Chapter 9: Korin Lork (1)
L9lMost of the facilities of Merkarva Academy were available for free. The student cafeteria was cheaper than the fast food restaurants outside, and although there were different tiers for the dormitory, they did not charge any money.tI7nZ2
FJ87ySince the students were sometimes dispatched to dangerous missions under the name of work experience, the Academy gave utmost support for everything else.p8k6r4C
gsV9CThe ‘training rooms’ was one of them.OsLiI2
HR1GIIn this academy where students were given a lot of free time, the training room which was open for all the students was the most recommended facility out of the entire campus.DyMfRR
JYp“Is there a room?”qRgm7
Lq1Jh1“Yes, there… Freshman?”ARPSO
3C6WThe staff at the reception tilted his head after seeing my student ID card. It was understandable for him to be confused because it would have been rare to see a freshman come to the training room on the first day of the admission.7Zjh
Q19UVyAfter all, it was strange for freshmen to even know about the training room.9VyM5mM
7rkrTRw“What size… would you like?”C5qcai
HAeGGM“Please make it XL.”i6LodFD
3I5DFn0“Is there a weapon that you would like to borrow?”nqdSDg
R1eyu“Do you have a spear? It’d be great if it was around 2 meters.”GSHJNGd
Rnt1I“So the normal one. There are all sorts of weapons in the weapon container, so please feel free to take them as you wish.”r8pw
2291V“Do you have an elemental body as well?”r1y1
qKOg0oJ“An elemental body? Uhh… we do but…”blv78
2T89The staff tilted his head. He seemed curious about how I got to know about that, but there was another thought mixed into his gaze;zyUgvH
PlQIt was the thought that it would be meaningless even if I were to take it.dDn
K4mO3After changing into a more comfortable outfit, I picked up a spear and went inside, and was welcomed by a gym that was bigger than most stadiums.6g70qL
xIA5– Kaang! Kang!AqV61
8gQ1Wg– Hwaruk!rryC
XsA6b– Kuwaang!4gZLO
ohYVrQHWaiting for me inside were all sorts of savage noises which were made by the students training themselves.5Uzu1gQ
7kVThe training rooms looked like a tennis court where every student could train in their own rooms. It was wide open and was only divided by glass panes.7FOlBvy
rrS1UIwOf course, there weren’t enough rooms for all the students of the academy to use so you had to be quick on busy hours like the weekend.gih
Y2WyPhHIn other words, considering how rowdy the academy was due to the recent addition of freshmen, right now was the only chance to use such a luxurious room by myself.7n1B
yMYL8TxI tried swinging the training spear which was relatively sharp. In the previous iteration, I used to swing around a spear everyday.Keo
UK6HPIt seemed that I was unexpectedly quite talented at using spears.SkK4Y1
W9LHA『You started too late, and you must train harder to make up for it.』S70
NOMO1AI only got to learn spearmanship after getting an official master introduced to me by Park, but that was already very late.HJH7
LOem42t“Wake up. Time to get to work.”AVUum8n
UxKUrh6Placing the small egg I received from the front reception on the ground, I tapped it a few times.y4LKHl
ywRxmThis was an object that was possessed by an elemental. In this world, elementals could manifest themselves in 2 ways.DASNA
029qThe first was by materializing their bodies by receiving mana from an elementalist after an official contract. In this case, they would add flesh to their astral bodies and allow me to see them as well.eHqP
B6GtThe second was by possessing objects like the one in front of me. In this guardian academy which encouraged students to pursue an intense training session, they provided various elemental bodies that were okay to be broken after a contract with the Spirit Realm.HdY7y
YiQBxy5– Hehe! Hehe!kuZ
VqOHQAlong with the sound which resembled the chuckling voice of a child, wings began to appear behind it.dXUYhw3
4gB2tr– Vuiiing!WnQxKg7
32NjThe elemental body floated up with an intimidating set of noises.uHrk
nCBAvipThe elemental possessing this egg was a common low-grade wind elemental. But due to the physical body, it was as fast as a mid-grade elemental despite having no way of fighting back.x2K
pNQn“Oi, look at that.”ZH0cNjo
vaZvVF“What is it?”xHC
WvnyN“There’s a freshman training with an elemental body.”WnO
4cXdtI could feel the gazes of the senior students of the academy that were using the training room. The emotion concealed behind their voices was not surprise but mockery at the bravado of a junior.Wwa
kR6D3C9“Don’t you start that at like the 2nd semester?”ZgU
NrB5O“He probably heard it from somewhere.”lR220JV
nBfB3As they said, freshmen generally started training with an elemental body starting from the 2nd semester, and the reason for that was quite simple.IlOa
fqnIt was because it would be meaningless to make students try something impossible.n0kk
kTiZ“Huhp…!”EqXaJr
5xfThe elemental body easily dodged my thrusted spear. It wasn’t just a dodge either – after reading the trajectory of my spear, it shifted its body at the last second to dodge the spear with a gap of 0.1 centimeters to make fun of me.vPmWY
9HJ8Yy“See that.”P9F6
DXd9K“There are plenty of 2nd year students who find it hard against wind elementals. What does that freshman think he is?”f2h6mx
rmSbThat was why elemental bodies were only used starting from the second semester – the superior cognitive ability and the overwhelming dodging ability complemented by the physical body itself were ridiculous.wYfvjrT
JvWqNTTelling a 1st year student to catch that was the same as commanding a newborn baby to race against a bicycle. It might be possible for famous geniuses but it was so difficult that most average students would not even be able to reach it after becoming a 2nd year student.6TjmGIl
XmU– Sheeek!1xEmE
zGkWZwI swung my spear again but both the timing and the speed fell short. The elemental body easily dodged it to a corner and instead drove its body into my forehead. It was clearly playing around with me.TPdw7Dl
RF6y9db“Kuht…!”kbzLZ2
MKdTIt had no offensive ability and thus didn’t hurt very much but the dejection left behind by the sense of defeat was not small.R7X
NQGAqQbHowever, I wasn’t discouraged because this was just a test for me to retrieve the senses I had in my previous iteration.kNl481k
ch5v‘If I was going to be discouraged by something like this, I wouldn’t have pledged to save the world.’qhZFs
l3KoI at least wanted to improve my spearmanship back up to the basic level.tjQEmJc
gb3fThinking that, I was preparing myself to thrust the spear one more time when a bright voice echoed from the entrance and reached my ears.y6L
aLlE30S“Hi, everyone! You are working hard as always!”BClp
SrgWuX“Huh? Marie?”yUVtKV
AY87Mm1“You are quite early today. Are you here for training?”quyBj6
hQWIhg“Nn nn! There was something I’ve been doing during the holiday! Oh right, do you want some snacks?”fTMWfdX
5bMMarie unhesitatingly opened her basket of snacks. Endlessly coming out of the basket were steamed potatoes, corn, sweet potatoes and seasonal vegetables.AdUTLs
BFi“You must have been working hard. Here you go. A wet towel!”7nLt4
9OxPJL“Uh, uhh… Thank you.”pPs
ZtiTA 2nd year student of the Knight Department blushed while receiving the wet towel from Marie, who soon also walked up to me.S98a
oStpD“Junior. I remember you. We saw each other in the morning, right?”7qlb
tSr“Yes. Senior Dunaref.”2WE0IzG
oth“It’s my first time seeing a freshman come to the training room on the first day!”9Y4c
LD5n‘Back in my days, we were busy playing!’ She said with a bright smile and naturally created a positive atmosphere in the blink of an eye.2CBOCk
YZ3“Do you want some steamed potatoes? I have sugar as well.”RHiG
2ft‘I have it this time,’ she added with a wide smile. Even though I was a year below her and today was our first day seeing each other, she blew away the awkwardness in a single second like it was nothing.5UcPE
NhzV“Thanks for the food.”aMjNio
a5FuAs soon as I took the steamed potato from her hands, her white fingers gently sprinkled sugar on top of the potato. White sprinkles of snow fell on top of the yellow flesh of the hot and steamy potato. A sugared potato was a delightful dish.tSlsyb1
wEBNvpiI was munching through it when Marie handed over a cup with water in a timely manner.MImt
lBG24W“You need water right? Slow down.”uL3ZK0p
AWpKBZF“Thank you.”LkxY
ZBqJHThat was when Marie spotted the elemental body and tilted her head.4kJ4t
2ZP“Huh? That’s…?”l8q
36sqSeeing an elemental body which everyone was bound to know after going through the 1st year curriculum, Marie tilted her head.NpE3P
nuRXIp9“Are you practicing with that?”vaMpq2
0A0Zwh“Yes. Is there a problem?”ibol8
0Qye4“N, no? It seems you are trying very hard!”DCtHi4
UOhShe shook her head in a fluster, seemingly worried about giving an impression that she was looking down on me.xQx1Yvt
wwkTurning away from the entrance of my room… to be exact, after turning away from the crowd who was here to talk to Marie, I picked the spear back up when a new voice echoed from behind.nRG
onHZ2X“Hooh.”ERq7
QamIt was too dignified for it to be a student’s voice, and there was an undisguisable sign of stubbornness in his old voice.hMt
IOkYIrU“Huh?”8Xn
n74UD“Huh? Instructor Haman?”Djle
LFTy2Professor Haman who had disheartened the freshmen at the entrance ceremony was glaring at me.2rv7
gBgt“Korin Lork. Freshman, aren’t you.”UmD1WI
pHrMH“Nice to meet you, Sir Instructor.”ZTI
TI19oF“…”Ufx
2UbOld Man Haman twitched his lips after being unexpectedly called an instructor rather than a professor.8YI4Aq
WRTEven though the academy was divided into two sectors: the Knight Department and the Magic Department, everyone teaching the students were called professors. Professor Haman was also a professor himself but he did not like that title because of how ink-stained that seemed.RtEUb5a
31V7x“Why are you practicing with an elemental body? Korin Lork.”1Xj
0m8I“I’m practicing spearmanship. I need to hit that.”KoNoMg
7sV“Pfft…!”3NRwcMD
5Gk9The sunbaes behind Old Man Haman in the background bursted into sneers. They appeared to be thinking of it as the bravado of an ignorant newbie.xim
0po“Nnn… Guys, stop… It’s normal for him to not know how hard it is…”uHnS
UKvgT3jMarie tried to stop the senior students in concern that it might hurt my feelings, but she was also under the impression that I was doing something meaningless.wIfy
nvhEGYE“Have you learned spearmanship before? What sect are you from?”WAH
8ZQnrF“Just some Bagua back in my village…”i66PToZ
2YUlHBagua, the 8 Trigrams, was one of the combined martial arts you could learn as a 2nd year student. Truth be told, that was what I learned as the foundation and the spearmanship I actually mastered was Six Integrated Spears and the Void, but that wasn’t something I could mention in front of Old Man Haman.6Shtw7
EO0XI could not reveal myself yet in front of Old Man Haman and the two old-timers of the academy. They might accidentally think of me as the underling of ‘that guy’.jWyza
DGEA“Are you confident that you can pull it off?”oCds
g5p“Whether I’m confident or not is not of importance. I’ll have to do it.”rM7H
sWqclI came here because I needed to do it. Old Man Haman seemed satisfied by my response and grinned.IFXLMOL
bqix“Hahal, that’s what I like to hear. I like that attitude! I’ll give you 10 meal tickets!”Bof244p
2mPzKHe took out a bunch of meal tickets from his coarse leather purse. It seemed… that I had left a good impression on him.2gb
4MxD89s“Come look for me if you succeed! I shall give you a reward!”jxgTf
5HnOld Man Haman showed his goodwill through food. It was evident from how he liked taking his favorite students to restaurants.k3FrKV
zVJ3REven though having a meal with a stubborn old man would normally be a toil, he was surprisingly the type of person who did not interrupt during meals.Kkj
01RBesides, he was a gourmet who only ate expensive food.qLc3
O40If I told him of my success, he would probably give me a voucher for a fabulous restaurant outside the campus. Even in the game, he used to give the voucher for a famous restaurant in Merkarva City as a reward for building rapport.0MnpAaO
Hop18Old Man Haman left to take care of the training room while I stayed behind and stared at the elemental body. The seniors were still scoffing at me while guaranteeing that I would fail and…I8VHd2w
2RSgg“Good luck…! I hope you succeed!”Uucq
4vgRwSlMarie, the only one who wished me good luck, went into her own room after leaving those words behind.e5vkaWy
ydxPTq***269ct
XhU4dElemental bodies had no eyes. Their world functioned under a different principle compared to the human world. They used mana to perceive the world unlike the five senses of a human.gt0Mw
ZAGjSiqThis was the same even after possessing an elemental body.jgnTB1
5KsROrlAn elemental body possessed by a wind elemental reacted to attacks by feeling the vibrations of the wind to discern the ripples of the air. Because of that, it was a lot more agile and sustainable than the likes of the sense of sight.SqFy
AdB9It did not fall to feints and there was no need for it to move excessively, which was why it could last longer with the same amount of stamina.KxEEVCV
d3gAnd thus, the elemental body of a wind elemental was the best practice target for knights and mages.MoWD9T6
ZA0uNo matter how strong an attack was, it would be meaningless if it didn’t land on the target. Hitting the elemental body of a wind elemental which excelled in avoiding attacks was proof of the accuracy.OUWxY
4tSfFBut that in turn meant it was extremely difficult, because one would need techniques, hard work and a capable body for accuracy.hXGW
CCP– Vuinng!wVrHD3c
pEaW6The elemental body dodged the spear with an intimidating noise from its wings. Every time, it dodged a little bit to the side as if mocking the attacker and proved the nasty personalities of elementals.ivngR
uhw0w3‘I have the technique, but I don’t have the body to pull it off…’A9dXm
CoA6KThe body was the problem. The body of Korin Lork was way too weak.PjtG
E5iY1Both the Aura Rank and the Mana Rank were at the very bottom. Because of the lack of aura, I couldn’t reinforce my body, and I also couldn’t use any skills that required mana because of the lack of mana.xpt4
eXgpNzWith my stats which were below average, I had no choice but to embed everything into each of my strikes, and every failure added more frustration and fatigue to my body and made it heavier.imR0v1G
zfbogx“Look at him. He’s still doing it.”Jv2UI
tqLaa“He hasn’t even scraped it yet. Can he even touch one of the wings?”FYdtcg
O9MnP“Why is he still doing that though?”SUCRDWm
kYTsr4“Probably too embarrassed to quit now.”VgVt
YamcacAIgnoring the derisive remarks, I thrusted my spear but it pierced through the thin air. Facing the elemental body that didn’t even seem sincere in its escape anymore, I used the rotational power of my shoulders and my waist for an accelerated side sweep.ih1
RG48– Swish!u4Y58BA
xN1eIt sliced through the air. I averted my gaze looking for the vanished elemental body and turned back after feeling some weight on the tip of my spear.tDTg
yevOHh– Tumble tumble.YyR7dK
psC3The elemental body rolled down from the tip of my spear and crashed into my face.J4BI2oT
n20cGj“Knng…!”OKtDvgc
gpT6oQGreater than the pain was the humiliation. It was completely looking down on me.kitbqK
9PJ2If I was strong enough to be at the same level as how I was in my 2nd year before the regression, I wouldn’t have been humiliated to this level.mOIz
nEmL5‘I miss the times when I used to consume all sorts of stuff.’DjPtU
MHvMVI used to have all sorts of miraculous medicine and potions while following Park Sihu around.oOKvT
UuEil0My hands looked for a towel to wipe the rainfall of tears when a wet towel was placed on top of my hand.i29B
hclWIt was Marie.Tk6
I1poP“Are you tired?”kOWa
dHscyc4The girl with turquoise hair said after crouching next to me as I laid down with my limbs out wide on the ground.bE3l
81mL6MY“Is it very hard?”z9JE0m
R9mJQfL“Huu… Yes, it is.”TDMZJ8
57H“It’s alright to take some rest. You’ve been working hard enough already.”sVVMKhu
LStqMarie floated a bitter smile while handing over a cup of water that was created through magic.ieXKXEi
o4i73“Huu… Huu…… No.”hB6WT
5LgKgK“…Why?”ONk6F
jZgjShe appeared to be pitying me for receiving the flood of scoffs and sneers from the seniors. Marie was the only one here who wasn’t sneering at me.mZehXbx
eaIt“Are you heading off for your meal? I hope you enjoy your meal. I’ll leave after trying a bit more.”nBhjV
QqeU“…Is it because you’re embarrassed? It’s fine. No-one’s going to say anything. You’ve been working hard. You will make it next time.”ikU3k
oTXW“That’s not it.”ZHkJ
DyAThere was a look of increasing doubt and puzzlement on her face.n9W
8fE“You’re quite tired, aren’t you? It’s just not working out for you right now, junior. You’ll be able to do it next time. You can just give it another shot later.”EknCYPj
RTYKsShe wasn’t wrong.zrcPf
8NE7And it was also true that I was being stubborn.dEMhr
6NbDGcMy body was heavy like it was a metal piece. My arms carrying the spear wobbled and there was blood flowing out of my ripped palms.UzkVrk3
UpCI thought back on what I was like 3 years ago.tJpWlO
r9XXvM73 years ago, when I first possessed this body, I would have floundered my arms around while barely chasing after the elemental body.Zfx
SPCdCompared to that, my current self was probably a lot better off because I could at least show some signs of spearmanship.4NojSz
YIPnMATBut back then, it was alright.LmNKH
v4Ssrxt3 years ago, there was Park Sihu.bWOkA
79AyaYYWe had a player, and a system window. There were also potions from the crafting window as well as the skills tab.XI1wTZ7
gt9wiDBut not anymore.kkGhI
zxxbThere was no Park Sihu – I killed him. Now, I had to do everything by myself. I couldn’t stop from something like this.nOtF
npeU“It’s not late to give up after you’ve tried until the very end, right?”d4Ahc
ywOFThere was hope. I was fairly used to it now and… there were 4 hours left until the curfew.UZqTi
cVIAnalyze.WEfXbf
B26GHSZAnalyze and attack.QHiAEq
airBoth now and before, that was the only thing I was good at.gpxFiLD
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