WebNovels

Chapter 10 - Chapter Ten: Back to our daily life

Chapter Ten: Back to our daily life.

Before that, holy crap, wtf happened? Suddenly I wake up and I start seeing comments.

I was deadass sure this book will flop, since I didn't have confidence in the book myself.

But gosh, now you all have me fired up, I'll try my best.

Thanks for the encouraging comments, I appreciate it.

Monday.

Just two days after the surgery.

If he counted it, then it had been two weeks since he came to Tengu. 

Those two weeks, however, were a hell of a story to tell on its own.

"Haah."

A short languid sigh escaped the lips of a young male, as it lingered in the cool morning air.

He adjusted his collar and shifted the strap of his bag, as he trudged toward the school gate ahead.

Then, he came to a stop, 

Looking over the cherry blossom trees as their petals fell on the paved roads.

Other students like him also trudged, rather, happily skipped to school as their chatter filled the air.

Deja vu, huh?

Morgan rubbed at his neck.

Lightly, he sifted his hand toward the back of his head, brushing over the base of his hair.

He felt his fingers brush lightly across a bump.

Wizard.

Finally, he became one.

It took about two weeks of hard work, yet this was only the start.

No, two weeks was an underestimation; it's been at least months since he was back in the States.

Still, it felt almost unreal.

Fast, even.

But it was very much real, and he came to terms with that.

Moreover,

As someone aware of the dangers of the roundabout surgery,

…naturally, he had taken precautions against his weak spot.

Carefully he had peeled open a fresh plaster and pressed it over the tiny chip to hide it from prying eyes.

Of course, another precaution was taken, all in order to protect that spot.

He had begun to learn how to use the Realizer to create a miniature barrier strong enough to protect that part.

The 'Animusphere', 

as he called it, also helped a lot.

For a support AI, as the Sensei—the Surgeon—had claimed, it had far more functions than he had imagined.

It could augment reality in real time.

Additionally, it possessed advanced sensors that could monitor his body status at all times whenever he wore it.

Not to mention, it had an advanced analytical systems that could also measure up wave of mana in energy unit.

While it surely was not on the level of what Fraxinus' Main System could do, it had its function.

For a precious device like that horned circlet, Morgan made sure to keep it close to him at all times.

But—

Out of all these, one more of the two changes he experienced was the ability to finally see the world's mana.

Different from Reiryoku, but not inherently that different.

Spirit of Origin was created by gathering all the mana around the world. 

There were greenish-yellow tiny luminous particles, constantly moving around, which very much reminded him of the theoretical Superluminal Particles.

However,

Tiinggg~

Just as Morgan reached out to touch one of those faint balls of light around the surroundings, it dissipated instantly.

As he'd expected,

It wasn't that easy. But he wouldn't have it any other way.That only made the challenge more worthwhile.

Other than that,

Another of the two changes he discovered was that he could accelerate his thought process up to two to about three times.

Naturally, pushing to triple speed puts a heavy strain on him.

And that was without the horned circlet.

With it on, however, the acceleration rose to nearly sixfold. 

By the seventh, the recoil then begins, severe enough to make him dizzy.

It was an unexpected ability, but one he welcomed wholeheartedly.

Simply now, all he had to do was continue training and wait.

The date was: 

21st March.

He began attending Raizen around the 7th of this month, and since then it has been exactly two weeks.

With a pause, his gaze directed towards the sky as an unreadable expression creased his face for a moment.

Then he dropped his gaze, tightening his hand against the strap of his bag.

Slowly, he trudged forward.

"Time to head on."

Like that, he followed the path, past the gates of the school, then past the courtyard.

He climbed the steps, turned down the hall, and finally slipped into his classroom, 2-4.

Dragging his chair back, making a small screeching sound.

He sat down, exhaling softly, and hooked his bag beside the table before leaning back in his seat.

'Mhm. Speaking of which, our resident Nightmare has been silent for a while now.'

Morgan thought.

Since her appearance, he'd been keeping extta attention on the news.

But oddly, there haven't been any reports of missing people or bygone people so far.

Which meant she was still pretty much observing things.

Not that he could guess what that nutcase of a female was thinking.

Her aside,

Morgan glanced around, scanning the room. 

Only a handful of students were present each absorbed in their own matters.

… the coast was clear.

Adjusting his back to rest against the chair, he took his pen in his hand and spun it.

It levitated up from his hands, about and inch and spun itself as though possessed with a mind of its own.

In the next moment, however, it stopped and fell back onto his palm.

'Acceleration, deceleration.'

Once more, he repeated the motion, letting it levitate and twirl, then stopping.

Slowly, but surely, he was getting the hang of it despite the slight strain.

It was bearable.

With this in mind, he knew best not to overuse it; frying his brain or his spine wasn't a plan he was working towards for.

Then again,

Not to mention—

While it was a pity he didn't have a Wiring Suit, the 'Animusphere' more than covered that gap.

Not as effectively as a wiring suit.

Territory didn't work like him mentally calculating how he wanted to use it.

Rather, it uses the brain's processing power to operate, and while one's will could also affect it.

It wasn't as though he could calculate how much gravity he wanted to release on himself, and so on.

Even so, he didn't want to rely on it too much.

At the very least, he planned to build his foundation with his own strength.

Getting his brain used to the strain; after all, he was sure there would be chances where he can't use it.

He was sure to work toward that too.

'The most effective way to counter a Spirit is to lay out your own domain: Territory.'

— AST 101.

'If I could really control reality, then is that possible—?'

One important thing he hadn't forgotten all this while was:

Identity.

Yes. It was very crucial he maintained anonymity, especially if he wanted to interact with people like Westcott, AST or DEM.

The more he thought about it, the more it also became a priority.

An idea came to mind.

'Recognition filter.'

Morgan's thought process continued as he spun the pen, controlling its spin with his right hand.

A certain person came to mind.

Lord of Silence.

If he could mimic it, then he could go around in anonymity without stressing himself about having his identity known.

Even then, he wasn't sure.

If he encounters DEM once, who knows, just maybe they might develop a system to see through the filter.

But thinking about that wasn't worth the struggle right now.

Phase two, however, was against stronger opponents.

There, he had a slight advantage.

First was pre-existing knowledge of this knowledge, and next was with 'Animusphere'. 

Since computations was pretty much covered, all that was left was for his imagination to take over.

For instance, 

If he could compress air to its absolute limit, shaping it into a sphere…

Then, technically, he'd have something close to a budget Rasengan.

In the end, while manipulating reality was one of the Animusphere's functions,

there was no guarantee that either he or the system could handle more complex calculations.

Even if a reliable supercomputing AI was helping, what about the backlash?

"Thinking about this wouldn't get me nowhere. It's a good thing I'm learning kendo; that would help also."

In terms of fighting skill, he was half bad also.

All he had to do was to steadily grow.

With that thought, he stopped the pen mid-spin, holding it an inch above his palm.

Then, with a flick of his wrist, he caught the pen, closing his hand into a fist.

Shhicck~

"Good morning."

Morgan's attention was cut short by the opening of the sliding door.

Raising his head, he saw familiar figures entering the class: 

Shidou, Tonomachi, Ai, and the rest.

"You guys are awfully cheery this morning. What's the good news? Tonomachi no longer swings that way."

Leaning his back against his chair, he stared at the five figures who approached his seat.

Naturally, Shidou, who was going to his seat, paused with a wry expression.

But—

"Close enough."

Ai butted in, hanging her bag by the side hook of her desk.

"Hey, watch it. Stop spreading misinformation about someone like that! I call that defamation!"

With fritted teeth, fist clenched, Tonomqchi barked back,

Hearing that, however, Ai jabbed a thumb towards him with a teasing smile on her face.

…eventually spun from her chair, crossing one leg over the other.

"The guy's just happy he finally got to clear that game he's always pestering you about?"

"Oh?"

Morgan raised an eyebrow.

Understandable.

Every scenario, every choice, always led to one form of dead end or the other.

It's even tougher for dedicated players who fell in love with the game.

Hence why the DLCs were released.

Spend enough time, and you might just figure out a happy ending where you don't get killed by your obsessive lovers.

"Well, I'd like to recommend the game to my friendly neighbor by my side, too."

Morgan turned with a long, draggy stare over to Shidou.

And when the male narrowed his eyes at his deskmate's gaze.

"What's with that look? Why does it feel like you're pitying me?"

Morgan shrugged.

He wasn't going to say more than that.

In hindsight, not all of them were yanderes, but it might offer him slight exposure on how to deal with them.

Plain speaking, the likes of:

Kurumi, Tohka, Tenka, Origami.

It might give him some enlightenment on how to deal with them.

Knowing the male, however, he'll pull himself together. And to that, he too would have to pull himself together.

Morgan leaned back with a small, imperceptible smile.

But just then,

Ringgg~

The bell for homeroom began.

Shiickk~

The door slid once more as their homeroom teacher Tamae Okamine strode in with her attendance in hand.

"Stand up."

"Greet."

""Good morning.""

Their voices all echoed.

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