Chapter 193 - Further Beyond
—The countdown ticking away in the corner of my vision dropped below one hundred seconds.
"Whoops, no time to be messing around."
Gossan, who had been teasing me along with Mi-na, snapped back to a serious expression. Seriously, he calls me out for my debut and all we've done is comedy sketches.
By the way, the other one, the redhead, has quieted down nicely after her punishment. Good. She can tremble in her partner's shadow for a while.
"Here. Think you can handle this?"
He handed me a large scroll, probably a meter in diameter. I took it, feeling its considerable weight, and tried to open it—hira, it opens… hira, c'mon open…!
"Let me."
Unlike unrolling a poster, this was tricky. A hand in a black glove reached out from my side to help.
Thanking Tetra for the assist, we finally managed to open the scroll—written on it was not some idle doodle, but the full, fantastically complex layout of a giant maze.
"…Senpai?"
For a solid ten seconds, I stood frozen, silent, staring intently at the map. Tetra tilted his head at me.
"—Okay, got it memorized."
"…I'm still only half-convinced."
When I looked up and said it so casually, the boy, still holding his end of the scroll, gave me a look one might reserve for something incredibly shady.
I can't blame him—I think this 'ability' I only recently became aware of is incredibly shady myself.
"Alright, time for a test."
Gossan nodded at my words, took the map, and turned its back to me.
"Give me the route from our base to, let's see… Vestol's on the opposite side."
"Seriously? That's so far. Uh, let's see…"
Figuring it would take too long to solve it methodically, I started ad-libbing a path to the goal on the maze I'd copied into my mind, rattling off the route as I went.
"Right, right, left, left, right… and that's the goal."
The result—well, you can guess from Gossan's exasperated smile and Tetra's dumbfounded expression.
"Seriously, what kind of memory do you have…?"
"Well… I don't have any weird powers like this in real life, though."
It's what they call eidetic or photographic memory. I recently discovered that, for some reason, I seem to possess this special ability, but only within the virtual world.
The one who first gave me the hint… or rather, made me realize it, was my master, Ui-san.
It happened after I officially became her disciple and started learning the sword from her in earnest—my skill absorption rate was apparently just plain weird.
Seeing the form, memorizing it, and reproducing it. Watching me go through that process in the blink of an eye, Ui-san came up with a hypothesis and performed an experiment on me.
It was a simple test: look at a jumble of random characters scribbled on paper for just a moment, and then recall them. The result? Whether it was a hundred characters or two hundred, my mind accurately memorized and retrieved them all.
Or rather, my virtual brain, my outer-brain, did.
It was related to what we'd talked about before, regarding aptitude for the virtual world. Apparently, there were precedents for people like me, who manifest abilities in the virtual world that they don't possess in reality. These abilities are known by the fancy name of 'Gifts.'
In other words, as humbling as it is—I'm apparently one of those 'Gifted' people.
"…Alright, no complaints. You memorized all the block numbers too?"
"Of course."
"Good. I'll be giving you orders based on that assumption, so move your ass, got it?"
"Roger. Well then, it's about time…"
I noticed the countdown was down to its last ten seconds—and in that instant, countless pillars of light shot up from the black rock of the maze area.
"Alright, the 'Pillars' are out. You can do this, right?"
"Yeah, I can. I'll make sure to paint over the pathetic display I made with that greeting earlier."
The General Commander grinned and raised a fist… and as many players watched, I bumped my own against his large right hand.
The count hit zero.
Now—
"Time for a show. Go raise some hell, [Haru the Acrobat]!"
"As you command, Lord [General Commander]."
When I turned on my heel, the path was already wide open.
I walked through the parted crowd of people, forcing myself to appear calm while crushing the nervousness and embarrassment within me.
"[Parabellum Bullet]."
Summoning a full spread of crimson crystal knives between the fingers of both hands, I made them sing. I closed my eyes for a few seconds—and that was more than enough preparation.
Of course, I can't just get rid of my nerves. But as for my resolve, I've spent the last half-month hardening it.
I may be a newcomer who's only been a player for about two months,
But at the same time, I am the Eastern Faction Istia's Ninth Seat, the [Acrobat],
And I am the disciple of the Second Seat, the [Sword Saint].
—I've come here with resolve, and with self-awareness, right here in my heart.
Stand tall,
Act ridiculously cool,
Take this stage I've fought my way up to—and play it for all it's worth!!
The crimson knives I threw all at once flew straight over the waterway reflecting the starry sky.
I summoned more, and threw them again.
And once more—and then,
"[Panga Fool]."
In my left hand, I summoned the familiar black dagger.
My finger on the trigger—held not a single shred of hesitation.
"Watch me now, world—[Ignition]!!"
Then, now, and forevermore.
—These legs have started running, and they're not stopping now.
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◇Status◇
Title: Acrobat
Name: Haru Lv: 100
STR: 300
AGI: 350
DEX: 100
VIT: 0 (+50)
MID: 0 (+350)
LUC: 300
◇Skill◇
・All Weapon Aptitude -> Arms of Gandharva Up!
《Blink Switch》
《Flip Stroke》
《Gusty Limbs》 -> 《Whirlwind》 Up!
《Exchange Voltate》
Greed's Precept
・《Reflect Blowal》
・《Tremble Slide》 -> 《Breath Moment》 Up!
・《Ignition》
・《Floating Leaf》
・《Foreknowledge Eye》
・Embodied Protection
・Combo Accelerate
・Awakening Blow
・Heavy Attack Manipulator
・Adamant Sky Dash
・Rabbit Run
・Fataless Jumper
・Rhino's Heart -> Floating Star Up!
・Trickery Precept -> Trickster of Zenith Up!
・Cutting Body, Unyielding Advance New!
・Guardian's Cradle
・Telepathy
◇Arts◇
【Kesshiki Ittoryu】
《Flying Water》
《Striking Iron》
《Heavenly Snow》
《Withered Flame》
《Seven Stars》
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