School Life is Fucking Spectacular # 6
School Life is Fucking Spectacular # 6
"The little bastards are acting up."
I'm not afraid of some kids. What are they gonna do? Stab me with a knife? A hero is a hero, literally. I did a little internet search, and apparently superhumans who commit violent crimes get labeled as villains.
What matters for a hero? It's all about character. There's no way a bunch of pricks who swing first and curse later get to stick around at the academy.
"Oh shit."
Thinking about it from several angles, the shit I pulled on entrance day might actually be paying off. I've got an in with the Chairwoman now, so if I get my ass kicked I can run straight to her.
Knowing her personality, Chairwoman is definitely the type who has zero tolerance for that kind of violence. I'm sure of it. And she's not the type to refuse a request from a student she beat the crap out of herself. Besides, the bruise she left on my back is still there.
Anyway.
"Let's see."
I walked right up to the training ground kiosk and tapped the "All Users" indicator floating in the middle of the screen.
And then.
ㅡClick.
The door locked and a light came on up top. Ah, I must not have turned this on earlier, so the "In Use" sign never showed up. That's how those guys got in.
[Loading...]
I waited for the loading to finish and the screen popped up soon enough.
ㅡDing!
―――――――――――――――――
「Quest Complete」
「Enter the Academy Training Ground」
「Reward: 100 Coin」
「Reward: Shop Unlocked」
―――――――――――――――――
"Yeahhhhhh!!!"
The shop is finally unlocked! Joy washed over me and my heart pounded. How do I use this thing? Since I've got the training ground rented out for now, let's check it out real quick.
"How do I open it? Shop. Shop window."
I said.
ㅡDing.
A familiar-looking hologram window appeared before my eyes.
―――――
[Shop]
[Purchase]
―――――
The design is simplicity itself.
The instant I pressed the purchase tab without hesitation.
―――――
[?]
[?]
[?]
[?]
―――――
A sea of question marks welcomed me.
"Wait, why is everything question marks?"
Wait, is this all gacha? If it was I was about to collapse on the floor screaming and murder it, but I tried pressing them and nothing clicked.
So it wasn't gacha.
Anyway, I flipped through the hologram windows and checked the list. Almost every window was plastered with [?]. Is this one of those things where I have to make more progress to unlock stuff? Basically, everything is locked.
That's probably it. There's no other reason for it to be like this. But shit, what's the point of giving me a shop if I can't even use it right now...
―――――
[Stats]
―――――
"Oh."
The stats tab showed up.
So I can use coins to boost my pathetic stats? That's a huge win. I pressed it without hesitation and a list of stats popped up.
――――――――――――
[Strength (1) - 3,000 Coin]
[Skill (1) - 3,000 Coin]
[Stamina (1) - 3,000 Coin]
[Endurance (1) - 3,000 Coin]
[Magic Power (1) - 3,000 Coin]
[Coins Held (2,500)]
――――――――――――
"Well shit."
These vicious colluding bastards all set the same price?
On top of that they're all three thousand, so I need five hundred more to do anything. I guess I'll just have to get good at saving up coins. But seeing how I'd already saved up this much when I hadn't even been at school that long, maybe it's pretty generous?
"Ryu Cheon-hwi."
I got two thousand from fighting that guy. The rest was small change. Does that mean Ryu Cheon-hwi is a coin machine? I can make a guess, but nothing's certain.
I was planning on reporting that bastard Ryu Cheon-hwi anyway... but if he's a coin machine, maybe it'd be better to keep him around instead of reporting him.
Whatever the case, if I saved up coins I could get stronger. So I gotta work hard at it. Not that I could slack off on training or anything because of that. I didn't even know the average stats of these hero cadets in the first place. I had to do everything I could just to catch up.
Training and exercise were important.
ㅡPoof.
I closed the shop window without hesitation and checked the kiosk again.
[Begin training?]
"Yes."
I pressed it and a window asking me to enter an ID and password popped up... shit, do I have to make one? I thought, but then I remembered I had my student ID. I took it out and logged right in, and my name popped up.
[Kim Geun-cheol]
[Rank: F]
[Training Ground Uses: 0]
[Total Score: 0]
So I could do everything with just my student ID. Pretty convenient. I looked over my info screen a bit and then pressed the start training button.
[Please choose a training type.]
"Ooh, there are different types?"
That's pretty detailed.
I pressed it and a list popped up.
[Close-Quarters Combat Training]
There were other options, but I only had a sword and a sword enchantment skill, so I figured I'd go with that.
[Projectile Evasion Training]
[Designated Monster Summon Battle]
[Monster Wave]
[Monster Challenge]
There was a lot of variety and it was already starting to feel fun. First I looked at the descriptions one by one. Projectile Evasion Training? I looked and the description popped up.
-Whether monsters or monsterkin, some guys love ranged attacks. Evading or defending against their attacks is one of a hero's most important skills.
-Dodge the projectiles fired by monsters. HP is consumed based on the hit location, and if HP reaches 0 the training ends and your score is calculated.
"Thanks for the kind explanation."
Basically it's like dodgeball training. I watched the example video and it clicked instantly. The others are things like summoning one hologram monster and fighting it one-on-one, and a wave mode where monsters keep appearing like a defense game.
The last one was supposedly a challenge mode where you kill monsters one after another, like climbing a tower.
"Select challenge mode."
[Please choose a level.]
[Lv.1]
[Lv.2]
[Lv.3]
[ .... ]
"Yep. Always start at level 1."
ㅡBeep.
The instant I touched the screen.
ㅡWhooooosh!
"Ugh!"
Suddenly the training ground was enveloped in blue light!
"Holy shit...!"
It felt like I'd stepped into a digital world! A space swirling with mystical blue light! As I was admiring it, the floor opened and some kind of pillar rose up.
"What's this?"
ㅡWhirr.
The pillar opened and something like a weapon came out from inside. Ah, I got it. They said the enemies would appear as holograms. So they must be providing dedicated training weapons like this.
ㅡGrab.
I immediately grabbed the training sword.
Its design is kind of futuristic.
But the weight is similar to my sword.
[Starting Monster Challenge Mode.]
"Start it already. I wanna see these monsters."
And then.
ㅡBzzzzzz.
"Ooh."
Up ahead, something started to slowly generate, like a 3D printer making an object. The color was a sky blue, literally like a futuristic hologram... This technology was insane.
I watched with anticipation and soon the monster was fully formed.
"What is that? A sea anemone? With legs?"
It was a pretty weird-looking monster. It had a bundle of tentacles on top of a cylindrical body, and on the bottom it had a pair of reverse-jointed legs like a Zealot.
Height was about one meter.
It was even modeled in more detail than I expected, so it felt incredibly real.
[F-rank Monster Antazora]
[Beware the tentacles.]
"Whoa."
This was nerve-wracking.
At the same time, I was excited. I had a sword, and I had to take down that monster. It felt just like an incredibly vivid VR action game. Of course my motivation was through the roof.
I couldn't get hurt anyway. So let's get started for real!
[Activation Beginning]
"Yeah! Let's go!"
I stepped out with my left foot and leveled my sword!
You think I'm gonna lose to some shitty sea anemone like that?! I'm a guy who actually knows Taekwondo, dammit! A guy like me with a sword is basically invincible.
ㅡPapapat!
The Antazora monster started charging at high speed on its reverse-jointed legs. It was faster than I thought.
"Kyiiiiiiick!"
"It talks too?"
It even talked, the crazy thing. Not only that, but it stretched out the tentacles on its body and got ready to attack me. Anyway, I matched its speed.
"Whoa there!"
ㅡSwish!
I threw myself to the side and dodged the rush.
"Kyiiick!"
ㅡSkitter skitter skitter.
I dodged to the side and it kept going a little further, then slowly decreased its speed and turned back toward me. It was pretty fast, but not so fast I couldn't see it coming and dodge. It didn't act all that nimbly either.
I could handle this.
Was it because it was an F-rank monster? Basically, guys like that were the most weak-ass trash mobs. So even a guy like me could somehow fight one.
"I dodge, and I hit. Good. Hey. Come at me again."
ㅡFwoosh!
No sooner did I say it than it leaped at me again. Same speed I could see and dodge. The moment it got close, I threw myself sideways again to avoid the rush, and—
"Die!"
ㅡFwoosh!
I kicked off the ground, ran straight at it, swung my sword, and hit it from behind!
ㅡBam!
A cheerful impact sound and a burst of glowing sky-blue particles.
ㅡVrrrrrrm!
Plus the sword handle vibrated intensely like some arcade light-gun game. The impact feel was killer.
Right at that moment of admiration,
ㅡWhish!
"Gah!"
It shot its tentacles right at my face! I barely dodged by rolling on the ground. Whoa, I almost died there. That would've been dangerous if this was real.
"You son of a bitch!"
ㅡSwiish!
I got up instantly, charged at it, and swung my sword.
ㅡBam!
My sword lightly cut through its body. That was the end of it. The hologram monster scattered like a mirage.
[Victory]
"Ooooooooooh!!!"
Exhilaration!!!
Overwhelming exhilaration!!!
A cheer burst out of me!!!
"I wonnnnn!!!"
I'd roughly figured it out!
Basically, even a guy like me can kill an F-rank monster! I felt a massive sense of achievement, thinking I was learning about myself, and about monsters!
"Alright, next one! Bring it!"
Using this training ground was gonna be so fucking fun! No, seriously, it was gonna be so fucking fun! Wasn't this just a crazy vivid VR action game? More than anything, if I kept actively using my body like this in the training ground and picking up combat sense, naturally my body would get better and my stats would definitely go up!
"Starting now, I'm grinding like Moonlight Sculptor-style hard training!"
Just like when I used to beat up scarecrows to raise my stats, I'm gonna beat up these training ground monsters and raise my stats!