A Distant Dream [1]

Swoosh—!

In the garden at the back of our mansion, father was training like usual. 

Today, I mustered the courage to sneak a peek at his training.

My father was a huge man. He had big broad muscles, a large figure, and several scars covering his ripped body. One could argue he was the epitome of masculinity.

But unlike his scary appearance, my father was a kind-hearted soul. He was a big softie, at least to me.

Swooosh—!

The garden was an oasis of lush green, awash with vibrant plants. At the center of it was a large pond, where I had spent countless hours playing.

Birds soared through the cloudless sky above, perching on the garden's trees to rest and chirping merrily. 

The sound of a bamboo fountain, with its calming repetitive rhythm, could be heard throughout the garden, adding to the serene atmosphere.

Sunlight filtered through the thick canopy of leaves, illuminating a man practicing his weapon arts by the pond.

With every graceful movement of his halberd, he trimmed the neatly trimmed grass even further.

Thwaaa—!

Suddenly, he stopped his swing and shot a look in my direction. 

"Aieek!" startled, I quickly hid behind the wall that I was peeking at him from, realizing that he had caught me watching him.

How did he find out? I thought. I was sure he was going to punish me but instead he simply chuckled and resumed his training.

As he did so, I peeked my head out again.

This time, I saw my father adopt a new stance for his swing, one that was unlike any normal stance for a polearm weapon. 

It was a sword stance? But my father wasn't a swordsman. His choice of weapon was a spear…

My father assumed a swordsman stance, pulling his halberd back as he grasped its handle with one hand and its hilt with the other.

"Watch this," he says, pretending to speak to himself but clearly directing his words toward me.

I anxiously held my breath as my father tensed his shoulder and calf muscles. He grasped the halberd's shaft tighter in his hands before…

Fwoooooosh—!

He swung it in a horizontal slash like a sword and unleashed a powerful strike!

Even though he was roughly ten meters away from the tree in front of him and he didn't use any mana, a deep cut etched onto its trunk.

"Woaaaaah!"

I was left so mesmerized by the beauty and the power of the move that I didn't even notice my father had already appeared behind me.

"Ahh!" I exclaimed after finally noticing his presence. "Father, I'm sorry!"

It was not allowed in our house to disturb father during his training. 

I remember Adel, my younger twin brother, once had to run 80 laps around the city for disturbing him.

So of course, I was scared.

But instead of anger, my father flashed a bright, loving smile at me and ruffled my hair with his giant hands.

"It's fine, son. Don't tell your brother I let you go without any punishment," he said before crouching down and rubbing his cheek against mine.

"Hehehehe! Father, your beard!" I cried out as I felt his porcupine-like beard tickling my skin.

Tring—! Tring—!

"Haaaaaaaa! Haaaa! Haaaa!" 

But before the scene could go any further, suddenly the high pitch sound of the alarm ring fell in my ears.

Drenched in sweat, I woke up from my slumber gasping for air and sat straight up.

"The fuck was that?" I asked myself. "Were those Lucas' memories? Was it a dream?"

Those were indeed Lucas' memories. But why did I see those? And in a dream, no less?

Calming down my heart, I used the blanket I had over me to wipe the sweat off my face.

"Well, at least it wasn't a nightmare," putting a hand over my face, I reassured myself. "Fuck, I should get ready."

Right, it was a big day today. I had no time to waste on silly dreams.

†

"Hmm."

I looked at things lying on my center table. With a finger on my chin, I analyzed every last item and made sure everything I needed was there.

===

Item: Stun Marble

Status: Normal

Condition: Good

Abilities: A relic marble that will activate on the user's command and deploy a flash and stun combo on one target for 0.089 seconds.

Rank: Iron

Edit (Activate): Flash and stun the target for a split second.

===

===

Item: Illusion Face Mask

Status: Normal

Condition: Excellent

Abilities: Can alter the user's physical appearance and create an illusion to mask their identity for 20 minutes.

Rank: Bronze

Edit (Active): Hide identity of the user for 20 minutes.

===

===

Item: Stamina Recovery Pill

Status: Normal

Condition: Safe for Consumption 

Abilities: A relic pill that will recover the user's stamina by half and help them overcome fatigue.

Rank: Iron

Edit (Activate): Recover stamina and fatigue.

===

===

Item: Mana Recovery Pill

Status: Normal

Condition: Safe for Consumption 

Abilities: A relic pill that will increase the user's mana by one-tenth upon consumption.

Rank: Iron

Edit (Activate): Recover mana.

===

===

Item: Null Attribute Light Arrow

Status: Normal

Condition: Well Maintained 

Abilities: A relic arrow can nullify a dark magic spell/user up to [Bronze] rank and will severely weaken those above it.

Rank: Bronze

Edit (Activate): Darkness nullifying light arrow.

===

===

Item: Low-Grade Healing Potion 

Status: Normal

Condition: Safe to Apply 

Abilities: A relic potion that can heal minor wounds, scratches, and bruises when applied on it directly.

Rank: Iron

Edit (Activate): Heal minor wounds.

===

"Good."

After finally checking everything one by one and satisfying my conscience, I nodded my head.

Okay, this should be enough relics for it, right?

Dressed in a black and red jersey provided by the academy, I stood in my room with a dazed expression.

Bandages were still wrapped around my left arm. I could move it but not without clenching my jaw in pain.

Needless to say, I can't wield a bow, or any other weapon for that matter, right now.

"Fuuu."

Letting out a deep breath, I closed my eyes and started thinking.

What traps have I laid in preparation for the mock war?

What plans have I set in motion? 

Have I calculated everything that will or can happen in this mock war?

Have I created enough countermeasures for any situation that might occur?

No matter how hard I thought about it, in the end, only one answer came to my mind.

"I'm ready."

With my preparations done, I picked up the items lying on my center table.

5 stun marbles.

1 illusion mask.

3 stamina recovery pills.

2 mana recovery pills.

3 null attribute light arrows.

1 bottle of healing potion.

One by one, I put everything in my smart bracelet's dimensional storage. 

To create these items, I used up almost all of the 57 Edit Points that I acquired during the Unit Test incident. Right now, I only have 10 Edit Points left.

I created stun marbles from some marble balls I found laying around.

Then I got a disinfectant antiseptic liquid bottle and turned it into a low-grade healing potion.

The illusion mask was created from a face mask I bought recently on my way to the academy one day.

Lastly, the mana recovery and stamina recovery pills were made from some opioids tablets I discovered among Lucas' stuff.

Yes, he used them to get high. 

Yes, he did drugs but that should hardly come off as a surprise, right? All the rich kids are into that stuff.

Anyway, after that I created some null attribute light arrows that can nullify or damage the dark magic spells and their users.

Neat, I know right? As for what am I going to use it for? You'll see, don't worry.

After packing all the items in my smart bracelet, I threw in my bow and two quivers full of arrows in there too.

Of course, I didn't forget to wear my hidden blade on my right hand either.

With everything done, I was about to walk out of my apartment when I suddenly remembered something.

"Oh right, I almost forgot about it."

I looked at my smart bracelet and a familiar red translucent screen flashed in my retina.

===

Item: Smart Bracelet

Status: Normal

Condition: Excellent

Abilities: A special type of smart bracelet provided by the Global Academy to their cadets that has an inbuilt AI, Athena, and dimensional storage feature in it.

Rank: Diamond

Edit: _____

===

A smirk flashed on my face as I equipped my Edit Pen and scribbled some words in the Edit section of my dimensional.

After a minute, I was done.

Wiping the non-existent sweat off my forehead, I uttered, "Okay, all set."

Nodding one last time, I left my apartment to get to the academy.

†

"Hola, Lucas! Good morning. Your hand hasn't recovered yet?"

"Good morning, Kent. It'll be fine in a few days, I think."

"Can you even use your bow with your hand in that condition?

"Unfortunately, I can't. I tried but my already pathetic aim is no good right now."

"Ouch, that's bad. Honestly, I don't want to fight class 1-C-8. Why are we fighting them? We were not even the ones who got involved in the dispute?"

"It's her way of teaching us that we have no choice in which battles we want to fight in."

"Her? Oh, you mean Yelena. I guess you're right. Hey, I just remembered; you guys are siblings right?"

"Yes, but naturally, we are not on good terms."

"I see."

As soon as I entered the academy gates, Kent spotted me and came to walk together.

It has become a daily routine by now. I find myself spending more and more time with this blue-haired elven boy during academy hours.

Even after that, after we go home, this guy either continues to text me, requesting me to join him in exploring clubs and bars or send memes.

Anyway, if you still don't get it, today is the day the mock war will start.

Two days ago, Yelena came to our class and gave us a lengthy speech about justice and strength and whatnot. 

Yesterday, she officially announced the mock war event to happen between classes 1-A-1 and 1-C-8.

And today is the day it'll start. Starting today, the first arc of the story will begin.

My goal is to create and grab an opportunity to get stronger and acquire some pawns– allies… acquire some allies.

Arghh! I hate slip of tongue.

Anyhow, right now, Kent and I are on our way to the weapon vault.

Since it's a war, we will need some secondary weapons, so the weapon vault was opened for us.

"Are you going to pick something too?" Kent asked, looking at my left arm.

"Hey, my right hand is still working, you know?" I replied, waving my good hand. "I'll get a knife or something."

"Well, knowing Nero, I don't think he'll send you on the front lines anyway."

"True."

I knew that. I knew Nero wouldn't force me to fight if I was injured. 

That's one of the reasons I decided to pull that stunt at the Unit Test.

Yes, the stunt I pulled was an improvised version of the plan I had in mind.

Initially, I just asked the guard to let loose a low-level mana beast on our Unit at my signal—the signal being a bright flash of light from Nero's magic spell.

I was going to risk it all by throwing myself in front of the mana beast to protect a member of our Unit and hope that the others would kill it before it killed me.

But before executing my plan, I talked to the fatty guard and he told me about his ability to control low-level mana beasts.

I improvised on the spot and asked him to control the wolf's action and safely bite my hand and injure it just enough not to cause any long-lasting damage.

I then also asked him to target a specific member of our Unit – Amelia. She's the one I need to have in my control first.

Of course, if it were not for him, then I would've used some other means to injure my hand and avoid being assigned a front-line position.

In the end, luck played on my side and the fatty guard proved to be more useful than I thought.

Oh yes, Nero has taken the role of Lord Commander during this mock war so he was going to manage all our positions.

Basically, he is in charge now.

Surprisingly, Quinn had no problem with that. He let him take the role despite it meaning he would have to follow Nero's orders.

Quinn didn't like following orders.

So why did he let Nero take the role? I don't know. 

I didn't think much about it when reading the novel, but now that I'm here and I've been observing him for the past few weeks, it feels like it's out of character for him not to make any objection.

Meh, who knows. 

Maybe I'm overthinking again.