An icy cold bath. One that felt like pure liquid nitrogen... and maybe it was for all Lee knew.
Either way, although the shower felt like needles against his skin from the cold, it ALSO felt like bliss.
"Note to self... thank whoever designed these plumbing systems." Lee let out a content sigh as the icy water helped relieve the stress and inflamation his body had from the gravitation room.
It felt like hell.
'Lee Shin' had clearly never experienced a gravitation room before.
And Lee DEFINITELY hadn't.
So overall, a very novel experience.
'I never thought you could feel like your entire body was unraveling like that...'
Maybe it was the level that Nayun had set the gravitation room to, but it was DEFINITELY more than just a simple 1.2 times gravity in that room when Lee walked inside.
He was FAIRLY certain that if his body wasn't so well trained... that if it was someone like Hajin who walked inside...
Yeah. Human pancake at best. BEST.
Which made Lee consider all the liability implications there... But maybe Cube had like, miraculous healing facilities.
That, or there was a 'death by overtraining' clause in the admissions material somewhere.
But anyway...
As Lee felt the icy water splash over his VERY much bruised and battered body, he started to reflect on what to do next for training.
'I definitely have a bit of mana now.'
That was good.
Since he had something he could control, he could run his experiments in totality now.
Forging mana circuits, testing if he could convert nerves to magic circuits, storing energy in his dantian...
Lee was VERY much planning to confirm if any of those methods worked. And if they did, he was going to SO abuse the heck out of them all.
But first, he had to make sure his body was healed up from his almost crushing (literally) defeat to the gravitation room-
*ding*
"Huh?"
A soft ding. Like a bell- No, like a notification message.
Lee opened his eyes and took a look around to see what the sound was.
At first, he thought it was his smartwatch. Maybe Rachel texting him something. Or Suho checking in on him.
But then he saw it.
"...Holy crap." Lee stared at the definitely real holographic display in front of him. Then he laughed and said, "Well. Guess 'almost dying to gravity' counts as overcoming your limits for enlightenment, huh?"
It was a phenomenon that apparently existed in this world. When you surpassed your limits, you got a 'personal insight' that 'let you see your Gift, skills, and abilities objectively.' It also let you get 'clear rewards' from Towers and Dungeons.
That was what Lee had read earlier when he was cramming in the class material.
But that wasn't important.
Well, it kind of was.
But what was the most important wasn't what they called this thing. Or even how he got it.
What was important was what it WAS.
And as for what it WAS...
"...A status screen. Finally."
===
[Status Screen]
Name: Lee Shin (Hanja read as 'Different' 'Belief')
Age: 16 (Biological, Western standard)
[Variable Stats]
Strength: 5.1
Stamina: 5.1
Speed: 5.1
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: 5.1
Magic power: 1.1
<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 1% | 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.
===
"That's... very interesting."
As Lee stared at the floating holographic window, many things became clear to him.
First of all, the fact that Lee Shin was able to get into Cube DEFINITELY had to do with his physique.
"Naturally being able to ignore the magical aspect of attacks..."
It didn't sound like much. After all, if someone launched a fireball at you or a bolt of lightning, then it was still going to damage you.
...Or so it would appear.
But in actuality, it was a big deal.
Magic in this world didn't work like you would think it did. Rather than expending mana to generate an outcome based on physical rules, unless a caster ACTIVELY went through the entire process, they usually just bruteforced an outcome by expending their mana. In short, even if they launched a fireball at you, the 'fuel' for that fire wasn't oxygen, but mana.
And so, if you possessed a physique that ignored the magical aspect of magic... No, of 'magical attacks' like it listed...
"I might get burned from the heat, but that's it. And if someone swings an enchanted weapon at me, the enchantments fail."
That was the truth of the matter.
Unless Lee was facing a VERY conscientious magic user... No, from the wording it applied unilaterally to ANY magical attack.
So, theoretically, if there was someone who sent a blast of pure energy from a sword at him, if said energy was 'mana' and not say 'pure photons' or 'plasma', Lee could tank it.
No, not just 'tank it.' The attack would splash against his skin like a cloud against a mountain.
"Hm... was this why Lee Shin trained a spear?"
It was sly.
Lee was sure that his records didn't say he had this physique anywhere. And to any device, it would just come across as a poor talent in magic.
But Lee Shin surely must have realized it early on.
A spear gave just enough distance to buy time to dodge magical attacks. At the same time, it allowed attacking from a safe range from most physical counter attacks.
To close in, you had to get past Lee's spear. And even if you did, Lee Shin had trained his body enough to fight unarmed as well or at least toss foes aside to buy more spacing.
Paired with his Gift, Lightning Thrust, which allowed him to spend what little mana he COULD use to do a decisive strike...
"...I'm a goddamned mage slayer."
Lee laughed as he turned off the shower.
Did the people reviewing his application to Cube realize it? They must have.
Most magicians relied on magical power and mana to stay safe and attack from a distance. Waves upon waves of overwhelming magical ability was what made them untouchable.
But for Lee...
Lightning Thrust to close the gap and force close quarters combat. A body trained to handle said combat and persevere through it all...
"Well. This will be fun."
Lee changed into a t-shirt and boxes before hopping into bed.
His body was DEFINITELY still sore.
But that was a fine price to pay for the information he just gained.
"Tomorrow... will be the start of a great life here at Cube."
Lee laughed and then closed his eyes, quickly drifting off to sleep.
===
Kim Hajin was in the middle of tinkering with his stats and abilities after just receiving his laptop and completing the synchronization.
But just as he got the error message from testing a bit *too* many shenanigans with his stats... another message appeared on his laptop.
[SYSTEM WARNING: An individual who you must not make an enemy has appeared!]
[SYSTEM WARNING: Do not probe too deeply into characters that you cannot observe with <Observation>!]
[SYSTEM WARNING: It is HIGHLY suggested that the author follows the developments that the co-author establishes while ignoring any seeming abnormalities in the background regarding certain side-characters.]
[SYSTEM WARNING: If the Author comes across an individual who possesses the Gift <Maverick>, do NOT test them unless the Author wishes for the world to shatter.]
Crimson warning flickering not just on the laptop screen, but in front of Hajin's own eyes.
Seeing that, Hajin felt his throat clamp up. After a dry swallow, he nervously said, "Um... what?"
The messages vanished in a cluster of glitchy pixels. Something that made Hajin even more nervous.
"...What the hell is going on here?"
He was under the assumption that it was just him brought into this world. That he was the only 'extra' here. And that he was given these 'cheats' to survive since he was a normal person.
But...
'Is there... someone else too?'
A person came to mind.
Someone that Hajin had ignored because he wasn't sure.
After all, he hadn't described every single thing that occurred in The Returnee Hero during the intro section.
Since it was Kim Suho's story, Hajin mostly focused on him. So there could very well be other characters moving about at this time. And since this had become a real world, his presence just as a whole might have caused some ripples.
But...
'...Lee Shin.'
That buff spearman. The one who looked like a heroic Shin Jonghak who had properly trained and didn't bleach his hair white.
Hajin knew that guy must be pretty low on Cube's ranking as well since he saw Lee walk into a dorm on the floor even below his. And Hajin was rank 934.
Because of that, Hajin had ignored him. Thought the guy was maybe just a literal guy to fill in the setting.
But...
With those warnings...
And that note about the Gift of <Maverick>, something Hajin had never heard of...
"...Yeah." Hajin wisely nodded. "Let's ignore him."
Hajin wasn't sure. After all, there were a lot of details that he left patched up and spotty. If that wasn't the case, he wouldn't be here in the first place.
It was very possible Lee Shin was just a guy.
And even if he wasn't...
'He gives off that vibe anyway.'
Someone who was at Cube to genuinely learn, train, and graduate. Like an overseas student who came here to get all the resources he could before heading back to the real world.
That was what Lee Shin felt like to Hajin. Not only that...
'I think I heard him talk English with Rachel, right?'
The co-author had made a lot of setting changes, so maybe he was one of the rare American Cube students who was around and never interacted with the main cast.
...Yeah.
That had to be it.
But for now...
Hajin clapped his cheeks to focus and said, "Let's go test out that Gift I created."
<Master Sharpshooter> was waiting for him to try it out, after all.