Chapter 4
Chapter 4
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 4
Chapter Title: Sparring with Roze
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'Where am I? Who am I?'
In front of me was a sparring room enclosed by a transparent barrier.
It was far too vast to call it a simple interior space.
Big enough to fit a soccer field with room to spare.
Yet even that expansive area felt cramped watching the two people clashing with ferocious intensity. Reality itself seemed to peel away in chunks.
"Not working, huh?"
"Same as always today, I guess?"
The sparring room's outer walls were made of the same material used for battleship armor to withstand enemy barrages.
On top of that, the academy's auxiliary power was linked in series, layering an extra barrier.
In short, it was insanely tough.
But right now, that barrier was rippling.
Unable to contain the force concentrated in one spot, its surface undulated like waves to disperse the shock.
Some impacts had even pierced through, leaving scars on the walls.
'Monsters.'
There were two people inside the sparring room.
One was a superhuman male with powerful abilities—I remembered him as a side character at best.
He had impressive powers; in any other class, he could've claimed top spot without issue. Unfortunately, he had enrolled in this class, doomed to play supporting role to the 'Miracle Generation.'
At a glance, the spar looked overwhelmingly in the side character's favor.
He unleashed volleys of purple energy bullets from all directions while enveloping himself in a thick energy shield for protection.
'If his opponent weren't that guy.'
Saham Moheim.
Weapon Master, another one of the Miracle Generation.
A man with deep brown skin, short hair, and bizarre tattoos covering half his face.
The Saham I'd created was a relentless hard worker.
Even if his raw talent fell short of the other four, his unmatched effort had elevated him to the same level.
He mastered every weapon, enhancing and strengthening any he touched.
He was famous for always carrying at least five weapons tailored to the battlefield.
'Not quite there yet, though.'
Saham's hands blurred with speed as he swung.
Amid the endless barrage of energy bullets, his surroundings remained eerily calm, as if shielded by an invisible barrier.
No ordinary fighter could deflect such dense energy projectiles so effortlessly.
The exchange dragged on for quite a while.
Even as plasma phenomena sparked from the rising energy density inside the sparring room, Saham's defense remained impenetrable.
If anything, he kept shifting weapons endlessly, widening his 'interval' and closing the distance on his opponent.
'Those two could probably jump into active duty right now without anyone batting an eye.'
Not just the side character—even Saham had the skills to hold his own against most superhumans.
Finally, it reached its conclusion.
As Saham closed in right up to his face and withstood the onslaught, the opponent snapped, unleashing everything in a single, uncontrolled burst.
Saham cleaved the attack straight down the middle.
"Now you'll talk. Good training."
[Yeah, good training.]
[You goddamn bastard!!!]
The voices from inside the sparring room echoed through the speakers.
Everyone lost it.
"Whoa, how'd you know? Roze."
"It's what he always says."
"I don't think I've heard that before."
"...I have, once."
So that's when this habit started.
Somehow, it turned into insisting otherwise.
The sparring room had some time before the next slot while it reset.
Saham, having finished his bout, approached us.
"Roze. I challenge you to a spar."
"Now? No can do. Got prior plans. Sparring with Lemon today."
Roze nodded toward me.
Saham looked at me, his expression hardening slightly.
"Leonard Monarch. No disrespect intended. But sparring with him offers you no benefit."
"It's guidance sparring. I promised to teach him. He owes me one, and anyway, he's shown some spirit!"
"Spirit? ...That's not what I know. Roze, are you being fooled by him?"
Saham knew Lemon.
The original Lemon's attitude toward life, his personality.
Lemon was the exact type an ultra-hard worker with infinite mental fortitude and grit would despise.
Without Roze as a connection, that bad impression would've stuck for life.
So this was my chance.
My first principle: [Survival]
You have to stay alive to do anything.
A golden opportunity to build rapport with one of the Miracle Generation's four members—excluding Merdi—that tied deeply to my survival.
I decided to worry about the aftermath later and opened my mouth.
"Like Roze said. Things won't change if I keep going like this, so I asked for her help. Can't keep disappointing myself forever, right?"
Lines like this would've made my hands and feet curl up in embarrassment if someone told me to say them.
My face was burning up in real time, in fact.
But for 'Saham Moheim' specifically, this dialogue was unavoidable.
"...Really?"
"Yeah."
"I don't easily believe people change. Anyone can talk. I'll be watching."
His distrust of Lemon ran deeper than I'd thought.
Saham urged me in a firm tone.
"Roze, no apology from me. Sorry for butting in unnecessarily."
"No worries! We'll spar next time."
Saham gave me one last piercing look before turning and leaving.
"Lemon. What'd you do to make that positive guy hate you? Huh?"
"Haha..."
"Anyway, past is past. I like the Lemon now! Ready to spar?"
Ah, right—the spar was still on.
The sparring room slots cycled mercilessly fast.
Roze, who'd bombed theory but aced practicals for top scores, always had priority access to these facilities.
We headed to our assigned room.
Tailored to the purpose, it was smaller than the one we'd just seen but still plenty spacious.
"Like I said earlier..."
"I know. My senses are all messed up, right? Let's calibrate them by moving. Just receive for now."
I'd popped some meds beforehand.
Thinking about it, learning from a martial artist like Roze was a huge opportunity.
For survival's sake, passing it up would be idiotic.
I recalled the stance and assumed the position.
'Lion Stance [獅子定型]'
Humanity United's martial arts had undergone a revolution upon entering the space age.
Suddenly expanded physical limits.
Flesh-and-blood humans smashing rocks barehanded and tearing steel.
Through training, they could deflect bullets and survive bombardments with sheer vitality.
Superhumans straight out of movies or novels.
Things that seemed fantastical in wuxia tales became reality—no one was sitting still.
At first, they rampaged wildly with their new power, but systems gradually formed.
Research followed, leading to training methods that efficiently honed diverse physiques.
Thus, the era of space wuxia dawned.
Many methods rose and fell into history; the survivors evolved and persist today.
The Lion Stance Lemon had learned was one such.
One of the Ten Martial Arts.
Focused on power and momentum, its 'brutal offense' squeezed every ounce of energy from the body beyond limits—hailed as the pinnacle among martial arts.
'Whatever happens, happens!'
I charged in blindly.
I'd never been athletic.
Sucked at volleyball, got called a developer for it.
Lemon's body had its perks, so I managed a decent form, but it clearly didn't impress Roze.
"Hmm... You're eeextremely messed up. Not just lost senses? Aftereffects this bad?"
Roze stood and blocked all my attacks with one hand.
Even in this 'messed up' state, I could've shredded cm-thick steel plates in one go.
I hadn't expected such a gap.
The thrill from experiencing untried power chilled to ice.
'Miracle Generation'
Now I felt it skin-deep.
Why so many geniuses despaired.
Why mere effort couldn't even approach them, birthing that thick despair.
"How do you learn Lion Stance and end up with such imbalanced physique? Plus, it doesn't suit your temperament. Like there's a foreign object jammed in."
Martial arts aren't just body training.
They sculpt the practitioner's body toward the 'ideal form.'
This includes not just temperament correction, but skeletal structure, blood vessel and organ size/position/thickness, and even nervous system development.
No way that's achievable with normal training alone.
Thus, martial arts regimens incorporate psychology and even surgery.
Intensely painful, demanding endless endurance.
But those who complete it gain commensurate power.
The 'Instructor Corps' shining on the front lines proved it.
'Wish I'd gone that route'
Lemon had zero interest in superhumans originally.
Lion Stance was just basic education as a Monarch family member.
Hence, mediocre proficiency.
Getting into COH Academy was purely accidental ability manifestation.
An arrogant Lemon surrounded by abnormal geniuses losing his self-esteem was inevitable.
Common story.
"Only abilities could warp your body like this. Right, Lemon?"
"Uh, yeah."
Roze's eyes sparkled as she asked.
In under three minutes of sparring, she'd seen right through my body.
"Wait, hold on—"
"Yeah, hold still..."
Roze approached and prodded me all over.
The deepest skinship of my life with the most beautiful woman, yet why did it feel more like shoving my head into a tiger's mouth than thrilling?
I just wanted to live purely in the moment.
But as she examined me, Roze dropped a bombshell.
"At this rate, it'll collapse."
"Collapse?"
"Out of harmony. Leave it, and it'll rot soon enough."
Roze poked a few spots emphatically.
Rotting flesh?
That'd be a problem.
Lemon's ability [Analysis, Application] had bigger risks than expected.
'Guess I ditch it then.'
Sucks, but no choice.
Life over academy grades.
Requesting alien corpses for ability acclimation research was viable too.
"But don't worry. I'll 'adjust' it, and it'll be fine. Probably."
"How do you adjust it?"
If there's a fix, that's best.
Clutching sudden hope, I asked Roze back.
Unaware it was a one-way ticket to hell.
"Like this!"
"Gah...!?"
Intense shock hit before I knew it.
No time to react—Roze's hands slammed my whole body.
No clue how she struck, but it hurt like hell.
Her voice drilled into my ear simultaneously.
"Your body has foreign tissue mixed in. It amplifies performance super efficiently, but the incompatibility makes it clash nonstop with your cells."
"Thaaat huuurtsss!"
"Lost senses probably from this too."
Not really.
But opening my mouth now meant force-fed choo-choo play, so I clamped shut and listened.
"Tons of treatments, but the fastest, most effective I can do is this."
No need to hide it's the most extreme.
Some mental prep required.
Already so many shocks, my stomach was at risk.
"Gonna hit you with steady shocks to toughen it up super strong. Get it? I'm bad at theory, can't explain well, but this works."
Grown man asking what toughen-up is. Toughen-up.