Ch.348343 – Sports Festival (2)

“NoName’s abilities are just too broken. Honestly, isn’t it cheating?”

“What’s wrong, Ji-hye? I bought you ice cream because of that. Stop being mad now.”

“Hmm… fine.”

Lunch was sandwiches instead of cafeteria food.

I took a bite of my tuna sandwich on the picnic mat, chatting casually with my classmates.

“Our class won the tug-of-war and tunnel race, but the White Team is still losing.”

“That doesn’t matter anyway. The Blue Team versus White Team is always decided in the final relay, right?”

“Oh yeah, that’s true. We just need to focus on our class.”

“NoName, how can I use aura as well as you do? Are there specific stages to learn?”

Ha-ru asked with interest.

“Stages? Well…”

Unlike magic, which has been established as a systematic discipline, aura doesn’t really have defined stages.

There are extremely rare cases like Adella who suddenly manifested external aura without warning.

Of course, she couldn’t bring out her aura in other ways.

I gathered my thoughts and began to explain.

“The easiest thing is obviously starting with stimulating your Aura Heart, right? You all can do that already.”

“Yeah.”

It’s hardly even a talent—it’s like the difference between people who can wiggle their ears and those who can’t.

There’s research showing that the Aura Heart stimulation stage has a strong correlation of 0.8 or higher with mana sensitivity.

Most students admitted to the Academy could handle aura at a decent level.

“What comes next?”

“Next is what you all commonly do—temporarily relieving muscle fatigue or improving endurance. Simple willpower like ‘I can do this’ usually manifests that way.”

“Like how Ji-hye is really fast?”

“Exactly. I think Ji-hye’s willpower is top-tier even at our Academy.”

I patted Ji-hye’s head, not holding back on the praise.

If effort counts as talent, then Yu-na and Ji-hye would definitely be the top two.

Just then, Yu-na and Si-hoo were approaching our tent hand in hand.

“Oh, Yoon Si-hoo! Long time no see!”

Han Seo-ri waved her hand to greet them.

“What do you mean ‘long time’? We saw each other this morning.”

“Hehe, I secretly brought Si-hoo from the 4th grade. Anyway, what were you all talking about?”

“Next is strengthening the body’s surface. Si-hoo, want to shake hands with me for a second?”

“Shake hands?”

I stole Si-hoo’s hand from Yu-na.

Then I concentrated aura into my hand and squeezed his tightly.

“Aaaah! NoName, it hurts! Please stooooop!”

“How dare you show affection in front of adults. Anyway, this is how you strengthen specific body parts. If you strengthen your finger muscles, you could climb difficult terrain more easily, right?”

This third stage is really tricky.

But since talented people can master it easily, it’s just a matter of time to awaken this ability.

The reason I pushed Klaus off a cliff was to help him develop this ability.

Absolutely not because I’m a psychopath.

“Ugh, I thought I was going to die…”

“Si-hoo, are you okay? Should I blow on it?”

“N-no! Seo Yu-na, let’s just sit down quickly.”

“Name was giving us a lecture on aura.”

“Oh really? I want to listen too!”

My friends sat in a circle around me.

Boys who had been playing soccer gradually heard about it and came over, making the circle bigger.

“Actually, if we break it down in detail, there’s no end to it, but roughly speaking, there are ‘self’ stages and ‘other’ stages in awakening aura.”

“Like ‘me, you, us’?”

“Yes. And the final part of the ‘self’ stage is controlling your internal body. You can make yourself sweat, improve digestion, and at more advanced levels, even stop your own heart.”

“Eeeek! If your heart stops, you die!”

“That’s a lie! How is that possible?”

“Don’t believe me? Yu-na, can I have your hand?”

As I reached for Yu-na’s hand, Si-hoo cut in between us.

“NoName, what are you trying to do to Yu-na!”

“What’s wrong? I just wanted her to feel my heartbeat.”

“Oh… sorry, I misunderstood.”

I placed Yu-na’s tiny hand near my solar plexus.

“Ooh, I can feel it! Name’s heart is beating fast.”

“Right? Now I’ll stop my heart for a moment.”

You shouldn’t block the heart’s pathway all at once.

I surrounded my heart with aura, slowly decreasing my heart rate to restrict its movement.

Yu-na jumped in surprise and grabbed my shoulders, shaking me frantically.

“Your heart’s not beating! Name, make it beat again quickly! Something terrible might happen!”

“Is this better?”

“Is it beating again? Phew, thank goodness… I still think this is way too dangerous.”

“It might hurt a bit if you don’t know what you’re doing at first. But you won’t die from this. Yu-na, try holding your breath.”

“Hold my breath? Like this?”

“Yes. Now what happens?”

“…Puha. I can’t hold it anymore.”

“See? You end up breathing again. The driving force behind aura is willpower. Human will cannot overcome survival instinct.”

It’s the same principle as manual strangulation always being homicide.

Even if you try to strangle yourself, you’ll lose consciousness before reaching death, making it impossible to maintain the pressure—suicide is impossible.

The same applies if you substitute hands with aura.

The children whispered among themselves with somewhat gloomy expressions.

“It’s so difficult. Especially that last stage seems impossible…”

I corrected Yu-na’s misunderstanding.

“Who said it’s the last stage? This is just the beginning.”

“This is just the beginning?”

“Yes. In my personal opinion, external manifestation is much more difficult than this.”

I glossed over the explanation of the ‘other’ stage.

From here on, it involves concepts from logical positivism, existentialism, theology, and philosophy of science—difficult to understand without background knowledge.

“The important thing is making others believe what you think. Then you reaffirm what they believe. Only by constantly thinking about infinite series-like problems can you achieve external manifestation.”

This is a challenging concept even for high school students.

The children, overwhelmed with information overload, started lying down on the mat one by one.

“So did Senior Jo Su-yeon from Altair Academy go through all this process too?”

“Who? The cardinal’s niece who creates halos above her head?”

“Yeah. The 9th grade senior who fought against you.”

“Most likely. But while this is difficult, it’s not that impressive. Rather than practicing this, you’d be better off learning another spell.”

I was an extreme pragmatist.

What’s the point of training for 80 years to barely achieve external manifestation?

When you could use 3-circle polar coordinate assignment for Igear Swordsmanship.

The world isn’t kind enough to reward all efforts equally.

[All 16 third-grade trampoline participants, please gather at the central grass field.]

“Alright, let’s go. When else will we get to play like this? I’ll show you a double jump in mid-air.”

“Wow! Everyone, Name says she’ll do a triple jump!”

“What? A five-stage jump?”

“Name’s going to do the legendary ten-stage jump?”

“Hahaha, let’s go!”

The children rushed off before I was even ready.

I couldn’t help but laugh at how quickly the truth got distorted.

Hastily putting on my shoes, I ran quickly after them.

This is why I can’t quit the Academy.

“I clearly said double jump! Don’t get your hopes up only to be disappointed!”

* * *

The 6th grade broadcasting club students at Cephiron Academy moved between various events to capture footage.

‘We have to record all of Name’s events!’

When they first heard she would compete in the trampoline event, they were somewhat puzzled.

They couldn’t understand why she would skip the three-legged race, which was worth more points.

But from the moment they filmed Name soaring 10 meters into the air with their drone, no explanation was needed.

With red aura around her hands and blue aura around her feet, she rotated a full five times.

Everyone was mesmerized by her acrobatics, reminiscent of a human firework display.

But that wasn’t the end.

Normally, the more techniques you perform, the more energy you lose, inevitably decreasing your height.

But at the last moment, she created massive bat wings with golden aura and flapped them powerfully at the highest point.

Whooosh—

Scattering sharp winds across the artificial turf, Name soared even higher.

“She flew for a moment!”

“Wow, that’s insane.”

She curled her body like a hedgehog to add more rotation.

Landing safely in the center of the trampoline, Name withdrew all her aura and burst into laughter.

“Haha! That was so fun!”

It was a moment capturing Name’s smile—said to be visible only to those whose families have accumulated virtue for three generations.

“This is definitely going viral…!”

“Don’t edit it, upload it directly to Instagram and VTube!”

“Hurry! We need to upload before anyone else!”

[Cephiron Academy Trampoline Legend (3rd Grade NoName)]

[Comments]

-Video uploaded 1 minute ago? Algorithm is crazy

-(2:43) NoName’s laughter

└ How are you already at 2:43?

└ Wow legendlegendlegend lolol

└ VTube algorithm, is it actually a god!

-Name really laughs like a baby lolol

└ I almost had a heart attack hearing this

└ Someone make a 24-hour version please

-Why does it end here…?

└ Give us more! Make more if you don’t have any!

-Human Mario NoName

└ Such a creative double jump lol

-(1:39) Korean flag

└ Oh

└ Wowza~

-Can I see Name if I go to the Academy now? Please

└ Yes, police station meetup confirmed~

-Start a live stream with NoName right now. This is a threat.

└ From all Altair Academy graduates

└ Still haven’t gotten over it lol

[Cephiron Academy Elementary Sports Day Relay Live][872 viewers]

[Live Chat]

-Wow, what’s this?

-They actually started a live stream because we asked?

-Student council kids are awesome lol

-(Manager): This is a teacher’s account.

-Oh

-Teacher, show us our Name quickly! I’m getting dizzy!

-Like if you think NoName is excited to dominate the relay lol

The black screen cleared.

Under the bright sunlight, hundreds of students were positioned in a circle around the track.

In the middle were the athletes participating in the relay.

6 grades, 24 classes.

12 members of the Blue Team versus 12 members of the White Team would compete in a 12.5 lap race, totaling 5km.

The camera showed elementary students warming up with serious expressions.

Particularly, the 6th grade boy standing last for the Blue Team looked a head taller than the teacher.

-Wow, that physique is insane (literally)

-How is he in 6th grade…?

-He looks almost 190cm tall? Isn’t this unbalanced? lol

-He could cover in one step what others need two or three steps for lol

Next was the much-anticipated White Team.

They were just as desperate for victory as the Blue Team.

After numerous events, the scores were nearly tied.

This relay would determine the final outcome.

Click—

Clatter—

As the older students jumped in place, their gold bracelets and anklets rattled.

-What are those?

-Looks like magic tools.

-Weights?

The teacher watching the chat answered their question.

“They’re magic tools with built-in parachute forms. Each time you use aura, a small mana particle parachute opens behind your back. Like this.”

The teacher shook a golden ring from his pocket, and a transparent parachute unfurled with a flutter.

As befitting an academy, they wouldn’t prohibit aura use, but would impose a slight penalty.

Therefore, each athlete needed a clear strategy about when to use their aura.

“Isn’t wearing too many already a penalty from the weight? They look heavy enough.”

“Why isn’t this mana calibrating properly? Is it broken?”

Name’s voice was heard from behind the camera.

Finally, the Academy’s superstar appeared on screen.

“Even at 50g each, that’s 2kg total. That’s already 10% of my body weight.”

“I get it. These are delicate items, so please don’t break them.”

“Yeeees.”

Name came out wearing 10 rings on each arm and leg, totaling 40 rings.

-Is she Cleopatra? lol

-NoName new skin!

-I thought they were arm warmers at first lol

-This isn’t right, teachers!

-Stop discriminating against NoName!

-Looks like even normal running would be difficult?

-So many internal saboteurs

-Well done, Kim NoName, destroy the Academy with your own hands.

She was the White Team’s ace, the final runner.

The meaningful smile on her face disappeared into the spring breeze.