Chapter 93

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Translator: MadScientist

Chapter: 93

Chapter Title: Preparation (2)

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After that, the practical combat lessons wrapped up with sparring matches between students.

Naturally, my team and I had no trouble knocking out the other students and claiming 10 points.

Winning a spar gave 10 points. Losing got you 5.

"By the way, isn't Cheon Seo-yun way too strong? She took down five by herself."

Once again in this spar, Cheon Seo-yun had insisted on fighting alone and utterly crushed all five opponents.

Thanks to that, Oh Ye-rin—who'd just stood there watching—had pocketed 10 points for free and was now grumbling about how ridiculously powerful Cheon Seo-yun was.

"You should train harder yourself."

"What are you talking about? I train my ass off every day. But Cheon Seo-yun..."

She seemed to feel like no amount of training would ever let her beat Cheon Seo-yun.

In short, she'd hit the wall of pure talent. And it wasn't just Oh Ye-rin—the others probably felt the same.

'I beat a Cheon Seo-yun like that.'

They probably figured I'd only ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠won thanks to my innate ability, not raw skill.

Since it was just luck getting that ability, they didn't see me as any kind of insurmountable wall.

"Ah, whatever. More importantly, what're we doing about next week's uninhabited island survival?"

Oh Ye-rin shook her head like she didn't want to dwell on it anymore and changed the subject to the survival challenge.

It was an individual event from the start, so team huddles like this didn't mean much anyway. Still, I answered her.

"Just go and survive for a week, right?"

"What about food and water?"

"We'll forage when we get there."

"...At least buy a water purifier filter."

Oh Ye-rin looked exasperated as she insisted on grabbing at least that much.

"Can't we just make water with magic?"

"Water made with magic has more impurities than you'd think. Go ahead if you wanna end up with a stomachache."

I paused at her response, lost in thought for a moment.

'It's individual scoring that affects our grades, so there'll probably be surveillance all around.'

Using abilities blatantly under watchful eyes didn't seem smart.

So following Oh Ye-rin's advice and prepping the bare minimum wasn't a bad idea.

'Gotta ask Lee Seojun about this stuff.'

After that chat, I headed to the club room with Cheon Seo-yun and Park So-yul.

Park So-yul seemed to have sorted out whatever happened that morning and was back to her usual cool demeanor.

Clank—

Shortly after we entered the club room, the door opened again and Joo Ha-yeon stepped in.

"Ah, everyone's here already. Sorry, I was late talking things over with my teammates."

"Talking strategy? For the island survival?"

I asked, and Joo Ha-yeon nodded, her green hair swaying.

"Yeah. The instructor said it's individual, but didn't say we can't help our teammates."

"So, teammates helping each other."

I replied, wondering if it'd mess with the scores.

But when Joo Ha-yeon mentioned teammates sticking together, Cheon Seo-yun and Park So-yul both glanced my way.

'They wanna lean on Collection Cuisine Summon, huh.'

Beep beep beep—

"...?"

A chime rang from my watch, and I puzzled over it as I read the message.

"..."

It was probably a private message from Instructor Kang Ju-young.

As I stared at it, Park So-yul looked at me curiously.

"What's up?"

"Instructor Kang Ju-young says not to use my innate ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠ability for the island survival."

I showed the message on my watch to all three of them.

They read it over and nodded like it made perfect sense.

"Makes sense. Three hundred cadets on one island—they won't all be under just Kang Ju-young's watch."

"We could always use it on the sly."

"What if we get caught?"

"Just saying. We don't need to use it anyway."

I could self-sustain food with my Warlord's Weapon alone, so it wasn't a big deal either way.

With that settled, I whipped out lunch via Collection Cuisine Summon, filling the table with all sorts of dishes.

"Thanks for the food!"

Joo Ha-yeon chimed in with her thanks, and soon Cheon Seo-yun and Park So-yul were digging in too.

"Ah, Lee Seongmin. We doing dinner here in the club room too?"

"Probably. And for room upkeep, it's 2 points per meal."

"...?"

Joo Ha-yeon tilted her head at the mention of 2 points per meal.

"Didn't we settle the food thing yesterday?"

She meant how she'd let me give her a massage in exchange for summoning meals—wasn't that enough?

Her innocent gaze made it hard for the others to chime in.

"I told you, room upkeep is separate from meals."

I brushed it off and explained they were two different things. Joo Ha-yeon looked inwardly shocked.

"Ah, so they're separate."

"Exactly."

"Feels like I got scammed somehow, but it's probably just me."

"Nah, it's a steal. Two points for a spread like this."

She eyed the mountain of food on the table and nodded.

"True. Gotta save up even 1 point at a time."

"One point? You usually go for 3-point meals?"

"Yeah. I don't eat a ton."

Come to think of it, Joo Ha-yeon never showed for physical training either.

She probably didn't move around much day-to-day, keeping her portions small.

'Her spirits handle all the fighting anyway.'

I made a mental note to check her stamina sometime down the line.

Meanwhile, Lee Seojun stared at the feast on the table before suddenly piping up like it'd just occurred to him.

-Oh, right. Lee Seongmin, when are you gonna use the 'Gluttony's Cloth'?

Gluttony's Cloth?

His words jogged my memory of the artifact tucked away in my sub-space.

It was the reward I'd gotten for helping tackle an S-grade gate back when I was operating as the Destroyer.

'The Gluttony's Cloth spits out a Mana Awakening Stone.'

For heroes, it boosted Magic Power by 100 the first time.

For normals, it awakened mana and turned them into heroes.

'Might as well send a clone to get started on it.'

Lee Seojun had said it'd taken two years of dumping food waste to get his stone.

That was a ton of trash, so I figured a month of summoning and stuffing food in would do it for me.

'If not, two months, three—whatever it takes.'

Luckily, time wasn't pressing, so I could take it slow.

After lunch, I directed one of my clones in the mountains to start working on the Gluttony's Cloth.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

I planned to summon and cram in food for at least a month, but it was pure repetition, so it didn't feel like a hassle.

'And today, I'll call Kang Ju-young.'

As the healer, of course.

I hadn't summoned her since the breakout gate incident, so it was about time.

'Evening should work.'

With that in mind, I sat through afternoon mana control class, regrouped with the club for dinner, then headed back to the dorms for magic practice before contacting her in my healer body.

"Chat invite. Kang Ju-young."

I pinged her through the guild system, and a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠reply popped up right away.

"Considerate after the breakout gate. Call it that."

Kang Ju-young's response dripped sarcasm at first, but she quickly followed up with thanks.

"Words alone?"

Her mention of other business piqued my curiosity, but I went ahead and used the guild summon anyway.

Flash—

Kang Ju-young materialized in front of the healer in my private villa.

She clocked the place as my villa right away and gave me a look like she had a lot to unload.

"What's with the face?"

I beat her to the punch, and she fired back.

"Why didn't you tell me the Destroyer joined your organization?"

So that's what the Archmage tip-off had been about.

It was a question I'd seen coming from a mile away, so I answered without batting an eye.

"No reason to report every little thing."

"I thought you'd at least mention something about the Destroyer. Guess I was wrong about us."

She brought up our "relationship"—not just the physical side, but how she figured I needed her.

'The healer doesn't seem to have any combat power at all.'

Basically, she was saying it was smart to stay on good terms with an S-grader like her.

I nodded along with her logic and gave a quick rundown on the Destroyer.

"No time to mention it. But the Archmage filled you in anyway, right?"

"Sounds like the Destroyer really did join your group. And you subdued him."

Kang Ju-young appeared to accept it after cross-checking with what the Archmage had said.

"Can you tell me the organization's name?"

"You want me to sell out my org?"

"You don't seem that attached to it."

She had a point— the healer had been banging away under the guise of "developing her people."

I conceded with a nod but couldn't just hand over an ad-hoc outfit like that.

"Fair, but I don't know much about the org myself."

"You joined a group you know nothing about?"

"Half-forced into it. That's all."

I couldn't elaborate, so I opened my sub-space instead.

I'd pulled it out to grab gifts for Kang Ju-young, Ha Chae-jeong, and Ga Se-yeon.

"Anyway, presents."

They were mana amplifiers I'd crafted before.

I handed one over, and Kang Ju-young eyed it curiously.

"What's this?"

"Artifact. Mana amplifier with some added effects."

Originally, it looked like a thick ankle shackle, but not anymore.

Now it was a sleek chain bracelet, so she cocked her head, noting it didn't match what she knew.

"Mana amplifier? Doesn't look like the ones I know."

"Changed the appearance."

"It can do that too?"

"..."

I paused to think.

The healer had a ton of abilities already.

Healing, sub-space, guild system, limit breakthroughs—the works.

'Adding item creation on top might be pushing it.'

Then it hit me: my Absolute Clone disguised as a regular person, post-Destroyer.

"Not me. Had someone else make it."

"Someone else? From your organization, I take it."

I nodded and mentioned the clone in its natural-person form.

"Goes by [Mountain Keeper]."