Chapter 58: Entrance Ceremony (7)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 58: Entrance Ceremony (7)
Good.
The escape route was secured.
“M-Mr. Do-jin. Did you just… the sealing magic…?”
Yoon Ji-an, one of the two people watching from inside the grand auditorium, wore a look of utter shock.
Even I had to admit, it was pretty surprising.
I hadn't forcibly shattered the sealing magic; I had unraveled it.
That meant only one thing.
If I put my mind to it, I could become a phantom thief capable of cleaning out every last magic safe in every rich household.
“Ji-an, this is no time to be shocked. We need to evacuate everyone outside, quickly.”
“Huh? Ah, yes!”
Snapping back to her senses, Yoon Ji-an immediately ran to guide the special admission students and Association staff toward the exit.
I was hoping they’d leave as quietly as possible, but…
“The… the exit!”
“The door’s open!”
I swear, why do these bastards love screaming so much?
The deafening roars that had been echoing moments ago fell silent.
It seemed Professor Nam and the magician had also reacted to the shout from one of the students.
“Hmm…!”
“H-How is the door…!”
The two men’s reactions were a study in contrast.
Professor Nam wore a satisfied expression, while the magician looked as if he couldn't believe the door he had worked so hard to lock was now open.
But that lasted only a moment.
The magician’s face began to twist into a demonic scowl.
“How dare you interfere with the sacred rites of our church…!”
Ah, now I get it.
I knew which group he belonged to.
Just as Hunters have guilds, villains also form groups with like-minded individuals.
Among them, one villain group had been rapidly expanding its influence over the last five years.
Its name was…
“The Church of Light, was it?”
Something about illuminating a world stained with lies with true light.
It was a pseudo-religious cult and villain group centered around a villain with that sort of ideology.
They were the only villains who called their group a "church," so I was certain.
“So that’s why they were trying to kidnap the students.”
Unlike other villain groups, the Church of Light had a very peculiar method of expanding its power.
Their most common method was kidnapping.
They would abduct the people they needed and make them into followers.
That was how the Church of Light had grown its forces.
Honestly, just hearing that probably doesn't make much sense.
There’s no way kidnapped people would obediently follow their orders.
But the Church of Light could make it happen.
No, there was someone who made it happen.
The leader of the Church of Light.
Villain name: ‘Brain Washer’.
A quasi-S-rank villain believed to possess the ability of brainwashing or something similar.
“They were planning to snatch up all the special admission students.”
It seemed they intended to take all the students whose talents had already been proven and make them the future of their organization.
“Their greed is something else, huh.”
They were a bold bunch, that’s for sure.
To think they’d mobilize a high-level magician and an S-rank mana stone that costs a fortune to pull this off.
It looked like the donations flowing into the Church of Light were overflowing.
Most of the special admission students and Association staff were now outside.
I looked at the mana stone sitting alone on the stage.
The halo of light around it was slowly fading.
I could feel it in my bones—the magic circle was nearing completion.
I shouted to Professor Nam, who was facing off against the magician.
“Professor! The teleportation magic circle is about to activate! You need to get out now!”
“Teleportation…?”
The middle-aged professor’s face hardened in an instant.
The magician gritted his teeth and glared in my direction.
“Tch…! How did you know it was teleportation…? Don’t tell me.”
Oh?
Looks like he figured it out.
“Heh, heheheh!”
Suddenly, the man started laughing.
A madness flickered in the eyes he fixed on me. He was clearly up to something.
“I have no choice.”
The mana flowing around the magician’s body began to swell.
“I’ll just have to take you bastards with me…!”
The amount of mana pouring out of him was extraordinary.
It seemed he intended to take us with him in a final, desperate act.
“I don’t think so.”
I immediately gathered my mana.
Most of the mana dormant within my body converged at my fingertips.
For a moment, I was stunned.
The speed at which my mana is gathering is incomparably faster than before…!
Forcibly calming my excitement, I manipulated the mana with delicate precision.
I colored it a pure, brilliant white.
As the mana’s color gradually turned white, the surrounding temperature plummeted.
An attack spell wouldn't hurt him.
At my current level, I wouldn't be able to break through the mana activated all over his body.
So, I’ll just lightly impede his movement.
「Ice Wall.」
The ground beneath his feet frosted over.
At the same time, solid ice began to shoot up from that spot.
Crack! Craaack!
The wall shot up in an instant, towering over him and blocking his path.
The same happened to his sides and back.
I could see his face through the thick ice wall.
He looked completely flustered.
It wouldn't be difficult for him to break a wall like this.
But that was enough.
As long as I could narrow his movements and create an opening, even for a moment.
“Professor, now!”
“Hmm…!”
The professor seemed to hesitate for a second, then turned and dashed toward me at high speed.
He reached me in just a couple of strides and grabbed the nape of my neck with a brutish hand.
“Gak!”
As a strangled cry escaped my lips, the sound of a tremendous wind rushed past my ears.
When I came to my senses, my body was already outside the grand auditorium.
And at that exact moment, it began.
The teleportation magic circle manifested.
Vwooooom!
A pillar of blue light erupted from the ground, enveloping the entire auditorium.
A massive magic circle was drawn in the sky.
It was the same shape as the teleportation circle I had sensed beneath the ground.
With it, the grand auditorium began to slowly disappear.
“Noooooo!”
I could hear it.
The man’s scream of despair.
To invest an S-rank mana stone only to get away with a single building.
“Talk about a sucker.”
If that wasn't a sucker, I don't know what was.
Finally, the grand auditorium was engulfed in light and vanished.
As the halo of light gradually faded, a massive, spent magic circle remained on the ground below, emitting the faint remnants of blue mana.
I could finally relax.
“Phew.”
That was a close call. I almost became a member of the Church of Light.
* * *
Since Hoguk Hall had vanished into thin air, the special admission students were gathered in another grand auditorium, Yeongryeong Hall.
The reason we were gathered was to resume the entrance ceremony.
Something about how, at times like this, they shouldn't cancel the event but proceed to show that they're unshaken.
We went through the national ceremony again and took our seats.
On the stage, a relay of congratulatory speeches from the professors was underway, but none of it registered.
Right now, the most important thing to me was what had appeared in my empty trait slot.
“Status Window.”
I immediately opened the status window and re-read the messages that had flashed by while I was writhing in pain.
[A trait will be granted based on the experience you have accumulated.]
[The new trait ‘One with Aptitude’ is granted to the user.]
[A physical change will now occur.]
[Prepare for the pain!]
“…Is this son of a bitch kidding me?”
You made me roll around in agony and even blocked my senses, and then you tell me to prepare for the pain?
At this point, aren't you just messing with me?
“Hoo.”
Patience.
Anyway, what in the world is this trait?
“One with Aptitude…?”
What kind of endowment did I receive?
There were a few more messages after that.
Maybe checking them would give me an answer.
[Physical application complete.]
[The user’s stat efficiency has been upgraded by a factor of 1.2.]
[The user’s talent will now blossom further.]
[Under specific conditions, ‘Mana Absorption’ is possible.]
“…Is this for real?”
No wonder my body felt lighter and tougher.
For an Awakened Being, a trait was like winning the lottery.
Your entire future was decided by what you were born with.
In that sense, my current trait was…
“The jackpot.”
I’d never heard or seen anything like it.
A trait that makes your talent blossom further and inflates your stat efficiency.
Currently, my highest stat is Stamina.
The value is 30.
Multiplying that by 1.2… makes it 36.
“Holy shit.”
A curse slipped out before I could stop it.
A value of 6.
It might not seem like much right now.
But considering how much the increase would compound as I continued to grow, this was insane.
Back in Son Si-woo’s body, at my peak, my Stamina stat was 90.
With a 1.2 multiplier applied, it would be inflated to the ridiculous value of 108.
With that much stamina, couldn't I run around the entire planet without getting winded?
The higher the total value of a stat, the more significant each point becomes.
And it meant you had to grind your soul just to raise it by a single point.
But I would gain an additional 18 points without any effort.
“This isn’t just winning the lottery…”
I stand corrected.
My trait isn't a first-prize lottery ticket. It’s like winning the Powerball.
A jackpot that's been rolling over for months.
“Hoo…”
I took a slow breath, calming myself down.
The messages weren't over yet.
[You have become the 504th One with Aptitude.]
[With you as the last, all seats have now been filled.]
[Continue to grow your trait and prepare for the coming destiny.]
“……”
With those cryptic words, I finished reading the past messages.
The final message had left my mind filled with questions.
The part about growing my trait must mean that ‘One with Aptitude’ is a growth-type trait with the potential to develop.
That part wasn't a huge deal.
There had been a few others with growth-type traits before.
What bothered me was what came before and after.
The 504th and final seat, and a coming destiny…
What did that ambiguous number mean, and what was this "coming destiny"?
My mind suddenly started to feel very complicated.