Black Heaven's First Step
Should I even call this a dungeon?
In any case, the exam arena was built as one massive square with a cross-shaped wall erected at its center. The wall itself wasn't tall, but a mana barrier hung high above it, rising to a height that allowed gliding flight up to thirty meters. As for floor space, it was about half the size of an ordinary school athletic field.
They really did slather this place in money.
The realization struck me all over again. An exam arena on this scale was no small feat to build, and once you factored in the safety measures, the cost ballooned into genuinely astronomical territory.
No other school could even dream of keeping pace. It was nothing short of a shameless money-dump.
"The Mist Wing Squad opens with Bind to force them down, and then..."
Seo Gayeon murmured under her breath, committing the plan to memory.
Putting it kindly, Seo Gayeon was not the sharpest knife in the drawer. It wasn't for nothing that she'd chosen the physical path. I had merely recommended Starlight Mana to her because it specialized in manifesting magic through sheer imagination alone.
Vwoooom—! A pulse rippled through the air.
The Tower of Ordeals has activated.
The exam will now begin.
Will you begin the exam?
Everyone nodded. We were just about to nod along as well—
Adjusting exam difficulty......
Student Lee Seoha has been judged too powerful for this exam.
Would you like to adjust the exam's difficulty?
......
Why single me out of everyone here?
I froze for a heartbeat, flustered—then quickly realized this wasn't a bad thing. The Tower of Ordeals granted trials exactly as its name promised, along with rewards to match. That reward alone had been enough to catapult Korea Hero Academy to the very summit.
"This is......"
Instructor Seo Wooju wore a briefly flustered expression before turning her gaze to me.
"Lee Seoha. Do I have your permission to adjust the difficulty?"
Instead of answering, I looked at Seo Gayeon.
"What do you want to do?"
"What does Seoha want to do?"
A question came back with a question. But knowing Seo Gayeon's personality, it meant she would defer to my wishes over her own. Her dependence on me bordered on addiction.
It's not as if this would be my first difficulty adjustment.
The problem was that I had no idea how far this "adjustment" would go. In the first tower exam, the Tower had failed to "measure" me. Because of that, I had cleared it with an all-time record.
This time, however, was different. The Administrator had likely stepped in.
The Administrator—the one who, quite literally, managed the Tower of Ordeals.
That Administrator was reasonably impartial, at least.
Low risk, low return. High risk, high return. And the scales were tipping ever further toward the latter.
The difficulty was already heavier than I'd anticipated. The Seven Evils had already shown themselves, and they were drawing up plans to assault the school.
This coming assault, most likely—
would confirm the existence of the one whose star mana was meant to bloom. I had been exceptionally careful about that, but the shattering of the barrier had still been announced as my doing. That was precisely why I hadn't captured the demon capable of procuring Yeokcheon.
Even so, I couldn't hide it forever. With the Seven Evils unable to move for the time being thanks to this incident, surging ahead right now meant choosing high risk, high return—and that was the right call.
"Please raise the difficulty."
"Very well."
Examinee's intent confirmed. Commencing difficulty adjustment.
A Three-Primary-Color Tiger will appear in the Mist Wing Squad's trial.
A Three-Primary-Color Tiger, huh. Not bad at all.
"......You may still withdraw, if you wish. Even now."
"I'm fine."
At Instructor Seo Wooju's words, I shook my head. Then I looked at Seo Gayeon and said,
"Let's go."
"Okay."
Seo Gayeon said nothing more. She simply followed me.
The Three-Primary-Color Tiger.
A genuinely troublesome monster. It was a B-rank beast corresponding to the Heavy Strike class, yet its unique traits meant it demanded an opponent of equal grade or higher.
Red, green, and blue. It wielded the attributes of fire, wind, and water, and by combining those colors it could produce the powers of entirely different attributes as well.
That was what made it so troublesome.
Lee Seoha drew Heukcheon and stepped forward. Behind him, he positioned Seo Gayeon where she could ready her magic at a moment's notice.
Saaaaah—
Mist billowed outward, and through it emerged the silhouette of a tiger.
Step.
The coloring of the tiger padding forward was unusual. Red, blue, and green swirled together in strange harmony.
He closed his hand around Heukcheon.
-Not bad at all.
No argument here.
Lee Seoha agreed with Heukcheon's assessment.
"I'll give you the signal, so get the Spear of Judgment ready."
"Okay."
Not a single tremor in her voice. At that sound, he shot forward without a hint of hesitation.
Tat!
-Grrrrr!
The tiger roared in the same breath. Its green stripes blazed, and a gale came crashing in.
Black Shadow Step.
He gathered Yeokcheon beneath his feet.
Shaa—
The Yeokcheon sheathed his body as he moved. For all its speed, it made no sound—like a shadow on the charge.
-Grrrowl!
The Three-Primary-Color Tiger compressed the wind.
Leap.
Riding Yeokcheon, he sprang with every ounce of strength he had. In answer, the tiger's red stripes flared crimson.
Fwoooosh!
Flames converged. A fireball bigger than a full-grown man coalesced and came screaming toward him.
And from there, he took another 'Leap.'
The lingering power of a wind spirit is imbued within.
: Agility +3
: Creates a field of wind, up to three times per day.
The shoes Seo Yebin had given him at the very start. They unfolded a field of wind beneath his soles.
He slipped past the fireball and reversed his grip on Heukcheon. Then he drove Yeokcheon home.
Sssaaaak!
A black negation coiled around Heukcheon.
Black Mirror.
He sheathed the blade in Yeokcheon's sharply surging power.
The tiger's stripes lit up—green and blue at once.
Crackle.
Frost began creeping over everything nearby. The power of ice, born of wind and water woven together. Compared to the Young Lady's, it was crude—hardly worth fearing.
Tyrant Soul.
The Three-Primary-Color Tiger locked in place mid-motion. Lee Seoha didn't fully understand what the art did, but whenever Tyrant Soul came out, the opponent felt a crushing weight settle over them.
Enough that Instructor Seo Wooju—herself standing at the peak of the Heavy Strike class—had once felt her life squeezed in its grip for a single instant.
The tiger cowered.
He swung Heukcheon, now draped in Yeokcheon. A beat too late, the tiger threw up a barrier of ice.
The power of negation smashed through it. Just before it could touch Heukcheon, Yeokcheon denied the ice outright, and the negated frost burst into countless shards that rained straight down onto the Three-Primary-Color Tiger's hide.
-KRRAAAGH!!
He poured Yeokcheon into the wound Heukcheon had opened. The qi, compressed into a single point, sent ripples tearing outward.
As weak as possible.
He kept the beast breathing by the thinnest of threads—just enough for the Spear of Judgment to finish it. The Tower of Ordeals judged merit with perfect fairness, and if he landed the killing blow himself, it would rule that he alone had slain the Three-Primary-Color Tiger.
Just as he moved to invoke Black Mirror through Yeokcheon once more, ripples spread through the air around him. Light flared along the green stripes, and a ferocious wind kicked up.
Tsk.
Lee Seoha clicked his tongue and fell back. But the faint thread of Yeokcheon he'd left behind raked through the tiger's body all the same.
"Ready."
"Then I'll draw it out one more time—strike the moment you see an opening."
He skipped the detailed briefing. Last in the rankings or not, Seo Gayeon was still one of those who had passed into this place. With mental fortitude like hers, a mistake simply wasn't on the table.
Trusting her, Lee Seoha stepped forward.
-Grrrrr.
The Three-Primary-Color Tiger was on its guard. It had been hurt by a single exchange, after all.
Lee Seoha lowered his stance.
Click.
With the sound of something switching on inside his skull, the Star God's Eye activated.
Black Shadow Step, once more. He sent Yeokcheon down toward his feet—and stopped.
What the—?
It was a strange sensation. It crashed down on Lee Seoha's thoughts like a bolt of lightning. A peculiar feeling of something snagging, catching where it shouldn't.
An inscrutable talent took hold of Lee Seoha and guided him. It tuned his Yeokcheon.
Tap.
-What in the—?
A single step. It was only one step, but Heukcheon knew.
You have fully mastered Black Shadow Step (C+).
You have awakened the secret art of Black Shadow Step — Black Heaven First Step (B).
The Star God's Eye gleamed. Lee Seoha's vision flooded with 'black.'
What is this.
The Black God's Martial Art.
It wielded the heaven-defying qi of Yeokcheon. And yet this sight was wrong—because she, too, had seen the talent now unfolding before Lee Seoha's eyes.
A space where everything appeared black, woven through with lines of white.
Don't tell me the Yeokcheon qi is......
Lee Seoha swept the thought away. He could puzzle it out later.
Gripping Heukcheon, he advanced. In that instant the black vision vanished, and the world snapped back into its riot of color.
And then, one strike.
Shff.
Heukcheon pierced clean through the Three-Primary-Color Tiger's eye.
That was the end of it.
Psshhhh!
The mana that had formed the Three-Primary-Color Tiger scattered into the air, blue motes drifting down like dust to herald its death.
Unbelievable speed! You have drawn out a 'portion' of the true power held by the heaven-defying qi. An additional 5,000p has been awarded.
You were the first to complete the exam, leaving a powerful impression on every instructor and student present. 3,000p awarded!
You have awakened Black Heaven First Step. 1,500p awarded!
You have partially awakened Black Flash Step (B+).
Lee Seoha looked over at Seo Gayeon. She was beaming, bright and unguarded.
And then he realized.
That epiphany had just robbed Seo Gayeon of her share of the credit......