Chapter 46
Chapter 46
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 46
Chapter Title: After the Test
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#46.
"Uncle, did you see us fighting?"
The ones who came running right after the test ended were Lee Ji-ah and Kim Da-hye.
The two girls looked at Seo Woojin with flushed faces full of excitement.
"Yeah, I saw."
After Seo Woojin, the heroes had generally fought well.
They hadn't completely shaken off their fear of death, but they weren't paralyzed with terror like they had been at first.
Among them, Lee Ji-ah and Kim Da-hye stood out remarkably.
"I swung my fist like bam! and a hole just punched right through the troll's chest. Even considering a troll's regeneration, I figured it'd recover from that much, but luckily, it dropped dead in one hit!"
For such a pretty girl smiling as she spoke, the content was awfully brutal.
"Haha, yeah."
Seo Woojin nodded with an awkward laugh.
"Did you see mine too?"
This time, Kim Da-hye asked.
"I saw yours too."
In some ways, she had stood out even more than Lee Ji-ah.
'Flamethrower, huh...'
Surprisingly, Kim Da-hye had used her skill to create a flamethrower.
Of course, a normal flamethrower wouldn't have worked on a troll.
Its regeneration would have outpaced the burning speed by far.
But Kim Da-hye's flamethrower was made with a skill.
'Its power scales with level.'
For reference, Kim Da-hye was level 21.
Her rank was only C-grade, but at that level, it was more than enough—overflowing, even—to handle a troll.
"It just melted away like whoosh."
As Kim Da-hye said, the troll melted the instant it touched the flames.
Seo Woojin had thought it was a doll made of wax.
"But how do your skills work, Da-hye?"
Seo Woojin got one skill every time he leveled up.
The other heroes said it was the same for them.
He'd heard it changed a bit starting from level 50, which Baek Siwoo had reached...
But no matter how he looked at it, Kim Da-hye only seemed to have skills related to summoning her drawings into reality.
"Mine's an upgrade system."
"Huh?"
He couldn't grasp what she meant right away.
As Seo Woojin tilted his head, the explainer stepped in instead.
"Da-hye's skills are mostly things like 'Quick Drawing,' 'Duration,' and 'Memorize.' They upgrade when she levels up. Right, Da-hye?"
"Yeah."
Hearing Lee Ji-ah's explanation made it click.
It seemed like as her level rose, she could draw faster and summon for longer.
The number she could pre-draw in her sketchbook and store probably depended on her skill proficiency too.
"How many can you store right now?"
"Ten."
Not as many as he'd thought.
Still, no doubt about it—it was a class that could be a huge help in battle if she just leveled up more.
"You'll need to level up a lot from now on."
Level was at the core of the heroes' abilities.
Seo Woojin didn't blindly worship levels, but he agreed they were necessary.
"They said from tomorrow, classes will involve real combat experience to level up too."
Seo Woojin blinked at Lee Ji-ah's words.
"Where the hell do you even hear this stuff?"
It wasn't just any info—it was the academy's training curriculum.
You couldn't just overhear that passing by.
"I overheard it while passing by."
Guess it was possible.
Anyway, Lee Ji-ah was the academy's top social butterfly.
"What about the format? You hear that too?"
Today hadn't been all that meaningful for Seo Woojin.
Sparring with Ailin in the training hall would have been more helpful than the time it took to kill one troll.
Still, the mention of levels piqued his interest.
After seeing Baek Siwoo's strength, he fully recognized their importance.
"I don't know the details on that."
Unfortunately, she didn't know that far.
"But I did hear tomorrow's not inside the academy—we're going outside."
"Outside?"
No way—they weren't doing another subjugation, were they?
Seo Woojin's brow furrowed.
It had only been a few days since Gerald nearly wiped out the heroes.
The idea of heading out for another subjugation didn't sit well.
'No guarantee another monster like that won't show up.'
They'd survived Gerald by sheer luck.
No assurance that luck would hold twice.
"But the empire and academy will prepare properly, right? They don't seem like pushovers."
True, the empire was the strongest nation on the continent.
Its history spanned centuries.
No reason they wouldn't worry about what a normal twenty-something like Seo Woojin was fretting over.
"We'll see tomorrow."
Seo Woojin looked forward to it with a hint of anticipation.
* * *
"What the hell's with that guy?"
Kim Tae-jin grumbled as he returned to the dorm after the test.
He'd crushed the troll with flashy skills, but hadn't drawn much attention.
"Even if Siwoo couldn't help it, Seo Woojin? What's that uncle's deal?"
He'd heard it was D-rank.
The class name was the lame 'Sword Soldier.'
His level was pathetically low compared to theirs.
Yet he'd made the biggest impact of any hero.
"Why do you care so much? It's not like he can beat us anyway."
Park Jin-han smirked and patted Kim Tae-jin's back.
"Doesn't bug you?"
"Not really?"
"You're just a muscle-headed berserker who doesn't get it."
Kim Tae-jin sneered, but Park Jin-han just burst out laughing.
"You poor soul—you don't appreciate the beauty of muscles."
He flexed his own, befitting his 'Diamond Warrior' class—sculpted perfection.
"Sigh, why do I even bother talking to you."
As Kim Tae-jin sighed, a snort came from behind.
"I agree with Jin-han. I don't get why you're all obsessed with some D-rank uncle."
It was Sung Yu-ra.
She glared at Kim Tae-jin like he was distasteful.
"Baek Siwoo, same for you. Don't get all worked up and waste a flashy skill. You could've one-shot a troll without one."
"I wasn't worked up."
Baek Siwoo shook his head at her words.
"You're full of it. I know you better than that."
Sung Yu-ra snapped, but Baek Siwoo didn't respond this time.
Frankly, because she wasn't wrong.
"It's weird. I heard ranks and levels are absolute. That guy's low on both, but still..."
He kept showing overwhelming performance.
And it wasn't just this once.
The day they'd run into Gerald and nearly all died.
Seo Woojin had come out without a scratch.
Rumor had it even Sword Sage Dariel was interested in him?
From their perspective—always outshining everyone and basking in attention—Seo Woojin was an eyesore.
"I looked into him a bit."
"Sung Yu-ra, you?"
Kim Tae-jin widened his eyes in surprise.
He couldn't believe his prideful, arrogant friend had dug into someone's background.
"What's so hard about it?"
Sung Yu-ra averted her gaze from their stares and continued.
"He trained for the past year in a place called Sion."
She explained what Sion was and how Seo Woojin had lived there.
"If he fought monsters for real, risking his life unlike us, it makes sense he'd be that strong."
Park Jin-han nodded at her words.
Compared to heroes who'd leveled up comfortably, Seo Woojin's skill was only natural.
"But that's only possible now. The more time passes, the wider the gap between us will grow."
Ranks and levels were absolute.
Sung Yu-ra believed it.
Now that the academy would give them real combat experience, even more so.
"That D-rank uncle couldn't catch up if he tried till he died."
Her friends nodded at her confident words.
Nothing wrong with what she said.
Only Baek Siwoo didn't agree.
Though he didn't show it.
"Instead of wasting time on some uncle, focus on tomorrow's training."
Sung Yu-ra glanced at Baek Siwoo and changed the subject.
"Oh, right. Survival training starting tomorrow?"
They knew more info than even Lee Ji-ah.
"According to the nobles we teamed up with, it's a week of survival in Demon Realm Heldein."
Demon Realm Heldein.
Where the old Demon King was defeated, a vast forest tainted by demonic energy.
Wild animals corrupted by it and the Demon King's followers lurked there, making it one of the continent's most dangerous spots.
"Demon Realm... Sounds scary just from the name."
"Plan is to stick to the outskirts. Go deeper bit by bit as levels rise."
Several such demon realms dotted the continent.
Most were aftereffects of the Descent War, some caused by the Demon King's kin.
The northern lands beyond Massive Guardian were one too.
"Isn't it dangerous?"
"Probably."
The nobles' info mostly warned how perilous the demon realm was.
Even without full details, Sung Yu-ra felt a twinge of tension.
"But it's our chance."
A chance to outshine every other hero.
If they showed something on another level there?
"The nobles' attitudes toward us will get even more respectful."
Sung Yu-ra and her friends weren't mere attention-seekers.
They were exceptional enough without trying.
The reason for such thoughts was something else.
'We need to prepare for after the war.'
She and her friends knew info other heroes didn't.
A secret they couldn't share.
Handled right, it could help them greatly.
'Or the opposite...'
Still, Sung Yu-ra was confident.
They'd meet a different end from the other heroes.
To ensure that, they had to shine.
So no one could look down on them.
Sung Yu-ra glanced at Baek Siwoo again.
He was lost in thought, same as ever.
'With you, we can do it, Siwoo.'
Endlessly kind and naive, but his talent was unmatched.
If Baek Siwoo grew properly...
'No one could stop us.'
In Sung Yu-ra's mind, that D-rank hero Seo Woojin had long been erased.