The Copy Skill and the Theory Exam Disaster
The classroom buzzed with chatter the moment the test ended.
“Wow! As expected from Cha Jiyun. She blew away the lich’s barrier with a single fireball?”
“That’s why everyone keeps talking about Cha Jiyun. What the hell did Nam Doyun even do? Heh heh—”
The students began murmuring among themselves. Kaleido watched them with a faint smile, his gaze fixed on Nam Doyun.
What an interesting guy.
Cha Jiyun had gathered every ounce of her mana into that fireball, yet it hadn’t actually destroyed the lich’s barrier. It would have been blocked by the shield that was moments away from regenerating. But the mana Nam Doyun fired was different. In a single strike, he had shattered the lich’s barrier into pieces. The sheer destructive power was incredible.
Even though transparent mana was known for its high destructive potential, achieving that level of force as a student was extremely rare. And that wasn’t all. His timing had been perfect. The moment a barrier shattered and began to recover, its defenses weakened because the caster focused solely on restoration. He had exploited that exact vulnerability and poured his mana into the opening with flawless precision.
Moreover, the lich hadn’t even registered his presence. How precise must his mana control be to make that possible? Completely erasing one’s presence from a lich’s senses was something only veteran active hunters could usually pull off. Yet this boy was already doing it at such a young age.
His mana control, his sense of timing in striking weaknesses, and the raw power behind it—all of it was perfect. The mana control he had displayed back in the first test had already been beyond the norm. But what he showed in this exam completely transcended the realm of what a student should be capable of.
Kaleido’s eyes sparkled as he stared at Nam Doyun.
But why is he staring into empty space like that?
At that exact moment, Nam Doyun was staring at his skill window.
Skill 1 - Copy: Allows the user to replicate any skill seen once. (Cooldown: 1 day) LV1. Can only output 5% of the original skill’s power.
Copy - Target: 'Urbashi'
Would you like to use this skill? Y/N
Even though he could only output five percent of the original power, Urbashi was such a monster that it had been more than enough to pierce the lich’s barrier. He wondered what would happen if the skill leveled up. Or if he managed to copy the skill of someone even stronger than Urbashi?
He was genuinely excited. Honestly, he hadn’t expected the skill to break the lich’s barrier, but its power had turned out far stronger than he anticipated. If he kept raising the level of Copy and gradually unlocking his other sealed skills, he would become insanely strong. Strong enough, perhaps, to go toe-to-toe with Urbashi himself one day.
“...Um.”
At the sound of someone calling him, Nam Doyun turned his head. Cha Jiyun was looking at him with a slightly puzzled expression.
“Yes?”
“..........Was that you just now?”
“What do you mean?”
“The one who broke the barrier. Wasn’t that you?”
“..........”
She had sensed the transparent mana, but she hadn’t been able to see its form. That was why she couldn’t be completely certain he had been the one to shatter the barrier.
“Your fireball was probably just stronger than it looked.”
“No… that’s not…”
“Thanks for the carry. I appreciate it.”
The moment Cha Jiyun tried to say something more, the examiner entered the room.
“Alright. We’ll now move on to the next test. Please follow me.”
“Everyone, please take a seat over here.”
The examiner led us into a classroom.
“You may sit at any of the empty desks.”
The students scattered around the room, each claiming an empty chair and desk. Once everyone was seated, the examiner gave a polite bow.
“The instructor will be here shortly. Please wait patiently.”
With that, the examiner left. Soon after, the classroom door slid open with a rattle.
The instructor walked in and immediately addressed the class.
“As you all know, this next test is a written theory exam.”
Without further explanation, the instructor began distributing the test papers. I looked down at the sheet I’d been given.
∂12998 + ∮3256 x Å − sin36 + …..
Partial derivatives? An integral symbol I’d never seen before in my life? Sin thirty-six degrees? They wanted me to calculate this?
I was a liberal arts student, damn it. How the hell was I supposed to solve this?
What even was a partial derivative? Was that something you could eat?
“The test will now begin. You have thirty minutes.”
There were sixty of these bizarre questions. And they expected us to finish them all in thirty minutes? Were these problems actually meant for students? Wouldn’t only university professors be able to solve this in that amount of time?
I glanced around the room. To my shock, every other student was frantically scribbling away at their papers. Wait, seriously? You can actually solve this stuff? This has to be a joke, right?
“Time’s up. Everyone, please place your hands on top of your heads.”
As the instructor collected my test sheet, he let out a small snort of laughter. He must have seen the ridiculous scribbles I’d written.
[Sorry, teacher ㅠㅠ I have no idea.]
I’d written that pathetic note on the paper. Wait… if I got a zero on this, would I actually fail? No way, right? Surely not…?
A chill ran down my spine.
The instructors had gathered in one room to calculate the final rankings. They were combining the scores from tests one through four to determine the overall results. Every teacher sat at their desks, sorting through the admission documents.
“Who’s in first place this time?”
“Obviously it’s the youngest son of the prestigious swordsmanship family, Radeon.”
All the instructors nodded in agreement. He had displayed unrivaled talent even within his renowned family and was already being discussed as a potential successor despite only being seventeen.
“Then who’s second?”
“Cha Jiyun.”
“And third?”
“Jeong Hayeon.”
“Jeong Hayeon has been quite famous for a while now. Her father is one of the top three hunters in the country, after all.”
“I believe she also chose the bow as her main weapon, following in her father’s footsteps?”
“Yes, that’s what I understand.”
“Wait a moment.”
Kaleido spoke up. All eyes instantly turned toward him.
“Isn’t the ranking incorrect?”
“What do you mean?” The other instructors tilted their heads in confusion.
Kaleido found it strange. Why wasn’t Nam Doyun’s name coming up at all? He was the only student who had received bonus points from him in the first test. He had also given the boy the highest score in the third test. Yet he hadn’t even placed in the top two? That didn’t make any sense.
“What rank did Nam Doyun get?”
“Hmm… let’s see.” One of the other instructors flipped through the combined ranking sheet. “It says he’s ranked 500th out of 500? Huh?”
The instructor’s face twisted in confusion.
“This student is strange. He scored zero on the fourth test but still got accepted into the academy? There hasn’t been a single case like this in our academy’s entire history.”
“Really? Is that true?” Another instructor sounded genuinely shocked.
“Tsk tsk—what a crazy world. Someone actually got accepted with a zero in an entire subject.”
“Maybe he excelled so much in the other areas that it didn’t matter?”
One of the teachers unfolded Nam Doyun’s evaluation sheet. His eyes widened.
He had been the only student to receive perfect scores in the first, second, and third tests. How was that even possible?
He turned to Kaleido.
“Instructor.”
“Yes?”
“I know this student defeated the lich in the third test. But the one who broke the lich’s barrier was Cha Jiyun, and the one who destroyed its life vessel was also Cha Jiyun. So why did this student get a perfect score?”
Kaleido smiled inwardly. Of course the rumor had spread among the students that way. After all, none of them had been able to see the transparent mana Nam Doyun had fired. The story must have reached the other instructors as well. But the truth was completely different. Nam Doyun was the one who had shattered the barrier. Cha Jiyun had merely assisted.
Still, Kaleido chose not to correct them. If any of these instructors had been present in the third testing ground, they would have fought tooth and nail to take the boy as their direct disciple. It was always best to claim a hidden gem before anyone else noticed its value. He had no intention of letting others steal this particular gem away.
That aside… why on earth had this kid gotten a zero on the theory test? Did he fall asleep halfway through or something?
“Haa…”
One week after finishing the entrance exams, I received a text message.
Congratulations on your final acceptance to Elphon Academy.
Final Rank: 500/500
I had received a zero on the theory exam, but somehow I had barely scraped by. It was a precarious 500th place finish, but at least I had passed. As long as I got in, everything else could be fixed later. I could always turn my grades around once I was inside.
And today was the long-awaited first day of school.
[AM 7:30]
I woke up early and was walking toward the school, shivering in the bitterly cold wind. It was seriously freezing.
Even though it was still early morning, plenty of students were already heading to school. Memories from my high school days came flooding back. I entered the building and immediately began searching for my classroom. I was in Class 1-A. Where was that again?
I wandered the hallways for a while before finally spotting it.
[1-A]
I slid the classroom door open.
I could feel every pair of eyes in the room snap toward me. Maybe I had opened the door a bit too dramatically? Embarrassed, I kept my head down and quickly took a seat at an empty desk near the back.
“.....?”
But I kept feeling a gaze from the seat right next to me. I timidly turned my head. The moment I did, she whipped her head away, pretending she hadn’t been looking at all.
Why is she acting like that again…?
It was Cha Jiyun, of course.
“Do you have something to say to me?”
“.......”
She remained completely silent.
“Oh. You’re in this class too?”
Someone approached me from the front and extended a hand for a handshake. I looked up. It was Radeon.
“Hey. Nice to meet you. Let’s get along well.”
He smiled brightly.
“Yeah.”
I shook his hand.
This Class 1-A was where all the important characters were gathered. The class assignment had turned out perfectly.