novelraw Chapter 53 : Chapter 53
Chapter 53 : Chapter 53
Chapter 53 : Manipulation
Sal looked at Nova.
Nova was waiting for him to take her extended hand without saying a word.
Sal had no idea how to take this girl.
He felt like he was getting caught up in a complicated prank.
Whisper leaned back in her chair and sighed.
"I got stuck at number 37. How about you?"
Nova glanced at Whisper with a mischievous smile.
"I stopped around 28, I guess.... But you know, it seems our Dream Team has hit a bit of a wall."
Whisper followed Nova's gaze and looked towards where Sal was sitting.
"Is this your first time trying this?"
She sent Sal a look of understanding.
Rather than just sitting still and nodding, Sal tried to convey what the problem was in a quiet voice.
He didn't want to disturb the other students' concentration, but he desperately wanted to know what he was doing wrong.
He briefly considered just waiting until the professor came over, but Professor Lombardi was only just looking at a student in the second row on the other side of the classroom.
"I imagined each point as a loop. I tried to thread the Essence through the loop like a thread, but it didn't work well. So I wrapped the Essence around the loop and pierced through the first point, and it succeeded.... But at the second one, it bounced off immediately."
Nova shook her head as if that was exactly the problem.
"That's the problem. Don't think of it as threading a needle, think of it as filling a swimming pool with water. Think of each point as an empty bucket. You have to fill one to move on to the next."
She glanced at Whisper casually.
Whisper nodded and waved her hand sideways.
"I'm similar. I imagined each point as a lump of iron. That I have to melt it with Essence and absorb it into my Core to go to the next point. But heating it up takes some time. That ultimately depends on how strong your Core is."
Sal looked down at Nova's extended hand and asked.
"How does this... help?"
Whisper pointed at Nova and answered as if it were the most obvious thing.
"It's Body Manipulation. If she touches you, she can manipulate other people's bodies too...."
When a flustered look appeared on Sal's face, Whisper hurriedly added.
"But... it's not permanent!"
Nova smirked and sent a disappointed look toward Whisper.
"Hmph, you're no fun."
Sal still couldn't understand how on earth this was supposed to help.
"How does your ability make this easier?"
Nova raised one eyebrow and shrugged.
"Using your senses, I can make you see how much Essence is needed to pass each point. But you know, if your Essence gets a bit stronger, it will be much faster."
She threw a meaningful look at Whisper, and the petite Whisper leaned forward and extended her hand.
Sal looked back and forth between the two.
He couldn't understand this situation at all.
"Why are you trying to help? We... just met."
Nova sighed as if frustrated, grabbed one of Sal's hands, and passed it to Whisper.
Whisper took that hand without hesitation.
"You'd be a pretty mean hero if you lived without helping. Don't think too deeply and just give me the other hand."
Sal regretted it as soon as he gave his hand.
In this strange posture, Whisper suppressed her laughter and suggested they switch seats.
So the three moved seats, and Sal ended up sitting in the middle.
Although some students sent annoyed glances due to the seat switching, no one said anything.
Sitting holding hands with two girls, Sal felt very uncomfortable.
While he was bewildered not knowing what would happen, Nova's voice cut off his thoughts.
"Try again. We'll do the rest."
Sal put aside his embarrassment for a moment and focused on the diagram in front of him.
When he activated his ability, fortunately, the first point was still under his control and he passed through smoothly.
Before he could even raise his head to check the next point, the second point naturally came to his mind.
Sal carefully guided his Essence and imagined it like a lump of iron that had to be melted to pass through.
Then, surprisingly, he could know exactly the amount of Essence needed to pass that point.
He guided the Essence there and slowly filled it up.
The sensation of that point slowly melting away felt very satisfying.
Not long after, the second point disappeared, and he was moving on to the third.
There was absolutely none of the fatigue he had clearly felt before.
Sal wondered if that was thanks to Whisper's ability.
Each point melted away incredibly easily, and a sense of relief washed over Sal every time he passed one.
Not long after, when he reached the twelfth point, he poured in almost all his Essence, but that alone wasn't enough to completely melt the point.
At that moment, the thought that his progress so far was thanks to Whisper was instantly blown away by a powerful wave of energy mixing deep into his Core.
Sal pierced right through that point.
He quickly flowed the suddenly surging Essence to the next points.
Then, when he reached the sixteenth point, Nova broke his concentration.
"Stop here."
When he deactivated his ability and turned his head, Nova was looking at Whisper with worried eyes.
Whisper had sweat running down her face, but the corners of her mouth were raised almost to her ears.
"You did really well, Sal. That was really cool."
Whisper released her legs with a somewhat painful expression, but she didn't stop smiling.
"You went up to the sixteenth! That's a pretty amazing record. How does your Core feel now?"
Sal felt she was speaking sincerely, but since their numbers were so high, he felt like he wasn't even comparable.
Nova let go of his hand and pushed him lightly.
"Hurry up and check your Core! I'm curious about the fruits of our labor."
She pointed back and forth between herself and Whisper, and Sal quickly checked his Core.
Now that Whisper's power had drained away, Sal could clearly feel that the capacity of his Core had noticeably increased.
The flexibility allowing Essence to flow like a thread was on a different level from what he had felt until now.
Confidence arose that he could weave skills much more smoothly.
All of this was closer to intuition.
He didn't know what it would be like if he actually tried it... but Sal instinctively felt that his ability had definitely become stronger.
When he composed himself and looked up, Whisper looked much more stable than before, and Nova was still looking at him with a bright smile.
Nova held out her palm with a playful grin.
"That will be 50 Q-Credits."
Sal looked at her hand for a moment, then turned his head toward Whisper.
"Are you okay with that fee too?"
The petite Whisper smiled.
"I tried to amplify your ability, but I think I touched something else. Do you happen to have two abilities?"
Sal briefly debated whether to tell that fact or not.
However, since he was able to overcome a big wall thanks to her, he thought it was only polite to at least speak honestly.
"Yeah, I created a new skill with my replication ability. Actually, I shouldn't tell other people, so please keep it a secret."
Nova pushed her hand a little further forward and said.
"Oh dear, the fee just went up to 75 Q-Credits."
She laughed at her own joke, then suddenly her eyes sparkled as if she remembered something.
"By any chance, are you the one who blew up the Skill Registry?"
Whisper's eyes went wide.
"So you imprinted a new skill?!"
Sal raised both hands defensively and laughed.
"In my defense, I didn't know it would explode!"
Nova burst into laughter, and at that sound, several people openly made shushing noises.
She threw a cold glance at them once, then focused on Sal again.
"Then you missed me beating up that guy too, huh?"
When Sal shook his head with a smile, Nova waved her hand as if it were no big deal.
"It's okay, you'll be able to see round 2 soon."
Her gaze fixed on the male student sitting in the row behind Sal.
He was staring intently only at the diagram on the screen, trying hard to avoid her gaze.
***
Professor Lombardi walked to the Essence Refining area with an expectant expression.
"I have good news. It seems there are already a few students who will join this group. As I explained over there just now, part of the weekly classes this semester will be used for this training. As time goes on, more practical and personalized training will be added, but for now, the goal is to reach each person's limit."
Soon his expression turned serious.
"I have sent the diagram to you, so you will be able to continue training on your own during the evening. No matter how much I emphasize how important this training is for your future, it is not enough. Whether you suffer now or suffer later, it is a price you will eventually pay. Watching your friends collapse because you ran out of Essence in the middle of a battlefield... no one would want that."
Those words instantly changed the expressions of the students who were soaked in self-satisfaction to serious ones.
Professor Lombardi pointed to the diagram behind him.
"Anyone who didn't pass ten?"
He nodded seeing quite a few hands raised.
"No need to despair. You just have a longer journey left than other students. At the same time, it means your potential is great. The current results will change significantly as your Core grows, and all the techniques you know now will become meaningless. Because as time passes, that ability will evolve to a higher level."
He pointed to another section of the diagram.
"Anyone who didn't pass twenty?"
When a few hands went up here too, the professor nodded and said.
"Good. This is a very positive sign. It means you have great growth potential, and your Core has become accustomed to your body. This is never a restriction. It is also the range where most new students are included. If correct guidance and effort are added, the areas your Core can reach will open up more, and your stats will rise rapidly."
Before moving on to the next explanation, Professor Lombardi walked slowly in front of the students.
"Think of these points as gates blocking your potential. Every time you pass a gate, your internal Core will have more capacity and freedom. These gates will store Essence like small batteries and continuously recharge you. Some points will be much harder to pierce, and those locations can be completely different for each person."
Without giving the students a chance to react, Professor Lombardi raised both hands.
"But the important thing is this. Reach as far as possible, and do not stop or become conceited. The goal we all expect by the end of this semester is to pass the thirtieth gate."
Worries spread throughout the classroom, and the traces of conceit that remained until a moment ago disappeared completely.
"The evaluation of this class will be graded individually according to each person's growth level. Only those who pass the thirtieth gate can pass this subject. That is the minimum requirement for this class, and anything below that will be treated as a failure."
The classroom fell silent, holding its breath, and Lombardi continued speaking.
"Now, then what happens if you pass the fortieth gate, or higher? From then on, the possibility of entering the Savior Class opens up for you. You have all heard of it, right? About Skill Imprinting and Skill Transplanting. All of that will be covered in this class. There is a special reason for this. The Core cannot handle new skills if it does not pass a certain standard. If you attempt it recklessly without passing the standard, the entire Core could shatter into pieces. Then you will have to reconstruct the Core from scratch through a painful refining process."
Nova and Whisper looked back at Sal simultaneously.
Sal's face had turned pale white before he knew it.
Lombardi glanced in their direction briefly, but soon turned his gaze back to the classroom.
"To do Skill Imprinting, you must pass at least the thirtieth gate, and to do Skill Transplanting, you must pass over sixty. However, there was one interesting case. A Replicator tried to mimic a Skill Transplant during imprinting, and the artificial Core rejected it and shattered into pieces. Fortunately, the internal Core was safe, but the imprinting machine... was not. This is a story strictly to give a warning, so our class's Replicator should not get any wrong ideas. Understood, Mr. Salvatore?"
He winked, and Sal nodded, engulfed in a feeling of wanting to hide underground.
With this one remark, he could tell that the professor knew about the Skill Registry incident and was keeping it a secret.
"Now, then anyone who passed the thirtieth gate?"
When Lombardi asked, only two people raised their hands.
One was Whisper, and the other person was sitting at the back of the classroom.
Lombardi smiled with a surprised expression and pointed to that student.
"Could you introduce yourself and tell us your category?"
"I am Evan McGregor. I am Energy Manipulation lineage, and I can teleport."
Evan answered briefly and sat leisurely with his chin resting on his palm.
Lombardi's smile grew wider.
"Do you happen to have plans to use your ability in combat against monsters?"
Evan shrugged without even a second of hesitation.
"Isn't that why we are here?"
At that answer, Lombardi smiled broadly.
"Exactly. How about we talk separately along with other students after class?"