Today's class had been a good test. He'd easily managed to sever the Blackhumped Octopus's tentacles, but he also wasn't sure just where the limit was in cutting things with his mana.
...If you could even still call it mana. After all, mana was SUPPOSED to dissolve.
But as he just tested right now, instead of dissolving it went back to his body due to <Mana Manipulation>.
'Is it even still mana? This kind of feels like the real deal in regards to Sword Ki...'
Food for thought.
But back to the matter at hand...
Nayun paused. Then she gave Lee a soft smile. "...Yeah. I get it. There's no point if you don't do it yourself, right?"
"Exactly." Lee laughed. "If I just wanted to coast, I wouldn't be here, you know? After all, being a Cube Alumni gets you a pretty sweet deal already when you graduate. It's pretty easy to live a comfy life just by having the name recognition of being an alumni. But I want to see how far I can go."
That was one part where Lee Shin and Lee completely aligned.
Before Lee got here, the original, Lee Shin, had been grinding everything he could to a polish to see how far he could go. And he made it into Cube, his dream.
Of course, then Lee took over...
But Lee had an even higher goal than Lee Shin did. And that was...
'Let's be the best.'
...Being the top.
It wasn't impossible.
With everything Lee knew, it was just a matter of time.
And it wasn't like he had any particular enemies either. Since he was a 'nobody' from the start, he had space to grow.
By the time people noticed him properly...
'Definitely too late to stop me.'
His growth wasn't linear, after all. It was exponential upon exponential growth.
"But anyway." Lee clapped his hands together to get everyone to focus. "Nayun. I noticed that you definitely can use your magic power, right? But why the hell are you wasting it on something that flashy?"
"Wh-What? Flashy?!"
"Yeah, flashy." Lee nodded. "If you can make a giant green mana arrow, you can create a spiraling drill too. Instead of just making a blade, make a drillbit that pierces into the enemy and explodes. It's more efficient."
Nayun paused. "...A drill? Why would I make a drill?"
"...Do you not know how drills work? It isn't just spinning, you know? It's a spiraling blade that expands in a clockwise or counterclockwise direction. You're cutting a progressively deeper hole into the target. And if you make the mana explode, you have both penetration and destructive power."
"...What?"
Yeonha sighed. "...You lost her, Lee. But don't worry. I'll go buy her a drill and show her. But..." She rubbed her chin, thoughtful. "Hm. You're right. It IS rather wasteful for her to expend so much mana. But if she's efficient with it... and a drill WOULD be efficient for the input used..."
"I'm trying it right now!" Nayun picked up her bow.
"W-Wait." Lee quickly spoke up. "Nayun, if you're not careful-"
Green light flared.
Nayun drew back an arrow, wreathing it in spiraling emerald mana.
Lee's dangersenses from being around countless car accidents in New York city screamed at him. So he quickly grabbed Rachel and ran out of the target range.
"L-Lee?!" Rachel blushed. "What are you-?"
*BOOM*
===
In the Novice Training Facility, Kim Hajin was diligently training his body with weights to try and muster up as many stat points as he could.
But just after he finished a set, he heard an explosion in the distance. At the same time...
> Modified setting - It was judged that having Nayun use a sword conflicts with the protagonist, Kim Suho. External factors have been utilized to optimize her skill with a bow.
"...What?"
Hajin's eyes widened. As they did, he felt a pang of fury as well.
Chae Nayun was a swordswoman. One who had the magic power to use a 20 meter long blade like it weighed nothing at all.
And the co-author was turning her into an archer?!
'No. Take a breath, Hajin. Calm down.'
Hajin slowly exhaled and moved onto his next set, using the anger as fuel.
He was mad. Furious. Changing such a core aspect of a character he carefully designed... it pissed him off.
...But this was reality now as well. Even if it pissed Hajin off, he had to prioritize his own life. Even though it seemed like a game to him, Hajin wasn't sure what would happen if he dropped dead.
So...
'Ignore it for now.'
...Yes. He just had to grit his teeth and keep training. For now.
===
Time passed, and evening drew near. Rachel headed back to her dorm since she wanted to study... and review the copy of the notes that Lee gave her.
But after walking her back, Lee headed to his own dorm. There were quite a few things he had to set up, after all.
So, after making sure his door was locked so he wouldn't get any random intruders, Lee headed over to his PC and turned it on. "There's something like Amazon here, right...? Yep. There it is."
Although there were numerous sites that you could order and ship things to, for Cube, the main one seemed to be Cube-Mu.
If Lee had to guess, it was supposed to be like a knock-off Temu or something...?
Either way, what mattered was that he could set up deliveries that were officially sanctioned by Cube and sent to the front desk of the dorm buildings for him to pick up later.
Apparently, there had been incidents where cadets had deliveries stolen, damaged, or lost when they were left in front of dorms. Because of that, Cube had instituted an official order portal.
You COULD still use third parties that would drop them off at the door. It was cheaper too, by around 75%. But the trade-off was... you know, the highly competitive student body potentially messing with your package.
Lee would hard pass on that. Not to mention the fact that he just KNEW some people had it out for him at this point.
Though he hadn't intended to, he'd definitely gotten tangled with Nayun and Yeonha at this point. Nayun because he had showed her how to properly use a bow in a way that wouldn't just keep her as long-range artillery. And Yeonha because, in her eyes, Lee was 'interesting' and potentially a steal for her father's... and in turn HER guild in the future.
And while Lee didn't know her that well yet, he was getting the vague sense that she was the stubborn sort when she found something she wanted. And while she didn't really want Lee romantically... at least, he was fairly sure she didn't. Yeonha DEFINITELY wanted Lee as an asset.
'Too bad on that though. Rachel had dibs.'
But he was getting sidetracked.
"Let's see... whey protein, some creatine, usual multi-vitamins... Ah, good. We can order groceries online too. Then some steaks, collard greens, rice..." Mumbling to himself, Lee went down the checklist of things to purchase.
Obviously, there were the daily essentials. But now that he thought about it...
Lee frowned and opened his status screen to double check something.
===
[Status Screen]
Name: Lee Shin (Hanja read as 'Different' 'Belief')
Age: 16 (Biological, Western standard)
[Variable Stats]
Strength: 5.12
Stamina: 5.12
Speed: 5.12
Perception: 10
<You are well-versed in tropes, fiction, and other areas. No matter the circumstance, you can perceive at least a vague root of its existence.>
Vitality: 5.12
Magic power: 1.2
<Your body does not naturally generate magical power. Additional methods are necessary.>
[Invariable Stats]
Intelligence - 10/10
<You possess knowledge that does not exist and cannot exist in this world. This collection of knowledge across numerous fields in your previous life have been synthesized and converted as raw intelligence.>
Perseverance - 9/10
<You have been driven to the brink and faced the abyss of death numerous times. You have been presented the choice to end it all numerous times and yet chosen life. Moreover you have turned your life around and bounced back further each time. This has been recorded as great perseverance.>
Luck - 0/10
<You are not accepted by the rules of this world, and you do not accept them in turn. Any luck-based events are converted to 'causality' events. Without sufficient plausibility, outcomes cannot occur when they involve you.>
Charm - 8/10
<You have a natural ease and charisma around you from knowing who you truly are at your core and accepting all of it in its totality.>
[Gift]
Lightning Thrust <Static Gift> - Wreathing oneself in mana, lunge forward at a blinding speed for a thrust.
Maverick <Static Gift> - You do not abide by the world's rules. Luck will never be on your side. In return, you are not constrained by the world's limitations.
[Arts]
Self Command (Proficiency 100% | MAX)- You are able to always control your actions. You cannot be manipulated by external powers.
- Immunity to abnormal mental conditions
- Immunity to mental control abilities, magic, skills, and authorities
- Can ignore physical limitations at the cost of critical damage to the body
Mana Manipulation (Proficiency 2% | Low rank) - An ability gained at the brink of death. You have forcibly awakened a physical sense for mana, as well as a method to control it utilizing biological processes.
- Can completely control one droplet of mana
- Mana under your control will not dissolve, but instead return to the body after eliciting the magical effect
- If proficiency is improved, can dominate and assimilate other sources of mana into your body.
[Physique]
Disruptive Mana Physique
- The nature of mana within your body trends towards chaos.
- You are unable to use magic.
- You ignore the magical aspect of magical attacks.
===
"Huh. Didn't expect my stats to improve." Lee glanced at the increased variable stats and made a mental note to remember to do more testing on that.
But he focused on Mana Manipulation. Specifically... "Mana under your control, huh?"
Semantics were important when it came to abilities.
On a casual read, it would seem like Lee could only control one droplet of mana and that it was THAT mana which would return to the body.
After all, it was definitely what had happened during training.
But...
"...Isn't this a separate clause?"
According to the textbooks and research papers on Enlightenment, it was said that the status screen was VERY explicit about detailing abilities. What was written there was intentional.
So if the intention was for ONLY the mana drop that Lee could completely control to be the one that returned to his body, then it should have been put together with the first line.
But it wasn't.
"...Alright. If I'm reading this correctly then..."
The first line dictated mana that was unequivocably his. That was, mana that could not be removed or dissipated. Immutable, essentially.
The second line dictated that mana he controlled, which WASN'T limited to the mana in the first line, would return to 'the body' which was a bit vague... but probably meant HIS body.
'...Unless it implied the ability to influence mana in other people's bodies?
Taking the final line, which dictated that he could 'dominate' and 'assimilate' other sources of mana into his body...
"Wait. This is... pretty ridiculous, right?"
There were three aspects in that Mana Manipulation Art.
The first was mana immutability. What mana was his specifically, he completely controlled.
The second was both a safeguard and a specification of the ability to manipulate mana, which would then return to the source after Lee manipulated it.
And the third was accumulation, detailing how he could increase his stores.
"...This needs testing."
Mana crystals were on sale too. While Lee DEFINITELY could not purchase any high grade ones to test, he could purchase a few lowest-rank mana crystals. They were a bit pricey, 100,000 won each. But if his hypothesis was correct...
'I should be able to absorb them. If not, I can use them like batteries.'
Either case was useful-
No.
Was this what Lee Shin planned? Or how he discovered his Gift?
The fact that Lee couldn't use his Gift properly but apparently Lee Shin DID...
That implied he had found a work around.
"Alright. Let's test this."
If it worked like what he thought, then...
Well.
Cube and this life just got a lot more fun.