Advice Saturday Afternoon
Saturday afternoon. After finishing my usual training, I headed to the cadet welfare center's basement first floor, where the Exploration Circle's activity room was located.
As I made my way to the welfare center, I glanced around and saw cadets crowding the paths, using portals. Probably heading home to visit family for the weekend.
"...Lucky bastards."
I watched them briefly, caught my breath, and kept walking. Just as I entered the welfare center, went down the stairs, and reached the basement first floor, I spotted a familiar silhouette from behind.
Silver hair. That massive head of hers was pretty rare in this academy—no one who saw it would forget.
Mo Ye-ji. No way, I thought, but I followed her anyway. She slipped into a room. B103. The Exploration Circle's activity room.
...Fuck. Again?
I had no idea what butterfly flapped its wings to drag her into Exploration Circle activities. But whatever it was, it was a goddamn hurricane-level storm.
Could I control this? Probably not. One thing was clear: uncontrollable butterfly effects only bred bigger chaos.
...And I fucking hated that chaos.
Creeeak.
I pushed open the classroom door and stepped inside. The Exploration Circle room resembled a lecture hall without desks, with yoga mats laid out neatly on the floor. Cadets sat cross-legged on them, one per mat.
I scanned for the star of this incident.
"......"
Eyes brimming with melancholy, lips faintly flushed. Her long straight hair cascaded like a painting—seductive to anyone who laid eyes on it. Especially those absurd K-cup tits of hers...
"......"
Woo Yu-na. She sat alone in the very back row, as usual, hyper-aware of the stares from the other cadets and claiming the rearmost spot.
I carefully took a seat nearby when I suddenly sensed movement beside me.
"...Ahem."
I turned to see Mo Ye-ji shifting to the spot next to mine. What the fuck. Come to think of it, she always ended up near me in these situations. Was I imagining it?
I pondered for a moment. Nope, not imagining. She had this weird habit of sticking close to me.
...No way.
I mulled it over for about five seconds, then dropped it. What kind of retarded thought was that?
Mo Ye-ji, who shut down even that Choi Ji-seong? She was the symbol of purity, the queen of solitude, a lofty angel. The queen lived for power, the angel lacked human emotions. Both just marched toward their goals, nothing more.
"Hello. I'm Un Hyun, president of the Exploration Circle."
Right then, the activity room door opened, and in walked Un Hyun, the Exploration Circle president. A suspicious name I'd heard somewhere before. With his squinting eyes and constantly flicking snake-like tongue, he looked shady as hell. Naturally, he was a demon... or not.
"Nice to meet you all. I'm the vice president, Lee In-ah."
Beside him, a sensually built woman smiled seductively, batting her eyes and waving. That bitch was the demon hiding in this Exploration Circle, masking her desires.
Un Hyun spoke.
"Today's Exploration topic is focusing inward to awaken mana, its applications, and practical exercises."
The Exploration Circle sounded academic from the name, but it had little to do with scholarly pursuits. It was about delving into the human psyche, consciously observing mental processes, pulling subconscious elements into awareness, refining them, then resubmerging them—a training in mindset calibration.
And what did this mindset calibration help with? Primarily handling and harmonizing mana.
That was likely why Woo Yu-na had joined this circle right away.
"This method is one of the verified mana harmonization techniques from the Association, devised and established by Hero Gong Ji-hyeok, a master of mana manipulation..."
In this world, there were three main ways to handle mana: Mana Manifestation, Mana Conduction, and Mana Control.
Mana Manifestation was straightforward—expressing mana through weapons or the body. Innate mana nature determined its color, and power scaled with the amount manifested. At higher levels, you could compress and reshape it, even forming weapons or shields from mana alone. Basically treating mana like putty.
Mana Conduction was channeling mana into magic tools. Seemingly simple, it relied entirely on innate aptitude. If you weren't born with it, your tool usage was limited, forcing reliance on mana stones.
Mana Control combined both. And the job demanding the most mana harmonization? Archer, Woo Yu-na's class.
Gauging distance to the target, nocking an arrow, channeling precise mana amounts, then manifesting to fire. For an archer, perfection was non-negotiable—a tiny deviation could be fatal. That's why archers stayed ice-cold, prioritizing mental stability above all.
The Exploration Circle's mindset training not only aided Mana Control but also greatly stabilized mind and body.
"Alright, then. Pair up and get into position. Partner with the person next to you."
At Un Hyun's cue, cadets paired off. I was sandwiched between Ye-ji on the left and Yu-na on the right. Ideally, I'd pair with Yu-na, but she'd probably refuse. Sure enough, she avoided me and called out to the vice president—the demon Lee In-ah.
"Vice President. Could you help me for a moment?"
In-ah hurried over.
"What's up?"
"Due to personal reasons, I'm a bit limited in practicing with male cadets..."
In the end, I got paired with Mo Ye-ji. Following Un Hyun's instructions, we sat facing each other, and her face turned beet red.
"Hey."
She hadn't expected me to speak.
"......Yeah."
Mo Ye-ji reacted a beat late.
"...What."
"You sick or something?"
"No...?"
I realized my mistake as I asked. No way prideful Mo Ye-ji would admit to feeling off.
"Now, hold hands and resonate with each other's energy. Interlock fingers, but don't grip too hard."
Following Un Hyun's lead, we clasped hands and locked fingers. Her soft palm felt smooth. As expected from non-melee types—no calluses.
"Ah."
But Mo Ye-ji's face flushed even deeper than before. It stood out starkly against her silver hair.
"Hey."
"Why do you keep calling me."
"You don't happen to..."
"...What."
"Nah, forget it."
Was she embarrassed? No fucking way. This was Mo Ye-ji. She didn't feel shame.
"...Hmph."
Right.
"Now, focus your mind and alternate practicing Mana Manifestation and Conduction. You'll feel your partner's energy through your palms. One sends, the other receives and draws it in... At first, it'll be faint and tricky. That's normal. Even if you don't feel mana, imagine it as if it exists. It starts with imagination."
And with that, the circle activity wrapped up.
"You're amazing."
Lee In-ah said.
"Thanks."
"You have real talent."
"Really?"
Woo Yu-na shyly smiled, pleased by the sweet talk.
"Yes."
In-ah grinned at her expression, then revealed her true colors.
"Got a moment, by any chance?"
"Time?"
"Yeah. There's a training method I really want to share with a talented newbie like you. Hard to demo here, though..."
Yu-na hesitated. Probably because it was training time now. Raised in a strict family, she stuck rigidly to schedules—it was ingrained.
"It won't take long. Just a bit."
"If it's quick..."
Letting her go with the demon now wouldn't hurt Yu-na. In-ah wasn't that strong anyway. But like water drops wearing down a stone, her schemes would eventually wound Yu-na.
I planned to shut it down from the start.
"...Yu-na."
At my call, her face subtly stiffened. She'd been consciously ignoring me.
"...What."
"How was my advice?"
"......"
No answer. Just glaring at me.
Yeah, figured as much.
"...I've never taken advice from you."
"Want me to teach you something better?"
Time to bait the hook. Using the magic words that'd piss her off for sure.
"Don't you wanna shoot arrows like a guy?"
A ripple crossed her blank face for an instant before vanishing. In that split second, I read the fury in her eyes.
"Follow me now, and I'll teach you how."
"......"
"But you gotta come right now."
Would she bite?
"......"
She nodded shallowly instead of speaking.
Of course. Irresistible bait for her.
Yu-na turned to In-ah.
"...Sorry, can I learn that training method next time?"
"Uh, uh, sure. No problem."
In-ah swallowed her rage but couldn't bring herself to grab her and let her go.
Now to fool her.
I led Yu-na out of the activity room. As we hit the hallway, Mo Ye-ji happened to glance our way.
"......"
Her frown said her condition was still off. But now wasn't the time to worry about her.