The Protagonist Already Knows

I could feel something behind her...an accumulation of intent and emotions, but no matter how much I looked, no holographic symbol appeared.

Snapping me back to reality, Professor Sooyung hoisted me upward onto my feet before glancing at her smartwatch and opening her mouth.

"Your movement and reaction time are your biggest issues. Every morning, go for a run for at least three miles."

Before I could even answer, a notification popped up on my smartwatch, with a detailed agility training plan, including stretches and sprinting interval tests.

"..."

"There are also some reaction-time training modules in the training hall. Use those. By next week, I should see some improvement."

Turning around, Professor Sooyung said one last thing before leaving.

"Also...your image is blurry."

Watching her quietly exit the sparring arena, I leaned downward and picked up my wooden Dao under the evening light-orange sky.

As I thought of the name of the first movement of my technique manual, "Ripple Step," the ground below me began shining a light-blue.

Six light-blue shapes, each just big enough to accommodate the soles of my feet, glistened on the ground before me.

There were only a total of three pairs of footsteps.

The movement seemed relatively simple.

First, stand still with both your feet pointing straight forward. Then, leap forward and land on your right foot, immediately boosting yourself back into the air with that right foot.

Next, land with your left foot pointing leftward and your right foot ahead of the left, still pointing straight ahead.

Finally, pivot with your right foot, doing a 180 so that it faces backward and place your left foot ahead of the right.

As I placed my two feet right on the first light-blue footprints, like fitting a puzzle piece into a puzzle, the second pair of footprints ahead dazzled, guiding me forward.

I jumped to make it, managing to get my right foot in the footprint, but as I boosted back into the air and attempted to land, my left foot missed the footprint entirely.

The footprints ahead of me instantly dispersed, as the first two light-blue ones pointing straight ahead appeared before me again.

...

...

...

As I slowly pivoted with my right foot to face backward and placed my left foot perfectly in the last footprint...the footprints reset once again.

I had managed to complete one whole movement without any mistakes after three hours.

But I instantly knew that I had taken far too long throughout the entire thing.

The whole three-part movement had to be one fluid and swift motion.

"I found you!"

Hearing the voice echo from the entrance to the sparring arena, I glanced forward, seeing a familiar black-haired figure approach me.

I was honestly surprised it had taken him so long.

The person who would later go on to become a mass-murdering villain had vanished for a week...how could he not be suspicious?

Not only that, but my character had been initially irrelevant during this time in Ren’s eyes, but now Ash was the center of attention with the rumors spread around him, not Coal.

Emerging from the hallway leading in and stepping onto the soft sand, Ren paused for a moment, awkwardly avoiding my gaze.

Looking at him, I couldn’t help but pause for a moment.

"About those ru-"

Pointing my wooden Dao at Ren and interrupting him mid-sentence, I said.

"Let’s spar for a moment."

Confused, Ren nodded his head and, after a moment, picked up his bow.

There was nothing behind him.

As he simultaneously nocked three arrows on his bowstring and fired them off at me, I intently looked behind him...but there was still nothing.

"Ah..."

Ren’s three-arrow volley was extremely precise, each aiming at my chest from a different direction, as expected from a marksman who had already fought the Dreg God.

But...there was something missing.

His arrows lacked cohesiveness: they weren’t trying to work with each other, making it so their trajectories didn’t overlap.

Instead, each of the arrows had a mind of its own, simply trying to get to its individual target as fast as possible at the angle it was fired at.

Simply waiting, I looked for the moment that the arrows were all lined up perfectly and raised my Dao to the sky.

*CLANG*

*CLANG*

*CLANG*

My sword surged downward from over my shoulder, knocking down the three arrows, which were stacked atop each other like a set of dominoes.

He truly...had yet to form a weapon art.

The Ren I was looking at was...far weaker than he was supposed to be.

After all, he had never faced the consequences of reporting the Professor who tampered with the virtual reality equipment.

He didn’t even know that, because of that action, Dreg Demons had almost flooded into our room and kidnapped our entire class.

Sure, Carissa had grown stronger as a result of this...but Ren, he was the one with future knowledge of the Dreg Demon’s plans.

He was ultimately the one who had to be powerful and intelligent enough to take pre-emptive action to stop the Dreg Demons and deal with any possible butterfly-effect consequences.

Raising my head and signaling for him to pause as he nocked more arrows, I approached Ren and simply asked.

"Do you want to know what I was doing last week?"

Finally meeting my gaze, Ren awkwardly nodded his head.

Placing a finger over my mouth, I simply said.

"You can’t say anything."

As he nodded his head once again, still one hand on his bow, I reached into my pocket...and took out a familiar medal.

Tossing the medal to him, I simply said.

"There was a dreg-related problem after our virtual reality exam. Everyone nearly died."

As he processed my words, a confused and bewildered expression appeared on his face as his eyebrows raised and he blinked rapidly; I could practically read his thoughts in real time.

"Something like this never happened before I regressed..."

"What? Is he lying?"

"No...this medal, it can’t be..."