The Sponsored Heroines Are Coming for Me

The cave I entered for secluded training.

This place was surprisingly well-suited for training.

In other words, there was absolutely nothing to do.

Most importantly, the food provided here reflected that.

“Is this Byeokgokdan?”

Byeokgokdan—preserved food made by drying and compressing grains to prevent spoilage.

It was something I had always wanted to try at least once.

In martial arts novels, it often appeared as a food infamous for its terrible taste.

I picked up a single grain of Byeokgokdan.

—Sniff sniff

The smell… Hmm.

Not exactly pleasant.

It smelled like… an old granola cornflake bar.

Overall, it strongly resembled an energy bar.

I carefully placed one in my mouth and chewed.

The texture—bone-dry and extremely hard.

“…”

If I bit down carelessly, I felt like my teeth would shatter.

I briefly considered reinforcing them with mana, but in the end, I chose to chew slowly.

The result—

“…This tastes absolutely vile.”

Even in the middle of secluded training, where food was scarce, this was unacceptable.

The stale grainy smell and the hopelessly rigid texture made it unbearable.

Byeokgokdan.

The very reason many give up on secluded training.

Now I understood why it was rated so poorly.

“I’ve experienced all sorts of things since transmigrating into this fantasy world.”

That just goes to show how much of a masterpiece Fantasy X Academy was.

Shaking my head, I tossed the remaining Byeokgokdan back into its container.

At least there was jerky. I’d rather stick to eating that.

To be honest, taste wasn’t important.

As long as it sustained life, that was enough.

After all, this was secluded training.

The focus should be on training, not gourmet meals.

“Hmm.”

I crossed my arms for a moment.

Standing here like this, I felt like I was back at the start of my transmigration.

Back when I had fought with the developer and ended up unfairly thrown into this world.

I didn’t start with nothing—

I started in debt.

Even in those circumstances, I never neglected training.

The reason was simple.

I needed to survive what was coming.

I couldn’t trust the heroines, the core figures of the game’s story.

If I didn’t grow stronger myself, I had no other options.

As I trained to survive, I eventually learned to enjoy it.

“Growing stronger day by day was actually fun.”

And now—

I looked down at my hands.

‘I really have grown.’

Though I had to employ all sorts of strategies.

I had reached a level where I could even contend with Bloodstone Cult executives.

Thinking back to when I was barely 2-Star…

This was an immense improvement.

Even most heroines struggled to achieve such growth.

“…And I need to go even further.”

The final boss—

The Cult Leader of the Bloodstone Cult.

Facing him made me realize something.

I needed to achieve an even greater level of growth than I had so far.

That was the purpose of this secluded training.

I recalled the Cult Leader I had seen with my own eyes.

A presence so overwhelming that his abilities were impossible to gauge.

At the very least, he was at a level surpassing 9-Star.

Just the fact that I had laid eyes on him made me closer to the game’s ending than any other Fantasy X Academy player.

But that wasn’t enough.

I had to defeat that monster.

To do so, I had to grow stronger.

“Phew…”

A long exhale.

It wasn’t a matter of confidence.

It was something I had to do.

Something I could do.

However—

“It’s not something I can do alone.”

My own growth alone wasn’t enough to defeat the Cult Leader.

I needed everyone’s help.

The people who were originally heroines in Fantasy X Academy.

Those who weren’t heroines but were more precious to me than anyone else.

The friends who had helped me, and those I had helped in return.

I would need to strike with every ounce of power available.

That was the very nature of a final boss in a game.

“Ugh.”

I unfolded my legs from the meditation position and stood up.

Training was important.

But just as important was making my presence known to the outside world.

That was the only way I had even a slight chance of receiving help.

I placed my hand against the cave wall.

“Cold.”

The chill of metal seeped into my skin, along with a sense of immense solidity.

This was Eternal Iron, the highest-grade material in Fantasy X Academy.

Just being near it was enough to feel its overwhelming presence.

Typically, Eternal Iron refers to iron infused with Yin energy.

Eternal Iron was an iron that had absorbed Yin energy for ten thousand years—

A near-mystical substance, both an extraordinary material and a priceless treasure.

It was similar to Lunar, which absorbed moonlight,

but was considered even more prestigious and powerful.

Naturally, it was not a material one could easily acquire.

Even a simple (?) sword forged from Eternal Iron would immediately rank among the highest-tier Numbers weapons.

Of course, it had no fixed price.

Its worth was whatever someone was willing to pay.

And yet, here it was, embedded in the cave walls in abundance.

“…Can I take a little piece?”

As someone who manipulates earth elements,

I couldn’t help but be mesmerized by such a rare metal.

It would be strange if I didn’t feel tempted.

“…Focus.”

For now, leaving my mark on the outside world was a higher priority than mining Eternal Iron.

◆

Imagine being trapped inside an enormous barrier.

If I thought about it simply, there were two ways to leave a trace outside.

First—forcefully tear a hole in the barrier and scatter traces.

Or—destroy the barrier entirely.

“…Neither is possible here.”

Unfortunately, this wasn’t just an ordinary barrier.

This was the heart of the Bloodstone Cult.

I was assuming that this place was its Dantian.

More precisely, the Dantian of none other than the Cult Leader himself.

Destruction was not an option.

I needed to come up with a completely different approach.

Then, an idea struck me.

“The Cult Leader must be silently absorbing all the energy in this place.”

It was only natural.

There was a reason a human would be trapped inside a Dantian.

Just as Richard Pierce had absorbed people into his own Dantian, the Cult Leader was likely doing the same.

That raised a question.

Currently, the Cult Leader’s rank was extraordinarily high.

Which meant—he wouldn’t be absorbing just any energy.

Just as I contained highly refined pure earth-elemental energy within me.

The Cult Leader was likely refining and absorbing something equally pure.

Based on that assumption, another hypothesis emerged.

“He probably isn’t absorbing all the energy in this place.”

The Cult Leader would refine and purify the energy, taking only its essence.

The unnecessary energy would be expelled.

“So, if I release mana that he deems useless…”

It would be recognized as waste and naturally discharged to the outside.

That would leave a trace beyond this place.

“This plan makes sense so far.”

Disguising my trace as waste.

It was the most realistic and plausible method.

However, there was a critical issue.

“Mana traces are volatile.”

Energy—mana traces—tend to dissipate quickly.

Simply releasing my energy outside wouldn’t mean anything if it all disappeared.

Even if some of it remained, the world was already filled with countless forms of mana.

It would mix and become unrecognizable.

My pursuers were already searching for me like looking for a needle in a haystack.

To be effective, my trace needed to meet two conditions.

1. It had to be unmistakably mine.
2. It had to resist fading or blending with other mana.

If I couldn’t ensure both, my effort would be meaningless.

“Hmmm.”

At least getting my trace outside wasn’t a problem.

—Drip, Drip.

In one corner of the cave was a small spring.

Water trickled down from the cave walls, gathered in a shallow pool, then flowed out somewhere else.

Most likely, it led outside the cave—eventually reaching the surface.

The real problem was—how to create a mana trace that wouldn’t disappear.

Energy was, ultimately, a type of force.

And in nature, forces always dissipate over time.

“… Should I make it into a solid form?”

If I wanted a trace that wouldn’t disappear easily, then shaping it into a solid form would be the best approach.

But—

Could energy be given a tangible form?

Was that even possible?

“…Ah. Wait.”

A memory flashed through my mind.

I had seen it before.

During the diplomatic summit held at Lichten Academy.

A thin veil of light had descended through the conference hall.

It had suddenly fallen from the sky—

Clearly made of mana, yet it had a tangible, solid presence.

It was as if countless waves of mana had intertwined, forming something like a rope.

“…Ah.”

There was something about mana and waves written in one of the martial manuals.

[Blood Demon’s Shadow Arts]

I hastily pulled out the manual.

Flipping through the pages at a rapid pace.

— Qi is a wave, and a wave is form. That is why the world is made of waves.

As I read each word.

A shock ran through my mind—

As if electricity was coursing through my brain.

By the time I finished reading the passage.

I instinctively lifted my gaze.

My eyes locked onto the wall.

The Eternal Iron bore countless marks—

traces left behind by those who had walked this path before me.

A path carved by my predecessors.

I committed it to memory.

— Flash!

A brilliant light erupted in my mind.

I felt warmth trickling down from my nose.

Nosebleed.

But I paid it no mind.

Losing a bit of blood wouldn’t kill me.

I was beyond distractions.

I gripped my staff.

And released my mana.

One layer.

Then another.

Layer upon layer, building up—

— Swoosh…

The magic fell as if it carried weight.

“…Ah.”

Floating atop the water,

it looked like a snowflake.

It didn’t dissolve.

It wasn’t influenced by the surrounding mana.

A perfectly solidified form of mana.

The snowflake drifted along the water’s surface,

carried into the depths of the unknown.

Secluded training.

My first awakening.

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