While the finals preparations were steadily coming together,
there was one more piece of good news.
PAAAAT—!
Seo Ye-in’s hand glowed blue.
A massive amount of mana gathered, compressed, and took the shape of a bullet.
‘An A-rank mana bullet.’
Back when she’d first enrolled and taken the placent exam, she’d basically just clumped mana together and fired it.
But she learned fast, kept growing like crazy, and now she was A-rank before we knew it.
At least when it ca to her [Core] and her mana bullets, she was on par with a third-year club president—or even a graduate.
Feeling proud, I said,
“Excellent work, Miss. With this, the finals are basically over.”
“Gonna take them out.”
Seo Ye-in clenched a fist and held it up.
Her gray eyes sparkled.
“Since we’re talking—have you decided what gear you’re taking?”
Because of the [Survival] rule, our Inventory would be sealed, and equipnt besides the school uniform was limited to two items.
Seo Ye-in imdiately lifted the immortal Kim Ho Kim Ho Pot.
“Treasure number one.”
“You’re picking a pot before a weapon?”
“Safety first.”
“Honestly, you’re not wrong. What’s the other one?”
“.......”
Seo Ye-in rummaged through her Inventory.
She pulled out mana rifles and lined them up.
“You still haven’t decided, huh?”
“......Help.”
I thought for a mont, then said,
“In that case, you should probably bring the assault rifle. It’s your main weapon.”
“Confird.”
“Then the key is how you set up the combination.”
Seo Ye-in’s hands moved over her usual assault rifle–grenade launcher.
I added one more line.
“This ti, how about taking sothing with longer range?”
“......Sniping?”
“Mortar isn’t possible?”
SHAKE SHAKE,
“That’s a sha. If we could bring it, it’d be useful in a lot of situations.”
“.......”
Seo Ye-in stared at for a while, then set the pot down and picked up a sniper rifle and a mortar.
“......These two.”
“You said safety first.”
“Sotis it’s fine.”
She ant she’d give up the pot—just this once—exactly the way I wanted.
Still, she looked like she was lingering on the decision, so I said,
“Let’s take all three.”
“How?”
“You take two weapons. I’ll carry the pot.”
“Genius......!”
An exclamation mark popped up over Seo Ye-in’s head.
But she asked in a slightly worried tone,
“Are you sure?”
“Sure. I’m fine as long as I have just my staff.”
I’d have to give up the Stormcloud [Puffy-Puffy] Bracelet, but with evasion and [Grafting Branches], the gap wouldn’t be that huge.
“Moved......!”
“Aren’t I your number-one butler?”
“Very much praise.”
Seo Ye-in reached out and ruffled my hair, scrub-scrub.
*****
Wednesday morning.
After finishing a light breakfast, we headed to the dungeon building right on ti.
A huge hall the size of an auditorium.
In the center, a large teleport portal was open, and flashes of the inside of the dungeon flickered into view.
On the floor, countless small magic circles were laid out, all resonating with the giant portal.
We each chose one, stepped onto it, and looked ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) around.
‘The atmosphere’s already vicious.’
Most of the students were clustered around their leader, and Groups A and C were subtly close, while Group B was off on its own.
They were already feeling the distance because of the nonaggression pact.
In Group B, so people were loudly talking trash.
Those dirty bastards.
They want to win that badly? Like grades are everything.
Their skill’s still the sa no matter what.
In response, Group A and C students openly snorted and mocked them right back.
If you’re mad, then what? What’re you gonna do?
Should’ve moved faster.
Early bird this, worms that~
The mood just kept getting uglier.
This finals might get nastier than expected.
anwhile, in the crowd, I spotted Jeong Jin-myeong.
Maybe they felt my gaze, because they looked this way too, and spoke with their eyes and the shape of their mouth.
Sorry.
‘They don’t have to keep apologizing.’
I knew it wasn’t sothing they’d done over personal feelings, so I didn’t really feel anything about it either.
More like, ‘They’re hitting , so I gotta hit back.’
Later, I’d hit harder, and I’d end up being the one who felt worse—sothing like that.
In the anti, the arguing got even more heated, until all you could hear was nonstop nasty language.
Then Lee Soo-dok took the mic and said one short line.
“Shut up.”
.......
.......
The hall went silent, like soone had dumped cold water over it.
Exaggeration aside, it was quiet enough you could’ve heard a pin drop.
Lee Soo-dok’s eyes flashed like he was daring soone to try him, then he spoke into the mic again.
“We’re starting soon. Get on the magic circles.”
Everyone followed the order and took their places on the circles.
A mont later, chanical tones and resonant hums started sounding from all directions.
WOOOOONG—!
The central portal and every magic circle grew brighter and brighter, and the screens placed around the hall began a countdown.
[5]
[4]
[3]
[2]
[1]
[Start!]
PAAAAAAT!
My vision turned completely white, then gradually faded.
The next instant, I was standing alone in the middle of a volcanic zone.
Everywhere I looked was dark gray.
The rough ground was packed with rocks, and the occasional trees or grass I could spot were mostly gaunt and withered.
In the distance, the volcano was spewing sothing pitch-black—smoke, ash, who knew.
‘First, I need to get to the base.’
et up with my group, link up with the party, get our exact position—then move.
Luckily, it didn’t look like I’d have to worry about getting lost.
An arrow had appeared at my feet, pointing the way like a compass.
As I started walking, I glanced at my left chest.
A ‘B.’ stuck there like a na tag.
The letter was big, and it flashed bright blue, like it wanted to be seen from far away.
‘Each group probably has a different color.’
As expected, not long after, I ran into a male student with a large ‘A’ on his chest, shining green.
The mont he saw , he lifted a hand and spoke.
“Wait.”
“.......”
“There’s nothing good that cos from fighting right now. Let’s just pass each other.”
“Fine.”
We hadn’t gotten any items or crystals yet, so even if I took him down, there wouldn’t be anything to drop.
And if I picked a pointless fight and ended up unable to fight, I’d have to wait outside for a long ti before re-entering.
So I was about to go on my way peacefully.
Then a female student holding an axe appeared over the ridge.
A yellow ‘C’ on her chest.
“.......”
“.......”
The two students exchanged a look, then stared at at the sa ti.
“......Let’s grab him.”
“Should we?”
He’d wanted to avoid a one-on-one, but now that it was two of them, he figured it’d be doable.
People really are that fickle.
THUD!
The axe girl kicked off the ground and charged.
The male student pulled out a wand and began casting.
The problem was, in the middle of that, our eyes t.
[Using ‘Octopus Arms’.]
[Using ‘Clear Mirror Calm Water’.]
[Target is inflicted with ‘Poisoned (C)’.]
[Target is inflicted with ‘Poisoned (C)’.......]
[Target is inflicted with ‘Weathering (C)’.......]
[Cooldown 01:39:57]
WHIIIIING—
CRACKLE—!
His whole body froze, and wind coiled around him.
He widened his eyes and opened his mouth—
“Wh—”
BOOM!
Before he could even finish, the compressed wind detonated.
‘That’s one down.’
He’d been blasted far away, so at least for a while, he wouldn’t be able to regroup.
Next, I turned my attention to the girl who was already right in front of .
I brought my staff up to et her swinging axe.
[Grafting Branches]
Then, while stuck tight to it, I slamd downward with all my strength—driving the axe deep into the ground, all the way to the handle.
“Th-this......!”
The girl clung to the grip, panicking.
She must’ve decided she couldn’t do anything like this, because she tried to abandon it and retreat—
but by then, the wind was already gathering into a swirling mass.
[Spiral Explosion]
BWOOM!
“......!”
Her focus went empty, and she dropped to her knees.
Then she vanished, swallowed by a halo of light.
▷Objective 1: Eliminate competitors(1/20 people)
‘They were really in that awkward middle tier.’
It didn’t feel like they even had 600 points.
Two of them jumped with that level of skill—this outco was inevitable.
After a little ti passed, the side quest updated again.
▷Objective 1: Eliminate competitors(2/20 people)
Looks like the male student I’d blown away took continuous damage from Poisoned and Weathering and eventually went down.
An alert ssage printed right after.
[‘Clear Mirror Calm Water’ grade increases. (C→B)]
‘Even the rank went up.’
I’d used it a lot, so I’d figured it was about ti.
It felt a little too perfectly tid, happening right after a fight—but things like that happened sotis.
With my steps feeling lighter, I continued following the arrow at my feet.
How long had I been walking?
Students with a blue ‘B’ on their chest started appearing one by one.
They were all headed to the sa place—the low hill visible ahead.
That was where Group B’s base was.
When I reached the top of the hill, Song Cheon-hye and Seo Ye-in—who’d arrived first—greeted .
“You’re here. But... did you fight?”
“What, how’d you know?”
“It was just a feeling. Who was it?”
“One from A and one from C. Don’t know their nas.”
“Ah...... so the two groups really are......”
Song Cheon-hye’s complexion darkened.
The starting points were random.
Usually you’d drop near your base, but cases like mine—where your path overlapped with other groups—would happen pretty often too.
If you only ran into A or C, maybe you could avoid it.
But if your luck was bad, you’d get tead up on.
And if you didn’t have the skill to break through, you’d go down and be forced into a re-entry wait outside.
From the look of things, there were probably plenty of students in exactly that situation, so it felt like we’d already taken losses right from the start.
Even so, a leader had to keep their footing.
Maybe she rembered my advice, because Song Cheon-hye smoothed her expression and pointed to one side.
“I think you spend crystals over there.”
A device like a vending machine was installed there.
You ordered what you wanted through the large screen, then put crystals into the slot below.
So mbers were flipping through the nus, thinking hard about what to build first.
Other mbers looked like they wanted to rush out and gather crystals imdiately, but Song Cheon-hye raised a hand to stop them.
“We’re waiting for now.”
Not everyone had regrouped yet.
Even just within our party, we still had to wait for Park Nari.
We needed to confirm our available manpower, and if so people had been taken out and there were gaps in roles, we’d have to cover them with other mbers.
So we stood guard and waited.
Then Group B students started joining one by one from different directions.
Off in the distance, a four-legged beast form ca running fast—
a tiger, Beomi, with Park Nari riding on its back.
Up in the sky, Chaemi was flying with its wings spread wide.
Park Nari climbed the hill and hopped down from Beomi’s back.
She looked utterly drained, like she’d been chased.
“I almost...... got caught.”
“Good thing you made it. Get so rest.”
We kept waiting, watching outside the base—
but even after quite a bit of ti, no one else showed up.
Song Cheon-hye seed to decide that was the end and started to issue orders—
“Now that everyone’s here—”
RUUUMBLE.......
The ground trembled beneath our feet.
The vibrations grew stronger, shaking the entire area—
KWA-KWA-KWANG—!
And the volcano in the distance began spewing fireballs and smoke.
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