Chapter 12
“What? Really?”
For some reason, Choi Hyun-Woo seemed surprised by my words, and Han Soo-Young opened her eyes narrowly.
I was wondering if it was such a surprise, when Choi Hyun-Woo, who had been pondering for a while, asked me.
“If it’s okay with you, can we go with you? We too… Well. I haven’t had proper training for a while.”
“Suit yourself. The training room isn’t even mine, so it’s up to you.”
Even though my words sounded a little blunt, Choi Hyun-Woo still had a good-natured smile on his face, and Han Soo-Young still had a look in her eyes that didn’t reveal her true intentions.
And on the way to the training ground with them, I could vaguely guess what was going through their minds.
‘I think they are doing this because of the skills I used.’
Choi Hyun-Woo was still inexperienced and close to unconsciousness, but he had a super-sense ability from the beginning, and Han Soo-young also possessed a similar skill called ‘Mastery of Magic’.
That was why they were almost instinctively aware that my abilities, the branch of the World Tree and Henir’s Shadow, were not ordinary abilities.
‘Choi Hyun-Woo seems to be half-hearted, and Han Soo-Young seems to be particularly interested in my ability…..’
It may sound a little self-conscious, but wasn’t it about me that she was researching data while not sleeping at night?
After thinking this far, I concluded that it would be best not to use these two abilities outright unless it was a moment of possible need.
‘… Come to think of it, I’d be in a lot of trouble if Lee Ye-Eun finds out the branch of the World Tree or Henir’s Shadow.’
As soon as I thought of that, a large, sophisticated building like a stadium entered my field of vision.
It was a training ground for ability that any academy student could use.
It was simply surprising that there were several more of these facilities inside the academy.
“Even on the first day of school, there are a lot of students using it.”
Choi Hyun-Woo nodded at my murmuring.
“If you stop training for even a day, your body will know. Especially when it comes to people like me.”
“What, do you think there aren’t any wizards? The archers are, and so are all of us, you know.”
Han Soo-Young said to Choi Hyun-Woo as if she were scolding him.
I looked around and stood in front of the place I thought would be okay.
In a private room, it was also possible to set up access from the surroundings at my own will.
And I was able to confirm that a light of disappointment passed through Han Soo-Young’s eyes for a moment, using a smooth structure like a mirror.
“So, how many hours do you want to meet?”
Choi Hyun-Woo nodded, as if troubled for a moment by my question.
“Since it’s our first day, how about two hours later so we can relax?”
“Okay, then I’ll meet you in the lounge in two hours.”
With those words, I entered the private training room.
Inside, there were only a few mechanical devices lying around and it was quite empty.
Without panicking, I put my palm on the mechanical device by the entrance, as I had seen in the game.
[1st year, class A, Yoo Ji-Hyuk. Approved. Will you start training?]
“Yes.”
Fortunately, I was right.
When I was inwardly relieved, the training assistant A.I asked me a few questions.
[After checking, the user does not have any saved default settings. Please specify your position.]
[Would you like to allow an external party to view your training results? Or would you like to keep it completely private?]
[Set the intensity of the training. Touching the device again will allow you to specify the advanced settings, and if you skip this process, it will be based on the standard setting.]
“Okay…..”
After about 10 minutes of setting up, I went to the middle of the training ground and stood there.
Then something like a transparent barrier appeared to isolate the entrance and where the mechanical panel was.
On top of that, there was also a black-painted window frame, which was probably a tempered window that allowed outsiders to watch the training depending on the setting.
[Training begins.]
[One-on-one battle. Close combat. Tournament format. Armed and Difficulty Rating low.]
[Training simulation commencing.]
As soon as the machine’s explanation was over, a red light flashed as if surrounding me.
And before I knew it, mannequins in the shape of deformed adult male figures were around me, holding weapons and breathing as if they were living people.
“Training begins.”
I said so by first pulling out only the branch of the World Tree.
Then, a red mannequin standing in front of me ran towards me with a long sword.
For a moment, I was about to pull out Nidhogg’s fang, but then I stopped.
‘Let’s use only my skills this time.’
The other mannequins just stood and watched, as if guarding their seats.
‘My close combat skills are not enough to make it through the battle.’
I twisted the branch of the World Tree into several stems and swung them.
The mannequin with a sword slashed one of the crooked branches of the World Tree quite well, and seemed to be trying to avoid the other ones by bending over.
“I didn’t just wait for today for nothing.”
With these words, the twisted branches of the World Tree spread out like a net, piercing the mannequin’s body in various places.
It was definitely a much faster, sleeker, more agile, and more powerful attack than a few days ago.
But in my eyes, it was still not enough.
‘At least the upper-intermediate level should be able to overcome it easily.’
If there was nothing, but now that I possessed two fraudulent skills, Branch of the World Tree and Henir’s Shadow, I could quickly rise to that level with a little effort.
That was how much these two skills boasted infinite growth potential and versatility.
“Hup!”
Without turning around, I stretched out a branch of the World Tree to restrain the mannequin’s body that tried to strike me with an axe.
And with force, it crushed the mannequin’s body almost instantly.
The mannequin, which was actually in a pretty bad shape if you were to look at it, collapsed into powder as it was crushed.
‘Based on the settings earlier, the strength of the mannequin was an E-class hero… .’
It wasn’t a bad power.
I swung my arms almost mechanically to manipulate the branches of the World Tree.
It was after smashing about ten mannequins with no difficulty.
“Okay, pause!”
When I shouted that, a mannequin that was holding a dagger at me and raising it in a low position stopped and returned to its original position.
I put in the branch of the World Tree and this time took out the relatively inexperienced Henir’s Shadow.
“Start again.”
With those words, a mannequin with a sword and a shield ran at me from the other side.
Moving Henir’s Shadow, I cut off his ankles, and his posture collapsed and fell, but the shadow became a thorn and pierced through the mannequin.
After moving so much, I moved a few steps and smashed about ten more mannequins without difficulty.
To be honest, in the case of Henir’s shadow, it was mostly because it had a will, it moved on its own and made a more correct decision than I did.
‘It’s good, but I’m worried that maybe you don’t recognize me as your master.’
There was no such story or setting, but living in such a fantasy-like world made me feel more imaginative.
“Okay then… .”
Next, I decided to put a shadow on my arm and use it to move my body.
The fist wrapped in shadows simply deflected or smashed the weapons, and so was the mannequin.
But my movement was the problem.
“Ahh….”
When I was young, I had learned taekwondo and boxing, but it was only a simple lesson to the end.
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But I had never fought an opponent wielding weapons before, so I knew that my movements were awkward without having to check them.
Perhaps that was why, unlike before, when I was facing the fourth mannequin, I allowed myself to be attacked in the abdomen.
The mannequin swung a long sword at me, a blow that would have killed me if it had been real.
‘Do I have no choice but to try step by step for close-quarters combat… .’
With that in mind, I started resetting the mannequins again.
Today I decided to check the general situation regarding my abilities, so I went straight to the other way.
‘Now let’s use the branches of the World Tree and Henir’s Shadow at the same time.’
Thinking so, I resumed training again.
* * *
‘Two hours passed faster than I thought.’
When the alarm went off at the set time, I took a light shower in the washroom inside the training room and went out.
It’s a little uncomfortable, but I opened my cell phone while wearing the clothes I wore earlier.
‘It’s been a while, so let’s check the status.’
Name: Yoo Ji-Hyuk
Gender: M
* * *
Stamina: D (+)
Strength: D (+)
Agility: D (++)
Mana: E (+)
Art: D (++)
Luck: C
* * *
[Talent]
[Skill]
Branch of the World Tree.
Henir’s Shadow.
[Art]
Branch of the World Tree (Bonded / Parasitic / Legendary)
[State]
― It belongs to the owner.
― Parasitic on the owner and cannot be forcibly removed.
[Effect] [Passive]
― Increases agility and art significantly.
― Increases strength and stamina slightly.
― Increases overall stats in areas with vegetation.
― You can feel the sense of nature more sensitively.
[Effect][Active]
― Part of the world tree can be extracted from the body. At the moment, that is immature.
— ???
— ???
— ???
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Henir’s Shadow (Bonded / Parasitic / Growth / Legendary)
[State]
― It belongs to the owner.
― Parasitic on the owner and cannot be forcibly removed.
― It has its own will, and there is room for growth.
[Effect] [Passive]
― Increases overall physical ability.
― Footsteps and actions become stealthy and soundless.
― If you hide in the dark, your presence will be significantly reduced.
― If the owner is in danger, Henir’s Shadow can take a separate action at his own discretion.
[Effect][Active]
― You can cast Henir’s shadow at will. However, the current power is weak and difficult to control, and Henir’s Shadow may reject any unfair orders.
― Hernir’s shadow can be wrapped around a part of the body and used as armor.
— ???
— ???
— ???
“Hmm… … .”
Does the (+) next to the ability mean that it is the ability correction because of the branches of the World Tree and Henir’s Shadow?
‘Looking back at it, it’s really extreme.’
The basic base ability was not good even in empty words.
There was still no talent or art.
However, since both skills were legendary, it was not difficult to win against a considerable opponent.
‘If I meet a really strong or experienced guy, I’m going to collapse in no time.’
I felt like I had to focus on training for a while.
If I kept at it, I’d probably develop an art or skill related to close combat.
With that in mind, I decided to check something else while I was just checking my status.
‘The quest is… hasn’t come once since that day.’
After that quest to catch Esmeralda, not a single one came.
Is a quest not given unless it is related to an important event, or an important person?
I didn’t have enough information to make a judgment yet.
‘Oh, right.’
I quickly operated my cell phone and entered the character dictionary.
On the first day, I had only been able to find Lee Myung Joon and Isabel Gaudi, but now the dictionary was quite full.
And there were now some names I wasn’t even aware of.
Anyway, I was able to find the information of the person I wanted from the information.
It was information about the male student who had an argument in the classroom a while ago.
[Na Il-Jun.
He later rose to become a B-class hero, where he stopped growing.
His main weapons are a long sword and a dagger.
His fighting style is to draw attention with his dagger and strike a fatal blow with his long sword.
He is the heir to the ‘Nasung Group’, a medium-sized company.
He is a member of the main character Ahn Do-Hoon’s gang and his subordinate.]
‘So this is how it’s going to play out again.’
Finding an unexpected name, I put my phone in my pocket and mumbled quietly.
A guy named Na Il-Jun, who I couldn’t even remember his name, wouldn’t be a big deal, but Ahn Do-Hoon was not.
Anyway, he was also one of the playable characters.
“I hope it’s nothing special.”