Transcendence Due To A System Error

Chapter 201: Overcoming

<Chapter 201: Overcoming (3)>

The delusion that I could quickly evolve marks of Adam and enter a transcendent phase was brief.

After that, I had to exert myself in hellish rehabilitation training.

Don't bend your waist.

I never knew that having a body that won't listen could be this hard. Well, I thought in my head, It must be tough~', but experiencing it firsthand might be different.

This isnt just a bit tough or inconvenient. Only those who have gone through it would know.

One step at a time. Slowly. Im holding you, so just focus on moving your feet.

I repeated the act of walking, sweating profusely. Sweat poured out from all over my body as if it was raining. I only walked for about 5 minutes, but it felt harder than if I had fought intensely for over an hour.

That's how battered my body had become.

Heaving, panting.

I was told my organs were severely damaged, maybe that's why I'm so out of breath. I feel so nauseous as if I might throw up any moment, and my legs shake as if they might collapse at any second.

Just three more steps ahead.

Aqua is supporting me with the most serious expression.

I can't move my upper body properly, so I'm almost leaning entirely on Aqua as I walk.

From the side, we probably look quite comical.

You're doing well. Just two more steps!

Of course, at this point, I didnt care about how others saw me. It was that exhausting.

I took a step slowly, my legs trembling.

It wasnt even this hard, back in the real F-rank no, before ranking days.

How severe were the aftereffects of the magical power to cause such issues in my body?

It was a tremendous power

If these are the aftereffects, it might have been better not to use it.

Not only did I faint for 6 days, but even after resting for 3 days, I'm still like this.

Maybe the penalty was severe because I combined two opposing forces into one.

Or did this happen because I forcibly merged my magic power and energy without properly preparing my body?

Both seemed likely, so I couldnt be sure.

I personally hope its the latter.

If it's the latter, once my body is properly prepared, it means I can use magical power at will.

Magical power.

Even thinking about it now, it was an incredible force.

If I can master that power, confronting a demon wouldn't be an impossible task.

One last step!

At Aqua's shout, I gritted my teeth and took the final step.

Slowly, but surely, I set foot on the ground.

Good job! Now, rest!

With that said, all the strength from my body drained out.

Aqua caught me with her entire body, supporting me as I was about to fall.

"You have a body that's been trained regularly, haven't you? You're doing well in rehab."

"This (gasp) is me holding up well?"

I was completely exhausted in less than 10 minutes. I'm so out of breath that I can't even speak properly, and this is considered holding up well?

"Considering the state of your body, you really did hold up well. Honestly, I thought you'd collapse within 3 minutes."

Aqua carefully laid me down on the floor and then gently stroked my shaking, spasming legs. She seemed to be trying to massage them.

"Was my physical condition that messed up?"

"It was. I told you. It was half dead."

Aqua massaged my body, which was drenched in sweat as if she wasnt even bothered by the wetness. The clothes I was wearing were completely soaked.

It felt as if I had just come out of a swimming pool. Naturally, Aqua's clothes, which were sticking to me, were also getting wet from the sweat.

"Uh, Aqua"

I felt guilty seeing her getting wet because of me and was about to say something when,

"Ahhh! Ow! It hurts! It hurts!"

With Aqua's acupressure, an indescribable pain coursed through my body.

"Hold on. You strained this muscle too much just now. If I don't loosen it up, you're going to suffer a lot tomorrow."

"I know, but Ahhh! I know! But this (gasp) is way too painful!"

It was insanely painful when Instructor Pi Jin Ho first taught me stretching. But this pain now is incomparable to that time.

"You say it hurts, but youre enduring well. It's because you've been training regularly, isn't it?"

"Where do you see me enduring Ahhh!"

I clenched my teeth and shut my eyes tightly. It feels like Im seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.

After enduring about 3 minutes of pain,

Panting

The pain has subsided to a more bearable level.

"Ah, it's soft now."

"Is it, is it over?"

I'm not sure if what's glistening near my eyes is sweat or tears. Maybe both?

"Yes, it's over."

With that, I breathed a deep sigh of relief from deep within.

Finally, this hell is over. That was the feeling of relief I had.

However, my relief shattered with Aqua's next words.

"Thats it for the right side."

"Excuse me?"

What did you just say?

"Dont pretend you dont know. We still have the left side."

""

She's right.

Up until now, Aqua only massaged my right leg.

"So, shall we start on the remaining left side?"

"W-wait a moment. Just 3 minutes, no, 1 minute! I need to prepare my mind Ahhh!"

That day,

I truly felt the harshness of the rehabilitation training through my own body.

And,

" Let's not use any power beyond my capabilities until I reach the transcendental stage."

I made that resolution.

* * *

Thus, a total of two days had passed.

The rehabilitation training during that time was sheer hell. I now understand why athletes say rehab is tough.

It was excruciatingly hard.

"Yep. You can walk now without any issues. It's true what they say, someone who trains regularly recovers differently."

Aqua said with a satisfied smile.

"It's all thanks to you."

"Hehe."

" I would've appreciated it more if the massage was a bit gentler."

I said, gritting my teeth.

I'm genuinely grateful. But perhaps because every part of the rehab training, including the massage, was unbelievably tough, I found myself grinding my teeth.

"I told you, if it's too gentle, the effects of the massage get reduced."

" I know that in theory."

It was really, really, really painful.

It's not that I'm being overly sensitive. The pain was so intense that I wish others could experience it just to understand.

"Anyway, now that we've finished the physical check-up, let's move on to today's rehab training."

"Ah, okay."

What will we do today?

Since I can walk without any problems, maybe we'll move on to the upper body?

"Today, we'll use both the upper and lower body at the same time. Looking at the condition of your muscles, I think you can handle it."

Both, I see.

"So, come over here and hold this bar"

"Like this?"

"Yes. In that posture, stretch your legs"

After that, I underwent an hour of rehabilitation training, including stretching.

"Whew. You worked hard."

Once all the training was over,

I thanked Aqua with a slightly more relaxed expression.

"Yeah. You seem to be regaining your vitality. You're not exhausted like before."

"True."

Considering how I was during the initial rehab, this is a massive improvement.

"With this progress, you might be able to handle weapons starting tomorrow?"

"Already?"

Aqua approached me as I sat and palpated various parts of my body.

"Yes. Considering the fatigue level of your muscles, I feel there's still room for more. You should be good."

"Really?"

But then again, modern demonstrations weren't this specialized.

Is it the difference in experience?

"Well, then, basic rehab training ends today. Congratulations!"

Aqua clapped with an exaggerated gesture.

"If you don't want to experience rehab training again, take care of yourself."

Aqua glared at me with wide eyes.

"If you get injured like this again, the next rehab will be even tougher. Got it?"

" Yes, maam. I'll bear that in mind."

I was genuinely scared and ended up speaking formally.

I really don't want to go through rehab training ever again.

"That's it for today. You did well."

"It's you who worked hard. You ended up all sweaty because of me today."

During the rehab, I would sweat as if it was pouring.

Because of this, Aqua, who was close to me assisting with the rehab, ended up drenched in my sweat.

"It's okay. Don't worry about it."

Aqua waved it off with a broad smile.

"After all, sweat naturally comes with exercise."

"Still, weren't you uncomfortable? Because of the smell or the stickiness."

I know better than anyone how strong the smell of accumulated sweat can be after an hour.

"Smell? Hmm. I didn't notice any unpleasant odor."

"Really?"

"Yeah. It rather smelled like a forest, which surprised me."

"Ah."

Now that I think about it, my body odor did change for the better due to the charm. Even my sweat odor seemed to have been affected.

"And, well, regarding the sweat"

Aqua gave a sly smile and raised her index finger. At that moment, droplets of sweat began to emerge from her drenched clothes.

"Oh."

She was precisely separating the sweat droplets and consolidating them in the air.

"Splash."

As expected of the water spirit king, that's some impressive control.

"You should've done the same with my sweat."

"I wanted to, but your body wasn't in a condition to be affected by magic."

"Ah, right."

My body was in bad shape, but so was my magical circuit.

It was so fragile that even a minor external magical influence could disrupt it. That's why she couldn't heal my wounds with healing magic.

"But wouldn't a sweat-condensation spirit technique, which only works on the body's surface, not affect my body?"

"You never know. It's not worth the risk of worsening the situation just for a moment of comfort."

"That's true."

It seems Aqua was considerate of me in her own way.

After discarding the consolidated sweat droplets from her body out the window, Aqua suddenly looked at me with a peculiar expression.

"Hey, Seo-yul."

"Hmm?"

She hesitantly broached a topic with an uncharacteristically cautious expression, unlike her usual bold and straightforward self.

"Um, do you know Ha Si-yeon?"

""

Caught off guard by her unexpected question, I was taken aback.

"Well, it might sound weird, but lately, I've been having these strange dreams. And in those dreams, you always appear."

It seems Aqua, like Heavenly God and Edel, is also dreaming about the modern world.

"It's too real to dismiss as just a dream, yet too bizarre to consider reality. It's been giving me headaches."

Aqua sighed softly.

I remained silent, looking at her. I didn't know what to say.

"Ah, sorry. Was that a weird question?"

Perhaps interpreting my silence differently, Aqua apologized with a wry smile.

"Anyway, it's about my dream. It's not like you would know anything about it. I'm sorry. Just forget I said anything."

Aqua stuck out her tongue playfully, twirling her blue hair and smiling.

"Phew. I'll head out first. See you tomorrow."

Perhaps due to the awkward atmosphere,

Aqua quickly got up and headed out of the training hall.

I watched her leave and wore a bitter smile.

* * *

The next night.

After safely completing the rehabilitation training from morning to lunchtime, I was resting in my room alone for a change. My physical condition had improved significantly, and I was given permission to be by myself.

And today was also the day to try out each of the 12 artifacts passed on to me by Inie.

"With my magic circuit recovering this much, there shouldn't be any issues."

Up to now, both my body and magic circuit were fragile, so I didn't dare to hastily use the artifacts.

There was a severe discrepancy in the magic circuit to the extent that it could get disrupted by a simple external magical operation.

There was no telling what would happen if I rashly wielded a high-magic equipment like an artifact.

All the marks have turned white too.'

Today is the right day.

"Let's start with the one with the lowest performance in order."

I pulled out the Feather of the Angel Race, the lowest-ranked artifact, from the subspace. At that moment,

"Urgh!"

A tolerable pain began from my hand and spread throughout my entire body.

Flash!

A bright light erupted from my body. It was an effect signaling my transformation into the form of the Angel Race.

"Phew. Good."

Exactly 10 seconds passed.

All the pain subsided.

I heaved a sigh of relief. It seems my body is now at a stage where it can handle wielding an artifact without any strain.

"Now, next"

I turned my gaze to another artifact. I learned before, while using the Elf Race' artifact, that when a mark is activated, you can use artifacts of the same Race simultaneously. This means that I can safely synchronize multiple Angel Race artifacts with my body without any issues.

There are a total of 5 Angel Race artifacts in my possession.'

If I can synchronize' all five of these artifacts with my body, wouldn't the mid-tier Angel Race mark evolve safely into a high-tier one?

It's not impossible.'

Considering the overload from the new mark, I'm unsure whether all five can be synchronized or not, but I have to at least try. If it works, it's a gain; if not, there's no loss.

I also need to see at what stage the overload occurs.'

After taking three deep breaths in silence, I exhaled.

"Hoo."

I pulled out the second artifact of the Angel Race.

< Chapter 201: Overcoming (3) > End.