The Spire of Ascension was the heart of Zenith Academy, a colossal, crystalline tower that pierced the clouds, its peak shimmering with concentrated mana. This was where the academy's true treasures—its most promising students—were housed and nurtured. It was a world away from the standard dormitories.
Elina, his guide, led him into the Spire's lobby. The interior was even more breathtaking. The walls were made of a living, shifting crystal that displayed real-time data streams: the current mana density of the campus, the status of the outer shield, a leaderboard of top-ranking students.
"The Prime Division is home to only thirty students across all four academic years," Elina explained, her voice tinged with a respect she hadn't shown before. "You are the only first-year to be admitted directly this cycle. The others will have to fight for a spot during the mid-term ranking evaluations."
This information was crucial. It meant his "lab" would be private, and his neighbors would be the absolute elite of the student body—the perfect hunting ground for Divine Copy.
They took a silent, floating platform that ascended through the core of the Spire. "Your residence and personal laboratory are a combined suite," Elina continued, handing him a crystal key. "Tier-1 resource allocation means you have a monthly credit of one hundred thousand Aurum to requisition materials from the academy's vaults—monster parts, rare herbs, catalyst metals, anything you need for your research. Use it wisely."
One hundred thousand Aurum. A month. It was more money than Muyeong could have conceived of just a week ago. With this, he could not only fund his cooking experiments but also secretly acquire materials to practice other disciplines he might "copy" in the future.
The platform chimed, stopping at a high floor. They stepped into a pristine white hallway. Elina led him to a single, seamless door.
"This is your suite, #7," she said. "My duties as your orientation guide are now complete. The data chip I gave you contains all the necessary information about class schedules and campus regulations. Welcome to the Prime Division, Jin Park. I expect we'll be seeing great things from you."
She gave him a final, curious look and then departed, leaving him alone in the silent, imposing hallway.
Jin Park pressed the crystal key to the door. It dissolved into shimmering particles of light, revealing the room within. He stepped inside, and the door silently reformed behind him.
The suite was larger than his entire former tenement building. One side was a spartan but high-quality living area: a bed, a desk, a small lounge. The other side, separated by a thick, reinforced crystal wall, was the laboratory. It was a chef's dream, a kitchen that surpassed even the Michelin-star establishments of his past life. There were mana-fueled induction stoves that could hold a temperature with perfect precision, cryo-freezers for ingredient preservation, and a full set of gleaming, perfectly balanced knives.
But his eyes were drawn to the room's most important feature: the advanced training dummy in the corner of the lab. It was a humanoid automaton made of a dense, self-repairing polymer, its chest glowing with a simulated mana core. It was designed for combat Awakeners to practice their skills on.
He felt no joy, no sense of wonder at the luxury. He saw only tools. He saw a secure, private space where he could finally begin his true work without fear of observation.
For the first few hours, he meticulously explored every inch of his new domain. He locked down the security protocols, ensuring no one could enter without his explicit permission. He then stood in the center of his lab, the silence absolute.
It was time to train.
He didn't start with cooking. He started with combat. He walked to the training dummy and activated it. The automaton's eyes glowed red as it shifted into a basic combat stance.
Jin Park took his Gnasher cleaver from his satchel. He activated Toughen Skin, the Level 4 skill now creating a faint, almost invisible sheen over his arms. The dummy lunged, its polymer fist swinging in a swift, clean arc.
Jin Park didn't dodge. He met the blow head-on, raising his forearm to block.
THUD!
The impact was solid, jarring his bones, but his arm held. The Toughen Skin skill, combined with his own Level 4 stats, was just enough to withstand the dummy's basic attack. He felt a sharp sting, but no real damage. Good.
He retaliated. He didn't use flashy spear arts like Kang-Dae. He moved like a butcher. He sidestepped the dummy's next punch, his body flowing with an unnerving efficiency. He brought the heavy cleaver down not on the dummy's head or chest, but at the "joint" of its shoulder, activating Power Strike at the last second.
The cleaver slammed into the polymer, leaving a deep, gouging wound. The dummy staggered back, its arm hanging limp.
He didn't let up. He flowed around the automaton, his movements economical and brutal. Every strike was aimed at a joint or a weak point: the knee, the elbow, the neck. He wasn't fighting it like a warrior; he was systematically dismantling it, piece by piece. His Chop skill, designed for the kitchen, allowed him to make these precise, debilitating cuts with terrifying speed.
After a few minutes of this one-sided "fight," the dummy stood crippled, its limbs hanging at odd angles. It couldn't fight back. He stepped forward and drove the point of the cleaver into its chest, shattering the simulated mana core. The dummy's red eyes flickered and died.
He stood over the deactivated automaton, his breathing steady. He wasn't even winded. A system notification appeared.
[Combat simulation complete. Skill: Chop (Normal) has gained a small amount of experience.]
This was his true self. Not the humble chef, but a cold, efficient predator who analyzed, dismantled, and destroyed. His public-facing skills were not a weakness; they were just another set of tools, and he was learning how to use them to kill.
He looked at his hands, then back at the pristine kitchen. Now, it was time for the Chef to get to work. His Divine Copy was still on cooldown, and his level was still too low. He needed to get stronger, and his fastest path to power was through the art he knew best.
He accessed the academy's resource vault through a terminal in his lab. With his hundred-thousand Aurum credit, he requisitioned a variety of high-grade monster ingredients—the kind he could never have afforded before.
His personal lab would not just be a kitchen. It would be a forge. And in it, he would craft himself into a monster far more terrifying than any he would ever hunt in a dungeon.