The dormitory was as impressive as Taehak’s reputation.
Each student had a private room of roughly eighty square meters.
Everything was clean enough to look newly built, and the room came equipped with the latest appliances.
I retrieved the belongings I had sent ahead by delivery, then immediately headed back out.
First, I stopped by the department office and submitted my System Change Application. After another ten minutes of walking, I reached my destination.
The Third Comprehensive Training Ground.
It offered a variety of exercises and allowed students to take mock tests in conditions closely resembling the diagnostic assessment.
Since I had even skipped lunch to come here, there were plenty of rooms available.
I chose one near the entrance and stepped inside.
The room itself was about the size of a small classroom.
But what I could see was not all there was to it.
This was a world from a novel, where cutting-edge science coexisted with thoroughly unscientific supernatural abilities.
In other words, a single touch could make something like this possible.
Beginning Comprehensive Training Simulation.
Year 2, Class A. Park Hayul.
User information confirmed.
Please state the desired exercise.
Since this was my first time, I chose something easy.
“Target Elimination.”
Please select the exercise level.
Naturally, I chose the lowest level as well.
“Level 1.”
Configuration complete. Summoning field.
Generating five targets.
RUMBLE—
The moment the settings were finalized, the space began expanding with a low vibration.
The walls retreated in every direction and finally stopped when the room had grown to roughly half the size of a soccer field.
It was the result of large-scale spatial magic.
WHIRRR, WHIRRR.
The targets appeared about twenty meters ahead of me as circular objects resembling plates.
They drifted lazily through the air as though taking a leisurely stroll.
“Let us take this calmly.”
I drew a deep breath and activated Manifestation.
The familiar and strangely welcome motes of light scattered across one side of my vision.
“What should I try first?”
Thanks to Reading, numerous One-Star sorcery formulas surfaced in my mind all at once.
Among them, I chose ‘Flame Bullet.’
It was a Fire Release Art similar to the First-Circle spell Fireball, though its destructive power was roughly fifty percent greater.
I extended one hand and recalled the formula.
The particles responded to my will, arranging themselves into a geometric pattern.
FZZZT.
First, a perfect circle formed.
Then symbols representing Accumulation, Purification, Refinement, and Invocation were inscribed at the four cardinal directions—east, west, south, and north.
The basic structure was complete.
Now I had to draw the connecting lines that would activate the four axes.
From this point onward, I had to account for the hour.
The energies of the myriad phenomena never remained still, but were always in motion. That meant an absolute law had to serve as the reference point.
[Time remaining: 1 day, 1 hour, 28 minutes.]
According to the ever-moving clock, it was currently the Hour of the Goat.
The eighth traditional hour of the day, spanning from 12:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.
“In that case……”
The information in my mind immediately rearranged itself around that reference point.
I calculated the estimated values according to the formula.
The resulting figures were instantly engraved into the structure, forming circuits that connected the four axes.
Finally, at the very center of the formula, near its core, I inscribed the symbol representing Jowang, the god of fire.
[Manifestation complete.]
[Manifestation Accuracy: 75%.]
Manifestation Accuracy was essentially the degree to which the manifested image matched the mental image in my head.
There were a few crooked sections, but what mattered most was speed.
The entire engraving process had taken only about five seconds.
The average Taehak student in the Sorcery Arts System took roughly eight to nine seconds.
It clearly demonstrated just how absurdly powerful Manifestation and Reading were when used together.
I poured mana into the completed formula.
It felt like a fairly large amount was being drained from me.
FZZZT.
Then the formula appeared in midair as though crimson paint had spread across empty space.
A Thirty-Two-Stroke One-Star Fire Release Art.
Flame Bullet.
But perhaps because this was my first time actually firing one—
“Huh?”
Before I could react, a searing wave of heat erupted, and a blazing red sphere shot forward.
WHOOSH.
The fiercely burning orb spun at high speed as it streaked through the air.
BOOM!
By sheer luck, it struck one of the targets and triggered the first explosion.
That became the starting point.
BOOM BOOM BOOM! BOOM!
The blast spread outward, setting off another three or four explosions.
It was a property unique to Flame Bullet: its explosions propagated, swallowing the nearby targets as well.
There had been no control involved whatsoever.
The targets had practically allowed themselves to be hit.
Still, two thoughts immediately occurred to me.
First, even a One-Star sorcery art was far more powerful than I had expected.
And second……
“This is fun.”
That was my genuine reaction.
Perhaps it was simply a different sort of satisfaction from manifesting an Armament.
There was a unique appeal to ranged attacks—the way they erased distance in an instant.
Level 1 cleared.
Would you like to proceed to Level 2?
I grinned like a child who had just been handed a brand-new game console.
***
[Time remaining: 1 day, 1 hour, 34 minutes.]
I spent nearly twelve hours inside the training ground.
With my current mana reserves, three consecutive uses of One-Star sorcery arts were my absolute limit.
Once depleted, my mana took roughly four hours to recover, so I had actually cast sorcery arts only nine times.
But there was no chance I would waste twelve precious hours on merely that.
While waiting for my mana to recover, I practiced the formulas using only the particles, without completing the Manifestation itself.
I counted how many times I repeated them until counting became too tedious to bother with.
Even so, it had been time well spent.
A properly engraved One-Star sorcery art could produce greater power than a poorly constructed Two-Star art……
[Manifestation Accuracy: 78%.]
[Manifestation Accuracy: 79%.]
[Manifestation Accuracy: 80%.]
.
.
From that perspective, Manifestation Accuracy was an extremely useful function.
Unlike many supernatural abilities, sorcery arts had predetermined correct forms.
The length and thickness of every line making up a formula.
The angles created where those lines intersected.
Whether each combined symbol had been constructed properly.
And so on.
Since all of it was converted into numerical values, I could assess my performance intuitively.
“I suppose I am more or less ready.”
I had done everything I could, so it was time to head back.
If events followed the original novel, the diagnostic assessment would use a Breakthrough-type exercise, which was more difficult than a Target-type one.
Speed was the main objective, making the conditions inherently unfavorable to the complicated and slow Sorcery Arts System.
But I was not worried.
Precisely because of that, sorcery arts were perfect for exploiting a blind spot in the assessment.
Three formulas alone would be more than enough to secure fourth place.
***
I left the room with a light heart.
Apparently I had been the last one there, because the corridor outside the training rooms was completely deserted.
Then again, it was the night before the assessment.
Who besides me would be insane enough to train themselves half to death until after midnight?
“I should turn off the lights before I leave, right?”
Considering it basic courtesy, I headed toward the exit and flipped every switch I passed.
CLICK.
Darkness descended without exception wherever I had already walked.
By the time I was about to step outside, only a single light remained illuminating the corridor.
“Aagh! What the fuck? Which bastard did that?”
A scream echoed from somewhere in the darkness, followed by a stream of colorful profanity.
What?
I focused my eyes.
Around the middle of the corridor, another lunatic was making a tremendous fuss.
“Hey, that was you, right? Are you completely insane? Why are you turning the lights off?”
The lunatic started shouting the instant our eyes met.
Tsk. Kids these days and their tempers……
“That is rather rude for someone you have never met. Why do you not calm down?”
“What?”
“I thought I was the last person here. There is no reason to waste electricity when no one needs it. Stop making such a ridiculous fuss—”
That was when I sensed something strange.
TAP TAP TAP.
With the vibration of rapid footsteps striking the floor, the distance between us vanished at an astonishing rate.
Superhuman System?
“What era do you think this is, whining about electricity bills? Did you swallow magic with your dinner or something?”
I did not even have time to respond.
She was suddenly right in front of me, jabbing a finger aggressively in my direction while spraying spit everywhere.
……
But I could not say a word.
It was not because I had been overwhelmed by her presence or shocked speechless.
It was simply that the moment I saw her face illuminated by the moonlight filtering through the window—
The lunatic’s……
No.
Her face.
My mind froze for an instant, as though something inside it had malfunctioned.
“……You.”
I had known she would resemble her.
I just had not expected the resemblance to be this extreme.
It was practically copy and paste.
Part of me hoped against reason, and part of me simply reacted unconsciously to a familiar stimulus.
Before I realized it, I had called out the name.
“Yoo Soyoung?”
***
Whenever black text was translated into visual form, some degree of modeling was inevitable.
It was impossible to create something entirely from nothing, so experiential knowledge served as the framework.
I would list the people I knew.
Especially those who were familiar to me.
Then I would compare them against the characters the author had created.
I analyzed the written descriptions, selected a person who could serve as the base model, then refined the details.
And the character created through that process was now standing alive before me.
“Yoo Soyo…… what?”
……Cheon Seoyoon.
A girl I had drawn using Yoo Soyoung as the model because they shared the same bold personality and easygoing temperament.
She was one of the three main heroines of [Epic of Salvation], and the protagonist who had missed class today because it coincided with an event held by her family.
But even looking at her again, the resemblance was incredible.
Skin as pale as moonlight.
Short hair with a dark blue sheen, and eyes nestled beneath it like stars.
Even her height, which brought the top of her head almost level with my jawline.
If she had been wearing a shabby tracksuit instead of a uniform……
If not for the long sword strapped across her back……
I might have rushed over, grabbed her hand, and dragged her away without another thought.
“You are seriously driving me insane. Stop ignoring me and answer.”
“……”
But my mouth would not open.
Until I actually saw her, I had been certain I would be happy.
I had thought I might occasionally take comfort in seeing a familiar face……
But meeting her in person made it far less simple.
It felt as though something had been stolen from me.
That face.
That way of speaking……
Even her voice was similar enough to twist something unpleasantly inside me.
What if Cheon Seoyoon had somehow taken Yoo Soyoung’s vacant place?
My mind kept circling back to that irrational thought.
“Sorry. I apologized, so let us leave it at that.”
My voice came out colder than usual.
“Hey, when did I ask you to apologize? And if you are going to do it, then do it properly. If you are just going to act annoyed and give me some half-assed apology—”
“I apologized, did I not?”
“……What?”
“Stop wasting time over something pointless. Let us both go our separate ways.”
“Ha. Seriously? Wow……”
Of course, I knew how abrupt, petty, and childish I was being.
Cheon Seoyoon looked completely bewildered.
I had personally drawn her, yet here I was taking out my anger on someone who had done nothing to deserve it.
But I was only human.
Seeing that face again after so long made my emotions run wild.
I could barely control them.
“What the hell is wrong with that bastard? Hey! Stop right there!”
I ignored her and kept walking.
If we continued talking, the situation would only get worse……
I needed time to collect myself.