The Protagonist Already Knows

Chapter 16: Intent and Convinction

"...intent, huh?"

Of course, I knew all about the system of intent from the novel, with Ren’s being to save his friends from their deaths in his previous life, which indirectly meant killing the Dreg God

Every step he took, every action he made, every goal he created was in pursuit of that thing.

Of course, your intent could change over time.

Mana particles weren’t like universities back on Earth, basically asking you to decide your entire career and profession at the ripe age of seventeen.

Scanning the nearly empty library, I shut my eyes for a moment, the bloody and indescribable images that kept me up at night flashing through the darkness.

Save others? Better the world? Atone for my past mistakes?

Was that it?

Clicking my tongue, I leaned back in my chair, my eyes still closed, and attempted to feel it.

The hundreds of millions of mana particles circulating in the world, present yet invisible in every single space.

Absorbing these mana particles was just another step toward my goal, just like successfully hunting and inheriting Anubis’s will.

That goal? Possessing the ability to prevent tragedies and the loss of human life, right?

And yet...I couldn’t feel anything.

Was I an idiot? What was I doing wrong!?

Sighing, I reopened the eyes and continued reading the book.

After a few moments, a sense of anxiety and overwhelming despondency overtook me, and I desperately glanced around the library.

But...there was no one.

It was just me.

No one for me to use to escape my own emotions.

At that moment, the thought suddenly occurred to me.

I was attempting to discover my own intent while manipulating my own head, making myself artificially feel emotions that didn’t belong to me.

Wasn’t that stupid?

I could lie to myself, lie to those around me, but these mysterious mana particles embodying nature itself obviously wouldn’t be fooled.

My head cleared, and, fully belonging to myself for a moment, I pushed aside everything... all my fears and sadness and genuinely thought.

In my mind, there was no one who could judge me besides myself.

Bettering the world...having a positive impact: that wasn’t my intent.

That was my conviction.

I simply believed I should improve the world and make a positive impact with my oracle-like knowledge.

That was my belief and conviction.

However, belief was extremely different from reality.

I could believe cheating was wrong and still use my phone to cheat on a test.

Conviction was an intangible thing; it couldn’t force me to do anything.

Many people believe climate change is bad, but you don’t see them taking shorter showers or using less electricity.

I could have a conviction...and simply decide not to act on it.

Then...what was my intent?

Why did I truly want to absorb mana!?

"ah..."

Suddenly, those words flashed through my head.

"The right thing is whatever the right person says it is."

It was to become powerful. To become the right person.

Bettering the world was just a side-effect. If I were powerful, I could prevent tragedies and save others.

At that moment, I felt it.

A foreign substance entered my body, passing through my skin barrier and entering my bloodstream.

I felt... rejuvenated, fresh as if I had just taken an amazing shower.

My muscles flooded with energy, making me feel as if I could jump as high as the moon, and my mind naturally cleared, my exhaustion and headache vanishing.

I lost control of the mana particles shortly after, only feeling a weird and tingly sensation flood through my body as they phased through my skin barrier.

The mana particles were responding to my intent.

Taking a deep breath, I left the library, embracing a cold gust of wind as I stood outside, under the night-black sky.

Lily had a similar problem: she had no idea how the metal armband could attract mana particles and vacuum them up to the top portion of the blood stream.

The metal armband couldn’t have intent, or could it?

Walking through the empty streets of the academy, I passed by the training hall, peeking through the window and seeing two familiar figures shooting side-by-side as targets flew upward from the ground.

*BAM*

*BAM*

Arrows simultaneously flew forward at speeds so fast that my eye almost failed to catch them and burst through the targets.

A confident, overjoyed scream suddenly rang out, almost causing me to trip and fail on the stone path.

"I HIT IT FIRST! I KNEW IT. THAT #4 SPOT SH-"

"Look at the screen, won’t you?"

"..."

Glancing upward at the top of the three-floor training hall, I was suddenly blinded as flames practically blasted through the open windows, lighting up the night sky like a star.

"Haerin...ah, right."

Pulling all-nighters was nothing abnormal at this school. I wasn’t special for spending hours reading books in the library: that was the bare minimum.

Entering my dorm building, I grabbed a quick energy drink from the cafeteria and headed downstairs to the building’s two underground floors.

The first underground floor was filled with various special training rooms.

In mimic rooms, you could face off against...yourself.

First, the system would scan your body and abilities before creating a bot for you to face off against for 1-2 rounds to understand your combat moves.

Then the room would create a holagraphic version of yourself to face off against, so you could view yourself in real time from a third-person point of view.

Virtual reality rooms were relatively simple: you would be transferred into a virtual combat arena and could choose various opponents that the Sunken Pearl had made to face off against without worrying about any physical injuries.

Of course, there were also your basic amenities like a steam room, sauna, and cold plunge for muscle recovery.

Descending past the first underground floor, I stepped onto the second underground and lowest floor of the building.

Suddenly, a scream...no shriek reverberated, prompting me to freeze in place.

"FUCK!"