Chapter 9
Chapter 9
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 9
Chapter Title: Nexus Academy Visit
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Su-ho smiled and said,
“You’ve made a wise decision. While you prepare the contract, may I take a look around the academy? You’ll explain everything later, but I’d like to check it out on my own.”
“Of course. Ah, if you give me your contact info, I’ll call you as soon as the contract is ready. It won’t take long.”
“Yes, my number is……”
The reason for drawing up a contract was to prevent any potential double-dealing.
‘Contracts are essential in society.’
Especially when a whopping 300 million won was on the line.
After exchanging numbers, Su-ho stood up and began slowly touring Nexus Academy.
‘As expected from the largest academy in the country—the scale is on another level.’
Nexus Academy was enormous.
It had a physical training center and dormitories, of course, but also mock training grounds, study rooms and a library for written exams, a cafeteria, and countless other amenities. He’d heard they’d deliberately chosen Paju to build the nation’s first and largest academy.
That was why Nexus Academy had another nickname: Nexus Village, because it felt like a whole town.
‘Seeing this academy brings back memories of my exam prep days.’
Of course, Su-ho hadn’t attended an academy.
These dormitory-style academies charged exorbitant monthly fees, way out of reach for him.
Still, he’d studied on his own and passed on his first try in his first year.
His aptitude test had come out perfectly too.
Back then, he’d chosen the warrior class instead of healer.
After wandering the academy facilities for a while, Su-ho entered a personal training hall.
Countless exam takers were practicing skills suited to their classes, though it wasn’t regular class time, so there weren’t that many.
That’s when a group of students caught Su-ho’s eye.
‘Those kids must be going for the swordsman tech tree.’
Students wielding daggers to longswords of various types, practicing their swordsmanship.
But no matter how he looked, their forms were sloppy.
It was only natural.
They were lucky kids who’d only awakened as players and never seen real action.
Then, someone utterly unexpected entered Su-ho’s view.
‘Kang Dae-han?’
No mistake.
His memories, newly organized through the Library of Memories, were more accurate than anyone’s.
Plus, how could he forget a massive 190cm, 120kg frame with a completely shaved head?
‘Kang Dae-han went to Nexus.’
Guardian Kang Dae-han.
In the future, he was a renowned hunter in Korea, one of the top tankers in the country.
Su-ho had even partied with him a few times.
So he was certain.
That hairstyle, that huge build.
They were Kang Dae-han’s signatures.
But the Kang Dae-han in front of him seemed off.
He was swinging a massive axe as big as himself, but the Kang Dae-han Su-ho knew wielded a shield, not an axe.
‘I see. He hasn’t discovered his aptitude yet.’
In that moment, a great idea popped into Su-ho’s head.
‘Perfect timing. Since I’m here, I should lay some groundwork early.’
Kang Dae-han would end up joining Nexus later.
But if Su-ho got acquainted now and built rapport, he might be able to pull him to the Grand Hunter Association instead.
‘No—Guardian Kang Dae-han has to come to the Grand Hunter Association.’
No matter how strong an individual was, they couldn’t handle everything alone.
Problems always cropped up in multiple places in different ways.
That’s why Su-ho planned to secure talented people in advance to be his right-hand men.
‘Since I said I’d tour the academy, this should be fine, right?’
Having made up his mind, Su-ho headed straight down to the training hall.
Fortunately, it didn’t require a separate access card, but as someone in casual clothes—not the academy uniform—appeared, eyes turned to him.
They soon scattered, though.
This wasn’t school, and people weren’t that interested in strangers.
Su-ho ignored them too and approached Kang Dae-han.
“Hello?”
“Yes? Oh, hello?”
Kang Dae-han quickly set down his axe and greeted him back.
Up close, it was definitely him.
A kind face and gentle voice despite the huge build. Just as Su-ho was about to ask his name to be sure, he spotted “Kang Dae-han” embroidered boldly on the chest of his tracksuit-like training uniform.
‘No need to ask.’
Su-ho said,
“Are you a warrior class, by any chance?”
“Yes, that’s right…… Who are you?”
“I’m just passing by, but I watched you for a bit and had something I really wanted to tell you.”
Passing by.
He was connected to the academy, so that made it true enough.
Not a lie.
Kang Dae-han pointed at himself with a finger and asked,
“Me?”
“Yes. What’s your exam history like, Mr. Dae-han?”
At the question, Kang Dae-han said sheepishly,
“This is my third year.”
“So you’ll be taking tomorrow’s exam too?”
“Yes, I applied this time as well.”
“I see. So you plan to use that battle axe for the practical too?”
“Yes, that’s the plan.”
“May I ask why you chose the battle axe specifically?”
“Uh…… I’m aiming for close-range dealer, and after consulting with the academy, they recommended this. They said not just anyone can handle it. Oh, and that it has the highest burst damage.”
Su-ho felt a twinge in his neck at that.
No matter the size, recommending this to a player so heavily influenced by stats just because of their build?
‘This is the country’s largest academy……?’
It really hit home how outdated the current era was.
It hadn’t been long since humanity had stabilized against gates, so compared to the future, everything felt archaic.
Su-ho shook his head and said,
“Absolutely not. You should use a weapon that suits you. All players get stat bonuses anyway.”
“Uh…… Really?”
“Yes, and reasonable skill proficiencies fill up quickly with skill correction effects. The rest comes down to personal know-how and experience. From watching you earlier, the battle axe doesn’t seem to suit you, Mr. Dae-han.”
“R-Really? But I’ve been using it for three years……”
That’s exactly the problem.
Su-ho glanced at the weapon rack made of glass walls on one side of the training hall and said,
“Do you see that kite shield in the corner over there?”
“Yes, I see it.”
“Strap that on your left arm and grab a one-handed bludgeon in your right. You’ll score way higher on the practical than you do now.”
“Uh…… So you’re recommending a hybrid build for me?”
Hybrid.
A position handling at least two roles—for warriors, that meant sub-dealer and sub-tank, aka “multitank.”
Multi-tanker was the prime example.
“Yes, I’m recommending multitank.”
“Is that…… really necessary? I’ve trained with this battle axe for three years. Changing positions now……”
He seemed attached.
But in Su-ho’s memories, Kang Dae-han wielded a massive shield, not a battle axe.
Meaning the future Kang Dae-han had realized his limits and ditched it on his own.
So Su-ho needed to gently nudge him toward that realization early.
That way, talents like Kang Dae-han wouldn’t waste time.
“Mr. Dae-han, what do you think is the core of a party?”
“Hmm? The mage?”
“No. Surprisingly, it’s the tanker. Because the tanker pulls aggro and protects the mage and healer for the party to function properly.”
“Then wouldn’t pure shield be better?”
Not wrong.
There was a time when specializing in one over half-assing two was dominant.
But as time passed and late-game gates evolved, pure tankers gradually lost their place.
‘In the late game, tanks have to counterattack or the difficulty becomes brutal.’
That’s why Kang Dae-han, a top Korean tanker, never reached world-class.
He’d switched to hybrid too late, after years as a pure tanker, and couldn’t adapt easily.
So now, Su-ho was recommending multitank from the start.
The era of multitanks was coming.
Su-ho answered,
“According to overseas gate research, pure tankers will have less and less room as time goes on. Tankers need to handle at least one main weapon besides a shield to use crowd control more broadly.”
“Ah……!”
“And while the battle axe has high burst, the delay after a swing is too long. If you don’t cover it, you’ll get wrecked. Plus, no other tanker can protect you easily with that build of yours.”
“……!”
Kang Dae-han’s eyes flashed like lightning had struck.
Even setting aside other reasons, this hit home hardest.
“Thank you. Now that you mention it, that makes sense. The practical isn’t about weapon proficiency anyway.”
“Right? For warriors, it’s about how long you last against monsters—proficiency doesn’t matter much. One-handed bludgeons don’t need complex techniques either, so you’ll get the feel with a little practice.”
“Yes! Thank you!”
Kang Dae-han bowed deeply in gratitude.
Su-ho looked around for others like him but sadly spotted no one familiar.
After quite some time touring the academy, he got a call from Director Kim Su-ae and finalized the contract.
***
The next day.
Having signed a scholarship contract with Director Kim Su-ae and found his old place to live, Su-ho rested fully and headed back to the association.
The area in front of the association was packed.
Only natural.
Today was the hunter license exam.
“Alright, line up by exam number order and we’ll proceed with inspections one by one!”
Taking the hunter exam again after over a decade felt nostalgic.
But he wasn’t nervous.
The exam’s sub-20% pass rate applied to average test-takers.
After changing into the association-provided exam uniform and finishing blood and urine tests, Su-ho entered the written exam room.
‘Checks for potential doping……’
But they were pointless.
Real dopers used skill buffs, not drugs, for exams.
The reason these checks persisted was that skill-doping issues hadn’t surfaced yet.
‘Time to make it an issue now.’
Returning to the past meant accelerating several things.
As Su-ho sat in his assigned seat, pondering other plans, a woman in the front row caught his eye.
‘What’s this?’
She looked utterly ordinary.
But Su-ho sensed it.
The abnormal mana waves emanating from her body.
His instincts screamed.
Skill doping.