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Chapter 18: Dungeon Practicum (6)
“I wasn’t hiding…”
Flame glared alternately at Baek Yu-Seol and Hong Bi-Yeon. Watching the fight from beginning to end, her doubts grew bigger and bigger.
”How’d you do that?”
“What?”
“The point stick... How… did you break the magic shield with it?”
Baek Yu-Seol paused briefly to consider it. Tens of thousands of players had discovered this element while fooling around in the game. However, it did not seem to have appeared in the setting of the original.
Baek Yu-Seol had no choice but to answer vaguely.
“It’s very sturdy.”
“No matter how sturdy the teaching materials are, how can you break the magic shield with a simple swing? If it were that simple, why don’t you recall and explain to me why ordinary knights vanished from this world?”
That was right. No matter how much Baek Yu-Seol trained his body, he could never penetrate the defense of a mage.
‘I’d like to explain that this magic weapon is close to a bug item and it worked because Hong Bi-Yeon was very inexperienced with the magic shield…’
If he said that, Hong Bi-Yeon might really try to kill him afterward. He quickly put the scary thought out of his mind.
Flame’s suspicions grew deeper at the lack of a proper explanation.
She kept her mouth shut for a long time and then suddenly asked, “Who... what are you?”
‘It’s really happening, huh?’
Less than a month after Baek Yu-Seol decided not to be high-profile, it all came down to this.
‘Should I reveal who I am?’
He pondered for a moment.
'I’m also a modern person like you, and in fact, I know that this world is based on a game setting, not a romance fantasy novel.'
However, that was a hasty conclusion. Baek Yu-Seol had not formed an opinion of her yet.
There appeared to be no other option. He had no choice but to remain motionless.
“I’m not a bad person. It’s not like I’m hurting you.”
“What? What does that mean?”
“It’s just as I said. You may be wary of me, but you don’t have to be. I’d rather assist you.”
‘You want to assist me…?’
Flame’s expression was tinged with confusion.
It was time for him to leave.
It was best to leave them now that they were drowning in emotions.
“I’d like to tell you more, but there’s not much time left. Ciao.”
Baek Yu-Seol turned around and bade his farewell.
Everything would be fine as long as he disappeared quietly.
Thwack!
Suddenly, something hit the back of his head. A dizzying sensation almost brought tears to his eyes.
Thud!
Four Point Sticks fell to the ground behind him.
“Huh…?”
Looking back, Hong Bi-Yeon, who had thrown the point sticks, had a puzzled look on her face.
“I thought you’d catch them. You avoided all the offensive magic and traps coming from blind spots but you couldn’t catch them?”
It was inevitable.
Mana leakage delay’s “Sixth Sense” had its limitations.
The point stick also had magic power, so it could have been avoided under normal circumstances, but since the duration of Sixth Sense was determined by his mental strength, it was currently disabled.
Right after entering the dungeon, he activated Sixth Sense slightly, and immediately after meeting with Yuslek and the others, he had maxed it out. As a result, he had a very severe headache.
If that attack had been considered life-threatening, Sixth Sense would have been activated regardless, but it seemed that none of the senses were activated since it wasn’t.
‘Damn, that ruined my cool exit.’
He rubbed the back of his head while whimpering. “Why did you throw them?”
“I lost, so they’re yours now.”
Perhaps it was due to her pride.
Scores mattered, but she could not just leave quietly even though she had lost to a commoner.
However, she was destined to rank third.
‘If I take them, my ranking would be too high.’
Baek Yu-Seol had no use for the third-place prize. It was a piece of equipment that increased magical output. Since it was provided by the academy, he could not sell it anywhere.
“All right. I’ll take one. You can keep the other three.”
Baek Yu-Seol picked up only one point stick and quickly left.
He wondered how Hong Bi-Yeon and Flame were looking at him from behind, but gazing back now would not ruin his exit again.
‘Men are cool when they don’t look back.’
“Is he an idiot?”
“I don’t know if it’s because he’s a commoner.”
Stella Dome.
Over the sky.
Twelve professors and instructors, including Lee Han-Wol, stood around watching a hologram map hovering in the air.
The map had 141 red dots representing the students currently in training.
They were from Classes A to S.
At least one outstanding student entered the academy every year, but this year was especially noteworthy.
There were not only one or two students to keep an eye on.
“Hmm.”
Lee Han-Wol nodded, pleased with the students’ coordinated movements. This batch’s freshmen had, so far, scored higher than any other batch.
Those who joined with teammates quickly obtained point sticks based on their numbers, while those who did not dueled the lucky ones to steal them.
“By the way, why is the hologram so unstable?”
"Oh, that's because a lot of professors without lectures have gathered in the control room to monitor this practice session. Additionally, many people from the magic tower have gathered as well."
“Not monitoring; they’re just here to watch.”
“Well, the professors must’ve been curious too.”
As soon as he finished those words, a voice rang in Lee Han-Wol’s ear.
“Haha, I’m sorry about the hologram server, Professor Lee Han-Wol.”
Lee Han-Wol’s eyebrows furrowed. This voice was familiar, but it did not belong to a professor.
"What brings an elder of the Magic Council here?"
“Watch your tongue, Professor. How dare you speak like that to Elder Telrix?”
This was another person. Zarina Eyon, a member of the Blue Tower Council and a powerful wizard who rarely moved from her seat.
“I can’t believe it.”
“Hehe, we need to move early to identify talents.”
“Well. It’s rather fun to watch. When I was young, I was more amazing.”
“Hey, you old coot. I still remember you wetting yourself in your first dungeon!”
“You must be senile! I was only thirteen back then!”
Lee Han-Wol laughed at the voices of countless mages ringing in his ears.
This was the freshmen’s first dungeon training, but such a large crowd had come just to spectate?
‘Well, that’s not surprising.’
In many magical private institutions like magic towers, guilds, and corporations, students could be contacted at any time if they got permission from Stella.
In the past, there were often cases in which giant institutions contacted and sponsored students, and this was neither bad for the academies nor for the students.
This year, however, the competition was fierce. The biggest event to filter the top talents, the Stella Survival Test or the Stella Dual Tournament, hadn’t even occurred.
Hadn’t some great mages already appeared?
They didn’t move just because they wanted to. Other old people were making a move, so they were forced to come because they didn’t want the most talented to be taken away.
“Instructor Lee Han-Wol. What should I do with the monitor?”
“What should you do? Let’s focus on Class S. Those old people will be interested in it too.”
After a while, the 41 members of Class S were broadcast on the screen.
First of all, Pung Harang from Class S.
He was a mage who specialized in wind-attribute magic and a fighter with proficient close combat skills.
The mages exclaimed as they watched his silhouette dance in the wind while casually neutralizing demons and classmates alike.
Shin Hwaran of Class S.
She had the lightning attribute, an inherited magic that allowed her to manipulate electricity and wind simultaneously. The appearance of lime-colored lightning swirling like a storm was more beautiful than violent. Her magic attribute was called Strike Thunder.
Furthermore, all the students in Class S used unusual magic or had unusual performances.
Among them, the one that stood out the most was Flame.
Humans who could manipulate the natural attribute of elves, the metal attribute of dwarves, and the light attribute of angels were countless. One could find quite a lot of them even in Stella right now.
But a human who could handle all three attributes.
It could be said that this was a truly unprecedented case in history.
“Ah, Hae Won-Ryang and Ma Yu-Seong have met.”
At the words of the supervisor, the screen naturally focused there.
“Well…”
Two of the best talents had already come into contact not long after the training began.
“It looks like they’re having a conversation.”
After a short time, the duel began.
Tung!
On the screen, Ma Yu-Seong circulated mana on his toes and dashed toward Hae Won-Ryang.
"Power Jump!”
Not just once, but consecutively.
“Oh, to activate a third-class power jump consecutively…!”
“Can he really do that at 17?”
Normally, a mage entered Class 3 in his mid to late 20s or early 30s.
Ma Yu-Seong, on the other hand, was freely using Class 3 magic at the age of 17.
When he lifted the wand slightly, the ground beneath Hae Won-Ryang trembled, and a pillar of earth soared. At the same time, a lightning bolt struck it, and walls of flames rushed in from all sides.
However, Hae Won-Ryang did not stay still either. He let his body fall back using the shock wave of the impact and then stretched his palm forward.
An ice sheet spread on the ground, and dozens of sharp icicles rose up.
The temperature around Ma Yu-Seong instantly plunged down, and he used flames to melt the ice while avoiding it.
In response, Hae Won-Ryang summoned a more powerful ice pillar.
“Both of them are using three attributes…!”
“It’s unbelievable.”
A normal mage could only use one attribute, and with repeated training, it was possible to manipulate two attributes.
However, from three attributes, it was impossible without innate talent. They were born with a special talent.
Boom! Boom!
The elements collided with each other, creating a colorful mayhem.
This was an exciting, tension-filled duel between students as young as 17.
The victory did not come quickly.
Hae Won-Ryang had already set up his magic circles, prepared everything, and lured Ma Yu-seong into the trap, but his opponent could not be easily defeated since they were equally matched.
However, the victory began to lean more and more toward Hae Won-Ryang. In the first place, he had prepared to thoroughly push Ma Yu-Seong, even if it meant giving up some points!
The battle was about to end with Ma Yu-Seong’s defeat.
Suddenly, a massive bird monster broke through the sky.
“That’s…”
It was a kind of hidden boss, an event prepared by professors as a joke.
They had not been told about it and it did not give any reward, but the demon screamed and flew between Ma Yu-Seong and Hae Won-Ryang, collapsed, and died.
A girl appeared on the corpse of the strange bird whose wings were frozen, sparks flying all over her body.
"Eisel Morph…"
Hidden bosses were never found by chance but through insight, sense, judgment, and reasoning ability.
Even after finding it, defeating it should have been difficult, but she was successful in hunting it alone.
“Oh, were you guys fighting? Sorry for the interruption!”
Eisel recovered a blue feather from the demon's body, hopped down, and disappeared.
Meanwhile, Ma Yu-Seong also disappeared and with the dungeon’s constantly changing topography, it was impossible for Hae Won-Ryang to follow him.
“Hmm, the daughter of the traitor Duke Morph…”
“Indeed, her bloodline is undeniable.”
“It’s a pity. If her father hadn’t fallen into disgrace, her talents could have flourished even more.”
The mages uttered a word or two, then went silent. There was an unbearable story behind the death of Grand Duke Morph, so continuing this topic was burdensome.
Just in time, another fierce battle broke out.
Lee Han-Wol was also quite interested. He wanted to monitor it.
“It’s the princess of the Adolevit royal family.”
“Who’s her opponent? I don’t recognize him…”
“This looks boring. Hey, Lee Han-wol, change the channel.”
“Wait a minute.”
“Tsk tsk. So many people get scared with just a word from us, but where did that guy get the guts to act so boldly?”
While complaining, the old people focused on the screen.
“Well…?”
“That magic skill… Flash…?”
They were witnessing a very unusual student.
“That student’s name is Baek Yu-Seol, a very unique student who uses flash as a specialty.”
On the screen, Hong Bi-Yeon swung the staff and scattered her unique explosive flames everywhere.
Although there was no technique or discernible control, the output and destructive power were too overwhelming for a 17-year-old to display, catching the mages’ attention.
However…
Not a single flame could strike Baek Yu-Seol.
He continuously used flash to dodge and used the constantly changing terrain to his advantage.
He was unbelievably fast. His speed, his direction, his distance control.
The boy was in complete control.
When the flaming arrows were repelled by the Point Stick he was holding, exclamations erupted.
“No, is it even possible to track an arrow with your eyes and strike it…?”
Of course, most trained mages would be able to repel that level of magic arrows easily.
Mages always had mana on their skin, and the mana reacted to flying magic on its own, sometimes as a defensive mechanism.
The important factors that determined one's defense were the ability to circulate and control mana.
However, no one would be able to see or strike the arrow.
Even more so if the distance was so short.
The archmages and higher-ranked mages who had been openly expressing their admiration during the battle between Hae Won-Ryang and Ma Yu-Seong had now gone silent.
A situation was unfolding before them that they could not comprehend even with the knowledge and values they had acquired throughout their lives.
Flash had an infinite number of possibilities, but it was uncontrollable magic.
For hundreds of years, countless scholars had attempted to master this fundamental magic, but they all failed, dying or ending up maimed and abandoned.
In the midst of this uncertainty, a student appeared, controlling flash as if he were controlling his own limbs.
“This…”
Everyone was silent.
It was a different issue compared to those with overwhelming talents such as Ma Yu-Seong, Hae Won-Ryang, and Eisel.
It was worth it.
The value of magic with infinite possibilities.
“By the way… Why isn’t he using any other magic skill and just playing around?”
“If he had used other magic skills, the duel would have ended sooner.”
“I don’t understand.”
As everyone was asking the same question, a voice suddenly intervened.
"No. That’s a serious fight."
“…!”
Lee Han-Wol’s heart thumped. This was a familiar yet unfamiliar voice.
The principal of Stella Academy, said to be the best academy in the world.
A great sage of Class 9, Eltman Eltwin.
"It was sincere from the beginning. Can’t you see it with your eyes?"
At his words, the old mages of the senate, the board of directors of the Mage Tower, and the mages of the Great Tower fell into silence.
"Interesting. I read a fairy tale a few days ago, and the way that student is fighting… It reminds me of the chivalry that existed in the old days," Eltman mumbled as if speaking to himself.
The mages were, however, dumbfounded by those words.
In this age of magic, the chivalry which had disappeared along with cold weapons?
But how could they refute that? The opponent was a great sage—one of only ten in the continent.
The mages remained silent even after Eltwin vanished without a word. The word “chivalry,” as mentioned by the Class 9 great sage, kept echoing in their minds.