The B-rank boy heard the noise. He turned around, his smile fading to incredulity.
The pieces of my body, scattered on the grass, were liquefying into a kind of black, energetic sludge that crawled to gather around my head.
It wasn’t my physical body that was regenerating. It was sothing else.
I had just understood, in that mont of impending death. Regeneration didn’t just apply to the physical body. It applied to all the layers.
I had forced the dissociation. My spiritual body, the Aura envelope, was rebuilding itself, using my destroyed physical body as re fuel.
In a few seconds, a new body, my body, was completely reford, rising from the ground. I was naked, but whole. And more powerful than before.
A notification flashed before my eyes.
[Extre survival condition t. Fundantal mastery acquired.]
[Passive skill unlocked: Spiritual Body Regeneration.]
The boy was looking at , terrified. "It’s... it’s impossible! I killed you!"
"You killed my flesh," I said, my voice calm and resonant. "Big mistake."
I summoned my dagger. The urge to cut him to pieces, as he had done to , was imnse.
But I rembered the director’s words. Another homicide, and I would surely be expelled, no matter the circumstances.
I could do worse than kill him. I could take what defined him.
I lunged at him. He tried to parry with his Aura katana, but I was too fast.
I didn’t pierce him. I just made a small cut on his arm, deep enough for blood to flow.
My dagger vibrated.
[’Absorption’ ability activated on a high-ranking target.]
[Target na: Lee Jin-Hyuk]
[Analyzing life essence...]
[Permanent abilities acquired: Aura Blade (Rank C), Combat Perception (Rank D).]
I felt his powers pour into .
Lee Jin-Hyuk scread, not from pain, but from panic. He felt his power, his pride, his reason for being, leave him.
I backed away, leaving him there, trembling and weakened.
I hadn’t killed him. I had just... erased him.
I left Lee Jin-Hyuk screaming like a madman in the night, weeping over the loss of his power. Flashlight lights began to appear in the distance. The academy’s supervisors, alerted by the noise.
It was ti for to leave.
Naked and covered in blood that wasn’t mine, I slipped through the trees and returned to the Beta building. I managed to get into my room without being seen.
I needed to wash. To wash away the blood, the dirt, and the mory of my own death.
The Beta building dorms had a luxury that the Gamma building didn’t: a communal hot spring in the basent.
I went down. The place was empty at this late hour. Hot steam floated over the clear water.
I slipped into the hot bath. The water soothed my muscles, still sore from the regeneration. I closed my eyes, trying to clear my head.
"You really like playing the demon, don’t you, Kang Ji-Hoon?"
I opened my eyes sharply.
The director was there. Sitting on a stone bench on the other side of the bath, fully dressed, watching with his unreadable expression. I hadn’t even heard him arrive.
)
"You knew," I said. It wasn’t a question.
"The system signals any abnormal Aura fluctuation on campus," he replied. "And what just happened was very, very abnormal."
He leaned forward. "Your regeneration ability... Dissociating and rebuilding the spiritual body in this way... I’ve only seen one person capable of doing that. A forr colleague. A legendary S-rank."
He stared at , his eyes piercing mine. "How can a re C-rank like you use such an advanced technique?"
I hesitated for a second. Then, I told the truth. "My father taught it to ."
The director didn’t seem surprised. A slight smile appeared on his face.
"I knew it," he murmured. "You reminded of soone."
"Let guess," the director said, a glint of nostalgia in his eyes. "Your father... his na is Kang Min-Ho, isn’t it? A stubborn, brilliant man, who always had a knack for disappearing."
I nodded. He was spot on.
The director’s serious expression softened, replaced by an almost paternal air. "So, the old wolf is back in town? How is he?"
"I don’t know," I replied honestly. "He stayed long enough for a little nap, gave a few lessons, and vanished. As usual, I imagine."
The director laughed. A real laugh, which echoed in the hot spring. "That’s just like Min-Ho. He hasn’t changed."
He stood up, his expression becoming more serious again, but less hostile.
"It was a pleasure to chat with you for a bit, Ji-Hoon. But in the future..."
He looked straight in the eyes.
"...avoid using your dagger on other students. Lee Jin-Hyuk was an arrogant bully, no one will miss him. But if you start erasing the abilities of everyone, even the most talented, it would be... catastrophic for the balance of the academy. And for our preparation against the Abyss."
He gave a last nod. "Consider this a friendly warning. Don’t force to make it an official one."
And as he had appeared, he disappeared into the steam, leaving alone in the hot water, with his words echoing in my head.
He had let do it. He had even covered for .
The director of the academy was playing a much more complex ga than I had imagined. And for a reason I didn’t know, he had decided that I was an important piece on his chessboard.
The next day, the rumor about Lee Jin-Hyuk’s "fall" spread like wildfire. No one knew exactly what had happened, but everyone knew that he had lost his powers after going after .
My na was on everyone’s lips. Kang Ji-Hoon. The C-rank who had dismantled a B-rank. Fear and respect for reached a new high.
I ignored all that. At lunchti, I took my al and went up to the roof of the Beta building, my new favorite spot. I sat on the edge, eating my sandwich while watching the other students down below in the courtyard, like ants in an anthill.
"You know, you can’t stay alone forever."
Min-Soo’s voice startled . He approached and sat next to .
"Everyone is afraid of you, but they are also curious," he said. "You’re the new lone wolf on campus. But even wolves need a pack. You should try to get to know the other C-ranks. Make allies."
"I don’t need allies," I replied coldly. "I have you. That’s enough for ."
Min-Soo sighed. "I’m not talking about fighting. I’m talking about... normality. Look."
He pointed to the rooftop door that had just opened.
A young girl appeared. She was petite, with short, ssy hair, and eyes sparkling with overflowing energy. She was holding two bento boxes.
"Min-Soo-oppa!" she shouted in a high-pitched voice, running towards us. ("Oppa" is an affectionate term a girl uses for an older boy). "I’ve been looking for you everywhere! I made too much kimbap this morning, do you want so?"
She stopped in front of us, bouncing from one foot to the other, her smile so wide it seed to take up her whole face. She was a concentrate of sunshine and hyperactivity.
She looked at . "Oh! You must be the famous Ji-Hoon! Hi! My na is Bora!"
Her energy was so intense, so extroverted...
It was already annoying to no end.
Bora’s enthusiasm was disarming. She was respectful, despite her overflowing energy. I couldn’t be openly hostile.
"Hi," I replied, in a neutral tone.
She took that as an invitation and sat down between Min-Soo and , holding out the bento boxes to us. We ended up sitting all three on the edge of the roof, eating in silence for a mont.
It was Min-Soo who broke the silence, his tone becoming more serious.
"I’ve been hearing so interesting rumors lately," he began. "In the upper ranks’ forums. They’re talking about a new kind of breach that has reportedly appeared deep within the Pit. A stable breach."
Bora stopped eating, looking suddenly very interested.
"It wouldn’t be a normal breach," Min-Soo continued. "Apparently, it doesn’t lead to a dungeon or another region. It would lead to a four-spatial-coordinate dinsion. A different plane of existence."
My heart skipped a beat. A higher dinsion. Like that of the Creators.
"The rumor also says," Min-Soo added, "that the director told a few professors that to access it, you would have to be able to... ’dissociate your third body’. To reach a higher state of consciousness."
He was talking about the astral body. I knew exactly what he was talking about, thanks to my father’s notes.
"Where did you hear that?" I asked, trying to keep my voice calm.
Min-Soo shrugged. "The source is a bit vague. I hacked an exchange of ssages between two lab assistants working for the dinsional research departnt. They were talking about a ’Pit Anomaly’ and the ’director’s special instructions’. That’s all I have."
A breach. A third body.
The pieces of the puzzle were beginning to co together. And the director was at the center of it all.
Reviews
All reviews (0)