Hell Difficulty Tutorial
Chapter 618 – Sting

I was never the kind to exactly follow a schedule. I see myself as more of a free-spirited person, the sort who doesn’t want to be tied down by anything.

What? Me, the guy who’s always trying to wake up at the same time, eat at the same time, and even go to sleep at the same time? That clearly doesn’t count.

It just doesn’t. It’s my free spirit that’s caused me to promptly abandon the schedule of this loop. It is not like I want to put a target on my back to make this floor more... fun.

That is why I’m not at the lesson the soon-to-be-deceased Champion is giving and am now sitting in the library for some reason. I would’ve expected it to be empty, with most of the Academy looking for an opportunity to glance upon the glory that is the Champion and maybe even shake his hand, so they could have an excuse to never wash that hand again.

Well, I’m not alone.

The three-armed thylarin is there as well. Tyven, one of my suspects for the candidate, sits there in the corner. Now, after I got information from Ari that there are "others," I suspect him even more. At the same time, Ari’s probably spent much more time with him, so it’s something she should know or suspect herself. Of course, I’m not naive to that point. Ari could easily be lying, and she could be the only candidate. Or maybe both of them are, and are in on it together.

That would be at least somewhat smart. What would not be smart is simply telling me she is looping. I am sure she’s planning something at the moment, but I don’t really know what.

As much as I enjoy the mystery, I also hate problems that can’t be solved by blowing things up.

Well, I do not think either of them is powerful enough to cause me any trouble. Even if they tried to kill me in my sleep, I could wipe them off the face of the world with ease.

Our group also possesses a mind blender called Sophie Martinez, who can break their minds if truly necessary, and a lie detector called Izzy Martinez, both of which we can use to great effect.

I keep a small part of my mind on Tyven and let the rest go into overdrive as I think and sketch on a piece of paper I grabbed from a nearby table. I have found that even my outright confusing lines and ugly drawings help me focus my mind. I’m currently trying to think up another technique to make my own.

Of course, I’m just calling it that. I am sure I could find out what officially qualifies as a technique if I bothered to look. This is the Academy, after all. But why should I limit myself to what others think?

Currently, there are two techniques I have and actively use. Mana Cycling, which came to me from the greatest of all cockroaches, Sandra. Even now, it is the major thing keeping me alive and preventing my mana from going wild. It could be said I love that technique quite a lot. With the constant changes I’ve been making to it, the improvements Lissandra taught me, and my ever-increasing mastery, it’s begun to grow into something truly special.

I categorize it as a cyclist destroyer kind of technique, and will continue to do so. I’m still too proud of the metaphor, despite how long it’s been since I came up with it, to change it.

Anyway, the second is Mana Weaving. Something I am sure exists on its own in the world, and others seem to have come up with their own versions as well, but I don’t want to hear about it. This one is mine, and I’ve even shown parts of it to the others from Group 4, to great success with some. Much the same way I steal ideas from them, I let them steal from me.

This technique is one of my main anti-disruption measures. It can be used outside the body for constructs such as armor, projectiles, or weapons, and to make mana itself denser. If I continue to develop it, I believe that one day my projectiles, with an added boost of kinetic energy, will be able to rival [Empyrean Lance] in piercing power.

Lastly, the third technique is something I am thinking of. This one will likely be very different.

On the paper, I have sketched four shapes, all suggested by Min-Jae and Tess.

Escher's Cube, Penrose Triangle, Klein Bottle, and Möbius Strip

Just looking at the sketches hurts my brain, my eyes, and my feelings. These shapes are extremely confusing. They shouldn’t work, and yet they exist, like some sort of monstrosity. I keep my eyes on them anyway.

The first one is Escher’s Cube. It pretends to be a cube. It clearly is not. The edges start out normal, solid. Then, somewhere around the second glance, they fold in ways that cubes clearly do not. One corner climbs when it should fall. The whole thing looks complete, but the more you stare, the more it stops making sense. I already hate it. Min-Jae picked that one, of course.

Penrose Triangle is more honest, I can at least tell that it should not work. Three beams, sharp angles, clean turns. Everything looks like it fits, until you follow the path fully. Then the triangle turns into a loop that should’ve never been able to close. My brain tries to fix it, but it cannot.

Klein Bottle is worse in a different way. I can’t even find a place to start. It folds through itself. The surface loops but does not complete. There is no clear boundary, it just keeps turning in a direction that does not exist. I cannot separate the front from the back or the outside from the inside.

A Möbius strip has only one surface and one edge. If I concentrate on it, it holds, but its orientation flips halfway through. Repeating thought loops remain intact but do not return in the same state. It differs from the other shapes because it brings three dimensions into a two-dimensional world, while the others are attempts at bringing four dimensions into three. At least, that is what Tess and Min-Jae told me.

I stare at them, and the shapes do not change. But my thoughts do. The more I look, the more I feel the weight in the center of my forehead build. Like something in my brain is trying to unfold in the wrong direction.

Maybe I should burn these papers. Pictures should not be able to deal this kind of mental damage.

But I think of them as a training base that could evolve into a new technique at a later point. Something to help me use [Focus] more effectively. Something that will work in addition to my mental passives and protect my mind from shutting down from information overload. In that way, it could help me use my eyes to a greater extent.

I have a few more ideas too, but they’re just bases that could change.

Maybe I could split my mind into one hundred parts, and focus each on observing different aspects of my opponent and look for a way to deal with their mana and the best way to disrupt everything.

Maybe I could form a double mind, and let the other take over when one shuts down from overload, while a smaller third helps the original reboot, and then cycle again.

All kinds of fun things. Maybe I am truly turning myself into a computer with all the practice I put into Logic Core, this mental technique concept, storing arrays, splitting my mind, and so on. Could I literally just download more RAM?

Anyway, my goal is to use my own mind to handle the sorts of things that would normally take an entire unit of people. Channeling, calculations, and other tasks. I want to do it all on my own, without relying on Logic Cores, items, or inscriptions. Just the raw power of my mind.

It might be weird, but I am also looking at my mind as a muscle, so of course, I have to put pressure on it for it to grow stronger.

All of this is just a concept for now, but I am sure that somewhere along the way, I’ll find something I can use, even if I am just throwing things at the wall right now to see what sticks.

After working through all of that and exploring some rough shapes in my mind, I stand up and walk around the library a bit. I examine the library’s arrays and weaknesses, all the defenses, and a number of other things to help Min-Jae steal it later. I locate the deeper levels and even find some hidden chambers thanks to differences in temperature and the way vibrations of my steps reflect off the walls and floor.

The entire time, Tyven says nothing, only giving me a glance when I stand up and when I pass by the shelves.

I still participate in my third lesson with Elian. I do not do it to follow the schedule, but more as a means to observe the Professor. Even now, he’s difficult for me to grasp. With Mana Wavelength Iris constantly activated, he must have an impressive degree of resilience. His [Mana Manipulation] should also be high, but I rarely see him doing anything impressive, so he could just as well be pretending, and this could all be a mask.

I think it is safe to say that at least the students have a decent amount of respect for him. The Professor is young, handsome, a descendant of someone from the First Generation, impressive traits, and all that other stuff. His personality is uptight and uncaring, but when he smiles, the girls in the class almost seem to squeak.

In my eyes, he could be level 200 as easily as he could be level 400. I truly have no idea, and as with many things, it annoys me.

As the day ends, I exchange some information in the Community and head to my room, where I do not sleep. Instead, I work on those impossible shapes, modifying my mana orb into them and attempting to move it in that same impossible way. I do it until morning without taking a break, or so much as moving from the edge of the bed I’ve been sitting on.

Only when the sun shines into the room do I move and head off to take a shower.

I’ve been curious about her ever since I heard about her from Izzy. A ten-year-old human girl, rumored to be level 350. A monster, even by the standards of some among the Assistant Professors. From Izzy, I know when she will be leaving her class, since they share one, so I stand nearby under a tree and wait.

When the first group of students exits in their white uniforms with black sweaters or shirts, I know she is not among them. There’s not even the slightest hint of danger coming from them. That feeling appears only when Izzy exits, two girls laughing and joking by her side. Like a true Hell Difficulty attendee, she notices me immediately but does not react.

The girl I’m waiting for exits last. She walks alone, and everyone else avoids her by a wide margin. I detect at least three items on her body that work to suppress her stats and mana, items which would seem to demonstrate a lack of ability when it comes to holding herself back, and were likely given by her mentor or the Academy.

Even so, she notices me immediately, just as Izzy did. Her eyes find me without searching, pinpointing my exact location.

She’s ten years old and looks fairly ordinary. Long brown hair, average height for her age, the same uniform as the others. Only three items restraining her are hidden somewhere on her body.

Upon spotting me, one of these items breaks.

She stares at me longer. Her brown eyes begin to lighten until they turn white, and her brown hair lifts around her as if stirred by an unseen wind.

The second item breaks, and her mana seeps into the area. The box of study materials in her hand fractures and falls apart as she clenches her fist.

Her eyes remain fixed on me the entire time, not shifting even slightly.

Before anything else can happen, a professor appears at her side through some form of teleportation, and from what I can sense, it was triggered by a mark that’s been placed on the girl. The professor immediately activates arrays to suppress her, and only then does the girl calm down.

When that Professor looks up to see where the girl is looking, I am gone.

Hours later, thinking this might’ve been enough fun for today, I find that I was wrong.

During one of the training sessions I’ve been using my office for, I feel a sting in my neck. Something that pierces through the barrier I reflexively create as I sense the projectile entering my reach. Even my kinetic energy fails to hold it back.

At the same time, I launch a projectile in the direction I figure the sting came from. My projectile breaks the glass of the window in the same place the tiny barb penetrated and follows that trajectory outside. I raise up my mana and stand up, deploying my barriers and unleashing my mana to follow the attacker when the changes inside my body make me stop.

At dizzying speed, some sort of toxin spreads from the tiny wound on my neck. It ignores my defenses, my barriers, and my mana as I try to push it away. The speed with which it spreads is incredible, and it’s already started to affect me.

My mana grows sluggish, warmth drains from my limbs, and pulses of pain make my muscles spasm. It actively tries to force me into unconsciousness while inflicting severe wounds that will kill me if I allow it to proceed.

I allow it to continue for a few more seconds and observe the toxin with fascination. Then I flood my body with thermal energy to activate my Subdermal Combustion Weave passive. Immediately, the pain intensifies as the thermal energy powers the mid-tier arcane passive, causing combustion beneath my skin.

I plan to move to follow the attacker, but something stops me again. The toxin is not getting burned out or destroyed at all. Instead, it spreads further, feeding on my mana, blood, and flesh, and mutating in front of my eyes. The damage and pain it causes increases further.

What a vile thing. What an incredible thing.

This time, I reach toward my Ignition Heart and fully lift the first seal, and let that concentrated thermal energy flood me and increase the efficiency of my passive. I have no thought of following the attacker anymore and instead sit down to deal with the pain my own passive and the toxin have created.

Then the toxin mutates again, reacting even faster to my countermeasures. My limbs begin to lose color, and my veins turn sickly black, visible even through the skin. I clench my teeth from the pain this inflicts.

The toxin finds the healing marks Lily gave me and eats them, which hastens the mutation. Even as I try to activate some of those marks myself, they do nothing.

As it starts to reach the barriers I’ve set around my hearts and brain, I decide it’s not the time to hesitate anymore.

I start lifting another seal on the Ignition Heart, and more thermal energy floods me. It damages me even more than the toxin, but it starts healing me that much quicker.

Even now, it’s not enough.

I push the seal further open, halfway to fully lifting the second seal, and only then does the spread begin to slow as the two forces collide.

Only my will keeps me from passing out, but I begin to lose control. Heat surges from my body, seeping into the room. The furniture catches fire, and the walls glow red before melting into shining drops of lava. The amount of thermal energy I’m currently generating eats into the walls, revealing the outdoors and the sky while tearing apart some of the Academy's arrays.

Pissed off, I force the seal open wider, drawing a painful groan as the toxin and pieces of my body evaporate. I watch my bones and organs be destroyed and rebuilt, my flesh burning and sizzling, burning them away with the toxin.

I continue until I am absolutely certain that all of it is gone, replacing most of my body in the process and barely managing to reseal the Ignition Heart in the final push.

Even when that’s all done, I still feel a remnant of that pain and slide into a deep state of [Focus].

I look around. The room is gone, along with a few of its neighbors. A massive chunk of the tower has melted away, opening everything to the elements outside. The constant sound of the array's alarm is ringing in my head, and I already sense a few of the Professors moving closer.

With a sigh, I stand up and come to a stop when I look down.

Let's find some pants first.