Chapter 83
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 83
Chapter Title: The First Quest is Rewarding!
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"Rubelt, why did the president call you in?"
As soon as I returned to the classroom, Isihoon asked me right away.
"It was to ask me to take on a quest from the Student Council."
"A quest?"
"A material collection request for the boss monster in the E-rank dungeon we're heading to next."
"I see. Wait, we're going to an E-rank dungeon next?"
The Student Council and people like me know most of the schedule, but regular students like Isihoon naturally have no way of knowing about school events or schedules.
"Looks like it."
I smiled and spoke to Isihoon in a low voice.
"Try to show Yesl a cool side of you in the dungeon again this time, Isihoon. Things seem to be going well lately."
With all the club activities bringing us together and me and Rize giving them a push from behind, Isihoon was stepping up even more aggressively than in the original story. I could clearly see his relationship with Kim Yesl improving day by day.
"...! Ah, got it!"
Isihoon knew I was helping him out, so he readily agreed with my words.
Yeah, keep working hard with Yesl and make it happen, Isihoon.
I'll push things further with Yume.
In the game, each chapter has its own theme.
Bosses appropriate to each chapter—like Chapters 1, 2, 3, and 4—appear, and Steel Mountain is the boss of Chapter 1.
The boss that shows up in Chapter 1's tutorial.
That's why it's the easiest to defeat and the lowest-level boss.
But even if it's a low-level boss, the protagonist playing through it is at a similarly low level.
In other words, you have to complete interim quests or dive into dungeons to gain experience and level up until you're at the right level to take down Steel Mountain.
The quest I received is a basic one that has to be cleared in the story before fighting Steel Mountain.
Once the basic leveling quests are done, Chapter 1 culminates in the full Steel Mountain subjugation storyline.
But who would've thought.
"Kuhahaha! We meet again, you damn brat!"
I never imagined I'd run into Steel Mountain again this soon.
A few days after receiving the request from President Rahisha.
As expected, after sending each class to an F-rank dungeon pretending it was just that, the academy was now dispatching them to an E-rank dungeon.
In the game, you clear the F-rank dungeon, go through some ordinary dialogue events and tutorials, then jump straight to the E-rank—fine, it's a game, whatever. But this is reality now.
Thinking about it, going to an E-rank dungeon this time was only natural.
What feels instantaneous in the game has taken quite some time in reality since the F-rank dungeon.
In the meantime, cadets have been taking combat-focused classes and sparring daily to build their skills.
F-rank monsters are easy pickings for awakened hunters in the first place, so even first-years who've trained at the academy shouldn't have any issues entering an E-rank dungeon.
Once again, we formed groups of five.
But this time, we slightly changed the lineup.
Our team was me, Rize, Yume, Isihoon, and Kim Yesl.
In the game, you could just pick any playable characters at will, but this time the instructors ordered us to try different combinations.
It was pre-training for forming parties with all sorts of people once we started working as hunters.
It also aimed to build synergy and familiarity among cadets from the same academy and class.
Hunters are rare compared to the general population anyway, so it was the academy's way of encouraging us to build closer networks.
Such instructions were only possible because it was a relatively safe E-rank dungeon.
"Looking forward to working with you, Rubelt."
"Yeah, let's do our best. Oh, and no pathetic slip-ups this time?"
"I know."
Isihoon glanced at Yesl.
Proof that he wanted to impress her and build more goodwill.
Perfect.
That aside, to keep Isihoon from slacking off, I added one more thing.
"If you show any sloppy skills, I'll give you special training at the mansion next weekend."
"...Special training?"
"Yeah, special training. You've always seen results from it, Isihoon. Even harsher than our ultimate technique practice..."
"Just you wait, Rubelt! I'll show you I don't need any special training!"
Isihoon's tension and motivation shot way up.
In the Fire Boar cave, Isihoon and I took the front line, Rize the mid, and Kim Yesl and Yume the rear.
Yume and Kim Yesl cast support spells and shields for basic safety insurance, then Isihoon and I charged ahead to take down the monsters.
"Haaah! Blaze Slash!"
Isihoon poured plenty of mana into his skill, slicing a Fire Boar in one hit.
Blaze Slash is an entry-level skill from the protagonist-exclusive Blaze series that Isihoon starts with.
Thanks to his diligent academy life building his skills, the Fire Boar was left on the brink of death from Isihoon's single strike.
Piuuuung!
Puk!
-Kueeek!
I finished off the near-dead Fire Boar with an arrow.
"Nice work, Isihoon. You've improved a ton."
"I haven't just been goofing off at the academy! But Rubelt, you're on the front line—why are you using a bow?"
"Seemed like a good chance to practice weapons in a dungeon this low-level. Don't worry, I'll switch if it gets dangerous."
Thanks to my genius training, I'd mastered a wide variety of weapons.
But with so many, if I don't use them, my skills dull—so opportunities like this were key for maintaining proficiency across the board.
"If that's the case... But why keep using Mana Arrows instead of the ones on your back?"
"No enemies strong enough to warrant those yet."
Arrows are infinite in the game, but not in reality.
So I used mana-woven arrows as basic attacks instead of the limited quiver ones.
"Anyway, let's grab the materials quick. One dropped."
"Yeah!"
While Isihoon went ahead to pick them up, I glanced back.
Rize was vigilantly watching both front and rear to fulfill her role perfectly.
Yume, having learned from the Kagura incident, was still eyeing her party members warily without relaxing.
And Kim Yesl was...
"..."
Staring straight at Isihoon.
Probably thinking how cool he looked using that skill earlier.
Her face said it all.
That guy, Isihoon.
Not only was he winning her over bit by bit—he'd already captured her heart step by step.
Warms my heart to see.
With Isihoon steadily raising Kim Yesl's affection, all I had to do was smoothly boost Yume's by the time we faced the Great Fire Boar.
This affection event for Yume was, in a way, a classic development.
In Blaze Blood, when the Great Fire Boar charges at Yume, the protagonist throws himself in front, blocking the charge and taking an injury.
Of course, it's not a serious wound—Yume heals him with her recovery skill, and they take down the Great Fire Boar after.
But the key is throwing himself in to protect her.
Yume has her internal monologue about how he always protects her... and her affection for the protagonist skyrockets.
Sure, they push these early events hard, but if you switch to another heroine route later, she instantly becomes a "what happened to her?" heroine.
'I have no intention of letting Yume end up like that.'
My goal is purely a harem.
I've only done 3P so far, but someday I want all the heroines in one all-nighter.
'And for that! I've been building up my stamina like crazy!'
"Rubelt, let's move on... Why are you clenching your fist and shaking?"
"Just steeling my resolve, Isihoon. Personal stuff—don't mind me."
"Uh, okay."
We proceeded smoothly.
Our group entered first, and with my superior specs, we advanced faster than any other party.
We were planning to hurry for the quest anyway, even if we weren't first.
"Everyone, we'll reach the Great Fire Boar soon—stay sharp."
Like Blaze Blood's minimap, Hepai provides navigation-like functions in reality.
It scans new areas to map the terrain and shows full maps with current position for registered dungeons like this one.
The navi indicated we were nearing the end of the Great Fire Boar's cave.
Even an E-rank boss monster.
Excluding me with my mid-to-late-game stats and Rize, who's trained alongside me since childhood, the rest of the party had average power levels.
Isihoon, Kim Yesl, and Yume nodded, even more tense.
I led the adequately tensed party forward.
And then.
"Kuhahaha! We meet again, you damn brat!"
-Grrrrr...
I spotted Steel Mountain standing beside the Great Fire Boar, laughing wickedly.
"That guy...!"
"G-Gangcheolsan!?"
"How's the stranger here?!"
"Young Master."
The party, including Rize, gasped in shock at Steel Mountain's appearance, and Rize called out to me tensely.
Steel Mountain aimed his axe-like weapon at me and declared.
"Today, right here! I'll kill you! It won't end like last time!"
Unlike the Blaze Blood story, it seemed Steel Mountain showing up here was because of me.
I'd anticipated something like this would happen eventually.
But my actions had deviated the plot from the original much sooner than expected.