TRPM 468

chapter 468

After the opening ceremony in the classroom ended, the second-year classes began right away.

The biggest differences between first-year and second-year classes were, of course, the introduction of majors and the fact that sparring lessons officially began.

And the existence of majors meant…

“This class is a major class, huh? See you all later.”
“Yeah. Take care.”

Even if we were in the same homeroom, the classes we attended could differ.

In my case, since I was publicly known as an aura user, I naturally had to take the aura major.

‘No one in my class is an aura user anyway.’

So I was moving alone.

Not that I would be taking the class by myself—I’d be grouped with aura users from other classes.

“Let’s see… the Aura Training Room should be…”

Ah, found it.

I wandered a bit since I’d never been here before, but I still managed to arrive before class began.

Click.

“Oh, hey, Gunwoo!”
“… Been a while. But Gunwoo, do you even need aura lessons from an aura master? Wouldn’t private training be more effective?”

I usually hung out with my classmates, but that didn’t mean I ignored kids from other classes.

There were plenty who had gone to the same middle school as me, and even among those I met only in high school, there were quite a few I knew.

Of course…

‘I don’t know every single second-year in the school.’

So naturally, there were plenty of students in this training room I was meeting for the first time.

Though even those were familiar faces I’d seen in passing around school.

“Hey, want me to introduce you to the ones you don’t know?”
“Yeah, please.”

The guy famous for being well-connected around school began introducing me to the others in the training room.

Since we’d all be taking this class together for a year, it was better to know who was who.

I don’t know how much time passed as I got introduced to everyone when…

“Quiet, everyone.”

A rather strict-looking teacher entered the training room.

I hadn’t had this teacher before this semester, but I knew them well—I’d taken their classes often in my previous life.

For the record…

“I heard that teacher is really strict, just like they look…”
“Upperclassmen say if you slack off during class, they catch it immediately…”
“My senior told me they got a ton of demerits from that teacher…”

They were famous for being strictly by the book.

If you doze off or chat with someone during class, you’d get called out instantly.

But that didn’t mean they were unreasonable.

They only pointed things out—they didn’t deduct class participation points for it.

‘As for that senior who kept getting demerits… honestly, sounds like they just did plenty to deserve them.’

I was thinking that when…

“You there, enough chatting.”

The teacher scolded a group that had been talking among themselves, and class began.

Though really, today’s session was closer to an orientation than a proper class.

“Some of you may already know this from seniors, but this class is conducted purely through practice. Being stronger won’t earn you higher grades, nor will being weaker lower them, so don’t worry too much.”

When people hear ‘aura practice,’ they usually think of sparring, but this class wasn’t like that.

The goal here was to increase the amount of aura inside the body, mainly through meditation and similar methods.

‘Well, that’s something I do all the time anyway.’

Most students would too.

The method of increasing aura is imprinted in your mind when you awaken.

Of course, the lazier ones might avoid it just because it’s a hassle.

“By the way, the grading isn’t based on how much aura you have, but on how well you control it. That concludes orientation…”

And then…

“Class begins now.”

Right after finishing orientation, the teacher immediately started proper lessons—something horrifying from a student’s perspective.

“Ugh…”
“Eh…”
“Quiet, everyone. Take one of these.”

Students grumbled about having class right on the first day, but the teacher ignored it and began handing out aura control support devices.

Later, during lunch break.

“How were your major classes?”

“Uh… major classes?”

At Ryu Ah-young’s question, several of us—including me—showed awkward reactions.

“Huh? What’s with you guys?”
“Well… honestly, considering my level…”
“It was just the same as what I always do…”
“That method of increasing spirit power is long past useful for me.”
“I just want to learn swordsmanship…”
“What I learned at the Ironman Esper Society was way more helpful.”

That was what the kids far beyond typical high school level said.

Naturally, for talents who’d outgrown even academy-level training, high school classes felt underwhelming.

Of course, there were still students struggling to even keep up.

“Haha… I also felt a little underwhelmed…”

Min Yerin carefully admitted her class wasn’t great either.

After all, she was already learning to manage her powers through guild activities while working as an idol…

“Wait. Yerin, you’re in the Esper major, right?”
“Yes.”
“You don’t need to use formal speech with us… More importantly, what’s your power?”

The others immediately asked, curious.

“Huh? Wasn’t it water manipulation?”
“I thought it was some kind of mind control ability?”
“Oh? I figured it was sound-based powers…”

Everyone had different guesses.

“… Those are abilities she has because she’s a Siren mutant. But what about the innate ability she awakened with?”

“… Yerin…”
“Hm? Oh, you mean I called her by her first name only? If you don’t like it—”
“N-no! I actually like it! Please keep calling me Yerin!”

The fact she spoke politely only to me, and the way she lit up when I used her name…

… remembering how she asked for my autograph this morning, I could sort of understand, but it still felt overwhelming.

“My power is Value Judgment.”
“Value Judgment? Oh, the one that lets you roughly assess someone’s worth?”
“Yeah. When I use it, the more valuable a person is, the brighter they shine.”

And then…

“Artist, you shine so brightly I can’t even look straight at you.”
“…Ah, so that’s why.”

That explained why she hadn’t looked directly at me when using her power earlier.

“Anyway, what kind of class do you take for a power like that?”

Since Value Judgment wasn’t a combat ability, Ha-eun’s question made sense.

“Oh, all espers just take the same class. They don’t split us by power type.”

That answer didn’t come from Yerin but from Ryu Ah-young.

“Huh? Really? But there are way too many different esper abilities, aren’t there?”
“Yeah, way too many. And no teacher could possibly teach each one individually.”

So instead, the classes covered techniques usable by all espers.

As she explained, Ryu Ah-young gathered mental energy into her hand.

I thought she was about to use her manifestation ability, but instead…

Crack.
“Huh?”
“Whoa…”

She lightly crushed one side of her lunch tray with her aura-coated hand.

“It’s a technique that temporarily enhances the body using mental power. Supposedly invented by a Japanese esper for their disciple. It’s unstable, but I somehow managed to learn it.”
“Not that I need it—I’m an Ironman Esper.”

Enhancing the body with mental power…

Something similar did spread in my past life.

It was a technique distributed by the now-defunct Taeguk Guild.

But compared to what Ryu Ah-young just showed, it was far less refined.

‘She calls it unstable, but if she saw the version from my past life, she’d never say that.’

I still remembered the infamous live broadcast incident—an esper demonstrated the technique, but when it failed, their arm exploded in a fountain of blood.

Compared to that, Ah-young’s version showed no such side effects.

“For the record, she’s the only one who mastered it to that level today. Neither I, Yerin, nor I-doomin could use it.”
“I could, but I just didn’t bother learning it.”

I-doomin muttered defensively at Ryu Amin’s comment, clearly stung.

“Still… it doesn’t look easy to master. And for Ironman Espers, it’s meaningless anyway.”

Using Sam-mae, I analyzed the technique Ah-young had demonstrated. I could roughly grasp the principle—it mimicked Ironman Esper powers using mental energy.

So of course it was meaningless for true Ironman Espers.

“And it’s inefficient too.”

Trying to replicate Ironman powers with ordinary mental energy was bound to be inefficient.

Honestly, the fact it enhanced the body at all was amazing.

“Inefficient?”
“Yeah. And if you wanted to refine it, I wouldn’t even know where to start.”

Whoever made this technique had clearly twisted it around just so non-Ironman Espers could use it.

But it was twisted so much that refining it would probably be harder than starting over from scratch.

“So you mean… it could be reinvented from the ground up?”
“Well, I only said that as a figure of speech. Even starting over would be difficult.”

I didn’t think I could create such a technique.

But if there were even a chance of completing it, I’d try—after all, if perfected, it would boost espers worldwide, and the Awakener System would surely grant a reward.

But since I couldn’t even figure out how to begin, I gave up on the idea.

“By the way, Ah-young.”
“Yeah?”
“What were you thinking, destroying a lunch tray like that?”
“Huh?”

At my words, Ryu Ah-young looked down at the crushed tray she’d wrecked while demonstrating the technique.

“…Ahhh?!”
“Congrats on the demerit.”