Chapter 389
Chapter 389
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 390
Chapter Title: Pro Exam Team Assignments
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“Yo, Yoo Sung-jin. Your teammates for the pro certification exam got announced.”
In Jaun’s disguised office hidden somewhere in Seoul.
Yoo Sung-jin, who had been deep in mana circulation training, opened his eyes at Baek Eun-seong’s words.
“…Huh? Teammates? Isn’t the pro exam just evaluating individual ability?”
“…This guy knows absolutely nothing even though he’s about to take the exam. Of course there are. It’s not just personal skill—they test teamwork and all that too.”
Baek Eun-seong clicked his tongue and held up the documents in his hand.
“Anyway, come get these papers.”
Yoo Sung-jin took the documents from Baek Eun-seong and opened them.
Just as he said, the list included participants for this pro wizard certification exam, divided into teams.
“Let’s see… I’m in Team C.”
“No one you know on your team?”
“Someone I know? Hold on.”
As Yoo Sung-jin scanned the list, his gaze stopped at one spot.
“There is. Yoo Ah-ra.”
“Yoo Ah-ra? Oh, the fire magic user, Lee Seo-jun’s friend?”
“Yeah.”
Baek Eun-seong fell silent for a moment, lost in thought, then snickered.
“You gonna be okay? I hear Yoo Ah-ra’s got a tricky personality.”
“I’ve got a bit of a temper myself, so no issue. Plus, Yoo Ah-ra’s skill level should be pretty solid, right?”
“…Her potential is insane, yeah.”
It wasn’t for nothing she was called the next genius after Lee Seo-jun.
Yoo Sung-jin looked back down at the documents with a satisfied smile.
He was pleased to be teamed with Yoo Ah-ra.
Her skills in the basic aptitude exam had been impressive, and her appearance from afar matched his ideal type pretty well.
“Looking forward to it.”
“…What’s with that look?”
Baek Eun-seong narrowed his eyes at the upturned corners of his mouth.
“What? What’s wrong with my face?”
“You don’t tell me… Sigh.”
Baek Eun-seong shook his head.
“Yoo Ah-ra. She harbors a ton of resentment toward us. If she finds out you’re connected to us, she’ll flip out.”
“Huh? Why?”
“She’s the daughter of the prestigious Yoo family. Her family got wiped out by us—of course she’d lose it.”
…Daughter of the prestigious Yoo family?
Wait, she’s the younger sister of the Witch of Flames?
“Wow, didn’t know that.”
But it didn’t matter much. He could just keep his connection to Jaun secret.
Yoo Sung-jin thought that as he examined the documents again.
Truth be told, the ones making him most wary in this exam were someone else.
Originally one, but now two after the basic exam incident.
Lee Seo-jun and Kim Sun-woo.
He wondered which team they’d landed on.
As he scanned down the list, his eyes stopped at one place.
“Team D…”
“Team D?”
“Lee Seo-jun and Kim Sun-woo are both in Team D.”
Baek Eun-seong looked surprised at those words.
“Wow, those two in the same team? This exam might be tougher for you than you think.”
“What are you saying. Passing is 100% guaranteed.”
He said that, but he couldn’t help feeling tense.
He might end up facing both Lee Seo-jun and Kim Sun-woo at the same time.
The silver lining was having Yoo Ah-ra on his team.
That gave him a fighting chance.
Yoo Sung-jin shot up from his seat.
“I’m heading out for a bit.”
“Where to?”
“Practice for the pro exam and some scouting.”
With that, Yoo Sung-jin left the office in a flash, leaving Baek Eun-seong alone.
Feeling awkwardly idle, Baek Eun-seong scratched his head and picked up his communication magic tool.
“…Hmm. When are the others coming back?”
The other members were off pursuing their own goals.
Gathering intel, resource management, the fourth territory, necromancy… and so on.
He was the only one left guarding the hideout like a dog.
Just then, an alarm rang from his communication magic tool.
Baek Eun-seong hurriedly activated it.
—Can everyone hear me?
The voice belonged to Jin, who had gone to gather materials for necromancy.
Replies from the other comrades started coming in.
—Yeah, I hear you.
—Me too.
Baek Eun-seong stared blankly at the magic tool’s speaker, waiting for Jin to continue.
—First off, I’ve gathered all the necromancy materials. Everyone meet at the rendezvous point this weekend.
It was evening after all regular classes ended.
Lee Seo-jun’s group was eating at the student cafeteria.
Today’s menu was ramen.
Not the instant kind everyone imagines, but a gourmet dish made by hand-pulling each noodle.
“Whew.”
He blew on the steaming noodles and slurped them up.
The perfectly seasoned, spicy broth slid down his throat.
Man, this hits the spot.
Just then, he lifted his head at a gaze from across the table.
Yoon Ha-young, who had ordered ramen like him, was staring at him quietly.
“What?”
“Hm? Nah. You just look so happy eating it.”
“…Do I? You should eat yours quick too. It’s good.”
“Yeah, I will.”
Yoon Ha-young smiled faintly.
As he was about to resume eating, he happened to notice Yoo Ah-ra sitting right next to her.
She was looking down at her smart student notebook with a pensive expression.
Something felt off, so he couldn’t help asking.
“Something wrong?”
“Hm? Oh, no. It’s nothing.”
Yoo Ah-ra shook her head in surprise.
No way. She clearly looked like something was up.
But what could it be?
Even recalling the original story, there wasn’t anything she should be worrying about at this point.
“What is it? Tell me.”
“No, just some exam stuff bothering me.”
“…Alright, whatever.”
He still had questions, but since she said it was nothing, he let it slide for now.
As he took another bite of ramen, he activated Outsider’s Privilege.
A notification window popped up in front of him.
[Owned Points: 276,000]
276,000 points.
Not long ago, he’d spent everything on the Moon’s Blessing, but the points were piling up fast.
Probably thanks to getting involved in major incidents and shining in the Taehwi Festival.
Time to find places to spend them.
Naturally, his interest was in SS-rank traits or skills.
Items wouldn’t be bad either.
It wasn’t pure personal growth, but the efficiency would be better.
For now, though, he figured he should save them—who knew what might happen.
With the day of ‘Karma Reckoning’ approaching, he needed to plan accordingly.
Plus, SS-rank abilities required 400,000 points, so he had to keep grinding.
“Kim Sun-woo.”
Lost in his thoughts, he heard a voice calling him from diagonally across.
He turned to see Lee Seo-jun, who had finished eating, sipping water and looking at him.
“Wanna practice for the pro exam team battles? Get our teamwork down.”
“What kind of practice?”
Lee Seo-jun glanced around at the others before speaking.
“There’s a bunch of stuff. Like going into the mock tower or a mock dungeon.”
“Oh.”
Practice in advance. Not a bad idea. Good performance meant more points.
That reminded him of something.
The dungeon on a small island off Incheon’s coast that he’d heard about in the news in his previous life.
He remembered its rewards being pretty juicy.
Last year’s level, they couldn’t have cleared it, but with graduation nearing, his and Lee Seo-jun’s skills should handle it fine.
“How about a real combat practice spot I know? This Friday?”
Time flew by to Friday after classes.
He and Lee Seo-jun entered the dungeon hidden on Incheon’s island.
It didn’t take long to find.
He remembered the exact location, and Outsider’s Privilege highlighted the mana-distorted spot.
[Entered ‘Sanctuary of the Dead.’]
[Acquired 3,000 points as reward.]
“Dungeon just the two of us in forever.”
“Yeah. Feels like almost a year. Man, this place is creepy as hell.”
Lee Seo-jun muttered blankly as he looked around.
Like most dungeons, this one was shrouded in pitch-black darkness, nothing visible.
He conjured a magic orb to brightly illuminate the surroundings.
“Let’s go.”
They slowly ventured deeper into the dungeon.
True to its name ‘Sanctuary of the Dead,’ the atmosphere was grim and eerie.
The monsters that appeared were mainly skeleton soldiers, skeleton wizards, and zombies—undead types.
Naturally weak to light attributes, they were helpless against Lee Seo-jun’s sword.
“…This is way easier than I thought.”
Before they knew it, they’d reached the dungeon’s central area.
He’d expected a tough A-rank dungeon fight, but it was so easy it was disorienting.
No, the dungeon wasn’t weak.
Lee Seo-jun had grown tremendously in a short time.
At this rate, he might hit S-rank way faster than in the original.
Sensing his gaze, Lee Seo-jun turned to him.
“What? Why’re you staring like that?”
“…Nah, just thinking you’ve grown again in no time.”
Lee Seo-jun smirked at his words.
“Had a little enlightenment recently.”
Enlightenment, huh. As expected of an SSS-rank genius—his growth was absurd.
Part of him felt envious.
Even pooling all his points so far wouldn’t top a million.
Shaking off the stray thought, he said,
“Let’s keep going. It’ll get trickier from here. Stay sharp.”
“Yeah, got it.”
They pressed deeper into the dungeon.
No strong monsters were an issue, but the traps popping up here and there made exploration annoying.
Outsider’s Privilege made them no big deal, though.
Dismantling them one by one, they soon arrived at the dungeon’s end, the ‘boss room.’
“Phew! Boss room at last.”
They exchanged glances and opened the door.
Creaaaaak.
The door swung open, revealing something beyond in a black hood.
[Death’s magic clouds your mind.]
[Faced S-rank boss, ‘Reaper Who Devours Death.’]
The boss monster looked exactly like a ‘reaper’ as its name suggested.
Black hood hiding its face, no visible legs, floating ghost-like in the air.
And in its hand was a massive scythe.
He glared at it and said to Lee Seo-jun,
“It’s S-rank. Be careful.”
With his Kim Sun-woo identity, he couldn’t use his full power, but together with Lee Seo-jun, they could handle it.
The reaper turned its gaze to him and Lee Seo-jun.
[…Mortals visiting death after so long.]
A chilling voice.
Lee Seo-jun infused his Snowy Thousand Blade with light mana. It extended like a beam sword with intense light mana.
He too focused his mana in his palm, compressing it to his limit.
“Let’s go!”
With a short shout, Lee Seo-jun’s body was enveloped in light as he shot forward.
The boss room’s darkness brightened instantly, and he appeared right in front of the reaper.
[…]
The reaper swung its scythe swiftly. But Lee Seo-jun dodged fluidly and swung at its waist.
Whoosh!
The reaper’s form turned ghostly transparent, and his sword sliced empty air.
Stunned that his sure hit missed, Lee Seo-jun looked flustered.
“Dodge!”
Then the massive scythe swung at Lee Seo-jun’s neck again.
He immediately fired a magic orb, deflecting the scythe.
Claaaang!
[…Kuh!]
The reaper retreated quickly.
Lee Seo-jun glared tensely at the reaper and said to him,
“Thanks. You saved my skin.”
“Focus. It’s got invisibility.”
Lee Seo-jun fiddled with his wrist and said,
“…Tricky. How do you hit an invisibility user?”
He didn’t know either.
Invisibility hadn’t even been mentioned in the original or the officer academy.
The brief skirmish gave a hint, though.
“When it attacked you just now, it couldn’t dodge my attack.”
He’d seen it clearly.
As it attacked, his magic hit, tilting its body heavily.
“…So aim for the moment it attacks?”
“Probably.”
He said with a small smile.
“Then you know what to do next, right?”
“…Huh?”
Lee Seo-jun blinked blankly at his words.
“You’re the reinforcement mage. Time to play bait.”
After about 40 minutes of battle with the reaper, they seized the advantage.
To exploit the short window when it attacked, he fired magic orbs at it whenever Lee Seo-jun was targeted.
It wasn’t easy at first, but accuracy improved over time.
[…Krrrrgh!]
Holes started puncturing the hood around the reaper’s body from his magic.
Its bony hand gripped the scythe visibly, but the robe’s holes revealed only empty darkness—no torso.
“Proper dodge!”
Whoosh!
The reaper’s scythe swung wide again, and Lee Seo-jun barely evaded.
A small shoulder wound, but not serious.
At that moment, his magic shot out, piercing the reaper’s chest center.
Boooom!
Black smoke erupted from the reaper like bursting blood.
The reaper, who’d moved nimbly until now, froze.
[…Kuh… I acknowledge my defeat.]
Its voice lacked all will to fight, unlike before.
Like a dying man bleeding out, it scattered black magic into the air as it perished.
Sensing victory, Lee Seo-jun lowered Snowy Thousand Blade and approached him.
“…We barely won.”
“Yeah. Your wound okay?”
“Yeah, this is nothing.”
Lee Seo-jun wiped the blood from his shoulder wound and smiled.
[I see the deaths of all mortals…]
At the reaper’s sudden words, he turned back to it.
“…This guy’s chatty to the end.”
“Boss monster trait.”
Lee Seo-jun snickered. They listened to the reaper’s words.
A dungeon boss’s ‘last words’ always held valuable info.
[Young mortals… In my eyes, your deaths are not far off… Always beware of death…]
With those meaningful words, the reaper vanished.
He and Lee Seo-jun fell silent at that.
Our deaths are near.
He had a feeling he knew what the reaper meant.
Glancing at Lee Seo-jun, his expression had grown serious too.
He probably had death-related concerns as well.
“Lee Seo-jun?”
At his call, Lee Seo-jun startled.
“Huh? Oh, yeah.”
The joy of victory vanished, leaving an awkward air.
Scratching his cheek, he said,
“…Let’s check the rewards.”