40. My Buff is a Drug
40. My Buff is a Drug
June 2nd, 9:35 AM
Awakened Facility, Auditorium
The third semester didn't start the day after June 1st. The students weren't assembled until the following Monday.
This was the auditorium where all the first-years starting their third semester had gathered.
Just their group looked to be about six hundred strong.
As expected of the largest Awakened training facility in South Korea, I guess.
So many students had undergone the Synchronization Procedure, sacrificing a staggering seven years of their lives.
'Well, they do it because the gains outweigh the costs and it's manageable.'
Scanning the room, roughly twenty percent looked to be foreigners.
'Let's see here...'
[ Hawk Eye ]
Vision increased by 10 levels
Positioned almost at the very back, Hye-yong cast a vision-enhancing buff on himself and diligently scanned the crowd of students.
He was curious how many of his custom characters were here.
'One... two...'
Aside from Nishimoto Kana, several others caught his eye.
Most of them looked like characters straight out of an ability-user school story.
'Well, yeah. This place is basically an academy, in a sense.'
They seemed to be blending in and getting along well enough.
'There's that one too...'
Amidst the crowd, a girl with a blank expression immediately drew his gaze.
Uenami Yurie, a character from the anime Plain Magicians, adapted from a Japanese novel.
'Why the hell is she here?'
If she were just an ordinary human character, he would've just thought, oh, there she is, and moved on.
The problem was that this silver-haired girl was no ordinary human.
The original owner of that body was already dead.
What was inside was a cybernetic human.
Major organs replaced with machinery to make her seem alive, her body controlled by someone else.
'Does that mean the group that made her exists in this world too?'
This was a world spawned from all the various settings packed into the modpack, lavishly fleshed out to fill the gaps.
An ordinary human could be born and live normally, but a cybernetic human like that Yurie had no choice but to be created by someone.
'Hmm, should've watched it more closely when I had the time.'
Even though she was a commissioned character, Hye-yong had watched the anime.
Problem was, he'd dropped it after two episodes because it was boring.
While he was busy snooping around, entities separate from the students entered his field of view.
Scouts from Awakened clans.
Among them were characters Hye-yong had created for story progression, even if they weren't custom characters.
'Should I boost my hearing with a buff?'
He created Hearing Enhancement and Hearing Focus to tune in specifically to the voices coming from that group.
"No students seem to have shown any particularly noticeable growth compared to the first semester, do they?"
"Still, they say two strong candidates for S-rank have emerged."
"Aren't they only first-years?"
"One of them is technically a first-year, but they say he awakened over four years ago and only entered after undergoing the Synchronization Procedure."
"Ah, the third son of the Hanseong family..."
"Even so, being considered a viable S-rank candidate itself proves he's an exceptional talent."
"Then what about the other one?"
"A genius said to appear once in a hundred years. Well, the history of the Awakened isn't quite a hundred years old yet, but..."
They were talking exclusively about the top-tier prospects.
'That's how the world works, I guess.'
The academy Hye-yong had implemented in the game was an empty shell with only a handful of properly fleshed-out characters.
It was just designed to give off a student-like vibe, so there weren't many events there.
Most of the quests you could do were side quests for fun.
Once the main story started, the player wouldn't spend much time in the academy before dropping out.
Of course, since he valued player freedom, you didn't necessarily have to drop out.
You just wouldn't progress the story if you didn't.
Since Hye-yong's modpack was strictly male-oriented, the top students of each year were basically trophy-type characters with only a setting that said they were strong.
You were meant to just enjoy their dialogue nuances or scenes and move on.
You couldn't even recruit them as companions.
Characters you could take as companions needed to have everything from skill names to stats meticulously planned out, so the companions available in the modpack were strictly defined.
The initial five-person party was just the game's starting tutorial, so they'd all been specially implemented as companions to give it that unique feel.
That was why there had been such an active demand for custom character creation to add more companions.
'Ma Ye-ri, Cha Yun-ji... something like that. I can't even remember properly anymore.'
It had been a while since he'd revised the early story, so he'd forgotten even the names of the characters he'd set as top students.
It seemed the current top students of this facility's first-year class had pushed aside those throwaway characters and been claimed by this world's native humans.
'Unless it's a setting I carefully inserted, almost everything else has likely changed to maintain plausibility...'
He suddenly grew curious.
What kind of people were these promising first-years, the strong S-rank candidates the scouts were buzzing about?
Hye-yong was a complete frog in a well when it came to the academy, if not the world at large.
'The difference between F-rank and S-rank must be like heaven and earth, right?'
Getting on the bad side of an S-rank probably meant being gruesomely murdered or something, co-creator of the world or not.
Though, in all likelihood, they had absolutely no reason to target Hye-yong.
— ...a moment that will profoundly impact your future lives...
— ...we wish you visionary progress...
He spent the time half-listening to the speech from the Awakened Association President, who served as the facility's headmaster, letting it go in one ear and out the other while he listened to and observed the scouts.
Once the assembly in the auditorium ended, everyone immediately moved to their classrooms.
Hye-yong's destination was High Division, First-Year Classroom 3.
It was set up roughly like a university lecture hall.
Still, this was an Awakened training facility, so it wasn't going to be just like a normal school.
'So this is my seat.'
The student info on his terminal even showed him where to sit.
As Hye-yong, he'd looked around the classroom before, but this was his first time seeing it packed with students.
Glancing beside him, he saw Choi Ah-young waving cheerfully.
'Come to think of it, she said we sat next to each other during class.'
( Hey. )
She greeted him by mouthing the word, and Hye-yong returned the gesture.
( Hey. )
Screech!
"Good to see you all. Many familiar faces I haven't seen in a while. I trust you haven't forgotten me."
The stern-looking woman who pushed open the door and entered was Instructor Lee Ji-eun, a character Hye-yong had created.
She could be considered the homeroom instructor in charge of Classroom 3.
"I'll take attendance first. Connect your terminals to your individual desks."
Near the corner of the desk was a slot perfectly sized to fit a terminal.
Sliding it in produced a satisfying click, a snug and perfect fit.
Choi Ah-young and the other students also took out their terminals and inserted them into the desk slots.
Lee Ji-eun held up what looked like a tablet, glanced at the screen, and allowed a faint hint of question to cross her face.
"Hmm... Han Geon-hu. Where is Han Geon-hu? Does anyone know his whereabouts?"
Choi Ah-young raised her hand, and Lee Ji-eun's gaze shifted to her.
Acknowledged, Choi Ah-young lowered her hand and explained Han Geon-hu's situation.
"He is recovering from a death in the otherworld."
"He wasn't able to recuperate properly. It seems escaping F-rank will be difficult again this time..."
— Did you hear that? He's still F-rank.
— Seriously? We've already started the third semester?
— Even if your rank doesn't drop, if you stay at F or E, you have to drop out.
At Lee Ji-eun's words, students murmured and snickered, mocking Han Geon-hu.
'Jeez. Way to make this F-ranker's ears burn.'
Lee Ji-eun, as if her interest in Han Geon-hu ended right there, immediately moved on to a new topic.
"I imagine you've all spent the last three months of the second semester diligently improving yourselves. However, what matters in this facility isn't effort. You are evaluated solely on results. This new semester exam will prove exactly how you've spent the past three months."
New semester exam?
No one had ever mentioned such a thing to Hye-yong.
This seemed like another one of those things you were just expected to know as a student here.
'An exam after three months of individual training... Makes sense, I suppose.'
What kind of exam would it be?
Still, this was the country's largest Awakened facility; the exam was unlikely to be trivial or cliché.
"Let me begin the explanation."
His interest piqued, Hye-yong opened his ears and listened to the exam details.
"The exam location is within an A-rank otherworld. However, heterogenous species of various ranks are distributed throughout, and we have confirmed the space is vast enough to accommodate all of the facility's first-year students."
"Although it's an A-rank otherworld, the dangerous zones are fixed, making it an excellent location for every cadet to enter and demonstrate their abilities."
"The passing condition is survival for one week. Since the passing condition is so simple, merely surviving grants no reward whatsoever."
"You can only earn exam points by hunting heterogenous species within the otherworld."
Lee Ji-eun reached below the podium and held up a capsule.
Click! When she pressed the top, the middle of the capsule opened to reveal a small, transparent crystal-like object.
"You're aware that when a heterogenous species dies, it emits a unique mana wavelength."
"This capsule is made of a new material that records that mana wavelength."
"After you kill one, recording its mana wavelength into the capsule will allow the facility to classify its rank and convert it into points for you."
"The number of capsules provided will be fifty."
"Filling them all by hunting weak enemies is one approach, but it's better to carefully gauge your party's strength and fill all fifty with the strongest possible enemies, wouldn't you agree?"
"Also, be aware that if you die or sustain major injuries forcing you to leave the otherworld during the exam, it will be considered a failure."
"You are responsible for your own food and supplies for the week. That, too, is part of the exam."
"If you wish to give up without dying, simply returning to the facility is also a valid option."
An exam taken by all first-year students, not just the High Division, where everyone entered the otherworld.
It was certainly straightforward.
Kill. Record the mana wavelength in a capsule.
Submit them, and they'd pay you points.
"The exam begins tomorrow morning. Today's class is dismissed. I'll give you time to organize your party's strength. Once you've decided everything, have your party leader come to the administration office to collect the capsules."
Having said that, Lee Ji-eun strode out of the classroom with a genuinely cool gait.
The moment she disappeared, the room instantly erupted into noise.
"Hey, is he joining our party?"
"I dunno. I'll ask again."
"Our buffer slot opened up. What are we gonna do?"
"What can we do? Let's just pick up another dealer."
Hunting heterogenous species alone was something only a hardcore lone wolf would do.
Perhaps because of that, the students' biggest concern was none other than party members.
Talk of who was joining or leaving which party noisily filled the air around him.
"Hye-yong?"
"Yeah?"
Choi Ah-young, who was beside him, cautiously spoke up.
"We're... keeping our party together, right? You didn't decide to join another party for the new semester, did you?"
She had a slightly worried expression.
'Don't worry. I'm not joining another party until I've gotten so ridiculously close to you guys that I've sucked every last drop of the Power of Perception out of you.'
Hye-yong chuckled and replied.
"There's no party out there willing to take an F-rank Blessing Mage."
"Then we're going with the original members. Let's do well on this exam."
"Of course. But if we're going to be stuck in the otherworld for a week without coming out, shouldn't we prepare? Food and stuff."
It had a bit of a survival feel to it, not just hunting heterogenous species.
"We have to prepare everything. The facility won't provide it, but the nearby markets will probably have had plenty of survival supplies and instant food brought in for this."
"We have to buy that with our own points? Wow, that's kind of cheap of them."
"Fund management is part of the grade evaluation. Let's gather everyone up and buy all the necessities."
"Okay."
After thinking for a moment, he realized this was a situation that genuinely made his heart race.
A week-long survival trip with four girls.
He didn't know the exact layout inside the otherworld, but aside from food, there would obviously be issues like dressing, washing, and sleeping.
'The important thing is that all my party members are girls and I'm the only guy.'
The Awakened gender ratio: two males to eight females.
It was a party structure that perfectly mirrored that ratio.
He'd learn this later, but Hye-yong was a truly blessed case.
Most existing party structures were either entirely same-sex or had a balanced distribution of men and women.
That's because girls rarely wanted to join an all-male party, and all-female parties weren't exactly thrilled about filling a slot with a guy.
It's more comfortable being with the same gender, so why go out of your way to create a situation with a single man or woman mixed in?
Unless the party's gender makeup was already balanced, of course.
Hye-yong's party had originally formed with a balanced composition of two men and three women, but with Han Geon-hu's retirement and Na Hee-yeon joining, it had become a rather blissful structure.
"Still, if we move too late, supplies could run short. Let's gather everyone quickly and secure what we need."
"I should send a message in the group chat telling everyone to meet up right away."
It was clearly an important exam, but Hye-yong felt almost like he was going on a picnic.