Surviving Restructuring

Eun-Ho knew he had to become stronger. Over countless years, the director of the Personnel Bureau had risen so high that none could even look up to him.

To face and surpass that man, strength was non-negotiable. Hence why Eun-Ho chose the Weight of Trial.

“So it’s the Weight of Trial,” the assistant instructor muttered.

It was an unknown door where trials awaited.

“Do you think you can endure it?” the assistant instructor asked.

“I’ll find out,” Eun-Ho replied calmly.

This route, Intermediate Swordsmanship, Advanced Swordsmanship, then the Master course, was simply the most efficient way to raise his combat power within a single week. Though, walking it step by step offered no guarantee of victory against the director.

[A customized Advanced Swordsmanship classroom is being generated for you.]

However, if the system itself was tailoring the course to him, that changed everything. Even if the difficulty increased, compressed growth was worth any risk.

“How much time do you have left?” the assistant instructor asked.

Finishing within the remaining time was the real issue.

“I shortened it at the intermediate class,” Eun-Ho said.

“Well, you did clear an eight-hundred-hour course in two hours,” the assistant instructor replied. “And you even cut down your sleep.”

“That’s one way to put it.”

Now was the time to use that extra time he earned.

The assistant instructor nodded in agreement. “Rewards scale with the severity of the trial.”

What kind of trial is waiting for me? And what kind of reward will I get? Eun-Ho thought.

With tension and anticipation mingling in his chest, Eun-Ho grasped the handle and turned it.

Click.

He stepped forward with his right foot into a space that felt soft, almost gelatinous.

[You entered the Customized Advanced Swordsmanship classroom.]

When his left foot followed, the sound of boiling water reached his ears.

Bubububub—

“What?”

[Advanced Swordsmanship classroom - Undersea Abyss entered.]

[Please check the course objectives!]

What? Where am I?

Beyond the door lay a sheer cliff. There was no time to register the emptiness beneath his feet. Gravity seized him first, dragging him down into pitch-black darkness. He sank steadily.

“Acceler—ghrk!” he shouted, only for stinging water to rush into his nose and throat.

His eyes flew open in shock, burning as if infected. Still, he flailed his limbs like a drowning animal, kicking and clawing desperately.

Bububub—

Thanks to frantic kicks, he barely caught the cliff and pulled himself upward

[Caution!]

[Severe water pressure detected.]

[Continued compression may cause respiratory failure and tissue necrosis.]

[Osmotic pressure on the cornea may result in blindness.]

The system seemed determined to list every possible horror scenario. As he wondered what to do, another series of messages appeared.

[Emperor Cockroach’s Adaptability has been activated!]

[Primordial tenacity allows resistance to extreme water pressure.]

[Excessive water infiltration is blocked.]

Wow...

Pop—

It felt like his ears burst open. His eyes, which had been screwed shut in a painful grimace, finally opened properly. As his head cleared, the seabed came into focus.

[Defeat the Starfish Stalker!]

[Defeat the Devouring Coral!]

[Defeat the Abyssal Glowfish!]

...

The perilous underwater seemed so vividly colored and muffled, yet thunderously loud. A jungle lay drowned beneath the sea, its lightless depths as dark as the night sky.

Wait. The trial’s heavier than I expected, Eun-Ho thought.

The crushing pressure made him struggle to even move his limbs, yet he still had to train in swordsmanship. He exhaled and steadied himself. The classroom was not the worst possible environment, at least for the time being.Thanks to the Emperor Cockroach’s Adaptability, he could withstand the pressure.

“Course objectives,” Eun-Ho said. His voice was faint, but it carried.

[Displaying Advanced Swordsmanship course objectives.]

The problem lay there.

[Course Objectives(Lee Eun-Ho)]

1. Defeat winged enemies(0/100)

2. Defeat clinging enemies(0/50)

3. Defeat singing enemies(0/10)

The first objective was already absurd. Where was he supposed to find winged, singing enemies in the middle of the sea? For a brief moment, he wondered if he was supposed to escape the seabed and find enemies on land.

Splash!

Just then, a violent current crashed down from above. Far overhead, sunlight shimmered on the surface, but even that scant light vanished as something massive descended.

[Defeat the Giant Silver Flying Fish!]

There was a colossal flying fish, just returning from a dive.

Is that three meters long or five?

As long as a thick tree trunk, the fish was so massive he couldn’t wrap his arms around it. Its surface rippled like a bodybuilder’s muscles, still tense from exertion.

That must be it.

Eun-Ho knew instantly that the monstrous fish was his first target.

Whoosh!

The giant fish plunged downward. Its enormous eye, bigger than Eun-Ho’s head, gleaming ominously. The current born of its speed and mass battered Eun-Ho, shoving him aside. However, it was fine, as he could take them one at a time.

In the next moment, the light vanished.

What the hell?

Eun-Ho snapped his head up.

Whoosh—!

Whoooosh—!

A rain of descending bombs poured down from above.

[Defeat the Giant Silver Flying Fish!]

[Defeat the Giant Silver Flying Fish!]

[Defeat the Giant Silver Flying Fish!]

“Acceleration!” he shouted without looking back.

Eun-Ho swam hard, evading the school of flying fish as they plunged like nuclear bombs. He retreated just far enough to avoid their descent without losing sight of them.

Thuuuud—

A heavy impact rang out, clear even through the suffocating water. Something huge fell from the sea above.

Is that a boulder?

Was there such a thing as an underwater earthquake? Why would a pitch-black rock fall on his head? As he scanned his surroundings, something emerged from behind a cloud of debris that rolled in like a sandstorm.

[Defeat the Venomous Boulder Octopus!]

There was a gigantic octopus hiding among coral reefs. It spewed black ink while firing stone-like projectiles from its suckers, as if warning him to stay away.

An overwhelming pressure wrapped around Eun-Ho’s spine. It felt like facing a tank equipped with eight autonomous cannons while his own limbs were weighed down with sandbags.

2. Defeat clinging enemies(0/50)

“That counts as a clinging enemy, right?” Eun-Ho muttered as he repositioned himself, two of the octopus’s limbs slithering closer.

Instead of an answer, something else reached him. An unfamiliar vibration that pierced his eardrums. From far away, gentle waves rippled through the water, akin to the song of a spring. Delicate, teasing soundwaves reached him, faint yet persistent.

It’s singing.

Before he realized it, he began to move, his ears tingling.

—Come.

From the depths of a dark trench, far below where even sunlight could not reach, a glow appeared.

—Come this way...

A group of women sang in unison, calling out to him. Light shimmered around them like draped banners. Their hair shimmered in multicolored hues, their shapely figures only thinly veiled. Below the waist, their forms were clad in smooth scales.

—This way...

3. Defeat singing enemies(0/10)

The final target of this class was Mermaids. Eun-Ho exhaled slowly.

There are flying fish like rockets, an octopus, and mermaids all at once.

He hadn’t expected them to swarm him together. On second thought, he ought to be grateful. They had spared him the effort of looking.

Still, I’m going to need some help this time.

“Summon.”

He called upon allies unbound by terrain, unaffected by whether the battlefield was land or sea.

***

The nameless assistant instructor watched in silence.

[Consecutive challenge by a record holder detected.]

Across countless years, he had seen records broken more than once. However, a trainee who immediately challenged the next course after setting a record was a first.

[A customized Advanced Swordsmanship classroom is being generated for Lee Eun-Ho.]

Moreover, seeing the system open a personalized classroom for a single individual was also unprecedented.

“Hah,” the assistant instructor muttered.

The original Advanced Swordsmanship classroom had always been the seabed. However, trainees were never dropped in like Eun-Ho—barehanded, with nothing. Others were given portable air bubbles to breathe freely underwater, or fins to help them move more easily in all directions.

And the monsters weren’t like that, either.

The difficulty was extreme. Had it been anyone else, the assistant instructor would have been counting the seconds until they blacked out.

「One hour has passed since the start of the lecture!」

Instead, he was watching how Eun-Ho would overcome the trial, what bizarre method he would use this time, and what reward he would claim in the end.

The harder the trial, the greater the reward.

With concern and anticipation mingled in his gaze, he focused on the screen embedded in the wall. That was when familiar figures appeared.

「Captain!」

「We’ll take the lead!」

A squad of Skeletons he himself had trained rose to their feet, brushing white dust from their bones.

“That’s right.”

Skeletons had no lungs or organs to worry about. Of course they would function perfectly underwater. They had never obeyed the laws of nature to begin with.

「Remember. Octopus first. Then the flying fish.」

「Yes sir!」

Fwooom—

Dark-blue flames burst forth from Eun-Ho’s sword, steady and unyielding, like the blind loyalty burning in the Skeletons’ eyes. Up to that point, the assistant instructor understood and it all made sense.

However, he couldn’t understand what came next. Lee Eun-Ho drove his black sword deep into the seabed.

“What is he doing?!” the assistant instructor blurted out.

Enemies were flying everywhere. He could hardly afford to let go of his weapon, yet he had planted it into the ground. The confusion lingered for only a moment.

「Go!」

Hearing Eun-Ho’s shout, the Skeletons surged forward like bullets through the water. Five rushed toward the octopuses hiding among the rocks. The other five charged the flying fish gathering near the surface, preparing for another dive.

“At the same time?!” the assistant instructor exclaimed. “Is he trying to shorten the time?! No way! What is he thinking?!”

This was bad. Eun-Ho had definitely become intoxicated with record-breaking success. Otherwise, he wouldn’t forget that each of those creatures was larger than all of them combined. He was about to ruin everything just to gain one more skill!

Whoosh!

Whoooosh!

As the assistant instructor wavered between dread and faint hope, the Skeletons moved exactly as ordered. The five who had charged the octopuses returned first, dragging the monsters with them. Close behind came the flying fish, closing the distance like arrows.

Then at their destination, Eun-Ho stood waiting at the center of a surging tide of hundreds of sea creatures.

「Captain!」

「This way!」

“No way,” the instructor whispered.

Eun-Ho braced himself against the sword embedded deep in the ground, standing firm as the monsters rushed toward him.

“So that’s why he planted it. To keep from being swept away?” The assistant instructor’s thoughts tangled uselessly. “But why?!”

The answer came instantly.

「Now!」

Fwoooosh—!

At once, the Skeletons veered sharply aside, retreating at right angles. The monsters that couldn’t change course in time exploded into fragments.

“What in the world?”

The slick head of the rock octopus, just about to spew black ink, split into twelve pieces. Its eight limbs shattered joint by joint and rained downward. The flying fish behind them slammed headfirst into the invisible barrier. They had never realized what awaited them.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

Sharp heads, thick bellies, and paper-thin wings were sliced apart and scattered. Strips of red flesh hung in the water like laundry on a line.

Only then did the instructor see the glimmering threads. They were Sword Threads, woven densely into a web. It was the sharpest wall in existence.

Fwooosh—!

The screen blurred, splattered with red flesh, black ink, and blue blood. Beyond it, the assistant instructor slowly closed his gaping mouth.

[Course Objectives(Lee Eun-Ho)]

1. Defeat winged enemies(100/100)

2. Defeat clinging enemies(50/50)

3. Defeat singing enemies(0/10)

At this rate, he’ll break another record...