Beginning of the Term, Part 2
When people looked at famous figures, there were always a few things they examined closely.
Education, looks, personality, scandals, and so on.
But some people were respected no matter what sort of traits they had.
First-Grade Hunters.
First-Grade Hunters possessed a strength on an entirely different level from the Second- and Third-Grade Hunters beneath them.
Take Han Riae’s older brother, for example. Even though he was considered one of the Meliton family’s most talented members, he was still struggling with the Hunter rank promotion examination.
That was why most First-Grade Hunters had immense wealth, and why offers to join various clans came at them constantly, as casually as breathing.
There was even a saying that lower clans and ordinary offices couldn’t even dream of looking at First-Grade Hunter listings.
Among those First-Grade Hunters, there were some who earned hundreds of billions of won a month and remained the constant subject of public attention.
In the present era, peace had been proclaimed.
But behind peace, destruction could only exist as well.
I didn’t know about this eastern region where peace had settled, but the southwest had already been swallowed by the demonlands and turned into a hell crawling with monsters.
Those who ventured into that hell to rescue whatever life might still be found there, and who fought against monsters, humanity’s greatest enemy.
Most of them were First-Grade Hunters, and in the demonlands, where any hunter even slightly questionable could meet death, the Association-recognized upper, middle, and lower First Grade made it hard to keep one’s life intact if you were in the lower tier.
Those were the people who operated in that hellish demonland.
Han Seohwa was one of the hunters who had worked on the front lines in such a place.
"My Hunter rank is First Grade! My overall ranking is 256th in the middle tier! I’m skilled enough to be in the top 0.1 percent. And even if I look like this, I’m several thousand times stronger than all of you."
From the way she looked, I’d have guessed she belonged in the upper tier, but apparently she was middle-tier.
At the professor’s introduction, the cadets’ eyes shone as they fixed their attention on her.
Not upper tier, but middle tier. Still, I doubted anyone was disappointed by that.
Rank promotion exams were conducted by the Hunter Association, which was run by the Tower Lords of Space, Observation, and Coordination, based on a combination of opinions, investigation, and hunter performance.
How many lives had been saved, how significantly one had contributed to monster subjugation.
Space and Observation carefully monitored and recorded such hunter activities, and the final promotion review was handled by the Tower Lord of Coordination.
As I’d said before, hunter ranks were divided into a total of First through Fifth Grade, and the lower the number, the higher the rank.
Each rank was further divided into upper, middle, and lower tiers.
The tier naturally rose as one continued active duty, but the rank itself only advanced through a final promotion exam once one reached the upper tier.
And the difficulty of the First-Grade promotion exam was only known to be extremely high.
The reason no detailed information was known was that each hunter reportedly received a different test subject, so even if the level of difficulty was similar, the format itself was entirely different.
Thinking about that made it clear just how strong First-Grade Hunters really were.
The number of people in the upper tier of First Grade was fewer than five hundred, and even if you went down to the middle tier, the total was only a little over five hundred.
When the total number of hunters across the continent was around one million...
Middle-tier First Grade, within the top three hundred.
As a professor at Sielm Academy, she already had more than enough qualifications.
"All right, all right, everyone pull yourselves together. Oh, you there, cadet! Stand up~ I know you’re tired first thing in the morning, but we still have to do what we have to do, right? I’m sure you’ve all already seen the academic schedule notice, but I’ll explain the schedule myself according to procedure."
For a newly appointed professor, she was handling the explanation with surprising ease, leading the cadets without a trace of hesitation.
"This semester is known, as you all know, as the Free Semester, right? As the name suggests, it’s a term in which you can take whatever lectures you want, regardless of your major or career path."
While she was explaining, one cadet who seemed not to understand raised a hand and asked a question.
"Ah! You there, cadet? Go ahead and ask."
"I saw the notice, and I’m hearing it now, but I still don’t understand."
"That’s exactly why I’m explaining it for cadets like you!"
Han Seohwa, having received the question, opened a hologram on the blackboard and continued as if she’d been waiting for it.
"In short, a cadet majoring in healing can take a lecture related to close-quarters combat without any problem."
The Free Semester.
Literally, it was a period in which students could freely choose lectures and study.
There were several reasons the free-semester system had been created.
For cadets who had come in through recommendations this time, or even those admitted through exams, but who still hadn’t properly narrowed down their major field or career path.
Just like me.
Or for those who had already narrowed down their career and settled on a proper major, but wanted to freely explore other potential talents and abilities, or simply had interest in something outside their field.
People like Yoon Hwayeon, for example.
This was the period meant for cadets like them to take a wide variety of classes and broaden their horizons.
To put it very simply, it was a time to try everything and see what stuck.
For some, there might be lectures that just didn’t suit them, so they treated it with a bit of skepticism.
But for me, who hadn’t even decided on a career yet and could pick up all sorts of things through mana erosion, it was a very welcome period.
"And as you can see here in the explanation, classes in the morning are common courses by grade, and in the afternoon you’ll attend major lectures according to your scores."
Han Seohwa was explaining the hologram in an easy-to-follow way.
In the morning, the class held common lectures for the whole homeroom, and in the afternoon, students attended major lectures according to their grades.
Like other academies, Sielm also sorted students by their entrance scores.
They were divided into basic, adaptive, and advanced tracks.
The lecture difficulty rose in the order of basic, adaptive, and advanced.
Whether you were in the basic track or the advanced track didn’t matter all that much.
If you had good potential and the effort and skill to bring it into bloom, you could move from the basic track to the advanced track through testing, and the advanced track could also fall to the lower one.
And even in the basic track, the quality of the lectures never dropped in the slightest; in terms of classes alone, they were still top-tier.
I was starting in the basic track because I was a special admissions student.
That was probably because I didn’t differ much from recommendation-admitted students who had been brought in solely for their potential.
Those admitted by recommendation were also assigned to the basic track because they had come in with nothing but potential.
It wasn’t as though someone with only potential could take the same level of classes as a cadet in the advanced track, like Han Riae or Yoon Hwayeon.
"Ahem... all right, then, that concludes the notices..."
She projected the full academic schedule from the notice, the exam schedule, various related details, the period when students would officially begin entering the Tower of Growth, what first-years were and weren’t allowed to do, and the things professors would flexibly overlook up to a point.
Han Seohwa finished explaining each item one by one, then wiped the sweat beading on her forehead with the back of her hand and took a breath.
Of course, the cadets had plenty of questions about Sielm, so they bombarded her with them, and the original schedule was delayed by several dozen minutes.
"All right! You can learn the more detailed stuff as you live here in Sielm, little by little~ For reference, first-years’ free semester schedules are very packed, so everyone, let’s hang on tight, okay? Next semester, things will be a lot looser, so you’ll have a bit more breathing room!"
After taking questions one by one and clearing up every curiosity, Han Seohwa delivered her closing line.
She quickly shook off her exhausted look and returned to the bright, smiling face she’d worn when we first met.
"Now then~ the schedule introduction is over, and... today is the first day of class, so it’d be boring to actually have class, wouldn’t it?"
Han Seohwa finished speaking and, with a mischievous smile, asked the cadets for their opinion.
And the response was...
"Yeeeeeah!!!"
Of course it was explosive.
Who wouldn’t like having the first day off?
I also thought it was a little much to be having class from the very first lecture.
"All right! Then, since it’s the first day, what we need to do is!"
The first day of lecture was usually called orientation.
Those kinds of classes varied wildly from professor to professor, so it was hard to predict what would happen.
Still, I didn’t think too deeply about it.
It was the first lecture period, after all, so the professors probably didn’t want to spend too much time on anything major, and they weren’t likely to do anything especially unusual during their allotted time.
Well, if there was anything to do, maybe the professor would explain the outline of the class, or measure the cadets’ abilities once, or maybe talk about some story from the days before retirement.
There were plenty of possibilities.
Since most orientations were like that, I’d started to think, So I guess that’s what she’ll do too—
"On the first day, the most important thing is getting to know one another! All right, we’ll start introductions from the cadet in the very front! Don’t even think about skipping it~ Everyone’s going to do it!"
What?
Introductions?
...
Come to think of it, introductions were also a very common first-day activity.
Since everyone was new to each other, it could be a good icebreaker, a chance to loosen things up and get to know one another.
In a place like Sielm, where connections mattered so much, it might even be a necessary procedure.
But the problem was this.
Even if there weren’t many people around me, was it really okay for me to introduce myself in front of that many people? That was the question.
Honestly, even at the banquet hall, I’d been standing beside Han Riae, but the sheer number of gazes that landed on me had still made my body tremble.
Ah, damn it...
Just thinking about it made me start shaking.
"Paran, are you hurt somewhere? You look pale... and you’re shaking too."
"... No... I’m fine..."
I didn’t need to tremble.
After all, this was something I had to do anyway, and from now on I’d have to stand in front of people and push through this damn fear.
I just had to stand firmly at the lectern and say my name and a few features, that was all.
I somehow managed to reassure Han Riae, who kept worrying at my side, and quietly looked toward the front lectern.
Even while I was trembling like this, the introductions were continuing.
"Combat major Miel Norison! I’ve got a unique ability that lets me channel my own mana into my sword. Sparring’s always welcome, so just let me know anytime!"
The cadet from the upper ten percent who had broken the safety device with Han Riae at the entrance ceremony.
"I’m Lee Seona, specialized in weapon enhancement~ If your weapon breaks, come to me, okay?"
Lee Seona, who seemed to be the one carrying the atmosphere of this Wolchun class.
"I’m Yoon Hwayeon, the fire-using maniac! Hehehe, nice to meet you all!"
Yoon Hwayeon, who, unlike what you’d expect from such a great family, lifted the mood of the cadets with her playful energy.
After Yoon Hwayeon, the introductions continued.
People pointed out the funny parts of one another’s self-introductions, or asked why everyone was making such a fuss over introductions in the first place.
Everyone was learning each other’s good sides, and the mood was softening.
"Hm, I’m Han Riae from the combat major. Well, let’s get along."
The Han Riae who had gently smiled while patting my head was gone, replaced by one who gave her introduction with a somewhat indifferent expression.
When she was with me, she was a completely different person.
And then there was me, sitting beside Han Riae...
"All right! Cadet Lim Paran, it’s your turn to introduce yourself!"
The lively atmosphere that had surrounded even Han Riae was gone, and silence was all that remained around me.
Hoo... haah...
I slowly drew in a breath and stood from my seat.
Before, people had at least pretended to look elsewhere, but now that I had a reason to stand up, every eye was on me.
Feeling those gazes, my stomach started to churn, and my whole body began to shake.
Clump, clump.
With heavy steps, I walked down into the classroom.
Han Seohwa, standing on one side of the platform, had rainbow-bright eyes that glittered with expectation.
It was a gaze full of anticipation.
...
I’d thought of introductions as a kind of icebreaker, but now I started to wonder if maybe she was just satisfying her own private curiosity.
"Uh...."
My throat clamped shut.
Being the center of attention was one of the things I hated most.
Because the moment it happened, my body started showing those strange symptoms.
An indescribable pressure, impossible to put into words, pressed down on my entire body from head to toe.
My heart pounded, and the trembling in my body grew worse.
The headache intensified, and my vision started to spin.
I’m dizzy...
The floor... is tilting...
"Paran?!"
Ah... my mind...
I can’t... hold on...
Thud.
"Paran!!!"