I Possessed a Character in an Academy Without a Protagonist – Chapter 5

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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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After frantically assuming stances and swinging the wooden sword for a while, it wasn’t long before the hologram-like projected scene disappeared.

The 1-hour time limit had passed, and the activation of ‘Memory of True Self’ ceased.

The memories of Schlus that I had obtained during that time weren’t many.

Fragmented impressions of his father.

And a few basic stances and slashing techniques of longsword swordsmanship.

“Phew…… Hah……”

But even after the ability’s activation ended, I was still swinging the sword.

The sword felt familiar in my hand, as if I had learned swordsmanship long ago, but that was it.

I had no choice but to learn swordsmanship by peeking into Schlus’ memories for only 1 hour a day.

If I just waited for the cooldown without doing anything, it would take decades to master swordsmanship, even if I had them.

So I had no choice but to spend the remaining time embodying the swordsmanship I learned.

The reason I was so obsessed with swordsmanship was simple.

There was no other way.

If I used ‘Selection and Concentration’, I could be the strongest in a 1v1 for 3 seconds.

But what if it wasn’t a 1v1? What if another fight broke out after using the ability?

Even against a street thug, I would have to die without being able to do anything.

Therefore, I needed the strength to handle at least extra villains without relying on abilities.

That’s why I was devoting time to swordsmanship…… I should learn some magic later too.

It was a natural choice because I would need basic combat power when I went to dangerous areas to obtain opportunities later.

It felt a bit strange to be practicing swordsmanship after entering the Imperial Academy of Magic…… but I had no choice.

There would be an event where this swordsmanship would shine not long after the semester started.

“Hah…… Hah……”

Only after swinging the sword for a long time did I notice that I was extremely exhausted.

Sweat poured down like rain and my whole body ached like crazy.

But the results were clear.

Schlus’ blurry memories had definitely seeped into my body.

The fragments of swordsmanship that were just someone else’s memories had completely embodied and become my own.

I learned swordsmanship through the ability ‘Memory of True Self’, but in the end, mastering it depended entirely on my own efforts.

But I think there would be limits to improving my skills just by swinging at the air in the training room.

It would be nice to have a chance to engage in real combat someday.

“Shall I test the internal circuit next?”

Internal circuit.

It was a means of circulating mana throughout the body to strengthen the body to its limits.

The extent and manner in which the body was strengthened varied depending on its form and structure.

It was similar to having magic formulas engraved on the body.

This internal circuit was innate and couldn’t be modified, so it was no exaggeration to say that a knight’s power was determined solely by bloodline.

Very rarely, there were cases where a commoner was born with an extremely powerful internal circuit, like a dragon rising from a shallow stream.

…… Could it be that I was one too?

“Uh…… I think I got a rough sense of it.”

I closed my eyes and concentrated.

I searched for the circuit engraved in my body.

This wasn’t very difficult.

And then, as a test, I poured in a very small amount of mana…….

Wheeeeeeng…….!

“Huh?”

The mana circulated throughout my body along the internal circuit.

And at the same time, a strange noise occurred.

It sounded like a sports car engine idling?

I don’t remember describing anything like this……

“Kuhuk!”

With a choking sensation, blood spurted from my mouth.

It was a considerable amount of hemoptysis. Did some internal organ rupture……?

I tried to raise my head to figure out what the hell was going on, but my head felt like it had been hit from behind.

“Ah…… Ugh…… Fuck……”

I collapsed to the ground like that.

My hands and feet trembled, and my body wouldn’t listen to me.

If I fainted here, I was screwed.

Because of the barrier, no one could come in.

If I didn’t want to be found as a corpse in about ten days, I had to get out right away……

“Ugh…… Urk……”

I desperately moved my arms and legs that had become stiff as if paralyzed.

I crawled and crawled towards the door that looked infinitely far away.

As my vision blurred, I barely managed to put my hand on the door and deactivate the barrier……

I have no memory of what happened next.

***

“You’re awake.”

“……”

As soon as I regained consciousness, I turned my head at the soft voice.

A man who perfectly matched the image that came to mind when thinking of a modern doctor was standing there.

I was lying on some hospital bed.

“Uh, stay lying down a bit more.”

“Ugh…… What happened?”

When I tried to sit up, excruciating pain struck my whole body, forcing me to go limp again.

It was like the day after being beaten all over.

I’m just saying that, not that I’ve actually been beaten all over before.

“This morning, the caretaker of the single dormitory carried you here.”

Ms. Mary……

Last night, I seemed to have succeeded in deactivating the barrier and sticking my hand out the door.

Ms. Mary, who came to work, must have seen that and carried me to the hospital.

I should definitely express my gratitude to her later.

“You were eroded by mana energy and almost had all your internal organs shattered. A little later and you would have died.”

Damn. It was seriously bad.

I ended up owing Ms. Mary my life.

“Did you activate your internal circuit?”

“Yes. Right after that, I suddenly had hemoptysis and lost consciousness……”

“Do you know the condition of your internal circuit?”

“I don’t.”

“Then learn it now. This is the schematic of your internal circuit.”

The doctor unfolded a sheet of paper and showed it to me.

What was drawn there was a pitch-black circle…… or so I thought,

but upon closer inspection, black lines were densely intertwined and tangled like a ball of thread.

“It’s serious.”

“It’s beyond serious. What kind of circuit is this, it’s an utter mess. Even a genetic disease that deteriorated over 3 generations wouldn’t be like this.”

For some reason, the doctor was getting furious.

Originally, the smaller and more concise the internal circuit, the better.

The less time it took for mana to make one circulation, the higher the efficiency.

But an unnecessarily complex and long internal circuit like mine maximized the resistance that occurred while mana flowed through it.

The result was the generation of mana energy, a deadly poison to humans.

“You barely survived because an extremely minute amount of mana was injected. If the circuit had run for even 0.1 seconds longer, you would have died instantly.”

“……”

“Never think of activating your internal circuit again. You’ll really die then.”

“I understand.”

“If you rest well for a day, you’ll be able to move around. Check your condition tomorrow and decide whether to be discharged.”

The doctor put down the medical record by the bedside and left.

At the very bottom, the medical examination fee and hospitalization fee columns had a 0 written.

It was a setting that the top student of the year got it for free since it was the Imperial Academy’s affiliated hospital.

In times like these, I was really grateful for the settings I had carelessly scattered here and there.

I almost got into debt from the first semester.

Anyway, to continue what I was saying earlier, the internal circuit played a significant role in close combat.

Because the internal circuit determined the specs of physical abilities.

No matter how skilled you were with a sword, if you couldn’t use the internal circuit, you couldn’t beat someone using the internal circuit with their bare hands.

Those with the strongest internal circuits could even destroy castle walls with their bare hands.

And my internal circuit, which was so important, looked like that messy ball of thread……

“Ha…… Seriously……”

I felt like laughing.

Not because it was unfair.

But because I was grateful for this absurdly good fortune.

Although it was a useless internal circuit that only produced mana energy, which was poisonous to humans, as the author, I knew.

Mana energy was a far more precious byproduct.

If the mana attunement was high enough, it was possible to decompose mana energy into mana, and the large amount of mana generated inside the body would automatically strengthen the muscles and make the body firm.

It was incomparable to the physical enhancement of an ordinary internal circuit.

This was the reason why the Mains were strong.

According to the setting, they generated mana energy inside their bodies just by eating and sleeping, and they freely decomposed it into mana and used it.

‘I should use Selection and Concentration on mana attunement.’

I had to see how much the body would be strengthened.

“Ugh…… later……”

I tried to sit up but lay back down again.

As the doctor said, it seemed better to rest a bit today……

***

“Oh my. Come to think of it, today is the day. The announcement of the entrance exam results.”

“……”

Madam Lichtenburg clapped her hands and made a fuss.

At this, the teacup Erica was holding swayed slightly.

“You’ll be at the top, of course?”

“…… I told you it might not be. I got one wrong.”

Erica sighed and repeated the story she had told her mother countless times.

During the entrance exam, she was so nervous that she couldn’t solve the last question completely.

Of course, the entrance exam wasn’t designed to be solved completely from the beginning.

Considering that the average score of the admitted students was 70 points, getting one wrong would still comfortably put her in 1st place.

If it had been a perfect score, there would have been no worries at all, but Erica had to be nervous all day yesterday, wondering if a perfect scorer would appear in the entrance exam for the first time in 10 years.

“Oh come on, who would get a perfect score? Even our daughter couldn’t solve them all. I heard from Madam Wiegenstein that her son got 3 questions wrong too?”

“It could be a lie to reassure me.”

This year’s entering class was special.

Lichtenburg, Wiegenstein, Flechette……

Not only noble families but also prodigies from all sorts of lower aristocratic families had gathered, making it a unique class.

Therefore, it wouldn’t be strange at all if a perfect score appeared in the entrance exam for the first time in a long while.

Erica was confident that she wouldn’t be surprised if someone had gotten the question she missed correct.

“Don’t worry. You’ll definitely be at the top. Whose daughter are you?”

“……”

Erica leaned her cheek against her mother’s arm embracing her from behind.

And then she raised her head and looked at the framed portrait hanging on the wall.

The portrait of her stern-looking father in military uniform.

Then the confidence that had hit rock bottom a moment ago soared.

Being the descendant of her father, Count Lichtenburg, who left a lasting legacy in imperial history.

Who else but me would be at the top of the Imperial Academy?

“Madam, here’s the mail.”

“Oh my, could it be!”

“Yes. It’s from the Imperial Academy.”

“Oh my, oh my! It’s here! It’s here!”

Seeing her mother scurry over after receiving the letter from the butler, Erica sighed deeply again.

Even though her confidence was recharged, this moment was nerve-wracking beyond comparison.

Madam Lichtenburg carefully slit open the envelope sealed with the Imperial Academy’s elegant emblem using a knife.

And then she sat next to Erica, holding the folded letter.

The letter slowly unfolded, and Erica’s pupils dilated.

“Ah……”

She quickly scanned from the top and immediately found her own name.

Erica von der Lichtenburg.

That name was located second from the top.

The ‘2nd place’ written next to the name was crushing even the slightest hope.

Then who on earth was 1st place?

That weirdo from Wiegenstein?

The Saintess from Flechette?

If not, an unexpected overtaking by a prodigy from a lower noble family?

…… It was none of the three.

“Schlus Hainkel……?”

“What’s with that name? Isn’t this a printing error?”

Schlus Hainkel.

That short and rustic name was located at the very top along with the phrase ‘1st place’.

Even after rubbing her eyes and looking again, it was the same.

No matter how she looked at it, it was a name without the aristocratic surname starting with ‘von’.

Which meant……

“You’re saying a commoner took the top spot?!”

“Mother…… Please lower your voice a little……”

The one who snatched the top spot was none other than a lowly commoner.

It wasn’t even the name of a famous bourgeois family.

She had never heard of a surname like ‘Hainkel’ before.

“We need to contact the Imperial Academy right away! Butler! Butler!”

“Yes, Madam.”

“Send a letter to the Imperial Academy immediately. Ask if there was some error in the entrance exam results announcement-”

“Mother.”

At Erica’s cold remark, Madam Lichtenburg stopped speaking.

At a glance, Erica was sitting calmly. But Madam Lichtenburg, who had watched her since birth, noticed that her small back of the head was trembling slightly, clearly expressing anger.

It was a reaction that Madam Lichtenburg found a bit cute, resulting from being trained by her father since childhood not to show emotions outwardly.

“The Imperial Academy doesn’t make errors like that.”

“Hmm. That’s true.”

“Then……”

Then there was only one possibility left.

That commoner named Schlus Hainkel had committed fraud.

But she couldn’t thoughtlessly say those words out loud.

Because it would be a remark that lowered the prestige of the Imperial Academy she was about to enter.

But she also really didn’t want to acknowledge that a commoner was truly above her.

“I will verify it myself.”

“Verify what?”

“Schlus Hainkel. What kind of person that commoner is.”

Erica abruptly stood up and left the room, passing by her mother.

She felt like she needed to directly confront him and confirm that the commoner was beneath her in order to feel at ease.

Of course, she would take back the top spot during the midterms, but she felt like she could only spend the time until then with peace of mind if she did that.

With that determination, Erica summoned the coachman and ordered him to head to the Imperial Academy.

“Sigh.”

Madam Lichtenburg, who watched that scene through the window, sighed.

While looking down at the cup that was left alone with half the tea remaining.

-There will be an unexpected encounter. Perhaps it will be someone who completely changes your daughter’s life.

The contents of the divination she had secretly seen without her daughter’s knowledge came to mind.

Come to think of it, she had never heard in which direction this complete change in life would be.

That made her even more vaguely worried.

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