Episode 83 Week 5 Mentoring, In-person Battle (6)
I was running at full speed.
– Kagagagagak!
Shadow blades slashed past me, barely missing my spot.
It was running at full speed and then suddenly turned 90 degrees.
Dang Gyu-yeong suddenly emerged from the shadows and swung his dagger, but clicked his tongue when he narrowly missed cutting my ankle.
“Tch.”
They sink back into the shadows, and the blades rain down.
This time, two shadow butterflies flew in front of the path I was taking.
I immediately concentrated my strength into my legs and kicked the ground hard.
– Pfft!
And after barely escaping from the midst of the exploding butterflies… … .
Five or six more fly in.
– Pfft pfft pfft!
He flailed comically and zigzagged, weaving between the explosions.
‘That was a little dangerous just now.’
Dang Gyu-yeong, who took off the bracelet, became stronger than when he took off the sticker.
Even with one of the main skills right now, [Welcome Flight], you can summon only three monsters at a time without any restrictions.
Skills that were previously limited by mana can now be used in rapid succession.
A representative example is the B-rank skill called [Shadow Leap], which is used by Dang Gyu-yeong to hide in the shadows and appear here and there.
It is a skill that is compatible with [Spatial Jump], the main movement technique of wizards, but it consumes so much mana that it is impossible to even think about using it when [Core] is C-rank.
If it were Dang Gyu-yeong, his core would have been A-class.
How can one avoid the attacks of Dang Gyu-yeong, who has become so strong?
At least there isn’t much difference in speed.
As I raised 1,000 S-class heroes, I also reached the peak of my control.
Lastly, it was thanks to the fact that he was well aware of Dang Gyu-young’s skills.
‘I’ve also raised a shadow wizard.’
It was a secretly rare class, so there were only two of them, but I was able to train them up to S-rank.
– Kagagagagak!
Based on that control and experience, he once again dodges the blades with flashy movements.
But how long do I have to keep avoiding it so diligently?
Tang Gyu-yeong also seemed to have a similar curiosity, and continued to ask while swinging his shadow dagger.
“Are you sure you’re learning the trait?”
“Yes, just keep doing it like this.”
Even though there were no visible numbers, I had the confidence that only a veteran can have.
I am confident that I am steadily moving towards my goal.
Before learning how to [distort].
As with any game, there are many hidden stats in
One of them is the stack.
The stack increases by one when you successfully perform certain actions in succession.
For example, if you hit 10 consecutive attacks, you get 10 hit stacks.
What I’m building now is, of course, an evasion stack.
Similar to Hit, each time you dodge an attack, you gain 1 stack of Evasion.
And the minimum prerequisite for acquiring [Distortion] is to maintain at least 1,000 stacks of Evasion.
From then on, each time you dodge, you will have a chance to acquire a trait.
However, when you look at it as a standard for exactly 1,000 stacks, the probability of that event is so ridiculously low that it almost converges to 0.
So how do we increase this probability?
‘I need to build more stacks.’
As you build up more stacks, the odds continue to increase.
Knocking on the door of probability by repeating the evasion over and over again.
This was the process of learning [distortion].
So how do we build this stack faster?
You can evade by attacking an opponent who is of a higher rank than you, that is, an opponent with a higher rank in skills or equipment.
This means that if the rank difference is large, 3 or 4 stacks can be accumulated at a time.
‘Early education is important.’
The reason why it is much more advantageous to get it now, in the early part of the first year, than later, is because
This was also the reason why most rankers gave up even though they knew the conditions.
The average rank of the skills I currently have is between D and C, which means I can receive 3 or more stacks from a B-rank opponent.
But what if I level up here?
Even if you want to get the same stack, you have to dodge against A-rank enemies.
And if you go up to A or S rank, you have to continue evading from opponents of similar level, but even then, you only get 1 stack.
Even if you allow even one valid hit, you have to start over from the beginning, so even if it is only a B-grade, you have to practically give up on distortion.
Since the second week of the match, I haven’t allowed a single valid hit.
And I played tag with the Golem of Mokjonghwa, the Feather Snake Priest, and the Black Ark, who were numerically more powerful than me.
There was also this reason why I took on the role of drawing boss aggro in two dungeons.
‘I’ve piled up about 4 thousand now.’
The probability that was converging to 0 was raised to a level that was worth taking a chance on, and the probability was further inflated with the mentoring event bonus.
‘If this isn’t enough, just stack more.’
Because there’s an opponent in front of you, around B rank, who’s perfect for stacking.
In the end, it’s just a matter of time.
As soon as possible, this week, or at the latest, within this mentoring period.
– Boom!
I changed direction to avoid the explosive reception again, but Dang Gyu-yeong was waiting, predicting where I was going.
He came close as if he was sliding and stabbed me repeatedly with his dagger.
One word at a time, stabbing at each other.
“Why isn’t this right?”
As I continued to follow and wave my hand, shadow blades and butterflies rushed toward me all at once.
There is nowhere to escape, left, right, forward or backward.
The remaining place is,
‘Up.’
He slightly bent his knees, then suddenly leaped powerfully into the air.
– Pot!
Actually, it wasn’t a very good choice.
In aerial combat, butterflies that can move freely have a much greater advantage.
Even without that, shadow blades and butterflies were already flying after them.
But my target was elsewhere.
– Boom!
I cast [Windforce] on myself, which I had prepared in advance, and pushed back strongly.
My new model was shot out like a cannonball and landed softly a long way away.
“… … .”
Dang Gyu-yeong saw the sight and instead of attacking any further, he just stood there blankly for a moment with a tired expression on his face.
“Senior, please keep going.”
“… … I won’t do it. I want to rest.”
And then he collapses on the spot.
He looked more tired than me, having been running away the whole time.
Well, it’s like firing all your skills into the air, so it must be incredibly tiring.
The mental fatigue of not being able to guess even once may also play a part.
Dang Gyu-yeong tapped the floor next to him.
“You too, Ilu.”
“yes.”
Dang Gyu-yeong snickered as he saw the other person collapse on the ground in the same manner.
“Are you good at dodging? Later on, I was completely sincere, but how come I missed it even once?”
Since he took off his bracelet, he thought he had the upper hand no matter how much the first-year student flew and crawled, so he lightly moved his hand at first.
However, as I continued to dodge by a hair’s breadth, he became increasingly serious, and eventually he really tried to use every means possible to land a successful hit on me.
“It is a skill that has been built up through over 200 graduations.”
“The concept is clear. Are you going to keep pushing it?”
“For the time being.”
Dang Gyu-yeong seemed to firmly believe that I was hiding something else behind the lie of ‘graduation number 200’.
I’m maintaining it as is because it’s easier to just leave it as is rather than trying to prove something.
At least for the time being.
“But the more I think about it, the more I feel like I’m at a loss.”
“Why is it a loss? This is all included in mentoring.”
“Hiding it doesn’t count. Can I just film this all and upload it?”
Dang Gyu-young had a mischievous smile on his lips.
I tried to gloss over it, but it didn’t work.
[Distortion] was an extremely rare trait even in Yongsal Academy, so there are probably few people in this game world who know about it.
Dang Gyu-yeong is the head of the thieves’ club, so he must also be an information broker, but I’ve never heard of him.
So it was no good for it to be known that I was learning distortion and that I was avoiding every single attack from a third-year student who was probably a B-rank.
I had no choice but to ask back, as it seemed like he wanted something in return for not reporting to the academic department.
“What do you need?”
“Well? Not really now?”
Dang Gyu-yeong smiled bashfully and held out his little finger.
“Instead, I’d like to receive a wish ticket. Here, your finger.”
But I didn’t raise my finger rashly.
Originally, unsecured loans were more frightening.
It smells like something dark and sinister.
“That’s suspicious. Aren’t you going to ask me to do something weird later? Like join a club?”
“Don’t make me do anything weird! And is joining a club weird?”
“But I still don’t feel like it. I’ll just practice close combat, just like the others.”
Stacks are a good thing, but if you’ve stacked them up to this extent, you can just dodge moderately and fight at a probabilistic level.
This means that it is not a big deal even if Dang Gyu-yeong does not show off his full potential.
As I was about to pull my foot out, Dang Gyu-yeong gently teased me.
“Hey, why are you giving up so easily? You should learn all the good things and work hard for world peace, like you do.”
“Now that I think about it, I think it might be okay to take it slow and work hard.”
“Okay, then listen to it later and if you don’t like it, then don’t. Okay?”
“great.”
Only then did I put my pinky on the line.
It’ll be fine if you put the safety device on.
Dang Gyu-yeong smiled pleasantly, but to me, it looked more suspicious than the sinister smile of the undercover agents.
Why do you want to keep the wish list?
‘What are you going to make me do later?’
* * *
Similar times.
Another circular arena.
The calligrapher looked across at him with an expressionless, half-sleepy face as always.
At the end of his gaze stood a woman neatly dressed in a suit.
Anyone who sees this woman for the first time will think of the word ‘competent’ first.
Not only does she look like a perfectly composed career woman, but she also seems like she would do anything you ask her to do perfectly.
He gave off the impression that he was a crystallization of true competence.
The eyes of the woman in the suit stared at the calligrapher.
The calligrapher met the gaze with his usual indifferent attitude.
After the two people stared at each other in silence for a long time, the woman in the suit finally opened her mouth.
“Miss, I am here.”
And he bowed very politely.
Her name is An Jeong-mi.
He is the head of the Strategy Team 2 of the Future Strategy Office of Hyesung Group.
He was one of the ‘butlers’ who had served the calligrapher’s family for a long time.
