Chapter 1730 – 1730. Savior Of The Academy
The environment changed in an instant. I was standing in front of a fountain in a city. The city was similar to a medieval fantasy that might appear in a game. It was too clean to simply call it the Middle Ages.
“Yoo… Sota! You’re here!”
Seong Hari was already there. She was wearing her school uniform, just like I had seen her in reality. It suited her very well.
“Aya, you’re here first.”
Aya. As if the word was unfamiliar, Seong Hari blushed and nodded.
“Ah, yeah. They called it a tutorial, right? It ended quickly.”
“It wouldn’t have been difficult for you, noona.”
As I continued to speak, I noticed something strange. There was a sword sheath hanging at Seong Hari’s waist. Seong Hari’s main weapon was, without a doubt, a spear. I had never seen her handle any other weapon.
“Noona, that sword…? You didn’t choose a spear?”
“You use a sword, Yujin. I was curious what it would feel like, so I tried it once. It’s quite different from a spear, so it’s not easy to handle.”
Seong Hari said with a smile. Of course, I didn’t believe her 100%. With Seong Hari’s combat sense, she would show considerable skill even with a sword. There’s also the saying, “All rivers flow to the sea.”
“What’s your job?”
“A samurai.”
“…A samurai? Not a swordsman?”
“I don’t know because I didn’t choose it. Who should I call it? That notification window just decided my job on its own.”
“I’m just calling it AI. Then what’s your sub-job? You can choose your sub-job.”
“A mage.”
I opened my mouth at the unexpected word. A mage. It was a word that didn’t suit Seong Hari at all. At my reaction, Seong Hari scratched her cheek awkwardly.
“I wanted to be a spiritist and a mage a long time ago. I was going to be a spiritist… but I thought the spirits might hate me here too, so I chose mage. Sota, what about you?”
I didn’t intend to blame her, so I nodded. I wasn’t in a position to judge others either.
“My job is a spiritist, and my sub-job is a priest.”
“…A priest? Did you happen to have a religion you believed in?!”
“No, it’s not that. I just wanted to try it. It seems like you can do whatever you want for your sub-job.”
If that wasn’t the case, there would be no reason to give us a choice.
“Hmm. I see. But do you know how to use magic?”
“I don’t know. Try shouting ‘Fireball’.”
“Fireball!”
Seong Hari shouted without hesitation. Nothing happened. Even in this awkward situation, Seong Hari was calm. She’s embarrassed to wear a school uniform, but she’s not embarrassed by this.
“Hmm. It doesn’t work. Is there some kind of condition…? Yujin, you try it too.”
“Heal!”
Again, nothing happened.
We were racking our brains and experimenting with various things when a sturdy man approached us. A green name tag that read “Combat Instructor Harada Jun” floated above his head.
“The transfer students are making a fuss. Not that I’m saying it’s bad. It’s much better than being depressed. You can see the name above my head. I’m Harada Jun, the combat instructor. I’ll tell you the rules. Before that, how much do you know about the Terra Simulator?”
“I know it’s a virtual reality. Is it really possible to create this with just scientific technology?”
I asked him. Harada Jun shook his head.
“It’s not just scientific technology. The Terra Simulator was created using all sorts of technologies and abilities, such as magic, yin-yang techniques, and superpowers. Above all, Tenrai Nagisa’s abilities and a super artificial intelligence play the most important roles.”
“It seems like artificial intelligence alone is an amazing technology.”
“The association provided the artificial intelligence. They said they got the core of the artificial intelligence from a dungeon, not that they made it themselves. We just applied the core of the artificial intelligence to the Terra Simulator.”
“But is this really for education? This virtual reality is like…”
“Like a game? That’s the intention. We deliberately made it like a game to consider the accessibility of the general public.”
“Can the general public also use the Terra Simulator?”
“Of course, it’s possible. The government and the association also have the goal of commercializing the Terra Simulator as a game. Is that all your questions? Ask Kurozawa-sensei about technical questions, not me.”
“What should we do?”
Seong Hari asked him. It would be a problem if we were just left here without any instructions.
“This world, Terra, is a world created for the education of you academy students. It also includes social education. Explore this world. If you play it like a game, your level will go up. The sum of your job level and sub-job level will be your grade. It’s disadvantageous for you transfer students who are starting late… but there’s nothing we can do about it. Accept it. The time difference is 1 to 5. One second in reality is five seconds here. Even so, you’ll be short on time, so work hard.”
“If there are levels, are there skills too?”
He nodded at my question.
“Of course, there are. You’re probably level 1 right now, so you won’t have any skills you can use. If you level up, you’ll naturally learn skills. Before that… do you see that big stone monument over there? You can change your sub-job or learn basic skills there.”
It really felt like a virtual reality game.
From some point on, Seong Hari just listened with a look that said she didn’t know what was going on. Seong Hari was a complete novice when it came to games. For her, games were just casual things like Tetris. RPG games? She probably didn’t even know what the word meant.
‘When I asked her to play a game together last time, she was talking about Go-Stop…’
She had no interest in things like RPG games.
“By the way, pay attention to the names above your heads. Green names mean real people like you and me. Red names are hostile targets. White names are neutral NPCs.”
“Can we kill neutral NPCs and take what they have?”
“You have a villainous idea. You can’t get anything by killing neutral NPCs. Get it fairly through quests. And if you do something like that, you’ll get penalty points. If you accumulate penalty points, you’ll be disciplined at the academy, so be careful.”
“Thank you for the explanation.”
“If you have a very urgent matter, shout ‘Academy, help me!’ If you shout it once, the AI will help you, and if you shout it three times in a row, you’ll be forcibly disconnected from Terra.”
“If… we die here, what happens?”
“Your level will drop. Your job and sub-job levels will each drop by 1. A total of 2 levels will drop. And as I said, your level is your grade.”
“What is the level of the first place student in the academy?”
“130.”
Harada Jun answered all the questions and then logged out. He didn’t seem to have much interest in virtual reality.
“Sota, did you understand what that person said?”
“What about you, noona?”
“…I didn’t really understand what he was saying in the middle. Levels, quests…”
“Don’t worry about that. Let’s just do what we have to do.”
I looked at the back of my hand. When I thought of the code the headmaster had given me, a rhombus pattern appeared on the back of my hand. One of the vertices of the rhombus glowed, and then the pattern spun around. The pattern stopped and pointed in one direction.
The place we had to go was decided. At the end of this path, there would be Susanoo’s Magatama.
“Before we go, let’s go to the stone monument the combat instructor mentioned and learn the basic skills.”
“Is that really necessary?”
“You said you wanted to use magic. You can learn magic there.”
“Let’s go quickly. Yu… Sota.”
“You keep calling my name strangely.”
“It doesn’t stick to my tongue, so I can’t help it.”
We walked towards the stone monument. I could learn the basic skills of a spiritist and a priest.
「Spirit Enhancement
Level: 1
Enhances the power of spirits by 1%.」
「Heal
Level: 1
Consumes mana to restore 10% of the target’s health.」
I was able to learn the skills I had expected.
Seong Hari also learned basic skills.
「Sword Focus
Level: 1
Increases attack power by 5% when using a sword.」
「Light
Level: 1
Consumes mana to create light.」
“Light! Sota! Look at this!”
Seong Hari spread out her palm and used the Light magic. When a sphere of light appeared, she smiled and rejoiced like a child.
“Mom can drop lightning, but you’re happy with that?”
“Even if I drop lightning, I can’t make a sphere of light like this.”
We moved in the direction the rhombus pattern was pointing.
We came to a plaza. In the plaza, there were people wearing school uniforms like me and Seong Hari walking around. Their names were written in green letters above their heads.
‘They’re laughing and chatting. They were so quiet and desolate in the classroom… It’s completely different.’
A group of people approached us. A group of three men and two women. I examined their outfits. They were wearing school uniforms, but the equipment they were wearing over them was slightly different.
‘The guy wearing a robe is a mage… the guy wearing light armor over his uniform is a swordsman… the woman is wearing a bow and gloves.’
I could guess their jobs from the equipment they were wearing.
“Transfer students.”
The tallest man spoke. His chin was sharp, his eyes were narrow, and his lips were thin. He had a sharp, dagger-like impression. The name above his head was Kikugawa Keiichi.
“We have no intention of laughing and joking around with you. This is a competition. We’ve already formed a team, and we don’t have the space to accept you. The other guys are the same.”
“Oh. Is that so?”
“You guys figure it out on your own. If you get in our way, we’ll kill you.”
They glared at me and Seong Hari menacingly, then turned and disappeared.
“It seems like we’re not welcome.”
Seong Hari smiled bitterly.
“It seems like the competition here is quite fierce. It can’t be helped. If you think about it a little differently, it’s actually a good thing. We have our own things to do.”
We followed the direction the rhombus was pointing and went outside the city, where we encountered monsters.
They were goblins.
“I’ll take care of it.”
Seong Hari moved lightly. But the movement was not light at all. The moment I heard the sound of air tearing, the goblin’s neck was cut off and falling to the ground.
‘Terra’s level doesn’t affect the body.’
According to what I heard from Harada Jun earlier, the body’s abilities are the same as in reality. It’s the same even if you level up. You have to constantly train your body in reality to strengthen your body in Terra.
Conversely, if your body in reality is exceptionally strong, your body in Terra will also be exceptionally strong.
‘It doesn’t seem like it will take long to find Susanoo’s Magatama.’
