The Villain’s POV in the Academy

Chapter 62

Anyway, it was insane specs.

From the very beginning, Aaron Stingray was a ‘symbol of power’ born from genetic engineering.

Iri, too, was a genius among geniuses, born under the overflowing love of the Creator, but she was no match for a munchkin character made with such deliberate perfection.

On top of that, after receiving an injection of “Pandora,” the essence of Miyu’s technology, her pure specs increased by about 20%.

The higher an Adaptee’s pure specs, the more synergy their modules gained. So the monstrous power she had shown earlier wasn’t all that strange.

So, theoretically, it wasn’t strange.

Theoretically, that is.

“……”

The problem was that in Iri’s eyes as she looked at me, there was now, however slight, a mix of ‘fear.’

It hurt a little to feel like the favorability I had worked so hard to build was being chipped away.

Well, in any case—

Leaving behind the little incident caused by Miyu’s mistake, my avatar’s specs had been readjusted.

The dummy robot, which would serve as the scarecrow, had also been summoned back in perfect condition, so now the real lesson could begin.

“Hmm.”

After clearing my throat to shift the atmosphere, I returned to the main topic.

“Where was I… Ah, right. Specs.”

“You mean you now have the same specs as me?”

“That’s right.”

I swung a fist at the dummy robot again, and this time, the robot didn’t vanish; it only got a bit damaged.

“Then, with only the means you currently possess, how would you destroy this opponent in one blow?”

“Hmm. Let’s see… I don’t think it’d be too hard.”

“Sounds like you have something in mind. Try it.”

“Alright. I’ll show you.”

I stepped aside, and Iri took a fighting stance in front of the dummy robot.

Lightly hopping like a rabbit a few times, she then tumbled forward in place.

Kwaaaang—!

Her heel, powered by rotational force in midair, smashed into the top of the dummy robot’s head. The robot, slammed into the floor, shattered into data fragments and vanished.

“When your foot came down, you generated gravitational pull to amplify the kick’s force? Quite good.”

“Heh…”

The light praise seemed to put her in a good mood; the corners of her lips rose slightly. She tried not to show it, but I could see her cheeks twitch faintly.

And then I cut that feeling short.

“But you’re still clumsy.”

“…W-what?”

“I mean your application is one-dimensional.”

I had Miyu summon another dummy robot.

It was my turn to show.

“‘Thousand Pound Weight’ is originally a Chinese martial arts term. It’s a technique where you use the qi in your body to momentarily increase your weight dozens of times. But just because the name is the same doesn’t mean the principle is.”

I tapped the summoned dummy robot’s head as I continued.

“Lv.4 Arcane Module [Thousand Pound Weight] doesn’t ‘increase weight,’ it ‘generates a special gravitational pull.’ And what is gravitational pull? Miyu, don’t answer.”

[Ah, okaaay…]

Miyu’s voice sounded sulky from having the chance to answer stolen.

Iri replied cautiously, with a somewhat sour expression.

“It’s the force of attraction, right?”

“That’s right. The force of attraction. And you don’t have to keep using that force only toward the ground. For example—”

I took a few steps back from the dummy robot.

Lifting my leg lightly, I triggered the effect of [Thousand Pound Weight].

Thud!

Right after, the dummy robot toppled to the floor and slid its head beneath my foot, as if bowing to me of its own accord.

I then stomped down, crushing its head. Like a press machine stamping out parts, there was a crunch! and the robot shattered into fragments.

“Like that.”

“…!”

Iri looked utterly shocked.

She probably never imagined [Thousand Pound Weight] could be used in such a way.

Satisfied with her expression, I continued explaining.

“The part where [Thousand Pound Weight]’s pull is generated is from the solar plexus down to the toes. The lower it is, the stronger the pull.”

“The ways to use it are endless, then.”

“Exactly. Especially for you. Miyu, are you there?”

[Yeesss…?]

“Summon a shield—make it as close as possible to the one you made for Iri. And also summon a rocket trooper as a hostile unit.”

I gave Miyu new instructions.

Soon, something very similar to the shield Iri normally used appeared in my hand. I dropped it to the floor and kicked it far away.

“If you happen to lose your shield—”

Once again, I stomped the ground.

The shield slid back across the floor like a board and stopped right at my toes, standing upright.

Catching the handle at the exact moment it stood, I lifted it to shoulder height, taking a defensive stance.

“Or if you need to block an enemy attack—”

Before I even finished speaking, a dummy robot holding a rocket launcher appeared and fired. Matching the trajectory, I raised the shield and, at impact, generated pull toward the rear.

My body slid backward, out of the blast radius. After fully deflecting the explosion’s shockwave, I stopped in place.

When I lowered the shield, I was now quite a distance from where the rocket had been fired.

“Or if the enemy is far away—”

I began walking, alternating the pull between my legs.

At the right timing, the generated force pulled me forward, and in an instant, I closed the gap to the rocket trooper.

I smashed its head with the shield, then let go of the handle. Twisting my body, I turned toward the training room wall.

“Or if you need to create a new foothold—”

I stepped onto the wall and began walking upward.

Step by step.

Without losing my composure, I walked all the way up to the training room ceiling, then released [Thousand Pound Weight] and leaped down toward where Iri stood.

Iri’s eyes, looking up at me, were filled with shock.

She had probably never imagined that the combat module I gifted her could be used in so many ways.

I asked her,

“Do you still feel what I gave you is lacking?”

Tak!

I flicked my fingers lightly against her forehead, which was still wearing that dazed, surprised expression.

Only after being flicked did Iri snap back to her senses, clutching her forehead with both hands as if it hurt.

“…No.”

I couldn’t help but find it amusing how Iri’s expression twisted like that in response. She seemed a bit hurt in her pride.

After training Iri a little more, I left cyberspace first.

I planned to spend the remaining time outside, watching her training through the monitor.

Iri struggled quite a bit to learn how to use [Thousand Pound Weight]. It seemed it wasn’t easy to grasp the sensation of generating gravitational pull through the module.

Well, using a module was more or less like suddenly growing a tail that hadn’t been there before. Whether it was a cyberware prosthetic or a module, every new installation required some time to get used to.

If I hadn’t retained Aaron Stingray’s memories, I probably wouldn’t have been able to handle a module like [Cloud Spider] so skillfully either.

“……”

That thought brought back an unsettling feeling.

Because earlier, when I was demonstrating module usage to Iri, I’d felt something.

I looked down at my fist.

I clenched and unclenched it several times.

‘Just like I felt earlier…’

It was abnormally strong.

Not only in reality, but also in virtual space.

No—more accurately…

‘I should say… it’s still getting stronger.’

I felt it clearly while guiding Iri.

I was getting stronger in real time.

With every punch I threw in virtual space, with every step I took, I could feel myself climbing to a higher level.

It was like using a cheat in a game, gaining endless experience and leveling up from even the smallest actions.

And the reason for that was probably…

“Miyu.”

I called to her as she was operating the computer.

She flinched and turned toward me, as if worried she had done something wrong. She was still feeling down about the mistake she made earlier when setting my specs in cyberspace.

“Y-yes…?”

“I have a question about cyberspace.”

“I-I’m sorry… Cyberspace isn’t my specialty, so I might not be able to give an accurate answer…”

“That’s fine. I’m not going to get into anything too technical anyway.”

“I-I’ll try my best to answer as far as I know…”

Still, she probably knew more about it than I did.

My understanding of cyberspace was just surface-level.

I thought for a moment about how to phrase my question so it would resolve my doubts, then spoke.

“What do you think about ‘Avatar-Nirvana’?”

“Uh, um, that’s…”

Miyu seemed to quickly search her mind for what the term meant.

“Well… If my memory’s right, isn’t it a term from religious theory…?”

“That’s right.”

Avatar-Nirvana.

It was a Buddhist theory unique to this world: by separating body and mind completely through cyberspace—through one’s avatar—one could reach Nirvana.

“I-I’m sorry… I’m not really familiar with the religious aspects… Becoming a Buddha and all that…”

“That’s not what I’m asking. I just want to know, from a technical standpoint, whether it’s truly possible to completely separate the mind and body through virtual space.”

“Uh…”

Miyu’s gaze wavered from side to side.

After some hesitation, she spoke.

“…Yes, it’s possible.”

Her voice was faint, but there was an odd certainty to it. I asked why she thought so.

“Can you explain?”

“Mm… If I take an old experiment as an example… Let’s say two people who both had their arms amputated upload their minds into cyberspace…”

Here were two people.

Both had lost their arms in accidents.

But A had lived without an arm ever since, while B had lived with a cyberware prosthetic arm.

Their physical condition was the same.

If A and B both entered virtual space and tried to control an avatar with both arms intact, what would happen?

“The answer is… it doesn’t really matter…”

The results were the same.

It wasn’t about whether they had the experience of using cyberware or not. The essence of the problem lay elsewhere.

“If A thought in virtual space that they ‘regained their arm,’ the avatar would move without problem… But if they focused on ‘losing their prosthetic arm,’ then the avatar wouldn’t move properly…”

The same went for B.

If he thought “I got my arm back,” he could move the avatar; if he thought “this arm is fake,” he couldn’t handle it freely.

“So in the end… it’s a matter of thought…”

Regardless of the body—

It depended on how the mind perceived it.

That’s what decided who you were in virtual space, Miyu said.

“There was even a case where someone with the mental delusion that they were a fish created an avatar in virtual space resembling a mermaid…”

“What happened to them?”

“Surprisingly, they moved just fine… But when that avatar was copied exactly and given to another person to control, they couldn’t move a single step…”

“I see. Interesting story.”

It really was interesting.

If what Miyu said was true—that cyberspace allowed complete separation of ‘mind’ and ‘body’—then that meant I had been getting stronger in real time.

And why was that?

The reason was obvious.

‘Even my mind must be getting closer to becoming Aaron Stingray.’

I was being eroded—

By the will of the world.

Because Aaron Stingray had to exist as a ‘villain.’

The world was pushing me not only to fulfill my role as a Transmigrator, but also as a villain.

Which meant—

‘The culprit… isn’t the body?’

Not Aaron’s ego—

But the will of the world was the culprit.

If that was the case…

‘I have a solution.’

If I had only been affected by Aaron’s physical body itself, there would have been no answer. But if the culprit was this world, then it would be easier to solve.

‘I just need to go to the hunting ground.’

The Violet Hunting Ground.

I had felt my murderous urge weaken the more I hunted there. The reason was probably…

‘Because the hunting ground is another world.’

It was a bonus stage.

A place completely unaffected by the main story—so that world didn’t force the identity of “Aaron Stingray” onto me.

And I still had a ticket.

[Violet Hunting Ground Admission Ticket]

I had obtained it as a reward for resolving Act 1, Part 1 of Iri’s story. With this, I could probably solve my current problem.

‘Good thing I saved it.’

Back then, I hadn’t felt any urgency to use it, especially after the struggle in the Violet Hunting Ground. Now, it had become something important.

‘But going right now would be pointless.’

To truly solve this problem, I needed to go through several more stages of preparation. I called once again for the best technician in the setting.

“Miyu.”

“Yes?”

I asked her,

“Do you know about Cyberization?”