Even so, there is a limit to how much one can draw out externally.
However, if the conductor of mana is a 'sword', that limit disappears.
For now, Cha Nayun had only just barely taken her first steps, so it was still severely lacking, but that was precisely the reason she had to be a swordsman.
"...Wh-what?"
Cha Nayun pushed me away. Tucking her hair behind her ear, she gripped her sword once more.
"I only messed up a little because I let my guard down. Watch closely."
It was a bold declaration from Cha Nayun.
...For an instant, I felt a strange gaze. Eyes that seemed to look down on me from somewhere.
I raised my head.
On the rooftop of a not-so-tall building stood a woman.
"..."
Our eyes met. For some reason, I felt like I knew who she was. She looked exactly as I had imagined.
"Yaaaah—!"
Cha Nayun charged with a loud shout. Startled, I looked ahead, then back up. She was gone.
I felt a slight pang of guilt toward the woman who had vanished.
She was Tomer, the villain who was originally meant to be the owner of the Ether.
"Hey! Save me!"
I heard Cha Nayun's cry.
"...What the hell."
True to form, Cha Nayun had managed to cut off one of the golem's legs and one arm, but its remaining arm and two legs had grabbed onto her, leaving her dangling limply.
"Help! Help! Uh, whoaaa!"
The moment Cha Nayun flapped her arms and screamed, the golem flung her far into the distance.
* * *
"Ughhh~ Ah, I'm exhausted."
Meanwhile, in the analysis room of the Essence Strait Headquarters, I Jina stretched out after wrestling with her computer for two hours.
A fellow hero approached her and said,
"Not going well? I told you to let the clerks handle that."
The task I Jina was currently working on involved determining a dungeon's mana concentration based on the monsters inhabiting it and the dungeon's structure, estimating the terrain—traps where the concentration changed instantaneously—and predicting the variables present there.
It was a task that would take a team of clerks a whole week.
"I just need to predict one more variable and I'm done. Plus, I'm smarter than them."
Heroes surpassed ordinary people in every field. I Jina was overflowing with the self-awareness that she had inherited such genes. She was also a hero renowned for being exceptionally talented in analysis.
"Isn't that supposed to be a giant dungeon?"
"Yeah."
"You're doing all that alone? You're seriously incredible."
The fellow hero, about to leave after a nod layered with various meanings, suddenly spotted the paper on the desk next to her.
"Hey, what's this?"
I Jina glanced over at the paper.
"Dunno."
"Isn't this yours? You calculate with a pen too?"
"...What are you talking about."
The fellow hero was scanning it with curious eyes, so I Jina snatched it away. Various calculations and sentences were written on a sheet of A4 paper.
"Ah. So he wrote it."
"Who?"
"Some trainee. The one who was top of the class in theory. Pfft. I guess he knows a thing or two, scribbling stuff like this."
"Yeah? Hey, read it anyway. It looked pretty impressive."
"Impressive, my ass."
She snorted but began reading through it.
It wasn't out of mere curiosity, but a desire to feel intellectually superior. To see how ignorant and foolish this trainee was, deluded into thinking himself special when he only possessed crude, shabby knowledge...
But as she read the trainee's report line by line, I Jina's face grew stiffer and stiffer.
The calculations were clean and concise, the reasoning persuasive without flaw, but more than anything, what caught the eye was the creative approach.
"...What."
When she finally finished reading it, that was all I Jina could say.
It was because the conclusion that should have been at the end was missing, along with the decisive sentence leading up to it. It felt far more unpleasant and uncomfortable than being interrupted mid-dump, or a song cutting off right at its highlight.
"Ah, what is it."
Even though she knew nothing was there, I Jina flipped the A4 sheet over.
"Give it here. Let me see too."
The fellow hero slowly reached out her hand.
"What do you think you're doing."
Smack.
I Jina smacked it away and carefully tucked the A4 sheet into her chest.
"Hey. You said it wasn't yours. Then finders keepers."
"What. I'm the one who 'requested' it first, okay?"
* * *
"Ah, I'm tired."
It was almost 9 p.m. by the time I returned home.
Evangel was asleep on the sofa. I carried her to my bed and laid her down. After tucking her in, I stepped out.
"...Hmm."
Debating whether to wash up or just go to sleep, I suddenly remembered and took out the butterfly sapling powder I had hidden inside the kitchen cabinets.
Spirit powder glowing brilliantly with a blue light.
I noticed it every time I looked, but the amount was substantial. Enough that even a three-way split wouldn't leave anyone wanting.
"I really feel like I could use some too....."
I had actually tried dividing it once.
Exactly 1:1:1.
The amount was sufficient. Meaning I could easily sneak in my own share.
Then again, strike while the iron is hot. Since it crossed my mind today, I might as well go all in.
I had already decided how to use it.
Using it on my body would be a waste. I can check my status on my notebook, and I have no potential. Only SP.
So what I'll use it on is the 'item' I've already chosen.
Ether.
I pulled out the Ether and set it on the table. It condensed into a sphere slightly smaller than a soccer ball. Then, I took exactly one-third of the butterfly sapling powder.
The powder was simple to use. You just sprinkled it.
I sprinkled the powder over the Ether.
Like falling snowflakes, blue light seeped into the Ether. The powder glowed softly from the Ether's central core.
Now I just had to wait until it spread throughout the entire Ether.
Tick-tock—
Just then, my smartwatch alarm went off.
[Hey. Thanks for today. But]
It was from Cha Nayun. I stared at the message. It was because of the word 'but.' Something should naturally follow 'but.'
But Cha Nayun didn't send anything after that 'but' for ten minutes. Eventually, I got frustrated and sent one first.
[What]
Cha Nayun's reply was fast.
[What do you mean]
I sent one quickly too.
[What]
Cha Nayun's reply was the same.
[What]
"...Sigh."
[Just go to sleep]
[Lolol you bastard lolol]
The message thread ended there.
But looking at the message history, I was suddenly struck by a strange feeling.
Starting as an extra with no connection to the main story, I had somehow made it this far. If I had to assign myself a role now, wouldn't I be a 'supporting character'? An as-yet undetermined supporting character who could still change.
—Tick-tock
Just as I was soaking in sentiment, another message arrived.
[Next Friday, there will be a shareholders' meeting for the Demon Slayer Master.]
"...Looks like he's going to announce the raid strategy."
Finally, the Demon Slayer Master was making his move. It meant the day I'd make a fortune wasn't far off.
—Tick-tock
Another message came from an unknown number.
"What kind of day is it today? I'm getting so many messages."
But this message made me frown the moment I saw it. A rather ill-mannered person.
[Hey. Trainee Gim Hajin? It's I Jina, we met the other day. Can we talk for a moment?]
Would you want to if you were me?
I ignored it without replying, but she called immediately. I didn't answer that either. Then another message came.
[Ah, right. You're coming to the guild tomorrow anyway, right? Let's talk then.]
Nope. I already have a rough idea of how the guild works, so one day of experience was plenty. I have to look after Evangel, I need to start preparing for the main story, and I've got a lot on my plate.
I sent a message to Bak Sangho, whose contact I'd gotten beforehand.
[Hero Bak Sangho. I don't think I can continue the experience.]
[What? Why?]
Bak Sangho immediately sent a reply.
I was going to say it was for personal reasons, but quite an amusing thought crossed my mind, so I changed my message. Truth be told, despite how I might seem, I'm a total Type A.
[Someone told me to quit. She said I was a parachute hire ranked 934th and looked down on me. I'd rather give the spot to another trainee than be treated like that...... I'm sorry.]
End.
Late night.
Yu Yeonha was focused intently on her computer. There was a lot to take care of today. No, it had passed midnight, so yesterday's guild experience needed to be organized, and she had to upload a recruitment notice to the Purple Banquet.
[Recruitment Notice for Information Guild—'Nakhwa']
[Newly established information guild Nakhwa is recruiting top elite agents.]
Founding an information guild. It was something she had been preparing for a long time.
Of course, Essence Strait had its own intelligence team, but that alone wasn't enough. The Strait needed independent 'shadows' who dealt solely in information.
With that in mind, Yu Yeonha had spent the past year preparing the information guild's system, and had now reached the stage of recruiting members.
"...Rather than wait for that lazy person, I might as well do it myself."
Yu Yeonha then suddenly thought of Yu Jinhyeok again and growled like a wildcat.
Meow—
Yu Yeonha's smartwatch alarm went off. She had personally set it to a cat ringtone.
The sender was Cha Nayun. Yu Yeonha checked the message.
[Hey, did you watch the video from when you fought the stone golem yesterday?]
True to form, Cha Nayun had asked something out of nowhere.
[Yeah. Why?]
The moment Yu Yeonha replied, a barrage of messages followed.
[No, I mean that]
[You know, that thing]
[What should I call it, that thing is a bit]
[I'm a bit]
Yu Yeonha let out a sigh.
She had a rough idea of what this girl was trying to say.
[The thing where Gim Hajin helped you? That got captured properly. He hugged you tight.]
[No, fuck, why'd you watch that]
[Because I have to write a report.]
These days, drones were dispatched even faster than heroes. Once a report came in, drones were sent from the nearest hangar to determine if it was real within a minute, and only then did heroes mobilize.
As a result, the scene of Gim Hajin releasing mana to pull Cha Nayun into a hug remained captured in very high definition.
[Argh, you better not spread that]
[I won't spread it, lol. But, was it nice?]
[Nice, my ass. Hey. Anyway, I'm going to a seminar with Gim Suho next Tuesday. You coming?]
Cha Nayun hurriedly changed the subject. Yu Yeonha replied curtly.
[Nope.]
[Sin Jonghak is coming, too]
[I'll go.]
Just then, a lion's roar sounded from her smartwatch.
This time it was a call.
The caller was Bak Sangho.
Yu Yeonha answered without a second thought.
"Yes. Hero Bak Sangho."
"—Um, Yeonha."
Bak Sangho blurted out urgently the moment she answered.
Yu Yeonha's initially calm face immediately contorted.
"—It seems Jina sent Hajin a separate message. She says it wasn't her intention, but Hajin said he can't continue the experience because of it......"
"What? I understand. Hang up for now."
Yu Yeonha bit her lips hard.
"That woman is insane. I was already struggling to coax him into signing a preliminary contract, and now she pulls this?"
"Fucking hell."
Yu Yeonha felt genuine rage for the first time in a long while. I Jina. She had endured her nitpicking because she was capable. There was no point in antagonizing her—she was a talent who would eventually end up under Yu Yeonha anyway.
"But today, I can't endure it."
No, I mustn't endure it.
"I was hoping I'd never have to use this, but......"
Yu Yeonha took a deep breath.
"Maximizing this method's effect requires a lot of mental preparation. My face turns red just imagining it, but now is the time to grow a thick skin."
Huuuuuh—
After three more deep breaths, Yu Yeonha called someone.
He answered quickly.
Yu Yeonha twisted her tongue with all her might.
"...Mm, Daddy~ what were you doing up so late~?"
* * *
The next morning. The Essence Strait Vice-Guild Master's office.
I Jina stood ramrod straight before Vice Guildmaster Jeong Cheolsu. With a face both wronged and indignant, she protested about what had happened yesterday.
“No, I mean, Vice Guildmaster. First of all, after he left, I did send him a text. But—”
“So you admit you sent him a private text. How did you get his number?”
“Well, I have a classmate at Cube who’s an assistant instructor…”
The vice guildmaster let out a sigh.
“What a mess.”
“No, but I swear I didn’t send it with any intention of threatening him.”
I Jina felt so stifled by the situation that she was about to go insane.
“I didn’t explain the details, so I can see why that cadet might have misunderstood, but…”
—Um. Cadet Hajin? This is I Jina, the one you saw the other day. Can I contact you for a moment?
—Ah, right. You’re coming to the guild tomorrow anyway, aren’t you? Let’s talk then.
Because she hadn’t specified what the texts were about, he might have misunderstood them as her trying to chew him out. But she really hadn’t meant it that way.
“Then what? What were you going to do after meeting him? Why?”
I Jina answered hesitantly.
“…I was going to talk about something academic.”
“Shut it. You’re having a meeting with the guildmaster.”
At that instant, I Jina’s face cracked apart.
A meeting with the guildmaster.
Some might think it was nothing compared to probation or a pay cut. Of course, in terms of official “records,” it wasn’t even classified as a disciplinary action, but within Essence of the Strait, there was nothing more terrifying.
I Jina gulped.
“P-please let me off just this once.”
“I’d like to, but I can’t help it. The guildmaster said so himself.”
“Ah, please, I’m begging you.”
I Jina pleaded. She was still only twenty-five, in the bloom of youth—far too young to undergo a meeting that supposedly aged you five years in a single session.
“No. Go back.”
But the vice guildmaster was merciless.
With no other choice, I Jina let out one last desperate struggle.
“No, but honestly. He really isn’t at our guild’s level, is he! What is rank 934 even supposed to mean?! Sure, he’s first in theory, but still. Unless he has some kind of connection with Yu Yeonha, it’s impossible, and it’s unthinkable for a mere cadet to interfere in guild administration!”
On the surface, every word she said was perfectly reasonable. In truth, the department head himself had harbored similar doubts about the selection of rank 934, Kim Hajin.
“…Hoo.”
However, those doubts had been washed away yesterday by something Yu Jinung had said.
He spoke.
“Mountain Tyrant. You know it, right?”
“Of course. Do I look like a first-year to you?”
“Then you know its weak point is in our guild database.”
“Yes. Even if I asked, you wouldn’t tell me.”
Information on high-grade monsters like the Mountain Tyrant was confidential among confidential matters. Even within Essence of the Strait, fewer than ten people knew it, and all of them had signed mana oaths.
“Come here.”
The vice guildmaster beckoned with his finger. I Jina shuffled over to him. The vice guildmaster whispered in a very low voice. At that, I Jina’s face went blank.
“…Really?”
“Yeah. The information provider was that kid, Kim Hajin.”
“H-how?”
“As if it’s only happened once or twice that there’s some peculiar guy among Cube cadets. He must’ve analyzed it on his own or something. It’s not like there are no videos at all of Mountain Tyrant raids. You said he was first in theory.”
I Jina shut her mouth. Come to think of it, if he had carried out those calculations and that approach all by himself, then figuring out the weak points of a few monsters wasn’t impossible.
“That’s why, you punk. I told you not to judge people by rank so much. A rank can’t contain everything about a cadet.”
“…”
Even though during last year’s open recruitment, he’d been the first to say they should cut everyone below the overall top 100 without exception. I Jina pouted.
“So stop complaining and go have the meeting.”
“Ah…”
A meeting with the guildmaster was called a week of hellish training—or rather, merciless beatings. However, since it strictly maintained the form of sparring, it did not violate the law, and because instruction from an expert like Yu Jinung was something any hero would want, there was nowhere to—