School Starts #2
School Starts #2
"All right, school's back in session. Time for class."
"Guh."
"Aah...!"
"No!"
My classmates sucked in their breath. Jumping straight into class right after the opening ceremony felt brutal, but we're heroes.
"As heroes, we can't afford to skip class. Let's do this at full power, Instructor!"
Gotta stay sharp!
No reduced class time!
There's only unlimited training!
"Kim Geun-cheol, who showed the most growth last semester, has the right idea. Yes, that kind of proactive attitude is exactly what builds strength. In any case, since it's the first day of the semester, we'll be assessing how much you've improved over the break."
She said it as if merely having a break automatically guaranteed improvement.
Which is, of course, completely correct.
It's not just about school lessons. We cadets all train individually after class. Sure, we take breaks and mess around, but fundamentally we're students of combat.
This isn't the kind of thing where you just do your schoolwork and call it a day.
"Stand. We're heading to the gymnasium."
We got up at once.
"Heh heh, I like this. A strength showdown right after the opening ceremony. Kim Geun-cheol? Think you can show me something decent?"
Leona slid up beside me.
"Leona. Don't you already know everything about me?"
"Wh-What are you talking about! What is there to know!"
"Anyway, I'll show you. The power I've gained over the break."
"Can't wait to see it."
Me neither.
"Hey. You know what happens if you're below standard, right?"
"Don't worry, Yu-ri. I've... gotten my hands on some serious power."
"Look at this jackass, struttin' around."
And like that, we reached the gymnasium.
"Alright, everyone. Line up."
The first thing we did was spread our arms and stand evenly spaced. In a single line, we followed orders and began to raise our mana.
—Wooooom.
Every cadet cloaked their body with the mana they had cultivated.
Honestly, it was impressive.
I could feel the flow of mana all around me.
"Hmm, good. Everyone's pulling it up well. Keep going. Slowly, just like that. Maintain the absolute minimum output you can sustain, and wrap the energy tight against your skin."
Following the instruction, I stretched my mana as thin as possible and wrapped my skin with it.
—Slither, slither.
Looking down the line, the skilled ones held it steady, but the weaker ones had mana snapping and sparking, leaking out wastefully.
"Heh heh heh."
I, naturally, had no such problem.
—Wooooom.
Just maintaining the order with perfect, stable control.
"Good. Excellent. You've all passed the mana manipulation test."
The Instructor walked the line, inspecting everyone. All pass. Apparently, we'd all reached the first-semester objective for basic mana handling.
"Now, draw your weapons."
"Yes, ma'am!"
"Yes, ma'am!"
"Yes, ma'am!"
—Shing!
We drew our weapons.
"Project mana into your weapons. Lowest possible output. Just coating them is enough. Maintain that state."
That's no big deal.
—Tshpat.
Everyone seemed able to handle mana and produce a basic sword aura without issue. Though calling it a sword aura is generous; it's just a mana coating.
But that's the foundation.
"Next is physical ability. Assemble at the track."
"Assemble!"
So we're doing one outside now?
"We'll do a simple marathon to measure your physical capability. 40 kilometers, 60-minute time limit. Anyone over that fails. Run hard."
"Hm."
"Forty K... that's nothing, right?"
Our bodies are more than conditioned with mana by now. Sustaining a 40 km/h pace is obviously no problem.
"At the start of first semester, maybe. This is second semester. Consistent training should make this trivial. Places, everyone."
We took our positions.
"Go!"
At the Instructor's signal, I kicked off the ground and hit 40 km/h.
—Whooosh.
The sensation of slicing through the wind was crystal clear.
"This is just a light post-meal workout. Wouldn't you agree, Kim Geun-cheol?"
Leona, running right next to me, tossed the comment out as her silver hair streamed behind her. A sub-60-minute 40K is nothing for her.
"Post-meal workout? This is a geriatric stroll."
"Oh my, in that case I'll downgrade my assessment to 'an infant rolling over.'"
"Easier than kicking in the womb."
"You're impossible, Kim Geun-cheol! Race me! There's a time limit, but you know there are still rankings! Try to catch me!"
—BOOM!
And with that shout, Leona launched into a full sprint!
—Shweeng!
Leona shot off in an instant!
"Ha...! Like I'd lose! Here I gooooo!"
I kicked off the ground and charged hard too. As I ran, I managed my stamina, kept my breathing steady, minded the air resistance, and spread mana through my whole body.
—Shwoooosh!
Getting to sprint like this on the very first day back. I feel so good I'm practically hitting a runner's high.
"Geun-cheol. Is that really all you've got?"
"No way...! Lee Si-hoo!"
And then Si-hoo overtakes me!
"Looks like you've still got a ways to go if you want to catch me."
I pushed harder to catch Si-hoo, but Si-hoo simply and effortlessly exceeded my max speed. It was a chicken race of escalating pace. Except I can't push any faster!
"Wait, Lee Si-hoo! Come back to me!"
"Stop saying weird stuff and just keep up!"
And so Si-hoo started racing Leona.
"Yo. Slowpoke Geun-cheol. What are you doing back here?"
And then Yu-ri pulled up right alongside me!
"Woo Yu-ri!"
"Why're you so slow, man? A total turtle. A turtle. Just stare at this rabbit's butt and chase it."
—Fwoosh!
Not content to just run beside me, Yu-ri passed me with no effort at all and then started running directly in front of me!
"Hey! Stop blocking the path and move! I gotta chase Leona and Si-hoo!"
"Pass me if you can!"
All I can see is Yu-ri's butt...!
—Fwoosh!
So I switched to the adjacent track.
"I can't afford to lose to the likes of you."
"No way, you bastard, Ryu Cheon-hwi!"
Ryu slid in next to me, boxing me out so I couldn't change tracks again!
"If my scores end up lower than yours, I know you'll be insufferable. So stay in the back where a loser belongs."
—BOOM!
And with those parting words, Ryu accelerated.
"Welp. Guess I gotta go play at the front too. Kim Geun-cheol? If you don't hit the top five, I'm putting you in a triangle choke."
—Shweeng!
Yu-ri accelerated too and took off ahead.
"They're so goddamn fast!"
I'm running as hard as I possibly can, but I'm nowhere near matching the frontrunners. Leona, Si-hoo, Yu-ri, and Ryu were basically a four-person pack, trading places among themselves.
I was completely outpacing the rest of the pack and widening the gap too, but it only put me in fifth.
"Give me strength!"
Give me more power!
* * *
"The frontrunners are all in. Somehow you lot turned it into a time attack at the front, but oh well. Lee Si-hoo? Congrats on first place."
"Thank you, Instructor."
Si-hoo is honestly ridiculously fast.
"Ha, a narrow loss."
"For a narrow loss, aren't you in third place? Mr. Ryu?"
"Silence, fifth place! I beat you by two whole ranks!"
No upset. I'm fifth. Si-hoo, Leona, Ryu, and Yu-ri dominated the top spots in that order.
The rest are still running. The gap between me and sixth place is huge.
"Heh heh heh, Kim Geun-cheol? See, you've still got a long way to go. This isn't the time to get cocky. Train harder."
"Ha, can't believe the gap's this big. If I had a golden apple, you think I'd have won?"
"Ha! As if gold could sway me!"
Atalanta lost because she was dazzled by gold. But Leona has the spirit to resist even gold.
Is that why I lost?
"Geun-cheol? An apple? What's that about?"
"Ah, you know. Don't you know? That thing from Greek mythology. The race where you throw a golden apple to win."
"Never heard of it."
Wait, we're the same generation and you don't know Greek mythology?
Everyone grew up reading those Greek mythology comics in elementary school.
So our generation is pretty well-versed in mythology. We learned it all from comics. Though, fitting for a comic about Greek mythology, it all ended in tragedy. The art style change near the end... that was a truly unspeakable tragedy.
In that moment, we lost our gods and goddesses.
Give them back, our gods! Our goddesses!
Give us back our beautiful and mighty gods!
Monsters!
They turned into monsters! Our gods became monsters! Just like the countless heroes who despaired, we despaired too. We live on carrying that painful memory.
"What? Throw a golden apple? What, you throw it and crack their skull?"
"No, Yu-ri. Please. Get some culture. You don't know the story of Atalanta?"
"I know artillery."
"The hell's wrong with you, 'artillery.'"
That's what artillery means.
Wonder if she knows executor?
"Yu-ri. You're so ignorant I can't even live, ugh! I can't live with this ignorance!"
I pounded my chest in frustration.
"You're dead."
"Aack!"
Yu-ri immediately locked me in a headlock!
"Geun-cheol was actin' up, so serves him right."
"Tighter, Woo Yu-ri! Kim Geun-cheol needs to be punished!"
As we were messing around.
"Everyone passed."
The marathon fitness test ended.
"You've now all cleared the first-semester requirements. You're qualified to attend second-semester classes. Good work, all of you. Since it's the first day back, that's all. We start classes in earnest tomorrow, so grab your gear and head back."
"Yeah!"
It's over!
* * *
"Wow. Still, Kim Geun-cheol, you worked hard today. Seeing you today, you really have grown a lot. Your posturing is insane but you proved it with effort. Heh heh heh."
Leona, sitting beside me, said that as she stabbed fried chicken with her fork.
"Right? It's terrifying, my talent."
"Totally scared. I'm so terrified my shoulders are trembling. Look. See this?"
—Tremble tremble tremble.
Leona jokingly made her shoulders shudder. An absurdly dramatic tremble.
"Touch them! Quick!"
"Uh-uh-uh-uh-uh."
The moment I put my hands on her shoulders, the vibrations ran through my body. Truly Leona, to be able to pull off tremors of this caliber.
"Hoo, well, it just means you've grown enough to match that posturing. But... I definitely felt it today. Lee Si-hoo, you. Your aura's changed. How do I put it, it's incredible?"
"You felt it too? I actually set my mind on something recently. That's probably why."
Si-hoo responded to Leona's praise with a smile.
"Enlightenment's important. I mean, with the way things are. Probably makes everyone think about their sense of purpose, right? Hey, Lee Si-hoo. Let's finish eating and go spar."
"Yeah. Let's."
"Sounds good. Let's stop by the training facility on the way."
"Sure."
School's done, we've eaten. Hitting the training facility for some sparring, warming up a bit, then heading home should be fine.
* * *
"Geun-cheol... I'm so exhausted..."
"Si-hoo. You're heavy 'cause you're deadweight."
"Shut up, seriously!"
After training.
I carried a completely spent Si-hoo back to the dorms on my back. Everyone went totally berserk sparring on the first day back.
I got into it pretty hard myself, but I managed my stamina well even while going all-out.
—Creeeak.
I naturally opened Si-hoo's door and dumped the exhausted Si-hoo onto the bed.
"Haaa... haaa..."
"Now get some rest."
"Yeah... I should unwrap my bindings and rest. Goodbye, Geun-cheol."
"You sure it's safe to unwrap? Isn't that too defenseless?"
From a martial-fantasy standpoint, when Si-hoo undoes the bindings, I should probably stand guard nearby.
"It's fine. I can handle that much in my own room. It's not like someone's watching through a hidden camera. What's the issue?"
"Yeah?"
"Relax and go home. Or what... you want to see it again? You crazy pervert Geun-cheol!"
"What're you talking about!"
This crazy woman!
"I'm leaving!"
I got the hell out of Si-hoo's room!
"Hoo."
I went into my own room and locked the door.
"Status window. Fragment info."
[Fragment Emergence Location - 127,802 m]
[Fragment Emergence Time - 00:25:24.11]
Distance to the Fragment: around 127 km.
Time remaining: 25 minutes.
I'd intentionally saved some stamina back at the training facility for this. It popped up today. So I've gotta go check it out, right?
"Kitty, come out. Come here, Kitty."
As I called for Kitty.
—Bzzzt.
A gate formed right in front of me.
"Geun-cheol, you called?"
Right on time.
"Where do you even hear my voice from?"
"If I hear the word 'Kitty' from a region I'm keeping tabs on, I know."
"That how it works?"
Kitty is an unrecorded monsterkin.
Void Princess has been active for a while with a lot of terrorist history, so there are plenty of records on her, but there's not a single one on Kitty.
"Kitty. I've been wondering. When were you born?"
"Hm?"
"I mean. When I looked things up, your sister came up a lot, but not you. How old are you?"
"Hmm, who knows. Kitty doesn't know that kind of thing."
"Agh. You adorable little thing."
—Scribble scribble.
Immediately I put my hand on Kitty's head and ruffled furiously.
"Eep."
"Anyway, I need a warp."
"Hm? Warp? Where to?"
I'd already checked the direction and pinned the location. I brought up the map app on my smartphone and showed her.
"This way."
"That looks like a mountain?"
"I gotta go."
"..."
At my words, Kitty went quiet for a second.
"Hmm... Geun-cheol. Do you know something?"
"Heh heh heh, maybe I do. Anyway, let's go. It's important."
"Okay. I'll send you."
—Slither.
And so, grabbing my tactical bag, I used Kitty's warp service to head to where the Fragment would appear.
—Bzzzt.
The moment I crossed the gate, the scenery changed completely.
"Here?"
"Yeah. Looks right. Let's move in formation."
Distance to target: about 200 meters.
It was a dark mountainside, but for a superhuman that's no obstacle. I got my bearings immediately and ran toward the location.
I waited there a moment.
—Tzzzt.
A strange power began to stir.
"Hm? Geun-cheol? This is..."
Kitty reacted with surprise.
"Yeah."
"How did you know?"
"Who knows. Doesn't your sister know a lot about this kind of thing too?"
"That's..."
Think of it as similar, Kitty.
"So, Kitty. Want to go on a little trip with me?"
"A field trip? Can't hurt. Let's go together, Geun-cheol."
Let's go take a little trip to another world with Kitty.
[Fragment Emergence Time - 00:00:00.00]
The moment the counter hit zero, light burst forth.