Episode 218 Week 12 Battle (1)
After going through the tailoring club, the calligrapher and I returned to the training center.
It was to practice wind barrier again.
But before that, since it would have been neater to give what I had to give first, I sent a message to Ko Hyun-woo.
“Brother Kim.”
“Oh, you’re here.”
Go Hyun-woo came to our training room right away.
As soon as he arrived, his gaze went down and he looked back and forth between me and Seo Ye-in, looking at the upgraded cloud treadmills.
And a pleased fatherly smile appeared on his lips.
“It’s very nice to see.”
“Yeah, you have one too.”
I didn’t really react and just returned the armor that Go Hyun-woo had left for me.
[Multicolored shell (C+)]
▷Multicolor Defense (C+)
▷Upgradeable
Originally it was just big and heavy because of the bronze upgrade, but that was replaced with the multicolored scale upgrade.
The weight and volume were greatly reduced, and it had the mobility to be worn by unmanned personnel like Ko Hyun-woo without any problems.
It’s so good that you can wear it under your uniform like a T-shirt.
Go Hyun-woo seemed very pleased with the new armor.
“I always get more than I deserve from Brother Kim. Thank you.”
“Don’t be thankful. I’ll just take it all out of the distribution.”
“Haha, what are you talking about? I’m satisfied with Kim Hyung’s method.”
We looked at each other and laughed lightly.
But then, the calligrapher who had been standing there blankly with a sleepy face suddenly grabbed my sleeve.
And when I met his gaze, he said briefly.
“now.”
“now?”
“oh my god.”
“box?”
– Nod,
Go Hyun-woo had a puzzled expression on his face, as if he was having a hard time keeping up with the conversation, but there was sufficient communication between Seo Ye-in and me.
Now, jackpot, box.
If I connect this into one sentence,
‘If you open the ingot box now, you’ll hit the jackpot.’
In the Magic Engineering Workshop, ‘later’ means right now.
So I held out [The Ghost Captain’s Box of Ingots], and the calligrapher accepted it and opened the cover at the same time.
– Kwaaaaah—!
A thick fog poured out of the box, filling the training room.
The outlines of Koh Hyun-woo and Seo Ye-in, who were right nearby, were faintly visible.
It smells humid and salty, as if I’ve come to the sea.
‘If the effect is like this.’
It’s almost like a sure hit.
Indeed, the items revealed when the fog cleared did not betray my expectations.
A metal with an overall bluish color and a strange texture.
[Kraketite Ingot (A)]
A metal that very rarely crystallizes within the body of the deep sea boss monster Kraken.
Even a very small amount can have enormous value, and this is a completely processed ingot.
With this, we create the next part and combine it with the deep roots,
‘I’m sure I’ll get an A+.’
“Wow. Miss Seo’s luck is always surprising.”
Although Go Hyun-woo didn’t know what Kraketite was, he seemed to know that it was a powerful item comparable to an A-class item.
Well, it’s not ordinary from the start.
While he was looking at the ingots, exclaiming in admiration over and over, the calligrapher looked up at me closely and asked,
“Did it help?”
“It helped me a lot.”
“……pillow?”
“Okay, eat as much as you want today and sleep well.”
Currently, the Kim Ho pillow usage period is in the negative, but since he gave me grade A material, there is no need to be picky until this point.
Her gray eyes sparkled at my consent.
Then he asks again what came to mind.
“……butler?”
“That won’t do.”
“regret.”
But what can’t be done is what can’t be done.
* * *
monday.
Interpersonal class.
Lee Soo-dok looked around the room and opened his mouth.
“There are two main reasons for conducting the practical evaluation in a hostile environment.”
The first is survival in a hostile environment.
The second is the exploitation of a hostile environment.
“But looking at the recent battles and strategy battles… … there seems to be almost no one who takes advantage of the environment.”
For example, a volcanic area that was a battleground environment:
It was an extremely dangerous place, with rivers of lava overflowing and fireballs falling down.
Examples of utilizing the terrain features of this volcanic area include me using Windforce to drop Kang Hee-chan, Son Hyeong-taek, and others into a river of lava, and Hong Yeon-hwa exploding a falling fireball.
However, these cases are extremely rare, and most of the time, they would just rush into battle, trying to knock down their opponents before they get swept up in the lava.
Since it ended in an instant, it is ambiguous to say that I experienced the first purpose of survival, let alone use it.
The corners of Lee Soo-dok’s mouth went up.
“So this week I’m gearing up to be a little more environmentally friendly.”
“… … !”
The students became suddenly anxious and rolled their eyes.
Because so far, whenever he said he had something prepared, it never turned out to be comfortable.
Soon the rules and circumstances for the week appeared on the blackboard.
MAP:[Cloud Stairs]
RULE:[Deathmatch][2vs2][Random Matching]
The rules are things we’ve all experienced before.
Defeating the enemy 2 on 2.
Since it is random matching, team members are selected randomly.
The important thing is the new environment, the cloud stairs.
‘This is my favorite map.’
Before explaining, Lee Soo-dok took out a bunch of clouds from somewhere and held them in his hand.
It’s somewhere between smoke and cotton, fluffy but definitely has substance.
“All the terrain of the cloud staircase is made of clouds like this. They serve as a good stepping stone.”
Then a doodle-like drawing appeared on the blackboard.
Layers of cloud platforms floating at regular intervals.
In the picture, someone would stand on the lowest layer of clouds, then jump up to the upper layer, and then higher.
As that person continued to jump higher and higher, the clouds at the very bottom began to disperse and disappear one by one.
“The cloud platforms will disappear sequentially, starting from the lowest one, over time. Also—”
As Lee Soo-dok exerted strength in his hand, the clouds he had been holding scattered with a bang.
“—It can be destroyed by causing a certain amount of damage.”
In summary, participants must continuously move upward while stepping on the cloud platform.
If you fall behind and stay at the bottom, you may lose your foothold and fall down.
It is also possible to attack an opponent or a cloud that the opponent has stepped on while heading upwards to put them in check.
So this time, the long-range series has a considerable advantage.
Whether you knock down or drop your opponent, the one who survives until the end wins.
“I… … . teacher.”
Then, one student cautiously raised his hand.
When Lee Soo-dok nodded as if to tell them to speak, the question that everyone was curious about came out.
“If that… … falls down… … what happens?”
The smile on Lee Soo-dok’s lips grew deeper.
As if he had been waiting for that question.
“You’ll find out. What happens if you jump out of a plane without a parachute?”
“… … !”
“Enjoy the thrill.”
After saying that, Lee Soo-dok finished the class.
But even after he left, a cold silence hung over the classroom for a long time.
* * *
[Sub Quest: 12th Week PvP Battle] (In progress)
▷Goal: Complete 3 rounds of PvP. (-/3 rounds)
▷Deadline: ~Sunday midnight.
▷Reward: Differential payment based on number of wins. (-/3 wins)
I always clear sub-quests with the highest achievement level, but this one requires me to get a 3-win streak even more.
If things go as expected, we’ll be receiving some powerful rewards for the first time in a long time.
‘Copy slot.’
So, as soon as class was over, I went to the arena.
Since it was a random match anyway, there was no need to decide on team members or devise a strategy in advance.
It seems that other students had the same thoughts, as there were quite a lot of people in the arena even though it was the first day of the interpersonal match.
I scanned my student ID on the terminal and waited for a while for a match to be made.
I looked at the names that appeared on the scoreboard and thought.
‘This is caught like this.’
I thought it was quite possible since the scores were similar, but I never thought it would actually happen.
As I entered the arena via the teleportation magic circle, I found myself standing high in the air.
It’s so high up that you can’t even see what’s below.
The cloud formation at the foot of the mountain was the cloud that Lee Soo-dok had shown me.
Of course, this isn’t a handful, but it’s wide and thick enough to stand on or take a couple of steps.
Such footholds are scattered here and there, but are lined up endlessly upward.
It’s literally a staircase of clouds.
And my teammate who appeared nearby,
“Kim Ho… … !”
It was Cha Hyun-joo who was building up a bad relationship with me.
In the Crystal vs. Man showdown, he blew away two games in a row,
When they made a preemptive attack during the midterm exam, they immediately destroyed it and threw it into the lake.
The next time I saw him, I had him shoot me with a calligrapher.
With all these different stories, it wasn’t at all strange that Cha Hyun-joo was glaring at me as if she was going to kill me.
But since we’re on the same team, we can’t just keep growling at each other.
I started the conversation naturally.
“The scores are close, so we’re on the same team. Let’s work together for this one game.”
“Join us? Don’t talk nonsense.”
“Wouldn’t it be better for both parties to put aside personal feelings? After all, it’s a battle between two people. There are points at stake.”
“It’s not my fault.”
Unlike me, who was trying to make things as positive as possible, Cha Hyun-joo continued to growl.
Until recently, it was somewhat expected that he would stick to the dagger regardless of whether he won or lost, but he has a mindset that he doesn’t mind losing points.
I asked again.
“So what do you want to do?”
“You want to win? Go ahead. Three to one.”
Cha Hyun-joo answered with a laugh.
In short, it means that they are going to do a team kill.
‘It’s 3 to 1.’
I don’t think it will be solved that easily.
First, I wanted to figure out the other side’s power, so I looked straight ahead, and they both looked somewhat familiar.
One of them is Jeong Su-ji from the Emerald Tower.
His skills are similar to Kwak Ji-cheol’s, but his style is more focused on containment.
Of course, it remains to be seen whether his skills will be fully demonstrated above the clouds.
The other one is Choi Jeong-pil from the same class.
Of course, even though we were in the same class, we only knew each other’s faces and names.
As seen in the placement test, it is a melee class.
It is certain that he is holding an axe in each hand.
“… … .”
“… … .”
With the eyes of three people focused on me,
The countdown has begun.
[3]
[2]
[1]
[Start!]
[Kim Ho 100% Cha Hyun-joo 100%]
Vs
[Jung Soo-ji 100% Choi Jeong-pil 100%]
Cha Hyun-joo really did what she had to do, as she aimed her arrow at me as soon as the match started.
The opposing team was even more flustered by the sudden internal strife.
It was a situation where an arrow could have been shot in the chest at any time, but I kept my composure and asked.
“Are you not willing to cooperate at all?”
“does not exist!”
“I see… … .”
I nodded with a bitter face—
– Boom!
—In the middle of it, the compressed air exploded and Cha Hyun-joo’s new body flew away.
“Then turn it off.”
