Chapter 11: Blooming
Chapter 11: Blooming
Han Ye-ji spent her three-day weekend pass the way any student would — sprawled around the house, eating fried chicken, watching variety shows, chattering, messing around on the computer. Then she headed back to the Academy.
[Lethargic Nightmare asks if you had a good rest.]
I did my best to act as though I'd been respecting her privacy, even though I'd spent most of that time watching her. Out of sheer boredom, I'd kept the screen locked onto Han Ye-ji and stared blankly at her life — but from her end, that might not feel so pleasant. Even if we'd tangled together in dreams, being observed twenty-four hours a day would be unnerving, wouldn't it? Unless this world treats Constellations the way my old world's religions treat their gods — always watching, recording every deed.
"Cadet Han Ye-ji, your return has been confirmed."
"Yes, thank you."
The journey back was just as thorough. They checked her Academy ID and outing pass when she boarded the cruise ship at the harbor. Checked again inside under the pretense of meal service. Checked again when she disembarked. Checked again at the Academy's main gate. Just how badly had this world's terrorists targeted the Academy to warrant this level of hysterical screening?
I shelved the unanswerable question. A new day dawned at the Academy.
After finishing basic physical conditioning and the Special Incarnation Act course, Han Ye-ji had chosen Basic Weaponry and Basic Tactics & Strategy for September. As the names implied, they were "basic" courses — a fixed 50 credits toward graduation that could be knocked out in three months. Assuming she passed.
Back in my world, soldiers heading to war fired rifles and drilled their specialties. This world was different. Here, people literally took up spears and swords and shields and threw their bodies into the fight, which meant the physical fitness standards were brutal. Without any Authority granted, you had to run the 100-meter dash in under 13 seconds — no distinction between men and women. The 3-kilometer run had to be finished within 13 minutes or you were out. There were also loaded pack climbs up staircases, rope hangs, and a staggering list of other events, all mandatory.
Those numbers stirred up some unpleasant memories, actually...
Anyway, the lucky bastards who'd been showered with lavish support and started with Authorities from day one supposedly cleared it in a month. Han Ye-ji got through in her second. Contracted in June, enrolled and started basic training in July, passed by late August. Slower than the elites who walked in at the start of the month and passed by month's end, sure, but faster than the weak-willed Incarnations or the ones who simply lacked the stamina. I remembered seeing mildly obese Incarnations at the entrance ceremony — the type who'd stack other credits first and drag out physical conditioning for half a year or a full year. Han Ye-ji had been working part-time jobs and exercising even before her contract, so she'd built a solid foundation by the time she enrolled. Passed in two months. Nailed the theory exams, too — law and all that.
Which meant I wouldn't have to watch her stagger around the training grounds on the verge of collapse anymore. But...
"You don't know what weapon to pick? Don't worry about it. The Academy will put a practice weapon in your hands whether it takes a year or ten."
The female instructor grinned — a wicked, nasty grin — while the blazing August sun seared overhead. Odd donut-shaped continent or not, August was still the hottest month; heat shimmer rippled up from the training grounds. The Academy, being enormous, had a top-tier medical staff on standby, and the instructors were specialists at grinding people down in a controlled way. But watching that haze dance above the field still made me uneasy.
"If you don't know, just grab a sword! Or pray to your Constellation or something! In five minutes, anyone still standing around idle is running laps again — you've been warned!"
There was no such thing as kind, gentle instruction here. The Incarnations scattered, each grabbing a weapon that caught their eye and heading off to swing at the practice dummies. A few picked immediately — probably had Authority support already promised or had consulted with their Constellations beforehand. Most, though, dithered and fumbled before settling on a wooden sword or a spear. The most basic-looking weapons, and also the ones with the most stock.
Han Ye-ji grabbed a wooden sword for the same reasons and headed toward a dummy set up in one corner of the field. "Dream Demon" and "weapon skills" — two words with zero chemistry, so I couldn't help her there. All I had was September's basic 1,000pt. The only things 1,000pt could buy were obvious downgrades of the Sweet Lucid Dream. Lucid Dream cost 3,000pt, so everything below it was just lightweight techniques — simple nightmares, erotic dreams, that sort of thing. If I bought one now, I could make people around Han Ye-ji have nightmares or lewd dreams, but why in the hell would I spend 1,000pt on that?
The wooden sword cut through the air with a soft whoosh. The swing was clumsy — more like swinging a club than a sword — but her baseline fitness was solid, and the strike that split the wind and slammed into the dummy rang out with a sharp crack-crack.
Wait. Crack-crack?
[Incarnation Han Ye-ji has fully assimilated the Dream Demon's first essence.]
[Talent Blooming: Illusion (幻)]
An instructor passing nearby snapped her head around so fast I thought her neck might break, then came sprinting over. The sheer intensity of her presence was so overwhelming that Han Ye-ji — who still hadn't grasped what was happening — flinched and shrank back.
"Cadet Han Ye-ji. Swing again."
"Ah, uh, yes!"
She must have finally glimpsed the system message in the corner of her vision. Hastily she reset her stance, but it was still just as clumsy. Once more, the wooden sword parted the air and struck the dummy. In the now-silent training grounds, two sounds rang out, unmistakable.
The other Incarnations, seeing the instructor practically glued to Han Ye-ji's side, began murmuring among themselves.
"Not just the sword. Go grab one of every other weapon and bring them back."
"Yes!"
With the eyes of everyone who'd stopped practicing fixed squarely on her, Han Ye-ji dashed off and returned with an armful of wooden weapons — everything from a long staff nearly two meters in length to a stubby one-handed mace that looked more like a tool than a practice weapon.
"Thumb here. Widen your grip. Left foot back a little more. Thrust!"
"Now keep that grip and swing sideways like you're swinging a baseball bat — good, that's it!"
"Hold it like a hammer — imagine you're driving a nail into a wall — and bring it down on the dummy's head."
The instructor seemed experienced with Authority testing; she fired off a rapid sequence of different commands. From proper-form strikes using each weapon as intended, to crude swings with no proper grip at all, she systematically worked through one experiment after another.
When Han Ye-ji slammed the staff into the dummy's chest, the dummy rocked backward, then jerked to a brief halt mid-return as if shoved by empty air. When she brought the mace down on the crown of its head, the dummy's head snapped downward, then whipped straight back up.
"Hmm... Put all of those down and follow me."
The murmuring around them swelled — but one sweep of the instructor's scowling face across the crowd was enough to suppress it.
※
Surrounded by three instructors, a thoroughly flustered Han Ye-ji spoke into the air. Meaning she was speaking to me.
"What do you think, Constellation?"
[Lethargic Nightmare respects your decision!]
I wasn't just saying that because I didn't want to be the one to decide. I really was as torn as Han Ye-ji and the three instructors circling her. Her Trait — Illusion (幻) — had nothing to do with its name. It simply added one extra phantom strike to every attack.
Wasn't illusion-sword, illusion-art supposed to be about deception and trickery? That was the universal rule, wasn't it?
This wasn't like the illusory swordplay out of a martial arts novel. It really was just every single attack happening twice.
They'd left the training grounds for the shooting range, where she'd tested a bow and a crossbow. One arrow. Two holes. Even firearms — which Incarnations and Constellations tended to avoid because they weren't magic-based — and consumables like magic scrolls did the same thing. The Trait applied to anything attack-related, consumables included, which was exactly why the three instructors were now arguing fiercely over Han Ye-ji's career path.
"She's obviously meant for close combat! Are you not seeing the random pattern on the secondary impact location? Swordsmanship, spear technique — pick one and drill the fundamentals, and most opponents won't be able to block her! The fundamentals alone guarantee unpredictability. What nonsense are you two spewing?"
"No — an extra hit count, and you want her in melee? Her contracted Constellation isn't a physical type, so of course she should specialize in magic and Authorities. Since it works on all attacks, she could double-stack wide-area debuffs — fitting for a Constellation of Nightmares, don't you think? Do you have any idea how much impact that would have on a battlefield?"
"Excuse me. If we're talking battlefield impact, she needs to go gunner. Unlike the Authorities your Constellation grants you, a Trait can grow — you do know that, right? Why swing a sword one more time or cast one more spell when you could be firing expensive high-explosive rounds or specialty magic bullets and shredding everything?"
All three had valid points, and neither Han Ye-ji nor I could decide easily.
Go melee, and she'd gain a monstrous advantage against small or humanoid monsters and other Incarnations. One weapon clash, and then a second — a third — impact slamming into the body would break anyone's stance.
Go magic, and she'd be wildly in demand for large-scale warfare, like something out of a game. Fire support and wide-area curses and debuffs that hit multiple times on a single cast were built for mass combat, not duels. Plus, with me being "Lethargic Nightmare," the point shop probably made curse-related items easier to find. Hell, even looking at sub-1,000pt items right now, all I saw were curses that inflicted nightmares and erotic dreams.
Then there was the option I hadn't even considered: gunner. The lone male instructor had a point — gunner really did seem like the most efficient way to use the Trait. Sure, it'd cost a goddamn fortune, but if you stuffed a machine gun with specially treated, expensive bullets and ripped through twenty rounds a second? Han Ye-ji pulls the trigger, and I'd get to watch magic happen — literally twice or three times the bullets per second. Against giant-class raid monsters, she'd put out absolutely monstrous firepower.
Small elite mobs and PVP specialization. Large-scale warfare debuff specialization. Boss-raid burst-damage specialization.
Thinking of it like a game, every option was so attractive that picking one felt impossible. And I happen to have a subtle little decision-making disorder—
[Lethargic Nightmare respects your decision!]
[Lethargic Nightmare respects your decision!]
[Lethargic Nightmare respects your decision!]
"...Yes, understood."
Watching the light die in her eyes — trapped between instructors whose heated debate showed no sign of ending, crushed under the weight of her own future — I felt the faintest prick of conscience.
Well, I could sort it out tonight in her dreams. I let that thought carry me away from the screen, opened the refrigerator, and froze.
If assimilating the Dream Demon's essence had granted her a Trait, that meant it came from having sex with me...
Which meant if I planned to make more Incarnations, I should've been using the Lucid Dream on myself instead of giving it to Han Ye-ji. Was I supposed to burn 3,000pt every single time just to hand out what amounted to a basic skill?