Go Hyeon-woo nodded slowly.
“You’ve made a difficult decision. If you don’t mind, may I ask why?”
“......You asked before, what I wanted to do if I beca the Ruby Magic Tower Master.”
“I do rember that.”
“I kept trying to co up with an answer.”
Not just with Go Hyeon-woo—she’d been chewing on it ever since Kim Ho asked her the question during sumr break.
A lot of ti had passed, so by now sothing should’ve co out.
But—
“Nothing ca to mind. In the end, that was the answer.”
Hong Yeon-hwa stared into the distance for a few seconds, then continued.
“......From the start, I didn’t have anything I wanted to do. Becoming the Ruby Magic Tower Master was the end.”
“Couldn’t another reason appear soday?”
“Maybe. But I don’t know if that’s what matters.”
If it really mattered, wouldn’t it have co to her a long ti ago?
Any reason she tacked on later would, nine tis out of ten, just be sothing to make it look right.
“Once I thought it through to here...... it started to feel kind of pointless.”
For a first-year like Hong Yeon-hwa, Ruby Magic Tower Master was still a far, far-off dream.
But the mont she started thinking of it as basically the final stop, it didn’t look as grand as it used to.
Go Hyeon-woo nodded like he understood.
“I see. So that’s why the other side of the scale gained more weight.”
“Yeah.”
As the weight of “becoming the Ruby Magic Tower Master” shrank in Hong Yeon-hwa’s heart, what sat on the other side grew heavier.
“Achieving world peace with Kim Ho.”
And after that, “following Kim Ho around and taking it easy while traveling” was already scheduled.
Go Hyeon-woo’s eyes sharpened.
“Then I want to ask, Hong Yeon-hwa—how much do you trust Kim Ho? ‘World peace’ isn’t a normal goal. Do you truly believe it can be done?”
If she bet on Kim Ho and failed?
She might end up regretting it, thinking she should’ve chosen Ruby Magic Tower Master instead.
Hong Yeon-hwa asked back.
“Do you rember our midterms? The last one.”
“Of course I rember.”
Even now, that mory was vivid.
Dragon-turtle soldiers layered around them from every direction, and orcs with them.
That alone was despair—but then the Wild General Dragon personally appeared there, too.
But what Hong Yeon-hwa had been watching back then wasn’t the dragon-turtle soldiers or the Wild General Dragon.
It was Kim Ho’s back.
“It was clearly a losing fight, but it didn’t feel like we’d lose. And I was sure that next ti, we really would win.”
“You weren’t the only one who felt that.”
“Yeah. So I decided.”
She’d entrust her future and follow.
Then Hong Yeon-hwa flicked her eyes toward the pond.
“And...... if I’m going to do it anyway, doing it sooner...... is better, right?”
“That’s also true.”
Go Hyeon-woo looked toward Dang Gyu-young and Seo Ye-in with a faintly envious gaze.
Those two had given Kim Ho their trust first and ford a [Bond], and they were getting paid back in full.
By sharing a completely broken trait: Ten-Thousand-Poison Immunity.
From now on, poison would never be a worry again—and beyond that, it would even be possible to use poison for growth.
And Ten-Thousand-Poison Immunity was only the beginning.
As their bonding slots increased, the traits they could share would increase as well.
“Kim Ho has always returned more than the trust we gave him. You chose well.”
“Thanks. For helping .”
“You also need to resolve your school’s affairs soon...... I’m worried I might end up being the last one.”
That doesn’t seem likely.......
A few [Bond] candidates flashed through Hong Yeon-hwa’s mind.
But she wasn’t sure, so she didn’t say it out loud.
“.......”
“.......”
The conversation broke, and a stretch of silence settled in.
Then Go Hyeon-woo opened his mouth again to say sothing, but the alarm magic detected sothing and let out a sharp sound.
The two of them started to head that way right away, but—
KWA-BOOOOM—!
The next mont, a pillar of light shot up with an explosion.
Go Hyeon-woo realized what had happened and said,
“Looks like Seo Ye-in’s trap.”
“Soone stepped on that.”
Sothing approaching had triggered Seo Ye-in’s [Capricious Trap].
It must’ve killed it in one shot, because silence returned to the tropical rainforest, and Go Hyeon-woo and Hong Yeon-hwa didn’t have to move.
But not long after, the alarm magic activated again.
KIIING—
This ti, sowhere else.
Hong Yeon-hwa took the lead as she walked and said,
“It’s starting to get busy.”
“It is.”
Just like Kim Ho had said, monsters were increasingly hovering near the pond.
aning the difficulty was rising.
What ca into their view was a massive centipede.
Its body was thick enough, but the dozens—hundreds—of legs writhing all at once was, visually, seriously unpleasant.
You’d think she’d recoil, but Hong Yeon-hwa only kept a flat expression as she chanted magic.
FWOOSH!
A giant centipede wreathed in flas, spewing poisonous fluid in every direction.
Making sure not even a single drop touched him, Go Hyeon-woo stepped in carefully, closing the distance with asured footwork.
The longer it drags out, the worse it gets.
If poison seized the space, eventually there wouldn’t even be a place to step.
The best plan was to end it in one blow.
WHIIING—
Wind wrapped around Go Hyeon-woo’s blade, compressing into a razor edge.
Sliding as he stepped, he circled the thing’s periter—then the instant he caught an opening, he thrust a lightning-fast slash.
SHHK—!
The giant centipede’s body split vertically.
Even then, it kept twitching its legs for a long ti before it finally went limp.
As Go Hyeon-woo drew back his sword and glanced over his shoulder, Hong Yeon-hwa still had an indifferent face.
Hong Yeon-hwa’s composure is no joke.
Thinking back, he’d hardly ever seen her frightened or flustered.
And a thought suddenly occurred to Go Hyeon-woo.
Maybe one of Hong Yeon-hwa’s few exceptions... was Kim Ho.
*****
Another six hours passed.
When I opened my eyes, the poison energy was draining from the pond.
So I was about to swap out, but for so reason, Hong Yeon-hwa didn’t go straight into cultivation—she hovered near instead.
After hesitating and fumbling, she finally spoke.
“Um...... hey.......”
“You got sothing to say.”
“Yeah.......”
“Want to talk sowhere else?”
“No, it’s fine. Here is.......”
From her expression, it looked pretty important. And still, she was saying it openly—aning it involved everyone in the party.
So we listened to Hong Yeon-hwa for a while.
Then I asked.
“A [Bond]?”
“Yeah...... when a slot opens up......?”
She said it was a decision she’d made after thinking it through properly.
The reason was understandable enough.
So I nodded.
“Okay. When a slot opens, I’ll tell you. If you haven’t changed your mind then, we’ll do it.”
“Yeah. Got it.”
Hong Yeon-hwa looked a little excited.
Go Hyeon-woo wore a satisfied smile, and Dang Gyu-young didn’t ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) look opposed either.
Only one person hadn’t heard any of this.
Everyone’s eyes turned toward the human sloth.
“You’re sleeping real well.”
“To think you can sleep for more than half a day—remarkable.”
“Half a day is nothing.”
If nobody woke her, she’d probably sleep all three days.
And she probably planned to.
Watching her keep on sleeping like that made a petty itch rise in for no reason.
So I grabbed the portable mattress and started slowly pushing it toward the pond.
Dang Gyu-young lifted their brows and tried to stop .
“Hey, hey—what are you doing?”
“Aren’t you curious?”
“About what?”
“Whether this floats.”
“......Honestly, I am curious.”
Dang Gyu-young backed away a step.
When I looked at Go Hyeon-woo and Hong Yeon-hwa, they’d both switched into spectator mode too.
“Then I will resu the experint.”
I kept pushing the portable mattress toward the pond, and soon the feeling of friction against the ground disappeared, replaced by a faint sense of buoyancy.
Then the mattress bobbed up and floated on the water’s surface.
“It really floats.”
“......Heh.”
From this point on, Hong Yeon-hwa’s face started twitching little by little.
She clenched her teeth, fighting laughter.
Seo Ye-in, anwhile, was still in a deep sleep.
Still not waking up? Thinking that, I used Wind Force.
WHIIING—
The portable mattress drifted farther and farther from the shore, until it finally reached the very center of the pond.
Only then did Seo Ye-in push herself up.
She looked around with sleepy eyes—only to find water in every direction.
“......?”
“......Khh!”
Hong Yeon-hwa finally failed to hold it in.
She turned away, shoulders shaking.
Go Hyeon-woo and Dang Gyu-young also had suppressed laughter sitting at the corners of their mouths.
After looking between the party mbers, Seo Ye-in asked .
“You.”
“Yeah. I did it.”
“Put it back.”
“What if I don’t want to?”
“Put it back.”
“Do it yourself.”
So Seo Ye-in pulled out the Immortal Pot and started rowing with it like an oar.
The portable mattress raft slowly rotated, but it also inched toward us.
But I wasn’t about to just watch that happen.
Right as Seo Ye-in reached the shore, I used Wind Force.
WHIIING—
The portable mattress got carried right back out to the center of the pond.
“I put it back~”
“You’re seriously vile.”
Dang Gyu-young smacked my upper arm—smack, smack.
Seo Ye-in stared at without blinking.
Then she slowly lifted the pot and spoke.
“......Last chance.”
“Last chance for what?”
“I spare you.”
“You think I’m going to fold to threats like that?”
“......Put it back.”
I wanted to do more than put it back—I wanted to dunk her entirely.
But if she hadn’t brought that along, I’d have to deal with the aftermath, so it wasn’t a great choice.
And pranks stop being fun when you push them too far.
So I decided to cut it here, and pulled the portable mattress back with Wind Force.
WHIIING-
The mont it landed, Seo Ye-in approached slowly.
In sync, the pot rose slowly too.
With a bright smile, I asked,
“You said you’d spare , right?”
“......I promised.”
Then she lightly tapped the pot against my head.
DING,
“No pranks.”
“You kept sleeping the whole ti. We talked about sothing important.”
“What?”
I pointed at Hong Yeon-hwa and answered.
“She says she’s doing a [Bond] too.”
“......Third.”
“Probably.”
Then Dang Gyu-young put on a mischievous smile and greeted Seo Ye-in.
“Hi, Number Two?”
“......!”
Her gray pupils widened a little.
Then Seo Ye-in tugged on my sleeve, pleading.
“Swap it.”
“I can’t swap this either.”
“I’ll be Number One.”
“Do your mana cultivation.”
*****
Just like we’d been doing, we repeated watch duty and mana cultivation, swapping every six hours.
And around the ti we were entering our third day in the dungeon—
FLAASH—
A halo of light began gathering around Seo Ye-in, who had been sleeping soundly.
Her entire body started taking on a stronger and stronger glow, until it beca so bright you could hardly see anything.
Then, one last burst of light exploded—
FLAASH—!
And the area returned to normal as if nothing had happened.
Seo Ye-in blinked awake and pushed herself up.
I asked to confirm.
“Did you go up?”
“......A-rank.”
Seo Ye-in slowly raised a hand and made a V sign.
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