Chapter 3
Previously.
The gallery regulars, amazed by my incredible talent for aura, eventually started praising me…
-Whoa, but seriously, this is insane;; Have we ever had anyone this ridiculously talented in the gallery?
└It's unprecedented.
└WokeUpAsATSGirl) Hmm. Is it that impressive? Seems pretty normal.
└This bastard knows exactly what he's doing—he's just fishing for praise.
└Just ignore him, yeah.
└GeniusSwordMaiden) Newbie, you really are so, so amazing!
└WokeUpAsATSGirl) Hmm… Is that so…?
└GeniusSwordMaiden) Yes! Really!
└Sword Princess really went and fed the troll.
The sweet thrill of humblebragging was one I hadn't enjoyed in a long time.
It wouldn't be bad to keep getting praised by Sword Princess like this.
‘Maybe I should stop here.’
It was starting to get old, and a few regulars with fixed IDs were hinting they'd block me.
-GreatswordFan) Blocked.
└WokeUpAsATSGirl) My bad lol
└DaggerTechniquePro) Don't let it get to you, newbie. Greatsword's still colorless, so he's just jealous, yeah.
└GreatswordFan) Dagger, wanna duel?
└DaggerTechniquePro) lol, weren't you the one who said you wouldn't sit at the same table as dagger users?
I was going to sit back and enjoy the flame war that had erupted in an instant, but—
“U-uh…?”
An overwhelming wave of fatigue washed over me.
I felt like I could collapse at any moment.
-WokeUpAsATSGirl) Guys. I'm suddenly insanely sleepy. Is this a side effect of aura?
└Yeah, it is.
└Of course you're tired. You only felt aura for the first time today, and you even used it to heal a wound.
└Just lie down on the floor and relax.
So at least nothing was wrong.
Reassured, I threw myself onto the bed.
‘I feel like there was something important I had to do…’
But I was too tired to remember.
‘Whatever.’
I closed my eyes, figuring I'd deal with it somehow.
***
The next morning.
I woke up to the unpleasant sound of my alarm.
-Click.
I turned it off by reflex and tried to close my eyes again, but—
“…Ah.”
What I'd forgotten yesterday flashed through my mind.
‘I had to go to work tonight.’
I sat up at once, turned on my phone, and checked my notifications.
[Boss—17 missed calls]
[Boss—Hey, where are you]
[Boss—Are you ignoring my calls on purpose? Want to get fired?]
.
.
.
[Boss—I found someone else. Don't come in anymore.]
“What?”
How had I worked so hard to get that job, only to be fired for ghosting them once?
Just as I was starting to worry about how I'd make a living from now on—
‘No, wait.’
I was an undocumented immigrant now, anyway.
In this state, I obviously couldn't go back to work, and there was no way I'd find another job.
‘So it doesn't matter if I got fired?’
Besides, yesterday had been payday, so there wasn't really any money they still owed me.
Which meant I could just say bye-bye and be done with it.
‘I can get by on my savings for a while.’
Feeling much more at ease, I opened the Swordsmanship Gallery.
[Title: I've come to greet my masters this morning.]
Author: WokeUpAsATSGirl
So, what are we learning today??
-You must be tired, so just rest today.
└Or practice aura control a little, then go to sleep.
-GeniusSwordMaiden) Newbie, I think you should get a little more sleep!
-PureAndLovely*) It's good to sleep a lot at first. Your body needs to adapt to aura.
‘Everyone's telling me to rest.’
I wanted to learn swordsmanship, but all the comments were telling me to practice aura control instead.
Maybe they thought I was exhausted.
-WokeUpAsATSGirl) Guys, I'm totally fine. Think I can move on to the next step right away?
└PureAndLovely*) Nope, can't.
└WokeUpAsATSGirl) Why not?
Were they going to hold me back because they envied my incredible talent?
└PureAndLovely*) Now that you've awakened aura, it'll be flowing all through your body.
└PureAndLovely*) But your body hasn't adapted to it yet, so if you force your way into the next level, things get kind of troublesome.
└WokeUpAsATSGirl) What gets troublesome?
└PureAndLovely*) It's not important, so you don't need to know.
└WokeUpAsATSGirl) Now I'm curious.
└PureAndLovely*) Forcing your way up a level does make things pretty troublesome… but you'll manage on your own, right?
└WokeUpAsATSGirl) No, just tell me.
└PureAndLovely*) Hmm… It's really nothing much.
└WokeUpAsATSGirl) Blocking you.
└PureAndLovely*) My bad lol.
└PureAndLovely*) Anyway, to put it simply, your heart goes boom and explodes.
└WokeUpAsATSGirl) ?
└PureAndLovely*) For now, just spend a few days practicing aura control and getting used to it at your own pace.
The blue-tag mod's astonishing way of putting things nearly twisted my insides into knots, but I somehow endured it.
Anyway,
‘So what do I do now?’
I'd been fired, and I couldn't train in swordsmanship for the next few days.
There were basically two things I could do now.
1. Stay cooped up at home and practice aura control.
->Boring and pretentious, total soft-girl energy.
2. Climb the Tower.
->Exciting and fun, absolute gigachad energy.
‘Okay, I'm going to the Tower.’
I sprang to my feet, filled with resolve, and shouted.
“Let's go.”
Lee Sion, a healthy 21-year-old young man of South Korea.
Climbs the Tower.
***
I wanted to head straight to the Tower, but unfortunately, there was one small problem.
‘I have to clear the tutorial first.’
The Tower's tutorial had five stages in total.
You could get by with just clearing the first stage, but it was better to progress as far as you could.
That way, you could climb the Tower with all kinds of growth boosts from the very start.
‘I heard an orc shows up in Stage 5.’
Most Awakened stopped at Stages 2 or 3.
Their physical abilities were lacking, and their skills were only Level 1, so unless they were a top-tier A-Rank or an S-Rank Hunter, they had no chance of clearing Stage 5.
‘But I use swordsmanship.’
If I was lucky, I might be able to take down an orc.
[Title: I want to try climbing the Tower]
Author: WokeUpAsATSGirl
The final boss of the tutorial is an orc.
Think I can beat it?
-A black-aura Awakened versus an orc. Hard to tell which one's stronger.
└Damn, seriously, who would win…
└That's a tough one lol
-PureAndLovely*) Hmm… If it's an orc Sword Master, you probably can't win.
└A Sword Saint orc? Yeah, I buy that.
└Wasn't there someone in this gallery who actually got killed by an orc?
└ApocalypticWorldSurvivor) Why the fuck are you bringing that up?
└And there he is lol
Judging by the mood, the general consensus seemed to be that I'd crush an orc.
‘So that's what having a color means.’
Honestly, I still had no idea how strong I was.
There was a common way to measure your combat power in situations like this…
-Shing!
Stab myself in the abdomen with a kitchen knife.
‘If I can beat an orc, I should be able to take this.’
Thinking about what happened yesterday scared me a little, but getting a hole punched through my stomach was better than being slaughtered by an orc.
“Phew.”
I closed my eyes and calmly exhaled.
I could feel the black energy coiled around my whole body.
It was my aura, which had manifested a color.
‘I'll just do what I did then.’
I calmly circulated my aura.
The black energy moved toward my abdomen and soon began wrapping around my muscles.
-Shaa…
After doing that for about ten seconds, I couldn't push any more aura in.
‘That should be enough preparation…’
Now that it was time to actually do it, I was getting nervous again.
But who was I? The ultimate gigachad… no, gigagirl, Lee Sion.
“I can do this!”
I shouted to psych myself up and plunged the kitchen knife hard into my stomach, and—
-Clang!
A sharp metallic ring echoed through the kitchen.
“….”
I lowered my head to check my stomach.
I half expected to find a hole, but there wasn't even a tiny scratch.
My belly was pale and smooth—the flawless belly of a beautiful girl—as if nothing had happened.
-Stroke, stroke.
…As I stared at it, my hand reached out to stroke it without thinking.
Why is it so soft?
‘Anyway, that's not important.’
The kitchen knife I'd thrust at my stomach was gone.
Don't tell me it got absorbed into my body?
Thinking that, I looked around the floor, and—
‘What is this?’
I found the kitchen knife, its blade horribly broken.
***
Even though I'd awakened aura, I'd stopped a blade with my bare body.
‘The Tower should be easy, then.’
With all that confidence, I went back to the gallery, where—
-PureAndLovely*) By the way, what's the Tower? Wait, I don't even know what kind of world the newbie lives in.
-Are you going to some magic tower to hunt monsters?
-Where the hell did this newbie go after dropping a cliffhanger!!!
I was being bombarded with countless questions.
‘Come to think of it, they're people from other worlds.’
I'd forgotten, since the gallery felt so much like an Earth forum.
‘Should I explain a little?’
I gave the gallery users a rough explanation of what Earth was like.
-WokeUpAsATSGirl) That's enough, right?
└Ah, I completely get it now lol
└So it's a world where magitech got crazy advanced, but without mana?
└WokeUpAsATSGirl) More or less.
Everyone seemed interested, but that wasn't what mattered right now.
[Title: I'm going to the Tower]
Author: WokeUpAsATSGirl
Big bro's off to clear the tutorial.
Don't cry while I'm gone.
-GeniusSwordMaiden) Don't get hurt, and have a safe trip!
-PureAndLovely*) You're finally going. Khaack—ptooey!
└Oh, holy water.
└Blue-tag mod, if you keep teasing me like that, I won't be able to hold back anymore. I'm posting gross copypasta!! ♿♿♿
└PureAndLovely*) You're banned.
└What can you do besides temp-ban me? lol
└PureAndLovely*) My eyesight has been bad lately… I might mix up temp-banning and permabanning…?
└I'm sorry, I won't do it again.
└(This comment has been deleted by the administrator.)
“Eeeek!”
I immediately screamed and closed the gallery.
To witness a permaban in real time… It was a horrifying sight.
‘Of course, they'll unban them later.’
Even knowing permaban threats are just WWE, they're still scary.
Anyway.
-Whoosh!
I grabbed my kitchen knife, an essential household item and means of self-defense for Hwaseong residents, and left the house.
‘Guess it's time to go pick it up.’
Day two of aura training.
It was time to climb the Tower.