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Chapter 16: Dungeon Practicum (4)
As soon as Baek Yu-Seol sensed something akin to offensive magic rushing towards him, he activated flash and teleported to the top of a tree.
Tung!
Something similar to a Light Bullet flew past him, teased his hair strands, and disappeared after crashing into a nearby tree.
Baek Yu-Seol looked at Flame lying on the floor, drenched in cold sweat.
“Do you have any reason to kill me?”
Mana Leakage Delay’s level had recently increased, and it could now detect mana fluctuations from 18 meters away, so he wiped away the cold sweat, realizing he’d almost been in trouble.
While mages enchanted their bodies with thin layers of defensive magic, he couldn’t do any of that.
‘Besides, the light bullet is scary.’
Wasn’t it too much for someone at the student level?
In magic society, a seventeen-year-old mage was called a genius even if he used only Class 2 magic skills.
But in Stella, it was nothing out of the ordinary.
First-year students were already using Class 2 magic skills freely, and students who excelled, such as Flame, were manipulating Class 3 magic skills.
It was difficult to handle light-attribute magic, which was quick and promised a scary offensive power. It was good at healing too.
'But now I have two charges of flash left, so if I can use the terrain well, I’ll be able to deal with her to some extent…'
[Flash]
[Class: 1]
[Maximum Range: 12m]
[Maximum number of charges: 2]
[Cooldown: 3 seconds]
As a result of his early morning training, the number of charges had increased to two. Now, it was possible to move freely.
‘Still, it would be hard to fight with her.’
It was crazy to deal with the main character, so he left quickly.
Baek Yu-Seol’s goal was to be in the top 5. No, he was aiming for exactly 5th place.
As he recalled, the prize for fifth place was Edelic Root. When consumed, it increased stamina and muscle strength by a certain level, and although it was not that good, it was added as a product to replenish energy when young students studied.
‘Jeremy was first, followed by Hae Won-Ryang in second place, and Hong Bi-Yeon in third.
‘Ma Yu-Seong was supposed to be fourth, but there was a part where Flame would take it away from him…’
Anyway, the scores from the fourth place were so overwhelming that he did not care. The cut-off for fifth place was approximately 70 points. He only needed three more point sticks.
However, no matter how much he tried, he could not seem to recall the location of the point sticks. He simply needed to believe in the quick maneuverability of flash and keep searching.
“Oh, another dead end?”
He had taken the wrong way. It was so confusing because the terrain kept changing in the first place.
He had no choice but to turn around and try to get out the other way.
Rustle!
The grass in front of him parted, and about five boys appeared.
“Oh, who’s this?"
“Isn’t he Baek Yu-Seol from Class S?”
The boy who confirmed his name tag was Aiden. He knew them well because they had become quite famous in the school. They were members of Yuslek’s faction who had been noted as Jeremy’s errand boy.
In other words, they were members of a faction created by a faction member. Next to them stood other boys suspected to be from Yuslek’s faction, and Baek Yu-Seol couldn’t help but be impressed.
Aiden was holding three point sticks in his left hand.
‘They’ve gathered quite a lot.’
Aiden’s gang approached arrogantly.
“Is that Baek Yu-Seol? The failure who got into Class S through cheating despite being unable to use any magic?”
“Getting into Class S by solving those three weird problems? I heard Stella’s standards have dropped a lot recently.”
“You resonated with a good mid-tier staff, didn’t you? Why don’t you show us then? Although it’s probably useless since you can’t use magic anyway.”
Although their jokes weren’t funny, they laughed amongst themselves, typical of high school bullies.
‘Seeing this after a while, it feels nostalgic.’
There were many such students when Baek Yu-Seol attended school.
“Why aren’t you saying anything? Never mind. Just hand over your point stick.”
“No.”
When Baek Yu-Seol subtly hid the point stick behind him, Aiden scoffed.
“Ha, what makes you so confident? Don’t tell me you’re wearing a damage suit?”
A damage suit was a suit provided for practice in a subspace with an inherent protective shield ensuring safety and ejecting the wearer from the arena upon taking significant damage.
In other words, it meant elimination.
"But that only prevents death. It doesn't reduce the pain. They say it’s so we can experience real battle. Hehe, you’ll probably experience pain as if you were dying."
"Hmm..."
Baek Yu-Seol considered his options for a moment. With a first-class blink, he could handle most lower-tier students, but against a mage from a prestigious family with enough talent like Aiden, it probably wouldn't work. At least, not without having three blinks.
However, there was a variable.
The point stick in his hand and the fact that this place was a dungeon.
"Alright."
"That's the spirit."
When Baek Yu-Seol subtly offered the point stick again, Aiden approached with a smug expression. He took it as a sign that Baek Yu-Seol was surrendering the point stick to him.
And then, in that moment…
[Flash]
Swish! Baek Yu-Seol's form disappeared like mist. The sound of his robe fluttering was heard in that split second.
"Huh...?"
Aiden made eye contact with Baek Yu-Seol as he reached out his hand towards Aiden’s head.
‘When did he…?’
Puk!!!
Aiden was distracted by the tremendous impact that struck his forehead. The magic shield that he always wore around his body shattered into pieces as shock engulfed his mind.
In the midst of that, Aiden instinctively responded by spreading mana waves.
Paang!
‘Oh, that was close.’
Since the attacker had already fled, the mana wave only hit the air. Aiden shook his head and woke out of his stupor, quickly realizing that one of the point sticks in his left hand had been stolen.
“Damn it…!”
Baek Yu-Seol had taken it away in a short span of time.
“What?!”
“How did…?”
As expected, the other sheepdogs couldn’t even react.
Aiden gritted his teeth and looked back at Baek Yu-Seol playfully waving two point sticks.
“You bastard…”
Apart from his anger, Baek Yu-Seol was honestly a little impressed. It was true that a mage who trained mana had better senses than normal people, but even so, he did not imagine that the first-year student with no experience in combat would be able to respond to flash.
‘Well, no matter how stupid you look, you’re still Stella's student, huh?’
He could steal a point stick like this when they were off guard, but it would be more difficult now that they had started to prepare.
“However, as expected of the point stick. The performance is unmistakable.”
There was something many players discovered while playing this episode.
The point stick was, in fact, a bug-like item.
The point stick created by the faculty was unusually durable to prevent it from being destroyed by students’ magic. When wielded, it displayed a significant level of strength comparable to magical weapons.
As a result, there were many amusing situations during the dungeon training in which novice gamers who were inexperienced in using magic beat demons with point sticks.
Of course, it really only worked for newbies, and it would be more advantageous to use magic, but…
It was different for the character Baek Yu-Seol.
His main focus was physical attacks, and if a weapon with strong attack power was given to him, he could use flash with 100% efficiency.
“It was well-received. If I ever get a girlfriend later, I should give one to her as a gift.”
“You… You motherfucker!”
As Aiden swung his staff, lightning struck at Baek Yu-Seol.
However, he had already teleported to the nearby tree. Aiden’s men hurled ice spikes and fireballs at Baek Yu-Seol, but he avoided them by sneaking down the branch.
“Now!”
Two other boys threw water bullets at him, assuming he would not be able to move in mid-air, but then a huge rock rose into the air and blocked the attacks.
It was a dungeon trap that was aimed at Baek Yu-Seol.
“Huh? What?”
The dungeon’s traps perplexed the boys. Vines sprouted from the ground and grabbed their ankles and trees suddenly grew around them, accompanied by the churning of the very earth which caused them to lose their sense of direction.
This was a dungeon, not a place for an easy battle.
With the enhanced Sixth Sense gifted by Mana Leakage Delay, Baek Yu-Seol not only avoided the trap freely but also flexibly used it as a shield or blindfold, turning the Aiden gang into dogs that chased after chickens.
“Damn it! Where’s that motherfucker?! Hurry up and find him!”
“H-he’s too fast! We can’t find him!”
“Argh!”
If they showed even a little opening, Baek Yu-Seol would rush into the trap zone and hit their heads with a point stick.
The boys gritted their teeth and remained vigilant, not knowing when or where they would be attacked.
“There he is!”
“Where? There’s no one there!”
“He just disappeared!”
It was a difficult task to find Baek Yu-Seol who constantly teleported and attacked. Roots sprang up spontaneously as tree trunks whipped them from all directions while the ground spun around.
He knew how to make great use of the terrain thanks to his many years of PvP.
Baek Yu-Seol flashed in the east and flashed in the west…
While teleporting here and there, he noticed a gap and his eyes lit up.
[Flash]
As soon as the decision was made, he approached a boy who was standing on the precipice and casting magic.
And then Baek Yu-Seol screamed.
“Boo!”
“Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!”
A man had suddenly appeared in front of him and screamed, making him so startled that he forgot to cast magic and fell to the ground, losing his staff in the process.
At that moment, a magic rebound was triggered by the effect of casting failure.
There was enough cooldown left for flash, and while it was possible to avoid it, magic rebound of only Class 1 or Class 2 would not cause too much damage, so avoiding it was unnecessary.
As a result, he acted aggressively.
Just before the Magic Rebound ensued, he kicked the boy in the stomach and pushed him to the place where Aiden and the rest of his gang were gathered.
Ting!
The robe’s magic shield wrapped around his stomach lightly intercepted Baek Yu-Seol's kick, but the impact was enough to push him back.
Bang!
“Whoa! Argh!”
“Argh!”
It was a shock wave the size of a firecracker at best, but it was still insane due to the traps in the dungeon. Since they were newcomers, their hearts trembled, and they retreated while screaming.
This technique worked because the opponents were young mages who were still learning how to fight.
And in between…
[Flash]
Baek Yu-Seol moved behind Aiden who had taken a step backward in surprise and stole another point stick.
“You… This bastard…!”
“Aiya boss. You even organized a buy one get one free? This will ruin your store!”
“Argh, bring it here!”
Aiden fired a thunderbolt, but it did not reach Baek Yu-Seol who had hidden behind a tree.
‘I don’t think I’ll be able to take the other one.’
He stuck his head out again, prepared to be content with his spoils.
“I had a lot of fun, so I’m leaving now. I have a date tonight.”
“You…!”
Aiden shouted, but Baek Yu-Seol, who had already activated flash and left that place, could not hear it.
‘Hehe, that was chaotic.’
If he had fought normally, he would have been robbed, but thanks to the fact that this was a dungeon, he was able to steal the point sticks.
‘That’s what adulthood is all about.’
Something caught his eye as he was leaving the battlefield.
A familiar black-haired head.
‘Flame? What’s that kid doing here?’
Baek Yu-Seol wasn’t aware of her existence because unless the object was using magic, he couldn’t tell their location with his Sixth Sense. She had been watching his fight with Aiden from a good distance away for quite some time.
‘Is stalking her hobby?’
It was strange.
According to the game, Flame had two options to choose from here.
Defeat the hidden boss targeted by Eisel or intervene in the fight between Hae Won-Ryang and Ma Yu-Seong to determine victory or defeat.
‘What’s she doing here at a time like this…?’
Staring blankly at her, Baek Yu-Seol was about to climb a tree when his Sixth Sense alerted him with a creepy sensation.
“Uh…?”
When he turned his head...
Whack!
A huge fireball flew right at his landing spot.