BCST 54

chapter 54

“What’s that sound?”

Suddenly saying he’s not confident in his shooting skills?

Kin?

I couldn’t hide my disbelief as I looked at Kin at his absurd statement.

What nonsense is he spouting now?

But Kin, surprisingly serious, opened his mouth with a grave expression.

“Wizard… as you said, during this training, I’ve hardly slept at all, and I kept going. There are more than one or two spots on my body that hurt.”

His words made my curiosity grow even more.

Well, of course.

It must hurt.

His finger joints probably feel like sand is stuck between them, his wrists ache, and his forearms feel like stone.

The constant mental strain must feel like scraping the bottom of a drained dam.

Even sitting down and reading a Braille book or writing is no easy task.

As time stacks up, repeated sensory stimulation raises the sensory threshold, making it harder to feel the Braille.

Usually, you’d take breaks, gradually building sensitivity.

But with cyberware sending artificial sensory signals, there’s no dulling; if Kin fully focuses his mental power, he can consistently read the sensations.

And this guy…

In less than three days, he raised his sensory ability to the level I had set as a goal.

That means he didn’t slack off even once during that period.

He maintained high concentration without a moment of carelessness.

But that’s normal when training.

So why is he whining?

He’s not the type to fuss over something like this.

“But… that’s okay. The problem is, during this training, I feel like my shooting skills won’t be the same as before. Something… feels different.”

Ah, so that’s the issue.

I quickly sensed why Kin was confused and replied.

“That’s natural. That’s exactly why we did the training.”

“…Natural?”

With a hint of worry in his voice, Kin said, and I nodded calmly.

“While training with the Braille books, your synchronization with your arms improved. Your actual sensory ability likely increased too. But it rose too fast, triggering a warning from your previous combat sense. Your old fighting instincts don’t align with your current specs.”

Until now, he had generally strengthened everything to improve synchronization.

He probably never did this kind of specialized training.

A specific part of his abilities grew rapidly, creating an imbalance between his body and skills.

His combat sense, honed over time and risked with his life, detected that imbalance and sent out a danger signal.

But this is completely natural.

I had experienced the same thing myself while applying these training methods during free time.

Plus, with forced stepwise growth from using the ‘Trait Window’ for stat increases, I had gone through this process many times, more intensely than him.

So I could confidently say:

There’s no problem at all.

“You’re doing well, so don’t worry. Go to the training ground, fire a few shots, and you’ll get the feel back. Readjustment will be quick. If not, a few real battles will fix it.”

That’s why I intentionally restrained my magic and sparred with Alibek Kivizo when I boosted my stats before.

Clear your mind, move your body to the max, and everything adjusts naturally.

It’s true.

“Hm… really?”

Kin, slightly unsettled by my confident tone, began to be convinced.

No need to persuade him fully.

But I had to point out one precaution.

“…And don’t secretly pick up a gun in the middle, even if you’re worried.”

Flinch.

So he was considering it.

“Well… no… Since you told me not to, I won’t. But it’s like a mental stabilizer for me, like a cigarette. I keep thinking about our babies.”

‘Babies like cigarettes,’ huh.

From the way he said it, if I hadn’t warned him, he would have fired.

I spoke in a cautionary tone.

“If you grab a gun now, it will trigger a return to your pre-training senses. You need to completely lose that feel first. Only then should you pick up a gun again. Otherwise, the training will be wasted.”

“I see… fine. But if my skills really drop, I’ll blame you, alright?”

Kin tried to make a joke out of his small anxiety while accepting the reasoning.

He’s scared even while saying he trusts me.

I had to ease his worry a bit for someone who trains so hard.

“Hey, Kin.”

I called him with weight in my voice.

Kin tensed immediately and looked at me.

“What… what, Wizard? Why are you suddenly serious?”

He calls it serious, but the way he said it sounded like ‘seriously?’

But externally, I kept my weight in my words.

“If… your skills drop from this training, you don’t need to forgive me.”

“What? What… really… that far…?”

Kin looked at me with a mix of disbelief and burden.

I shook my head and spoke firmly.

“No. This is my responsibility, so blame me. Or just shoot me. It’s fine.”

“What… what? Why are you acting crazy?”

Kin’s expression said exactly that: why is he acting crazy?

Of course, leaving him with irreparable damage would be fatal to his skills.

Still, telling him to shoot me seems extreme.

But I grinned and added:

“Though, even if your skills dropped, you couldn’t actually kill me. Heh heh.”

Not skilled enough to do it anyway, right?

Kin froze briefly at my words.

Then, realizing he’d been teased, he started to thrash about wildly.

“…No way?! Hey, hey! Where are you going!”

I left the flustered Kin behind and briskly left the room.

Squeak—.

Let’s see…

I gave him a new assignment, after all.

Now it’s time for me to do my part.

I had to manage my newly improved physical stats.

I, too, was in a period of focused training, like Kin.

But unlike Kin, I couldn’t train with full effort, keeping some energy in reserve for emergencies.

“Well… can’t be helped.”

Kin was growing rapidly, creating more variables than I was at the moment.

This approach maximized our chances in a battle against the Sicario Bros.

And unlike Kin, I had experience to train efficiently without pouring in full effort.

Also, I had leftover time and energy for external tasks.

Step by step, I left the hotel room and slipped out unnoticed.

I once again melted into the iron-willed city of Waterfall.

Day 7

Kin accomplished it.

“See, Wizard?! I finished everything!”

“…”

I crossed my arms, stroked my chin, and stared at the results.

…How is this possible?

A maze of structures shuffled randomly by John every time, with gradually increasing time constraints.

Yet Kin had cleared it all in less than four days.

Far ahead of my planned progress.

I thought including previous Braille training, there wouldn’t be enough time to finish this.

But Kin surpassed my expectations and quickly showed his achievements.

Is this the pleasant feeling of being outdone?

I had to admit my misjudgment, yet it felt oddly satisfying.

“…Congratulations. Your growth is far faster than I expected.”

“Oh! Thanks, Wizard! All thanks to you!”

“I know.”

“….”

Time was still a little tricky.

Three days until the rendezvous.

Kin’s senses must have skyrocketed from this training.

And synchronization too.

“What’s your synchronization percentage now?”

“6%! It went up a lot!”

From 4% to 6%.

Considering it started at 1.6%, the progress may seem modest.

But no. It increased far more than expected.

Early neural plasticity grows steeply.

Yet even growth has a limit, especially in advanced training stages like this one.

I expected a 1% increase in synchronization.

Seeing a 2% rise means Kin achieved many unseen things beyond just completing the visible tasks.

This guy… he really worked hard.

Acknowledging his unseen efforts, I spoke slowly.

“…Normally, I would have paused training and tried to connect your skills and senses just a day or two before the last day.”

“Oh, right. Shooting. Yeah, to fight I need to solve that first. So now we can go shoot?”

Kin’s eyes sparkled as he mimed firing with his fingers.

I voiced my concern.

“But we actually have more time than I expected. That makes it tricky.”

“What’s tricky?”

I continued.

“…Whether to spend the remaining days refining your skills or using this secured time for new training.”

Three days left.

New training would be tight.

And insufficient progress risks losing the sensory readjustment period.

Normally, I’d tell him to rest and refine his skills.

But I already admitted my judgment was wrong once.

So perhaps it’s better to rely on Kin’s talent and take a calculated risk.

The right choice, maybe.

I was in thought.

“Hey, Wizard.”

Kin, calming down from his excitement, called me.

“What is it?”

Adjusting his sunglasses slightly, he spoke.

“During this training, was there anything I did that should’ve worried you?”

“…No. Nothing.”

True.

Kin followed the training remarkably well.

No complaints, no slacking.

Even with subtle training that wouldn’t show laziness, he stayed diligent, proving it with his results.

Far beyond my expectations.

Considering his usual casual attitude, this was surprising—in a good way.

Though I didn’t voice it, Kin looked at me, sensed something, smiled, and said:

“Then just trust me and let me do it like I did.”

“…What?”

“Even if you’re naive, if you trust, you can act without issues. I proved it, so just trust me. Got it?”

“….”

Yes.

That was my realization.

Three days left.

I’d trust Kin’s talent and diligence for the next training.

But that doesn’t make the impossible possible.

Linear training that yields results requires more time than we have.

Yet if I rely on Kin’s talent now, maybe we can break the probability barrier.

Maybe awaken that dormant ability.

Having sorted my thoughts, I finally spoke to Kin.

“Kin. Don’t you want to control psychic energy now?”

Kin’s eyes widened at those words.