“What happened?” I asked.
The table mate stared at me with blank eyes. “Nothing really.” He looked at me with an expression ineffably dumb; confusion was painted all over him as he continued his doe-eyes face.
..I was also confused.
“Huh? The classroom is clearly in ruins.”
“It is?”
He doesn’t see it? My eyes must have malfunctioned.
I blinked and rubbed my eyes. The classroom distorted back to normal. There was an ineffable feeling of otherworldliness during the distort.
Was I hallucinating?
“No, never mind,” I shoved the thought away.
“You were screaming like you witnessed a hideous demon from hell.”
That was strange. I usually never sleep talk.. or scream. Maybe getting back to the outside world after a long while changed me?
“I had a nightmare,” I said nonchalantly. I didn’t want him to think I was an insane guy.
The guy winced for a moment, and then he smiled as if it were funny. “What a scary nightmare.”
The dream was a bit terrifying—reliving a traumatic experience and all. Additionally, it felt real. It wasn’t that scary, though, so I wondered why I apparently screamed.
I awkwardly stared at Selaphiek for a while, the silence deafening with both our eyes trading at each others’ faces. Come to think of it, there was a chubby guy with him. Mazraeth, was it?—they seemed like good friends...why aren’t they together?
“Where’s Mazraeth?” I asked, attempting to bring up a better topic.
“He skipped school without me,” the booger-picker shrugged. “He’s getting expelled for sure.”
Seemed typical. Selaphiek was like a decent person compared to his chubby friend…
…
The memory of when he lashed out at his buddy for being fat crossed my mind.
…
Never mind, he wasn’t a good person. I felt bad for mentally labeling him “booger-picker,” nonetheless.
“I’m gonna go. Bell’s ‘bout to ring.”
“Alright, see you,” I waved.
He’s pretty chill.
*
The bell rang and it was time for me to head to the second class of the day. For the past few days, I’ve been doing nothing but sightseeing. It was time for me to finally start building strength.
…
I walked slowly in the hallways to Sword Training, Lecture B. The hallways were lengthy, so I was testing out which skills I could use. …
‘Activate [Area Speculation Lv. 2].’
[The illness, ‘??? Lv. ???’ is blocking your attempt to use this skill.]
I then tested magic again. This time, extremely low-leveled fire magic.
A visual of a small candle being lit up appeared in my mind, and I felt a warm feeling surrounding my left index finger.
A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
[Notice: You are unable to use magic due to a strong illness!]
Well, turned out that I could technically use magic, but I would kill myself accidently if I tried too hard. Additionally, I couldn’t use any magic-related skills. I could use everything else, though. I figured that out quite a while ago.
So my goal now was to increase strength and swordsmanship skills… bond with the forces of nature and rely on summons.
Sounds simple, totally.
.
.
.
I arrived at Sir Lev’s class and was greeted by a beautiful maiden as I slid the door open. Well, her back was facing towards me, but I noticed her first. The maiden was Choi Yeong-Ja, and she was talking to some other students.
“Yeong-Ja!” I yelled her name in glee.
She turned around slowly, as if repulsed by my presence. Her face crinkled.
What was wrong?
I approached her slowly.
“Don’t move an inch closer.”
“What? Why?”
“You slept soundly, but you were drooling and snoring awfully loud.” Choi Yeong-Ja paused to point her index finger at me, then continued, “It was embarrassing, you know?! You incompetent team leader … I had to cover your mistakes!”
Now she was just being delusional. She really didn’t need to take responsibility for everything at our table … Wait, did I hear that right, “You incompetent team leader”? Me as the table’s leader?
“Yeah, bastard. I can see the confusion painted on your face. Our instructor assigned leaders for each table when you were asleep, and—”
“I was chosen as the team leader,” I finished for her.
“Exactly.”
A loud clap interrupted our conversation and every student immediately went into formation. Sir Lev popped onto the stage and started lecturing us about different sword swing techniques.
Right side slash, left side slash, up slash, … down slash, …. and the transitions for them.
…
Gym class. The sixth class of the day, and it is the last class.
I regretted picking this elective.
The instructors supervising the huge gym room never allowed a single student to stop working out—small breaks as an exception. This class really helped me, though. I surprisingly had fast growth in strength despite not using my muscles for …
That many years. I prefer to not talk about it.
Now, I could lift over thirty pounds on each arm! I felt happy.
“Dude, what are you smiling for? You’re still lifting only ten-pound plates on a bench press,” a muscular guy bench pressing four hundred gave me a wake up call.
“It’s hard for someone like me.” It truly was.
These people were bringing tears to my eyes, in a pitiful way, of course. They could’ve at least given me motivation or encouragement.
Sobbing, I continued my grindset.
.
.
.
*
“I’m finally done with the day,” I yawned, stretching like a majestic feline as I walked out the busy academy gates.
People either were walking to their dorms or outside to hangout on the weekends.
Man.. I could have brightened the world with the beaming smile I had. Swordsmaster Lev would pick me up using whatever transportation vehicle he had for the nightly dinner. Everything was going well and convenient for me.
“Hahaha. Free food!” I skipped happily. “Cafe.. I forgot the name of, I’m coming for you!”
As I skipped, I bumped into a tough surface and bounced back and onto the ground upon impact.
Kwak!… I looked up to see a broken sculpture of a beautiful, headless body of a petite woman.
Wait. Headless?
I spotted a disfigured and shattered clay head on the ground.
“You…”
There were two short children beside the sculpture. One male, one female. They looked angry—their faces pouting and red.
“This was made for Ms. Lily!” the male child scolded me. “Fix it!”
Were they twins? Both looked around the same age. Ten, at most.
“Indeed. Sculpted meticulously for our esteemed tutor, Ms. Lily,” said the girl. She seemed a bit too stoic and calm after the conspicuous pout directed at me. “You must pay a great fine.”
I grinned slyly and instinctively put on a voice adults use to talk to kids. “Yess? What’s the fine?”
Children probably wouldn’t ask for much, so I expected to get away quickly.
“We’re hungry, so buy us dinner,” the girl responded.
The little boy leaned in her ear and whispered audibly, “We’re not poor, though. We can get our own. ..Plus we can easily restore this.”
She whispered back, “It’s okay. We’re going to make him go broke as payback.”
… Kids, I heard that.
The sculpture must’ve been for someone of high value. There were clear signs of careful carving and shaping on the body, robe, and the ….head on the ground.
How could I meet their demands without making myself go dirt-poor?
Hmm…
A genius idea came to my mind. I’ll bring them with me to the feast Sir Lev was holding.