[384] Volume 16 – The meaning of survival (6)
* * *
Tension was evident in the eyes of the students. The 7th stage, which I had never heard of even by rumors, was unfolding before my eyes.
“What are you still holding on to? You can’t possibly die from being crushed against a wall like that, right?”
“That won’t be it. Then there is nothing different from me.”
Collie’s face changed seriously.
Cowardice is not the same as pressure. It was a terrifying stage that could put an end to his life as a wizard.
‘We must follow the opinions of students who are more than official evaluators. But Sirone, you have already won. You don’t have to go that far to become a wizard. Then everything is lost.’
Collie, who could not ignore the sound of her conscience, requested an unusual reconsideration even though she was an evaluation teacher.
“Sir, are you going to proceed like this? If you miss the timing, you may not be able to get out of the Virtual Zone even if you cancel it.”
The students whispered at Collie’s words. Is it possible that even if the device is turned off, there is no escape?
Amy asked with surprised eyes.
“You can’t get out? No, even if that’s the case, shouldn’t you have told me in advance?”
“I didn’t say I couldn’t get out. You said you might not be able to get out. And information about survival programs is top secret. Our schools aren’t the only ones using this program.”
Currently, survival assessments are being conducted by the same program in all countries in the same time zone based on Universal Standard Time.
Even if I knew in advance anyway, it was something I couldn’t say. But to be honest, I didn’t really expect to get to this point.
‘It’s been 19 years. Seeing this…’
Anyway, since he used the right given to the evaluation teacher, what remained was Alpheas’ judgment.
“Where is the decision and not? the student will do Shouldn’t you already know how to get out of the Virtual Zone?”
“That’s right. But coercion…”
“The level is different. But isn’t that why there are stages? It would be murder if you caught any student and locked him up at level 7, but Sirone beat all difficulties and reached it. Then, isn’t it enough to qualify for evaluation? How can you become a wizard when you can’t even judge your own life?”
At first glance, the view of education is harsh, but the students who have already overcome countless dangers and reached this position silently agreed.
“Aww!”
Sirone in the vision was pushing back the darkness with all her might. But in the end, I couldn’t stand it and my body was crushed flat.
Collie let out a sigh of resignation.
‘Am I going to do it in the end?’
This was the beginning of the cowardice.
* * *
‘What is it? What happened to me?’
Sirone was stuffed into a two-dimensional square. Lost in time and height, he could not lift a finger.
‘What the hell is going on here…’
The bottom of the square came up and folded like paper.
Then, the pattern of folding from left to right, top to bottom, and right to left was repeated endlessly.
It is dwindling.
It is infinitely smaller as a one-dimensional point.
It is impossible to infinitely fold real materials, but the Magic Association implemented the concept of cowardice through a virtual program.
‘Ahhhhhh…’
A huge shock hit his head. Even in the world of Sirone, the Spirit Zone was on the brink of collapse.
Whether you are getting smaller or the world is getting bigger.
As the scale gap widened transcendentally, pressure rose in my head and my eyes rolled up.
Each time one cycle progresses, it is reduced to 1/16. infinitely smaller More than atoms than molecules.
‘no. I can’t stand this.’
The students put on a blank expression. I couldn’t figure out what kind of pain it was.
Since the focus of the vision was chasing Sirone, all they could see was folding in a certain pattern.
However, even if he realized the mechanism of cowardice, the feeling of accepting it would not have been different from now.
Until you realize it, you will never realize it. That was the colossal true intention contained in the cowardice.
“Sirone!”
Amy shouted with a pale expression. Shirone’s waist was bouncing around as she collapsed in the Virtual Zone.
Collie’s fists clenched tightly.
‘Sirone, give up! If you give up now, you can live! Release the Spirit Zone!’
The coercive program strikes into the mind the maximum gap that can be expressed in units of space.
Humans who stay on only one planet do not even have the sensory organs to feel fear of this nature.
If you progress further here, even if you turn off the device, your mind will continue to be sucked toward the first dimension, and eventually you will become a vegetative person who cannot wake up forever.
After hitting the floor with her back, Sirone’s waist curved like a bow and came up.
The fact that the body, which was fine even in the first fever, is shaken so severely means that it is in a dangerous state.
“Move! We have to save Sirone!”
As Amy ran into the Virtual Zone, Nade hurriedly grabbed her arm.
“wait! If you interfere, either you or Sirone will fail!”
“doesn’t care! You can take the test again next year! If Sirone goes wrong here, he will never forgive me for the rest of his life!”
Nade looked into Amy’s burning eyes. It was sincere.
After a moment of shaking, he turned around.
“You’re right. Let’s save it together.”
Then, this time, Iruki stopped the two of them.
“Don’t be quick to judge. It’s Sirone.”
“What are you talking about! If Sirone…!”
“There is no change at all.”
Amy immediately shut up. And he turned his head to where the vision was.
Still, only the scenes of the same pattern were repeated.
“A change? What is it?”
“The folding is slowing down. Although subtle.”
Amy looked through her crimson eyes.
Clearly, progress has been slower than before. And… it was getting slower.
‘Aww!’
Sirone was in the state of immortal function.
It was attempting to escape the ever-deepening pit of cowardice by extending its mind into the realm of infinity.
However, if you do not expand your mind faster than the speed of shrinking, you will not be able to escape the bondage of eternity.
‘It’s not enough. Greater expansion…’
The bonds of the mind began to loosen. If you are an ordinary Unlocker, you are already on the verge of losing your self and infiltrating everything.
But Sirone never lost herself.
mental transcendence.
When the fiction of the scale was broken and the immortal function moved out of the realm of fear, the folding phenomenon stopped in the vision.
“It stopped.”
The students were buzzing. Then, in the reverse order of the process that had been folded up until now, the sirone began to unfold.
“what? Why are you doing that?”
An even more surprising thing happened in the Virtual Zone.
The students slowly backed away. The fallen Sirone stumbled and stood up.
“How do you move? Are you in a semi-water state?”
“Look over there! vision!”
The eyes of the students turned back to the vision. Sirone in the screen was standing in the same posture as Sirone in the Virtual Zone.
With his head lowered and motionless, he raised his arms and started pushing the wall of darkness left and right.
“That’s…!”
Collie shuddered in disbelief.
The sirone in reality and the sirone in the vision showed the same movement and were perfectly synchro.
Sirone slowly raised her head and opened her eyes. At the same time, the darkness of cowardice disappeared in the vision and the scenery of reality appeared.
Same place, same people.
The two sirones, real and virtual, were staring fiercely at the front with their arms outstretched.
“I came out of the coercion… I broke out on my own…”
-The 7th coercion program has ended. Disable the virtual zone virtual cold system.
When the sound of the machine went silent, Sirone slowly lowered her arm and went down the virtual zone.
The students flinched and opened the way left and right.
Even the students who normally looked down on Sirone knew instinctively that they should not touch her at this moment.
It was none other than the 7th stage of the survival assessment.
With everyone’s eyes tracking Sirone’s movements, Sirone stopped in front of Fermi.
“There’s something I couldn’t tell you because you ran away.”
Fermi’s eyebrows went up.
“I will definitely become a wizard. I don’t care what you do, but if you get in the way of my dreams, I’ll drop everything and destroy you first.”
The faces of the students hardened.
It was a declaration of war against Fermi and a message to everyone present.
don’t disturb my dreams
Everyone’s heads became complicated in front of the life-and-death resolution to catch and defeat only one guy.
‘shit. Fermi alone is a headache…’
Everyone in the senior year knows that Fermi is in some sort of control.
The reason why you can’t fight against it even though you know it is because the first one to be stamped is eliminated in the graduation exam.
Of course, Fermi’s influence is still considerable, but with the advent of Sirone, the airflow has begun to change subtly.
‘The second survival assessment master in school history.’
In other words, if the survival test was taken on the graduation exam, it was possible to pass 100 percent.
‘So far, I’ve hit the guy Fermi took. What do we do? Aren’t I the only one stepping on poop because I was instigated for nothing?’
All eyes were now on Fermi. Depending on how he turns out, we’ll have to reconsider.
Fermi gave a fake eye smile. Whatever he said, it was just an excuse for a loser.
‘I’ll step back today.’
The students were shocked when Fermi turned away without saying a word.
It was the first time I had seen him exercise his right to remain silent, who always turned the situation in his favor.
‘Damn you son of a bitch. From now on, I will consider you my number one enemy. You will regret it for the rest of your life for making me think this way.’
Fermi’s face, as he receded, showed an expression of anger that no one in his senior class had ever seen.
“The last survivor, Aryan Sirone. 20 points for all members of the red team and 20 points for all members of the blue team.”
When Collie’s declaration fell, the students returned to team versus team, not Sirone and Fermi.
“done! won! That’s 20 points!”
“That’s the score I got by beating Fermi! It’s very cool inside! After all, my judgment is correct!”
Amy and Nade embraced each other and ran around, and Sirone also celebrated the victory by giving high fives to Iruki.
“Wow…”
An exclamation of admiration burst from Maya’s mouth as she watched from afar.
He is a veteran of his senior year, but he was the first to go head-to-head with Fermi.
But soon, her eyes sank with loneliness.
‘I hope a strong person…’
I had never dreamed of going against Fermi. Of course, I wouldn’t mind if I messed around.
To her, who was trying to solve the poverty of her tribe by becoming a magician even after getting caught, Sirone was a person living in another world.
“Sirone! It was amazing! I never thought I would pass the 7th level!”
“As expected, my prediction was correct! No matter how great Fermi is, he can’t beat the Unlocker!”
sirone sirone sirone.
Even the students, who were normally distant, praised Sirone’s performance as a team today.
Sirone led the team to victory by climbing at least two more steps than the other participants. Thanks to that, 15 people got 20 points each, so treating them coldly on a day like this would have a negative impact on interpersonal relationships.
After comforting the blue team members as they left the training ground, Alfeas finally looked back at Sirone. It was a complicated feeling.
‘Is this really the boy I used to know?’
The boy who came over the wall at the age of 12 and asked me to teach him magic has now become a student who has broken through fear.
I was happy with the student’s growth, but on the other hand, I was concerned about the too rapid growth.
It was no coincidence that things from long ago overlapped in my head.
Looking at Sirone, Olivia said.
“Transcendence of the mind or the equivalent of self-denial. It is impossible to escape cowardice on your own except in two cases.”
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