I Became the Genius of the Gigant Academy - Chapter 39:

On a Monday morning. The front of the dormitory was bustling with activity, which was understandable. This was because it was the first time the first-year cadets would leave school for outdoor practice.

‘Half are excited, half are nervous,’

Abel, who was done with his preparation, thought as he observed the cadets. As the day of departure approached, the percentage of nervous cadets increased, but overall the atmosphere was buoyant.

‘Well, it’s better than everyone freaking out and trembling in fear.’

Everything might turn out fine if they are calm and relaxed. But if they’re all freaking out, it might be a whole different story. While Abel was thinking so positively, someone touched his shoulder.

“Abel, how long have you been out here?”

It was Daniel. His hair was half wet from his haste.

“Not too long. What were you doing that made you late?”

“I was practicing martial arts and didn’t realize I was already late.”

“Did you go to the training grounds again today? Do you still have any stamina left?”

“Yes.”

His clear answer left Abel speechless for a moment. Abel shook his head before speaking.

“Let’s not talk.”

“Huh? Why?”

Abel didn’t answer, knowing that talking would only hurt his mouth.

“Alright, alright, everyone organize yourselves!”

It wasn’t long before the teachers appeared and quickly took control of the situation. The cadets quickly settled into an orderly manner, and after about 10 minutes, they were perfectly organized. After taking a head count, the teachers shouted in a loud voice.

“Everyone Move!”

The cadets began to move along with the leading teacher. Their destination was the main gate of the academy, where a long line of transportation greeted them. They were called horsepower vehicles, automated carriages, and more.

“All right, Class A, get in first!”

The cadets were divided into classes. Abel followed the other Class A cadets into the leftmost car and was soon joined by a teacher. This time, since they were going outside, each class had a teacher in charge, and it was none other than Mr. Karl, who was in charge of Class A.

“Hurry up and take your seats! We’ll be leaving soon!”

Karl said, clenching his fist. The cadets quickly took their seats as if they were being forced.

Woo~woo!

Not long after, a loud magical resonance rang out. There were no windows, so they couldn’t see the outside but could feel they were slowly moving forward.

‘I’ve noticed this before. This is like an armored vehicle.’

In this world, most of these horse-powered vehicles were mostly for military purposes. The focus was on efficiency rather than comfort.

‘Well, some aren’t, but you wouldn’t use that on a first-year cadet.’

Usually, Abel wouldn’t feel dissatisfied with such things, but it was true that he felt a little unhappy whenever he thought of the destination of the outdoor training session. This is because it takes at least 12 hours to reach the Telif Plain. In other words, he would have to sit in this hard, narrow seat for the next 12 hours.

“We’re off. It’ll take us quite a while to get there. We won’t be there until late evening.

Just then, Karl spoke, shooting a piercing glare at the cadets.

“Once you get there, you will only have a little time to relax until the practice ends. So while you’re on your way, don’t make a fuss and just sleep.”

If he’d left it at that, it wouldn’t have been very convincing, but Karl added a few words.

“Talking attracts a penalty.”

Karl seemed to have shut the cadets up with that. Then, he folded his arms and closed his eyes. Abel, who had no intention of chit-chatting in the first place, also quietly closed his eyes. Time passed, but he couldn’t sleep. This was because he had gone to bed early last night to prepare for today.

‘Guess I’ll just meditate.’

Infamous Scans

Abel eventually gave up the idea of sleeping and started meditating. He often meditated to clear his head, but after learning the Optirum breathing method, he rarely missed a day.

The Optirum Breathing Method emphasizes two things: assimilation and inner contemplation. The former was the literal core, closely related to how to build mana. The latter was a bit more ambiguous.

According to the book’s content, practitioners could get to know themselves better through inner contemplation. The more you know yourself, the more efficiently you can perform the same actions, and the more instinctively you’ll know what to do when practicing.

It certainly has a significant effect, but the problem was that it didn’t resonate with him. Naturally, Abel needed a better sense of what it meant to be inwardly focused.

‘It’s probably because I’m not practicing enough.’

Abel thought and slowly began to take the steps of meditation. The first thing he did was to clear his mind. He cleared his mind of wandering thoughts. He erased the idea of having to focus on meditating, and eventually, he got rid of the idea that he was meditating. He emptied every thought. Once he had that empty space, he started to imagine.

He imagined Abel himself. It was as if he was observing from a third-person perspective. This is something that many people struggle with, but Abel didn’t have any particular difficulties with it. This is because he was a certain extent, a stranger to himself.

How often has he observed his body since he first woke up here? Wondering who the original owner of this body was, how he had lived, what he had done. He had observed his body endlessly to find out. And now, the result of his observations was right before him.

‘Abel.’

An orphan wandering the streets. That was what he knew. Or, more accurately, it was all he knew. Abel’s gaze fell on the pattern engraved on one side of his body, which didn’t exist in the game. He’d never heard of it nor seen it. And so he guessed this must be a new clue related to Abel’s identity.

• Created when I first encountered the Blade Tail.
• Absorbed its power when I defeated the Blade Tail.

Those are the only two things he knows for now. There were more things he didn’t know than he did, which was why he was looking forward to this practice, as it would allow him to encounter many more fragments of the gigant. Of course, there were concerns, but he put those expectations and worries aside and focused on examining his body. He focused on not just looking at its exterior but looking at its interior as well.

What is contemplation? Contemplation is the act of observing something with a detached and calm mind. So Abel cleared his head of all the bits of information and preconceived notions and observed with clear eyes. The fact that he was an orphan and that he might be hiding a special secret. Once he cleared that out of his mind, only a creepy strange boy remained before him.

He observed the boy for a while. But his gaze drifted to the pattern engraved on his chest at some point. He tried to look away a few times, but as if he had magnets in his eyes, he couldn’t look away. At that point, he gave up trying to force himself to look away and followed the flow. The pattern gradually grew in size right in front of his eyes.

It grew bigger and bigger. At one point, the pattern was engraved on a massive wall, not his body. A wall so huge that Abel had to crane his head almost all the way up.

Throb

As Abel stared at the wall, a sound like a heartbeat echoed from somewhere.

Thump, thump, thump

Abel stepped forward and reached out to the massive wall.

Shhhh

The moment his fingertips touched the wall. His heartbeat started beating loudly and booming like thunder pierced his ears. The moment the pattern felt Abel’s presence, an indescribable presence pressed down on Abel.

“Hmph!”

Abel breathed uncontrollably. Immediately afterward, the presence pressing down on him, the giant wall, the pattern, and even his own body disappeared in an instant. When everything had disappeared, his eyelids opened of their own accord.

The first thing he saw was a dim light, and when he rolled his eyes, he saw some boys and girls dozing. He didn’t immediately understand what was happening, so he blankly stared at the scene. It wasn’t long before he remembered that he was traveling by a horse-powered vehicle for outdoor practice.

‘We’re in the vehicle.’

Sitting around him are cadets from his class. Abel turned a little further and saw Karl seated at the entrance. Yeah. They were still in the vehicle. Abel involuntarily breathed a sigh of relief as soon as he realized that.

“Abel, are you okay?”

Daniel, sitting next to him, whispered in a low voice. Abel nodded slightly before replying.

“Yes.”

“You were sweating like you were having a nightmare for a long time.”

“Me?”

“Yes.”

Hearing that, Abel touched his forehead, and he felt cold sweat. Soon after, he could feel sweat dripping from under his clothes. A sticky feeling of displeasure ran through his body.

‘For a long time?’

Sensing the doubt, Abel asked Daniel.

“What time is it?”

“Huh? I don’t know what time it is, but the instructor said it would be mealtime soon.”

In other words, mealtime meant that at least three hours had passed. This surprised Abel. Three hours had passed quickly in what must have been a brief meditation. He tried to recall his memories of the meditation, mildly suggesting to Daniel that he might have had a nightmare.

‘Something was different.’

He’d practiced inner contemplation before, but this was the first time he’d experienced something like this. Or rather, it’s the first time he has been able to focus this intensely in the first place. Usually, he would wake up losing all his concentration for at least an hour. Thinking about it, he wondered if seeing the pattern and the wall had the most impact. Usually, he used to end up imagining his own body.

‘The strangest thing was the wall.’

At some point, the pattern was engraved on a huge wall, not Abel’s body. The wall also had old and broken traces everywhere, just like a real wall. Abel had never had such an imagination like it before.

‘A pattern on a huge wall.’

Perhaps this was a clue to the identity of the pattern engraved on Abel’s body. Abel remembered one of the sentences he’d read in a breathing method book.

• Through inner contemplation, the practitioner may discover something of himself that he did not know before. What goes beyond the body and mind and sinks deep into the soul.

Perhaps, it reminded him of the memory of this body called Abel. He swiped one hand imperceptibly across his face. It is troublesome in more ways to think about questions that cannot be resolved immediately, and so, as usual, Abel pushed the questions to the back of his mind. The vehicle continued on its way without stopping, except at mealtime. The sun, which had risen high in the sky, slipped back over the horizon and was replaced by a bright moon.

“We’re here!” Karl shouted in a loud voice.

One by one, the cadets followed his lead and stepped out of the car. Abel joined the others and stepped out of the vehicle before looking up at the sky, where the round moon held an ominous glow.

[To be continued.]