Chapter 2 :Solar delay

Age 5.

That was the age when I awakened my sixth sense and became a superhuman.

Considering that most superhumans from prestigious families typically awaken at around 13 years old, with the earliest cases being around 10, this was an incredibly fast achievement.

Being able to accumulate mana at least five years earlier than other superhumans would be a huge advantage, especially in narrowing the gap between male and female superhumans.

Thinking that I had just taken my first and most important step in surviving in the world of Reverse Heroic Saga, an overwhelming sense of accomplishment surged through me, washing away all traces of fatigue from my body.

No, this wasn’t just a feeling.

This was the effect of awakening.

From the moment I gained the new sense that allowed me to perceive mana, my physical functions had fundamentally changed.

At this rate, even if I couldn’t win an arm-wrestling match against an average adult man, I could at least force it into a deadlock.

This was the effect of awakening—the realm of the extraordinary that only those who had gained the qualification of a superhuman could step into.

Of course, merely holding my own in an arm-wrestling match against an adult man didn’t mean I had transcended humanity.

Right now, all I had was the qualification to become a superhuman—the sixth sense. 

I had not yet become one in the truest sense.

A superhuman is defined as someone who can manipulate mana. 

And at this moment, I still couldn’t control mana.

That’s why, as someone who had mastered the world of Reverse Heroic Saga, I began the very first step in learning how to wield mana.

“Ssshhh…”

Closing my eyes, I took another deep, deliberate breath.

This wasn’t just normal breathing for meditation.

It was breathing designed to draw mana from the air into my body.

Since I had awakened my sixth sense, I could feel the mana mixed in the air enter through my nose, flow down my windpipe, and settle into my lungs.

I also noticed something else—how incredibly small the amount of mana was.

But the quantity of mana didn’t matter.

What mattered was the existence of mana itself, not how much of it I could gather right now.

“Hup.”

After inhaling as much as I could, I held my breath.

At the same time, I visualized a perfect, unblemished sphere in my mind.

Then, I overlaid an image onto the sphere—a celestial body. 

A massive entity that maintained its form through the force of gravity, pulling lighter objects towards itself and swallowing them whole.

I projected this celestial sphere onto my heart.

Yes, I was turning my heart into a celestial body with a powerful gravitational pull.

Logically, this should have been impossible.

But mana reacts to will, manifesting thoughts into reality.

And right now, my chest was filled with the mana I had drawn in from the air.

It was only natural that the mana within me would follow my will and gather at my heart.

“Kugh?!”

Even though the amount of mana moving toward my heart was no more than a fraction of a fingernail’s worth, the impact felt like a bomb exploding inside my body.

The pain was so excruciating that I nearly screamed.

But if I opened my mouth now, all the mana I had painstakingly gathered would scatter into the air, and I would have to start this hellish process all over again.

Crack!

Rather than let that happen, I gritted my teeth and endured the shock and pain until all the mana had gathered in my heart.

“Phaaah!”

The moment I felt that every last bit of mana had settled into my heart, I finally exhaled the breath I had been holding.

“Hah… 

Hah…”

Cold sweat poured down my face as I gasped for air, but the mana inside my heart remained.

With this, I had created a container for mana—my Mana Core.

“Haha!”

It was an incredibly small, weak Mana Core.

But it was a Mana Core that I had formed at an age younger than any other superhuman in history.

With this, I had truly become a superhuman.

This tiny Mana Core would continue to grow in both size and density over time.

Eventually, it would develop to the point where I could rival even female superhumans, who naturally had an advantage in this world.

And if I combined that with the knowledge from my previous life?

Reaching the highest realm of power wouldn’t be just a dream.

“Uhehehe!”

Even after reincarnation, I had the misfortune of being born into a world that was utterly female-dominated.

But to me, a veteran of Reverse Heroic Saga, this was nothing more than an interesting challenge that added some spice to life.

However, that handicap was now meaningless.

Now that I had formed a Mana Core at the tender age of five, simply breathing would allow me to absorb mana from the air, turning even the act of existing into training.

And if I simultaneously practiced manipulating mana to increase my mana sensitivity?

By the time I entered the Academy, securing the top spot would be a given. 

I might even be able to skip grades.

“Just imagining it makes me giddy.”

I pictured the main characters of the game looking at me with admiration, their expectations burning in their eyes.

Living a life where I could meet those expectations, becoming someone truly worthy of them—just the thought filled me with excitement.

As I let out another “Uhehehet!”, a ding sound suddenly rang out.

A semi-transparent, blue window appeared in front of me.

[SYSTEM: Due to the user’s awakening, the reincarnation privilege ‘Status Window’ has been unlocked.]

“Huh? Status Window…?”

The translucent blue window looked exactly like the system interface from Reverse Heroic Saga.

And among the lines of text displayed on it, one word in particular caught my eye.

Wooong!

As if responding to my voice, the small system window suddenly expanded to the size of an A4 sheet of paper.

Lines of white text started appearing.

***

[Name: Yang Woobin]
[Gender: Male]
[Age: 5]
[Trait: Solar Physique (EX)]
[Mana Sensitivity: F-]
[Mana Capacity: 3]
[Reincarnation Perk: Status Window (EX)]

***

As a perk for reincarnators, you can use the special ability ‘Status Window’.

By making physical contact with a target and reciting the activation phrase in your mind, you can check their status window.

***

This was it.

My cheat ability had finally arrived.

The activation phrase is “Check Status Window.”

“What the—”

The status window, which suddenly filled my entire vision, was exactly as I had seen it in the game.

In the game, this was a natural ability given to players—something I had used so many times that I took it for granted.

But now that Reverse Heroic Saga had become my reality, this status window ability was so broken that I could confidently call it a cheat.

To think I had the power to instantly access all of a target’s information with just a single click of “Check Status Window.”

It was absurd.

Yet, even though this double jackpot had just happened—creating a Mana Core and unlocking the Status Window—I couldn’t bring myself to be happy.

“Tai… 

Tai… 

Taiyang Physique…?”

It was because of the trait “Solar Physique (EX)” that was boldly displayed in my status window.

***

Solar Physique.

Even in Reverse Heroic Saga, a world filled with countless traits—like the stars scattered across the sky—only a few traits were so powerful that they couldn’t even be measured.

These were the EX-tier traits, classified as exceptions to the ranking system.

And Solar Physique was one of them.

It was a trait possessed by “The Witch of Calamity,” one of the Four Walls of Despair that appeared in the final stages of the game.

She only revealed this trait when her HP dropped to zero, as a last-ditch effort, by summoning the Special Monster – The Great Cataclysm.

In fact, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that The Witch of Calamity only managed to become one of the Four Walls of Despair because of this monster.

That’s how impossible it was to deal with this trait.

So why wasn’t I happy to have such a godlike trait?

Well, once you hear about what Solar Physique actually does, you’ll understand immediately.

Despite being an EX-tier ability, its effects were surprisingly simple.

Solar Physique has three effects:

1. Mana efficiency increases to an extreme degree.
2. Mana sensitivity increases to an extreme degree.
3. Mana becomes highly flammable.

…Yeah.

If you only looked at the first two effects, this trait would seem like a complete cheat.

But then you get to number three…

And suddenly, this trait isn’t so great anymore.

To put it simply—it turns the user into a living, walking, human napalm bomb.

That’s what Solar Physique was.

“What kind of unfair bullshit is this…?”

If I made even the slightest mistake, my entire body could burst into flames in an instant, reducing everything around me to ashes.

This wasn’t just unfair. 

This was a cursed existence.

Being born into a female-dominated world was already bad enough, but Solar Physique made that look like a minor inconvenience in comparison.

Even I, the only player to ever clear Reverse Heroic Saga on Truth Difficulty, felt my mind go completely blank for a moment.

“…Haa.”

But that moment of despair lasted only a second.

My mind quickly pushed aside the shock and immediately started searching for a way to overcome this ridiculous curse.

And before long, I found a way.

Why?

Because I was a veteran—no, a master of Reverse Heroic Saga.

And gamers like me don’t despair when faced with hardship.

We get excited about the challenge.

***

The solution my pro-gamer brain came up with was as simple as Solar Physique itself.

If my body was carrying a high-powered bomb, then all I had to do was train my body to withstand the explosion.

In other words, I had to physically strengthen my body to the point where it could endure the sheer destructive force of my own mana.

…Honestly, even I thought it sounded ridiculous.

But if anyone could do it, it was me.

“Alright. This is going to be insanely hard… but totally doable.”

[Mission: Overcome the Penalty of “Solar Physique.”]

This was my new lifelong quest.

And so, five years passed.