C49
Shirone was floating in darkness.
It was a quiet and cold space where countless stars were scattered around.
An overwhelming world of stasis…
But suddenly, the scenery in which time seemed to have stopped suddenly accelerated.
The stars began to lengthen into lines.
'I'm being absorbed.'
In the midst of the stars gathering towards one place, there were immeasurable spherical rocks and gasses.
'NO!'
Seeing the stars rush to each other, Shirone shuddered, but before that happened, the planets began to collapse first.
It was a phenomenon that ignored the law of physics.
'Time is flowing backwards.'
Following the stars, Shirone's own physical body dissolved, and in the process, his consciousness also disappeared.
'But I still exist.'
This last remaining 'thing' that constituted a human being. Shirone didn't know what that 'thing' was.
He felt the world that was compressed into a dot.
The result of light, time, acceleration of gravity, and universal gravitation being tied and brought together was…
'Vibration.'
Light was vibrating.
When he delved in deeper, the light became bubbles and then quickly popped.
It was as if the bubbles mirrored and repeated both creation and extinction.
Everything was filled with light, and even the last thing that made up Shirone joined in.
'Ahhhhh…'
An extreme sense of unity.
And that feeling felt like an explosion.
“AHHH!”
Shirone woke from his sleep with a shout. His clothing was drenched as sweat dripped down his face.
He looked around his quiet and moonlit room.
After seeing the books regarding Photon output spread around messily on his desk, he managed to calm down.
“Hoo… Another nightmare.”
He drank water from the pitcher and opened the window. The winds of the early summer cooled down his body.
'Why is this happening every night? What's happening to me?'
Ever since he entered the Infinite Realm during the Speed Gun exam, Shirone had been plagued by the same dream every night.
Come to think of it, his nightmare didn't seem that horrific, but each time he woke up from it, his shock was considerable.
'Something's weird.'
Anxiety seeped in.
After experiencing the thing called the Immortal Function, Shirone felt like everything that made him himself was out of sync.
“Eeeuuuk…”
Due to the chill, Shirone hugged his body.
'Disregarding the nightmare for now…'
The real problem was that the strange feeling followed him even in reality.
He didn't know what exactly was going on, but he felt like a particular sense of his became extremely sensitive.
'But what exactly is it?'
It wasn't like he could smell better, or had sharper sight, touch, or hearing.
'It's not the five senses. It's…'
It was as if he was equipped with a new sensory organ.
“No way I can sense ghosts now… Right?”
Music coming from a piano was heard from the ceiling.
As Shirone turned around in surprise, he noticed dawn was already peeking through the horizon.
Shirone went to the bathroom with tired eyes.
'I don't feel like I rested.'
Since the Intermediate Class practical evaluation ended last week, normal classes would once again resume this week.
'That might be better. If I train like crazy, I might be able to get rid of this strange feeling.'
With his mind made up, he changed his clothes and left the dorm with a backpack slung on his shoulder.
The academy atmosphere was peaceful.
Most of the students who returned to being friends again after the competition were all talking about the Speed Gun exam.
After the evaluation ended, it was normal for a single star to appear in each class, but this time was an exception.
This was because the Class 5 Speed Gun exam, which was held on the first day, left too big of an impact.
It was inevitable since not one, but two students achieved scores of over 1,200 points! Such a score was unprecedented in the history of the Intermediate class.
“Hey! There goes Shirone!”
They felt something different new from Shirone, who was heading to the Intermediate class building.
The rising star went from Amy's boyfriend to a student who represented the academy.
That was why the upperclassmen from Class 4 would take the initiative to start up a conversation with him
“You did well during the Speed Gun. Let's check up on each other now and then.”
“Yes, senior.”
The reason why the upperclassmen-lowerclassmen relationships were strict was because getting promoted was difficult.
Tags:
Infinite Mage (Novel)
