At first, I thought I had heard wrong.

Here I was, handed a steel sword, while Professor Atra charged at me wielding a wooden one.

A wooden sword rushing towards a steel one. That’s madness in any usual context.

And me? I’m nominally blind, am I not? I’m supposed to have perception abilities, but still, I’m someone with their eyes closed?

Under normal circumstances, this would be considered the act of a lunatic, but considering the difference between Professor Atra and me, I couldn’t help but think there must be some intent behind it.

She’s a professor in charge of combat training. It’s just speculation, but she must be at least as skilled as a high-ranking hero.

So, I drew the sword without hesitation.

I gripped it tightly while facing the charging Professor Atra.

I swung the sword with all my might, intending to resist. I presumed she would block and dodge effortlessly as I attacked.

My assumption was correct. My sword couldn’t even graze her.

With her mysterious movements, she evaded everything by a hair’s breadth. When I thrust towards her, she tilted her head to dodge; when I swept in an arc, she avoided it without taking a single step.

It was as if she could see the future, and after dodging my attempts a few times, Professor Atra lifted her wooden sword with an indifferent face.

– Tap! Tap! Tap!

“Here, here, here.”

Attacks after dodging. She would effortlessly evade the sword, approach, and then rhythmically drum her wooden sword all over my body.

Head, shoulders, arms, ribs, thighs, calves… she thoroughly distributed the strikes across my body.

I forcefully suppressed the screams about to erupt. Once I started screaming, it might trigger a chain of curses.

It wasn’t excruciatingly painful, but it hurt enough to make me want to groan. Holding back the screams was a torment.

This was what they called Spartan training, wasn’t it?

My swings were dodged effortlessly, and at the same time, she advised me on how to swing, closing the distance effortlessly and pounding on what she considered to be vulnerabilities.

It was a relentless beating. The intensity of it made me wonder if her earlier claims of indifference to special admission students were a lie.

In fact, I had looked at her expression, suspecting she might dislike me, but it was a stoic face devoid of emotion.

– Tap! Tap! Thwack!

The onslaught continued.

***
***
***

Eventually, after hours of getting savagely beaten by the wooden sword, the lecture came to an end.

“That’s enough for today.”

Professor Atra approached me, sprawled chaotically on the dirt floor.

A bottle of water was placed beside me as if it were compensation. My arms trembled as I reached for the much-needed hydration.

By now, evening had settled in and the ground was stained with a light orange hue from the sunset.

“We will continue with this format for several weeks.”

My God.

I almost choked on the water that was trickling down my throat.

The realization that I was going to be beaten like this for several weeks made the corners of my eyes twitch.

I felt like crying at the thought of getting hammered like this again tomorrow.

My whole body was sore. Yesterday, the pain had been from overexertion, but now it was from the physical beating.

“And try not to receive any healing or recovery from other superhumans if possible.”

Ah… I disliked the reason as soon as I guessed it.

“Healing abilities might instantly erase the wounds, but it would nullify most of today’s training and hinder the growth of your own natural healing capabilities. So, let the healing occur naturally as much as possible.”

Physical growth usually happened as muscles tore and healed during the process.

Ravaged muscles resolve not to tear again and grow in response to harsh exercise.

Healing abilities come in various forms, but most are remembered for ‘instant healing’ or ‘recovery amplification’.

If instant healing is applied to torn muscles, they recover before they have a chance to grow.

Recovery amplification is similar. Although it’s less immediate than instant healing, it prevents growth because it relies on external aid.

In other words, I have to return home battered and bruised.

“For your reference, this schedule was planned under the assumption that your perception abilities could replace normal sight. And as I expected, your perceptual abilities are sufficient to replace vision, so I will continue the lectures as today.”

Professor Atra added an explanation as if she thought I was confused.

“Arrive at the site by my class time tomorrow.”

Having said that, Professor Atra turned her back and walked away.

Lying on my back, I started to feel the wind blowing. Breathing out absentmindedly, I realized something was off.

Even though my back was on the ground and I faced the sky, I could not see it. It was frustrating.

I became aware once again of the importance of spatial perception.

I felt so apologetic for having once despised spatial perception. What if it had been unable to replace my vision? I… I wouldn’t be confident of surviving.

It might be a vexing ability that’s been a pain from the start, but now it had become an indispensable one.

“Phew.”

I sighed heavily, reflecting on the recent sparring. Even that was thanks to the filial-like spatial perception.

In my life, there have been few occasions when I’ve wielded a blade. I’ve hardly ever held a sword outside of cooking while living on my own.

And even more so with combat. I’ve been beaten up quite a bit, but I’ve rarely ever struck anyone.

The recent sparring with Professor Atra. All my sword swings were imitations of movements I observed in the friendly sparring matches.

The sparring between Katsuki Yusei and Hong Yeon-hwa. Both used wooden swords, and their magical power did not exceed the level of physical enhancement. Also, they did not use their unique abilities.

The rules were almost identical to those of my recent session.

I compared my movements to those of Katsuki Yusei and Hong Yeon-hwa.

“Hmm…”

The internal evaluation was a mess. Something that couldn’t be compared…

When I focused and compared them side by side, the inadequacy was to the point of ridiculousness.

Katsuki Yusei’s movements were smooth and fluid like a flowing river.

Despite being pushed back by Hong Yeon-hwa at every turn, his swordplay never broke, continually thwarting her attacks.

Hong Yeon-hwa had an exuberant and bold style, much like her personality.

Every move was filled with power, making it a burden to defend against. And the movements weren’t sluggish, making them difficult to avoid.

The large and showy actions appeared to have many openings, but they were all traps, and anyone who rushed in heedlessly would likely lose their head.

As a result, Katsuki Yusei, who employed a defensive sword technique, was eventually swept into Hong Yeon-hwa’s rhythm and ultimately defeated.

Even though their proficiency with the sword was comparable, there was a mismatch, or perhaps a spec difference that was too great.

For instance, Hong Yeon-hwa had single-handedly vanquished a level-five monster. Although Gop-hwa played a major role, dodging the monster’s attacks and landing successful blows was thanks to her own skill.

As for me…

The swordplay was disjointed. Far from being a river, my movements were like drops of water trickling from a half-closed tap.

There were gaps between my attempted flows of melee, and Professor Atra glided in easily to strike. Even if I pretended to connect my sword strikes, given the difference in our levels, she would have come at me either way.

My flow was broken by Professor Atra on her own accord.

Every time I tried to assume a stance, she pressed in. She would thrust forward before I could even lift my sword, leaving me fumbling in between. If I managed an attack, she evaded, and before I could recover she launched another assault.

I lacked the powerful attacks characteristic of Hong Yeon-hwa. Not only was my spec at rock bottom, but I also lacked the ability to intuitively spot an opening and strike down like she did.

To summarize, my score was zero.

As for Professor Atra?

I brushed aside the image I had conjured up until now, and summoned the image of her from the sparring, as observed through spatial perception.

…Professor Atra had no distinctive features.

She took a firm stance. She would enter carefully and block the flow before my attack. She would cut off the flow before it could continue and follow up with strikes.

If an attack came at her, she evaded by the slimmest margin. It was not an unpredictable move but a natural dodge, something anyone would think of.

And then she would go on the offensive.

Her movements were textbook. Most of them were actions I had seen in swordsmanship books I had previously skimmed through. Overall, they were unadorned and simple.

In essence, I should be able to follow suit.

I kept recalling them. There was an abundance of material. For hours on end of being beaten, Professor Atra’s movements continued to be observed and memorized.

The movements of Katsuki Yusei. The movements of Hong Yeon-hwa. The movements of Professor Atra… and my movements.

I compared, analyzed, and juxtaposed them.

The way to step on the ground, the division of breath, the method of managing distance, the way to grip the sword, when to correct the posture, the center of gravity in the lower body, the twisting of the shoulders, the direction of the pupils, the processing of the gaze, the transition from defense to offense.

I processed the data. Turned it into information.

I applied the information to myself. Made corrections, tore down, and rebuilt. Ran brain simulations, and if they didn’t feel right, tore them down again.

Although the end result was still defeat, the imagined version of myself seemed to be making progress in the process.

I repeated the mental simulation. I kept repeating it, basing it on the data obtained from spatial perception.

As night fell and the earth faded out of sight, the twilight also disappeared. In its stead, the stars strewn across the night sky cast their light upon the ground.

At a certain moment, a tickling sensation arose in a corner of my brain. It was frustrating not being able to scratch it directly, but it was a curious stimulation that brought a sense of anticipation.

Before coming to the dormitory, I had struggled with spatial perception in my one-room apartment and felt the signs of change that were now recognizable.

But this time, it wasn’t spatial perception.

‘Jack of All Trades.’

A unique ability of the versatile category that provides at least a minimum level of aptitude in every skill set—combat techniques, body techniques, martial arts, swordsmanship, spearmanship, manufacturing, cooking, mana manipulation, and so forth.

I grasped the signs of change. I had a sense of how to develop it.

A proud smile blossomed.

***
***
***

‘Ah, review.’

After lying there dazed for a while, I finally remembered.

I scrambled to my feet and headed back to the dormitory. The 24-hour bus service made my return quick and easy.

So ended the day.

“Who is it?”

[M? Me?]

“What the fuck… who did this?”

The next day.

The face of Hong Yeon-hwa that I encountered in the classroom was contorted like a fierce demon.

She was so scary that I wanted to run away right then and there.