Chapter 52 — Dungeon Practicum (2)
Bzzzzzt…
{The day of the Dungeon Practicum}
JaeHyun woke up early and was sitting with his legs crossed as he gathered mana in his lower abdomen.
What he was doing right now was warm-up before going into a dungeon. JaeHyun knew very well that his current action was one that would increase a Magician’s survival rate.
‘No matter how great a Magician’s mana capacity is, if they suddenly overuse high-level spells, they will experience Mana Rebound. There is a need to continuously train how to use mana every day.’
Mana Rebound was an illness that occurred when mana refluxed while it was used and damaged the user’s body. It was an illness that plagued Magicians who used a lot of high-level spells often.
Training was important since JaeHyun possessed two high-ranking skills—《 Lightning Chain 》 and 《 Sacrifice 》.
In order to be able to use his mana to its very limit, he had to inevitably keep an eye out for Mana Rebound.
‘On top of that, if you keep mana pooled in your lower abdomen, you can use it to strengthen your spell or body quickly when you need to. It’s a pretty useful trick.’
JaeHyun tried to keep his breath even as he closed his eyes and exhaled as much as possible. With a clear mind, pure mana accumulated deep in his lower abdomen.
Calmly and clearly…
JaeHyun started to organize his thoughts as he felt the flow of his mana.
‘I don’t know how dangerous things will get in today’s Dungeon Practicum. If I make a mistake, it could lead to the death of me or one of my teammates.’
Bzzzt…!
Mana started to gather, flowed through his body, and stopped in one place.
JaeHyun controlled his breathing, then opened his eyes.
‘The only reason I survived before was because I stepped on the lives of others. Others got hurt or died in my stead.…In this life, I won’t live like that.’
The Dungeon Practicum was around the corner.
The fight that would occur in that place would be very dangerous.
In the monster cave that was constructed to imitate an underground dungeon as much as possible was a long journey of wielding a sword and pouring out magic against a real monster until the very end.
Of course, since it was only the second event, the rank of the monster that would appear in the Dungeon Practicum wasn’t that high.
It would be a level that a cadet skilled enough to enroll in Millaes Academy could clear without too much difficulty.
‘But that isn’t the actual problem.’
The real problem was that Gu Ja-In was going to use his dirty tricks in the practical once again.
Before regressing, Gu Ja-In alluded that there was only going to be a D-ranked monster in the Dungeon Practicum for the cadets to fight against.
As a result, many cadets were traumatized, were wounded, and—in the end—died.
Of course, Gu Ja-In wasn’t doing such things only to reduce the amount of resources used on the cadets.
‘Sometimes, these give birth to raiders who break through their limits and grow stronger quickly. In Gu Ja-In’s perspective, it must have seemed like a game wherein he had nothing to lose.’
Every once in a while, there are raiders that break down the walls that limit them, who then grow exponentially stronger.
The process of breaking that wall—in other words, experiencing a re-Awakening—allowed one to gain a higher level of strength than before.
You either died or broke through your limits and lived.
That was what Gu Ja-In was hoping for.
Of course, the reason Gu Ja-In could act so lawlessly in the academy was because the police and major powers of Korea overlooked his behavior.
In fact, before he returned to the past, it took almost five years before Gu Ja-In’s numerous crimes were revealed.
‘He even ran away in the end. They couldn’t find any clues as to where he escaped to. Although there were many rumors about whether he’d died or not…’
Gu Ja-In was most certainly not dead before time unwound.
There was never a single other person who wielded so much power in Korea.
He was probably still manipulating things from behind the scenes, pushing innocent people to death, even if it wasn’t to the same extent as before.
‘Currently, there is no place in Korea that is not within Gu Ja-In’s reach. But that doesn’t mean I should hide away in fear.’
Decreasing the number of innocent victims as much as possible—that was JaeHyun’s goal.
‘Still, the current situation isn’t all bad.’
Right now, JaeHyun was the one holding the knife.
By coincidence, Gu Ja-In had not been able to produce an S-class raider over the past few years, and his power had decreased a lot in the government.
But if a cadet with overwhelming talent, who was a Magician at that, suddenly appeared?
The media would focus on JaeHyun and produce several articles about him, and Gu Ja-In would rush to hold on to JaeHyun with greed-filled eyes.
‘If that were to happen, the government would trust Gu Ja-in again and offer him a huge amount of funds.’
And that was the loophole JaeHyun had been eyeing.A very tiny gap that the clever Gu Ja-In wasn’t able to notice.
Targeting that gap would determine the success or failure of the second event, the Dungeon Practicum.
‘I have to succeed no matter what. Right now, I have knowledge and power from the future. There’s no reason I can’t.’
JaeHyun pulled himself together and recalled the voice he had heard just before his return to the past.
The refreshing and light tone unique to the Nornir System.
一 Reverting of time to the period most desired by the user has succeeded.
The time most desired—
—the period JaeHyun had been thinking about.
As if it read his thoughts, the Nornir System spoke again.
一 Main Quest 《First Junction》 has been received.
[Main Quest]
First Junction
You have succeeded in returning to the time you longed for.
From this point on, you will have to go through several junctions that previously left you with regrets and decide whether to make the same choices or change them.
What you decide may take or save the lives of others.
The decision is in your hands.
Difficulty: ???
Reward:
A-Route: The same choice as before – ???
B-Route: A different choice than before – ???
Remaining Time: 11:59
Failure Penalty: –
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“Something strange came up again.”
What could the choices mentioned by the Nornir System mean?
Would he make the same choices as last time or decide to do things differently?
The system was obviously trying to help JaeHyun grow stronger. Its intent had always been clear.
It was all to reach his goals.
But from this quest, it was difficult to accurately grasp what it intended.
Decide on what kind of ending he wanted from several possibilities?
He couldn’t know for certain, so he could only go for it blindly.
The Dungeon Practicum…A tragedy was approaching.
***
Translator – Rainypup
Proofreader – Lyze
***
Whenever a dark branch was stepped on, it crumbled and made a sound.
The Mock Dungeon was rumored to be the most dangerous underground facility in Millaes Academy.
As they walked to the deepest part of the second floor of the basement, they could see a wide and endless hall with several dark caves.
Instructor Kim JiYeon, who was walking in front, suddenly stopped and looked back.
She was in charge of the cadets and was the supervisor for the Dungeon Practicum.
Kim JiYeon looked at the cadets walking in line behind her and pointed at the entrance of the dungeon.
“As you know, this Dungeon Practicum is very difficult with various risks involved. So, you will be grouped into teams of four and act together.”
At Instructor Kim’s words, a cadet standing in front promptly raised their hand.
“How will the teams be formed? Will they consist of 2 Magicians and 2 Warriors?”
“No. With at least one Warrior or Magician in each team, the teams will be decided randomly. We will draw lots to form the teams in a little while after a short explanation.”
Complaints rang out from everywhere.As with the endurance test, they thought it to be unfair.
If you were lucky, you could easily be carried through the dungeon.But on the other hand, if you were unlucky, low-level cadets would be grouped together and enter the dungeon.
JaeHyun looked around his noisy surroundings.
Cadets who ranked high in the Freshmen Hunt did not seem to want to be grouped with low-ranking cadets. Moreover, low-grade cadets were avoiding each other.
‘Well, a real monster will appear in this practical.’
JaeHyun nodded in agreement.
No matter how weak a monster was, they were newbie cadets who had never entered a dungeon. It was natural to pursue safety even a little for this practical.
In that sense, it was obviously much more stable to organize a party with stronger cadets.
“You need to have good luck when drawing lots. Haa… I’m really bad at this…”
“Please let me draw something good…”
Desperate voices came from all over.
But as Instructor Kim JiYeon started her simple explanation of the Dungeon Practicum, everyone quickly went silent again.
First of all, the Dungeon Practicum was a formal test that would affect their grades.
Since it was their first raid, they didn’t need a very high score, but if they performed well, they could get a lot of points like with the endurance test.
The first place would receive 300,000 points, and the second place would receive 100,000 points. In addition, this dungeon test featured monsters that even weaker cadets could deal with, E-rank monsters like goblins or Kobolds for example.
‘Of course, this is just Gu Ja-In’s trap.’
JaeHyun knew how Millaes Academy suffocated its cadets.
He gulped, then looked at the entrances that were divided into several paths.
‘I’m the only one among the cadets who knows what will happen in there.’
Of course, like what Instructor Kim had said, most of the monsters that appeared in the dungeon were low-level.
But if Gu Ja-In wanted, boss-level monsters could appear as well.
The monster that would appear here was the Kobold Lord—a D-rank boss monster.
Although it wasn’t a difficult opponent for JaeHyun, this wasn’t the case for the other cadets.
From the start, it didn’t make sense for a party of four cadets to defeat a boss.
But Instructor Kim Jiyeon didn’t seem bothered.
It was also quite possible that she didn’t know about Gu Ja-In’s plans.
The only one of Gu Ja-In’s confidants JaeHyun knew for certain was Kim Seok-Gi.
The other instructors often didn’t know exactly what was happening at Millaes Academy.
‘There might be a need to find out whether Instructor Kim JiYeon is one of Gu Ja-In’s lap dogs.’
JaeHyun smiled slightly while looking at her.
Instructor Kim JiYeon checked her watch, then spoke to the cadets in a calm voice.
“Then, we shall officially start drawing lots. The cadets called should come forward and pick a lot one at a time.”
JaeHyun, who was called fairly quickly, was assigned to Team 3.
Walking over to the area where Team 3 was to gather, he saw someone he already knew there—
Seo Ina.
JaeHyun was relieved to see at least one person in the team he could talk to comfortably. Moreover, it was a cadet with good skills that he could entrust his back to.
“Thank god. At least I know someone on the team.”
“…Yeah.”
While the two were talking, voices that JaeHyun would never forget suddenly penetrated his ears.
“Hi. I’m Kim Jina, a Warrior.”
“I’m Park SungWoo, also a Warrior. You guys are Team 3, right? Let’s get along.”
The moment JaeHyun saw the two, his pupils started to shake.
The poker face he had always maintained cracked for the first time.
JaeHyun already knew their names and faces.
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‘How…’
Kim Jina and Park SungWoo.
They were the cadets who had taken part in the Dungeon Practicum with JaeHyun before regression—
the ones who had died in JaeHyun’s place in the dungeon.
____
