Forging the Ultimate Party: 90 Days of Hellish Training

Lee Jin-ah shot me a glare like she'd been deeply wronged, then stormed off toward the cafeteria with thudding footsteps. I chuckled softly and followed her inside.

The cafeteria was already buzzing with our class's murmurs. The eerie afterimage of that 'disappearance' from the training grounds still lingered in their minds. As I passed, the students parted like the Red Sea, their eyes filled more with fear than awe.

"Hey, on second thought, I'll let you live this time. But save your wish for something really important later—get ready."

Jin-ah slammed her tray down and pouted at my words. The haughty demeanor from earlier was gone, replaced by the face of someone refusing to admit defeat.

"Tch, who cares about a wish. Hey, Do Jae-hyun. That thing you did earlier... it was really space magic, right? The kind that only existed in ancient times? No way was that just mana compression."

She glanced around warily and lowered her voice. I popped a piece of meat from my tray into my mouth and replied nonchalantly.

"Who knows. I just spread my mana super thin and swung it. Like getting paper cut."

"Liar. If that was paper, all paper in the world would be steel. Calling that total annihilation—undetectable by mana sensors—a paper cut? Have some shame."

Jin-ah clearly didn't buy it, but she didn't press further. She was sharp. She knew I was hiding something and knew when to back off.

Instead, she shoved some meat into her mouth with a determined look and dropped a bombshell.

"Hey, for the inter-class competition at the end of this semester, team up with me."

"Inter-class competition? Isn't that still months away? We just started."

"You don't know how Seongun Academy works, do you? They do intensive basic training for the first three months after enrollment. And the inter-class competition is how you prove your progress at the end of it. Your future grade and funding depend on the results."

Her eyes sparkled. It was huge that Lee Jin-woo’s sister—the genius of precise mana control from the upper class, even if not one of the Ten Emperors—was reaching out first.

She was spot on. My space magic packed absolute power, but my mana circuits couldn't handle the strain yet. I needed a precise controller.

"I heard the inter-class competition is teams of three. Who's the third?"

At my question, Jin-ah turned toward the cafeteria entrance. There stood a girl cautiously scanning for a seat, tray in hand. Baek Seol-ha.

"There she is. Not from our class, but top-tier defense magic from the advanced class. With Seol-ha, we'd have perfect balance: attack, support, defense."

"Seol-ha? She's advanced class. Can a beginner class like ours team with her?"

"You don't know the new 'Guardian System' the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠chairman introduced? To help beginner teams lacking real combat experience, you can recruit one advanced student as a 'protector' and defense specialist. Seol-ha's top-notch but super introverted, so she's been sidelined by big guild cliques and hasn't found a team. I laid some groundwork yesterday."

I was impressed by her thoroughness. We called Seol-ha over to our table. The girl who stunned everyone with her 89.2% on retest day. Flustered by the sudden offer, she met my eyes, smiled softly, and nodded.

"If I can help Jae-hyun... I'll give it my all! My barriers are ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠top five in the academy—no worries about our backs."

Her tone was straightforward. My one and only childhood friend who knew my true 100.1% aptitude. And just like that, our 'party' was formed.

*

On the way out after eating, Jin-ah and Seol-ha walked ahead, checking the training curriculum. I lagged behind.

Then, a chilling aura hit from behind, accompanied by a creepy crackling friction ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠sound.

"...So Jin-ah picked you?"

A low, heavy voice. I turned to see a man in a sharp suit, blond hair slicked back. Seongjin Group's heir, Lee Jin-woo, who strutted with his 81% retest score. He still dismissed my machine-smashing as sabotage or malfunction, his eyes arrogant.

But the lightning flickering around his shoulders trembled faintly. Instinctual wariness.

"Do Jae-hyun, right? Heard about your little trick in practice today. But the competition is real combat. Prove if that freakish magic of yours is faster than my lightning—in three months."

I shrugged at his words. 81% talent—genius to normals, but nothing special to Seol-ha's 89.2% or my 100.1%.

"Look forward to it. Before your lightning touches, the space you're standing in will vanish."

His eyebrow twitched. He brushed past without a word. Each step left faint scorch marks on the pavement. His aptitude was lower than mine or Seol-ha's, but backed by his group's full support, his mana density was impressively heavy.

90 days. Plenty of time to learn humanity's magic systems and erode them completely with my space magic.

Days 1 to 30 of training were pure 'basic hell'. Instructor Sylvia shoved me into a special training room, drilling mana circuit overload endurance over and over.

100.1% was a blessing and a curse. My body greedily sucked in endless mana, but my vessel—my flesh—was too frail to contain it.

"Student Do Jae-hyun! Not pouring mana into space—thread your magic into the cracks of space! Again!"

Under her whip-sharp commands, I squeezed out mana thousands of times a day. The first two weeks, I couldn't even spread mana 1mm thin, let alone space magic.

But on week three, the gears in my body roared back to life.

"...It's gone."

The training steel pillar my fingertip touched vanished cleanly, no mana trace left. Sylvia's eyes wavered.

Day 60. Time to sync with the party.

"Jae-hyun, your mana waves are too wild! I'll lock the phase!"

Blue mana threads from Jin-ah wrapped my body at her shout. Despite her 81% brother, her precision outshone him.

With Jin-ah refining my mana flow, I slotted the stable power into space's crevices.

"Seol-ha, now!"

"Got it!"

Seol-ha tapped the ground with a sharp chant, weaving transparent ice crystals into a massive hexagonal barrier around us. True to her top defense rep, it shrugged off mid-tier beast charges like nothing.

Not just a shield. In a month, she'd mastered syncing her ice mana with my space phase to protect the team from wipeout.

"Whoa... Jae-hyun, we're really getting strong."

Seol-ha wiped sweat from her brow and grinned. 89.2% Seol-ha, 100.1% me, and Jin-ah the perfect tuner. We were leagues beyond beginner class.

Day 80. Rumors swirled about our trio. Beginner training room walls vanishing whole, underground gravity gear warping from my cough. Park Tae-jun couldn't even meet my eyes anymore, scampering away.

His puny mana was less than the space scraps I erased each morning practice.

Late night after training, I pulled out the ancient tome from my pocket. The book my parents left glowed brighter as I grew stronger.

I chuckled at her confidence and closed the book. To uncover why my parents left me this power, I first had to prove I was the best in this academy cage.

And on competition D-Day, the board blazed red.

From the stands, Lee Jin-woo glared down. Arrogance in his eyes, but veins bulged on his clenched fists.

"Yeah, wait right there. I'll drag you down soon enough."

And so, the morning of the inter-class competition dawned.