Seo Jiwoo
“One thousand nine hundred and ninety n-nine,” I muttered with a heavy breath as I pushed my body up, trying to perform one last hand stand push up.
Sweat profusely dripped down on the floor of the training room, as I pushed my arms and completed my set.
“Two thousand!!!”
With another push, I shot to my feet and jerked my arms slowly a few times, as they felt a little numb. But nonetheless, I felt refreshed. I walked up to the door of the training room and exited. I entered my room and cleared the sweat accumulated over my forehead, whilst looking at the watch which was hung over the wall a few feet away.
It was past seven in the morning.
I took the white towel resting on the seat close to my desk, and wiped my face and hair.
Then pulling a step away, I entered the kitchen and took a bottle of water and drank the fresh cold water.
A lot of things have happened during these three months that have come pass. I thought, as I placed the bottle down. One of them was that I had successfully changed dorms and gotten my own personal training facility in my room. So now training was no longer a problem for me and I didn’t had to disturb Jiyoung every now or then—to ask her to lend me her training room.
I walked up to the washroom of my room, which was right next to the training room. I pushed the door forward and stepped inside. Taking my sweaty pants off, I threw them in the basket a few feet away. Then entering the shower, I placed my hand over the faucet, and turned it.
Soon warm water came gushing out, as the water washed the sweat off me.
But one of the biggest topics which shook the world unexpectedly was that, Park Yujin had finally broken through to the rank dungeon which he and his team entered to clear.
‘Well after his rank up, the rank hierarchy among the top ten must have been threatened.’
Although it was evident, because if previously he was on the eighth rank in the World Union ranking, I could mostly certainly judge that he must have jumped a few ranks. In strength that was. His rank in the World Union's hunters ranking didn’t change just because he ranked up and his strength increased.
Because the evaluations on the hunters are done every year at the end of the year, through which all of the hunters are evaluated based on their individual performance and capabilities. Plus the hunters who contributed the most in subjecting dungeons, their clear rate, and the increase in their social authority. Plus their contribution against the forces of the demons.
Well, I think Park Yujin would at the least be jumping three ranks.
Because on top of his popularity around the world, his strength was something that even the strongest hunters would vouch for.
Although it is a good thing that there is now another
But still we have a decade until the war comes knocking at our door.
But despite that, I need to grow stronger myself, to not allow those casualties, those deaths to happen again. I would change the past at all costs.
In the last three months, all I had done was train as hard as I could. And my understanding of the system and skills had also gotten better.
Well, the system worked just like a status window. But it displayed my stats and abilities in a more described proposition. With a levelling system, unlike the rank status window. And the shop and inventory section too. They were a big help.
Soon I finished my shower and wiped my hair and body dry with a towel. I stood in front of the mirror in my washroom and observed my physique.
The pale colour of my skin had now disappeared and now my skin looked more fresh and white, and my malnutritioned weak body had gained muscles. I looked completely different from the first time after regressing back, into this body. But the biggest distinctive change which accord to me was that, my face looked more sharp.
Well, if before my face looked a little dull and pale, now the features of my face had become sharp and handsome. My hair had also grown to shoulder length, and my jawline had also became more chiselled.
And I had also grown taller. Before I was 170 centimetres, now I was 178 centimetres in height.
Well, if I remember correctly, Jiwoo’s Farther was also quite handsome. And so is Jihye. And the difference between us two was far apart. Like the earth and the sky. I mean, when I had met her for the first time, I was surprised to see someone as beautiful has Jihye was my sister. So I had come to think that this body had some kind of growth issue. But all it lacked was a good diet and exercise. So after that my body had underwent a growth spurt.
Because, compared to my control over my new body a few months ago, now after training with this body and gradually building it, I had come to fully control this new body. In the beginning, I did feel some kind of interference, but now it had completely disappeared. I guess it was because I wasn’t used to the muscle movement and control of this body.
I wrapped the towel around my waist and exited the washroom. Walking up to the closet on the right side of my room. I took my uniform out and wore it on.
The black uniform had now come to fit me perfectly. The black colour of the uniform matched my hair and eyes colour and also outlined my physique, the golden strips embroidered around the chest and the sleeves adorned the uniform.
With a quick smile I grabbed my phone and watch from the desk and with a turn of my heel, I walked up to the door of my room.
Wearing my shoes on, I opened the door and exited. I flashed my card on the panel on the left side of the door and with a low hum, the door locked itself.
Afterwards, I stepped forward inside the wide wall of the dormitory building and quickly made my way toward the elevator. The hall was adorned with a black carpet and the wall had a pale white colour which looked calming.
I quickly entered the elevator and pressed my finger against one of the many buttons on the panel on the side. Soon with a low hum, the elevator began to descend.
Well, compared to my previous dorm building and room this place was leagues apart. The Hydra building provided the students with better accommodations, which included a big dorm room, with a training facility, and other stuff.
The only downside of this room was that, it didn’t have the gravity feature in it’s training facility. Because that was a feature only given to the top ten in the Ashura building.
Seriously, I was kind of regretting my decision of not taking one of the spots in the top ten. If I had wanted to, I could have easily taken a spot in the top ten, but that would have raised suspicions against me. A student who ranked in the twenty-two hundred's, all of a sudden jumped to the top ten ranks. So I was content with my current accommodations.
Soon the doors of the elevator opened and I exited. Then quickly making my way out of the gate of the Hydra building, I made my way to the main building, to my class.
***
I flicked the panel on the side with my hand and with a soft hum, the door slid to the side, allowing me to enter.
Just as I entered some of the eyes inside the classroom lingered on to me, as I made my way to the seats in the middle row in the middle section, but they went back to what they were doing pretty quickly.
There I saw someone resting his head on his arms placed over the desk, taking a nap. His below shoulder length navy hair tied into a low ponytail, had grown longer than they were three months ago, and his stature had also became more refined.
I took the seat beside him and sat down, sequentially greeting him. “Good Morning.”
Han turned his head toward me, and his crimson eye gazed at me throughout the small gap between his long bangs covering his eyes.
“Good Mor—Huaaammm—ning,” Han replied with a long yawn as he stretched his arms and leaned back in his seat.
Still as carefree as always. I thought as I looked at my old friend.
Well, in the past three months I had gotten closer with Han, not as much as we used to be in the past. At first we only exchanged greetings when I had first changed classes, but then little by little we both got familiarised with each other. Well, currently we were just like close acquaintances. But not as close as friends at the moment. I think.
As I ranked up and now having reached the 102nd rank, my class had also changed. My class prior to my regression was A-7, and now I was transferred to the class A-24, which was Adam’s class.
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
Soon the other students also entered the classroom and among them I saw Ryuya, Amelia, Lucas and Jiyoung. They all had an air of charisma around them, which made it easier for them to be distinguished from among the other students entering alongside them.
All of the eyes in the classroom drifted in their direction. The girls in the class were just observing Ryuya and Lucas, as their cheeks flushed in a reddish shade. The same was the case with the guys, their eyes were fixed in Amelia’s and Jiyoung’s direction.
Honestly, both Ryuya and Lucas were quite handsome, and so was Amelia and Jiyoung, in the battle of looks all of them were equal.
Lucas shot a sneer at all of the gazes directed at him and with a slight wrinkle of his nose, he quickly went to his seat in the front right row.
My eyes locked with Ryuya for a moment, and he nodded his head at me. I returned his nod with my own and he went to his usual spot—where he always sat—in the front left row. Amelia took the seat beside him.
My gaze landed on Jiyoung who was making her way up to the middle row of the seats, where me and Han were seated. Her hair were tied into a ponytail, exposing her slim neck, and the uniform she wore adorning her beauty. But her face was as expressionless as always.
Well not that I minded. I was already used to it.
“Good Morning,” she greeted, as she gestured for me to scoot to the seat in the middle. I did as she asked, and scooted to the seat in the middle, as always.
She took the seat to my left and eased herself, slightly leaning in the seat.
I turned my head in her direction and greeted her back.
“Good Morning,” Han did the same.
Jiyoung nodded her head at him, and soon silence descended.
But just like usual, I could feel the hostile gazes of the boys in the class directed in my direction.
Unbeknownst to me, my head turned in Jiyoung’s direction and she looked back at me. Her hazel eyes bore into mine as she questioned.
“What?”
“Hmm... its just that, the intensity of the glares have increased, since three months ago,” I mused, as I placed my hand over my chin.
Han gave out a quick chuckle as he leaned his head back, causing his bangs to be pulled sideways, exposing his deep crimson eyes.
Well, to be honest, when I had changed classes, Jiyoung had approached me and sat down next to me on the very first day, which put a lot of the students in shock. Mostly guys. Because of her cold personality toward the others—and the walls she erects around herself—,she was given the title of the ice queen. And when that same ice queen approached me—a guy—, I made a lot of enemies on my very first day of changing classes.
But I didn’t let their stares bother me. Fuck them!
But Jiyoung most of the time sat beside me or either with Amelia.
“I see...” Jiyoung said, turning her face down toward the podium.
Suddenly the door of the classroom opened and Adam entered.
His hair were tied into a ponytail as usual, and we wore a white t-shirt with a pair of black trousers.
He slowly walked up to the podium and placed the tablet in his hand over the podium.
He tapped over the tablet and opened his mouth to speak. “Alright let’s do attendance.”
***
Just as attendance ended, Adam tapped over his tablet once, and as the air flickered behind him, a hologram came to life.
On the hologram, images of a 3-D model of a human was being displayed, and on the side were written the analogy of mana and mana channels.
“Okay, today’s topic is about mana conglomeration? What do you think is mana conglomeration? Is it just simply the ability to bend mana, or making a person’s innate ability to use mana stronger?”
Adam’s questions were interesting. Because, when I had learnt to use mana conglomeration, then agglomeration, my control and dominance over mana had increased many folds. Unlike how it used to be when I was still on the
But when I had broken through the and on to the rank, my body became more in sync with the mana in the atmosphere. And the absorption, purging, and refining process and rate for me had became faster and more proficient.
Adam then took a step to the side and firmed his posture. He took a deep breath and the mana in the atmosphere began to converge in his direction.
I hurriedly activated Mind’s Eye, and observed the peculiar movements of the particles of mana in the air. The pure and refined mana circulating in Adam’s body moved and the particles in the air rushed toward him.
Soon the mana began to take shape. The mana in Adam’s body circulated, and soon he conjured a sword made out of ice. The water particles rushed to his blade and began to sustain the shape of the blade with Adam’s mana working as a medium.
But the most impressive think to note was that, the blue particles of water had taken a solid form—they had frozen to allow the water in the atmosphere to take a solid form—to allow the user to create an object from the advanced element.
I was always astound to see mages make use of mana in a way which was foreign to me and the hunters which were not mages. Because I could use mana to reinforce my body and coat my sword with it, but not enough to allow me to make balls of fire or walls of ice.
Because a person’s profession is determined the moment they are born. So it was useless for me to learn to use elemental magic, but if I was given the chance to learn, I would most certainly learn. Because being able to use elemental magic had advantages of its own, which could entirely change the flow of the battle.
But we were able to manipulate the elements to some extents. But not as prominently as the mages.
“And with the manipulation of the ice element, by freezing the water particles of mana, I was able to conjure this sword made of ice, similarly...” Adam let go of the sword and the ice melted, as the fire elements rushed next to the water elements as Adam pulled them close using conglomeration and caused the water to evaporate mid-air.
Then Adam lifted his hand and extended it forward, and with a rippling pulsation in the air, a blade began to take form in front of him. With Mind’s Eye still active, I was able to observe the movements of the mana particles in the air. This time the wind elements reacted, and converged—floated—toward the blade taking form, and stabilising it and giving it shape, with Adam’s mana as a medium. The green particles attached themselves with the blade and soon it took the shape of a proper sword.
A cold breeze swayed my hair back, as I kept observing the mana. Jiyoung and Han were also paying close attention to Adam’s display of mana manipulation.
This time as well, he stopped manipulating his mana and stopped the conglomeration phase. The sword wavered and soon flickered out of existence.
“I was able to create this sword with the manipulation of the wind elements, in addition, when a hunter uses mana conglomeration, their perception and understanding of mana increases so they are able to sense it more proficiently, but,” Adam paused for a second, his gaze drifted from Ryuya to Amelia, then Lucas to a few others, then came to a stop at me.
“That perception in itself is a limiter, which we put on ourselves to allow us to manipulate mana in a way which is figuratively and individually possible for us. Because even to this day, when we have come to make such advancements, we still can not perfectly decipher what mana actually is, and where it originates from or what more can we do with its mysterious power.”
Well like Adam said, everyone has a different perception of mana and how they used it. Even if someone who has reached the rank could learn to fly, but learning to use mana conglomeration and agglomeration was a different question. Because most people who reach the can’t even properly use conglomeration.
But that entirely depends on the user itself. Like I said before, genetics also vary.
“Sequentially, we can’t break apart an element from its original state, but we can combine it or alter it to create another element, by accessing it's deviant form." Adam fisted his hand and extended it to his left.
With a push of his mana, a jolt of lightning began to coil around his arm, as soon it enveloped his fist. The yellow lightning cracked with a fiery glow.
If I remembered correctly, the altercation of the wind magic, when a conjurer or agumentor having gained enough control over the primary element they are most accustomed with and learnend to gain mastery over that element to a certain point after training that element to its limits, they can access it's deviation, unlocking the ultimate and more stronger version of that power. And the deviantion of wind mana was 'Thunder'.
“Thus allowing us to create and use the deviant forms of mana,” Adam finished, as he brought his arm back, and his eyes lingered from one student to another.
All of them were carefully paying attention to Adam’s display of elemental magic.
Due to Adam being an expert at using mana from a young age, his control and perception over it was leagues above the others since young. And his sensory ability to even sense a slight change in the mana’s movements was incredible.
But the advantage of seeing and sensing mana were entirely different. And the wall which I had come to hit before, I was somewhat able to peek across it with now having the ability to see the mana elements in the air.
But it felt like something was a miss here. But I didn’t give it much thought.
Then the class went on as before and Adam kept on explaining the use of mana conglomeration and how it worked.
***
The class finally came to an end after one and a half hours. To be honest the class was quite interesting. Well, Adam kind of reminded me of the time I had spent with the quake-head.
A smile tucked up my lips, as my mind began to reminisce about the past.
‘Well, I hope that quake-head isn’t held up in some kind of trouble.’
“What’s wrong?” Jiyoung asked from my side.
I leaned back into my seat and asked. “What is?”
“You were smiling while blankly staring at the podium.”
“It's nothing, I just remembered something from the past,” I replied.
Then all of the students attention was brought back to the podium where Adam still stood.
He cleared his throat and then began to speak.
“Alright, now that the lecture is over, I have a quick announcement to make,” he tapped over the tablet and soon the images over the hologram disappeared. “Before the midterm exams arrive...”
Just as the words; midterm exams, left Adam’s mouth, the faces of some of the students twisted into those of worried ones.
“The Lock has decide to host a short, one week long tour to Japan before the arrival of the midterm exams, in which the first years would be taken to Japan to explore it's creed, history and other associations situated there,” Adam said as he took the tablet in one of his hands. “And you all will be shortly receiving an email on your phones, in which all the details about the tour will be mentioned and explained. And the tour will be hosted two days from now, so if you have some kind of issue or some business which needs to be taken care of, you should get them cleared up in the next two days, because participation in this tour is compulsory.”
“Either way, that’s all for today,” Adam took a step to the side, then exited the classroom.
Just as he exited, the phones inside the classroom hummed and I quickly grabbed my phone and unlocked it to check the email I had received. I opened the email and read through its contents.
After scrolling through the email, I found a list of things at the bottom of the email, needed for the tour. And there was also a suit mentioned on the list of things.
Why a suit? Was there going be to a fancy party later on at the end of the tour?
Well out of all the thing needed, I didn’t have a suit. Oh well, we will see about that.
But the ones who were sponsoring this tour were from the Aogiri family, as written in the email.
So Ryuya’s family is sponsoring this tour.
After all the Aogiri clan is the biggest and most influential clan in the entirety of Japan. If I remember correctly their influence even reaches to some other countries. And they have close ties with the world Union, and Lock.
I saw Amelia approach our desk together with Ryuya. Jiyoung left her seat and I also got up from mine. Han had leaned his head back as he kept sitting.
“It’s going to be so much fun going on a trip,” Amelia said with an enthusiastic smile.
But Ryuya poured cold water over her enthusiasm. “Don’t get too exciting that you forget to prepare for the upcoming midterm, Amelia.”
Amelia glared at him as she turned her head sideways. “You just had to come and sombre up all the fun.”
A smirk covered my face, as I looked at the two. Seriously their flirting had gotten out of hand.
I shot a smirk at Ryuya. And he returned with a big old question mark of an expression. I wrapped my arm around his shoulder and whispered to him in a low voice.
“Ryuya, you know, you should keep the flirting to the bare minimum, I think.”
Ryuya pulled away from me with a dumbfounded and weird expression over his face, as he looked at me.
“What are you both talking about?” Amelia asked.
“Nothing much, just some stuff,” I replied, as my eyes rolled back in Ryuya’s direction. “Yeah, its really nothing.”
“Alright then,” Amelia replied as she continued her conversation with Jiyoung.
But I was also quite enthusiastic about this tour, because, I would finally be able to meet them again.