8. Cheongsol’s Beautiful Tradition
That night.
Han Seol went to his personal training ground as usual.
The difference from other times was that he had three skill books in his possession that day.
“Aura skills, huh…?”
The method of applying skills was surprisingly simple.
Hold the skill book in your hand and declare that you are acquiring the name of the skill book, and the skill book turns into smoke and the skill is applied.
However, Han Seol deliberately did not acquire the aura skills and kept them.
Because the moment he acquired aura skills, he would not be able to learn the divinity he had wanted.
However, the unique skill system of this world was not without interest to Han Seol.
In this world, skills were important, but skill luck was also one of the very important factors.
If ability was achieved through effort, skills were literally determined by luck.
Acquiring a skill did not mean that its effect was applied 100%.
In short, it was gambling.
If you were lucky, you could get 100% at once or close to 100%, but if you were unlucky, you could get a low percentage.
However, there was no need to be disappointed.
Because you could reset the percentage as many times as you wanted by using the same skill book.
Of course, there was also the possibility of aiming for 100% from 90% and getting 1%, and vice versa was also possible.
Naturally, a lot of money would be spent, but on the flip side, as long as you had money, you could purchase the same skill book as many times as you wanted to aim for 100%.
And if the skills were the same, the effects were cumulative.
For example, if you learned Mana D skill and then learned Mana C skill, it didn’t mean that Mana D skill disappeared, but the effect of C skill was cumulatively applied on top of the effect of D skill.
Also, to learn a higher rank of the same skill, the percentage of the lower skill had to be over 90% as a basic requirement.
For example, you couldn’t acquire Mana C skill if Mana D skill was at 50%.
‘Even so, it’s undeniable that skills are definitely convenient.’
In the world he lived in his previous life, mages had to cultivate meditation and mental concentration that seemed to strip their souls in order to absorb mana.
That wasn’t the end.
Knights aiming to become sword masters had to train to convert mana into aura at that stage, and that process was nothing short of extreme efforts that seemed to carve their bones.
Naturally, it was a prerequisite that innate talent had to be the foundation for that.
But in this world, if you had money, you could skip such a process just by learning skills.
If the knights associated with Han Seol in his previous life knew, they would have shed tears of blood and hit the ground in frustration, but Han Seol’s thoughts were a bit different.
It was definitely a big merit to be able to acquire mana and use aura just with skills.
But they could only use what was given to them.
If they acquired mana force, they could only use magic skills, and if they acquired aura force, they couldn’t use skills other than action skills.
As a result, the range of strength narrowed, and they had no choice but to compensate for each other’s lacking aspects through groups such as teams, parties, or guilds.
On the other hand, Han Seol knew how to become strong on his own, except for divinity.
In the first place, divinity was the exclusive property of a few chosen by God in his previous life, so this world where divinity could be purchased with money was a big merit to Han Seol.
Moreover, Han Seol’s mana breathing technique was very special.
It was developed by the sword genius Jebius von Tristan and improved and passed down by the empress blessed with mana.
Therefore, although it may start out weak, it had the characteristic of increasing mana tremendously like a snowball as time passed.
However, the flow of mana was extremely minimal in this underground.
Even in his previous life, places where mana was this scarce were rare.
Perhaps even if he trained here for a lifetime, he wouldn’t be able to restore even 1/10 of the mana he had in his previous life.
That was because the area where Cheongsol Academy was located was a developing zone, the outskirts of underground Seoul.
Due to the construction that was always ongoing because of the underground city expansion plan, dust floated hazily in the air, and the exhaust fumes from the factories concentrated in this area were always mixed in the air.
Moreover, the ventilation facilities were also the worst in this zone, so it was nonsense to expect abundant and clean mana here.
‘I have no choice but to look forward to the surface.’
Han Seol had no choice but to hope for the possibility remaining on the surface.
* * *
Finally, the long-awaited summer vacation began.
Students who failed the midterm exams with heavy footsteps and those who passed with lighter hearts than ever headed home.
Because all students lived in dormitories, the vacation was the only time when students whose homes were far away and who had difficulty meeting their families even on weekends could meet their families.
However, Han Seol only had a phone call with his parents and did not return home.
They were such affectionate parents that his desire to meet them was strong, but he had something he had to do now.
Now that most of the students had gone home, the 1st year gymnasium was practically rented out by him.
The reason he said most was because there were students who stayed in the dormitory to take supplementary classes even though they passed the practical exam but failed the academic exam.
Of course, that would also end in a week, so the dormitory would also be completely empty a week later.
In the first place, Han Seol was also at the top of his year in academic subjects, so he didn’t need to care about supplementary classes at all.
Swish, rustle… Pat! Whoosh! Swish swish swish!
Han Seol definitely took advantage of the privilege of using the spacious gym alone.
In the secret training ground next to the storage room, the space was cramped and he couldn’t move as he wanted, but here, no matter how much he moved his body, there was still space left.
Of course, if he regained all his skills from his previous life, even a gym this size would be cramped, but now it was overflowing.
‘Power is a problem to think about later. For now, I’ll start by getting my body accustomed to the swordsmanship of my previous life.’
The body of Rohan, the previous life, was the best body that inherited the genes of Jebius von Tristan, called the sword genius.
It was infuriating for Han Seol, but he couldn’t deny the fact that that body was more suitable for the sword and inherited more talent than his current body.
Han Seol’s current body was an extremely ordinary 15-year-old child’s body that inherited the genes of extremely ordinary men and women.
No matter how much Han Seol trained to the extreme, it was unreasonable to use the emperor’s swordsmanship created by Jebius as it was.
It was the same now.
When he was 15-year-old Rohan in the past, it was a basic stance that he could unfold without even disturbing his breathing.
However, the current Han Seol had to lie on the gym floor in a (大) shape and gasp for breath without even unfolding half of it.
“Huff, huff…!”
His clothes were soaked with sweat, and small cramps occurred in his arms and legs.
Thanks to his experience and sense from his previous life, it ended with only small cramps, but if not, it wouldn’t have been strange if he had suffered muscle tears or ligament injuries.
In particular, the food was too lacking.
Even after moving like this, the only food provided by the academy was nutrient tubes and capsules, so it was inevitable that the alarm in his stomach went off 24 hours a day.
However, Han Seol quickly got up from his seat.
If it was something that could be solved by complaining to someone, he would have done it long ago.
But it’s not like the situation would improve by doing that, right?
Then there was no choice but to face reality and do his best according to the situation.
If he wanted to eat delicious food abundantly, he had no choice but to desperately crawl up to a position where he could do so.
As he was about to start training again after a short break, an unwelcome guest came to Han Seol.
“Are you Han Seol?”
‘Woo Min-woo?’
The person who came to the gym to find Han Seol was someone who was not in Han Seol’s memory, at least.
However, judging by the color of his name tag, it was certain that he was a senior one year above him.
But his condition was very strange.
Cold sweat was flowing from his forehead, his aimless eyes were wandering, and his restless appearance didn’t seem to have come with good intentions.
“Do you know Seong-min? Jeong Seong-min, 2nd year 1st place. He says he wants to see you for a moment. I’m sorry, but can you make some time? If you don’t follow me now, bigger problems might occur later. Sorry…”
“I understand. Please lead the way.”
Han Seol quietly followed Woo Min-woo as he said.
The place he arrived following him was behind the 2nd year building, located in the blind spot of CCTVs.
Moreover, it was during the vacation period, so teachers and other students rarely came this way.
Jeong Seong-min and his gang, who had arrived first, were waiting for Han Seol there.
“Oh, seeing you here like this, it’s really nice to meet you! Right? Han Seol, have you been well all this time?”
“Stop the lousy acting and tell me what you want quickly if you have any business.”
“Lo-lousy?”
“You didn’t call me here to exchange pleasantries, right?”
At Han Seol’s precise point, Jeong Seong-min, the 2nd year TOP, let out a chuckle and brought up the main topic.
“You, don’t act so arrogant just because you’re a 1st year top dog. Just because your friends and instructors praise you a bit, do your respectable seniors look like dogs to you?”
“Well, you do look like that right now.”
“Wha-what? This bastard, when I see you…”
However, ignoring Jeong Seong-min’s anger, Han Seol scratched his head with his finger and pondered deeply.
No matter how much of a jerk they were, there must be a reason why they were taking the time to mess with him like this.
The 3rd years who were about to graduate would be out of the academy during the summer vacation to help pro hunters with field training, so they would definitely not be here…
The 2nd years would be focusing on training even during the vacation period to prepare for their 3rd year, so there was no way they were waiting here to play with Han Seol.
Then, one fact suddenly came to mind.
“Ah, is it that? The unwritten rule of Cheongsol that the skill books received by the top three 1st years must be taken by the seniors? Whatever it is, is that why you came to find me?”
“You know it well. You bastard. And it’s not ‘taken’, it’s a ‘gift’, you brat. Are you ignoring the beautiful and heartwarming tradition of Cheongsol where junior students give gifts to their senior students, saying, ‘Please take good care of us in the future’?”
Skill books were expensive.
And the more you owned, the higher the probability of acquiring skills with high percentages of that grade.
Naturally, such bad practices arose.
Of course, Han Seol had no intention of following such bad practices even the slightest bit.
“If we cause a problem, it won’t end quietly for both of us, right?”
“Don’t worry. Only you and this guy will be screwed.”
With those words, the person Jeong Seong-min pushed from behind was none other than Woo Min-woo, who had brought him here.
“What are you doing? Go and beat up that bastard. Or do you want your head shoved in the toilet again?”
“Ah, okay. I’ll do it!”
In the trembling hands of Woo Min-woo, who was pushed like that, there was a real sword, not a training sword.
“I’m sorry… I’m really sorry…”
Han Seol looked at Woo Min-woo, who was tearfully begging for forgiveness, and Jeong Seong-min’s gang, who were giggling while watching their situation, with cold eyes.
