepped into a private room for individual training.

There wasn't much to it. An empty space enclosed by walls of some special material, with spatial magic applied so the room could be used efficiently.

I pressed the button beside the entrance. A hologram flickered to life with a mechanical voice.

"Training dummy. Maximum intensity. Distance: ten meters."

The voice registered. The hologram vanished, and a dummy appeared ten meters ahead.

"Hmm."

Shhhk—

Mana gathered in my hand, shaping itself into fire. The truth was, I had no deep insight into the concept of mana. All I'd ever done was press keys while staring at a monitor and calling it casting a spell.

And yet I could use magic. Thanks to the perk, Mana Sensitivity.

A talent that let you move mana and cast spells without a scrap of knowledge about magical power. That was Mana Sensitivity, and even I could tell how absurd that was.

On top of that, the calculations and the cast time before a spell went off were a chronic problem for mages. I didn't have to worry about either.

Shhhhhhk—!

I just thought it, and it was done. Mana answered my will, took form, and manifested in reality.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

My available spells were still heavily limited by my mana pool, of course — ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠but I understood just how ridiculous this talent was.

"Kh."

After concentrating mana into the fireball in my hand for about a minute, I felt the limit approaching.

I raised the hand I'd been gathering mana in, aimed at the training dummy, and launched the fireball.

KRA-KOOM!

"Khuh... hahh..."

Even at a glance, the dummy was in rough shape. Scorched, burning, both arms gone.

Twenty-two percent? In the original, the protagonist had to grind for about a year before he could smash a training dummy in one hit.

"One more time?"

The sensation of wringing every last drop of mana from my body wasn't as bad as I'd expected. I was starting to enjoy using magic, too. Anything's fun when you're good at it.

I gathered mana in my hand again. This time I pictured a spear.

If I were going to chant, it would have been the kind of spell where you shout Fire Spear!

The spear of flame gradually took proper shape.

"Good, just like that..."

I staggered.

Strength suddenly drained from my legs, and I crumpled to the floor.

"Wh— wait, why..."

I tried to force myself up, but my body wouldn't respond. My vision started to swim, and a vicious headache slammed into me.

Thud.

And that was where my memory cut out.