Mirror World: Destined Return

When Seong-Hwi and Chaya reached the Mirror World, it had already been three days since the newbies began to learn about the Mirror World at Edu.

Marie, the Latina teacher with black hair in charge of the transformers, patted her dependable Greyhound beside her and said, “Many transformation D Weapons tend to be pets or animal companions. Most of those people have experienced pet loss.”

Roughly two hundred students in the lecture hall nodded.

“Not me,” Hwa-Yeon mumbled as she stared at the compact in her hand.

“Is that your D Weapon, Shaya?” Ha Rin asked Shaya Singh Rai beside her as she patted her Yorkshire Terrier, Chocho.

Rin and Hwa-Yeon interacted with as many people in the transformation class as possible, as Shin Jun instructed, and Shaya was one of them. Shaya thought her older brother Chaya was dead. Driven by revenge, she desired to grow stronger, which caught Rin and Hwa-Yeon’s attention.

“Hugh is Hugh, not a D Weapon,” Shaya replied with a small snow leopard in her arms.

It had white fur with black leopard prints and beautiful blue eyes as cold as ice.

“Well said, little girl,” Marie praised Shaya as she turned to her. “I don’t think of Malcolm as a weapon either. He’s my comrade and partner. The word D Weapon is just too violent, don’t you think?”

Woof! Woof! Malcolm the Greyhound barked as if he agreed.

“That’s why we transformers rarely give up on our partners. We do whatever it takes to try and find the perfect rule.”

The desire to transform into another being could be considered the manifestation of one’s subconscious wish to transcend the limits of reality. It was like the Korean myth about a bear that ate only mugwort and garlic for one hundred days to become a human woman.

“We reunited with our partners because of our powerful wish to do so. I experienced intense grief in my high school days when Malcolm died. I wanted to hug him one more time. Such wishes determine your D Weapon.”

“Wishes, huh?” Hwa-Yeon mumbled, staring begrudgingly at her compact.

***

“D Weapons are nothing but weapons. You don’t have to feel sentimental about them. If you believe your D Weapon is trash, don’t hesitate to abandon it and just focus on pulling item cubes,” said a dark-skinned Middle Eastern man with thick eyebrows and a beard.

He wore white clothes and a keffiyeh, holding an AK-47 assault rifle.

“I belong to the group of people who got a decent D Weapon. Even so, there were at least a hundred million AK-47s on Earth—no, twice that if you count the illegal ones, so there are quite a lot of people who have this as their D Weapon.”

The man charged the rifle and continued, “If I get a B-rank—no, even a good C-rank skill, I will abandon my D Weapon in a heartbeat and get a new set of items that supplement the skill.”

“Even if it isn’t an emission skill?” asked Min-Jae as he touched his yellow recurve bow.

The man stared at Min-Jae and answered, “Yes. I’m saying this because the categories like emission, conjuration, and enhancement are a trap. If you fail to find a rule perfect for your D Weapon, don’t hang on to it and just focus on opening cubes. Honestly speaking, skills from cubes are less complicated and better than any unique skill made from a bad rule.”

The man drew an X over the Web of Categories on the blackboard and continued, “But there are many pro-D Weapon people who claim D Weapons are the secondary force of humans, or that they need to find the ideal rule for oneself by reflecting on their unconscious or past, or that D Weapons are required for heightening one’s caliber.”

He rested his AK-47 over his shoulder and shook his head.

“But only people with a talent for their D Weapons can say that. Focus on the bigger picture. Only one thing matters in the Mirror World—to survive, not to establish a rule for one’s D Weapon.”

The man’s words were quite extreme, but he was not wrong.

He continued, “You have to be strong to survive. What do you need to become stronger? Stats, skills, and items. You don’t need a D Weapon to become strong. If it were me, I would focus on skills.”

“Skills?” someone asked.

“All five basic stats are important. The order doesn’t matter, but they should be raised together. Although items are expensive, they can be traded for Coins. But not skills. It all comes down to sheer luck.”

The man circled the words mana pattern next to the Web of Categories.

“The stronger the skill, the more complex its mana pattern. Hence, it requires time to practice. Some idiots add a bunch of rules for their D Weapon because they think the more skills you have, the better, but that’s idiotic. Imagine you suddenly grew eight more arms and legs. It’ll just be an endless cycle of tripping and limbs coiling.”

It didn’t look that way, Min-Jae thought as he recalled Card.

Card could freely use dozens of skills and fluidly switch between them.

“Even Rankers rarely use more than five main skills because any more would entangle the mana patterns, resulting in lower power output and focus. That’s why I’m imploring you to choose one main skill and match your stats and items around it. I’m sure you all think you’re special, but you’re not. Give up on any delusions of grandeur.”

Min-Jae raised his hand and asked, “What if you establish a rule for your D Weapon that allows you to freely use dozens of skills by switching between them?”

The man stared at Min-Jae, clicking his tongue, and replied, “Then you can ignore everything I just said because it means you have extraordinary talent in using your D Weapon. But I have warned you. If you disregard it, you can die for all I care.”

***

“The manipulation category can be grossly divided into external and internal manipulation,” said a slender Hispanic man standing in front of a blackboard with sunken eyes. “External manipulation refers to controlling weapons, other people, dolls, or golems. Internal manipulation refers to controlling yourself.”

“Then I guess we’re external manipulators, Do-Hyun,” Hee-Gyeong said as she looked at her ball of yarn.

Do-Hyun also looked down at his yo-yo and replied, “Yes, it looks like it.”

Ye-Ji stared at her smartphone and mumbled, “Then what am I?”

The man continued, “If you look at the Web of Categories, manipulation is beside conjuration and transformation. External manipulators tend to use their abilities in tandem with conjuration abilities, while internal manipulators tend to use transformation abilities. Hmmm, is there anyone with drug D Weapons?”

A few people cautiously raised their hands.

“Heh, you don’t have to be so conscious about it. I also have a drug D Weapon. People like us are referred to as dopers. Dopers are mainly internal manipulators. They can maximize their senses with drugs or include a transformation ability to gain a temporary strength boost. Several have kicked the bucket from the side effects, though.”

The man held his D Weapon, a marijuana joint, between his fingers and continued, “A warning to the dopers. Don’t join Hard Drug or Pure Ladies and Gentlemen. They’re black clans.”

“What abilities do external manipulation D Weapons have?” a man in his mid-thirties with red hair and beard asked.

It was Brandon, whose D Weapon was a cowboy lasso. He had lost all of his comrades in the Dark Forest.

“Hm? A lasso, huh? Looks useful for binding. External manipulation, as it sounds, is for manipulating things other than your body. I said earlier that external manipulation abilities are often used in tandem with conjuration abilities, right? I’m sure you’ve all met Remy Martin.”

“Yeah, that man!”

He was the one who had read from a piece of paper in the auditorium.

“Yeah, he’s an amazing guy. He’s twenty-third in the human ranking. He is an external manipulator and created Telekinesis, an ability with conjuration and manipulation in perfect harmony.”

The manipulator students were pumped to hear that the one who had forcibly closed their mouths was a manipulator.

That’s amazing! What if he controlled our hands instead of our mouths?

He manipulated at least a thousand people in the auditorium? That’s insane!

People were hopeful they could become a manipulator as powerful as Remy one day.

Just then, Ye-Ji raised her smartphone and asked, “Ummm, is this an external or internal manipulation D Weapon?”

“Whoa! A smartphone! Congratulations, you’re set for life. No survival worries for you.”

“Pardon?” Ye-Ji asked, unable to understand.

The man smiled and remarked, “Smartphones used to be useless D Weapons until someone known as the Database completely changed that perception five years ago. No one knows who they are since they’ve never revealed themselves. In any case, that individual created the app called Network, which can be accessed by any smartphone D Weapon.”

“Network?”

“It’s practically a sea of information which can only be accessed by smartphone D Weapon users. That’s why clans always recruit people with smartphone D Weapons since they always come in handy.”

The people in the classroom stared enviously at Ye-Ji.

***

“Conjuration is the best! Understood?”

An overweight Asian man twirled a small pink magical girl wand with wings. Pink powder poured out from the wand and filled the classroom.

[Boosting Strength as per the effect of Pretty Power.]

[Raising morale as per the effect of Pretty Mind.]

“Whoa!”

“I’m brimming with power!”

The people in the classroom shouted as they read the Akasha Messages.

“Ahaha! Take a good look!” The man pointed at the blackboard with his wand, satisfied with the reactions. The words tank, attacker, and support were written on the blackboard. “These are the three gross classifications of positions. Tanks are mainly enhancers, transformers, or conjurers. Any category can be an attacker, and supports are almost always manipulators or conjurers. Which category is in all three positions?”

“Conjurers!”

“Whoa!”

“That’s right, conjurers! You have all been chosen. Allow me to be fully transparent. Conjurers are the best! They can be magical defense tanks, deal melee and ranged damage, and shine as supports! Manipulators are squeezed in since some can bind enemies, but most support positions are conjurers. They can heal, bind, buff, debuff, you name it!”

The Asian man explaining conjuration was an extreme magic fanatic. Also, no one disliked being called special.

“Yeah, healers are treated like kings in games, right? Alright, I’m establishing a healing ability rule!”

“Conjurers are the best!”

Everyone was filled to the brim with energy because of Pretty Mind, Seong-Tae included.

He shouted, “I knew I was special! I’m premium!”

***

The slender black man, Jaza Garlin, stood in front of a blackboard and said, “Health, Strength, Dexterity, Sense, and Magic. The ranks of these five stats determine what rank of human you are. If all your stats are F-rank, you are a Penta-F human. If you raise one of those stats to E-rank, it makes you a Single-E human. You should always keep these ranks in mind when forming a party.”

Jun asked, “We learned that the other races have unique powers called secondary force. Does that mean their rank can go up to Hexa?”

“Correct.”

“Then what about humans? We have D Weapons, so can’t we also include the D Weapon rank and incorporate the Hexa into our ranking?”

“I heard it had been discussed in the past. Some humans argued that being the only Penta race would make us feel inferior to the other Hexa races. That’s why they suggested they include the D Weapon rank, but the idea was rejected because of overwhelming opposition.”

“They opposed?”

“Yes. Many establish rules for their D Weapons, but just as many give up on them and take a different path. Hence, those who invested stats into their D Weapons would have a higher rank than those who didn’t. It’s a matter of fairness.”

“Ranks, huh?” Jun mumbled.

A ranking system existed for each race, from 1 to 1,110. The top ten were High Rankers, the hundred under them were Rankers, and the thousand under them were Semi Rankers. They were practically the elites of each race.

We were taught that the number of clansmen in the ranking reflects the clan’s status.

Hence, there would naturally be opposition if one’s D Weapon rank affected their overall rank.

“I see,” Jun replied and nodded.

Jun had gathered everyone’s attention in the room.

That’s Jun for you. He has an aura that draws people to him, Ho-Geun thought as he smiled satisfyingly.

Although they had only spent three days in Edu, Jun was already the center of attention in the enhancement class because he was the only one who perfectly understood Jaza’s explanations and asked profound questions. Because of that, those with useful D Weapons often approached Jun to ask questions.

At this rate, we could make a clan of our own.

Ho-Geun was certain Jun could do it.

***

Mnemonic devices have been used since ancient Rome or Greece to enhance information recall. They had many names, such as the method of Ioci or the journey method, but it was most famously called the memory palace, a technique used to imagine a fabricated space and place an individual one wanted to remember in that space.

Seong-Hwi emulated the memory palace and created a fabricated location for his unique skill, Borrowing Destiny. It was like a procedure for borrowing a figure’s destiny, like going to a library to borrow books. The memory palace took the form of the destined location he could never forget.

Chilly air blew, and snow fell from the sky. The ground was covered in perfectly smooth snow without even a single footprint. It was just before daybreak, and each snowflake was filled with anxiety about the imminent warmth of the sun.

Seong-Hwi stood before the building in silence. It was where he was abandoned as well as where he had started anew. It was where he had endlessly waited, as well as where he had given up on waiting.

The Calasanz Home for Children looked more like a small church than a children’s home. Seong-Hwi approached the building and stood before the wooden arched door. He used to think it was as massive as a castle gate when he was little, but now he could see it wasn’t even two meters tall.

A golden light flashed, and Seong-Hwi’s D Weapon, Tarot Deck of Destiny, appeared. The deck was automatically shuffled, and three cards he wished for were pulled out: No.0 The Fool, Ace of Wands, and Page of Wands.

No.0 The Fool was a Major Card, showing a young man with a laurel wreath on his head, basking in the sunlight with a smile while standing at the edge of a cliff.

Ace of Wands was an Element Card, showing a white hand sprouting from a black cloud, holding a flaming red wand.

Page of Wands was a Court Card he had yet to use. It showed a boy wearing mud-colored clothes and holding a red wand.

The prerequisite for Borrowing Destiny was that there had to be at least one Major Card, Element Card, and Court Card each to borrow a figure’s destiny. Hence, it usually needed three times the mana and Destiny Force to use than Symbol Embodiment. But of course, it was more than worth the cost. Just like how a story could only be complete with the combination of an introduction, body, and conclusion, it was the same for Borrowing Destiny.

[Activating Unique Skill: Borrowing Destiny.]

[Three-card Destiny.]

[Spread cards: No.0 The Fool, Ace of Wands, Page of Wands]

[Destiny reading: A naive fool starting anew.]

The Major Card was the subject since the figure’s main destiny was that of a fool. The Element Card was the verb since the Ace of Wands described the figure’s desire to start anew. The Court Card was the adjective since the Page of Wands symbolized naivety.

Seong-Hwi thought about the figure befitting this destiny.

[William theFoolish Gambler]

The three cards melted into the wooden door of the children’s home, and it slowly opened.