His body burned as though on fire, and he could feel his vision beginning to blur.
It went on for several minutes, but once the sensation subsided, Kuon found himself immediately satisfied with his own condition.
His breathing felt longer and deeper than usual, and the persistent ache in his head from days of sleep deprivation had vanished entirely, as though it had never existed.
Kuon looked around and tried to scan his current location. Schesile had mentioned beforehand that every Drifter would be dropped in a different place at random—whether somewhere favorable and rich in useful resources, or somewhere so dangerous it could kill in a matter of seconds—all of it came down to individual luck.
Given his current specifications, and having thought through every best and worst-case scenario, Kuon had genuinely hoped to be dropped somewhere that could provide all the resources he needed.
But placing hope in something like luck was apparently a mistake. Rather than rocky mountains or mineral-rich mines, he had been dropped straight into the middle of a forest in the middle of nowhere, with not a single sign of civilization or anything he had hoped for.
Annoying as it was, Kuon hadn't been counting on that hope too heavily from the start, so the disappointment he felt was actually smaller than he had expected.
'For now, let's start moving.'
There was nothing around him but trees, so he started walking. At the very least, Kuon wanted to clear his head once he found a river to use as a temporary base.
With his sharpened hearing, he could make out the faint sound of running water in the distance. Kuon followed the direction of the sound, continuously scanning his surroundings as he went.
On his back was a small pack—filled with items that had been prepared for all Drifter. It was a 'feature' available to every Drifter, regardless of their situation or circumstances.
Eventually, after some time walking, he arrived at the bank of a river flowing gently before him. Shallow enough—reaching only to his calves—but deep enough for larger fish to move through.
Having found a spot perfect enough for a small base, Kuon leaned his back against the nearest tree and let out a long breath—releasing all the fatigue and stress that had accumulated in his head over the past weeks.
'Come to think of it, when was the last time I saw the sun? A week ago, wasn't it? No, three days passed while I was in that strange place, so….'
"Ten days, huh."
Kuon shook his head, clearing out thoughts that served no purpose in his current situation. He sat down and began examining the changes in his body more carefully.
As expected, his hair had lost its color—what had once been a platinum blonde that looked almost silver—now stripped clean to pure white.
A self-mocking smile crossed his face as Kuon tried to recall his own surname—which, as it turned out, he could not.
He had truly forgotten it, as though the name had never existed in the first place. Now, Kuon could only remember his own name as 'Kuon'. A single word, with no middle name or surname attached.
Kuon looked at his palm. He remembered writing his full name there, but most of the characters had faded to the point where only the name 'Kuon' remained legible.
'That's a little sad, huh.'
To Kuon, his surname had been the only thread connecting him to the family he had once had. But the sadness and sentiment lasted no more than five seconds before he narrowed his eyes.
There was no use grieving over what was already gone. Kuon drilled that thought into his own head as he moved on to checking his other conditions.
Following the instructions Schesile had once given, Kuon tried to bring up the system that displayed his stream and viewer comments, but nothing worked. The system that was a special privilege of Drifter simply did not appear before him.
People could still watch him, but he had no way of knowing what was happening on that stream.
And without any access to information from Earth, he had no way to confirm the last thing he wanted to verify. But if everything had proceeded according to the rules of the equivalent exchange, all traces of his existence on Earth should have vanished by now.
There had never been anyone named Kuon there—not in the civil registry, nor in the list of scholars affiliated with his former university.
Everything Kuon had sacrificed in that transaction was genuinely precious, even to him who had been prepared to give it all up. But all of it had been necessary to obtain everything he wanted.
Most notable was his body, which had changed considerably from what he remembered. That had been Kuon's first request in his transaction with Schesile.
--"I want a strong body that is difficult to wound or exhaust, and capable of adapting quickly."
That was what he had said when he stated his first request.
To reach the goal he had set for himself, Kuon needed the strongest body he could obtain.
Kuon looked at his own hands—which, while still maintaining their appearance as smooth, and slender hands—now looked fuller, with dense, compact muscle beneath.
He picked up a pebble from near his foot and threw it as hard as he could into the depths of the forest. The result: the pebble shot out like an arrow, leaving a sharp crack along the path it traveled.
Glancing downward—specifically at the gently flowing river—Kuon noticed several fish drifting undisturbed. But that wasn't what he was looking at. If his estimate was correct, this river would surely carry traces of valuable minerals as dust settled on its bed. Finding them wouldn't be difficult—using them was another matter.
Kuon carefully recalled everything he had requested from Schesile in exchange for everything he had sacrificed. Among them—apart from the strong body—were regeneration, a purified form of Aether, and the ability to create and manipulate miracles.
Aside from the purified Aether, all of it sounded straightforward and certain. Yet that was precisely all he could obtain with what he had sacrificed. The scales were balanced, and he hadn't even had surplus to request anything more.
But with all of that, it should be enough to fulfill everything Kuon had envisioned.
Kuon raised his hand before him, trying to sense and control the foreign energy circulating through his body as Schesile had taught. And perhaps due to his extraordinary compatibility with magic, or perhaps because it was something all Drifter had been blessed with—Kuon grasped the mechanics of it with ease and immediately put it into practice on the spot.
Before his open palm, heat began to gather—forming a swirl that condensed into a small flame.
" … Perhaps it's because my way of understanding it differs, but…."
Kuon closed his hand with a look of dissatisfaction, and the flame snuffed out at once. Letting out a brief sigh, he muttered, "The energy consumption is far too high. But that must be because I'm using a different method, right?"
The flame Kuon had tried to produce was one of the simplest forms of nature-type magic—the fire element, to be precise. But since he had already discarded his ability to use that type of magic, he had to think around it and switch to a different method.
The method he chose was to directly control the miracle itself.
From what Kuon understood about nature-type magic manipulation, a caster could directly use their magical energy—their Aether—to produce whatever elements they needed.
In the case of using magic to create fire, a caster could inject their own energy directly and shape the flame according to what they imagined. Size, temperature, and intensity of the burn—all of it was determined by how the caster envisioned the fire, then automatically calibrated against the amount of energy they held. Kuon's case, however, was entirely different.
Miracle manipulation worked by 'overturning the laws of the world'. So rather than using Aether to manifest the magic he imagined, he could instead produce fire directly by bypassing all the usual steps. If he had to put it in an analogy, Kuon would call it 'making the world create the fire for him'.
In theory, that method of use could shorten the casting time of a spell by skipping all the steps required in its manifestation. But it seemed there was a flaw in that reasoning.
" … Is my theory wrong? I still have to build every element from the ground up…."
'No, something must be wrong with my approach.'
Schesile had said nothing when Kuon had laid out his thinking just before being sent to Lios. But from his reaction, Kuon was confident his theory was more or less correct. That meant the error lay in how he was implementing the theory itself.
"Heheh, this is quite interesting."
Kuon tried to put his theory into practice once more—this time using a different approach. But before he was even halfway through the attempt, his body was struck by a painful wave of nausea.
He was briefly confused, but quickly steadied his mind and tried to analyze what had gone wrong. The result: the foreign energy in his body—Aether—had dropped drastically in quantity.
"Not only is it inefficient, this technique is outright wasteful. What a joke."
Because the Aether in his body was already in its purest form, it took far longer for all the expended Aether to recover back to its original amount. His body couldn't simply absorb the ambient Aether scattered around him—it had to pass through a filtration process before it could reach the required purity.
Given this, it seemed he would have to set aside experiments with nature-type magic for now. Kuon began reorganizing the plans in his head. He wanted to shift his focus toward training his ability in chemical-type magic—which he found both more compelling and easier to work with.
But that plan too would have to wait, at least until the Aether in his body had fully recovered.
Kuon stood and stretched his body, trying to distract himself from the nausea still churning through his stomach. He looked around, then tilted his head up to see a strange object—a giant thing hanging in the sky, visible even in broad daylight.
It was a satellite. Like another planet at impossibly close range, it orbited Lios with unabashed confidence, displaying its existence to everyone below.
Schesile had given him no information about the planet or world called Lios, so he would have to start finding out for himself. It would be better if he could gather information about its geological conditions—especially the locations of key areas rich in useful resources.
"I should probably set milestones for the next month or two." Kuon muttered in a low voice, his sharp gaze fixed on the satellite that seemed to stare right back at him.
***
And just like that, a full week had passed. Meaning it had now been ten days since two hundred Drifter first began arriving in Lios.
Time seemed to move so fast, though perhaps that was just Kuon's own impression. Because somehow, time in Lios flowed the same way as on Earth—24 hours to a day.
During that time, Kuon had devoted every hour and every ounce of effort to testing and experimenting with all his new abilities. The result: extraordinary discoveries.
His current focus was chemical-type magic, which allowed him to manipulate a given element in far greater detail.
The process was more or less the same as the natural element manipulation he had attempted with nature-type magic, but the casting speed, the cost required, and the mental strain he experienced were worlds apart. Likely a matter of compatibility. Given that Kuon had discarded his ability to use nature-type magic, it was reasonable that his aptitude leaned toward the other type. Kuon believed that was precisely what allowed him to use chemical-type magic far more efficiently.
The issue was that chemical-type magic required a specific catalyst to use—especially given the particular element Kuon had chosen to focus on.
Initially, Kuon had wanted to use chemical-type magic to manipulate the 'earth element'. But perhaps because what was called the 'earth element' had a scope far broader than the limits of Kuon's own ability, his Aether consumption became absurdly high. Even after combining it with his ability to manipulate miracles, he still couldn't do anything.
In the end, Kuon made the decision to focus everything on an element he was already deeply familiar with—metal.
This was where Kuon stood now, facing a tree not far from his small base by the riverbank.
Kuon drew a slow breath, then drove a straight punch into the trunk.
The movement was almost too fast to follow, and it wasn't only the direct impact—the kinetic energy generated even produced a shockwave that sent a burst of air radiating outward.
Instantly, a deep depression formed in the spot where Kuon had struck. Not quite enough to topple the tree in one blow, but Kuon judged the impact to be more than sufficient against a person or any smaller creature.
Even so, relying on physical strength alone would not be enough. Because however strong he was, Kuon had almost no real combat experience to back it up.
In the end, what he needed was a weapon. A real weapon he could use efficiently, without needing to master an excessive number of techniques.
Kuon returned to his small base—a simple tent set up alongside a few pieces of camping equipment scattered around it.
Sitting in the safe zone he had created, Kuon lined up all the metal objects he had that could be of use. Among them were three daggers given to all Drifter as part of their starting kit. He still needed one dagger as a primary survival tool in the wild, so only two were truly available to him.
Arranged beside the daggers were the pen he had once thrown at Schesile, a silver bracelet, a platinum ring that served as proof of his special membership and contributions at the university, and a lighter.
With the metal manipulation he had gained from chemical-type magic, Kuon could melt everything down and reshape it into something new. But before getting there, he still had to decide what to keep.
Kuon didn't have the technique needed to use a dagger as a weapon, so he could melt two of them down and keep one as a tool. He might still need the pen, but not in its current state, so that could be melted down as well.
'What's left is the silver bracelet, my ring, and the lighter, then….'
The bracelet was just an accessory he had worn for social appearances, so that could go. But the other two….
" … I don't think I can."
Given how poor he was at nature magic, he still had to rely on the lighter to produce fire. The platinum ring, on the other hand, was too valuable to simply melt down.
'I can still make use of the platinum in this ring later, but….'
Kuon was embarrassed to admit it, but perhaps this was what they called sentimentality toward an object. That ring was one proof of his hard work at the university, and Kuon held a quiet pride and something else toward it. On top of that, the platinum it was made from was genuinely valuable, so he couldn't just use it carelessly.
Now that he had made his choices, Kuon began running through his calculations in his head.
The daggers were made of iron and a mix of other metals, so their purity wasn't particularly reliable. The bracelet was similarly a mix of silver and supporting metals. The pen, meanwhile, had plastic components making up certain parts, but that wasn't an issue since he could separate them himself.
Kuon sat and directed his open palm toward all the objects he was going to melt. At that very moment, a pale blue light flowed out from his skin and began to envelop the items before him.
The metal manipulation Kuon used followed a system of 'equivalent exchange', where melted metal could only form a new shape proportional to how much of it there was. Because of this, Kuon couldn't make anything too large given the relatively small amount of metal he was working with.
That said, it wasn't an issue, as Kuon had already decided what shape to make and had already run through the calculations on the composition needed to form the structure he had in mind.
All the items enveloped in the Aether light quickly began to show signs of change.
Their structures began to soften, and though no heat was generated, they started to melt and fuse into a single dense mass of liquid—a metallic fluid with a silvery sheen.
Though from the outside Kuon appeared to be handling it all with ease, the reality was the exact opposite.
The process was genuinely complex, even for Kuon. But unlike when he had to use nature magic, he didn't need to formulate or work through complicated calculations involving external elements or additional supporting compounds.
In metal manipulation, he could directly work with the constituent and binding elements of the metal itself. Even so, the process was not as simple as that description made it sound. Kuon still had to perform extensive calculations in his head—working through a sequence of steps to alter and blend the structures of different types of metal.
Normally, all of those calculations would take him several minutes. But the reason he could do it quickly was thanks to the Gift he possessed—a Gift that Kuon had spent days studying, and had finally managed to master.
[Accel]
That was the name of his Gift. A simple name, with an ability that could be explained just as simply. In short, it was a Gift that granted him the ability to accelerate his perception speed.
With this Gift, Kuon could multiply his thinking speed several times over—which was, of course, enormously useful in the kind of mental calculations he was performing right now.
A few seconds later, lying on the ground in place of all the objects Kuon had used as materials, was a gauntlet with long, thin claws like sword blades extending from each fingertip.
Kuon regarded the gauntlet with a satisfied look as he tried to steady his breathing.
By design from the start, Kuon had only made one—for his right hand. He had made this decision by weighing balance of use against available materials.
The gauntlet served not only as an offensive weapon with its long, sharp claws, but also provided defense through metal plating that formed a small shield, protecting his right arm up to the elbow.
Gleaming with a dazzling silver light, it was the weapon he would use from this point forward.
'I'll just call it Glans for now.'
Kuon kept turning the gauntlet over carefully, trying to find even the smallest flaw he might have left behind. But as he was doing so, the nausea he had grown so familiar with returned, nearly bringing him to his knees on the spot.
Kuon desperately held himself upright as his body threatened to give out, breaking into a heavy sweat instead. Because unlike before, this bout of Aether depletion came with an added crushing pain and heat inside his head.
Blood ran from his nose, and his vision began to double.
"Damn, what the hell…."
Confused at first, Kuon quickly understood what was happening.
It seemed that overusing [Accel] to accelerate his thinking would produce adverse effects. Because unlike his accelerated thought process, his brain was still in its ordinary state—and absorbing that sudden surge in information processing speed would cause something akin to an 'overheat'.
"I gain an ability but not the means to handle its recoil? Give me a break…."
Realizing this weakness made Kuon grit his teeth as he struggled to hold back the pain that had yet to let up. Through the haze of his consciousness, it dawned on him….
" … I need to start conditioning my brain, don't I?"
Though Kuon had calculated everything in advance, this was the first time he had actually put his metal manipulation ability into practice.
And once again, the theory itself could be said to be correct. Only the execution was wrong and inefficient. He had built the theory on the assumption that he could process a body of information rapidly—but apparently that was still beyond his current limits.
At the very least, his brain needed to be trained to withstand the full load of information and the sudden spikes in processing speed.
Since his physical strength and endurance had already become abnormal after the equivalent exchange with Schesile, Kuon had some freedom in how he developed himself. Not only could he recover from injuries relatively quickly, his body also adapted far better than an ordinary person's. So breaking through his current physical limits was not an impossibility.
Kuon adjusted his monocle and began considering updates to his training and milestones.