The Next Day
I was sitting in my seat in class listening to Silas's lecture. He was explaining the Abyssal world, the types of monsters, and what we must beware of and avoid.
I looked to my Right side and found Elena sitting beside me, listening to Silas with obvious boredom — this girl obviously doesn't like studying.
I thought as I looked at her. It seemed she noticed my stare; she turned her face toward me and smiled gently.
I quickly turned my face back, trying to concentrate on the lesson.
"Guys, there is a lot to be wary of in the Abyssal world, and more than that we don't know. Monsters differ from one gate to another depending on the world you enter, so you can't rely much on previous information. You must study enemies as much as possible during combat. Beware that they might injure you — some are poisonous and one of you could die before you even realize it," Silas said seriously, stressing the importance of knowing the enemy.
"Now let me warn you about knowledge. Why? It's simple, Everyone — listen: there's a saying among the Awakened."
"You must not gaze in the unknown."
"What does that mean? In short: don't try to understand, learn, or experiment with things you shouldn't. There are secrets in the Abyssal world that the weak must not know, or they will be at risk of corruption. As your strength increases, the information you can naturally know increases, but until then don't risk it and don't let your curiosity control you. Do you understand?" Shadows trembled and moved as Silas spoke, showing how important his words were.
"There is what is known as forbidden knowledge, which mostly comes from texts, drawings, or books you find in the Abyssal world. They usually contain secrets about creation, gods, and things like that, but they are often corrupt. You should know that the Awakened can understand all languages, and their speech is understood by everyone even if they speak another tongue. This is why I can speak to you easily, and it's also why you can understand languages from other worlds," Silas explained, clarifying the Awakened's ability to overcome language barriers.
'After all, communication is important, especially in a world that is being devoured. That's why I understand Elena even though she speaks Russian and she understands me though I speak Arabic. I remember reading about some problems that occurred among the Awakened due to the lack of a common language. I mean, it's true the Awakened can speak and write in their own language to other Awakened, but the problem was with ordinary humans — they could only understand the Awakened's speech, not their writing. Imagine how many problems happened when an ordinary human tried to read an Awakened's report about something important only to find it written in a language he didn't understand. So in the end the coalition decided to adopt English as the official language in their dealings. Awakened didn't have a problem with that; they could understand the language fully after awakening,'
I remembered something I read in a book about problems humanity faced after the Abyss fell. What a ridiculous problem — the world is on the brink of extinction and they're arguing over trivial things.
Silas's lecture continued for a full hour, then it was time for combat training.
'Finally something real. Why do they waste our time on studying? Just give us books and we'll read them. We're supposed to have strong memories, so we'll understand this stuff quickly and then focus on training. Won't that increase our chances of survival?' I complained internally as I stood and headed to the training ground.
I felt a hand touch me, so I turned. Elena — who else would touch me? I don't know anyone else.
"Hehe, that lecture was so boring I was about to sleep, but Professor Silas never misses a chance to tell my grandfather that I'm slacking," Elena laughed, talking about how badly she wanted to sleep.
"I bet it was very boring; after all, you already know all this, right?" I replied.
Elena answered, smiling proudly, "Of course. This lady managed to memorize all her lessons easily... ahem, I mean, they took my sweets. Can you imagine how harsh my father was?" she said with mock injustice at the end.
"Yeah, yeah, they're monsters anyway. You keep yawning in class — didn't you sleep last night?"
I couldn't ignore it; she had yawned maybe 15 times. Honestly, it's annoying — you know you yawn when you look at someone yawning, right? I had to hold back yawning 15 times because of her.
"You're right — I stayed up all night watching anime," Elena said, yawning again.
'For hell's sake, does this girl have any sense? Who watches anime when they're going to die in seven months if they don't get stronger? Ah, she's in a hopeless state,' I sighed internally, shocked by Elena's foolish actions. I doubted this girl's ability to survive the Abyss if she kept being careless.
We finally arrived at the training ground. Silas asked us to climb onto the big platform and gather around him.
"Okay everyone, I like to use my own method to teach fighting," Silas smiled and spoke slyly.
"Um, Professor, what exactly is your special method?" asked one of the girls with pink hair and blue eyes.
"Oh, good question. Simply put, I'll beat you all until you improve. So what are you waiting for? Attack me!" Silas answered, his smile widening until he looked like a real lunatic.
'That bastard, is he serious? Shouldn't he have us practice on dummies or something?' I thought, cold sweat forming down my back.
"Professor, please don't joke like that. I mean, at least shouldn't we have weapons?" the pink-haired girl asked, addressing Silas as if he were some kind of monster.
Silas's smile vanished and he stared at the students coldly.
"Joke? Weapons? Do you think the Awakened's life is simple! Listen, you idiots, if you don't change that way of thinking you'll die in the first minute in the Abyssal world. Do you think you'll fight Corruption monsters and be in perfect condition? Don't joke with me. You'll fight them while tired, starving, thirsty, and your body full of wounds. What will you do if you don't have armor, a sword, or even a stick? Will you beg a Corruption creature to wait until you're in better shape? If you understand me, attack. Or I'll come to you myself," Silas shouted angrily, putting pressure on the students so that they bent their knees and trembled with fear.
When the students were trying to grasp the situation, one of them moved and struck toward Silas. It was Elena — she tried to aim a blow at Silas's face directly, but he easily caught her wrist.
"As expected from you, that aura won't affect you like the others, but such a simple attack is useless," Silas pointed out the flaws in her strike.
But Elena smiled despite that and said, "Attack? That was just a distraction."
"???"
Before Silas could understand, someone appeared behind them out of nowhere. It was Starwalkers heir . His hand was wrapped in a purple aura sprinkled with countless stars as he threw a punch with all his force at Silas's back.
"Oh, how bold," Silas mocked as he turned quickly while still holding Elena's wrist and pulling her with him.
He formed a shield of shadow with his hand and blocked the boy's punch calmly.
"I expected more than this, hmm?!!" Elena's hand, which he had been holding, shone with a bright light and a beam of light shot out, targeting Silas's face directly.
Silas released both of them and tried to leap back, but he couldn't, surprised at the reason. He looked down at his foot to find it chained to the ground by a chain of darkness.
'This darkness — it's weakening my shard!!' Silas was surprised by the three's attack. They hardly knew each other, but to be able to form such a plan was commendable.
Silas thought as he watched the light beam approach; the Singular's thoughts were so fast that time itself seemed slow.
" You three are amazing, but how foolish to think you have a chance against me," Silas said as he increased his aura and shattered the chain of darkness like glass. A shadow rose from the ground and went up, easily blocking the beam of light.
'For hell's sake, I knew they'd block it, but not so easily.'
The three were surprised their attack failed like that.
"What? Is that all? Do you want to tell me it's only three brave individuals who dared face me?" Silas scolded the others and ordered them to attack him.
The students snapped out of their shock, took up battle stances, and summoned various kinds of shards.
"Oh, finally some real fighting. This will be very fun," Silas took a step forward, smiling playfully.
.....
After three hours
Nox collapsed on his back, breathing heavily.
"Hah, hah, hah."
Nox looked at Silas,and his body groaning in pain.
'Three hours — after all this time this bastard didn't sweat at all. He kept beating everyone without care. Elena took the brunt and is now lying on the ground like me.' I looked toward Elena, who was moving in pain.
'That bastard, how dare he harm a girl like that? He hit her in the face — what will he do if she gets a scar on that angelic face? Isn't she the director's granddaughter? Didn't he fear the director hitting him? Never mind, that old bastard is Useless — the day will come when I'll hit Silas's face in revenge for me and for Elena,' I quietly swore vengeance on Silas even if I died for it.
'By the way, this arena is really sturdy. It didn't get damaged even after all this fighting,' I thought as I touched the hard stone beneath me. It was made of a strange kind of tough rock.
"Okay everyone, the training is over. I must say You're disappointed me. I didn't even use 10% of my power and you're acting like zombies," Silas sighed and shook his head in obvious disappointment.
'I could say that, but they did well. If you praise them, They will become arrogant and useless. . ' Silas thought as he looked at the three who had attacked him, then focused his gaze on Nox, who was breathing deeply.
'Especially this boy. Unlike the two who attacked directly, he stayed in the back and used his strength at the right moment. People like him deserve praise — he waited behind, analyzed the situation, then attacked when needed. He'd been fighting from the rear all along. That's because he didn't know much about close combat, but he tried to compensate with traps here and there. I hit him several times to force him into close combat. He must learn that tactics won't always succeed; there is still a need for strength in the Abyssal world,' Silas reviewed the previous fight in his mind. Well, he called it a battle, but he had been beating them one-sidedly.
'I wonder why this boy wasn't afraid of me or of pain. Were his living conditions harsh so he doesn't care how much pain he endures? Poor thing,' Silas shook his head and sighed pityingly, then turned and left, leaving the students on the ground.
"Ugh, damn, that hurts a lot."
Nox stood complaining about the pain, then went toward Elena who sat on the ground.
"Can you stand?" I offered my hand, worried about her condition.
Elena looked at me with obvious pain in her eyes, then took my hand and stood.
"Are you okay?" Nox asked anxiously, seeing her expression.
Elena touched her cheek, reddened from Silas's blow, speaking with tears forming in her eyes.
"Nox, h-he hit me in the face. No one has ever hit me in the face before," Elena said, tears gathering.
"Huh?! Calm down, there's no need to cry. Isn't there a clinic? Let's go there and get treated quickly, okay? Please," I tried to calm her, speaking quickly.
Elena wiped her tears.
"Okay, let's go," she said in a calm, sad voice.
"Phew," I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw she was finally clam.
'It's over. I'll kill Silas, but first I'll torture him so he becomes unrecognizable,' my eyes turned cold as I thought of all kinds of torture I'd do to Silas.
Elena and I and the other students went to the clinic and received proper treatment, then I decided to take her to the cafeteria. Food would make her smile again.
"This ramen is so delicious~" Elena smiled as she chewed happily.
'Good, she finally smiled,' I thought while eating my own bowl of ramen.
'Oh, this is really tasty!'
Elena and I ate many dishes until the other students looked at us like we were crazy.
When we finished eating we decided to leave, but noticed someone approaching us. It was Starwalkers heir.
'Hmm? What does he want now?' Elena and I stared at him, waiting for him to speak.
"Hello, Miss WhiteHaven — and ? Sorry, I didn't have the chance to know your name at the library," he said, nodding politely.
"Hello, Mr. Starwalkers. Please call me Elena — we are the same age I'll be embarrassed if you address me too formally . And also, Let me introduce you to each other. ," Elena turned to him and continued the conversation.
"Nox, this is Sora Starwalkers," she introduced.
She turned to Sora again.
"Sora this is nox"
"nice to meet you, Nox"
he said, bowing slightly as a sign of respect.
'The Starwalkers family is from Japan — that explains his name and his refined behavior, but he's a strange kid,' I thought as I looked at him.
"Nice to meet you too," I returned the greeting. After all, I am a polite person — a person without morals worse than an animal in my view.
"So, Sora, can Nox or I help you with something?" Elena asked again, speaking to him differently than usual — more formally.
"Actually, I wanted to discuss cooperation between the three of us, if you don't mind," Sora revealed his intention.
"Cooperation?" Elena tilted her head toward me with clear confusion.
Fortunately Sora spoke again to explain.
"Yes, cooperation in today's fight. I saw that the three of us worked well together, especially you, Nox. you were in the back, but I noticed your precise strikes that clearly annoyed the professor," Sora said, fixing his gaze on me.
"Oh, so in short you want to cooperate in fighting so we can at least deal some damage or mount a proper attack on Professor Silas. Am I wrong?" I interpreted Sora's words as I looked at him.
Sora nodded in agreement.
"That's what I mean. What do you think?"
"First of all, I can understand cooperating with Elena, but are you sure you want to team up with someone from the Common like me?" I narrowed my eyes at Sora.
"Strength is what matters. You're from the common, yes, but all families were founded by people who were once ordinary humans. It's only been 60 years since the Abyss fell — it's not like I have a heroic history. My grandfather was lucky to obtain the Space shard, so what does it matter? It's your mindset: you'll either remain weak or become stronger," Sora replied calmly.
His words surprised both of us.
"Hmm, you're right. As for my answer, I'm in. I want nothing more than to punch Silas's face," I agreed to his offer and looked at Elena to hear her decision.
"I don't mind either," Elena smiled and agreed.
"Thank you. If you don't mind, would you like to go train now? Especially you, Nox — it's obvious your physical side needs training. I'll help you myself. You can also ask me about manipulating shards; I'm good at it. After all, the 'Space' shard needs strong manipulation," Sora suggested, waiting for their answer.
I turned to Elena.
"Shall we go?" I asked for her opinion.
"Of course. I'll help you train too," she said, standing excitedly with a wide smile.
After we cleared our dishes, we headed back to the training ground.
We stood in one of the smaller arenas waiting for Sora to speak , after all, he made the suggestion.
"So, shall we begin?"