The All-Master (4)
It was only after they'd all silently stripped off their coats that I could resume the lecture.
"......"
Park Sung-chan, the one I'd expected to resist the hardest, had behaved surprisingly meekly—which honestly made me a little suspicious.
"In my class, you are all students of the same academy. None of this pulling rank nonsense. Understood?"
No one answered, but I didn't hand out any more penalty points. If I abused penalty points over something this minor, the ones I'd already given might get retroactively thrown out on appeal.
Instead, I glanced his way, flashed him a faint smile, and began the lecture.
"Everyone here will become hunters one day. Am I right?"
"Yes, sir."
"That's correct."
"And once you become hunters, you'll be entering gates. So, here's a question. What should you be careful of inside a gate?"
At my question, the students exchanged nervous glances and answered one by one.
"Monsters, sir."
"Monsters... I suppose?"
Nearly every answer converged on a single word.
Monsters.
The term for all hostile organisms found within a gate.
"Monsters, huh. Not a wrong answer. After all, the number one cause of hunter deaths inside gates is monsters."
"Isn't that obvious, though...?"
"If it's not a monster, what else is going to kill you?"
"But you're all only half-informed. You know one thing and none of the rest."
Saying the death rate ranked first meant.
There was a second and a third, too.
"The other danger zone you need to watch for inside a gate is the environment."
"Environment?"
"It's easy to assume every gate has weather as mild as Earth's. Wrong. Some gates harbor extreme environments, and the probability of that climbs exponentially the higher the gate's rank goes."
In reality, some gates were so cold a single breath would freeze your lungs solid, or had floors made entirely of molten lava.
In extreme cases, a toxic fog blanketed the entire world, forcing raid teams to rush the clear time.
"No gate's environment can be known until you set foot inside it yourself. Which is exactly why a professional hunter should be able to adapt to any environment."
Then I revealed the concrete details of the lecture I'd prepared.
"See the forest behind us? The place you always use for field training. From this moment on, that forest is the inside of a gate."
Scattered throughout that forest were the numerous magic-type hunters I'd hired.
"Your objective is simple: reach the safe zone at the center of the forest. First ten people to arrive, that's it. And if you make it inside that number..."
A single line to reignite the morale of the dead-eyed students staring blankly through the lecture.
"I'll pay this semester's tuition for you."
"?!?!?!"
"Uh... are you serious?!"
"Kids, generosity is my nature."
Standing before them as they gazed up at me like disciples who'd found the light, I declared boldly:
"First ten, no exceptions! I'm covering your tuition!"
"WOOOOOAH!!"
"Lee Tae-hyun! Lee Tae-hyun! Lee Tae-hyun!"
"Shout it! God Tae-hyun!"
One sentence and they treated me like some war hero.
Right in the middle of the scholarship fever—
Swish—.
Yoo Ji-an raised her hand yet again.
"Professor? We already attend the academy on full scholarships. Therefore, that reward is meaningless."
"Hmph. Making a fuss over a few coins."
A bucket of cold water over the whole mood.
Everyone was clearly seething inside, but none of them could show it on their faces.
Hmm.
Well, she wasn't wrong.
In that case, I'd need a replacement reward worthy of the occasion.
"Fine, then. If you place in the top ten, I'll give you an S-rank skill book. How's that?"
"Yes, that much should be—wait, what?"
"Wh... what? Did I hear that right?"
For the benefit of these two who couldn't bring themselves to believe a word out of a person's mouth—
I graciously pulled the skill books out of my subspace.
Two skills I'd synthesized through Mimic that day but had put off acquiring because Shin Min-woo's mana couldn't handle them.
S-Rank Skill Book
S-Rank Skill Book
Two skill books radiating a brilliant golden glow.
Gulp...!
Ah Seo-ah's throat bobbed like a wave.
Even for brats who'd had every advantage stacked on them, supported or not—
They've probably never gotten their hands on an S-rank skill book.
My guess proved correct, because the eyes of the two staring at the skill books glazed over as if bewitched by something.
"Judging by the reaction, that should be a sufficient replacement reward... and you?"
The only student who showed no interest in the skill books at all.
I pointed straight at Park Sung-chan and asked.
"Is that enough of a reward?"
"...Couldn't care less about those."
My eyes and Park Sung-chan's collided in midair.
"Aren't you participating in this lecture?"
"Of course I am. You all said there are monsters in gates, didn't you?"
Among the hazardous environmental factors inside a gate—
was also included the possibility of a monster ambushing you from anywhere.
"I'm that monster. Dodge me as best you can—or feel free to try and subdue me."
"That will suffice."
At my declaration that I'd be participating, Park Sung-chan smiled in satisfaction.
In some respects, he was easier to read than Ah Seo-ah.
"Then, since no one seems to have any objections—let's begin."
Let me make one prediction here.
"Depart for your assigned positions."
Not a single one of them was going to claim the rewards I'd prepared.
"Ugh! This is outrageous! A lowly F-rank playing professor, of all things!"
Ah Seo-ah stamped her feet in a fury.
But there was no one around to indulge her tantrum.
This lecture was a strictly individual exercise.
Teaming up with whoever you met afterward was fine, but at the starting moment, everyone had to be alone.
"And a penalty point, of all things! Daring to give me a penalty! A penaaaalty!"
Not even the headmaster had ever imposed a penalty point on her.
Because S-Class had to be complete and impeccable.
She couldn't afford to hand anyone leverage to find fault with her, no matter the reason.
Yet in a single day, penalty points had piled up.
And fifteen of them, for her alone.
"Unforgivable! The skill books are one thing, but first I need to teach that guy the difference in our class!"
Without a moment's hesitation, Ah Seo-ah headed into the depths of the forest.
Since it had come to this, she might as well sweep up every other student she ran into along the way and blow off some steam.
"Ah... ahtchoo!"
Then again, the temperature had dropped strangely. Being a forest, the air did feel cold...
"Wh-wh-wh-what?!"
In that instant, an extreme cold crashed over her.
A bone-piercing wind and a raging blizzard erupted all around her at once.
"It's sooooo cold!"
This was no mere dip in temperature.
Her body was actually freezing, bit by bit.
"Ugh... uuugh! This kind of... coooold...!"
Flames bloomed to life above her palm.
Fireball (B)
"I'll just melt the whole thing!"
The fireball swelled and grew massive in moments. The snow melted instantly, and her frozen body came back to life.
For a very, very short while.
"Wh... why...!"
Fireball was a wide-area attack meant to obliterate an enemy in an instant.
It could unleash an intense burst of flame, but it couldn't sustain that fire.
Hold onto it and it would simply explode in your hand.
The snow's already up to my knees!
Left with no choice, she cast Fireball once more.
FWOOSH!
This time, too, the snow melted briefly—then piled back up even faster than before.
"Uuu..."
Wearing a face on the verge of tears, Ah Seo-ah unleashed every fire-attribute spell she knew in a desperate barrage.
Fwoosh!
Ka-ROAR!
Whoof!
Ka-BOOM!
Every single one was a skill devoted purely to one-shot attacks.
Not one of them was optimized for defense or protection.
"Haa... hah..."
Before long, her mana began to hit rock bottom.
The snow had silently risen past her waist, and even a single step forward had become a struggle for her body.
She had never raised a single stat related to physical ability, after all.
"So cold... *sniffle*! Wh-why am I... suffering like this..."
Sorrow washed over her all at once.
Why should she—destined to become the future Tower Master, blessed with the greatest talent alive—have to shiver in the cold in a place like this?
She couldn't even see the point of any of it.
"Aaauu..."
Just as her eyelids slowly began to droop—
"Oh, there you are."
Someone grabbed her by the nape and hauled her up out of the snow.
"You... you're..."
"You held out longer than I expected, though. I'll give you credit for that."
That insufferable face staring down at her.
"Lee Tae-hyun...!"
"Care to yield, instructor?"
"Why would I?! You're weaker and more incompetent than I am, and you—"
He'd saved her from dying, and she snarled at him like he was the offender.
Lee Tae-hyun let out a deep sigh.
"Fine. So that's how you want to play it?"
A silver spear slid out of his subspace.
"Wh...! What are you doing?!"
"If I weren't your instructor, right now I'd just be a 'monster.' Don't forget this is still an active lecture."
"Ambushing me now, how cowardly can you—!"
"Monsters don't wait to size up the situation before attacking hunters. If anything, a target drained of all stamina and mana is prime prey—and that's exactly what you are right now."
Ah Seo-ah scraped together what little residual mana she had left.
If she squeezed hard enough, it might be just enough for one high-power skill.
That insufferable bastard!
One hit would reduce him to ash.
Krrrk!
A lump of blue-white flame congealed in her hand.
"DIIIIIIIE!"
Overheat (A)
A searing torrent of flame charged straight for Lee Tae-hyun.
A skill that's dropped plenty of professors in a single hit!
And at this range, dodging would be next to impossible.
Certain of her victory, Ah Seo-ah wore a runny-nosed smile of pure triumph—
"The grit to fight to the very end—I'll acknowledge that much."
Lee Tae-hyun's spear—
was harder than her flames.
Seize.
The spear shattered the flame.
At least, that was how it looked through her eyes.
"Eh...?"
Following the arc of the spearhead, the fire guttered, dwindled, and died completely.
Only a few stray embers remained, scattering like fragments on the freezing wind.
"Done already?"
Lee Tae-hyun rolled his shoulder and looked down at her.
He was remarkably at peace for someone who'd just repelled a last-ditch resistance.
For an instant, a thought flashed through her mind.
Even if I were at full strength... could I beat this man?
He stood utterly composed in the middle of this insane blizzard.
And that move he'd just shown her hadn't even been his full power.
She could tell that much.
"A... a monster...!"
Scrape... scrape...
Her pride nowhere to be found, Ah Seo-ah fled on her hands and knees.
Drained of both mana and stamina, she couldn't manage anything resembling real speed.
"You're lying... you're supposed to be F-rank! You're not supposed to be this strong!"
"You really love ranking people and judging them, huh. It's disgusting."
Lee Tae-hyun walked across the pristine white snow.
"Just because your awakening, the System, rated you S doesn't mean you actually became an S-rank."
In the end, potential was a grade handed down by someone else.
"Being born a little superior to others doesn't give you the right to trample them, either."
The one who judges yourself—
in the end, comes back around to yourself.
Intoxicated by the grades others assign you, you're bound to lose your way.
Conversely.
There was a man Tae-hyun knew whose rating from others was low—
yet who honed himself relentlessly and climbed all the way to the top.
The B-rank All-Master.
"Don't get cocky. That arrogance of yours is exactly what buried you in this snow."
If she had learned even a single skill for protecting herself, instead of nothing but attack skills—
Ah Seo-ah would never have floundered helplessly in a place like this.
"What you learned in this lecture will be worth more than an S-rank skill book."
"What do you—urk?!"
He struck the back of her neck lightly with his hand and knocked her out.
"Phew... brutal. Just brutal."
S-Class, the 'Little Witch' Ah Seo-ah.
Lost consciousness in a frozen wasteland due to environmental exposure and a monster encounter.
Final result:
Eliminated — withdrew mid-exercise.