Chapter 4

“Hey! Aren’t you repeating after me!?”

Teacher Sena’s shout followed me like a tail, but I ignored it easily.

It would be strange to echo her instructions when I wasn’t going to follow them anyway.

Snort, snort!

My beloved horse Heukseom exhaled steam as he ran. His muscles had been twitching with eagerness to run since earlier. He wanted to show off his excellence to all the other horses (especially the mares) the students had ridden here.

Teacher Sena had instructed me to trot, but my Heukseom wanted to sprint with all his might.

So the answer was obvious—full gallop!

Thud-thud! Thud-thud-thud! Thud-thud-thud-thud!

Heukseom increased his speed like a gale. I pressed myself flat against the horse, withstanding the heavy inertia pushing against my body.

Wow—I wonder what his zero-to-sixty would be? Earth’s supercars couldn’t match this, could they?

Refreshing wind swept through my sideburns.

The sound of rushing air hammered at my eardrums.

Unlike Earth’s horses, the hooves of horses in the Star Continent were split like fingers, allowing them to grip and climb rock faces when necessary. A gravel field was nothing to them.

“Alright, don’t go too far, so stop now!”

Thud-thud-thud-thud! Crunch!

Heukseom, who had been galloping at full speed, lowered his hindquarters and came to an abrupt stop.

Gravel flew in all directions, and inertia threatened to send me flying forward, but I clung to him like a cicada and held on.

A full sprint followed by an emergency stop…

Heukseom was truly doing whatever he wanted. If not for my riding skills developed since childhood, I would’ve gone flying.

Snort!

Having completely stopped, Heukseom neighed defiantly and turned in the opposite direction.

The rocky area came into close-up view before my eyes.

The place where Miri had performed her alternating walk earlier. Person-sized stone pillars standing in a row.

Thump-thump.

Shhh—

I could hear Heukseom’s heartbeat. I felt his chest expand as he took a deep breath. I felt his gaze.

He was staring intently at the tops of those stone pillars standing in a row. But it seemed like what he wanted wasn’t just to climb up there.

Could he do it? Suddenly I felt afraid. But I brushed those feelings aside. Right. It’s not me doing this. It’s Heukseom. I’m just following along.

Do whatever you want! Your desires are my desires!

“Inhale—”

I took a deep breath too.

My breathing synchronized perfectly with Heukseom.

“Let’s go!”

Snort!

A black wind blew across the gravel field.

Heukseom ran, gravel flew, and in an instant, the stone pillars were right before us.

Just as we were about to collide with a pillar, Heukseom leaped.

Whoosh!

The wind tore at my ears, and inertia threatened to fling me from the saddle. If I got scared or tried to control him recklessly, I’d be thrown off and become a bloody pulp.

I entrusted everything to Heukseom and let my body flow with his movements. I held my breath and pressed myself even closer to him, becoming one with him.

Don’t be afraid. I am not myself. I am just Heukseom. I repeated this mantra internally.

That massive horse twisted his body in mid-air like a scissor kick.

He planted his hoof on the first stone pillar’s head and—

“Ha!”

With a shout that burst from me unconsciously, he kicked off the stone pillar and leaped again.

‘Wow….’

Is this how riding a legendary Pegasus would feel? My body soared, and I could see the tops of the towering stone pillars below me.

After briefly floating through the air, Heukseom fell rapidly. But before hitting the ground completely, he stretched out his legs.

Tap!

Heukseom’s hooves landed on the head of another stone pillar.

He must have been on the verge of crashing and shattering on the ground, yet he overcame the massive momentum of the fall and precisely placed his weight on top of the pillar.

An electrifying thrill ran through my entire body.

At the same time, I felt a floating sensation, as if my body were becoming weightless.

I realized this exhilaration wasn’t my own emotion but what Heukseom was feeling.

At this moment, as if I had truly become Heukseom, I could vividly sense what he desired.

‘Wow… is this?’

Simultaneously, my eyes beheld a scene I’d never witnessed before.

At this moment, when I had completely entrusted myself to Heukseom, all the scenery in my vision began to writhe and transform.

They were patterns.

A black and white world. Everything in the world looked like hieroglyphics composed of thick gray lines.

Within that, I could see the lines that formed me and Heukseom intertwining with each other.

More precisely, the pattern forming me had split apart and completely attached itself to Heukseom.

I was mixed with Heukseom, forming a single pattern.

Questions that had surfaced in my mind disappeared even more quickly.

I simply became Heukseom and enjoyed that moment.

The massive Heukseom moved as lightly as a swallow.

He would land on a stone pillar, leap, land on the next pillar, jump again, and leap once more. He hopped gracefully from pillar to pillar, clearing obstacles taller than a person.

I have no memory of how I moved my body during that time. Because at that moment, I was simply Heukseom.

Crunch!

Only when Heukseom landed on the ground, sending gravel flying in all directions, did I regain my senses. The gray patterns that had filled my vision also vanished without a trace.

Snort! Neigh!

Posturing proudly, Heukseom pranced around.

The horses the other children rode cowered before Heukseom, and Teacher Sena and the children stared at me with their mouths agape.

Full-speed gallop across the gravel field followed by an emergency stop. Then immediately leaping onto the stone pillars and bouncing between them like stepping stones. Incredible agility.

It was enough to astonish anyone.

Even I was still feeling it—my heart was still pounding from the excitement Heukseom had left behind.

“That, that horse is amazing. Isn’t that bastard Baek Jun-woo just being dragged around by a horse that’s too good for him, not following Teacher Sena’s instructions at all?”

Kallin tried to belittle me while forcing a laugh.

“R-right. A-anyway, he failed the challenge. What kind of performance is it to just cling to a horse? That guy’s always like this. P-probably only has a dragonfly’s eye-gunk worth of mana right now.”

Do Gyeong-su quickly chimed in, and

“I guess so… But still, that horse is really incredible…”

Mukuru just kept marveling at Heukseom.

Hearing them, the other children began to murmur.

“What was that? Should we consider that successful?”

“No way. It was the horse that did everything, not him acting on his own will. Mana grows when you completely control the situation, right? That’s why the teacher gives us tasks.”

“True… Teacher said yesterday too, didn’t she? Controlling mana means moving the universe with your will. To do that, you first need to control your own body, then other objects, and ultimately other living beings with your own will. …It might look impressive, but that’s not the way to do it.”

The children debated among themselves.

However, they ultimately reached a similar conclusion.

‘It looked cool, but there was no substance to it.’

Of course, I had only one thing to say about that.

Nope. You’re wrong.

Hummmm—

They couldn’t see or feel this.

How the surrounding mana was vibrating.

It was incomparable to the small amount of mana Miri had absorbed earlier.

The white mana that loves great achievements just circled around me before leaving.

The blue mana that loves outstanding technique was only partially absorbed, while most of it ignored me.

But! The most abundant mana in this space isn’t white or blue, it’s green!

Mana that values harmony. They were going crazy. Like an audience giving a standing ovation, they swirled around and were sucked into me.

So much mana was rushing in that I could taste it. A faint sweet-and-sour flavor lingered on the tip of my tongue. Ah, how refreshing.

Looking through the 50 years of Earth memories, I realized one thing.

The world doesn’t reward mindless effort alone.

There needs to be technique.

What does it matter if I couldn’t control the horse? What’s important in this situation isn’t control.

Only when the right technique is combined with effort can you receive a good reward. Just like now.

With a sense of elation, I slowly turned my head to look at Teacher Sena. What would she be thinking now?

Would I be reevaluated? Or would I get scolded again?

But what I faced was her face, pale as a ghost.

‘Is… is she that angry?’

I was startled internally, but she spoke coldly.

“Baek Jun-woo. We’ll talk later.”

That gaze, tinged with faint fear, wasn’t looking at me. It was staring only at the wilderness behind me.

She commanded in a low voice.

“Everyone, dismount and form a defensive formation. Slowly take out your talismans and bows, and wait. When I give the signal, hold your breath.”

She added stiffly.

“It’s the Calamity of Night.”

Just then, the wind blew. The scent of blood mixed in the wind stung my nose.

My body, which had been floating with excitement, turned cold. The horses trembled with fear in their legs. Even Heukseom snorted nervously as if frightened.

When I slowly turned around, black energy was gathering in thick clouds behind me. Was I too excited? But even so… how could I not have noticed such an ominous energy approaching?

“Orcs… how did they detect us….”

Teacher Sena muttered through gritted teeth.