Chapter 36
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 36
Chapter Title: Academy's Summer Break (5)
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After returning from the physical training room, I tossed and turned all night, unable to sleep.
Vulcan Rudric's massive fist slamming into me—if I imagined that feeling overlaid on my memories of fighting the evolved zombie, my body actually started to ache.
That guy was small in stature, but each hit hurt like hell, enough to kill. Vulcan Rudric was even bigger.
Considering how Lee Sian's body had no equals in the lower world, the gap between me now and Vulcan Rudric must be even wider.
I have no idea why I bragged so cockily about beating him or breaking him, but I hope no one heard it.
Lately, I've had this nagging feeling that someone's watching me. What if word got around?
"Haa. I'll just take out all this frustration on some goblins."
Even though I barely slept, I still woke up on time.
I neatly equipped the gear I'd bought yesterday and headed to the Warp Gate Management Office at Global Academy.
Status window users over twenty aren't allowed to leave Utopia, or so it's said, but if you're heading to a dungeon, they let you out surprisingly easily.
Status window users manage dungeons scattered across the world, so students can't cause much trouble anyway. But the biggest reason is that Utopia just buys up the land around the dungeons.
The area within a 500-meter radius of a dungeon becomes Utopia's territory, so technically you're leaving the island of Utopia, but not really leaving Utopia—a bizarre situation.
I learned this old story while studying at Global Academy. At first, many national leaders resented this semi-forced land acquisition method.
But no one dared speak up until one bold leader voiced opposition. And wouldn't you know it, a few months later, a dungeon appeared.
It was a permanent dungeon that endlessly spawned monsters—one of the goblin dungeons like the one I'm heading to now—which made securing it essential for Global Academy students.
That leader tried proposing a "lease" as a condition, but the deal naturally fell through, and he was killed that very night.
It wasn't a status user who did it; it was a general with military power who assassinated him. And no one condemned it.
They were bound to Utopia, with external activities limited to dungeon clears, but they knew how terrifying that power was and nipped the spark in the bud.
At the start of the semester, not planning to walk the status user path myself, I thought it was a bit excessive. But after spending some time here, I get it.
Even thinking of my Q Class friends—Chris Roanna, who takes magic-related quests—if she used her magic at full power, the surroundings would be devastated.
Her one-on-one combat might be weaker than the others', but her area suppression is far superior.
More intuitively, Evan Jack, the flame ability user. He could burn everything to ash.
These are Q Class students, but still just first-years.
I still don't know how strong Global Academy graduates in Utopia really are.
"Guide Torres, hello!"
When I arrived at the Warp Gate Management Office, Guide Torres was already there, his scruffy beard neatly trimmed.
If not for the brown ponytail, I might not have recognized him right away.
He wasn't in yesterday's work clothes; he wore light armor like mine and carried no weapon.
For goblins, that punch he threw at me yesterday would be more than enough to handle them.
"Did you sleep well, Yoo Sian? Looks like you ended up buying the pistol after all."
He glanced at the automatic pistol on my left hip and smiled faintly.
"Among students who come to browse pistols, few don't buy one. But once they use up the ammo they got with it and realize it's not what they expected, they sell the gun and magazines secondhand."
"Is that so? I think it'd work fine even on orcs."
"That's because you're unusually weak, Yoo Sian..."
Guide Torres was right.
In the final exam, I left after my turn, but Tae Won-ho killed five goblins with three shots. The orc after that? He probably took down the next monster too.
And the other students not in Q Class? They couldn't have failed either. I'm just too weak still.
"Alright, Yoo Sian, let's go get stronger. Tap your watch or smartphone on the pass."
"Yes."
I held my watch to the device called the pass.
Linked to my smartphone, the dungeon menu popped up without needing the student support app.
Selecting the Goblin Dungeon, it scanned everyone in the room to check if all companions were present and no outsiders were there.
Once confirmed, the pass announced, "Please step back for a moment."
I stepped away as instructed, and soon a familiar blue circle appeared, connecting spaces.
"Let's go."
"Yes."
Crossing the gate, I immediately felt the difference in mana density.
Students who mainly learned mana-intensive magic skills hate going outside Utopia to dungeons—I could kind of understand the feeling.
But my skills only consume mental power anyway.
Leaving the room where the warp gate spawned, an ability user checked us.
"Yoo Sian, Guide Torres."
"Yes, that's us. Any anomalies in the dungeon?"
Guide Torres answered first.
"No anomalies, so follow the red line below to reach the dungeon."
No need for such instructions usually, but since I, the student who brought the guide, was here, they mentioned it.
Walking along the path, I saw space itself fractured ahead.
Unlike the warp gate's light-reflecting void that stitched spaces together, this felt different—the dungeon.
"From here on, I'll just watch. You go ahead, Yoo Sian."
"Please step in only if it's really dangerous."
I drew my sword from its sheath and stepped into the dungeon.
All backlog orders cleared, so with nothing but pocket money to blow and boredom setting in, I applied to be a guide.
For beginner dungeons, it doesn't interfere much with my main job of gear crafting.
And the assignment was the Goblin Dungeon.
The kind fresh Global Academy enrollees hit up.
Right after leaving the management office, handsome but somehow lacking intensity Yoo Sian called for me.
When he admitted he had no skills related to his main weapon, I lowered my expectations.
But during the armor test, he clearly reacted to my casual punch.
He reacted to my fist but chose to take the hit.
Curiosity piqued, I looked him up briefly. His current Global Academy rep: the weakest.
Q Class's weakest and first-year Academy's weakest.
How does this kid get called the weakest?
The moment he entered the dungeon sword in hand, the atmosphere shifted.
The goblin right at the entrance is one that could easily panic a newbie.
"Kreurghhh!"
I swung down without hesitation at the goblin charging with a wooden club in hand.
Clang!
But the result wasn't great.
I'd picked him a decent sword, but without weapon skills, it proved it—he couldn't cleave the goblin in two.
Clang!
Again, the sound of sword striking skull.
Clang!
As he raised his sword once more to split the head, I hadn't planned to say anything as guide, but I couldn't help it.
"Yoo Sian? If it's fainted, just stab the heart to finish it. No need to obsess over the goblin's skull. Unless it's a quest, then keep at it."
Quest users get all sorts of weird quests, so maybe that was it.
A quest to split goblin skulls with a sword...? What the hell is Q Class.
"Ah, right."
Apparently not—he stabbed the heart of the fainted goblin, stunned by the heavy skull blow, and finished it.
"This is doable."
Yoo Sian said, smiling faintly.
Possessing Lee Sian and bashing zombies had erased most of my fear of real combat.
Compared to that, this felt ridiculously easy.
Turning into a goblin from infection? No such thing.
Cardboard pads? Here I wore top-tier armor with strong impact resistance.
Hitting a goblin skull full force with the sword felt solid, but the blade didn't chip.
Plus, the pistol for emergencies.
Even without final insurance Guide Torres, I had zero chance of losing to a goblin.
Of course, I knew my future targets dwarfed evolved zombies in strength, but combat fear was gone.
"This is doable."
Maybe Global Academy life, which I'd been dreading, wasn't so bad after all.
Pressing forward.
I pulled the sword from the goblin's heart.
Gripping the bloodstained tip with both hands, I headed deeper into the dungeon.
"Krill? Kkekekegh!"
As I advanced with bloody sword, a dagger-wielding goblin charged.
Aiming high for my thigh or elsewhere, I thrust into its chest.
Pshuk!
The goblin's short swing never reached me; I pierced the heart like smashing a zombie skull, killing it in one stroke.
I withdrew the sword from the still goblin.
Winning, killing—easy.
Now I get why Vulcan Rudric didn't smash the measuring device full force.
Confirming my power limits against goblins, learning control.
I sought the next goblin, stepping deeper.