TRPM 298

chapter 298

Fortunately, Director Shin Han-ji was only joking when she said the instructors solved lunch with just energy bars.

Between each sparring match, there was about five minutes of break time, and during that gap, they ate pre-prepared meals….

“… In just five minutes?”
“Yes. Ah, but since the meals are eaten inside a space where time flows faster, the actual time for eating is about twenty minutes.”

… There’s a barrier like that?

As far as I know, there shouldn’t be any magic that manipulates time….

Of course, it’s not like I know every single magic in the world.

“Are you curious?”
“…Huh?”
“You looked curious, that’s all.”

Director Shin Han-ji said that after catching a glimpse of my expression.

I must really be the type whose thoughts show too easily on my face.

“There are plenty of subspace artifacts in the world. And there’s also spatial magic. I dismantled those artifacts, modified the spatial magic, and came up with my own version of time magic.”
“… I see.”

Well, if anyone could create such a thing, it would be her.

She may not be the strongest mage in the world, but she is the one who’s lived the longest.

“… You just thought something weird, didn’t you?”
“Ah….”

Her tone shifted suddenly.

Seems she noticed that I had, for a moment, thought about her age.

Anyway, time magic… that does bother me a little.

In this world, there are only two people known to have time-related abilities:

First, the Oracle, who was born a spacetime esper from the start.
Second, me, who gained Harmony Divine Arts influenced by spacetime due to regression.

At least, that’s what I had always believed. But now, it seems I’ll need to revise that belief.

“Han-ji unnie… then, does that mean things like stopping time are possible too?”
“Theoretically, yes. But even though I created time magic, its completeness isn’t that high. I’ve only managed to make a barrier that speeds up a specific space about four to five times. But when you consider the resources it takes to create and maintain it, it’s terribly inefficient.”

The same goes for time stop.

“In theory, the resources and upkeep for time stop would require thousands of times more energy than speeding things up four to five times.”

She explained this to Elena.

Since I, too, could interfere with time to a limited degree, I found myself agreeing with her reasoning.

If that’s the case… just how much energy did the Awakener System consume when it sent me decades into the past?

I still don’t know whether my regression rewound only my mind into the past, or whether everything except my mind was rewound.

But either way, I can’t imagine it not requiring an astronomical amount of energy.

If it had that much energy, wouldn’t it have been better to just erase the Black Fog from the world entirely, instead of sending me back?

That thought crosses my mind sometimes.

Of course, I know that’s impossible.

To erase the Black Fog completely would mean erasing the aether that composes it—and aether isn’t only the basis of the Black Fog, but also the foundation of the Awakener System itself. Erasing it completely would have been impossible.

Besides, the Black Fog is stronger than the Awakener System anyway.

But that’s not the point here….

“So, that’s why there’s no need to worry about the instructors’ meals.”
“… I see.”

Honestly, it seemed more economical to just set aside lunchtime instead of using time magic to save fifteen minutes. But I figured Director Shin Han-ji must have her own reasons—political ones, perhaps, not just practical ones.

“So let’s not worry and just focus on the fried chicken.”
“…Right.”

Not just me, but Elena too seemed to have come to the same conclusion, so she gave up on probing further.

And so, the three of us watched the sparring matches while munching on freshly fried chicken.

“…Hm?”

Then, one particular cadet caught my eye.

“Does that cadet bother you?”
“Yes, somewhat….”

There was something about this cadet that drew my gaze, unlike the others.

“Which one do you mean?”

Perhaps curious about our conversation, Elena asked who we were looking at.

So we casually switched the display to show the cadet in question.

“Oh… the one on the right?”
“Yeah.”
“Yes, that’s the one.”

Elena pointed out one of the two cadets on-screen.

“…Is it because he’s a mutant? Because Mr. Geon-woo—well, Artist—once saved them?”

Unlike the other, normal-looking cadet, the one Elena pointed at was a mutant.

A werewolf mutant, to be precise, with fur that the uniform couldn’t quite hide.

But….

“No, not really.”
“I won’t say it has nothing to do with it, but that’s not why I said he stood out.”

Sure, I couldn’t deny there was some connection—after all, every mutant in Korea regained their freedom thanks to me.

But that cadet hadn’t joined Ironblood Guild, and had likely grown up normally in their original family since then. So, the connection was actually pretty weak.

Besides, just visiting Ironblood Guild would let you meet plenty of mutants anyway.

So that wasn’t reason enough to pique my interest.

The real reason was….

“He’s way too skilled for the academy.”
“…Really, Han-ji unnie?”
“Yeah. He’s a mutant and a spirit master. If he crosses the wall, he’ll rival an Aura Master or even a Grand Mage.”

In other words… he’s on the brink of being considered one of the world’s elite fighters.

Of course, breaking through that wall isn’t easy, so whether he’ll actually reach that level is still uncertain.

…Well, leaving aside outliers like me, who naturally crossed it through Harmony Divine Arts, or Yeon Mirae, who crossed it after being reborn through my martial arts, or Lee Ha-eun, who became a Grand Mage without any hurdles at all….

I gave Director Shin Han-ji a look, as if to ask, What’s with this cadet?

“He’s the strongest among the first-years right now. By the time you two officially join the academy, he’ll be a fourth-year.”
“…That’s all?”
“Yep. Compared to when Yeon Mirae was already an Aura Master yet still attended as a regular student, this is pretty ordinary, don’t you think?”

…Well, when she puts it that way, I guess I can’t argue.

“Oh, it’s starting.”

While we were talking, the werewolf mutant cadet’s sparring match had begun.

Elena pointed it out, and we turned our heads toward the arena—

“…Ah, it’s over.”

At the center of the arena stood the werewolf cadet, and beneath him lay his opponent.

The match had ended while we were looking away.

That alone spoke volumes about the gap in skill between them.

But wait—

“Didn’t you say he was a spirit master?”

I hadn’t seen the match clearly, but….

“That just looked like he crushed the opponent with raw strength….”

It didn’t seem like he’d used any spirit arts at all.

“He doesn’t need to. Most cadets can be beaten with just his physical ability. Werewolf mutants are inherently gifted physically.”
“Ahh….”

True, most of the mutants in Ironblood Guild had excellent physical abilities.

There were exceptions, of course—like goblin mutants or slime mutants, whose base monsters were weak. But if his base was a werewolf, then he certainly wouldn’t lack in strength.

“Oh, by the way, his opponent just now was a fourth-year.”
“…A graduating student?”
“And one of the top ranks, too.”
“……”

To be fair, the fallen cadet wasn’t weak.

I hadn’t seen the fight properly, but he definitely had the skills to be considered among the top of his graduating class.

It was just bad luck to face that opponent.

But wait….

If a top-tier fourth-year cadet was crushed instantly like that, then is there even anyone at the academy who could push that werewolf mutant to the point of using spirit arts?

I glanced at Director Shin Han-ji with that thought—

“He only uses spirit arts when facing instructors or professors.”

So yeah. That cadet was definitely an ecological disruptor.

“Ah, so the true mastery of spirit arts is defeating opponents without using them!”
“…What nonsense are you spouting?”

After four days of preliminaries, and the main tournament where 128 cadets with the best records competed, Elena suddenly said this today.

“But the cadet who never used spirit arts and still defeated everyone ended up winning, right?”
“That guy’s just an exception among exceptions….”

It seemed Elena had drawn the strangest conclusion after watching the werewolf mutant cadet win the tournament.

Not something logical, like “offense is the best defense” or “the best support is to eliminate the source of harm.” No, hers was bizarre.

“I know. I was joking.”
“…Oh, really?”

But somehow, it didn’t feel entirely like a joke.

“Well, not entirely. Watching him, I realized something.”
“What’s that?”
“That as a spirit master, I shouldn’t rely only on spirit arts for everything.”

…Well, that’s true.

I nodded.

And it’s not advice meant only for spirit masters.

It applies to aura users, mages, espers—every awakener.

Running out of aura, running out of mana, running out of willpower… exhausting your energy in battle is a common thing.

No matter how well you prepare before entering a dungeon, there are always variables.

Even I, when I sent a doll to America, nearly ran out of internal energy because of unexpected encounters—contact with Albatross PMC, fighting with Chairman Richard….

“So I’ve decided I’ll start training my body, and learn self-defense techniques for fighting without spirit arts.”
“Good idea.”

Once your natural energy runs out, the situation is almost hopeless. But the difference between knowing self-defense and not knowing it is still huge.

“Since it’s vacation now… I’ll return to England and learn self-defense there.”
“Alright. See you after break, then.”

I murmured softly, turning my eyes toward the TV at the front of the classroom.

[Even if it’s summer, don’t recklessly go to beaches where monsters might appear at any time. And if you do, stay alert for monsters…]

On screen, the school principal was delivering the end-of-term address.

Finally… at long last, summer vacation had arrived.