Chapter 11
Chapter 11
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 10
Chapter Title: Three Calamities Art
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Whoosh.
The moment I tore the selection ticket, a new message appeared.
[Using Armament Selection Ticket.]
[Selecting recommended armaments.]
The space in front of me rippled, and even though I had no religion, I naturally clasped my hands together.
“I hope it’s an armament with a mana increase effect…”
I might not be able to purify myself with a bath, but my reverent mindset could rival any monk.
The results came as quickly as my pounding heart.
[Presenting recommended armament list.]
[1. Lancaster’s Robe]
[2. Nagamoto’s Matchlock]
.
.
[Please select one.]
Out of the total ten, four were mana-related armaments that I needed.
Not bad at all. I examined them one by one.
“Hmm…”
If I had to pick the best, it was number 1: Lancaster’s Robe.
It had concentration increase and mana capacity boost of 0.3. In terms of pure performance, nothing could beat it.
…But.
“Ha, this is a bit…”
I couldn’t bring myself to choose it easily.
The problem was that it was a robe.
Sure, for me.
If it just boosted my stats, I’d wear it even in the peak of summer.
But I feared the stares and prejudices of others.
A spellcasting lineage—practically the royal family of shamans—wearing a mage’s exclusive garb and casting spells?
It was like wearing a sumo belt to wrestle…
It would be a shocking scandal big enough to draw broadcast reporters, not just tabloids.
“Yeah, this really won’t do.”
I looked over the rest, excluding the robe.
Maybe because I was observing more carefully than at first?
One armament I’d passed over just looking at the grade suddenly caught my eye.
[Three Calamities Art]
[Grade: Common (High)]
[Description: A heart method created by an unknown figure. Incredibly esoteric, with no one known to have mastered it properly. Success allows artificial accumulation of mana.]
[Effect: Pure mana acquisition]
It felt strangely familiar.
“Isn’t this a wuxia setting?”
That’s right.
I wasn’t an expert, but it seemed like a technique for martial artists to build internal energy.
I briefly got confused about the genre and reviewed the setting.
Sure enough…
This was a modern fantasy world, so the concept of heart methods didn’t exist.
Mana capacity was innate, increasing naturally with skill improvement.
“So it’s an out-of-setting armament…”
But was it right to call a heart method an armament?
I felt a sudden doubt, but as I mulled it over, a pretty good picture formed.
Spellcasting and armament manifestation based on pure mana…
The connotation was good, if anything—no harm done.
No matter how esoteric it was, with ‘Perusal,’ it wouldn’t be a big issue.
My choice was decided.
[You have selected ‘Three Calamities Art.’]
[Recommended armament list is disappearing.]
Closing the shop, a small cluster of light soon gathered.
The sparkling light soon turned into a wooden bracelet with a reddish glow and a worn, thick book.
* * *
6 PM. The comprehensive training ground emptied after the diagnostic evaluation.
In Room 3, where few lights were on, a figure shot up like a shooting star.
The man who kicked off the ground unleashed a drill-like momentum.
He cleaved through blocking enemies in single strikes, opening a path, and charged like a gale.
Rumble.
A massive wall rose behind him, but he charged without a hint of hesitation.
With a flash of light, he pierced through in one go and planted his foot at the goal point.
[Rap time: 1:53:48]
But it wasn’t the record he wanted, apparently.
The man chewed his lip and muttered quietly.
“Reset.”
And this scene repeated like an unbreakable dream.
“Again.”
Over and over.
“One more time.”
Again and again…
The man showed no intention of stopping.
Not until he grasped that record of the bastard who’d knocked him to second place—that tantalizing, bittersweet goal just out of reach…
“Yun-gi, how about taking a short break?”
Finally, the onlookers who couldn’t stand it anymore cautiously spoke up.
They were the noble-born slackers who usually followed him.
“Yeah. Drink something and then go.”
“Right. Trying nonstop isn’t changing anything. Might as well… Gulp!”
But the man’s chilling gaze.
Seol Yun-gi’s eyes flashed sharply, making them flinch and shut their mouths.
[Training system use restricted for 5 minutes to prevent overload.]
The message rang out at just the right time.
Without the training system’s intervention, this grueling challenge would have repeated yet again.
“…Nothing’s going right.”
Seol Yun-gi reluctantly turned away.
As he returned to the waiting room, intense reactions poured in one after another.
“Here, have some water.”
“Rest a bit, and your record’ll improve.”
“That Baek Sa-young prick just got lucky.”
It was pleasant consolation, but Seol Yun-gi’s expression didn’t brighten.
Unlike the smirking surroundings, he was utterly indifferent.
“Oh, and I handled that article writer myself.”
“...?”
Then, his gaze suddenly turned to Lee Dong-uk, who always stirred trouble with his flippant words and actions. His sunken eyes brimmed with reproach and reprimand.
“…What? Did I do something wrong?”
Realizing his attempt to look good had backfired, Lee Dong-uk panicked.
“Ha. Who the hell are you to butt in, punk?”
The reprimand came from the stocky short-haired guy instead.
His name was Kang Cheol-min.
Second in skill among them, no one dared intervene easily and they hemmed and hawed.
“You gonna take responsibility if it blows up?”
“No, I was doing it for Yun-gi…”
“What bullshit. Is that helping? You’re just screwing him over. Think before you act, damn it. Don’t stir shit like an idiot.”
Kang Cheol-min wielded twisted justice under the pretext of standing up for his friend, spewing harsh words.
“Kang Cheol-min, enough.”
Finally, figuring it was enough, the leader stepped in.
Seol Yun-gi warned Lee Dong-uk, chewing each word.
“Don’t butt in on your own next time.”
“Yeah, got it. Sorry.”
He wasn’t usually this downbeat.
That’s how shocking today’s events had been. For Seol Yun-gi, who’d honed his blade all vacation to beat Baek Sa-young…
“Come on, let’s not fight among ourselves, okay?”
The awkward silence was broken by the yellow-haired mood maker who always handled the atmosphere.
“You guys hear that news?”
“What news?”
“Park Ha-yul got accepted as a special scholarship student?”
He tossed out fresh, controversial bait to change the subject.
“That prick? Wow, what a jerk.”
“At this point, isn’t the Brew Clan pulling strings?”
“Nah, no way. What influence does the Brew Clan have at Taehak?”
“True, their clout’s been gone for a while.”
With perfect prey appearing, everyone chimed in.
Everyone except the rowdy Seol Yun-gi and the sour-faced Kang Cheol-min.
“…That for real?”
“Oh, right. Kang Cheol-min, you’re the biggest victim.”
“Yeah. If Park Ha-yul hadn’t cheated, you’d have made it, right?”
The reason was clear.
He was the unlucky applicant who’d missed 5th place by a mere 5 seconds.
He didn’t show it, but he’d been secretly hoping for Park Ha-yul’s disqualification to snag the crumbs from the scholarship.
“Don’t waste energy on pointless crap. Everyone, get lost.”
Seol Yun-gi, who’d been consistently indifferent regardless, stood up exactly at the 5-minute mark.
“Haha, I don’t care. I just applied for fun. You gotta be shot in the head to get tangled with Yi Tae-jin…”
Kang Cheol-min shrugged, pretending it was fine.
“Oh, then it’s worth celebrating, right? Let’s go grab some cognac. I brought the good stuff.”
“Yeah? Let’s go then. Have a drink. Yun-gi’s probably sick of us by now.”
The gang left the training ground giggling as if nothing had happened.
Maybe their minds were elsewhere.
“…That punk strutting on his family name. I’ll crush him someday.”
The trailing ID: Kang Cheol-nam.
No one saw Kang Cheol-min’s cold expression.
* * *
The day after the diagnostic evaluation.
[Remaining time: 3 days 1 hour 54 minutes]
“Today, we’ll look at Goryeo’s situation after 999—the day called the Day of Reckoning. Records state that three red moons appeared…”
Like a new seed sprouting, Taehak’s semester officially began.
The first class today was history, notorious for being boring. As a mandatory second-year common course, I was half-forced into my seat.
“Humanity didn’t know. That all the negative emotions coalesced since primordial times would birth demons…”
The professor in charge was Cha Myung-hwan.
A veteran among veterans, earning rock-bottom lecture evaluations every time with his white-bearded, rigid teaching style.
“Anyway, with the gates between the demon realm and human world opening, countless demons and demonic beasts invaded. Humans faced this with the miracle of awakening, but…”
But actually listening, it was boring.
The theory-heavy explanatory style, plus his heartbeat-steady tone, made yawns inevitable.
And I wasn’t the only one feeling it.
Nod, nod—
That head bobbing regularly like a woodpecker pecking a tree, at the back.
It was Cheon Seo-yun’s.
Try as I might not to notice, her standout behavior kept drawing my eyes.
Tsk—
Cheon Seo-yun jolted awake, wiped her drool, and soon looked around as if her legs had fallen asleep.
Then, our eyes met.
“…!”
She scowled like she’d spotted a mosquito on a summer night.
Before I could react.
A few seconds later, she was nodding off again.
Jeez.
One thing I could say: she stuck faithfully to her setting.
“Let’s train.”
I’d wasted some precious time veering off track.
Even with more time than before, I couldn’t afford to squander a single minute or second.
[Trait, Manifestation, activated.]
Soon after, sunlight streamed through the front window.
I infused the warm particles of manifestation rising gently with my will, envisioning the desired form.
Fluff, fluff—
Soon, a virtual anatomical diagram like Leonardo da Vinci’s appeared.
A form of supplementary study.
Yesterday, I’d alternated Perusal between the shaman’s bracelet and this, but my Three Calamities Art comprehension was only about 3%.
Esoteric, they said… I hadn’t realized it was this bad.
At this rate, it’d take at least a month to actually cultivate it, so I decided to borrow Manifestation’s power whenever I had a moment.
Visualizing the nebulous sensations made understanding far easier.
I stretched one cluster of particles long and thin.
Dyed it blue, then slowly moved it along the set path.
“Looking at results alone, humanity won. Thanks to the rise of noble houses and the barely narrowed dimensional rifts. But life changed drastically. Demonic beasts roamed nationwide, and demon-blooded sorcerers were born…”
I quietly recited passages from the Three Calamities Art, using Professor Cha Myung-hwan’s voice as white noise.
“Passing the vital acupoints of Front Center and Middle Peace, circuiting through the Divine Gate…”
It was a leisurely time, but probably temporary.
If the quest followed the original plot, the second main quest of the afternoon would trigger today.
Soon, I’d be swamped.