Transcension Academy

C24: Sword Saint Visit (1)

After many twists and turns, several changes came to Seo-joon.
The most noticeable change among them was that Seo-joon finally had a spear, not an iron bar.

The day the contest ended Seo-yoon gave Seo-joon a weapon as promised.
It was none other than a spear worth 20 million won.

This was also discounted through Seo-yoon’s personal connections, which was originally since its original price was 40 million won.

In fact, 20 million won was the cost of materials and minimum labor costs.

Apparently, this workshop was frequently used by the Sword Saint.
In addition, the master of the workshop seemed to have some debt to him.

The quality was guaranteed because the Sword Saint wouldn’t use a workshop just to get a discount.
Nevertheless, it was clear that it was worse than the weapons sold by the Transcension Academy.

Even if it was a workshop frequently used by the Sword Saint, they only had human-level skills so Seo-joon thought about receiving the money instead of receiving a spear as a gift from Seo-yoon.

He could buy Longinus’ spear if he collected a little more by adding the money he had now and the money Seo-yoon gave him.

<120,000,000 ￦>

“This causality is really…”

It seemed useless if Seo-joon did not try to get it himself.

‘Does it literally need cause and effect?’

Seo-joon was able to understand the cause and effect, albeit dimly.

Eventually, Seo-joon decided to use the spear that Seo-yoon gave him and he liked it more than he thought.

A crackling sound bursts through the air as he swings the spear lightly and the grip fits his hands perfectly.

“Do you like it?”

“Yes.
Maybe it’s because Seo Yoon gave it to me, but it’s great.”

Seo-joon’s joke made Seo-yoon smile slightly.
Then she pointed her finger at a corner and said,

“Then can’t you throw that away?”

He followed Seo-yoon’s fingers and turned his eyes to one side of the academy training center.
There was an iron bar lying alone in the corner.

Seo-joon replied with an awkward smile.

“I don’t think there’s a need to throw it away besides I’m still attached to it.”

“What do you mean, attached? Ha-ah, do whatever you want.
But you can’t be stubborn and use an iron bar.
Do you understand?”

“Yes, of course.”

Seo-joon nodded, then suddenly he became playful.

“But sometimes…”

“Come on!”

Seo-joon burst into laughter when Seo-yoon shouted.
She looked at Seo-joon and shook her head with a deep sigh.

“Come to think of it, why is that iron bar all right?”

Then suddenly, Seo-yoon asked Seo-joon out of a rising curiosity.

“I’ve been wanting to ask you.
What kind of mana technique do you use, Seo-joon?”

“Mana techniques?”

“Yes.
Seeing that you caught monsters last time, you seem to know how to handle mana, and seeing that you fight in the competition, it doesn’t seem like it’s a very low grade but I’ve never seen you use it with my own eyes.”

“Ah…”

Seo-yoon’s words reminded him of an idea he had forgotten.

“Come to think of it, I haven’t learned how to use mana yet.’

In fact, when it comes to being a Hunter, a mana practice method was basic.

Mana technique refers to a way to use mana more efficiently, and it could be said that mana was the power source of a hunter.

The qualification to use mana is awakening and a mana technique is the way to use mana efficiently since only after learning how to handle mana could hunters penetrate the monster’s mana shield.

However, since the methods were all different, they were divided into higher and lower grades according to efficiency.

Therefore, each Hunter Academy had its own mana method and was registered as a patent.
This was also one of the reasons for entering prestigious academies at high cost.

Seo-joon, who thought so far, asked Seo-yoon.

“Dream Academy teaches mana methods?”

“My grandfather strictly forbids me and I don’t want to do that either.”

If that had been the case, Dream Academy would have exploded since people would’ve wanted to learn at least one of the Sword Saint mana methods.

“Instead, I’ll teach you the mana method I invented.”

“What? You invented a mana technique?”

“Yes.”

Seo-yoon answered calmly, but Seo-joon was quite surprised by that fact.
It is said that all hunters have a mana method, but not anyone can invent it himself.
If that was possible, Seo-joon would have done it himself in the first place.

‘She said she wasn’t talented.
Did she mean she didn’t have talent compared to the Sword Saint?’

Seo-joon suddenly thought that Seo-yoon’s talent might be somewhere else.

“But why do you ask me that? Don’t you have a mana method?”

“Oh, that’s…I’m just curious.
Haha…”

Seo-joon had nothing to answer, so he roughly glossed over it and Seo-yoon also moved on without asking further.

It was because it was rude to ask in detail about a mana method if the other party did not want to bring it up.

“Then you should be training.”

“Hmm? Where are you going, Seo-yoon?”

“Yes, we have a few things to do.”

Seo-joon then tilted his head and asked back.

“What? Do you have anything to do, Seo-yoon?”

“Then did I look like I had nothing to do?”

“Weren’t you?”

“…”

Seo-yoon was speechless for a moment.
It was because he was not wrong.

“Oh, anyway! I have something to do today.
When you go home, don’t forget to lock the door.”

“Yes, yes.
Don’t worry and go.”

Seo-joon smirked.

“Hmm…”

Seo-joon put down the spear for a while and was lost in thought.

‘I think I need to learn how to use mana.’

Seo-joon was currently unable to deal with mana.
Although he had not been aware of it, there was a huge difference between using Mana and not being able to use mana.

He could see that just by remembering the fierce battle with Lee Jun-hwan last time.

His speed and destructive power increased significantly when he used mana, in particular, the sword aura.

He was able to win with the reverse divergence he learned from Xiang Yu’s lecture however Seo-joon was not sure if he could win even if he faced him again.

“There are definitely a number of shortcomings.”

Seo-joon could clearly feel his shortcomings in this competition.
Things that he couldn’t when training alone emerged as he clashed and fought with other students.

It’s good to listen to the lectures or to do dungeon raids but Seo-joon thought that it would be good to participate in competitions if he had the chance.

‘I’m glad I joined the academy.’

Seo-joon laughed.

‘Anyway, I need to learn how to use mana.
·· Rather than that, when is Mentor coming?’

He forgot about it but Mentor didn’t appear again since the first meeting.

‘I’ll go check my profile since after recommending me Shakyamuni and Chiron lectures he disappeared for 39 days.’

It was a simple intuition, but he thought that Mentor would not come until the free pass period was over.

‘He’ll come when the time comes.
I’m the one who trains anyway.’

Seo-joon thought about it, but his worries didn’t last for long.

Seo-joon immediately accessed the community of the Transcension Academy, “The Beginners Forum.”

Just in time, now that the progress of the lectures has risen.
He also had room for one more lecture.
There was no reason to wait for Mentor since he didn’t know when he would come.

He searched using the keyword ‘mana’.

『[Executioner of Oblivion]: Are there any good mana lectures in the free pass?』

Seo-joon was able to find one post and clicked on it without hesitation.

[As the title says, I didn’t know how to handle mana yet and after consulting with the mentor in charge, he said it was still okay and told me to stick to the lectures I was taking.

Mana is the most important of the required transcendental subjects.

I keep feeling anxious that I have to prepare from now on.

Is there any mana lecture that I can listen to lightly among the free pass lectures?]

It was similar to what Seo-joon was looking for but had a different content.

As he scrolled down, there were comments.

[Magic it’s an adventure into the unknown]: What occupation do you want to transcend?

[Executioner of Oblivion]: Ah, it’s a combat job.
My main weapon is a sword.

[Magic is an adventure into the unknown]: A sword…

[Executioner of Oblivion]: ㅠㅠ.

[Return of the Swordsman]: By the way, if you are talking about mana lectures in the free pass, I’m against it…

[Executioner of Oblivion]: Is that so? But since I’m not in a position to take individual lectures…

[Return of the Swordsman]: It’s good to learn how to practice mana properly when you first start.
Once you learn it wrong, it’s almost impossible to turn back.
I don’t know about anything else, but it’s better to listen to the mentors’ advice.
Don’t be nervous.
It’s a long process to transcend anyway.

[Executor of oblivion]: I see.
Thank you for your advice.

[Return of the Swordsman]: Um··· If you’re really concerned, teacher Merlin lecture is okay.
He’s a professional magician but he’s really good at explaining mana.
If you learn from him, it will definitely help you.
To be honest, I listened to his lecture at first.

[Executor of oblivion]: Is that so? Thank you!

.
.
.

“Merlin…”

Merlin, whom Seo-joon knows, was a great wizard in King Arthur’s legend.
Known as a sage, he was a high-quality wizard, so Seo-joon had no choice but to worry.

“Hmm.”

That’s because Merlin was a “wizard.”

Seo-joon searched for Merlin’s lecture in the free pass.

{You can see the world when you learn mana.
[Instructor: Great Wizard Merlin]}

“S-grade in a free pass lecture?”

Seo-joon was quite surprised because most lectures in the free pass were grade B or A except for Shakyamuni’s SSS.

Considering that Great Sage S-grade lecture costs 27 billion won, he could guess how impressive this lecture was.

Seo-joon pressed the play button after a brief thought.

.

.

.

[The law of the present world, that the students belong, is often called causality.
It’s very strict because it’s the law that makes up the world.]

On the screen was an old man with a white beard and white hair.
He wore a wide and long brim hat, and he felt like a professor at a university.

[Magic means to twist the laws of the world to make a transfer.
A ball of fire that suddenly appears in the air or the ground shaking for no reason.
How to create a causeless effect, that’s magic.]

[Therefore, a wizard is a person who twists the laws of the world to make a transfer.
And the way and means by which such a wizard can shake up the strict laws of the world is mana.]

[I should explain the definition first, but today is the first day, so to explain briefly…]

[A wizard is a person who connects the world to his or her spiritual world through the language of the world.
In the process of connecting the world he lives in to his own mental world, mana is necessary.]

[But the rules of the world are very strict.
That’s why the stricter the laws of the world are, the more a high-quality mental world and a tremendous mana are needed.]

When he heard it up to here Seo-joon seemed to understand why the lecture was rated S.

It was a distracting lecture in a different sense from Shakyamuni’s but perhaps knowing Seo-joon’s feelings, Merlin continued to talk, flicking his fingers as if to change the atmosphere.

[Then one question arises here.
Since wizards use mana to make the transfer, how do warriors exert such superhuman powers?]

[Let’s not start with the conclusion.
They don’t just use manna either, they connect the world to their own mental world in a rather special way… I can’t really define it]

[It’s because they use logic like, “It worked when I did it.”]

Merlin said that they use mana to deceive the world with their own will.

They bring in reality things that only exist in imagination, deceive the world and make it accept them.

The representative case is the absurd power that has never existed anywhere, but exists, Aura.

[Let’s stop explaining and demonstrate]

At that moment.

[Daily assignment has arrived]

[The causal rate is calculated and assignments appropriate to the level of the current student are assigned.]

His daily assignment suddenly appeared as he was watching the lecture.

“Is this also a daily assignment…?”

Seo-joon sighed and checked his daily assignment.

-Form 1,000 mana spheres.
[0/1,000]

Seo-joon, who confirmed Merlin’s daily assignment, was a little embarrassed because he didn’t know how to use mana and even more so form a mana sphere.

However, as if she knew Seo-joon’s worries, Merlin explained how to form a mana sphere.

‘Should I do it right away?’

Seo-joon carried out Merlin’s daily assignment right on the spot.

Maybe it was because of Chiron’s lecture but Seo-joon didn’t have too much difficulty feeling mana or handling it but shaping it was a slightly different matter.

No matter how useful Chiron’s lecture was he couldn’t do it skillfully as he had never tried it in his life.

Thankfully, Merlin’s tips were of great help so Seo-joon kept repeating it dozens or hundreds of times.

At the end, Seo-joon was able to form a very distorted mana sphere.

“…this is a mana sphere.”

Seo-joon checked his daily assignments just in case but as expected it didn’t increase.

“I’ll get used to it.”

Seo-joon didn’t care much and he looked at the mana sphere he had created.
He didn’t know why, but just looking at this small bluish sphere made him feel refreshed.

It was the moment when he was staring at the sphere blankly.

“You punk!”

An old voice rang out from somewhere.
It was definitely the old man, who seemed to have lost his vitality, although his voice contained power.

“Who is it?”

Seo-joon questioned since there were only two people who would come to Dream Academy, him and Seo-yoon.

However, there is no way that Seo-yoon, who left saying she had something to do, suddenly got old and came back so Seo-joon tilted his head and turned it in the direction the sound came from.

“Who are you? Huh?”

Seo-joon was confused because the face of the Sword Saint whom he only saw on TV appeared.

“What are you doing?”

He asked while looking at the mana sphere in Seo-joon’s hand.