Facing the Ogre
We moved from the general training hall into the simulator room.
Unlike the plentiful general training rooms, simulator rooms were limited, so reservations were essential—but money changed everything. I paid off the students already using one and rented it for two hours.
Eight million won for two hours.
To ordinary people, that would look like an absurd price. But if you understood what a simulator room was worth, eight million for two hours was perfectly reasonable.
There's no other way to train safely against monsters without risking your life. The simulator room is it.
Access to these rooms was a privilege reserved for academy students. For a hero to use the Association's simulator room for even a single hour cost at least ten million won.
"Now let's try fighting monsters."
"Do we have to fight monsters on the final exam?"
"I'm not certain, but… you'll be facing monsters. One-on-one, at that."
"One-on-one? Wouldn't that be easier than fighting people?"
I gave a bitter smile.
"As if the academy would ever make it that easy."
I operated the simulator and scanned the list of monsters that could be manifested. From goblins to orcs, trolls, shadow stalkers—every kind of creature could be created.
I'm cutting all the small fry. In the original work, for a one-on-one monster combat exam… the opponents are limited.
Large monsters.
In this world, that meant anything at least five meters tall.
The representative large monsters that show up in combat exams are ogres, drakes, and frost boars.
Ogres are slow but strong. Just strong. Their hide is thick and their power is filthy. A single punch can send a heavy truck flying.
Drakes are fast. And unpredictable. For students who specialize in reading monsters, an ogre is actually the more comfortable matchup.
Frost boars are giant boars that scatter frost. Ice-attribute attacks barely work on them. Fire, on the other hand, hits them hard.
Starting with the ogre.
Boom!
A massive ogre materialized inside the simulator room. It was fake. Fake—but its presence was identical to the real thing.
Lee Si-eun froze under the weight of its aura. Her face went pale and her legs trembled faintly.
"Y-Yujin. Do I have to face the ogre alone? You're kidding, right?"
"You can do it. It's a simulator room—even if you get hit, you won't die. Just relax."
"But it still hurts when you get hit…!"
Lee Si-eun made a tearful face. Even so, she gripped a dagger in one hand. Energy stirred around her.
I worked the simulator. The ogre that had been standing still finally shifted its heavy legs.
Ziiiiing.
Lee Si-eun's energy spread wide. It transformed into gravity and seized the ogre's legs.
The ogre's movements slowed noticeably. Her gravity was excellent, but it still couldn't completely pin down a pure strength-type ogre. She launched energy balls. Six of them struck the ogre's head and torso.
The ogre flinched—and that was all. Energy balls couldn't pierce that tough hide.
Lee Si-eun hesitated. But she didn't give up. The ogre gradually slipped free of the gravity and began to move faster.
Crackle!
Energy converted into lightning surged toward the ogre. Of course it didn't work. An ogre's thick hide came with excellent mana resistance by default. Ordinary lightning only scorched the surface.
Thud. Thud. Thud!
The ogre closed in.
The standard approach was to keep running, maintain distance, and chip away. Lee Si-eun didn't run.
She's tired, but not so tired she can't flee. She's aiming for something.
The ogre raised its arm high and swung a fist down at her. Having prepared in advance, Lee Si-eun dove in close and slipped past the blow. Then she pressed her hand flat against the ogre's torso.
KABOOOOOM!
A massive explosion rocked the room and the ogre's body toppled over.
Lee Si-eun had used Reflux.
She had taken the mana the ogre possessed and triggered an energy detonation from the inside.
Good attempt. But not enough. Ogres are monsters that don't actively use mana. If she'd pushed her own energy into it, the destructive power would have climbed higher.
She clearly hadn't thought that far. Not that she was stupid. She'd only obtained the Reflux skill ten minutes ago.
Thud!
"Kyaaaah!"
Struck by the ogre's arm, Lee Si-eun screamed as she went flying and tumbled across the floor. I raised mana into the spear in my hand.
A blade of lightning overlaid the spear tip as it was hurled.
The spear punched clean through the ogre's neck. The creature collapsed and vanished.
"Si-eun, you okay?"
"Ah—yeah. I'm fine."
Lee Si-eun got up as if nothing had happened. She couldn't hide the cold sweat, though. She was clearly exhausted.
"Rest for now."
"Okay. You rest with me too, Yujin."
"We went through all the trouble of getting a simulator room. I can't waste the time. I'm going to train a bit myself."
My hands were itching.
There were a few things I wanted to test.
I operated the simulator and summoned a large monster.
Frost Boar.
A boar scattering frost glared at me and snorted.
It charged. I generated lightning and threw it. Controlling the strands, I held them in a net shape. The net of lightning instantly surrounded the frost boar and contracted.
Dozens of lightning strands detonated at once.
The frost boar vanished without a trace.
"This one's pretty good too."
"Waaah! Yujin, you're amazing!"
Lee Si-eun clapped enthusiastically from behind. My mood improved.
One week until the final exams.
The atmosphere at Maruhan Academy had shifted. Everyone focused on studying. The lights in the training rooms never went out.
It wasn't only because of the exchange match with the Japanese academy. Students who weren't in the top ranks had little interest in that match anyway. Only a limited number would ever get to participate.
But grade rankings are fair to everyone. The support the academy provides changes with rank. And the hero clans—your employment after graduation—judge students by those same rankings.
That was why academy students grew more desperate the lower they stood.
I took my seat in class and fixed my attention on one man. Pale, unremarkable. His name was Hae Seon-mu. Same class as me. Admission ranking: 294th.
Near the bottom of the barrel.
Even after graduating, that kind of record would only get him into a mediocre clan. There was still plenty of time left, but…
Cases where admission rankings flip dramatically are extremely rare.
Doormats graduated as doormats. That was the reality of the academy.
Looking at him, things are proceeding as in the original. In the original it was a side quest you could ignore without consequence, but…
This wasn't a game. It was reality.
Leave him alone and there was no telling what kind of variable he might become later.
There's something to gain here. Might as well move.
I stood up. I was famous enough that eyes immediately gathered on me. The men's gazes held wariness and jealousy. The women's were warm—I'd seduced them and treated them well. Half the girls in the class had already slept with me.
I walked over to Hae Seon-mu and put a hand on his shoulder.
"Hey, Hae Seon-mu."
"Uh—Y-Yujin. What is it?"
"Come outside with me for a bit. We need to talk."
"……"
His face went completely stiff. He even started trembling. My reputation among the guys was that bad.
"C-Can't we just talk here?"
"I said let's go outside and talk. Are you ignoring me right now?"
"N-No! Let's go. Outside. We'll talk outside!"
I took him out into the hallway and tossed the words at him while he stood there tense.
"Necromancy. You learned it, right? Planning to use it on the final exam."
Necromancy.
Magic that summons a soul into a body.
"H-How…"
What Hae Seon-mu had learned wasn't ordinary necromancy. A slightly modified version that temporarily summoned weak souls. Academy teachers wouldn't catch it, but the efficiency was garbage compared to the real thing. It was weak, too. In exchange, like an athlete doping, you could get somewhat stronger—at the cost of burning through your life force faster.
"You don't know who I am? You can't hide that kind of crap from my eyes."
I activated Spirit Eye. Seeing my pupils turn gold, Hae Seon-mu clamped his mouth shut. His eyes darted wildly from side to side.
"I-I did learn necromancy, but… I wasn't planning to use it on the final exam."
"What are you talking about. If you learned it properly, there's no problem using it."
"……"
He kept his mouth shut.
I grabbed him by the collar.
"I'm a bit interested in necromancy. Tell me in detail how you learned it."
"Th-That was by chance…"
"Fuck. You lie to me and I report you to the Association right now. You already know how thoroughly they dig, right?"
"Th-The Association wouldn't move that easily…!"
"Who's my mother?"
"……"
Moving the Hero Association with Seong Ha-ri's influence was nothing.
Hae Seon-mu lowered his head as if resigning himself, then spilled everything.
"I went into the city and happened to meet a necromancer. He said if I just gave him twenty million won, he'd give me a necromancy artifact that was easy to use…"
"What kind of artifact? You have it now? Show me."
He fumbled it out—a skull-shaped charm.
◈ Allows the use of necromancy at the cost of life force.
"Interesting. You bought this for twenty million won…. Did that necromancer not sell anything else?"
"There were better charms too… but I didn't have much money…"
"That bastard's contact info?"
"I don't have a number, but I know how to meet him. Are you going to meet him?"
"Yeah. Let's go together tonight."
"T-Together? I'll tell you how to meet him. So…"
"You little shit. You're going to guide me. Why can't you understand what I'm saying? You wanna die?"
"S-Sorry…"
"Just do what I tell you. Act like a pain in the ass and I'll kill you."
"……Okay."
In the original, this quest ended with catching and dealing with the necromancer. The reward was a special item.
Looking at how suspicious this is, it's definitely connected to something. I should dig into it once. Of course—all the items are mine.