Study (1)
Study (1)
Siyoram, as an educational institution, naturally evaluates and scores its cadets.
The most basic components are attendance and attitude scores—the kind of grading anyone would expect.
Show up to lectures and maintain proper conduct, and that's enough.
But in terms of overall weighting, those are a drop in the bucket.
The real points come from three major assessments.
The first is the periodic evaluation held at the end of each lecture unit.
Just hearing the name makes my teeth chatter. It's the main reason I've barely been keeping my head above water.
Assignments and exams get tossed at me from material I haven't caught up with yet, so I've been barely holding on.
Looking at my grades, the early-semester scores stick out like a sore thumb...
And I should count myself lucky that there are fewer assignments because it's still early in the semester.
After the vacation, from next semester on, assignments will probably pile up like snow as lecture hours shrink.
The second assessment is the common evaluation—Dungeon Practice, Tower Entry, and the like.
This category carries a lot of weight too, but I did all right here.
Last Dungeon Practice... aside from the magic issue, I contributed pretty well, so the score was solid.
In the Tower, luck piled on luck, and I pulled a score far above my own level.
The third is the midterm evaluation held once per semester.
These three make up the bulk of the score.
And two weeks from now, the midterm evaluation is on the schedule.
The midterm wasn't a particularly major event in the original story.
It's a once-a-semester exam, roughly split into a written portion and a practical portion.
It runs five days, Monday through Friday—two days of written exams, then three days of practicals.
Since I'm getting combat-major lectures from Professor Atra... no, from my master, I'll be taking the combat-major practical and probably entering the tournament too.
These days, when I walk the campus, I can observe the library and training rooms swarming with cadets buried in their work.
Of course, there are always plenty. Siyoram cadets almost never lack academic drive.
Still, with the midterm approaching, the numbers have swelled, and the sheer intensity in the air has noticeably spiked.
Part of the reason is the heavy weighting, but this evaluation also differs from internal-only assessments like the periodic or common evaluations: parts of it are released to the outside world.
If I recall correctly, a few practical categories and the tournament get broadcast externally.
In other words, it was a reputation-building event.
The midterm didn't have lethal consequences—no protagonist dying from one mistake, no crippling blow to the player's future growth.
If I had to pick something, it was about evaluating the player's development and reputation. Reputation, at least, was a category worth tending to.
In the early iterations, I paid a lot of attention to reputation.
The player alone couldn't muster enough force to quell a Tower incursion or a high-grade dungeon outbreak.
A big part of that was my own negligible combat power, and even when I got a little stronger, there were hard limits to what one person could do.
I always operated in a party with heavyweights like the protagonist.
So I poured effort into sub-quests and worked hard to raise as many characters' Affection as possible.
After the 8th Iteration's Baek A-rin stabbed me in the back and made me rage-quit, I dropped it cold.
Back then, I had genuine affection for the NPCs. Sure, I was doing sub-quests to clear content, but honestly, if it hadn't been fun, I wouldn't have bothered.
Baek A-rin had been a character I especially cherished.
Getting backstabbed by that favorite—and watching the smoothest run I'd had up to that point end so hollowly—was just mind-numbing.
From then on, I changed my approach.
Baek A-rin, who I'd believed would never betray me, had done exactly that—at a critical moment, mid-battle with an invading Tower Master, no less.
At that point, I couldn't help but question everything.
If Baek A-rin could betray me, who else might? They hadn't so far... but what if? And I'd never once imagined Baek A-rin as someone who'd betray me either.
If I took on party members only to get stabbed in the back at a dramatic moment and lose the whole run... I felt like I wouldn't be able to contain my rage.
And I also felt like I needed a turning point.
So I threw away the obsession with Affection management and following set routes. I was sick of over-investing in the player character and trying to save every single extra NPC.
In the later iterations, I didn't pay much mind to reputation.
Of course, if my reputation hit rock bottom right from the start, it would stunt my growth, so I kept it in check to a degree.
But at some point, I dropped even that and just rampaged.
The run where that rampage peaked was the 11th Iteration, "Diamond Warrior."
A fair share of the secret histories of great powers like the Three Great Families—and quite a lot of the high-grade intel on other hidden realms' locations and internal layouts—was pried loose while Diamond Warrior was tearing everything apart.
Anyway, the midterm wasn't a critical event in the original. Nothing about making a mistake came back as a colossal karmic debt later on.
'Still, I can't half-ass it.'
For Lee Ha-yul the Siyoram Cadet, though—not the player—it was a deeply important milestone.
Siyoram doesn't hold cadets back a year. Barring truly spectacular misconduct, you don't even get expelled.
But that wasn't a reason to slack through the midterm.
Given my circumstances, I could see plain as day—even with these blacked-out eyes—what kind of mess I'd land in if I coasted.
So I'd been pulling all-nighters for days to prepare.
I'd even abandoned my attempt at "reading books the proper way"—a habit I'd picked up while trying to preserve something resembling normal human behavior.
For now, I just crammed information into my head with Observation Authority. Understanding could wait; first I needed to beat everything into my skull.
My brain buzzed with sharp pain in protest, but it only amounted to a minor nosebleed. If anything, it almost felt like my mental capacity was expanding.
The written exam wasn't the only thing to prepare for.
The practicals, which were weighted far more heavily, also needed work.
I had to get ready for the practicals in a few subjects, and I had to prep for the tournament too...
The schedule alone drew a sigh out of me.
On the other hand, my mind was remarkably clear.
That was thanks to the mental grime that had built up over several sleepless days finally getting scoured away.
After hearing my master's past and establishing the bond of master and disciple, I'd blacked out and slept for several hours straight.
When I came to, the major lecture period was wrapping up.
I had no choice but to swallow my regret and rise from my master's arms.
.
.
.
The Second Nature Park, situated on one side of the Siyoram grounds.
Sitting on the grass where the cool air had settled, I poked at the blue cluster of light bobbing in front of my nose.
The spirit that had been hovering around me quivered as if ticklish, then rubbed itself against my finger.
There was no warmth, but a subtle softness transmitted through my fingertip—along with a sense that it was pleased, though that might have just been my imagination.
"Spirits really are fascinating. I assumed they were just natural energy, but they even act cute like this."
[Right?]
"Or maybe not? Maybe it only acts that way around you, Ha-yul..."
The Understanding Spirits lecture.
Unlike the first day, which had ended with affinity testing and facilitation, proper instruction had continued from the second day onward.
Professor Liana demonstrated the theoretical material we'd learned using her contracted spirits, and she offered highly practical explanations: how to support a spirit caster in joint combat, how to counter a spirit caster and exploit their weaknesses if you were on the opposing side, and more.
Since Professor Liana herself was a hero who had served on the African Demon Realm Frontline, the reliability of the information went without saying.
Even as the lectures progressed that way, I received special treatment.
It made sense—I was a cadet with confirmed spirit affinity. It was practically a foregone conclusion that I'd eventually walk the path of spirit arts, one way or another.
The other cadets seemed to understand the situation.
And I wasn't the only one receiving special treatment, anyway.
During a brief break, Ellia took a few sips of water, then stroked the spirit with a fascinated expression.
...Stroked it. She was making physical contact.
Astonishingly, Ellia had also been confirmed to have spirit affinity.
They hadn't measured exactly how much, but it was apparently a fairly dense level of affinity.
That meant Ellia would become an aristocrat among aristocrats in the support-major superhuman world—armed with a healing-type unique ability, solid magical skill, and spirit arts.
"Ha-yul, have you been using the necklace well?"
Just as I was blankly running through the theory I'd crammed early that morning, Ellia, who had been playing finger-games with the spirit, glanced at my necklace and asked.
[Yes, I'm using it very well. I've got the hang of adjusting it now, so you don't need to worry.]
I meant it. There were honestly still parts where the control was a bit finicky, but even taking that into account, the necklace had been an immense help.
I'd thought that losing one hand would make hologram-based chat difficult going forward, but thanks to this necklace, the voice problem was effectively solved.
When I thanked her again, Ellia finally nodded, looking relieved.
Just as I was about to resume observing the spirit, a now-familiar presence hurried over with light, quick steps.
"Ha-yul, Ellia—if you're free this weekend, would you like to study together as midterm prep?"
Baek A-rin approached briskly and dropped the sudden proposal.
"This weekend... I'm fine with it."
At the unexpected suggestion, Ellia nodded without any particular hesitation.
Baek A-rin's gaze shifted toward me.
'Hm...'
Sensing that gaze, I fell into a brief dilemma. Study together, she said. Gather on the weekend and...
'...Is that really necessary?'
I think I'd rather just do it quietly on my own. Some people find it more comfortable and productive to work with close friends, but at the very least, I didn't seem to be that type.
Or was I? Come to think of it, Baek A-rin placed top in admissions, so she obviously studies well. Would studying be easier if I could ask her questions?
'What to do...'
As I was wavering between acceptance and refusal, I observed Baek A-rin make a subtle gesture.
From the angle, it was perfectly hidden from Ellia.
The tip of her finger was pointing at Baek A-rin's own ample chest.
What did that mean? When I tilted my head as if I didn't get it, Baek A-rin curled her lips into a playful smirk and mouthed words.
- That time, apology, compensation.
Observation Authority interpreted her lip movements on its own.
[Sorry]
[Yes]
[I'm fine with it too.]
...After a brief moment of consideration, I accepted.
Now that I thought about it, learning from the top seat did seem like the better call.