I don’t want to wake up.

Burying my face in the pillow and wriggling around filled my head with that thought.

All through the trials, I had to sleep on dirt floors covered with leaves. It was a tad uncomfortable, but not a significant issue.

I’ve slept on stone floors more times than I can count. That’s how little I bothered about my sleeping arrangements.

But, of course, sleeping in a bed is the most comfortable. There is nothing in the world that can match the unique plushness of a bed… Uh… Hmm…

…

…Now that I think about it, it seems like the second most comfortable thing.

I quickly shook my head, dismissing the ridiculous thought that had popped up. The image of red that had appeared before my eyes scattered.

Lately, my head’s been strange. Should I get a mental check-up? It could be an aftereffect of Gop-hwa.

If I stay like this, I might just roll around all day long, so I forced my upper body upright.

The cushy sensation receded. With tears in my eyes over this tragic parting from the bed, I got up.

Saturday morning was quite leisurely. No pressing schedules to blame.

‘Grrrgr…’

I loosened my stiff body with some simple stretching. A refreshing pleasure surged through me.

After enjoying the sensation, I entered the shower and doused myself with cold water.

Thanks to this, my sleepiness was washed away, but I didn’t like to continue with cold water, so halfway through, I compromised with lukewarm water.

‘Am I okay now?’

My hand paused, about to scrub my face with a handful of water. Yesterday’s incident came to mind. I tentatively touched around my eyes.

Eyes that had rolled with tears, no, blood tears.

I pretended it was nothing, but I genuinely thought I was going to faint. For a moment, I nearly went mad thinking my eyes were ruined.

Not being able to see doesn’t mean uselessness. These eyes will recover one day. I need to cherish them as if they were precious treasures.

Spatial perception took over the role of sight. Thanks to it, I could see better than the sighted people in my everyday life, not just without inconvenience but perhaps even better.

It pricks my conscience being treated and cared for as though I’m physically impaired.

Even after telling others about it, the way they looked at me didn’t change much.

I want to regain my sight.

My understanding of spatial perception has improved, enough to grasp the basic mechanisms.

It reads space as a whole. It also reads anything superimposed on that space, which is why I can perceive the world almost as if through eyes.

But it’s different from real eyes. I know because I’ve seen the world with my own eyes.

The world seen through eyes and the one felt through spatial perception are different.

If eyes give me ‘my’ perspective to view the world, spatial perception makes me feel nothing more than another part of the backdrop.

I want to see the world through my eyes.

‘But right now, spatial perception is more useful.’

From the perspective of someone who has taken up arms and entered battle, spatial perception is overwhelmingly superior to vision.

Blind spots? There are none in spatial perception. It simply perceives the space around me. Where’s there room for such a thing?

There are moments when one’s vision unavoidably fades in the process of seeing the world. That doesn’t happen with spatial perception…

‘There was that one time, though.’

I remembered how spatial perception was completely blocked in the tower.

My expression crumpled.

The ability that nearly killed its owner on the first day. The ability that caused nothing but trouble since the freshman welcoming party. The treacherous ability that struck me in the back when it mattered most in the tower, and again and again after leaving it!

This ability is flawed, as if a critical screw has come loose.

‘…A defect?’

I was chewing out spatial perception when the word ‘defect’ gave me a sense of unease.

The first day. A day I’d rather not think about, like a nightmare.

My near-death experience was due to the runaway spatial perception. My brain nearly burst from the overload of excessive information.

Whose fault was that?

Putting the reasons aside, the first day’s mishap happened because spatial perception was too high-performing, not because it was low-grade.

Had I been able to withstand the burden of spatial perception, I could have fully utilized those nearly omniscient abilities.

If we’re talking about faults, then it’s not spatial perception that’s at fault, it’s me. The only thing wrong with spatial perception was that it was too efficient.

Complaining about spatial perception might actually be unjust.

But.

‘Isn’t that… odd?’

If I had only the ability of spatial perception, I could have conceded my incompetence, but there are two more unique abilities besides spatial perception.

Eight-Directions Charm and Mana Affinity.

Clearly, they were unique abilities acquired alongside spatial perception. But I haven’t had trouble managing these two.

Both have excellent performance. Without either one, the growth trajectory I’m on now would have been impossible.

Yet, they never caused me harm due to being too efficient.

Why is it that only spatial perception is like this? They are all abilities given to me equally, so why does only spatial perception have this peculiarity?

‘Sigh.’

It’s not like I can figure out what’s going on with little old me. Once again feeling the futility, I shook my head and shook the water from my damp hair.

.
.
.

Shio-ram encourages camaraderie among cadets. If you look at the benefits within the academy, there is also a lot of support for social activities.

Thus, many camaraderie events frequently happen in Shio-ram.

In other words, a deluge of minor sub-quests.

Although it’s not comparable to the rewards of the main quest, during the first loop, I ventured around tackling various sub-quests.

Interacting with cadet NPCs, triggering sub-quests, and resolving those led to other sub-quests.

Depending on the quest, character affinities rose and fell, and relations with various characters intertwined here and there…

That volatility was quite fun. It was satisfying to see characters with foul dispositions change drastically due to my intervention.

After I graduated from Shio-ram during the first loop and went through hell in a world that had gone to the dogs, from the second loop onwards, I focused on powering up to prevent that.

So, the first loop had its distinct flavor.

I got lost in the past for a moment.

Shaking my head to clear the memories, I operated my smartwatch for the first time in a while.

The most recent record at the top. The first-year general chat room, set up for notices, was flashing.

[Shio-ram 121st Generation General Chat Room (613)]

▶Baek Ahrin: [Notice!] As previously announced, the after-party for the tower entry will be tonight at 6 PM! The location is the Third Banquet Hall! No dress code and attendance is optional! (◍˃̶ᗜ˂̶◍)ﾉ” (Today 8:03)
▶Baek Ahrin: [Emphasis!] Fun events and prizes are prepared! We hope to see many of you participate! ₍⑅›ܫ‹₎っ(Today 8:04)
…

Baek Ahrin was in charge of the after-party. It made sense since she was the top-ranked cadet and familiar with organizing such social occasions.

‘Should I go?’

I pondered for a moment.

Networking is crucial in this field, and Shio-ram itself affirms it, so there are many opportunities to make connections among cadets.

Casual gatherings like the freshman welcome party and after-parties following big events like this one.

The club activities that will activate from next semester and the mentor system that arranges meetings with other years.

And the festival that happens once a year.

There are quite a few systems that seem unrelated to camaraderie but somehow represent it.

I might not know about other loops, but in the first loop, I frequented various places, managing affinities. Precisely, affinities increased in the process of enjoying sub-quests.

In various ways, the accumulated affinities benefited me.

That’s the story of the game. When a situation arose, I just had to input a bit of text, and that was it.

The real me… I had zero affinity for managing others’ affinities…

‘But I should probably go, right?’

I may have a flawed personality, but just showing up at such events tends to accrue subtle affinities.

It’s embarrassing to call it affinity, but remembering a brief encounter later on is enough.

I made up my mind.

I’ll just show my face and come back. The professors advised me to rest well over the weekend, but they probably won’t mind if I attend the after-party.

I checked the time.

The after-party was at 6 PM tonight. It’s 10 AM now, so there’s plenty of time left. I can get some studying done in the meantime.

Rolling around now would be burdensome for me, especially after bleeding from my eyes yesterday, which was frightening.

Patients should obediently listen to doctors. I don’t want to lose my eyes either.

With that thought, I was retrieving documents on my smartwatch when my attention drifted to the Origin Egg placed on the shelf.

‘When will that thing activate?’

In the original story, if you wait patiently, it opens by itself. The time it took varied each loop, and so did the items it produced.

In the third loop, it was an artifact that allowed for the acquisition of additional unique abilities, while in the eleventh loop, it was the Heavenly Elixir that increased stat growth speed and ceilings.

I could only guess that the Origin Egg spits out the most suitable type of item based on when it was acquired.

What would come out this time then?

In most loops, by this time, a clear direction had been established, but in my current jack-of-all-trades state, I have no idea what it might produce.

Will it be a common elixir? I’d actually prefer that. At least it would be a solid hit.

‘Ah… an elixir?’

Mid-thought, I remembered the elixir I had taken from Hong Yeon-hwa. The thought that I should repay my debt. The effects I gained from it.

And then, immediately after taking it, I spewed blood and fainted, experiencing strange hallucinations.

‘…If it’s an elixir, should I take it?’

I gazed uncertainly at the Origin Egg. If I rashly consume an elixir and end up like last time, who knows what disaster might occur.

Luckily, I was able to get up without any issues last time, but if I’m not careful, I might end up a cold corpse.

Even an elixir that is supposed to be safe caused me trouble. If I consume an unprocessed elixir raw, I cannot ensure my safety.

There’s never an easy issue. I sighed deeply and checked the time on my smartwatch.

[PM 4:50]

Alternating between studying and contemplating the future, before I knew it, it was already 5 PM.

‘I’ll just make an appearance and leave.’

I’ll stamp my attendance and return. It’s impossible for me to be comfortable there, given my personality.

I changed into my cadet uniform. After fiddling with the Origin Egg a bit, I left the dormitory.