TRPM 299

chapter 299

Fortunately, the part about the instructors eating energy bars for lunch was just Chairwoman Shin Han-ji’s joke.

Between each sparring match, there was a five-minute break, and during that time, the instructors ate the pre-prepared meals.

“…In five minutes?”
“Yes. Ah, but since they eat inside a space where time flows faster, the actual mealtime comes out to about twenty minutes.”

…There’s a barrier like that?

‘I thought there was no such thing as magic that manipulates time….’

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

“Are you curious?”
“Huh?”
“You looked like you were.”

Chairwoman Shin Han-ji smiled at my expression. Apparently, I’m the type whose thoughts show plainly on my face.

“There are plenty of subspace artifacts in the world, and space magic exists too. I dismantled those artifacts, altered the magic, and created my own form of time magic.”
“…I see.”

Well, if it’s her, I suppose she really could make something like that.
She might not be the strongest mage in the world, but she is the one who has lived the longest.

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

Her atmosphere suddenly shifted—she must have caught me thinking about her age.

‘Still, this so-called time magic is worth paying attention to.’

Until now, I believed there were only two people in the world with time-related powers:
Oracle, who was a spacetime esper from the beginning, and myself, whose Harmony Divine Arts were influenced by spacetime when I regressed.

But I guess I’ll have to revise that assumption.

“Han-ji unnie… then could you stop time as well?”
“In theory, yes. But even if I say I created time magic, it’s far from complete. I only managed to make a barrier that accelerates time in a certain area about four to five times faster. And the amount of resources and upkeep required makes it horribly inefficient.”

Time stop, she explained, was even more inefficient.

“In theory, the cost of stopping time would be thousands of times greater than speeding it up four or five times.”

She explained this to Elena.
Since I also had some knowledge of time due to my own abilities, I had to agree with her assessment.

‘If that’s the case… just how much energy did the Awakener System consume to send me decades into the past?’

I still don’t know whether my regression only sent my consciousness back, or if everything except my consciousness was rewound.

But either way, the energy expenditure must have been enormous.

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

I can’t help but think like that sometimes.
Of course, I know it isn’t possible.
To erase the Black Fog, you’d have to erase the ether that makes it up. But ether isn’t just the basis of the Black Fog—it’s also the foundation of the Awakener System. It couldn’t be removed completely.
Not to mention, the Black Fog is probably stronger than the system itself.

Anyway, that’s beside the point.

“For that reason, you don’t need to worry about the instructors’ meals.”
“…I see.”

Honestly, it seems far more efficient to just schedule a normal lunch break than to use time magic to save fifteen minutes. But I decided to let it go—Shin Han-ji probably has her reasons, whether political or otherwise.

“So let’s not worry and focus on the fried chicken in front of us.”
“…Right.”

Not only I but also Elena seemed to come to the same conclusion, giving up on digging deeper.

And so, we gnawed on fresh, crispy fried chicken while watching the duels.

“Hm?”

One cadet caught my eye.

“Does that one bother you?”
“Yeah, sort of….”

Something about that cadet drew my gaze differently than the others.

“Which one?” Elena asked, curious about who Shin Han-ji and I were paying attention to.

So we switched the screen to the right channel.

“Uh… the one on the right?”
“Yeah.”
“That’s the one.”

Elena pointed to one of the two cadets on screen.

“…Is it because he’s a mutant? Because Artist—Mr. Geon-woo—rescued him before?”

Unlike the ordinary-looking cadet beside him, the one Elena pointed out was clearly a mutant.
A werewolf mutant, with fur that his uniform couldn’t hide.

But…

“No, not exactly.”
“I won’t say it has nothing to do with it, but that’s not the reason I noticed him.”

Sure, every mutant in Korea owed their freedom to me. But this cadet was just a student—he hadn’t joined the Ironblood Guild, and after being rescued, he’d probably grown up in a normal family. Our connection was minimal.

‘Besides, I see mutants all the time just by visiting Ironblood Guild.’

So the fact that he was a mutant wasn’t the real reason.

The real reason was—

“He’s too strong to still be at the academy.”
“…Really, Han-ji unnie?”
“Mm-hmm. He’s a mutant and a spirit-summoner, and his strength is already on par with an Aura Master or Archmage once he breaks through his bottleneck.”

In other words, he’s right on the edge of being called one of the world’s elite.
Of course, breaking through that bottleneck isn’t easy.

‘…I mean, aside from cases like me with Harmony Divine Arts, Yeon Mi-rae who transformed while training under me, or Lee Ha-eun who just learned magic and somehow became an Archmage with no obstacles.’

I gave Shin Han-ji a look as if to ask what was with this cadet.

“He’s the strongest among the first-years. By the time you two enter the academy, he’ll be a fourth-year.”
“…And that’s all?”
“Yes. Compared to Yeon Mi-rae attending school as an Aura Master, this is nothing unusual.”

I couldn’t really argue with that.

“Oh, it’s starting.”

As we spoke, the werewolf cadet’s duel began.

We turned our eyes to the arena—

“Oh, it’s over.”

He stood in the middle of the ring, while his opponent lay collapsed at his feet.

We’d missed the fight while looking away. That just meant the gap between them had been huge.

But wait.

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

I hadn’t seen the duel, but…

“That looked like he just crushed the guy with brute strength.”

Not a trace of spirit magic.

“He usually doesn’t even need to use it. His physical abilities alone overwhelm most cadets. Probably because he’s a werewolf mutant.”
“Ah… I see.”

True, most mutants in Ironblood Guild had extraordinary physiques. Unless they were based on weak monsters like goblins or slimes, their physical ability was always high. And a werewolf base definitely meant strength.

“Oh, by the way, his opponent was a fourth-year.”
“…A graduating student?”
“One of the top students, too.”
“……”

To be fair, the fourth-year wasn’t weak. He did have the skills expected of someone in the top ranks of the graduating class. Just unlucky to face that werewolf.

But still….

‘If he can crush a top fourth-year with pure physique, then is there even anyone who could force him to use his spirit magic?’

I looked at Shin Han-ji with that doubt.

“He uses it against instructors and professors.”

So he really was a walking ecological disaster.

“Ah, so the pinnacle of spirit-summoning is defeating opponents without using spirits at all.”
“What kind of nonsense is that?”

After four days of preliminaries and the main tournament with 128 cadets, Elena suddenly came out with this absurd remark.

“But the one who won without ever using spirit magic was the champion, wasn’t he?”
“That guy was an exception among exceptions….”

It seemed she had drawn a strange conclusion after watching the werewolf cadet win the tournament.

It wasn’t the usual maxim like “offense is the best defense,” but some bizarre theory I’d never heard of.

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

But somehow, I could hear sincerity in her tone.

“Not entirely a joke, though. Watching him taught me something.”
“What’s that?”
“That a spirit-summoner shouldn’t rely solely on spirit magic.”

Hmm… fair enough.
I nodded.

And it’s not just for spirit-summoners.
It applies to Aura users, mages, espers—every awakener.

‘Because running out of aura, mana, or willpower mid-battle is common enough.’

No matter how well you prepare before a dungeon dive, unexpected things always happen.

Even for me—when I sent a puppet to America, I nearly ran out of inner energy after unexpected encounters with Albatross PMC and a fight with President Richard of the Association.

“So, from now on, I’ll train my body and learn martial arts for self-defense, in case I ever run out of natural energy.”
“That’s a good idea.”

Running out of natural energy, the resource for spirit magic, would be catastrophic—but knowing martial arts could still make a huge difference.

“Since it’s vacation, I’ll go back to England and learn self-defense.”
“Alright. See you after break.”

I murmured quietly, turning my eyes to the front of the classroom.

[Even though it’s summer, don’t go recklessly to beaches where monsters might appear. If you do, stay cautious of monsters…]

On TV, our principal was giving the closing speech for the semester.

Finally—the long-awaited summer vacation had arrived.