Chapter 20

First place in the student rankings of Gaon. The strongest first-year student who was often talked about, Adela Ortensia.

She stood in a dungeon not far from Academy City.

[Flaming Volcano Cave]

As implied by the name, the monsters appearing in this dungeon had fire affinities and were around rank three. However, all that currently existed in the cave was frigid ice.

“…Clear.”

Adela’s emotionless voice rang throughout the cave. The companions who had accompanied her to the raid had expressions of shock on their faces while staring at the ice.

“As expected of Adela…”

One of those companions was a fellow S Class student with a bob cut, Lee ChaeHyun.

“We didn’t even get to do anything. Is it fine for us to get paid?”

The boy laughing awkwardly was another S Class student, Min SungHyuk. Adela did not reply to either of them—her personality was as cold and blunt as her ice Trait.

But even to that Adela, there was a person from the Academy that managed to earn her interest.

‘…So that man eventually ended up getting to participate in the competition.’

[Academy Dungeon Raid Competition]

Hosted by the Association, it was an event that geniuses from around the world competed in. Even among them, the students from Gaon Academy were always a hot topic.

The ones who were going to represent Gaon, if all went according to plan, were supposed to be Adela and Kim EunAh. But the headmaster, Jin ByungCheol, had chosen Shin YuSung.

‘…Shin YuSung. Does he think that this man has more potential?’

Adela slowly closed her eyes.

‘I’ll have to check him myself.’

Her long eyelashes lowered. As she did so, the ice around her shattered.

Crack! Crack! Shatter!

The monsters that had been frozen like statues turned into dust. Adela turned her back towards the frozen Burning Volcano Cave and leisurely strode out.

“Wow…”

“Even the same S-ranks seem like they’re on a different level compared to Adela, huh?’

Min SungHyuk and Lee ChaeHyun, impressed, started to perform the cleanup. While they were doing so, Adela took out a square hot pack from her armband-shaped Pocket.

Rub.

She fed mana to the military-grade hot pack and rubbed her hands against it. The hot pack immediately heated up and started radiating warmth.

Adela gently warmed up her hands with the hot pack. Even though her Trait let her control ice, her hometown was Florence—a city known for being especially hot, even in Italy. Because of this, she did not like the cold.

Rub rub.

‘…It’s warm.’

Adela warmed her hands with the same expressionless face as before.

* * * *

Lunchtime for Gaon Academy.

Shin YuSung sat on a bench that overlooked a lake. He was going over the information that Kang YuChan had given him.

[The 4th Dungeon]

[Name: Graveyard of Despair]

[Difficulty: Highest]

[Reward: Black Dragon’s Hide (Artifact)]

[Types of monsters…]

The data written was fairly basic, but it was clear what the Fist King wanted Shin YuSung to do. He wanted the boy to collect artifacts to prepare for raiding the Tower.

‘…The Black Dragon’s Hide.’

Among those, the Black Dragon’s Hide had a special connection to the Fist King.

‘It was the artifact that Master acquired after conquering the 30th floor.’

The one who had won the Black Dragon’s Hide from the Tower was the Fist King, and the power that it bestowed upon its user happened to be a great fit for a martial artist like him.

‘Master is a retired hunter, so he doesn’t need it anymore, but…’

It was an indispensable artifact to Shin YuSung, who had inherited the Fist King’s techniques as his disciple.

‘…But, a minimum of 3 people are needed for the raid.’

Even excluding the party leader, two other members were needed. Shin YuSung stared at the grass next to the bench where Lee SiWoo and Sumire were enjoying a picnic on a picnic mat.

“Wow! You made this?”

“I-it’s not much! Just… a bunch of dishes… that anyone can make.”

Since she had become a Seven, Sumire no longer had any issue with her tuition or cost of living. Until now, though, the extravagant cafeteria and its equally extravagant fees were too intimidating for her, so she made her own lunches.

Possibly due to this, or because she had experience taking care of her younger siblings back in Japan, her cooking skills were outstanding.

Glance.

Sumire glanced at Shin YuSung out of the corner of her eye for a long moment. Finally, she deftly picked up a piece of fried chicken with her chopsticks.

“U-um… Shin YuSung-ssi, would you like to try one? It’s called karaage, it’s tastier than it—”

“No, it’s fine.”

But Shin YuSung cut through Sumire’s offer like a knife. Her shoulders seemed to sag more than usual at his response. Remembering the information about the Graveyard of Despair that he had read about earlier, Shin YuSung followed up with a question.

“Sumire. Can you go into more detail about your Trait, including your Skills?”

As he did so, a healthy glow returned to her face.

“Eh? Eh! I-it isn’t… much, really… but if Shin YuSung-ssi is curious…”

The name of the Trait that Sumire possessed was rather bombastic, [Controller of the Undead].

It was, of course, F-rank. The reason for its low ranking was most likely due to its low versatility.

Because of this, Sumire’s Skills were heavily restricted.

[Skeleton Summon]

A Skill that summoned a skeleton through a contract that involves a part of one’s body, such as hair or fingernails.

[Familiar]

A Skill that could summon small animals as spirit familiars that she could control.

[Call of the Undead]

And the last Skill let her use her own mana to control undead monsters and creatures.

It was a powerful Skill at first glance, but in reality, there were little to no situations in the Academy where one had to fight against the undead. Therefore, it merely sat there looking pretty.

But Shin YuSung, thinking about the monsters in the dungeon that he had read about earlier, could find the potential in her powers.

‘…So ranks are definitely not all there is to a Trait.’

Ultimately, Traits were as good as one made of them.

“I’ll keep relying on you in the future, Sumire,” he said while grinning at her.

Sumire, with a blush, nodded her head in lieu of a reply.

* * *

* * *

[First-year – D Class]

The D Class students were holding a discussion with each other in preparation for the intramurals. The ones with the most sway among them were, of course, the students who had the highest rankings in the class. Ju HaJin was one of the three included in that group.

“Ha, see this? Even an A Class lost to Shin YuSung during the spar. Of course I got defeated,” he confidently stated.

As if annoyed, the female student next to him grimaced and adjusted her glasses.

“So what? Do you want to be complimented or something?”

Her name was So HaWon. She was the class president of D Class and the highest in the student rankings in the classroom at 20th place.

At her words, Ju Hajin slammed down his fists on the desk and stood up.

“Just saying shit with your mouth, huh, you piece of…”

“Hey, settle down, HaJin-ah.”

As he did so, Kang MinSu next to him smiled at Ju Hajin through his closed eyes in an effort to placate the other boy. Unlike his tone, though, Kang MinSu had a tight hold on Ju HaJin’s shoulder.

Ju Hajin glared at So HaWon then sank back into his seat as if it couldn’t be helped.

The D Class students.

The ones who had high enough grades to do the extracurriculars were especially on edge.

The class president, So HaWon, coldly looked at the other D Class students and began to speak.

“You know what will happen if we get last place in the intramurals, right?”

Extra classes after school to raise their abilities.

Forbidden from going out on the weekend to bolster their competitiveness. There were a great variety of penalties for being last place in a skill-based meritocratic school like Gaon, but even among those was a penalty worse than all the others.

Being forbidden from participating in extracurricular activities for a month.

“Me and Kang MinSu have a request to do next week. If we lost to F Class and got last place…”

So HaWon sighed. Kang MinSu opened his mouth.

“We’d have to cancel it. Returning the request fee is a given. Hm, and our standings in the Hunter Association would… haha, they’d fall a lot, huh.”

“…Are you really laughing at a time like this?”

Kang MinSu’s easygoing smile didn’t falter, even at So HaWon’s scathing question.

“Calm down, HaWon-ah. Have you forgotten why F Class has been last in the intramurals all this time?”

The ones who said this were Jin MinAh and Sung IkHyun.

These students were the ones saved by Shin YuSung on Jewel Island when they were surrounded by salamanders.

Jin MinAh began trying to convince the class president, So HaWon.

“There are 30 students in one class. We have to use those numbers to our advantage. So give me operational authority.”

Only 3 students could have authority during the intramurals. In D Class, So HaWon and Kang MinSu were already secured for two of those spots. Only one spot was left.

“Do you think you’ll perform well in this role?” asked the class president.

Jin MinAh nodded.

“Yeha, IkHyun will help me.”

Among the mostly agreeable mood, Ju HaJin was the sole person with a displeased expression on his face.

“Hey… prez, what the hell is that supposed to mean?”

Skid.

Ju HaJin rose from his seat once more while pushing his table aside. He grit his teeth and glared at So HaWon.

“Based on grades, the last spot should definitely go to me!”

So HaWon laughed at his declaration.

“Pfft. Says who? The one who chooses is me, the class president.”n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

“You son of a…”

Ju HaJin was shaking on the spot, fist clenched. However, So HaWon wasn’t even looking in his direction. Instead, she was twirling a lock of hair around her finger and had her gaze turned towards Jin MinAh.

“Congratulations, Jin MinAh. I’ll give you operational authority. The strategy using numbers that you talked about, I’ll be looking forward to it.”

“Thank you, President!”

Jin MinAh high-fived Sung IkHyun in excitement. As they did so, Ju Hajin roughly left his seat and left the classroom.

At his reaction, the D Class students began exchanging glances between themselves. So HaWon took off her glasses and waved her hand as if dismissing him.

“Just leave him alone. He’ll come around.”

* * * *

Ju HaJin made his way back to his dormitory after nearly three hours of working out in the training room.

“She ignores me and gives the authority to Jin MinAh when her student ranking is way lower than mine?” he muttered to himself with a glower, as if still working off his anger.

He didn’t particularly want the authority itself but was mad that the president had chosen Jin MinAh over him.

“So HaWon. I’ll land a good punch on your nose one day…”

Ju HaJin was about to climb the stairs in a huff, but he noticed that a white envelope was in his mailbox.

[B Dorm, Room 102]

It was definitely addressed to him.

“Tch, how old-fashioned…”

He opened the envelope, grumbling all the while.

“N-no way, this is…”

In the envelope was a simple sentence: [If you wanna get stronger, eat this~]; alongside it was a pill.

Ju HaJin looked at the pill and gulped, a nervous expression on his face.

It was a stimulant that boosted a person’s skills—ones that hunters on active duty used.

‘Who gave me this?’

Ju HaJin looked around with the question on his mind. The security for entrance into the academy was strict, but the dorms were a space where absolute privacy was maintained.

As Ju HaJin opened up the letter, there was an extra line at the bottom of it—as if the writer had predicted it.

[You want to win against Shin YuSung, right?]

Crunch!

Ju HaJin crumpled up the paper and grimaced.

“Which son of a bitch did this…”

Stimulants were hunting gear that was hard for students to acquire without permission from the Association. Ju HaJin didn’t have a single clue as to who the culprit was.

A short, scant three seconds.

Ju HaJin began to think. Stimulants were hard to come by for students.

‘…Come to think of it, it isn’t against the rules, right?’

Of course, just because that was the case, it didn’t mean that one had to use them. The reason why hunters were wary of using stimulants was because of the possibility of them going [berserk].

If a hunter exhibited power beyond their own scope, they ran the risk of being consumed by it.

But to Ju HaJin, that sort of strength was urgently needed.

Gulp.

After looking around once more, he shoved the pill into his pocket.

‘Just in case… I’ll keep it for now.’

Ju HaJin walked up the stairs as if nothing had happened.