Unprecedented Rookie (1)

Unprecedented Rookie.

More than the name itself, it was the modifier hanging before it that caught Eunho's eye.

An achievement? I'm getting one already?

Achievements were the exclusive domain of climbers who ascended the Tower. How much influence one wielded within it, what feats of legend one had accomplished—such things accumulated and stamped their footprint upon the Tower itself. That was what an achievement was.

It was also regarded as the yardstick of a Ranker.

Regressor Arin nodded absently beside him.

-I know, right... Honestly, this is a first for me too, so I'm a bit flustered. I didn't get my first achievement until I'd cleared past the tenth floor. And I've never even heard of this one.

But—Arin added.

-What you just pulled off was genuinely impressive. Bring any Ranker climbing the Tower right now and make them try it—they couldn't.

That was thanks to a lot of factors. Chiefly, your power.

Eunho didn't know how far up the Tower she had climbed. But judging by the sheer amount of energy steeped in her very being, he could tell she was no ordinary climber.

What if that power hadn't been there? What if his spiritual power had never awakened? What if the Arin of this era hadn't helped him?

None of it would ever have come to pass.

Yet Regressor Arin simply shook her head, as if his words weren't even worth acknowledging.

-All of that, included, is your achievement. Eunho, aren't you curious how far I climbed the Tower?

Of course I'm curious.

-Thirty-four floors.

...What?

Eunho tilted his head as though he'd misheard. And no wonder—half a century of human effort had conquered a mere fourteen floors of the Tower. To leap twenty floors beyond that? How could he not be shocked?

Forgive me if this is impolite... but might I ask how old you are?

At Eunho's careful question about her age, the regressor let out a roar: KRAAAANG—!

-Hey!! I'm still in my twenties! Twenty-six! It took me six years of climbing to get that high!

So strong! Eunho nearly died on the spot.

Good thing I stopped when I did, or I'd actually be dead.

His innate, razor-sharp senses kicked his survival instinct into gear at precisely the right moment, clamping his itchy mouth firmly shut.

Letting out a long sigh, Arin continued.

-It wasn't just any thirty-four floors, either. I was in the Vanguard. Rank One among all of humanity. The power you just wielded was mine. Do you understand what that means?

To put it in perspective, it was like a newborn infant wielding the finest blade ever forged... no. Even "newborn" was too generous. It was as if a sperm cell that had never even reached the egg had seized a legendary sword and swung it around.

-Got it? It was that difficult. And yet you? Every time time passed, you adapted to the power I'd earned as if it were your own. That's not something just anyone can do!

Only after hearing all that did Eunho finally accept it.

More than anything, this is an achievement even you never earned, right? You said you'd never heard of it.

-Exactly. And I'm the one who rewrote the records in just six years. The Tower is telling you that your talent surpasses even mine.

Whoosh—! Ramble ramble ramble! Having finally vented it all, she calmed down, catching her breath as she spoke quietly.

-Anyway, brace yourself.

...Right.

Eunho remembered something he'd completely forgotten—buried under the achievement and Arin's rambling.

The backlash... nghh!

The instant the words ended, every muscle in his body went into convulsion. This was nothing like a simple cramp—his muscles squirmed like living snakes, crawling across his entire frame.

Holy... this hurts.

He clenched his teeth, veins bulging at his neck, and endured—but it wasn't enough. His eyes fluttered shut, and his consciousness began to slip away.

At that moment, a warm sensation pressed against his back.

"It's okay."

The Arin of this era was pouring holy power into his body.

The warm divine power seeped inside, and the rampaging muscles and energies gradually began to settle.

He wasn't fully healed, but he could endure it now, at least. Meaning he wouldn't lose consciousness.

"Yeah. Feeling a bit better."

"Good enough... but more importantly, what was that power just now?"

So it had come.

Eunho steeled himself. He'd been expecting this ever since the moment he'd used the regressor's power. Naturally, that meant he had a countermeasure ready.

"I guess my talent bloomed after I entered the Tower."

Option one: brazenly push through.

A tried-and-true ultimate technique, proven across countless novels.

If I insist I'm right, how dare anyone else argue otherwise? That was the logic.

It didn't work on Arin.

"I was testing your awakening status just moments ago. The results were exactly the same as always. Don't even think about lying."

Damn it.

Eunho found himself at a loss for words.

Equipment for testing an Awakener's status was managed nationally in every country.

But the people who built those machines were the ones who wielded holy power. More precisely, they were devices crafted when mages meticulously designed abilities that could be deployed through holy power.

In other words, even without the equipment, anyone who handled holy power could theoretically judge another's awakening status.

Hold on. Doesn't that still depend on how you manipulate the holy power, though? Like how buffs and healing are operated a little differently.

-Right.

Regressor Arin nodded in agreement.

Emboldened, Eunho asked his question.

Then how could she do it?

-Well... she spent her entire academy days constantly testing whether you might awaken, just in case.

"...?"

-She was stuck to your side at all times, remember? So she'd be the first to know the instant you awakened, and help your talent bloom.

"...??"

Countless hooks wrenched through Eunho's heart.

Regressor Arin's lips curled upward at the sight. It was a bitter smile, like someone recalling a past she'd rather forget.

-I was pretty snappy with you back then, wasn't I?

Uh... was I snappy with you?

All he remembered was being the one who got helped, though?

But Eunho's feelings were utterly ignored as the response plunged abruptly into a flashback scene, as if refusing to hear a word of his opinion.

-I know. My personality wasn't exactly what you'd call pleasant. But it was because I was embarrassed.

No, I really don't—

-I regretted it so much. Once you were gone, the empty space only felt bigger. Why couldn't I treat you well while you were there? Why couldn't I confess how I truly felt? Those thoughts just kept coming, over and over.

Let me talk!

Only after Eunho unleashed a lion's roar inside his mind did the regressed Arin's eyes return to normal.

She startled, glancing left and right, before her gaze settled on Eunho.

No. I honestly don't mind at all. So why are you wallowing by yourself?

Eunho harbored nothing but goodwill ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠toward Arin. If anything, he only felt grateful.

As he'd just seen, his academy self had been an inferior student, and plenty of people had looked down on him for it. It was Arin who always stood up for him against them.

How could I possibly dislike her for that?

Eunho shrugged and turned away. He'd calmed Regressor Arin down; now it was time to clear up the misunderstanding with the Arin of the present.

Time for secret technique number two.

"I'll tell you later."

"...What?"

Arin, who'd been brimming with tension and anticipation for some grand revelation, went blank with disbelief. But what could he do? It was the only thing he could say right now.

There are too many people here.

Since the regressor was her, Eunho had no intention of keeping this secret from Arin.

But the venue was terrible.

"Long story short—think of it as power borrowed from a great being who chose me."

When he called Regressor Arin a "great being," she twisted and writhed as though the words made her cringe. But hey, it wasn't exactly wrong, was it?

Humanity had taken half a century to climb fourteen floors. She had conquered twenty more in just six years.

You could say she'd carved a line into the history of mankind, and no one could argue.

Then again, my awakening test still came back the same... so what exactly is the problem here?

Upon awakening, there were functions you could use as naturally as breathing.

Stats, inventory, even the achievement window for reading up on your achievements and the like.

Yet none of it had been granted to him. No mana, no traits—and not even a status window, for that matter.

Doesn't this look suspicious?

He'd gone and earned an achievement, but had no idea what category it belonged to. Did that even make sense?

-Then how about using my status window, like you did with my power earlier?

Negative. The risk is too high.

Twisting his whole body in agony every time he peeked at a status window was not on his to-do list.

Besides, if it was her status window, his information wouldn't be on it in the first place.

The premise was flawed from the very start.

Dead end, then. Might as well sort out what I've got a feel for first.

-A feel? What exactly are you planning to sort out?

Mana.

Eunho's eyes glittered, cold and sharp.

Spiritual power.

The power he had awakened and wielded. Its uses, discovered so far, numbered exactly two.

The first was drawing out the power of the soul residing within the body.

With it, he had bound the strength Arin had amassed before her regression to his own being.

And the other was that strange passageway.

Passageway. Line. Current. He could call it whatever he liked. It was only because it looked like a passageway to Eunho's senses that he called it that.

Eunho recalled the moment the present-day Arin had unleashed her holy power.

The movement of the divine power surging from within her body. And the instant a single lance had taken shape.

Eunho had seen the passageway in that moment—the two-way channel where Arin's body and the lance in the air locked together, resonating like kindred things.

That's where my spiritual power intervened.

The instant his spiritual power stepped into Arin's passageway, he had felt something—a sense that some force was being amplified.

And through that, I learned one thing.

-What?

My body doesn't have the tangled web of 'lines' that yours does.

When his spiritual power had entered Arin's passageway, Eunho had seen into her body. He had witnessed the currents along which her holy power traveled.

And he could tell: his own body possessed none of the countless 'lines' that ran through hers.

-You mean circuits?

Circuits?

-Yeah. Floors of the Tower that get cleared in the future cover that topic. Ki channels, meridians—different eras called them different names. Humanity called them circuits.

Circuits... yeah. I think that's what they are.

That simple observation had handed him one enormous conundrum.

Wasn't his inability to handle mana—and, further, to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠even accumulate it—due to the absence of circuits?

I'm going to build them.

-Isn't that dangerous?

Doesn't matter. I have to, if I want to move forward.

He'd never had much of a goal before.

A life of orphanhood, alone at heaven's edge. He'd figured eating well and sleeping well was enough.

But now he had one.

To conquer the Tower.

He had talent. He had people who believed in him. Confidence bloomed, and with it came a dream worthy of anyone living in this age.

This is where it begins.

Eunho shut his mouth and closed his eyes. He even shut out the low murmur spreading around him. His consciousness sank deeper and deeper, descending to the very bottom of the abyss.

There it was. His own body, hollow and empty.

This is... exactly how it started, isn't it?

In his mind, the countless lines that had dwelled within Arin's body became an image, stamped into his memory.

Recalling that picture, Eunho began, slowly—so slowly—to lay down his fingertips.

Spiritual power.

The power of the soul.

A faint silver light gathered at the fingertips that had summoned it, and at his will, a point was placed. The point soon became a line.

Like painting a single canvas, Eunho's hand moved—and before long, he tore himself from the trance, gasping for ragged breath.

-You did it?!

...Yeah. Halfway there, though.

-Halfway?

True to his word, the circuit that had entered his body was only half-finished. It ran out through his four limbs and every corner of his frame, but it wasn't tangled in the chaotic web that others had.

-Oh.

Looks like there's a reason it's supposed to work that way.

-Yeah. Even though it looks like pure chaos, the human body holds infinite possibility. That's why they call it a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠microcosm. Each of those tangled-looking lines serves a different purpose, and just by altering how the body's energy flows through them, you can unleash completely different power.

Figures. Halfway was the right call.

-S-still, it's amazing, okay?! Building a circuit all by yourself?! I've never heard of such a thing!

Watching her hover anxiously, ready to console him in case he felt discouraged, a laugh suddenly slipped out of Eunho—pfft—

I'm not discouraged. What's lacking, I just fill in.

Before he entered the Tower, hadn't his supervising instructor said it? We are still uncut gems. Whatever's missing, we fill it in.

It hadn't been said to him, but the words fit his situation perfectly.

More importantly—I can feel mana now.

With every breath in, the mana of nature entered his body; with every breath out, it tried to leave with it.

Eunho seized it and locked it inside. And just like that, the mana was refined and took root in his flesh.

That was the moment.

A strange voice rang out once more.

And then—

He ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠had earned yet another achievement.