kscans

Chapter 193 - Further Beyond

—The countdown ticking away in the corner of my vision dropped below one hundred seconds.

“Whoops, no time for messing around,” Gossan said, his face turning serious as if he’d just snapped back to reality. No kidding, they call me out for my big debut and all we’ve done is sketch comedy?

By the way, the other one, the red-haired girl, quieted down nicely after I delivered her punishment. She can tremble in her partner’s shadow for a good long while.

“Here you go. Can you do it?”

He handed me a large scroll, easily a meter in diameter. I took it—it was surprisingly heavy—and went to open it. Open… come on, open…!

“Let me.”

This wasn’t like unrolling a simple poster. As I fumbled with it, a hand in a black glove reached out from my side.

I thanked Tetra for the help, and this time, we successfully opened the scroll. Spread out before us was not some doodle, but the complete, intricate map of a gigantic maze.

“…………Senior?”

For a solid ten seconds, I stood frozen, staring intently at the map without a word. Tetra tilted his head at me.

“—Okay, 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 a snake oil salesman.

Fair enough—I myself thought this ‘ability’ I’d only recently become aware of was incredibly sketchy.

“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 base on the opposite side.”

“Seriously? That’s far. Uh, let’s see…”

Thinking a step-by-step approach would be a waste of time, I improvised a path to the goal on the map I had copied into my mind and rattled off the route.

“Right, right, left, left, right… and that’s the goal.”

The result—well, you can guess from Gossan’s exasperated smile and Tetra’s twitching face, which screamed “I’m officially freaked out.”

“Seriously, what kind of memory do you have…?”

“Well… I don’t have this weird power in the real world, though.”

It was what you would call eidetic or photographic memory. As it turns out, it seems I possess this special ability, but only within the virtual world. That fact came to light recently.

The one who first gave me a hint… or rather, made me realize it, was my master, Ui-san.

After I officially became her disciple and started learning the sword from her in earnest, she told me that the speed at which I was absorbing her techniques was just plain weird.

See the form, memorize it, and reproduce it. Seeing me complete that process in the blink of an eye, Ui-san formed a hypothesis and performed an experiment on me.

It was simple: she just had me glance at a jumble of characters scribbled on a piece of paper and remember the contents. The result was that whether it was a hundred characters or two hundred, my mind accurately stored and retrieved the information.

Well, not my mind, but my Outer Brain, to be precise.

It was related to that talk we had about aptitude for the virtual world. Apparently, there are precedents for people like me who “manifest abilities in the virtual world that they do not possess in reality,” and these abilities are given a fancy name: ‘Gifts.’

In other words, I am, however undeserving I may feel—one of those Gifted people.

“...Alright, no complaints here. You memorized all the block numbers too?”

“Of course.”

“Good. I’ll be giving you orders based on that assumption, so move sharp, you hear?”

“Roger. In that case, it’s about time…”

I noticed the countdown had less than ten seconds left—and at that moment, countless pillars of light erupted within the black rock of the maze area.

“There they are. The ‘pillars’ have appeared—you can do it, just as we planned.”

“Yeah, I can. I’ll paint over the pathetic display I made with my greeting earlier.”

The General Commander raised his fist with a grin… and as many players watched, I bumped my fist against his large right hand.

The count hit zero.

Alright—

“Time for the main event. Go raise some hell, [Haru the Acrobat].”

“As you command, my [General Commander].”

When I turned on my heel, the path was already wide open.

I walked between the parted crowd, forcing a calm demeanor to suppress my nerves and embarrassment.

“[Parabellum Bullet]”

I summoned a handful of crimson crystal daggers between my fingers, letting them clink together. I closed my eyes for just a few seconds—and that was more than enough preparation.

Of course, I couldn’t just eliminate my nervousness. But as for my resolve, I had solidified that over the past half-month.

I may be a newcomer who’s only been playing for two months, but,

I am also the ninth seat of the Eastern Faction, Istia, the [Acrobat], and,

I am the ‘disciple’ of the second seat, the [Sword Saint].

—I came here with resolve and awareness in my heart.

Stick your chest out with pride.

Act as cool as you possibly can.

This stage you’ve climbed to reach—play it for all it’s worth!!

I hurled the crimson daggers all at once, and they flew straight over the waterway that reflected the starry sky.

I summoned more, and again.

And again—and then,

“[Panga Fool]”

In my left hand, I summoned the all-too-familiar black knife.

The finger on the trigger—had not a single shred of hesitation.

“Watch me now, world—————《Ignition》!!”

Then, and now, and forevermore.

—These legs, once they start running, will never stop.

――――――――――――――――――
◇Status◇
Title：Acrobat
Name：Haru　 Lv：100
STR(Strength)：300
AGI(Agility)：350
DEX(Dexterity)：100
VIT(Vitality)：0(+50)
MID(Mental)：0(+350)
LUC(Luck)：300

◇Skill◇
・All Weapon Aptitude ⇒ Gandharva Up!
《Blink Switch》
《Flip Thru Talk》
《Gusty Limb》⇒《Whirlwind》 Up!
《Exchange Voltate》
Greed's Precept

・《Reflect Explode》
・《Tremble Slide》⇒《Breath Moment》 Up!
・《Ignition》
・《Floating Leaf》
・《Eyes Oculus》

・Embodied Protection
・Combo Accelerate
・Awakening Blow
・Heavy Attack Manipulator
・Adamant Sky Dash
・Rabbit Run
・Fateless 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》
　――――
　―――
　――
　―
――――――――――――――――――