abcnovels
Chapter 26:
Chapter 26:
Chapter 26:
Dungeon Practice (3)
Nam Daeun paused at my words, while Lumi and Lee Byunghoon watched me closely.
“So, what’s your plan here? There’s no wind and not much to see on the ground, considering the monsters we encountered on the way.”
To my surprise, Lee Byunghoon seemed to have a good grasp of dungeon exploration strategies.
He knew the basics of navigating cave-like dungeons—the flow of air and the traces left by monsters. Of course, there were more advanced techniques and deeper knowledge to it.
The defining feature of cave-like dungeons was their dense mana concentration. Since they were accessed through portals rather than traditional entrances, it wasn’t uncommon for there to be no breeze due to the enclosed nature of the setting.
But even without wind, mana still flowed, albeit subtly. Most people wouldn’t notice it due to its high density and gentle movement.
However, I was different.
Thanks to my Mana Sensitivity and Vision Enhancement abilities, I could perceive the mana’s subtle motions that filled the space.
“Vision Enhancement.”
Zing—
My eyes shimmered golden, and my pupils dilated as I observed the movement of mana.
“There.”
I raised my index finger, pointing towards the third passage from the left among the ten available.
All the mana flows converged and passed through that pathway. It had to be the right direction.
“What’s with the golden eyes? Sorry, but how can you be so sure about it? Can you at least explain it roughly.”
Lee Byunghoon expressed his doubts about my words.
“…Even if I do, I doubt you’d believe it. Will you just trust me and go along with it?”
“Our grade is on the line here. Can we just take your word for it like that?”
As my field of vision expanded, I noticed Nam Daeun giving me a curious look. It appeared she wouldn’t budge without a proper explanation either.
Lumi, on the other hand, clasped her hands together and blinked rapidly. Her lack of objections indicated she was up for anything I suggested.
“I sensed the mana flow. All the passages’ mana converge and pass through the third one, so I’m confident it’s the right choice. Don’t ask me how I sensed it.”
“Is it even plausible for a freshman to sense mana flow like that?”
Lee Byunghoon still seemed skeptical. But honestly, it didn’t bother me much, because the team leader seemed to have a different opinion.
Whoosh—
Nam Daeun darted towards the third passage without hesitation.
“Huh?”
I grabbed Lumi’s arm and followed Nam Daeun’s lead.
Lee Byunghoon grumbled from behind, “Ah, damn it. I have no clue either,” as he raced along.
And so, with Nam Daeun dealing with the occasional monsters that crossed our path, and me occasionally casting spells to earn points, we ran for about 15 minutes straight.
We arrived at another junction, this time with eight different passages to choose from.
“Fourth one.”
Whoosh!
Pointing the way with my finger, Nam Daeun didn’t slow down and immediately headed towards that path.
“Wait, can we really trust… Ah, whatever. I’ll just follow along. I’ll follow along.”
At this point, we were sprinting through the dungeon to the extent that it was almost becoming mundane.
Of course, the other teams were probably on high alert, prepared for monster encounters, so they wouldn’t have any room to relax. But our bus driver was a monster.
“Lumi.”
“Yes?”
“Put a shield on Nam Daeun too. You should score some points as well.”
“Oh, I didn’t think of that because she was dealing with monsters so quickly. It’s a fundamental basic…”
No matter how influential she might become in the future, at the moment, Lumi was just a student. It was understandable that she would make mistakes during her first practical training. Even as a support mage, if she could simply put up a shield, she would be able to score some points.
While leading the way, I also took the opportunity to use magic and take down a few monsters here and there to collect some points.
Our team is definitely going to do well!
…Or maybe not? It feels like I’ve forgotten something.
Slash—
Nam Daeun effortlessly sliced through a lizard all on her own. The poor creature didn’t even realize it was already dead and continued thrashing around.
Perhaps because I constantly activated Vision Enhancement to navigate, Nam Daeun’s movements appeared even more precise.
The lizard she dealt with was sliced so cleanly, it was as if you could see the cross-section of its body.
Many people believed her ability was instant acceleration. They might consider that extraordinary cutting power as a skill, but both assumptions were incorrect.
Her ability was actually spatial manipulation.
The acceleration ability was simply her speeding up the passage of time in the space surrounding her body.
It wasn’t that Nam Daeun became faster herself; it was the space she occupied that became faster. Of course, to others, it might appear as if she were accelerating.
Similarly, that incredible cutting power stemmed from her ability to sever the space itself surrounding her sword.
Up to this point, these were facts I knew from the game’s setting. And no matter how crazy the game’s creator was, they wouldn’t describe in the setting how to use magical power to accelerate the space around Nam Daeun’s body.
So, I never thought the possibility of being able to use someone else’s ability would be possible.
According to the setting, abilities were originally innate to individuals and couldn’t be used by others. But in the end, both abilities and skills were powers rooted in magic.
Nam Daeun’s ability to manipulate space, specifically her use of magic to accelerate the space, was being detected in real-time by my Vision Enhancement.
Perhaps, just maybe, I could mimic her ability.
***
The students who had completed their dungeon training began to gather one by one.
Our team had managed to secure first place with a ridiculously fast clear time. It’s a shame we didn’t run into Do Jinhyuk’s team because we were just too quick.
The other teams were in tatters, with ripped clothes, dirt-covered bodies, and some visible injuries. Meanwhile, our team looked clean and pristine. At most, there was a little monster blood staining Nam Daeun’s clothes.
“Ouch… it hurts…”
“Don’t whine over a little scratch.”
The injured students lined up in front of Baek Ahyeong, awaiting her treatment. Since our team had finished and it was now break time, I decided to see what she was up to.
“Huff, huff, ahh, ahh.”
She treated the students while making these weird sound effects just like in the game. The sounds she made, even though they sounded like exhausted moans, were different.
Either others couldn’t pick up on her suggestive moans, or the title “Saint” doesn’t connect to any dirty thoughts in their minds. They simply seemed oblivious.
“You’ve been working hard.”
I spoke to her right after she finished treating someone.
“Ah, Hoyeon, it’s nothing. This is what I signed up for, after all.”
Despite being drenched in sweat, she never stopped smiling.
“Seems like you find great satisfaction in your job. Most healers I’ve seen always looked like they were on the verge of collapse.”
Healing not only consumes mana but also drains your stamina. Most healers end up exhausted and pushed to their limits after treating others. But Baek Ahyeong was different. She seemed to thrive on it.
“Yes. Healing and saving people are always fulfilling for me. I truly think it’s my calling. And I earn a lot of money too. Heheh.”
She ended with a playful tone, but I could sense it. She genuinely derived joy from helping others.
After treating all the injured, she looked completely exhausted. Her sweat-soaked suit clung to her body, and I could catch glimpses of her pink underwear through her blouse. Drops of sweat trickled down her deep cleavage..
Gulp.
I couldn’t help but feel a surge of lust.
Hold up, isn’t this weird?
She’s drenched in sweat, moaning suggestively, and yet no one suspects a damn thing. Am I the only one who finds this odd? Am I the only perv here?
Without even realizing it, I stole a glance at her cleavage again, and when I raised my eyes, our gazes locked.
I totally got caught.
“Uh, uh. I’m glad. I did my best to make sure I didn’t get hurt and burden you.”
“Thanks. Hehe….”
I managed to steer the conversation back on track, and luckily it seemed like she didn’t catch on.
Right? She didn’t catch on, did she?
***
After all the teams completed their dungeon practice, the students gathered together again, much like they did at the beginning.
Some teams that appeared friendly with each other earlier had become distant, while some that weren’t particularly close had formed strong bonds.
Unsurprisingly, our team remained unchanged.
– 1st place, Team 13 (Nam Daeun, Lee Hoyeon, Lee Byunghoon, Lumi)
– 2nd place, Team 7 (Seo Minjun, Kim Seoyeon, Jung Yejun, Alice)
– 3rd place, Team 8 (Do Juwon, Ha Seoyun, Chae Sua, Lucy)
The hologram displaying the top-performing teams appeared.
“All team videos will be uploaded to the Class A social network, so make sure to take notes on what you can learn from them. In the next class, I’ll provide feedback on the strengths and weaknesses observed during the dungeon practice.”
With those words, Professor Kim Jinhyuk left the room, and the students excitedly started discussing among themselves, dispersing in various directions.
Our team was about to head off somewhere, so I caught up with Nam Daeun.
“Nam Daeun.”
“…?”
It seemed like there was some kind of connection between us while conquering the dungeon together, as she didn’t completely brush off what I said.
“You got lucky and ranked first this time, but if you keep going solo in the future, it’ll be difficult to maintain that.”
“…I can handle it on my own.”
Nam Daeun furrowed her brows momentarily before uttering those words and then disappeared on her own.
“Ah, she never listens even when I give her proper advice.”
Well, at least her tone was less aggressive.
As a freshman, it’s expected for her teamwork skills to be lacking for now. However, if this pattern continues, it’ll become clear that she has a major issue with collaboration, and her score will suffer.
Sooner or later, Nam Daeun will learn that the hard way. I don’t even want to imagine what it’ll be like.
She’ll regret it. But for now, no matter how much I explain, she probably won’t understand.
***
[Swoosh! Pahng!]
“She’s a freshman? Should we immediately assign her to our guild’s second team?”
“Well, she has already completed a full guild-exclusive contract. They say she even disregarded an offer of three times the contract fee.”
“Tsk. From what I observed, she has some weaknesses. Everyone in the industry knows about the bad reputation of the buyer guild. Why would she just sign an exclusive contract without considering it?”
After the completion of the dungeon practice, the professors were engaged in a conversation in the monitor room, where dozens of screens were broadcasting.
Their attention was focused on a girl leading the charge, with three others following closely behind.
“She didn’t give her team members a chance to participate in the battles?”
“True, she seems completely uninterested in cooperating with her teammates.”
“Nevertheless, her talent is overwhelming. But if she continues like this next time, we’ll have no choice but to deduct points.”
“It’s still her first evaluation, so we should be lenient.”
Among them was Professor Kim Jinhyuk, the homeroom teacher for Class A.
“Indeed, her personality is lacking compared to her skills.”
Kim Jinhyuk moved his finger across the hologram. Next to Nam Daeun’s name, he made a note, “95 points. Her personality should be assessed more critically in the next evaluation.”
[Ah, I don’t care! Just kill them all!]
[Hey, hey! Wait a moment!]
Blam! Blam! Blam!
Kim Jinhyuk shifted his gaze to the next monitor, where magic was erupting loudly. On the screen, Lucy’s footage was playing, showing her effortlessly subduing a multitude of monsters at once.
If you were to describe her fighting style in one sentence, it would be “The best defense is a strong offense.”
It’s a battle strategy straight out of a manga, where she minimized her defense while aiming to defeat her enemies before they could defeat her. You could call it a boyish battle style in a positive sense, or a reckless one in a negative sense.
The monsters couldn’t withstand her magical onslaught and fell before they could even approach her. However, this tactic might not work against higher-level monsters in the future.
Kim Jinhyuk was aware that if Lucy’s style combined with her sister, Lumi, it would create incredible synergy. But assuming they wouldn’t be together 24/7, it wouldn’t be ideal to rely on that assumption.
In the end, Kim Jinhyuk left a note next to Lucy’s name, giving her a score of 83.
“These new freshmen are quite impressive. From the cute twins~ to the skilled fighters like Alice and Nam Daeun, they’re all gems.”
“That’s right. And students like Do Jinhyuk and Lee Hoyeon are also quite good.”
‘Lee Hoyeon…’
Kim Jinhyuk found himself more interested in Lee Hoyeon’s footage than in Alice’s or Nam Daeun’s.
Not only did he seamlessly integrate magic into Nam Daeun’s fast-paced combat, but he could also read the flow of mana and navigate the dungeon perfectly. For a freshman at a student level, it was reasonable to assume that he possessed skills specialized in that area.
In fact, one of the reasons why cave-type dungeons were difficult was due to the accumulating fatigue and stress from navigating through the twists and turns. By eliminating that aspect, Lee Hoyeon made a significant contribution.
Considering that Nam Daeun was in the team where Lee Hoyeon was assigned, and taking into account the lower skill level of the other team members, it could be said that he performed exceptionally well.
Although he didn’t show much in terms of combat prowess, his extraordinary nature was evident.
“Hmm…”
After much consideration, Kim Jinhyuk made a note, scoring Lee Hoyeon 86, three points higher than Lucy. He always had a preference for intelligent students.
“Everything looks good, but his mana capacity is a bit disappointing. It’s too low. His mana circuit is also narrow. I hope he hasn’t just started learning magic in the past month. But his mana manipulation is excellent. Its purity is also very high. He mentioned having a skill, so could it be a skill specialized in that area? I should definitely call him for further assessment… But conducting research requires me to… No, it’s all good, this is all for the sake of humanity…”
Mumbling… Mumbling…
“Hmm?”
Kim Jinhyuk turned his head at the mumbling sound from beside him. There, Professor Im Sol was intensely writing something down while watching Lee Hoyeon’s monitor.
“Professor Im Sol? What are you doing here?”
Given that Im Sol rarely attended such meetings, Kim Jinhyuk grew curious about why she was here and so enthusiastically evaluating Lee Hoyeon.
He also wondered about the truth behind the rumors circulating around the academy that Professor Im Sol had taken an interest in a particular outstanding student.
“Ah, um… It’s nothing!”
However, as soon as their eyes met, she hastily gathered her documents and rushed off somewhere.
“What the heck was that?”
In that moment, Kim Jinhyuk caught a glimpse of a flushed face on Im Sol as she turned away.
***