My Disciples Grind, I Get 100x Their Progress

”Stop right there, human! Kneel, and I, Kaggal, will forgive you!”

Grusk, an alien humanoid about the same height as an ordinary human, with pale grey skin and sharp, wide ears, they had arms far longer than an average human.

”Kakaka, she’s hurt, Kaggal! She’ll wear herself out if we just keep chasing her like this!”

”Kuakaka!!”

There were four of them, each wearing a suit of armor made from some unusual material, and carrying an axe fashioned from bone.

Around their necks hung a string of rotted fingers, their signature mark, turning the fingers of captured prey into trophies.

Running ahead of them was a girl, badly wounded. Her thigh was slick with fresh blood, yet her pace had only slowed a little. Adrenaline sharpened her survival instinct, showing in the blue of her sharp, narrowed eyes.

Her hair, black with streaks of blue beneath, looked dull in places, coated in dust.

”Ugh... What’s wrong with these Grusk? They’re so damn stubborn,” Kina muttered. If she weren’t in such critical condition right now, she wouldn’t be running from Grusk at all. ’This is all because of them... Traitors. I’ll make them pay for this once I’m through!’

Kina ran past a long-abandoned building. She was, after all, in a wasteland claimed by the Invaders, a place crawling with aliens like the Grusk. Fortunately, none of them were truly dangerous, but that alone was enough to kill her if she let her guard down.

’I need to find something, anything, a sword would be better.’

First of all, she didn’t have enough mana to fight. She could probably handle one Grusk at most, but with four of them, fighting back would put her life at real risk. Still, if she had a weapon, it wouldn’t be entirely impossible.

’I need to separate the—’

Kina froze, her body jolting as she felt something move fast behind her. The instant she glanced back, she saw one of the Grusk hurl its weapon straight at her.

Whoosh!

On reflex, Kina dodged, but her injured body slowed her down just enough. The axe grazed her side, tearing through her dust-covered clothes.

Slash!

Fresh red blood welled up and spilled out.

”Ugh...!” Kina bit down on her lip, her foot catching on something. She fell and rolled several paces across the ground.

Thud!

But she scrambled back up and kept running.

”Kakaka!! You see that?! Got her! Kuakakaa!!”

”Keke! Let me try!”

One small mistake and she would truly die. Her breath came in ragged gasps, her vision blurring at the edges, as she ran through a dark corridor where pools of long-dried, dark blood stained the floor.

The Grusk hurled its axe again, but this time it missed as Kina began paying closer attention to them. Her lips pressed shut against the dizziness sweeping over her.

She rounded a corner, and there she jolted to a stop, finding someone standing perfectly still. A man in a spotless black suit, pristine white gloves, and an upright posture that betrayed no reaction at all.

The man stood there, surrounded by scattered Grusk corpses. Fresh green blood seeped across the floor, chunks of flesh lay strewn everywhere, and in his hand was a small knife, coated pale green with blood.

The sight made Kina stop short, forcing herself to a halt and putting a few steps of distance between them. Her face darkened, her whole body going rigid with fear.

’A-another Invader?’

Behind her, the Grusk had caught up, laughing uproariously at the sight of Kina stopped in her tracks. But the moment they spotted the man, they too came to a halt, about seven paces from Kina.

”Who’s he, Kek!?”

”Keke, another human?”

The man, upon noticing them, stayed silent for several seconds. Leaving the air around them thick with awkwardness and quiet, he turned, his expression calm and utterly unreadable.

Then his gaze met Kina’s.

’A... a human?’ Kina felt her heart pound violently. She also realized at once that this man had killed Invaders, which meant he wasn’t an Invader himself.

That gave her a flicker of hope, hope that she might actually be able to ask for help.

”Sir...? Could I ask for your help...! I’ll pay you whatever price you name!”

Kina didn’t let the chance slip by. What if he turned out to be dangerous?

It didn’t matter. If she didn’t gamble here, she was going to die to those Grusk anyway. So she chose to bet everything on this.

The man studied her in silence, as though weighing her worth. His dark eyes looked empty and cold, his messy black hair stirring faintly in the wild wind gusting through the window.

For a moment, the silence made Kina feel awkward all over again.

”Kukuk, are they trying to team up?”

”That human killed our brothers! He must be dangerous! We need to be careful, kekekek.”

The man’s eyes closed briefly, a smile forming on his face. His gaze flicked toward the Grusk for a moment, a faint frown creasing his brow, but he quickly turned back to Kina and said:

”I’ll save you... if you’re willing to become my disciple.”

’What!?’ Kina’s mouth fell open, clearly stunned by the sudden proposal.

Become his disciple? Her?

Kina herself came from one of the great families! How could she possibly become the disciple of someone whose identity she didn’t even know?

’No, think, Kina! I can just pretend to be his disciple for now, then later I’ll simply pay him for his help and leave!’

Kina steadied herself, but before she could say anything, the man spoke first:

”If you show no sign of loyalty, I won’t help you.”

His voice was cold, echoing through the empty corridor like a final verdict. Kina felt her heart hammering, her lips pressed tight, and the hesitation cost her time until finally...

”They’re arguing, keke!”

”They’re not friends!”

”Human! You can go! But hand the female over to us! Kuakakakaa!”

Kina’s expression crumbled. Facing death was, of course, a truly terrifying thing. She wasn’t sure she could run anymore, her heartbeat climbing faster and faster, and as cold sweat slid down her face and dripped to the floor, her knees gave out.

Thud!

”Fine! Alright, I’ll be your disciple! I swear to become your disciple, master!”

The man went quiet for a moment, his gaze fixed on something unseen. Then, in an instant, he nodded.

***

Almost half an hour earlier.

”Wait! What is this?! Why am I here!?”

Julian looked around in bewilderment. Hadn’t he just been resting, preparing himself before the start of his shoot?

He scanned his surroundings. He was in a room that looked utterly wrecked, its windows shattered and streaked with long-abandoned black stains, the room dark with no bulbs left, a mix of rot and dust hanging heavy in the air.

Julian’s brow furrowed, and he pinched his nose, clearly uncomfortable.

”This doesn’t make any sense... Whoever’s messing with me like this, God... this looks ancient, I just want to work and live in peace, please!”

He rose from where he stood, trying to piece together where he was, when suddenly something flickered in the air. A transparent green screen blinked in the silence, startling Julian and making him keep his distance.

Dip! Dip! Dip!

The sound of that ’Dip’ cut through the stillness, echoing in the silence.

’What is this?’

His heart pounded. Then, all at once, the pale green light widened into a long, transparent rectangle stretching sideways. Revealing a transparent green screen filled with information that left Julian frozen in place.

[STATUS]

Name: [Julian Clair]

Rank: F — [00.0%]

Talent: [Unbroken Mask] — [SSS-Grade]

Skills:

• [Unshaken Facade]

Unique Authority: MASTER

Disciple Slots: [0/5]

’My name? Why is it up there?’

He questioned everything else. Terms that were hard to make sense of, yet familiar enough, since Julian wasn’t exactly a stranger to RPG-style games.

Julian chose to keep his distance. He didn’t want to risk moving closer too suddenly, so he simply stood still for nearly a minute. But the transparent green screen just stayed there, unmoving.

After a moment of hesitation, Julian took a few steps closer. He raised his hand, touching the transparent green screen, and it passed straight through.

”...!”

Nothing happened.

”Safe for now, then?” Julian let out a breath of relief, he’d genuinely been scared enough to feel like he could drop dead on the spot.

His gaze drifted back to his surroundings, and it dawned on him that he might really have been left somewhere he knew absolutely nothing about.

Not just left behind, but wasn’t this exactly the kind of story that had been trending lately?

Julian was familiar with the whole ”transported to another world” concept. As an actor, he sometimes found himself playing a character caught up in scripts just like this.

If that explanation actually fit his current situation...

His stomach turned, and he felt like he might throw up right then and there, his face going pale and dark at once.

”This... isn’t horror, right? I really hate horror.”

Cold sweat crept over his entire body, he glanced around and forced himself to calm down. Right, he needed to stay calm.

His gaze returned to the transparent screen.

”...So, this is what they call a system, then.”

Julian pinched his chin, ”What can it even do? Wait, before that, what genre is this world? Fantasy? Sci-fi maybe? Anything but horror, please!”

He kept his voice low, staying hidden felt like basic common sense for survival right now.

Meanwhile, the system registered his words as a command. A new transparent green screen suddenly appeared before Julian.

[TALENT INFORMATION]

Name: Unbroken Mask

Grade: [SSS]

Description:

A talent that grants its user an expression of unshakable composure, one that never falters. Its effect causes every negative expression and emotion the user experiences to display as the opposite instead.

Evolution: Impossible

[MASTER AUTHORITY]

The user may take on a disciple to guide under them. In return, all progress made by the user’s disciple will be returned to the user, multiplied one hundred times over.

Note: the chosen disciple must submit with full obedience. The return does not involve physical items, only progress made by the disciple. The user also cannot receive their Talent, but can receive any Skill they learn.

”...?”

’What? What does that even mean? A disciple? I need a disciple? What for? What kind of world is this supposed to be?’

Julian felt his head spin from the sudden flood of information. He pressed a hand to the wall and pursed his lips.

’This is so damn annoying.’

Just then, he suddenly heard shouting and loud, crashing thuds from outside.

Crash! Bang!

Julian flinched, pressing his lips shut tight, then his gaze landed on a long row of lockers, and he immediately ducked inside to hide.

A strong stench of mustiness and decay hit him full force. Old, long-abandoned spiderwebs clung everywhere, genuinely nauseating, but if that was what it took to survive, Julian wasn’t going to hesitate for a second.

He stayed frozen, the sound of screaming outside genuinely sounded like pure terror. He heard the sound of blades slicing through something, something wet spraying out, and after a few minutes, it all simply went silent.

Julian stayed still. Whatever it was, it never came into the room he was hiding in. Sweat beaded across his face as he finally let out the breath he’d been holding.

The inside of the locker was unbearably hot. So by the time he stepped out, his whole body was drenched in cold sweat. He wiped it away for a moment.

His mind drifted back to the crashing sounds that kept happening outside. Julian shuddered.

’Whatever’s out there... I really need to get out of here.’

His face darkened as he realized what he had to do. He hesitated for a moment, then waited a few more minutes just to be sure.

Once he confirmed there was no sound left out there at all, he finally stepped outside.