Episode 6: A 15 million won bet
Episode 6: A 15 million won bet
Ever since Yoo Ara learned Mana Circulation from that weird tutor, she felt her body becoming strangely light.
"That's strange."
Not only did she wake up wide awake in the morning, but the fatigue she always carried on her shoulders had vanished as if washed away.
Was it thanks to the Mana Circulation?
He was a perverted tutor, but he certainly seemed to have the skills.
"Ah, right. I almost forgot."
As soon as Yoo Ara got up, she spread several sheets of newspaper on the floor, sat cross-legged, and circulated her mana as she had been taught.
To be precise, it wasn't her circulating it, but the perverted tutor's energy remaining in her body that was doing the circulating.
"Haa, haa."
The heat she felt when she first performed Mana Circulation stimulated her entire body.
Zzirit-zzirit.
Yoo Ara twitched involuntarily at the pleasurable sensation.
This was the side effect.
Perhaps because of the special circumstances during her first Mana Circulation, whenever she closed her eyes and focused on the circulating mana, she felt as if she were undressed.
The feeling of circulating mana while sitting cross-legged in the nude.
After about an hour of Mana Circulation, her whole body would be drenched in sweat.
After feeling the strange sensation of her heart pounding and her skin tingling for an hour, she would find her lower parts soaked before she knew it.
It was strange.
She wasn't usually the type to be so sensitive.
To begin with, Yoo Ara was ignorant and uninterested in sex, to the point where she barely masturbated once a month.
But only when she did Mana Circulation!
Her lower parts would throb like crazy.
She felt like she was going to go crazy with embarrassment, feeling as if the tutor was watching her naked self.
Even though she knew he wasn't there, she could feel his gaze.
No, it felt like he was touching her entire body with his fingers.
She definitely hated that sensation, but when she finished Mana Circulation, she kept thinking about it.
However, the fortunate thing was.
"Ugh, the smell."
That whenever she finished Mana Circulation, there was always a pungent odor that stung her nose.
She instinctively pinched her nose at the stench, which was enough to make the pounding she felt during Mana Circulation go cold.
The newspaper she had laid out beforehand was soaked with an unknown liquid.
The tutor said this was the waste accumulated in her body.
He said it was the process of the tutor's mana burning away the waste accumulated in her body and reconstructing it anew.
He said that by the day of the weekly exam, that mana would burn away most of the waste in her body, and her own mana would fill that space.
"No way, that can't be."
Would such a convenient thing really happen?
If mana filled up just by circulating it a few times, then all the Awakened in the world would be filled with mana...
[You feel the energy of Mana Overflow.]
[Mana stat increases.]
[Mana : C -> B]
"Uh, huh?"
She witnessed her own growth.
She couldn't feel it in her body yet, but the system had never lied.
"My grade went up? With just one Mana Circulation?"
Is this really possible?
No matter how ignorant she was about Mana Circulation, she knew the theory.
To raise one's mana grade, one had to continuously feel mana in a mana-rich place for at least several weeks.
They said that without talent, mana wouldn't increase even if you did that for months.
To think it would be this easy.
"Could he really be a capable person?"
A tiny bit of faith in her tutor sprouted.
But only for a moment.
"Ah, I need to get ready quickly. It's the weekly exam today."
Today was the day of the bet with her tutor regarding her grades.
'I must avoid failing at all costs.'
She coveted the 15 million won he had bet, but she had no intention of intentionally failing the exam just to get it.
The important thing was whether she could survive in this academy.
Yoo Ara hurriedly got ready and left her studio apartment.
[Hunter Replica - Estimated Grade: B-~B+]
[The storage condition is excellent. Unlike its appearance, the defensive capability is quite good.]
"This armor is B-rank. If we look at it favorably, it's armor that could possibly be B+ rank."
"What? Check it again. There's no way it's B-rank! That guy said it was definitely A+ rank or higher armor!"
A jerk showed up again today.
It's the type of jerk that shows up once a day.
The type who thinks their item is special and that your appraisal is wrong.
They were the type who, having been scammed somewhere, heard wrong information from a terrible appraiser and came in with baseless confidence in this item.
It was somewhat annoying, but the solution was simple.
"Guard! Please handle this."
"What? Handle? Did you just say 'handle' to me?"
Our kind guards will handle it well on their own.
"Now, customer, please calm down. The reliability of our appraisal is 99.999%. We are doing cross-verification for any possible errors, so please come this way..."
"Don't bullshit me and appraise it properly!"
The hunter screaming at the top of his lungs was grabbed by the guards.
And...
"Appraise it properly right now!"
The guy unleashed his ability.
Mana swirled and threw two guards against the wall.
There were lacerations all over their bodies as if they had been cut by sharp blades.
It wasn't a serious wound.
Though first aid seemed necessary.
That.
Wiiiing!
The guards who will swarm in soon will take care of that.
The problem is this guy.
"Hey, appraiser. You'd better appraise it properly this time. Otherwise, this wind will cut your throat."
"Is that a threat?"
"Do I look like I'm speaking nicely?"
This is a big problem.
A really big problem.
"So, my life is being threatened right now?"
"Is this bastard kidding me right now!"
"Then that means I can use defensive measures, right?"
I said it loud enough for everyone to hear.
"What is this bastard babbling about?"
"What do you think? I'm recording evidence."
"What?"
"This is self-defense."
I grabbed the guy's throat in an instant.
"Kehek!"
"It looks like wind magic, but it seems you're the type who fights using sound waves, right? The louder you shout, the stronger you get?"
"Ho, ho... how...?"
"I can see everything."
I saw it in that short moment when the guy shouted.
The sound wave blades bursting from his mouth cutting the guards' bodies.
Being able to react calmly in every situation.
And the ability to 'see' everything in a split second.
I speculated that this might be the ability provided by the Charisma stat.
"That's really scary. When our customer does this, my hands and feet tremble."
And I struck the guy's jaw.
At the same time, the guards swarmed in and grabbed him.
"Are you okay?"
"I was scared to death. Take him away."
The jerk exited sadly like that.
"Sigh, another jerk. What happened this time?"
"The type who thinks their item's appraisal value should be higher."
"You got stuck with an annoying type."
The team leader, who was sipping coffee, looked at me.
"Oh, by the way, we have a company dinner after work today. You're coming, right?"
"I'm sorry, but leaving on time is my principle."
And today, I had an important appointment.
An appointment to verify if Yoo Ara really has S-rank potential.
After the first lesson, there was one more lesson.
The content of the lesson was simple.
It was just injecting a little more mana into her body to give more power to the Mana Circulation.
I gave her an assignment to feel the mana and cast it herself within three days.
But surprisingly, she felt the mana.
She couldn't cast it herself, but it was an amazing improvement.
'She wasn't S-rank in adaptability for nothing.'
She definitely had talent.
The problem was that she didn't know about that talent herself.
So I injected more mana into her body than expected.
The process was the same.
She sat cross-legged while undressed, and I led the mana circulation.
She was still embarrassed about undressing, but she didn't go crazy like a madwoman.
Well, if you're a human with learning ability, that's how you should be.
The second lesson also ended with just Mana Circulation.
She seemed dissatisfied, but teaching her how to fight while sitting in a room wouldn't make her improve.
That's how the second lesson was successfully completed.
If I could just increase the amount of mana, I could put out the immediate fire.
Because the reason she was failing the practical test must be because her psychokinesis had weakened.
If I just increase her maximum mana capacity, there's no problem.
'It's a problem that can be solved simply.'
Of course, solving that mana capacity was something close to impossible for ordinary people.
"I wonder if she's doing well."
I don't want to lose 15 million won for no reason.
"Si-woo-ssi, do you have a girlfriend?"
"Yes?"
"No, leaving on time and all, it doesn't make sense unless it's a girlfriend, right?"
"Girlfriend, my foot. I'm busy enough just taking care of myself."
"Is that so? Ah, this feels like a girlfriend..."
Leaving behind the team leader who couldn't give up his lingering attachment, I headed to the break room.
"Where are you going?"
"I'm going to clear my head for a moment because of a shocking event. If I don't rest now, I don't think I'll be able to work today."
Let's get some rest.
My head hurts.
Weekly evaluation.
It was an exam to judge how much they had grown through situational judgment shown in simple simulations and simple ability tests.
In fact, in the first year, it was an exam held every week to help them adapt to exams.
And this exam was the weekly evaluation held 3 weeks before the Regular Examination.
In most cases, the current grades were applied to the Regular Examination.
And right now, Yoo Ara...
"It, it really works?"
With her hand outstretched, she stared blankly at the huge rock she had levitated.
Kung!
"Record, the output of psychokinesis is 120P. Looking only at the figures, it's an output similar to A-rank psychokinesis."
Seogeok-seogeok.
"Yoo Ara, you've grown a lot."
For the first time, she received praise from the professor in charge.
"Yoo Ara, weekly evaluation ability test, A."
"A? You're giving me an A?"
A was a top-tier grade given at the academy.
"If it were the 1st evaluation, I would have given you an S. But since A is the highest score for the weekly evaluation, be satisfied with this."
This kind of grade was a first in Yoo Ara's life.
It was so good that it felt like a waste to be just a weekly evaluation.
This makes no sense.
She repeated to herself, pinching her cheek to check if it was a dream or reality.
"It hurts..."
It was reality.
She received an A on the weekly evaluation.
"By the standards of students facing the 1st Regular Examination, it was an output that deserved an A."
"Thank you!"
"Since you also received a B in judgment in the simulation and a C in basic physical strength... If you maintain this, you might be able to pass the 1st Regular Examination."
"I, I will do my best!"
"Yes. I hope you maintain your current improved skills well. I've seen many kids who did well during the weekly evaluation but slipped up during the actual exam."
Listening to the professor's gentle praise, Yoo Ara was able to smile after finishing an exam for the first time.
"Yoo Ara, weekly evaluation passed!"
The perverted tutor came to mind in Yoo Ara's head as she received her report card.
'Come to think of it, I didn't ask his name.'
Yoo Ara thought that when she returned home and took the lesson, she would have to ask his name first.