The moment I stepped into my room, exhaustion crashed over me like a wave.
I barely managed to strip down before stumbling into the shower. Hot water fell over my head and back while my thoughts ran laps.
Training was getting brutal.
The original Dreyden hadn't exactly been an athlete. At least not at the level I was forcing this body to operate now.
Once I was done, I dried off and fell onto the bed, staring at the ceiling.
There was still some time before the next class.
Perfect.
Time to test my new skill.
The biggest concern wasn't what it could do.
It was the side effects.
In the novel, it was said that people with Super Intelligence had IQs so high they couldn't be measured properly. The lowest rough estimate ever mentioned was 220.
That was the minimum.
"Ability," I murmured.
A familiar interface unfolded in front of me.
[Absolute Intelligence: Super Intelligence {9}]
A direct offshoot of the Original skill Absolute Intelligence. Possessors of this ability are abnormally more intelligent than others of their species, with reasoning capacity far beyond the natural level. They can surpass experts who have spent years studying and training.
Warning: May extract harmful amounts of energy/calories/nutrient reserves from the body, causing various physical problems.
"Haaaa…"
Short description. A lot of missing warnings.
Like the difficulty users have interacting with "normal" people whose minds can't keep up.
Or the sudden god complex many users develop.
Members of the Star family had died because of that exact syndrome—convinced they were superior beings just because they were smarter.
(Author's Note in my head: yes, Super Intelligence is above enhanced intelligence or peak human. Remember that.)
I waved my hand, letting the screen fade, then dragged myself out of bed and headed for class.
What better place to test an intelligence-based skill than during a lecture?
Exactly.
No better place.
Class started a bit late.
Professor Leon had been wrestling with the point-testing machine the Triangle used for evaluating students monthly. By the time he gave up on whatever error it had and turned back to us, he looked strangely energized.
"Today," he said, "we're going to talk about magical energy noons. These are tiny particles only visible to people with special eye-related abilities—and they're the main reason for the huge discrepancies between certain abilities."
Most students were actually paying attention today.
Including me.
Normally, I would be circulating my magic control.
Today, I quietly activated my new skill instead.
Professor Leon's magical theory class had always been the one I struggled the most with. Which was exactly why he liked to call on me.
Annoying man.
"Magical energy noons," he continued, "are responsible for the materialization of metaphysical energy. By transforming and combining noons in varying quantities, you create what researchers call new energy."
As he spoke, a faint headache started pulsing behind my eyes.
It wasn't sharp.
More like a pressure.
But my perception of the world began to change.
Everything looked… simpler.
Cleaner.
"New energy is your magical energy transformed into pure, clean power," Leon said. "No noons, no pollution. But this new energy is different and mysterious—it requires what we call the Language of Gaia to manipulate."
He stretched out his hand.
Tiny glowing dots appeared in the air around his fingers.
I suddenly felt an urge to activate Eyes of Truth.
My body moved almost automatically.
The skill flared to life.
Noons.
Patterns.
Flows.
Numbers.
The dots gathered together, forming a thin, glowing thread.
Unlike normal magical energy, which appeared blue to my vision, this new thread was pure white—straight, rigid, floating above the professor's hand.
No matter how the natural magic around it shifted, the thread didn't move.
"The issue," Leon continued, "is that thanks to our new partnership with the Green Alliance, the goblin tribe has revealed a single word of Gaia's language. Just one. That's all we have."
He lowered his hand, letting the surrounding blue energy fade.
But the white thread remained, suspended in midair.
I clenched my hands on my knees hard enough to hurt.
I didn't care.
This branch of theory was completely new to me. I'd always struggled with magic equations, and now my brain was tearing them apart effortlessly.
Lines of logic, proportions of noons, transformation ratios—everything snapped into place, one after another.
But that wasn't the problem.
The problem was that Super Intelligence wasn't satisfied.
It was screaming at me to keep going.
It wasn't content with my new understanding of the "new energy."
It wanted to explain why the noons formed the way they did.
It wanted to solve them.
'Shit…'
I couldn't keep up with my own thoughts.
My brain was racing, digging up math, physics, chemistry, and random school memories from my old world. Every discipline fed into one another, crunching into a single, spiraling obsession:
Explain the noons. Explain the energy. Explain the gap.
The curiosity I usually had toward magic?
Super Intelligence grabbed it and amplified it into something closer to madness.
Like when Alice first started dabbling in artificial intelligence in the novel—Super Intelligence had pushed her so far she spent days half-deranged, just thinking.
"As you can see," Leon said, gesturing at the thin white strand in the air, "this new energy seems unaffected by the material world—except by sound waves."
His gaze swept the room casually.
Then it stopped on me.
"Dreyden," he said slowly, "are you alright?"
Every head turned toward me.
"Aaaargh—!"
The pain spiked.
It felt like my brain was on fire.
I lurched to my feet as the room tilted.
Memories from my old life—my previous world, my past relationships, my time as a reader—flashed through my mind.
And over it all came the same questions, over and over again:
Why am I here?
Who is doing this to me?
I was afraid.
Super Intelligence didn't have a will of its own, but it magnified the unknown. It forced the user to stare into things they couldn't yet understand.
My vision pulsed black around the edges.
"Shit…!"
The burning intensified—
Then everything went dark.
Darkness again.
But this time, something moved inside it.
An interface glowed red in the void.
[Danger!]
[User does not meet the requirements to activate 'Super Intelligence'.]
[User is violating Rule 6.32 of Gaia's System.]
[A judgment will be held regarding Boundary Break Case #2.]
[Trial in progress…]
This was new.
My senses flickered on and off. I still couldn't move, but the messages kept appearing.
[Warning!]
[An anomaly has been detected.]
[Skill 'Celestial Library' does not operate under Gaia's jurisdiction.]
[Trial has been halted.]
The darkness faded.
I opened my eyes.
White ceiling. Neutral lighting.
I recognized the place.
The infirmary.
My head still throbbed, a stabbing pulse whenever I tried to move too much.
"Stupid skill," I muttered.
Even speaking hurt.
I circulated my magic energy gently and pulled up my status without saying the command aloud.
STATUS
[Name]: Dreyden Stella
[Race]: Human
[Strength]: 19
[Toughness]: 23
[Agility]: 22
[Intelligence]: 30
[Perception]: 30
[Magic Energy]: 483
Skills
[Celestial Library {0}]
A great library that stores books.
Stored:
Eyes of Truth {1}
Fire Fists {7}
Action and Reaction {0}
Super Intelligence {Sealed}
New Version: Improved Intelligence {7}
"…Huh."
That was new.
Even though I created the concept of Celestial Library, it was still mostly an unknown. I'd only built it at a surface level. What abilities it could unlock, what its limits and rules were—all of that had been vague, even to me.
Now, something had changed.
I circulated my magic energy again, this time focusing specifically on the new entry.
A window popped up.
[Improved Intelligence {7}]
Enhanced Intelligence is the ability to possess a level of intellect above the norm for your species. It is a lesser form of Super Intelligence.
The user possesses higher-than-average intellectual capacity, with improved reasoning speed and learning ability while remaining within natural limits.
"…So that's it."
It looked like Super Intelligence had been forcibly sealed.
And in its place, something more manageable had formed.
I didn't know if this was a function of Celestial Library…
Or a defense mechanism of Super Intelligence itself.
More questions without answers.
"Great," I sighed.
The curtain around my bed was suddenly yanked open.
"You're awake!"
Maya's red eyes widened as she leaned in.
She stared at me for a few seconds—then pulled me into a tight hug.
"Do you know how scared you made me?" she demanded, voice trembling. "What happened to you?"
She pulled back slightly, expression turning serious.
If this were before, I might have told her everything.
But now… something held me back.
Like a voice warning me that some things shouldn't be shared yet. That certain truths needed to stay buried for a while.
"I just had a bad headache," I said with a small smile. "Sorry for worrying you."
Maya searched my face for a long moment before nodding reluctantly. She wiped at the corners of her eyes.
Guilt twisted in my chest.
I knew I was being naïve about how I treated her. I wanted to trust someone—really trust them—and share the weight of everything I was planning.
For a lot of reasons, I felt Maya would make a good partner.
I didn't want to hide things from her.
But there were parts I couldn't touch. Not yet.
I couldn't tell her this world came from a novel. That I'd read her story before living it.
"Maya," I said quietly. "I trust you."
Her eyes softened. She smiled.
"Me too," she replied.
"No. I mean it," I said, tightening my grip around her hand. "In this entire world… you're the person I trust the most."
I wasn't exaggerating.
Surviving alone in this place was hard.
Knowing there was someone beside me—with the same goal, someone I could truly rely on—made a massive difference.
She blinked rapidly, then smiled wider.
"You're the only person I have right now," she said. "I feel the same way."
We held each other's gaze for a moment longer—
Then a new voice cut in.
"How cute," a woman said dryly. "But now isn't the time."
A hand grabbed Maya's wrist and gently pulled her back.
The school nurse stepped into full view—calm eyes, practiced smile, radiating that strange mix of strictness and warmth.
"Your friend is not well," she said. "Unless you'd like me to start distrusting his condition, please leave."
Maya glanced at me.
I nodded.
Reluctantly, she let go of my hand, gave me one last small wave, and followed the nurse's instructions.
Once she was gone, I lay back against the pillow.
With a healer like this—someone with a level 7 healing skill—I'd recover quickly.
In this world, that level of healing was underrated.
If I ever got the chance…
I'd definitely try to recruit her into Black Heavens.