Chapter 47

“Bleeuuurgh…”

Monggu threw up while still wearing his helmet.

-Detecting contamination inside armor. Initiating purification.

Whirrr-

The vomit that had filled his helmet instantly dried up and was expelled outward.

“Urk. Uurgh.”

Monggu continued to dry heave.

-Detecting minor cervical misalignment. Correcting.

Click!

The helmet and full-body suit automatically tightened, realigning Monggu’s bones. Only then could he breathe comfortably.

“Get it together! We’re going again! Move in the instant the orc’s tough body is weakened! If you don’t finish it off, we won’t win!”

The squad leader shouted.

It was a mountain path littered with the corpses of refugees, and a hulking orc over 2.3 meters tall growled menacingly. Monggu struggled to straighten his knees. Fortunately, the full-body suit compensated for his joint and muscle strength, sparing him the embarrassment of visibly trembling legs.

“It’s charging! Open fire!”

Everyone except Monggu simultaneously fired red beams. They used three white rod-shaped weapons called beam hilts. Palm-sized rods automatically floated in front of them and emitted red beams. The three beams converged at a single point, creating an explosive heat that engulfed the orc.

Boom!

The charging orc collided with the beams, creating a wave of scorching heat.

The squad leader shouted again, repeating what he’d been saying all along.

“When an orc’s charge is blocked, its tough body temporarily weakens! Strike at that moment! But careful—once your attack is revealed, the orc immediately reactivates its tough body! Then overwhelm it with force! The Ten Battle Gears consume the user’s will to generate energy. You must establish the absolute determination to kill! If you can’t damage the orc, we all die!”

Strike after charge. Establish killing intent. If you fail, everyone dies.

Saying the same thing over and over… indoctrination at its finest. It was thoroughly drilled into his head by now.

‘It’s not like I don’t know that! I just can’t do it!’

Monggu screamed internally as he rushed toward the orc. He could only appreciate how incredibly powerful of a mana user Teacher Sena must have been to fight orcs head-on.

Back then, Teacher Sena’s Gift “Explosion” had completely shattered the orc’s tough body with a single blow, and on top of that, had completely drawn the orc’s attention. Thanks to that, hadn’t the students been able to wound the orc even with arrows?

But now, even with four squad members attacking together, they couldn’t fully capture the orc’s attention. And Monggu’s ambush attempts were so clumsy that he was counterattacked each time he rushed in.

Like throwing eggs at a rock. Monggu struggled to suppress his wavering resolve as he charged at the orc again. He connected three of the sleek rod-shaped beam hilts in parallel and emitted an orange beam from their tips.

Bzzzt!

“Gaah!”

But his light sword only sliced through the air, and Monggu took a hit to his stomach. Coughing up blood inside his helmet, he was sent flying backward.

“…Painful to watch.”

I observed the scene from my perch on a boulder. Beside me sat Yuria, who had already handled her share of orcs.

“The physical abilities and firepower are sufficient. Those suits automatically generate output close to 70% of a mana user’s. With concentration, it seems to go up to 120% of a mana user’s power. The issue is battle sense. The timing of the charges is wrong, and the timing of force concentration is wrong. Well… experience comes with practice.”

Yuria, who spoke these words, possessed monstrous battle sense. Already skilled in combat before, becoming a mana user had made her abilities soar.

Her awakened Gift was called [Magic Eye]. While the name suggested magical vision, it was essentially superhuman perception.

She observed every movement of the orc, every breath, missing nothing as she waited for the perfect moment to strike in a single motion.

Elegant and lightning-fast.

She had even outmatched Teacher Sena, who was considered one of the strongest mana users. Under equal conditions, I doubted I could last long against her. At least in terms of combat skills.

I turned to her and asked.

“You fought without the gear?”

“Ah, wearing that stuff suppresses a mana user’s powers. The ancient equipment is amazing, but… I need to train my abilities as a mana user.”

Of course the magical power gets pushed out. That explained why mana users couldn’t utilize their powers. Actually, that’s why I fought without the gear too. It felt too restrictive. While the equipment was essential for a mana beginner like Monggu, it wasn’t necessary for us.

After watching Monggu’s struggle for a moment, Yuria spoke again.

“By the way… I wanted to ask you something.”

“What is it?”

“Setting the deadline to leave at twenty days… that was based on your standards, right? You decided you’d complete all possible training here within twenty days. The goal you set for us was just to encourage us to try our best during that time, correct?”

…She was exactly right.

“I actually prefer training with [Simulation]. I’m just curious about what kind of training they offer here.”

Considering Monggu and Yuria, it would be advantageous to stay here longer and train as much as possible. But for me, it would be a loss. I should quickly extract what I need and move on to the next plan.

Though Monggu and Yuria initially proposed becoming nomads, once we made our covenant, my heart raced. Uncovering the world’s secrets and exterminating calamities. I realized that was what I truly wanted.

So there’s no time to waste on unnecessary delays.

It was a cold assessment, but Yuria smiled with satisfaction.

“As expected of an excellent leader. Well done. With goals established, we must pursue them with full force. We’ll do our best to keep up with you, so we don’t become useless.”

Yuria stretched and stood up.

“I wish I could make a 2nd Circle covenant, but I just didn’t have the confidence. Still, I’ll aim to exceed expectations. No time to dawdle. I’ll finish level 1 and move straight to level 2 training.”

She glanced at Monggu’s struggling figure.

Monggu charged at the orc again, and—

Crack!

Ah… his neck was ripped off. He died.

As Monggu’s body disappeared, I also stood up.

“Right. I should challenge the next level too. I might even try to graduate from basic training today. I’ve discovered something… quite strange.”

“Something strange?”

“Yes. I mentioned how the equipment suppresses and pushes out magical power, right?”

“You did.”

“But I just found something even stranger.”

“What is it?”

I turned to look around.

A mountain path. Dozens of apparent refugees slaughtered by an orc, their bodies scattered across the ground. Judging by their clothes, their technology seemed even more primitive than the nomads of the wilderness. It makes no sense that humans with this level of civilization built that massive base and created those mysterious battle gears. It’s completely implausible.

That was certainly questionable, but the truly strange thing was something else.

“There’s no magical power here.”

“Huh?”

“Except for what’s in my body and yours, there isn’t a trace of magical power anywhere.”

Yuria’s eyes grew wide.

“What? That’s impossible. What about the Ten Battle Gears? Aren’t they powered by magic?”

I couldn’t be certain about that.

“Well… I’m not sure about that, but there’s definitely no magical power. There’s just extremely complex mana movement. This world has mana but no magical power.”

Yuria’s expression became bewildered.

“What are you talking about? Aren’t magical power and mana the same thing? Mana becomes magical power when it moves, and magical power becomes mana when it stops moving…”

What Yuria described was the magical theory accepted as fact on the Star Continent. I gave a bitter smile.

‘This is what earned me Teacher Sena’s contempt…’

And to think that Teacher Sena is now dead… A wave of melancholy swept over me, but I quickly pushed it aside and answered.

“No, Yuria. Since we’ve agreed to uncover the world’s secrets together… forget what you learned before. Remember: magical power and mana are completely separate entities. And this place has mana but no magical power.”

Yuria looked like she’d been hit hard on the back of the head.

“Then, does that mean people in ancient times couldn’t gain power even if they kept covenants?”

She was sharp as ever. Tell her one thing, and she’d deduce the rest.

Our world is filled with magical power saturating the atmosphere. When we fulfill covenants or complete challenges, this power enters our bodies and takes root. But there’s no magical power here. Naturally, there’s no magical power to absorb.

“Yes. I wondered if it’s just because this is virtual reality… but if that were the case, there’d be no reason for magical power to remain in our bodies either. That’s probably the correct explanation.”

There was no magical power in ancient times. And probably… no mages either.

Silence fell between us.

The possibility that a fundamental element of our world, which we always assumed had existed forever, might have suddenly appeared one day. This information hinted at an unknown history.

With this, we took another step toward uncovering the world’s secrets.

“What could have happened? The calamities are clearly here… but no magical power?”

“That’s what we need to find out.”

I turned away as I spoke.

“I’ll clear this basic training as quickly as possible. There might be more clues here.”

+ – + – +

And I really did clear the basic training quickly.

As a mage, I could handle it without much difficulty.

In level 2, we formed a three-person team to defeat two orcs while navigating a Calamity of the Labyrinth.

In level 3, we escaped from a Calamity of the Marsh before facing an orc one-on-one.

As the levels increased, the equipment provided became more diverse. Beyond the combat suit and beam hilt, we received the reasonably sturdy beam shield, booster boots that temporarily increased speed, and the hook gun I had seen in the videos.

But for a mage like me, they just got in the way, so I discarded everything except the beam hilt, booster boots, and hook gun. The beam hilt made a good sword substitute, while the booster boots and hook gun enhanced mobility.

At level 4, we formed a ten-person team in the middle of a battlefield to fight ogres and harpies.

Ogres and harpies are C+ class calamities. Even one-on-one, I couldn’t guarantee victory against such monsters, but with nine skilled warriors helping, we won without much difficulty.

Finally, basic training’s last stage, level 5, began.

Contrary to my expectations, as we progressed, I hadn’t learned much beyond the absence of magical power and the primitive civilization level of ancient humans.

Oh, the non-human races that appeared in levels 2 and 4 had civilizations that far surpassed what modern humans could achieve. That was about the extent of new information.

All this happened before a full day had passed since we started training.

‘Did I set the twenty-day limit too generously?’

I was so disappointed by the lack of new discoveries and the ease of basic training that I worried about this.

Hopefully, the physical enhancement training and promotion evaluation would be more informative… Well, if not, I could always use the remaining time to focus on Ki-blood magic training through [Simulation].

I was already eager to experiment with the possibilities of the primordial incantation <Transportation>.

But… as if warning me not to let my guard down completely, level 5 was entirely different from everything we’d experienced so far.

Once again, the squad leader appeared. He’d been present from level 1 until now, always sharing the same essential combat knowledge.

This time, he spoke with a gravity I hadn’t heard before.

“Congratulations on participating in the most honorable battle. Deus’s strike has been detected. We must defend our forces’ core assets with our lives. Overcharge all battle gear and prepare for impact. 10 seconds. 9 seconds.”

The squad leader immediately began a countdown.

“Aarghh!”

“Grrrrrhh!”

The area was pandemonium. It was a battlefield of an entirely different scale from before.

50,000? 100,000? Countless warriors were densely packed together, all screaming and overcharging their equipment. As the equipment overcharged, the complex mana patterns that symbolized the gear simultaneously expanded. The expanding patterns from all directions met and intertwined, forming one massive pattern.

It looked like… a kind of breakwater.

Perhaps it was something like a large-scale shield magic beyond my comprehension?

[Deus’s strike detected. Overcharging equipment.]

A notification appeared from the Ten Battle Gears I was wearing. Normally, I would remove them immediately, but this time I kept them on. The overcharge function was something I hadn’t seen before.

A moment later,

The mana pattern expanded from my equipment too,

“Gaaahh!”

An overwhelming pain surged through me.

Despite experiencing countless deaths in [Simulation], I couldn’t suppress a groan at this unfamiliar agony. The sensation of my very soul being wrung out.

Even my magical power—which had reached 2nd Circle and 1-star—was more than half pushed out of the combat suit.

“5 seconds… Aarrgh! Fo-focus! Establish your will to… somehow… draw out more… Gaaah! output!”

Even the squad leader kept screaming as he tried to continue his explanation.

While fighting this terrible pain, I spotted something familiar yet completely unexpected on the distant horizon.

“…Magical power?”

It was the first magical power I’d seen since starting basic training.

It was too far away to see clearly, but there was no doubt.

The first magical power discovered in a world without magical power. Another clue to the world’s secrets. What I had been waiting for.

But I felt no joy whatsoever.

What overwhelmed me was simply… mindless terror.