Practical Training
Today was the day of our first dungeon practice.
For the students' safety, it was held in the Illusion Dungeon. If complete novices or the inexperienced like us dove straight into a real dungeon from the start, accidents would be highly likely—even with an instructor accompanying us.
There were twenty dungeon practice teams in all. As Instructor Suptoto had decided, we formed teams of three.
I was assigned to Team 20, and both of my teammates were familiar faces.
"Same team again."
"Did the instructor deliberately put us together?"
Seo I-eung and Isabella Chambers. Luckily, I had ended up teamed with club members I was already friendly with. Probably out of consideration from Instructor Suptoto.
"Heh heh. I can't let other girls see Kang Hahwi's angel mode. Yeon-geun."
Suptoto muttered under her breath as she brushed past me. So it wasn't consideration—it was pure possessiveness.
Suptoto stopped in front of the Illusion Dungeon booth. The moment she gave a light clap of her hands—
Boom—!
A thick cloud of smoke billowed up. And from within that smoke,
"Yeon-geun!"
"Yeon-geuuun!"
"Yeon-geun, yeon-geun!"
"Car-… Yeon-geun!!"
Rabbits poured out in a heap. Every last one of them was identical in appearance to Suptoto.
"W-what? The instructor multiplied!"
"It's not multiplication, you idiot—it's clone magic."
"Whoa. How many clones are there? How much mana does she have overflowing to make that many?"
"Amazing… I guess an instructor really is an instructor."
The students gaped in open awe. I was just as stunned. Roughly counting, there were twenty of them. Even A-grade Hunters who used clone magic were supposed to max out at around ten…
So did that mean Instructor Suptoto was above A-grade? She was a far more impressive rabbit than I had given her credit for.
"You lot have no eye for quality. Yeon-geun."
From among the Suptotos lined up in a neat row, one hopped forward. I still couldn't tell them apart, but the fact that she was speaking for the rest made it clear this one was the original.
"This isn't clone magic—it's duplication magic. Yeon-geun."
"Duplication magic?"
One student tilted her head and asked. She clearly didn't know the difference. Of course, neither did I.
"Yeon-geun. Duplication magic is a higher-tier magic than clone magic."
"Uh… so what's the difference between clones and duplicates?"
"Duplicates have physical substance."
"That seems a bit… There are clone magics that have substance too, right?"
"Yeon-geun! Listen to Korean all the way through. Don't interrupt!"
Thwack!
Suptoto smacked the student's head with a carrot and pressed on.
"Duplication magic not only possesses physical substance—each individual also has its own separate self. In other words, there's no need for me to control them directly. Now do you understand how amazing duplication is, yeon-geun?"
The students buzzed with excitement.
"Whoa. They have their own selves? That's broken magic."
"Okay, it's broken, but isn't it a little dangerous? If the clones have selves, controlling them gets hard. They might even betray you."
"Yeah. They might decide to kill the original and become the real one. At least if I were a clone, I would."
Suptoto clicked her tongue.
"Of course, if you can't handle this magic properly those risks exist. But I'm not at risk. First of all, these guys clearly recognize that they are duplicates, and they have absolutely no will to rebel against me. Yeon-geun."
As she spoke, she lightly poked the head of a rabbit standing behind her—clearly meant to demonstrate how thoroughly obedient they were.
Except then the duplicate she had just hit frowned sharply and roughly slapped her hand away.
"Don't hit me. It feels bad."
"S-sorry. Yeon-geun."
"More importantly, where's the carrot?"
"Yeon-geun? What carrot are you talking about?"
"You promised to give us a super-sized carrot when you resummoned us!!!"
"Ah… I forgot. So that's why you were in a bad mood… Sorry. I'll make sure to bring it next time. Yeon-geun."
The duplicate rabbit puffed out its cheeks without answering and whipped its head away. The sulky look was surprisingly cute.
Anyway. No matter how you looked at it, the rabbits did not appear to be obedient to Suptoto in the slightest. She was probably just coaxing them along with soft words the whole time.
Suptoto scratched her head, looking thoroughly embarrassed.
"A-ahem! Anyway! My duplicates will take charge of Teams 1 through 19!"
She said it while shifting her gaze straight to our team.
"And I'll personally lead Team 20. Yeon-geun."
I figured as much.
Each team entered a different Illusion Dungeon at the same time.
The moment we stepped inside, Isabella rummaged through her pocket and pulled out several yellow slips of paper.
"I-eung, take this."
"Huh?"
She handed one to Seo I-eung.
"Here, Kang Hahwi—you take one too."
"Thanks."
She passed one to me as well.
"Instructor, please take one too."
"I don't know what it is, but thanks for the meal. Yeon-geun."
"It's not for eating."
"Then I won't take it. Yeon-geun."
She tried to offer one to Instructor Suptoto, but Suptoto refused outright.
Seo I-eung flipped the paper over, examining both sides, then looked at Isabella.
"What kind of talisman is this?"
"It's a talisman that boosts courage."
"Boosts courage? Ah, so it has magic that raises morale? Emotion-control talismans are pretty expensive…"
"Don't worry about the price. I made them myself, so it didn't cost any money."
She was talented too. So Isabella specialized in this kind of magic. But if she could craft talismans like these, why bother with physical part-time jobs instead of just earning money this way?
"You made these yourself… If you've got the talent to make talismans like this, couldn't you just sell them instead of working part-time?"
Seo I-eung seemed to have had the exact same thought.
Isabella awkwardly scratched her cheek with a finger and gave a sheepish smile.
"I'm not at the level where I can sell them to people yet. Even if I did, no one would buy a talisman from an unknown nobody like me."
"Ah. Come to think of it, for stuff like talismans the maker's reputation matters a lot, right?"
"Yeah. So once I become an official Hunter, I plan to register a business then."
Now it made sense. Official Hunters were easy to look up online, so Isabella was planning to build credibility first and then start selling. My evaluation of her rose another notch.
Even without being a Hunter or having any reputation, there were plenty of people who deceived others by selling "emotion-control talismans." Like the nitrogen filling snack bags, the cooking instructions printed on ramen packages, or the exaggerated claims on health foods and cosmetics. People knew it was wrong, but they rationalized it—everyone does it, so it's fine. There was no separate law governing talisman sales, and no real regulations either. Buyers rarely complained. Even if the talisman lacked the promised effect, simply carrying it made them feel as though it worked. It was a kind of shared illusion—similar to how no one bothers to complain about shrimp ramen containing only 0.02 percent actual shrimp as long as they can faintly taste it.
She's surprisingly honest.
As expected, there didn't seem to be any bad people among those who loved animals.
…Come to think of it, isn't emotion-control magic also used in trauma treatment?
I had recently learned that the medicine prescribed at psychiatric hospitals was also imbued with emotion-control magic.
Those meds were pretty expensive, though…
Should I ask Isabella if she could make me some medicine? I stroked the talisman and glanced sideways at her.
Hmm… Never mind. Let's just not ask.
I put the idea on hold. I didn't want to cause unnecessary trouble, and anything that wasn't an officially prescribed medicine might come with side effects.
"If we walk a little farther from here, we'll reach the monster habitat zone. Yeon-geun."
Suptoto pointed ahead as she spoke. We had already received the briefing on the monsters that appeared in this dungeon.
F-grade monster: Giant Earthworm. A creature whose body could stretch up to three meters long. Its movements were sluggish, but its destructive power rivaled that of a C-grade monster. Taking even a single hit could be fatal, so the standard method of subjugation was to keep your distance and finish it off with ranged attacks.
"Ranged attacks… Then I'll use this…"
Seo I-eung activated her Partial Transformation Magic. The transformed part was her right arm—except this time it wasn't a bear's. Her right arm morphed into the head of a cobra.
"I should get ready too."
Isabella pulled out her attack talismans in advance. In that case, I should transform before we ran into any monsters as well.
I focused my mind. It still took a little time, but I no longer needed to sit down and meditate. I had figured out the knack while practicing at home.
The moment I settled into my stance, Suptoto's ears perked straight up and she locked her eyes on me.
"Ooh! Finally transforming into an angel! Thump-thump, yeon-geun!"
Instructor Suptoto started doing a little shoulder dance.
"Hnnngh…"
Seo I-eung gulped hard.
"Transforming into an angel? Is that Kang Hahwi's Shinbi? I knew it was a transformation ability, but I didn't realize the form was an angel."
Isabella blinked and watched me intently. Every single gaze in the group was fixed on me.
With this much pressure, how was I supposed to transform…