Pulling the Hidden Piece (3)
One of the three skills I'd brought back as a reincarnation quest bonus: Amplification.
Its effect was simple — it raised the rank of a designated skill for as long as its duration lasted.
For instance, my current F-rank Amplification boosted a skill's rank by two tiers for one minute. E-rank became C-rank; C-rank became A-rank.
A mere one minute of amplification, with a cooldown of a full hour — but the effect was powerful enough to make those limitations worth enduring.
Unlike the previous exchange, where Go Hyeon-woo had been helplessly shoved back with every clash of weapons, he now held his ground like an iron pagoda.
A cerulean aura shimmered and swirled within his drawn scabbard.
This was something only possible because his Core had risen from E-rank to C-rank.
And he didn't merely block — he launched into an aggressive offense of his own.
Han So-mi seemed flustered for an instant by the sudden surge of Go Hyeon-woo's momentum, but she quickly recovered her composure, slipping past each incoming strike and answering in kind.
The exchange of blows flying between the two grew faster and fiercer by the moment.
Excellent.
He might well have struggled to control the sudden flood of mana, yet Go Hyeon-woo was distributing it with the ease of someone handling his own from birth.
Like a fish returned to water.
I'd love to see his swordsmanship too, if possible.
That would be greedy of me.
No matter how much I wanted to watch, one minute only went so far.
Besides, it looked like this duel would be decided before the duration ran out.
"Ah, no!"
Go Hyeon-woo broke off mid-fight and looked down.
His scabbard was spiderwebbed with cracks.
The fissures that had formed as he blocked Han So-mi's sword strikes had kept spreading until it finally came to this.
Soon the iron scabbard gave way with a crumbling final gasp, splitting clean in two.
If the material had been just a little better, it might have held. It was the limit of a cheap iron scabbard.
Well, I've seen everything I needed to see.
Quite an informative use of my time.
I pried open the cap of the Dark Ice Crystal and tipped the contents straight down my throat.
"Gah!!"
Han So-mi let out a cry at the sight and closed the distance in a flash, grabbing my hand — but the teal crystals had already vanished into my stomach.
The color drained from her face.
"You— you ate that... if you eat that..."
What happens if you eat it? Let me tell you.
At first it's refreshing, like downing a glass of ice water. Then that coolness gradually turns into a bone-deep chill.
The sensation of your entire body freezing from the organs inward.
To a newcomer just starting Dragon Slayer Academy, this Dark Ice Crystal was poison beyond all poisons.
A single crystal the size of a fingernail would turn you into an ice sculpture on the spot.
Of course, I was the exception.
Because I held S-rank Elemental Resistance.
...and on and on.
The Dark Ice Crystal kept spitting out its killing chill, but my body dismissed it instantly, as if to say don't make me laugh.
The cold that would ravage a player simply ceased to exist, while the enormous energy contained in the crystals remained untouched.
And that energy piled up, layer by layer, inside me.
Poison and elixir are separated by a single sheet of paper.
If you can control the side effects of a poison, doesn't that make it an elixir by definition?
Had a Purgatory Magma dropped instead of a Dark Ice Crystal, I'd have tamed the flames the same way and made them my own.
I had come hunting this hidden piece from the very start with Elemental Resistance as my guarantee.
"......"
"......"
Han So-mi's face was still deathly pale.
She had probably guessed, at least roughly, what those crystals were.
At minimum, she'd have known it was a dangerous item that a student should never carry, let alone swallow.
Which meant she'd expected me to freeze solid or keel over on the spot.
But when I just stood there, hale and hearty, the color slowly crept back into her cheeks.
She studied my face cautiously before asking,
"...You're okay?"
"Khh—gghk...!!"
The very moment she asked if I was all right, I clutched my throat with both hands and contorted my face in agony.
Then, folding over bit by bit, I began to shake violently.
"Brother Kim!"
"I—I'll go get the others, quick!"
The instant Han So-mi kicked off from her spot to bolt—
I straightened up as if nothing had ever happened, face relaxed, posture perfectly fine.
"—was an act."
"Agh!!"
"Hahaha. Brother Kim, your pranks go too far."
Han So-mi jabbed a finger at us, realizing she'd been fooled, while Go Hyeon-woo burst out laughing.
I waggled the empty bottle at her.
"I don't know what you think this is, but apparently it's not that. You've got the wrong idea, haven't you?"
"...Do I?"
...A war was raging inside my body even now, but there was no particular need to share that detail.
Han So-mi took the empty bottle from my hand and examined it closely.
It was a pointless effort — not so much as a crumb of the contents remained, all of it already in my stomach.
"No. That was definitely it."
"You saw wrong, I'm telling you."
With no concrete evidence to be had, I played dumb to the very end.
Han So-mi still wore a thoroughly suspicious expression, but there was a limit to how far she could press an accusation on gut feeling alone.
In the end, all she could do was purse her lips and send us on our way.
"You two, get back to your cabins. You are never to use that thing again. Don't even come near it!"
"Fair enough. Sorry for the trouble. Here, have this on the way."
I handed over the Vitamin Drink (E) from the slot machine like tossing alms to a beggar.
According to the description, it was supposedly good for your skin.
Han So-mi snatched the drink right out of my hand.
"Whatever. You two are going to be the death of me."
"Let's go."
"Lady Han, a fine duel. Until we meet again."
Even as he left, Go Hyeon-woo bowed with impeccable courtesy.
As we walked off, the back of my neck prickled, and I glanced over my shoulder — Han So-mi was still glaring daggers at us.
The moment our eyes met, she narrowed hers with all her might, as if to threaten me.
Adorable, honestly.
"You think Lady Han bought it?"
"Not a chance. I blatantly pulled the wool over her eyes — anyone who believed that would be an idiot."
"Then she will no doubt pick another quarrel before long."
"A hundred percent. Even if Han So-mi lets it slide, the Disciplinary Committee won't sit still."
"Was it worth it, then?"
He was asking whether it had been worth clashing with the Disciplinary Committee and accepting the risk of penalty points from the very start of the semester.
"The 'clash' left no one hurt, and I doubt it means we're permanently at odds with them. Compared to what I gained, it's a trivial price."
"Hmm... that too holds true. Lady Han did not seem truly furious, after all. So then — what exactly was in that glass bottle?"
"It'd take a while to explain properly, but simply put, it's something like an elixir. Eat it, and mana accumulates."
I held out my open palm.
A pinch of mana swirled above it, then dissolved into nothing.
Go Hyeon-woo nodded.
"If the price of a true elixir amounts to nothing more than a minor scuffle, the trade is richly in profit. I am glad to have been of service to you, Brother Kim."
"By rights I shouldn't have crossed paths with the Disciplinary Committee at all, let alone clashed with them — this time was just bad luck. Still, you bought me the time I needed, so it all went smoothly."
"Haha... speaking for myself, I aided Brother Kim and glimpsed a taste of the Sword Empress's swordsmanship, so it was two birds with one stone. And thanks to your hand at work, Brother Kim, I traded blows with Lady Han on even footing until the very end."
Thanks to having his grade reinforced by Amplification, he had crossed blades for nearly a full minute with an opponent who would otherwise have beaten him in moments.
Simply reviewing that fight afterward would yield no small reward.
Go Hyeon-woo clenched and unclenched his fist as though the afterglow of that surging power still lingered, then asked me carefully,
"If it is no imposition... might I witness that technique of yours once more?"
"Later. It's a skill with restrictions — I can't use it that often."
The cooldown was still ticking its hour, and even off cooldown, I had no intention of flashing my trump card around carelessly.
Full-scale support would come after we'd built a bit more trust.
Go Hyeon-woo looked disappointed, but accepting.
"Nothing to be done, then. A technique that powerful — I did suspect it would carry some constraint."
"Today just isn't its day. There'll be more chances down the road. And,"
I handed over the Mana 2% (D) that had luckily dropped from the slot machine.
"this came out. Your share."
"......!"
As he studied the item description, Go Hyeon-woo's eyes went wide with surprise.
▷ Contains condensed mana.
▷ Slightly increases maximum mana upon consumption.
"I hardly know whether I deserve such a rare thing."
"You've helped me plenty, and I borrowed that 1 silver earlier. This much only squares the ledger."
"Even so... it feels excessive for a single silver."
Without Go Hyeon-woo lending his strength, the slot machine plan would have collapsed the moment Han So-mi appeared —
as payment for enabling me to eat the Dark Ice Crystal, it wasn't the least bit wasteful.
But Go Hyeon-woo apparently didn't see it that way, and he still hesitated.
I gave his shoulder a playful thump.
"Just take it. If it bothers you that much, buy me a meal sometime."
"That would sit easier with my own heart as well. As it happens, I believe I passed a snack corner on the way here — how about we stop and pick up some refreshments?"
"Works for me."
We headed for the snack corner with light steps.
When we returned, Seo Ye-in was still sprawled across the table, wandering the land of dreams.
Only when we began unwrapping the snacks we'd pulled from the snack corner did she stir groggily awake.
Her eyes were half-open, but she was still floating between sleep and waking.
"She's up."
"Lady Seo, have some as well?"
"...Mm."
A pale, slender hand drifted briefly among the snacks before closing around a stick-shaped one.
Seo Ye-in carried it to her mouth and began nibbling at it from the end, bite by tiny bite.
Watching her pick through this and that a little longer, I confirmed something: she preferred the plain and savory over anything sugary.
The missing sweetness in those homemade cookies hadn't been a mistake of under-measured sugar — it was purely her own taste.
"Oho, and what might this confection be made of? What an exquisite flavor."
Go Hyeon-woo, by contrast, shoved every snack into his mouth without discrimination — plain, sweet, spicy, salty, if it was a snack, in it went.
And even as he did, he savored each one like a connoisseur tasting a master chef's cooking, sprinkling admiration in every direction.
"Is it really that good?"
"Our sect lies deep in the mountains, so I seldom had occasion to encounter such things. The occasional gifts brought by my master's acquaintances were the extent of it."
"Right, a sect in the deep mountains — can't be helped."
I slid a bag of snacks toward him.
Go Hyeon-woo, deep in contemplation of a drumstick-shaped snack, glanced out the window and asked,
"How much longer do you suppose it will be until we arrive?"
"Almost there, I'd say."
The reason I could answer that way was that the view outside was nothing but an unbroken sweep of blue.
A lake so vast it might as well be an ocean.
At some point, the train had begun cutting straight across the middle of it.
Looking only out the window, you'd almost believe the train was running on the water itself — but in truth it traveled along rails laid shallowly across the surface.
I pointed at the island whose vague silhouette was beginning to emerge dead ahead.
"We only have to get that far, so it's quick."
"Indeed — a quarter hour at most, I should say."
A colossal lake, and an island at its very center.
Dungeon Island — a strange isle composed of countless labyrinths, and the final destination of this train.
In the past, Dungeon Island had been a lawless den crawling with every manner of violent criminal.
It was simply too good a place to hide.
For those fleeing, all it took was picking some suitably dangerous dungeon and slipping inside.
For those pursuing, on the other hand, they first had to determine which dungeon the quarry had vanished into — and even with a lucky guess, a chase through the dungeon's interior still awaited them. The whole business became vastly more complicated.
And so the island had long been left to rot as a lawless zone.
Until one day, the First Hero — the Dragon Slayer himself — set foot on Dungeon Island.
He swept away the criminals without leaving a single one behind.
He conquered the dungeons completely.
He raised a city and founded an academy.
And that academy was the Dragon Slayer Academy.
The blurred outline of Dungeon Island grew sharper by the minute.
The train slowed as land drew near, and by the time the unbroken blue outside the window had given way to a neatly paved road, it had come to a complete stop.
Go Hyeon-woo had been throwing a one-man festival among the snack bags the whole while —
but when the moment came, despite a fair amount still left, he gathered the bags together without a trace of regret and crushed them into a single mass.
He tossed the lump lightly into the trash and spoke.
"We've arrived. Let us be off."
Seo Ye-in, who had been nodding off in the meantime, stretched long and tall in her seat.
Judging by the state of her, she'd been rubbing herself against the table and the wall the whole way — her clothes were an absolute wreck.
Unable to watch, I gave her hem a gentle tug and straightened it out.
When we stepped off the train, students were swarming everywhere.
A red-haired girl's staff smoldered with a small flame.
On a shy-looking girl's shoulder perched a cat the size of a palm, hurling nya-nya punches at every student who passed close by.
Everyone's individuality was so overpowering that finding an ordinary person would have been the harder task.
And with that many vivid personalities crammed into one place, the chaos seemed to multiply tenfold.
"First-years! First-years, over here!"
"Not that way! Don't follow the upperclassmen!"
"Hey, grab that one!"
Upperclassmen wearing Disciplinary Committee armbands waved their batons and shouted themselves hoarse.
Second- and third-years and the new students had different destinations, so the guides were hauling back freshmen trying to trail after the upperclassmen and steering them all in one direction.
I, for my part, had walked this island enough times to navigate it blindfolded.
If you just kept walking after the Disciplinary Committee's guidance, you'd arrive at an enormous great hall — the venue for the entrance ceremony.
The three of us were following the back of the student ahead of us like everyone else.
But partway there, someone stepped into our path.
"......"
Song Cheon-hye stood with her arms crossed, glaring at me with an expression that said, your sins know your name!
In one gloved hand, a faint current of electricity crackled like a show of force.
Ninety-nine times out of a hundred, she was here because of what had happened at the slot machine.
She had no concrete proof, of course.
But from where I stood, tying things off here and now seemed the cleanest course.
"Come with me for a moment."
"Must I accompany you as well?"
At Go Hyeon-woo's question, Song Cheon-hye shifted her gaze to him.
"I heard you dueled So-mi."
"Hearing she was the Sword Empress's disciple stirred my fighting spirit, I confess."
"I would ask that you mind the time and place going forward. If the same thing happens again, it will not be overlooked this way."
"I shall bear it in mind."
So she wasn't going to make an issue of his helping me this time.
Good news.
I gave Go Hyeon-woo and Seo Ye-in a light wave of the hand.
"Don't worry about me, go on ahead."
"Understood. I shall hold you a seat. Lady Seo."
"......"
Seo Ye-in looked back and forth between me and Song Cheon-hye with sleepy eyes.
But when Go Hyeon-woo urged her on, she gave the faintest nod of her head and headed with him toward the great hall.
Watching the two of them recede into the crowd, Song Cheon-hye began to walk as well.
"This way."
"Lead on."