Frederick stared at with a shocked expression, as if he had seen the impossible.
It was the first ti I had seen him look so surprised since I t him.
After a mont, Frederick regained his composure and glared at sharply.
“Have you been hiding your skills all this ti? You weren’t playing , were you?”
“No! Not at all!”
“Don’t lie. How does soone who couldn’t use a single bit of body enhancent progress to that level in just three days? To get to where you showed earlier, it would take at least two to three months, even at a fast pace.”
I must have progressed too quickly.
In the ga, everyone could use mana, so I had no idea how much or how one was supposed to train.
“What kind of trick are you using? Don’t tell you’re resorting to forbidden drugs.”
“No way!”
I quickly denied it.
Of course, this world had drugs ant for Awakeners.
They enhance physical abilities temporarily by causing mana to go berserk, but they co with severe side effects.
Looking at Frederick’s face, he didn’t seem to genuinely suspect —he was just so shocked he had to ask.
Still, I needed to prove it wasn’t drugs or so other trick, but entirely my own ability.
“Here, watch this.”
I focused my mana and leapt into the air again.
-Crash!
Once again, I failed to control my strength and slamd into the nearby wall. Ouch, that hurt.
“Ughhh…”
I staggered to my feet, nose bleeding. Frederick shook his head.
“Fine, seeing how you can keep activating it consecutively and handle it, I’ll admit it’s your own skill. But this, and your mana burst ability from before… Really, you’re just… this is…”
Frederick moved his mouth a few tis, unable to finish his sentence, and finally muttered, “Fast. Too fast. This is just…”
“Really? Haha…”
I laughed like it was nothing, but I finally understood why Frederick was so surprised.
Violet’s growth rate was abnormal by any conventional standard.
「It’s weird! All we did was train hard all night. There are surely others better than us out there.」
「That’s considering people with only one body.」
「Oh, right?」
Now that I thought about it, our training thod was incredibly effective.
But explaining it to Frederick was tricky.
Doing so would an revealing my true ability, which was inconvenient.
Maybe I should just act like a genius?
That might surprisingly work.
“Honestly… I just tried, and it worked?”
“Do you really think that makes sense?”
I guess that’s not convincing either.
Frederick spent the next while testing with various things.
He had catch falling sticks multiple tis, lift heavy objects, and asure my movent speed with a stopwatch.
“Ugh… I’m so tired. When will this end?”
Frederick ignored my exhaustion, muttering to himself.
“It’s real. Clumsy, but your reaction speed, strength, dynamic vision—everything’s improved. You’re still not used to your power, so your control is off, but mastering full-body enhancent in just a few days…”
Frederick ran a hand through his hair and fell into thought.
I wondered what he was going to say.
After a mont, his gray eyes turned to with more clarity.
“Well, regardless, your growth is real… There’s still a lot to teach you. Fine, we’ll adjust the schedule. We’ll start new training to help you adapt to your enhanced body. Ready?”
“Yes!”
Frederick brought out a pitching machine from the gym storage, the kind used for baseball practice.
It was a machine that shoots balls through two rapidly spinning fans.
My training was to dodge the balls.
He tossed protective gear for my head and torso.
“Strap it tight! Don’t let it co loose!”
“Do I really need this?”
“You bet! The balls will be coming at over 250 kiloters per hour. You’re nowhere near able to shield yourself with ether. If you don’t want to get hurt, wear it!”
At ho, getting hurt or even dying would’ve been no big deal, but this was standard practice.
I put on the helt, various guards, and goggles.
“Got everything on?”
Frederick had stand in a narrow rectangular area marked on the gym floor.
“From now on, I’ll shoot balls at you. Your job is to dodge them without stepping out of this rectangle. This is basic training. Under no circumstances are you to step outside. Got it?”
The space inside the rectangle felt smaller than I’d expected.
Wait, can I even do this?
“Alright, here we go!”
With a thwack, a ball shot out.
I imdiately focused my mana on my eyes.
The world slowed down, and I could see even the smallest specks of dust floating in the air.
I could see the ball spinning rapidly as it ca toward .
Now I just had to dodge.
Easy enough, right?
My body wouldn’t move.
Oh no!
I had focused so much on my vision that I hadn’t enhanced my other physical abilities!
“Argh!”
The ball hit .
Thanks to the protective gear and damage dispersion, it didn’t hurt, but still, it was disappointing.
“You couldn’t dodge that? Again!”
The next ball ca, and I dodged it—only to step out of the rectangle.
“You idiot! Don’t focus only on what you see! Loosen your body, and this ti, we’re doing it consecutively!”
-Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!
The balls rained down relentlessly.
I scread and twisted my body to dodge them.
My life had suddenly turned into a bullet-hell action ga.
This was too hard!
anwhile, elsewhere.
At a private training ground, I demonstrated my body enhancent to Irene.
Her reaction was much the sa as Frederick’s.
“Violet, you’re telling the truth that you’ve never been taught? It took weeks to reach where you are now.”
“Really?”
Irene, like Frederick, kept saying the sa things.
「Should we explain it to Irene?」
「Does it matter? She already knows our ability.」
I explained my thod.
I told her that by using my unique ability, I trained for 24 hours, skipping through obstacles with the power of numbers.
She let out a soft gasp.
The problem ca when I ntioned minor trial-and-error setbacks—permanent injuries, paralysis, blindness, and bleeding.
I had planned to gloss over it, but Irene sensed sothing off and kept pressing.
I had no choice but to share so of it.
Her golden eyes, once filled with curiosity and admiration, quickly turned to shock and fear.
Worried, she ca closer and touched my forehead.
“You’re not sick or anything, right?”
“Why? I’m fine.”
“No, I can’t let this go. I’m calling Daphne. I’ll tell her your condition isn’t normal and to co help imdiately—”
“Why are you acting like this? I’m not crazy!”
Irene looked like soone trying to stop a drunk coworker from driving.
I didn’t see what the big deal was.
“Violet, even if your unique ability reduces pain, injuring yourself dozens of tis to optimize mana usage is insane. That’s not normal—it’s madness!”
“But it’s fast. Without it, I wouldn’t have progressed this much in just three days.”
Before she could argue further, I activated my mana and started hopping around the training ground at high speed.
“See? I got faster!”
“Ah…”
Seeing Irene lost for words, I felt triumphant.
“Alright, Violet. It’s your choice, so I won’t stop you. But don’t overdo it. The human body isn’t made to break. Think of it like this: nobody works out while on painkillers. Don’t overuse your ability in training, or else—”
“You’re saying it’s dangerous? Fine, I’ll hold back for now.”
Actually, that was a lie.
Since it was the fastest thod, I planned to keep using it for now.
Eventually, we resud sparring.
Thanks to my rapid growth, our sparring changed as well.
Irene also strengthened herself lightly and adjusted to match my level.
While the Violet in the school gym flailed to dodge balls, the Violet in the training ground twisted her body to counter incoming swords.
“Argh! Ugh!”
“Your movents are too big. Keep them concise!”
-Crash!
I bumped into the wall again because I couldn’t control my legs. My head hurts.
While the external Violets were training, this multi-clone training technique evolved accordingly.
“Is this really appropriate? We can read each other’s thoughts, so it seems like it would be easier to dodge.”
“This is faster than a ball!”
Outside the workshop where explosives were made, there was a wide open space scattered with mounds and pits of varying sizes.
While the Violets on one side were running around using physical reinforcent techniques, the Violets holding crossbows stood in a line on the other side for dodge training.
Opposite them, Violet No. 89 leaned against a wall. At first glance, it looked like an execution site.
“No. 89, start!”
“Start!”
For efficient and safe training, no magic was used, and the arrowheads were removed, but it still hurt if you got hit.
-Peep! Peep-peep!
No. 89 twisted her body as she worked hard to dodge and run around. When the shooting ended, several bolts were stuck in her flesh.
“Next ti, be more cautious. Next! No. 96!”
Thus, we continued pushing our bodies to the limit with relentless training. Naturally, rough training ca with its share of accidents.
-Thud!
“Ugh… Agh!”
While practicing a jump, No. 101 misjudged her strength and slamd her head into the workshop wall. Her neck broke.
Aside from this, there were frequent mishaps—falling into pits, crashing into mounds of dirt, and so on. So Violets fainted from blood loss while dodging arrows.
But as long as there was sothing to gain, we couldn’t stop training.
Ti went on.
“Great! This ti, you dodged six tis. Are you starting to get a sense of how to avoid the ball?”
Gradually, through trial and error, we began to get a feel for how to move our enhanced bodies.
“Don’t swing too hard; it’s not about swinging with brute strength. There, that’s an opening!”
“Ugh!”
For 24 hours a day, endlessly for several days, the Violets ran, fought, got hurt, and died.
If one coin wasn’t enough to clear the stage, you simply poured in more coins. If one drop of water couldn’t pierce the rock, you kept at it until it did.
We reminded ourselves that the key was an unyielding will and continued our relentless training.
Because we Violets only grew stronger the more we were used.
After several more days passed, the first week of October arrived.
As I beca more accustod to physical reinforcent, I realized why Awakeners were considered monsters.
A ball that used to seem like a blur now appeared to float slowly in the air, like a balloon. It felt like I could grab it if I wanted to.
“So, are you getting used to the feel of your body now?”
A barrage of balls ca flying at . I felt like I could barely dodge them now.
There was also progress in sparring.
The sharp strikes that ca flying with a tearing sound—I could now read them to so extent.
Of course, blocking them head-on was still impossible. Irene’s swordsmanship might not match her spear skills, but from my perspective, it was sharp and intimidating. anwhile, my own attacks never landed even once.
I realized why I almost lost when I fought Martina in our last duel.
The world of superhumans was vastly different from the world of ordinary people.
Muscles strengthened by magic were as tough as steel wires, and enhanced eyes and optic nerves could see things invisible to others with precision and speed.
The nerves sent danger signals like lightning, and blood surged like a roaring tide.
From the perspective of an Awakener, the world was a fragile glass palace that could shatter at any mont.
While an ordinary person took one breath, they took ten, or even twenty, and their hearts beat many tis faster and stronger.
This was my impression as I began to adapt to physical reinforcent.
Although I was growing quickly, the clearer my growth beca, the more I realized where I stood.
I was still lacking.
“I don’t get it! I need to master swordsmanship quickly.”
“I need more sparring partners. I should ask Kalia too!”
More, more training was necessary.
I would need to get hurt and even die a few more tis.
Lost in thought, I forgot that I was in the middle of sparring.
Irene’s sword smoothly descended toward the crown of my head. What should I do?
Normally, if it seed dangerous, Irene would stop first and withdraw her blade.
No, I should dodge.
But my body wouldn’t move.
My focus had broken, and the flow of magic had stopped.
Was there another way? Could I block it head-on?
I tracked the descending trajectory of her sword. My mind raced. I didn’t know, but there had to be another way.
I imagined a shape.
A brutal, violent, yet precise and chanically rhythmic form.
In that mont, my body moved on its own.
-Clang!
“This is…!”
“Huh?”
A piercingly sharp sound echoed through the training ground.
Without realizing it, I had blocked Irene’s vertically swinging sword with an extraordinary strength I didn’t even know I possessed.
How did I do that?
Irene stepped back.
“That defense just now—how did you do it?”
“I don’t know.”
Irene, puzzled, looked at and then seed to realize sothing, her expression changing. Her face lit up with excitent.
“You’ve discovered sothing, haven’t you? Your body moved on its own, right?”
“Yes! That’s exactly it. How did you know?”
“I went through the sa thing before! It’s a sign that you’re getting used to sparring. Good job! It’s break ti now, so take a rest and think it over.”
I returned to my spot and gulped down water. Then I picked up the one-handed sword and swung it again.
What was that feeling?
It was unfamiliar yet sohow familiar.
I didn’t recall ever wielding a sword like that before.
It was my first ti taking that stance, but it felt like sothing I almost rembered.
Maybe I truly had reached an epiphany.
Before I could fully organize my thoughts, break ti ended.
Sparring resud.
By the way, as much as I need to work on swordsmanship, I should also learn magic.
Who should I learn from?
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