Chapter 103

Who has recently experienced the most dramatic rise in status at the Velvet Hunter Academy?

Jin Yuha?

Of course, he’s a figure who garnered attention even before proving his skills dramatically.

He entered the academy under the male quota system, facing ridicule and disdain from everyone, but he proved himself with outstanding swordsmanship.

Recently, there wasn’t anyone at the Velvet Academy who didn’t know that he even defeated Kang Do-hee in a duel.

However…

In fact, even before Jin Yuha started proving his skills, he was quite a controversial figure.

The basis for that was none other than his appearance.

From the beginning of basic training, he was inundated with various nicknames like “Why is someone with that face even bothering to train?”

The rumors spread like wildfire, including rumors about a love triangle formed by Jin Yuha, Cheonhwa, and Fighting Dog, where the two of them fell for Jin Yuha’s looks from the beginning of their admission to the academy.

And traditionally, during some classes (Understanding Basic Monsters, Understanding Position Deployment and Organization), he demonstrated not only his strength but also his exceptional intelligence, raising his reputation even higher.

This reached its peak when Jin Yuha was known as the leader of the Utopia party, that included Cheonhwa and Fighting Dog, further boosting his status.

Considering the many things Jin Yuha had shown before, his change in status could even be considered slow compared to what he had demonstrated.

So let’s return to the initial question.

Who has achieved the most dramatic rise in status at the Velvet Hunter Academy?

That would be none other than Lim Ga-eul.

Ranking last among the second-year supporters.

Throughout her first year, she was evaluated as having no talent, barely avoiding failing grades with worse performance than male students. Therefore, even when she became a second-year, there was no one to expect much from her, and most students didn’t even remember her name.

Yet, she suddenly showed a remarkable leap in performance as soon as she became a second-year.

The catalyst for this was the “Choi Ah-ram Demon Incident.”

Although efforts were made to prevent news of the Demon appearing at the academy from spreading, it was impossible. Moreover, since the second-year students summoned by Choi Ah-ram were a considerable number, it was difficult to silence them all.

Especially, the second-year students who experienced that situation couldn’t help but pay attention to the party led by Jin Yuha, Utopia.

However, due to the nature of the academy where classes are almost always separated by grade, it wasn’t easy for them to approach Jin Yuha.

That’s when Lim Ga-eul caught their eye.

“Are you Lim Ga-eul?”

“Do you know Jin Yuha’s number by any chance?”

“I heard they’re a bit short of members there. I want to join that party, how can I?”

Even awkward individuals who barely gave her a nod or looked down on her like trash were approaching her with various words, now pretending to be close!

A lump of satisfaction and superiority.

However, Lim Ga-eul tried her best not to lose her composure in the midst of it all.

“Sorry, I can’t tell you.”

Even if she hears words about being shameless, there’s nothing she can do about it.

‘I can’t cause trouble for my juniors.’

She remembered. How much Jin Yuha values his party now, and when he cautiously expressed his sincerity when she was served the absurd dish “Hawaiian Kimchi Stew” at his house, that sincerity deeply settled in her heart.

“Hmm, I still don’t really understand why he’s doing so much for me… But still, he’s my junior, and I owe him my gratitude.”

The method of using mana stones to activate skills. He taught her ways she couldn’t have imagined, and the generous person who willingly placed the precious high-grade mana stone in her hands.

“So, I have to work hard not to disappoint my junior!”

What’s the way for a supporter to improve their skills? Of course, there were various methods, but what her juniors expected from her was support skills utilizing mana stones!

Acceleration and deceleration.

Lim Ga-eul set a goal to frequently and extensively use these two skills to improve her proficiency.

Anyway, the mana stones her juniors gave her were high-grade mana stones. Surely, even using them for several months wouldn’t deplete them all.

To repay the favor to her juniors who recognized her and showed her the way, it was definitely a noble and determined sentiment that prompted her to start.

At first, what she tried was maintaining the “acceleration” skill on her body at all times.

Reapplying acceleration as it wore off, then again when it wore off again.

Time for moving, eating, training… Except for sleeping, she spent almost all her time with the acceleration skill.

As a result, her daily academy schedule, which used to keep her very busy, ended earlier than she thought, giving her “free time.”

And with that spare time, Lim Ga-eul started looking around to see if there were any corners where she couldn’t use her skills.

“Oh, that kitten is being chased by a hawk!”

She applied acceleration to the kitten and deceleration to the hawk. Suddenly, the hawk’s swooping speed slowed down, and the kitten sped up, successfully escaping from the hawk.

“Uh-oh! The box is falling!”

A delivery person at the academy who was moving boxes dropped one.

“Acceleration!”

He caught the falling box with his faster body.

“Huh?”

The female delivery person looked around, not understanding the situation, but Lim Ga-eul had already left the scene.

“Wow, do Utopia party members receive this kind of support skill every day?”

Now, Lim Ga-eul approached other classmates, those who were friendly to her despite her last-place ranking, and helped with their training using her skills.

They said with surprised faces, “If you accelerate me, I can finish training in a short time,” and “If you use deceleration, I can focus more on training.”

“Acceleration!” “Deceleration!”

Fast here, slow there!

She began to appear everywhere in the academy during breaks and free periods, indiscriminately using her skills.

Certainly, at first, it was training to improve her skill proficiency to help Jin Yuha. But with the never-ending supply of mana and the sense of pride in helping people, Lim Ga-eul was gradually becoming addicted.

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She first felt something was wrong at the “Thorn Plain.”

“Huh… Already, more than half have turned into ordinary rocks…? When did that happen?”

The high-grade mana stone she held emitted only about 40% of its blue light.

But that didn’t mean she could conserve it.

That day was the official debut of the Utopia party, and her support skills were crucial.

If it weren’t for her skills, it could have been a very risky strategy.

And when she conquered the dungeon and emerged, there was barely 20% of mana left in the high-grade mana stone.

“My juniors told me to use this for a month…”

A high-grade mana stone. What would happen if he found out that she had exhausted such a tremendously valuable gem in just a week? Probably, he would look at her with cold eyes. And in severe cases, she might even be expelled…!

“…This is dangerous!”

Feeling the crisis, Lim Ga-eul tightened her belt from the day she returned from the dungeon.

Nevertheless, with the pretext of needing to improve her proficiency, she began using low-grade mana stones purchased with her own money instead of the high-grade one.

However…

They say humans only truly feel a sense of loss when they lose what they’ve held in their hands.

Having used the high-grade mana stone extravagantly, she couldn’t be satisfied with the low-grade mana stone that only lasted a few uses.

It was like suddenly switching from driving a sophisticated sports car to riding a bicycle.

Although it was a skill that could continue to extend, the weakened effect with the low-grade mana stone was too apparent.

“…I have to endure!”

She tried her best to endure, but…

“Bu-but… just once more… Should I try it just once more…?”

Unable to resist the temptation of the high-grade mana stone, she started using acceleration on her own body.

“Y-yeah! But it’s better to get familiar with the skill I use on my body as much as possible!”

“It’s a dangerous situation, so just once more…!”

“It’s helping a close classmate, so just once more…!”

Gradually increasing the frequency…

“Anyway, I intended to repay it! This is mine now, right? Junior Yuha transferred ownership to me… So, it’s okay for me to use it, isn’t it?”

Lim Ga-eul was already addicted to the omnipotence provided by the high-grade mana stone.

And on the day of the practical gate training…

“Ah…”

When she finally snapped out of it after facing Jin Yoo…

“…Ah.”

She realized that there was only enough mana left in the high-grade mana stone for one more use.

“….”

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I brought Lim Ga-eul, who was rambling nonsense on the roadside, to a nearby chicken restaurant.

Gulp, gulp…

With a swig, Lim Ga-eul, who downed a 500ml beer in one go, spoke with a slurred voice.

“I’m garbage… I’m weak-willed and weak…”

Lim Ga-eul spoke with a voice full of self-blame.

“It’s okay. After all, it was something I gave to you, Senpai.”

“…Still.”

“Well, it was definitely my mistake to give you the high-grade mana stone from the beginning. Even if you’ve used it all up, it’s okay. Now you can just use the low-grade mana stone again.”

“…Low-grade mana stone?”

“Yes, it seems like you couldn’t control the power properly from the beginning. I didn’t think about this part either. Let’s gradually get used to the low-grade mana stone again.”

“…No, I can’t!”

Lim Ga-eul stood up abruptly and shouted.

“Huh?”

I asked with a puzzled look. Though her eyes were still watery, her eyebrows were raised in a determined expression.

“… Junior Yuha. I have something I’ve been thinking about this time.”

“What on earth are you trying to say?”

I adopted a serious listening posture to hear her out.

“Junior, I owe you, so please give me one more chance! If not, I feel like I won’t be able to live… This time, I’ll really use it sparingly. So, just one more!”

“…”

“I’ll be your doctor fish!”( dr fish are the fish used in pedicure, I think in this case it means Ga-eul is willing to be servile to Jin Yuha)

I stared at her with a cold gaze.

What? Doctor fish?

She’s talking like a gambling addict with that gentle face. It’s really confusing. I swallowed a sigh of exasperation.

“…What exactly do you mean by owing me? Are you going to gamble at a casino and bet mana stones?”

“Junior, your words are harsh. Do I look like someone who would do such a thing?”

She spoke as if offended, but I nodded my head.

“Yes, right now you do.”

“No way! I would never do something like that.”

“Really? Then how do you plan to pay me back?”

“I mean using the high-grade mana stone to hunt S-rank monsters and replenish the high-grade mana stone!”

She confidently folded her arms, as if saying, ‘How about that for a good plan?’

I burst out laughing.

“Well, you can hunt them?”

“That’s where you come in, Junior Yuha. You’ll help me, won’t you?”

LIm Ga-eul shamelessly roped me into it.

I wondered if she realized that I was more like a creditor. Was she curious about my temperament?

“Is there a problem?”

Lim Ga-eul, speaking boldly as if her plan was truly convincing.

“It seems like there’s nothing but problems.”

“T-that’s not true!”

I stared at her intently, then something occurred to me.

“Hmm, I remember there being a mana stone charger among the items you can get from the lottery…”

In the game, mana stones weren’t particularly rare items, so there probably was such an item.

I said it in a low voice, but somehow Lim Ga-eul’s eyes widened.

“A mana stone charger?! Then, does that mean you can duplicate the high-grade mana stone!?”

“Well, maybe sending you to a gambling addiction treatment program would be better after all…”

I felt dizzy.