"Woah."
The airship was a majestic behemoth, powered by an S-grade mana crystal that could keep it floating for nearly eight years. It was a floating palace, designed to accommodate an entire homeroom from the academy, so with the S-class's sparse numbers, there were countless vacant rooms.
Onboard, the ship boasted impressive training facilities and an array of gourmet food and drinks that, frustratingly, I couldn't indulge in because of this stupid curse.
Our group, designated as Group 18, was the last to board, while all the other groups had already settled in.
I glanced to my left and spotted Liora standing nearby.
Then an interesting question came to mind, and I decided to ask her.
"How much does this cost?"
I asked, pointing toward the airship.
"Eight billion union credits. You want to buy this? You still owe me twenty thousand Lumi credits, by the way."
'Eight billion? I guess I'm not buying this thing in several lifetimes.'
"...I'll pay it back later."
"What did you do with those credits? I thought you had barely spent any since the entrance exam."
'Just some potions that are for saving lives, but I can't really tell her that right now.'
"Something. Also, remember what I said?"
She shrugged and replied in a nonchalant tone,
"To follow your absolute orders in two days. But why?"
"You'll find out soon..."
I walked towards my assigned room, which was right next to my group mates' rooms. It was surprising how quickly they assigned us each room once we formed a group.
But I guess it's a given since they have such advanced technology.
As a result, the room adjacent to me is Liora's and in front of us are the boys, Ryder and Aldric.
'A hero, a sword maniac, a royal princess, and there's me, a nobody.'
'What a crazy set up.'
I sank into the plush comfort of the bed, gazing up at the ceiling.
Slowly, I placed my hand over my eyes, allowing myself a moment.
'Lately, it seems that I am becoming so emotionally unstable. That emotional outburst is not normal given my personality. Is it because whenever the saint dies, the whole run in the game is ruined? And I subconsciously relied heavily on the saintess because she was such an important character in the world.'
"Haah…"
I reached into my subspace and took out a [Refillable Water Bottle (Large Version)]. It was an item that the old Alyssa had stored there. I hadn't really checked my subspace, so there's a lot of stuff that the old me left behind.
'Appraisal'
[Refillable Water Bottle (Large Version)].
A water bottle that is enriched with a subspace rune.
Water left : 7 Gallons
"Damn, this is actually a lifesaver."
Since I can't feel dehydration, I've been taking a sip of water every 10 minutes.
'I don't want to die of dehydration just because I forgot I can feel dehydrated.'
I got up on the bed and sat in a lotus position, placing both hands on my knees. This is the most effective position to meditate in the game, and it should be the same here as well.
I focused on my mana core and activated [Overdrive]. Using [Overdrive] during combat differs from meditating with it. The effects are more towards depleting my mana quicker rather than strengthening and sustaining myself.
By causing controlled explosions inside the mana veins, it can either damage them or provide a quick burst of mana for each attack. It also regenerates mana faster this way, making it a powerful technique for fighting and training.
"Ugh."
The mana inside my body was going haywire. Each path of the explosion left damage on my mana veins.
[Overdrive] is a very dangerous technique, I just realized.
In the game, it had a description warning of a high potential for death, but users never died from it since it was just a game, and the training was handled automatically.
It was also never mentioned in the novel.
The weird thing is, the novel never actually finished.
'The ending was never finished.'
As mana refills and heals the mana veins, they grow stronger and can accommodate more mana.
But the downside is, if you can't control the explosions, that mana vein is basically damaged forever, hence the high probability of death.
But this is child's play for me. The reason why all the players failed to clear the nightmare mode wasn't just because there were so many outcomes, but also the combat aspect of the game.
It required precise timing and insane combos to execute even one move.
The control one needs over the mouse and keyboard is inhumane.
You have to be perfect in every aspect during battles and events to ensure your character doesn't die, while also dealing with other things that can affect the run.
Hence why the game was a literal nightmare for gamers alike.
'And that's why I suffered for eight years. Hah...'
But since it's inside my body, I can control it with even greater precision.
[Overdrive] is literally only possible if one has precise control over their body. It could work well for martial artists, but none have ever tried this manual before.
There are several levels of [Overdrive].
I'm currently on the 3rd realm, where one starts causing mana explosions in their minor veins alongside the major veins. Before reaching the 3rd realm, one only induces explosions by overdriving the mana in small areas of the major veins.
The 4th realm is similar but allows for more mana explosions to occur.
The highest realm, the 7th realm, allows you to induce explosions in your mana core, where most of your mana resides.
This leads to explosive growth, making it a popular manual among players.
But the most important aspect of this manual for me is the 5th realm. It allows one to cause mana explosions throughout their whole body, except for certain parts like the brain and heart.
Yes, it can train your whole body, increasing all stats, including strength, when practicing.
This is why the technique is ranked [Unknown], as its potential is unknown.
Manuals with ranks, such as [Diaz Style (S+)] from Ronan, only allow users to progress to the limit of S+ prowess, provided their talent grade is the same or higher.
One can still reach above S+ in their ranks, but the techniques only allow powers of their respective rank and below.
If one uses a lower manual than their actual output of strength, the manual will be unstable as it is not designed to handle such power.
People of this world grade manuals in a different way, but I don't know why they would detach from the usual letter grading as they used for talent grades.
"Huff..Huff.."
'I barely meditated for two minutes before I had to stop.'
The pain was too great even for me, who had endured a brutal beating for 70 hours.
I took another sip of water and continued my training.
'I need to quickly elevate my powers before we arrive.'
One might think that I am advancing at an astonishing rate, but this is only in the lower ranks.
One can break through from B- rank to B+ rank in a year, given their resources and enough talent. But from there onwards, it can take multiple years or even decades to advance to A-.
It only gets harder from there. Each minor rank has its own requirements to advance.
Players have the option to skip training and set their characters on auto mode to train, which was probably the only great feature the game had.
But after A+ rank, one can't break through using normal means. They can't just train endlessly; they must find opportunities for their character to advance.
Players can choose any named NPCs to play with, and each one can affect the game in numerous ways. But the easiest to play with was definitely the hero or the saintess, both with insane growth and stats compared to all other named NPCs.
I also cleared the nightmare mode using the hero, as other characters were simply too weak to begin with.
"I greatly underestimated how harsh this training is. No wonder characters get such an insane power boost."
'I want to try automating the process at some point, meaning this manual will still be active even if I talk or eat.'
But for now, I have to do it manually.
---
Aldric's Pov
'She's in her room all huddled up again. She's been in there for 2 DAYS. Two days without coming out; how the hell is she living in there?'
Next to me is Ryder, who is busily eating his steak before we head off the airship and relocate to a hotel.
In front of me is Ivan Levine, a nerd with glasses, brown hair, and eyes, who is always reading academic journals.
Next to him is Roland Valen, with silver hair, violet eyes, and the grandson of this academy's headmaster.
They are maniacs in their respective fields but it's all silent.
'This is awkward. I need to quickly start a conversation.'
"Hey, did you guys hear about what happened on the border of Dukedom Serathia? Apparently, a mid-grade demon appeared and killed everyone living in that small town?"
"..."
'Wait, these guys are ignoring me! I thought it was pretty interesting, but these people are really boring. Why am I bundled up with them again? Oh, right, I thought it was cool going to see what Ryder usually talks about instead of being all quiet.'
Hm, the only thing that can make Ryder react is the rank 1 spot, but he's already taken it. Should I mention Alyssa to him? He seems very fixated on her, even now.
"Hey, do you know why Alyssa has been staying in her room for two days without coming out?"
An expression that Ryder never showed before has appeared.
'... A frown? He actually frowned? Even when there was an accident with that demon, he never frowned before.'
"Are you a stalker, Aldric?"
Ivan suddenly spoke.
"No? I just dropped off a box of cupcakes in front of her door, but she never moved them."
"Hmm. Last time she locked herself in, she was studying, no?"
"There's nothing to study right now!"
He then looked at me, dumbfounded.
"Studying other stuff, and remember, it's not always just about school work."
'Oh, right.'
"Anyways, Ryder, what do you think happened?"
"She's mentally insane."
"Huh, you're saying that again? Maybe she is, after her sudden outburst."
Ivan and Roland looked at us with confusion etched on their faces.
'Right, these two already formed their group and left the room early on before Alyssa's freak out.'
I quickly said something, but Ryder interrupted me.
"She—"
"She's just training."
'Huh? He called her mentally insane moments ago and now changed to just training?'
Roland quickly replied with a hint of disgust.
"What do you mean?"
"..."
"Exactly what I meant, she's training."
"That piece of waste is training? Don't you know how futile that is? During the entrance exam, she had a talent grade of B. I'm surprised she even got chosen to be put into S class, where everyone's talent is S or higher."
Roland kept mocking Alyssa with all sorts of things related to her prowess until Ryder finally snapped.
"Enough! Quiet down and eat your food."
'I've never seen Ryder get this angry before.'
Roland finally stopped and resumed eating his perfectly medium-rare steak.
The table was all quiet again, only the sounds of other tables were present.
I quickly finished my food and set off to my room, eager for our arrival at the City of Ardentis.
I walked past Alyssa's room and noticed the box of cupcakes still sitting outside her door. Feeling a pang of disappointment, I quickly entered my own room.
However, as soon as I glanced out the window, my dismay evaporated. There, in the distance, was the massive colosseum where the battles would take place.
'I can't wait to experience the Arena myself!'
Excitement surged through me as I hurriedly packed my belongings into my subspace. I had always wanted to compete against other youths beyond Liora and Ryder.
Two weeks ago, when it was announced that we would be visiting Ardentis for five days to cover the entire tournament of the Arena for this month, I registered as a contender. Now, the long-awaited moment was finally here.
Ding
A window popped up.
[We have arrived at the City of Ardentis. Please prepare to head off the airship in less than thirty minutes.]
'Finally!'