Chapter 4: Watch your mouth when you wake up

My barrier magic began to unravel the seal set by Otinuus.

[Barrier magic (EX) rewriting the seal of selection (S).]

‘It’s working.’

With the system’s message appearing, it became certain that the seal on the Divine Spear was being lifted.

I meticulously corrected each of the inscriptions on the Divine Spear and overlapped my barriers.

I raise my magical power.

I inscribe the inscriptions.

I overwrite the barriers.

I analyse the seal.

The Divine Spear…

Zzzt…

“…?!”

Again.

A headache slowly creeps in, as if dropping ink into water.

There’s no error in the method I’ve chosen.

It’s theoretically flawless and practically effective.

The problem lies with me.

My body can’t handle this method.

I read the inscriptions on the Divine Spear.

I reverse-engineer the inscriptions I’ve read.

I find the barriers corresponding to the analysed inscriptions.

I overlay the found barriers onto the seal of the Divine Spear.

I grasp control over the seal inscriptions of the Divine Spear.

I repeat this series of steps.

I draw out magical power and iterate through the inscriptions.

‘Is my head going to explode…?!’

Cold sweat trickles down my back.

My barrier magic undoubtedly surpassed the seal set by Otinuus.

That’s for sure.

Even now, inscriptions fixing the Divine Spear are being dismantled.

But my brain can’t handle the absurd speed and quantity of calculations.

I’m not using a skill; my brain is being dragged into the calculations of the skill’s inscriptions.

Thunk,

thock-.

‘My nose…!’

Unbeknownst to me, my nose started bleeding.

My body grows heavier, and my breathing quickens.

Should I cancel?

The calculations are ongoing, but I keep questioning whether I should stop.

It would be a waste to stop when the seal is being smoothly lifted.

‘Just a little… just a little longer…!’

Let’s hold on a bit longer.

When I truly feel like I’m about to die, I’ll stop.

I sink my teeth into it and focus solely on the calculations of the inscriptions.

I’m completely absorbed in overwriting the inscriptions, forgetting what’s happening around me or what I’m doing.

My sense of time disperses, and my senses dull.

I forget the passage of time in this broken sense of time.

How many seconds have passed?

No, it’s not seconds but minutes?

…Maybe the entrance ceremony has already ended.

Clang-

An ominous sound reverberates through my body.

It’s not a sound heard through my ears.

It’s a danger signal vibrating directly through my muscles and organs to my brain.

‘…It’s my limit now.’

Did I push too hard?

As I gradually slow down the inscription calculations, my dulled senses and blurry sense of time return.

Just as I’m about to release my hand.

Snap!

“…Huh?”

The clear sound of cutting a taut chain resounds throughout the square.

The vibration of the sound that passed through my body like piercing shook me to a stop.

Silence falls.

It feels like the world has stopped.

I swallow hard.

With hopeful thoughts, I focus my eyes on my pupils.

“Ah…!”

The Divine Spear emerges.

The Replica of Gungnir, as it was, is now in my hand.

The golden body, along with the shimmering magical power, flows from my hand and fills the grip and the adventurous blade with an adventurous energy.

[The seal of ‘Replica of Gungnir’ has been released.]

[You have released the seal with your own abilities.]

[The ownership of the Replica of Gungnir is transferred and attributed to you.]

[Your prowess has grown.]

[The mystery you harbour has grown.]

I come to my senses and notice many changes, besides the released magical power.

The first thing I notice is the status screen.

Messages from the status screen appear in a corner of my vision one after another.

My body trembles, feeling weak.

I have no strength to hold my stiffened neck up.

The red ground ripples slightly, reflecting my blurred figure.

My gaze meets my reflection. …

What?

Why is it red?

In that moment, I realize I’ve shed more blood than I thought.

The metal floor where the lance was embedded was stained with blood that had pooled and coagulated from my nose and one eye.

It’s to the point where one might believe someone poured red paint from a bucket.

The amount of pooled blood was so suspiciously large that I doubted how I was still alive.

“Damn, was it not just a headache draining my energy, but was it actually anaemia?”

My body swayed.

Somehow, closing my eyes here felt like I might really cross the rainbow bridge.

“Ugh, i-is anyone there…?”

I mustered all my strength to speak, but even that didn’t go well.

Does this spear have no healing abilities?

I tried staring at the Replica of Gungnir, I held in my hand, but nothing special happened.

“I skipped the tutorial and everything just to sneakily take the lance…!”

I could have come back for the lance later, but these hidden quests always make things so bothersome.

In games, they might end up as slightly annoying side quests, but in reality, they lead to unhappy days of being pushed and pulled.

I had to avoid such situations.

The growth I had painstakingly accelerated would be hindered.

So, even if people found me collapsed, I had to hide this spear where it wouldn’t be seen.

“After all, the inscription to return it to me is embedded within. I can reclaim it at any time.”

Now that ownership belonged to me, this lance would come to me wherever it was.

“Haah… haah…”

I’m done for. My body has reached its limit.

“Otinuus, you bastard…”

With resentment, I spat out my last words before my body tilted.

The power that flowed through my entire body dispersed in an instant.

My senses faded away faster than they dulled.

“What interesting fellow might have pulled out the Replica of Gungnir…?”

In the fleeting moment when my vision flickered, I heard a familiar voice.

“Well, annoying as you are, I suppose I should lend a hand.”

***

“Ugh…”

I feel sluggish for some reason. What’s happened? I can’t remember well.

I wearily rubbed my eyes and opened them, lifting my heavy eyelids.

An unfamiliar ceiling filled my vision.

…An unknown ceiling.

I never thought I’d be subjected to the cliché of reincarnation so often seen in rebirth stories.

Was it already confirmed from the start, from the perspective of being reincarnated as a game character?

Perhaps due to fatigue, or maybe because I hadn’t fully awakened, I found myself having more thoughts than usual.

“Wait a moment, why am I asleep?”

Sleep suddenly fled from me.

Along with it, my body grew cold.

It’s like when you absentmindedly look at your phone while walking and suddenly slip down two steps of stairs.

Hastily, I tried to recall what I had done.

“I attended the Eden entrance ceremony and went to the square to retrieve the Repliace of Gungnir….”

I remembered. I definitely unsealed the spear and pulled it out.

Recalling how I collapsed from exerting too much power to unseal it, a new question arose.

Where am I, and who moved me here?

“Oh, you’re awake?”

“W-who’s there?”

I turned my head towards the direction where the voice came from reflexively asking who it was, but the moment I met the gaze of the owner of the voice, I got my answer.

“The headmaster stuck a note on you and sent you here, which surprised me.”

Bella Nerielle.

She’s the professor in charge of healing magic at Eden and oversees the infirmary’s duties as the top healer.

The woman who created countless Bella fans in the game sat in front of me, smiling compassionately.

“By the way, it’s an unfamiliar face. Are you a freshman?”

“Uh, yes. I’m Seong Yujin, a freshman who enrolled this year.”

“Oh, really? A freshman causing an unforgettable incident on the first day of school, huh?”

“An incident?”

My heart skipped a beat.

An incident?

What on earth…?

“Here. This note was on your chest, covered in blood.”

As I maintained a stiff expression, Professor Bella handed me a note.

The note was folded like a common memo.

“…Can I read it?”

“It’s a note for me, but I think you’ll understand the situation faster if you read it.”

With a gulp, I swallowed and unfolded the note folded like a memo.

The contents of the note weren’t as lengthy as I had expected.

It wasn’t too short, but it wasn’t stretched out with long sentences either.

I slowly read through the note:

To Professor Bella Nerielle,

I was doing my usual tasks when suddenly, I received a signal from the Replica of Gungnir at the Eden Square, so I visited briefly.

It’s the golden lance that I’ve left sealed with the Selection Seal, in preparation for when I need to find a certain talent.

Interestingly, the Selection Seal I set beforehand for ‘whoever’ would pull it out has been released.

As I said, it’s not because someone met the conditions to pull it out, but because someone literally dismantled and pulled out all the seals I set.

“I will transfer ownership to whoever pulls out this lance, regardless of reason or fate.”

I have no intention of going back on my word.

Now, ownership of the Repliace of Gungnir belongs to this boy.

There’s a need to adjust the plan, but I don’t feel too bad about it.

And since he’s half dead, I’m sending him to you for now. I hope you’ll take care of him properly.

After reading the entire note, my mind was filled with question marks.

What exactly did Otinuus mean by ‘tasks’?

Is it one of the events in the main story?

And what plan is she referring to?

She set the Selection Seal on the Replica of Gungnir to find a necessary talent?

What exactly does this necessary talent need to possess?

One question led to another, and I couldn’t find answers to any of them from the contents of the note.

“I’ll have to ask.”

The best way to satisfy my curiosity is through questioning.

If anyone knows something, it must be Professor Bella.

Thinking that way, I lifted my gaze.

For some reason, Professor Bella avoided my gaze.

“Wasn’t the timing right?”

I silently stared at Professor Bella.

She cleared her throat and opened her mouth.

“Um, did you not read the last part?”

“The last part?”

Wasn’t the last part about asking her to treat me as I was slowly dying?

I lowered my gaze again and removed the hand holding the bottom of the note.

P.S. Since I clearly heard you call me a bastard, prepare yourself thoroughly.

“Ah, damn.”

This is screwed up.

My face stiffened as if it couldn’t get any harder.