46 – Shinsoo Training Montage

The beam of Shinsoo crashed into Derflinger and was split, diverting it in two different directions.

"Not quite," said Derf. "Again, please."

Hwa Ryun powered up another beam and sent it at Derf, with much the same result.

"Urgh. I'm sure I can do it, but I'm missing something here," said Derf, who was stabbed into the ground by himself.

I was submerged with only my head above water, beside Hwa Ryun who sat on the ledge of this rock platform, focused on my own Shinsoo senses.

"You were right, she easily mustered up the will needed for an invitation, though I still would have preferred you," I said. "Zahard's blood just makes everything too complicated."

"I already told you, I'm not a good choice. I'll be busy, and you're better off with her if you're going to be doing the tests together," Hwa Ryun said.

We were out on the main part of the floor, after Yu Hansung agreed to smuggle us out for our secret training outside the massive floating island that was the test area where the dorms and classrooms were. Hwa Ryun led the way to a spot that had small pools of dense liquid Shinsoo hidden underneath some rocky cliffs and outcroppings.

"Why not make a contract with me anyways? There isn't anything stopping me from having more than one host."

"Do you know how similar you are to Zahard? You cover your eyes, you wear a red cape, you dress like an adventurer and you call yourself one too. Aside from your black hair, it would be easy for somebody who hasn't seen Zahard's face close up to mistake you for him. It's distasteful to copy him, especially when it comes to women."

Did she mean the way he set up Princesses without any intention of marrying any of them, or the way that he refused to accept Arlen's rejection? Both seemed applicable in this situation.

"I'm not copying him. It's a common archetype. The hero goes on an adventure, undertakes many difficult quests and trials, and eventually saves the world. Given the way the Tower is set up, it seems almost made for adventurers," I said.

"If you know that already, then you should know what archetype I'm supposed to be, so hurry up and stop bothering me," While her words were unfriendly, she said so with a slight smile.

The Mysterious Woman was the obvious archetype, but it could also be the Damsel Errant, a rarer archetype who just points the main character towards the plot and normally isn't a love interest.

Another beam hit Derf. "…Could've sworn I felt something that time!"

"But conventionally the heroine is always the most beautiful female character," I said.

"No, it should be the first one introduced," said Hwa Ryun.

"That can just be used as a red herring though," I said.

"Wouldn't that better fit me?"

"I'm sure that your hair is natural and was never silver," I said.

"You don't know that for sure," she said. "And when did you ever learn about silver dwarves?"

"I've no idea what you're talking about. I was just referring to the silver hue that herrings have before they're cooked red," I said. "What's a silver dwarf?"

The next beam of Shinsoo suddenly hit me in the face, but it didn't hurt, merely sending me tilting into the water, and I let myself stay under to concentrate on my training as Hwa Ryun was indirectly telling me to do.

Ever since I'd done the experiments with Shinsoo on Worm, both Derf and I had been mulling over why we couldn't control it. For Derf's part, he also couldn't absorb Shinsoo attacks like he could with FoZ spells.

Yuga thought that I had a potentially unique Shinsoo Quality, but when I thought about it again, I wondered if that was really true.

The most interesting property that the experiments had revealed was that Shinsoo might not be composed of particles, but neither was it purely energy or purely spiritual. But it could take any number of forms, even convertible directly to mana, which was a purely spiritual state.

So why was it that when Yuga instructed me to imagine the smallest grain of sand, instead of a ball of water gathering, it had a reaction for me?

Putting together the fact that I was capable of interacting with the Shinsoo on some level, manipulating it as if it were an ultra dense form of mana, I began to consider alternative hypotheses.

After speaking with the Builder, I had learned that there were many magic systems, each with their own "basic" affinities, which did not really make sense if there was a consistent underlying, more fundamental system, in the way that compounds were explained by molecules, molecules were explained by atoms, then atoms were explained by even more fundamental particles and forces.

Instead, it seemed to be that magic was inherently subjective or malleable—relative to the user.

On some level, this also made sense since I doubted that the concept of magic circuits was universally applicable. There were obviously superior forms of magical spiritual organs out there, even in Fate itself. So perhaps there was a different sort of problem at play—where I had imposed upon myself the concepts of circuits from Fate, and this had rendered it difficult to just manipulate Shinsoo directly, without routing it through my circuits refining the Shinsoo as if it were mana.

That, in turn, made it difficult to conceptualize Shinsoo as a freeform particle-less substance. There was perhaps a subconscious failure to comprehend how something could behave like physical matter yet be controllable in a spiritual manner, but not mana. So I could either manifest Shinsoo as a particle—leading to the result Yuga witnessed which couldn't be controlled spiritually or do anything useful, or I could manifest it as mana—leading to my use of it as such via my circuits.

But what organ did I have that could simply control Shinsoo directly? This was actually the same conundrum I'd faced initially before I created my artificial circuit. Was I truly lacking something, or was there a way to grant it to myself?

How did people from the Outside become capable of using Shinsoo, when Shinsoo didn't exist Outside? They too should not have had any special organs, yet they could do it, as if just being in the Tower granted that ability. And wasn't Shinsoo itself miraculous, capable of doing anything? The effects it had on the body were inexplicable from a biological point of view. What made Rankers so inhumanly powerful could only be explained by Mystery rather than science. And if Shinsoo could bring the body to that level, why couldn't it also change the soul?

The obvious answer was that it could. After all, Shinsoo could even create life. It could make things akin to souls, such as Ignition Weapons.

With everything that I'd learned from Agate, from the Builder, from my own experiments, I reached the conclusion that it came down to a matter of how to impose—or rather, accept—upon myself the concept of being able to use Shinsoo.

When I first created my artificial circuit with Agate's help, it was not just something I imagined and made possible by trying. It wasn't as easy as knowing that a spell or magic system existed, so I should be able to do it. I couldn't just draw inspiration from various other works of fiction to create new powers for myself.

Otherwise, any random person on Earth who tried to imagine themselves gaining circuits might have succeeded, but it didn't work that way. The circuit only became possible because Agate was there. Agate brought with her the concepts of Fate, and that spell that irrevocably linked my soul with her in the supposed "attunement" process allowed me to impose them on myself.

So here in the Tower, I should be able to access its concepts too, by being an Irregular who'd entered the Tower. The only problem was that there wasn't a particular method to gain it—it just happened naturally, except for getting the contract with a Guardian, but I'd already done that.

If I was right, then rather than seeking a method of gaining Shinsoo control—wouldn't the answer actually be to remove the influence of a competing concept?

And so it was that I turned off my artificial circuit and even closed off my telepathic link to the Kaleidostick, sending it into hibernation. The bond could not be severed, and the circuit could not be erased, nor would I want to. But I tried to clear my mind of them completely, like doing a reverse-hypnotism to shut myself off from it all.

When I removed even the nerves that connected me to the FoZ blood circuits, and immersed myself into nothing but the sensation of Shinsoo and the soft unintelligible whispers of the water spirits who seemed to be more comfortable here than even in FoZ, I fell into a deep trance that I experienced only once before when I communed with the water spirits for the first time and let them take me through the water cycle.

O O O

A long time later, I opened to see two familiar eyes that glimmered like rubies looking at me upside down, my head held in her lap between her hands, with the lower half of my body still submerged in a large lake.

"If you look at me so intently, Hwa Ryun, I might get the wrong idea," I said. Her long red hair fell on the sides of my face, giving even the air a red hue like an aura that surrounded us.

"Legend has it that Enryu was an Irregular with a power so great, whose mastery of Shinsoo was so incomprehensible, that those who saw him up close and survived became enlightened, with strange abilities that altered the way they saw the world. So there are some people who take any chance they can get to catch a glimpse of an Irregular, hoping that they too will receive new eyes."

"Your eyes are beautiful as they are. I'm not sure if getting new ones would be better," I said.

She smiled and moved one hand to cover her right eye. "If I ever see Enryu, then I'll cover this eye to thank you for changing my fate."

"Really? You'd do that for me? Did you somehow get a strange power in that eye from watching me?" I asked. So she had been able to see how things were supposed to end after the Crown game after all. It was true then, that powerful Guides could see their own fate, even if she couldn't see the paths that Irregulars took.

"This is still a training montage, so we can't hide an important plot device in here," she said.

"Normally they don't have much character development either," I said.

"Of course they can. The hero is inspired by a mentor and obtains a new power through hard work," she said.

There was a whoosh in the air. "It's true Partner, you missed everything! After the mistress inspired me, I worked hard and finally did it! Since I can move around by myself now, you should become my sidekick. It's time for Derflinger to be the hero of this story!"

"No way. You really did it before me?" I asked, getting up and looking at the floating sword.

"Bow down before the great Derflinger! Hahaha!" Derf flew around and started showing off his new skills, slashing like somebody was wielding him.

"What the fuck. How did you get so good so fast? Weren't you just working on absorbing mana from Shinsoo attacks?" I asked.

"Kid, I'm a six-thousand year old hidden master. I'll give you some tips if you ask nicely and call me grandpa."

I looked back at Hwa Ryun who seemed highly amused. "What did you teach him?"

"I didn't teach him anything. I'm just moving him with Shinsoo right now to make it look like he's moving on his own," Hwa Ryun said.

"Got you!" Derflinger shouted gleefully.

I facepalmed.

O O O

Baam ducked and barely dodged my punch, and then the follow up kick too.

Androssi flashed to my side when I was still outstretched. Her speed had gotten even faster ever since she learned to use Shinsoo bursts and I couldn't react in time, though I could've dodged with a Burstshift of my own. I didn't though, because I was still keeping a lid on all my magic to focus exclusively on Shinsoo, not even using Reinforcement.

The Armoriont opened up a pore and sprayed goo in her direction.

"Yuck, what the heck is that?!" She backtracked before the goo landed on her.

A beam of Shinsoo from Baam hit her from the side and sent her sprawling. Baam was smiling happily with his hands still shaped into an open ball.

I rushed towards Baam, who was jolted into action and turned towards me.

Suddenly I froze, unable to move while Baam had a concentrated look on his face.

"Ah!" A red needle flew at him and he fell backwards trying to dodge it too quickly.

Then I was released, but Androssi slammed into me first.

"My win again," she announced while Baam and I were laying on the ground. "That was good, Baam, you're getting better."

Baam rubbed his head with a big smile.

O O O

I set down the tray of chicken pie in front of her.

Androssi took an eager bite, then put a hand to her mouth, before spitting it out. "You expect me to eat this? It's terrible! There's too much salt and the chicken is overcooked! Do it again properly! "

"Sorry, sorry, it's the first time I've done it," I said while tasting it myself. It wasn't that bad…though it admittedly wasn't very good either.

I took it away and then fed the remainder to the Armoriont before heading back to the kitchen, while thinking to myself that the challenge was unfairly difficult with the tools at hand.

Just like the coffee strips that Yu Hansung showed Rachel during their first meeting, the cooking tools and machines they used in the kitchens also needed fine Shinsoo control or other weird quirks. They were normally used by the Rankers or their bots, and on this floor there were no Regular residential areas, so he couldn't get access to the basic versions for normal people without leaving the Inner Tower..

O O O

"The main difference between a Lighthouse and the Observers that Scouts use is the way that Lighthouses exert control over a field of Shinsoo. They emit light and can change the flows of Shinsoo rather than just collecting data, and usually can't collect visual data without other upgrades," said Rachel, now sitting in her new wheelchair, while holding a yellow Lighthouse in her hands while another one floated in front of her. The one in her hands was the main Lighthouse body, while the other one was a Cube, a node.

I observed the flow of Shinsoo closely as she demonstrated.

"For example, my control of Shinsoo isn't good enough yet to levitate with this chair that Lero Ro got me. I can move on the ground in any direction, but floating is too hard because the chair is so heavy. But if I do this…" She said while spinning the floating Lighthouse around a bit.

The Shinsoo flows around her shifted, increasing in density below her while seemingly getting tied to the one in her hands.

Then she lifted her Lighthouse, and the chair moved with it. She started floating in the air.

"Fascinating," I said.

"I can do the same sitting on the Lighthouse itself too," she said, decompressing her Lighthouse and then sliding over to sit on it.

"So it's possible for a Lighthouse to enhance Shinsoo control…" I said, contemplating.

"There should be other items that can do it too. Lots of Regulars without talent have to resort to using items like that," said Rachel.

"But how does it get secured? The Lighthouse itself is controlled by Shinsoo isn't it? Couldn't somebody else take control of it?" I asked.

"Every person has a unique flow of Shinsoo. It's not really a physical flow, but that's what they call it. When you get a Lighthouse, you have to lock it to your own flow of Shinsoo. It's not impossible for a skilled Lightbearer to hack into someone else's Lighthouse, but it's pretty hard unless they're way stronger," said Rachel.

"Is that so? Do you mind if I try something for a moment? I'm going to do the same thing I did on Lero Ro's barrier, but with your Lighthouse," I said.

"Sure, go ahead," said Rachel, looking curious as well.

So I did, and the water spirits tried to take control of the Shinsoo. Rachel and her Lighthouse fell to the ground, but the Lighthouse itself didn't move.

"You took away the Shinsoo my Lighthouse was controlling outside, but not the Shinsoo inside of it, or the Lighthouse itself," Rachel said. "Give me a moment, then try that again when I give the signal. I want to try something too."

I nodded, and watched as her Lighthouses started glowing much brighter as she floated back up. The whole room was lit up in a yellow haze.

"Do it again," said Rachel.

I did, but this time the water spirits were confused. To their mind, there was apparently no water to seize control of. I insisted that they try, and there was a bit of turbulence around Rachel's Lighthouse, but she managed to stay afloat.

"Looks like your technique works best on Shinsoo in its rawest forms," said Rachel. "That's what I expected, since the more complex the 'flow', the harder it is to interfere with. That's why it's hard to hack into someone else's Lighthouse."

The light died down and she returned to her chair.

O O O

[Interlude]

Hwa Ryun swung Derf around while fighting her own floating dual bladed staff.

Axion flowed through the water in the lake with the waves as schools of fish passed by.

A huge Shinheuh found its prey and ate a group of fish before they could get away.

The Shinheuh turned to look at the humanoid floating around without a care.

It opened its gaping maw to swallow its new prey whole.

The water suddenly carried the humanoid away and its teeth caught naught but lake water.

The Shinheuh narrowed its eyes and swam after the humanoid.

O O O

Androssi sat lounging around balancing a needle on her finger while Baam went through a series of martial arts poses.

Axion, who was wearing an apron, brought another tray of chicken pie and set it down at a table, preparing plates for them both.

The two of them stopped and went over, and Androssi ordered Baam to taste the pie first.

Baam did so, and looked queasy, but forced a smile and gave a thumbs up to Axion.

Androssi smacked him behind the head and scolded him for being too nice.

O O O

Axion held Rachel's hand as she got up unsteadily from the bed and began to walk. After she found her balance, Axion let go and she continued forward with a slight limp.

Then the two of them unpacked the Lighthouse he bought while Rachel began pointing to and explaining each part.

The gray Lighthouse whirred to life and turned a silver color as Axion followed her instructions to set it up.

O O O

Androssi tasted the pie carefully and blanched before swallowing it accidentally.

Baam cheered and clapped, then Androssi grabbed a piece and forced it down his throat while he choked.

When she turned to Axion with a dangerous smile, he slowly backed away.

O O O

The shadow of the Shinheuh moved around the edge of the lake, preparing for the right moment to jump onto the surface and continue the pursuit of its prey.

Hwa Ryun struck a pose on a high platform and then shouted "Ignite!"

Shinsoo erupted from Derflinger and wisps of energy rolled off it as if it really were an Ignition weapon.

Axion's Lighthouse floated above him as he concentrated with his hands held together as if trying to fire a beam.

Instead of forming an actual Baang, water gathered from Shinsoo in the air and created a small volatile orb between his hands.

It fired a stream of water towards Hwa Ryun, and Derf was raised to intercept.

When the water struck the sword, it broke apart into smaller and smaller droplets. The Shinsoo radiating from the blade seemed to boil the water away, until it was small enough to absorb and went into the sword.

Hwa Ryun moved the sword back and Shinsoo swirled around her and seemed to flood into Derflinger, then when she swung it down, Shinsoo was released in a large burst of light towards Axion.

The water spirits formed a rotating orb that expanded in front of Axion before bursting into a large circular shield of water.

The blast from Derflinger crashed into the shield and exploded.

When the light died down, the ground was cracked and scorched, but Axion was unharmed.

The Shinheuh stopped cowering underneath the rocky edge of the lake and swam off.

Hwa Ryun threw Derflinger over and Axion reached out with a hand, the sword swerving into his grip.

"After many days of grueling training, removing distractions and returning to his roots, the hero awakens his true power, just in time to face the villain," Hwa Ryun narrated towards the fake sky. "Will it be enough? Stay tuned until next time, on 'A Retired Evil Overlord's Otherworld Adventures'."

O O O