The New Semester Begins (1)
I took a slow, deep breath. Then I felt the vast energy drifting through the air. 'More than I expected.'
I honestly hadn't anticipated there would be this much. After all, when compared coldly to my previous world, this place wasn't exactly overflowing with natural vitality. 'They call it mana, right?'
From everything I'd sensed of it so far, it was virtually identical to qi. If that weren't the case, there'd be no reason for energy to flow through this girl's body at all. 'Still, coming to this world might have been a blessing in disguise.'
Turning into a woman left a somewhat unpleasant aftertaste, but possessing a girl with such outstanding latent talent was at least a silver lining amid the misfortune. Anyway, that was beside the point.
I took another slow breath.
-Hummmm.
The energy entering my body coursed through my meridians according to the internal cultivation method. The flow traveled along my veins and slowly accumulated in my dantian, just below my navel. I gradually claimed the gathering energy as my own.
And that wasn't all.
'I need to make the energy I absorbed earlier mine as well.'
I slowly circulated the power I'd taken from the monster before. Energy began to ripple outward from my body. I suppressed the fluctuation as much as possible.
'This is going to take longer than I thought.'
With that final thought, I focused with everything I had.
Kyuri couldn't believe the scene unfolding before her eyes. Her expression was one of pure disbelief.
Normally, magical girls found it difficult to manipulate mana without transforming. In fact, it was nearly impossible for most of them.
'It's impossible unless you're a top-tier hero or magical girl, bi.'
Yet Lee Chae-rin was absorbing the mana floating in the atmosphere as easily as breathing. Kyuri had never seen anyone absorb mana in such a way before. And that wasn't all. Black mana rippled from her body as she converted everything she absorbed into her own power.
What kind of magical girl could do something like that?
'I've never heard of any magical girl among those who've appeared so far who could do that, bi.'
Not only was she absorbing it, but she was making it completely hers. Was this even something a human could do?
'And bi.'
Her mana was growing stronger by the moment. Simply demonstrating that level of control was already absurd. And now she was even growing from it. At this point, Kyuri had to wonder what kind of existence this girl had been in her original world.
Whatever her true identity, one thing was certain: she would undoubtedly become the strongest magical girl.
'Hmm, but something seems strange, bi.'
The black mana rippling from her body moved as if it were alive. At first, Kyuri had thought it was the demonic energy that monsters possessed. But while it might look similar on the surface, it displayed properties identical to mana.
'If she truly had demonic energy from the start, her magical girl form would have been canceled, bi.'
Therefore, it couldn't be the same nature as the energy monsters had. The only peculiar aspect was how incredibly violent it was compared to normal mana. Strangely enough, it even possessed the property of absorbing the same type of energy.
Kyuri had never heard of any being with such mana before.
Just as Kyuri was harboring doubts while observing her power—
-Hummmmmm.
The mana rippling from her slowly began to fade. The energy that had been rampaging through her body completely settled down.
Wondering if something was wrong, Kyuri started to move closer. But at that moment—
“Huu.”
She quietly let out a shallow breath.
Kyuri asked, “Is it finished, bi?”
“Yeah. It's done.”
She quietly sensed the internal energy now stored in her dantian. Thanks to what she'd absorbed earlier, her reserves had grown considerably. At this rate, she could probably recover to her original level soon.
'No, it might actually be even faster.'
Even without transforming, her growth had been far quicker than expected. But if she were to transform on top of that? She would become stronger than she could even imagine.
Satisfied with her progress, she asked Kyuri a question.
“By the way, can I ask you just one thing?”
“Hmm? Is there a problem, bi?”
“You know, right? That the soul has changed.”
“Yes. I know, bi.”
“Then what happened to the original soul?”
“Umm....”
The creature trailed off, lost in thought. Then it asked a question in return.
“First of all, is that black mana originally yours, bi?”
At Kyuri's question, Lee Chae-rin nodded. Kyuri studied her for a moment before speaking.
“Hmm. Since you're still able to use transformation magic, the original soul must still be inside the body with you, bi.”
“I see.”
“That's right, bi. It's just that you hold the initiative now, bi.”
Hearing those words brought a faint pang of guilt. From the original owner's perspective, it must feel like her body had been stolen without warning.
As Lee Chae-rin was thinking this, a lightning bolt of realization flashed through her mind.
“Wait a moment.”
“Huh? What is it, bi?”
When Kyuri tilted her head in confusion, she asked with a deadly serious expression.
“Is there a way to return to my original body?”
“Uh....”
Kyuri trailed off again, deep in thought. The universe was vast, so anything was possible. However, she had never heard of two souls sharing one body before. Nor had she ever heard of a soul returning to its original world.
Kyuri quietly studied her expression. It was a seriousness the girl had never shown before. It seemed best not to answer with absolute certainty.
“First we need to locate your original body, bi. Only then might we be able to do something about it, bi.”
“Is that so. Then is there a way to return to my original world?”
Lee Chae-rin stared at her once more with those serious eyes. They were endlessly cold. Yet within them burned a fierce, raging anger.
Kyuri swallowed hard before answering.
“It should be possible, bi. I can't say for certain, but since your soul came from there, I believe there must be a way back to your original world, bi.”
“I see. So that's how it is.”
-Shiver!
She broke into a smile more chilling than anything she'd shown before. On the surface, given her beautiful features, it simply looked like a smile. But for some reason, it made one's hair stand on end.
She didn't know exactly why, but judging from the reaction, it seemed someone had stabbed her in the back.
'Who in the world would do such a thing to someone like her?'
Whoever it was, it seemed appropriate to offer prayers for the deceased in advance.
While Kyuri was inwardly pitying Sim Jin-myeong, Lee Chae-rin was carefully considering her options.
'When I see him later, I'll have to crush him properly.'
Of course, since it was summer vacation, she needed to focus on training until the new semester began.
Roughly three weeks had passed since then.
During that time, adapting to this world had been quite the ordeal. Even with Kyuri translating the language, problems remained. Conversation was possible, but reading and writing the characters was an entirely different matter. As a result, those three weeks had been rather difficult.
“You managed to adapt in just three weeks, bi.”
“Well, if I couldn't even manage this much, I would've died long ago.”
“Just what kind of world did you come from, bi?”
Kyuri stared at her with a look of utter amazement. Ignoring the creature's gaze, she narrowed her eyes. Then it asked in a puzzled tone.
“More importantly, do you really need to go that far, bi?”
“What do you mean?”
“I'm talking about that external arts training you mentioned before, bi.”
At that moment, Lee Chae-rin was performing push-ups while standing on her hands. Kyuri couldn't understand why she was pushing herself so hard. After all, transforming into a magical girl would enhance her physical abilities anyway.
“That's correct, bi.”
“Of course I do. Relying solely on transformation would be foolish.”
“But you fight after transforming anyway, bi?”
“You never know what might happen in this world. What if you can't transform? Would you just fight with an ordinary body then?”
“But you can manipulate mana even without transforming, can't you, bi?”
“True. Still, it can't hurt to get stronger.”
Of course, training without transforming allowed for even faster growth. Keeping that thought to herself, she rose from her position.
She then quietly marveled at the internal energy settled in her dantian.
'The growth rate is definitely faster than I expected.'
In just three weeks of training and absorbing that monster's jewel, her internal energy had increased tremendously.
As she was marveling at her own growth rate—
-♪♬♩.
An alarm sounded from her phone.
Lee Chae-rin shook her head as she looked at it.
“This thing is fascinating no matter how many times I see it.”
“I felt the same way when I first saw it, bi.”
“Did you?”
“That's right, bi. Humans who can't even handle mana having communication devices like this, bi.”
Perhaps because they were both from different worlds, the creature seemed to relate to her sentiment. Well, that wasn't important right now.
She turned off the phone alarm and quickly changed into her school uniform.
Then, suddenly—
-Freeze!
Her hand stopped on one particular article of clothing. It was the school skirt.
'I have to wear this?'
Having lived as a man all my life, this was extremely humiliating. I never realized that skirts like this were women's clothing!
Even though I was wearing shorts underneath, it was still incredibly embarrassing.
'Huu, to think I'd live to experience such humiliation.'
I will definitely get my revenge on that dog-like Sim Jin-myeong and the leader of the Murim Alliance.