The technique I’d shown with Yeon Haneul’s help when I defeated O Junsu of the Black Horse O Family was like that, and so was the unique form I’d recently created with my family’s approval—Lion Divinity.
The drawback of techniques incorporating electrolysis was that a compound like water absolutely had to be present.
On top of that, if I wanted to expect a certain level of output, I needed an enormous amount of it.
In the end, if the environmental conditions weren’t met, its practicality in real combat was bound to drop significantly.
‘Unless there’s a water source nearby or it’s raining, it’s a tactic that’s hard to use properly. But it’s not like I can go around carrying a water tank on my back….’
It wasn’t as if I could prepare by stupidly filling my pockets with water.
If I did that, I’d have to deal with the weight of the water every time I moved.
It was far too inefficient.
‘And I can’t rely on Haneul or the others by asking them to make water for me either….’
If I truly wanted to make techniques that applied electrolysis my own,
I had to create conditions where I wouldn’t be restricted anytime, anywhere.
I didn’t have to think long.
‘While I’m at it, let’s learn water elemental magic. I’ll make the water myself.’
After reaching the 3rd tier, I’d achieved enough in light elemental magic that I could call myself a mage—at least when it came to that field.
So from now on, while continuing to train so I could become proficient in 3rd-tier light elemental magic, I decided to learn a new elemental magic as well.
‘If I weren’t talented like Haneul or Arin, and if I were someone who purely aspired to magic, I’d normally dig into only one field. But I’m a swordsman anyway.’
To me, magic was nothing more than a supplementary means for battle.
I decided to put off aiming for 4th-tier light elemental magic for now, without any lingering attachment.
As it happened, my affinity attribute was light, which had a close relationship with the other five major elemental attributes, excluding darkness.
Generally, when expanding into more fields of elemental magic, one would approach them step by step, starting with elemental magic closely related to one’s affinity attribute, but I didn’t need to do that.
I could learn water elemental magic right away without going through the other elemental magics.
And so….
“…Do Gyeonu? Why are you here…?”
“Yes, I’m here. Starting this semester, I thought I’d learn water elemental magic too.”
“If it were Haneul or Arin, maybe, but you’d be better off sticking to light elemental magic…. If you chase diversity, you might end up losing your specialization instead. You’d be the kind of case that never makes it big as a mage and ends up neither here nor there.”
“But I’m not a mage, I’m a swordsman. There’s a sword technique I’ve been researching lately, and I think water elemental magic will help with it. That’s why I decided to take the class.”
“Phew…. Fine, I understand.”
I applied for the relevant class to learn water elemental magic from Hong Yena.
Tuesday, 8th and 9th periods: Introduction to Water Elemental Magic (1st Tier).
After entering the lecture room and calling attendance, she found me and made a reluctant expression.
Soon, she sighed as if resigning herself to something and began the lecture.
‘Is this how you do it?’
Since the lecture focused on the basics, the content wasn’t very difficult.
After receiving Hong Yena’s instruction, I was able to create a sphere of water on my first try.
As time passed, the other students taking the class also began to grasp, one by one, how to convert mana into water.
It was then that she drew everyone’s attention.
“Since it looks like all of you can do it now, make your water sphere about the size of your own head. Are you done? Now move it above your head.”
A lump of water floating between my two hands extended into the air, barely maintaining its spherical shape.
Careful not to let the water burst, I cautiously moved it above my head.
‘How long am I supposed to keep doing this?’
Since I couldn’t see the lump of water, it wasn’t easy to calculate its output, shape, coordinates, and so on.
One mistake, and I’d lose control of the magic and drop it right on my head.
Feeling uneasy, I spoke on behalf of the other students and pleaded with Hong Yena, who was quietly watching us.
“Witch, how long do we have to do this? I’m starting to hit my limit….”
“How long? Until the end of class, of course.”
“What?”
“If you don’t want to get drenched, maintain it well. That’s how you get familiar with water elemental magic and increase your sustaining power.”
“…Isn’t that a bit much?”
“It may be much, but it’s definitely effective.”
Hong Yena smiled as if thoroughly amused.
Resenting her for it, I had to maintain the magic until class ended.
Fortunately, I didn’t get drenched.
[You have acquired a skill.]
[1st-Tier Water Elemental Magic Mastery Lv. 1]
[1st-Tier Water Elemental Magic – Water Ball]
* * *
Starting from the second semester of their first year, academy students are assigned rankings that determine their superiority among the entire student body.
And from that point on, they could participate in promotion matches to raise their rankings.
There was the exception of Gang Hanbyeol’s case, but ranking matches were the same.
‘Rankings are what the industry uses as a measure to judge the value of students.’
In the game, promotion matches and ranking matches were daily-limited content that existed separately from the story walkthrough.
Through those two types of content, players could enjoy combat in various ways and develop their characters.
In the game, players could fight against Geumgang Academy students who had either not had sparring matches or had exited after fulfilling their roles, which helped soothe the disappointment of players who loved the game.
‘When your character reached 2nd place in the rankings, an event occurred where you had a ranking match with Si-eun noona. Only while Hanbyeol was a first-year…. Once Hanbyeol advanced to his second year, Si-eun noona graduated from Geumgang Academy and joined the Regulus Clan in Academy City.’
Aside from that, players could occasionally obtain spoils or meet certain conditions to recruit sub-characters like No Hyowon into the party.
There were also episodes that occurred when certain conditions were met.
One of them was the Battle Arena episode in the first semester of the second year, where academy students from Academy City competed against one another, which only occurred if Gang Hanbyeol entered the top 99 in the rankings.
Unfortunately….
If you failed to clear it, a bad ending leading to destruction awaited.
‘Unlike in the game, if we fail the walkthrough, it won’t immediately jump to the ending scene, so we’ll have a grace period. But the fact remains that it leaves room for destruction. I can’t let that happen.’
In the game, that episode affected the story in three ways.
The first was when the episode occurred and you failed to clear it.
In that case, you went straight to the bad ending.
The second was when the episode occurred and you succeeded in clearing it.
In that case, along with strengthening Gang Hanbyeol, you could weaken the villains who appeared later.
The last was when you progressed through the flow of the story without going through the episode.
In that case, the villains who appeared later would be strengthened.
Therefore, since I wanted a smooth walkthrough, I only wanted to secure a future that led to the second case.
‘To do that, I have to get Hanbyeol into the Double Numbers within the time limit. He needs to participate in the matches held at the Battle Arena. While we’re at it, it’d be good if we helped Hanbyeol and became Double Numbers too….’
Gang Hanbyeol’s current ranking was 999th.
And the rankings assigned this time to me, Yeon Haneul, and our friends ranged from 2600 to 6000.
…Among us, Cha Eunsol, who had max-level laziness, had the lowest ranking.
At any rate, that day, as soon as our afternoon classes ended, we headed to the Hall of Honor to raise our rankings.
The Hall of Honor, mainly used as the venue for ranking matches and promotion matches, was also a memorial hall displaying Geumgang Academy’s honorable history.
“Wow… there are so many people. I heard promotion matches are held almost every day, but I didn’t think there’d be this many.”
“We probably have to take into account the number of first-years like us who received rankings today and immediately joined the promotion matches. Even so, it is a lot.”
In the first-floor lobby, we could check the status of the testing rooms through a large monitor.
Seeing the students swarming on the screen, our mouths naturally fell open.
That said, we had even made reservations, so we couldn’t just quietly turn back.
“We’re going to be split into groups of 200 to 300 for our promotion matches anyway. Compared to those people in the 8000s range on the screen, who are doing it in groups of 500, this is nothing. It’s half as many.”
“Gyeonu, 200 to 300 people is still plenty…. Hanbyeol’s only doing it with 50 people, so that must be nice. It’ll be easier for him to apply for ranking matches and raise his ranking too. They say you pretty much have to accept challenges from opponents up to 10 ranks above you.”
“Isn’t the one who can raise their ranking easily you rather than me, Lisa? You can apply for ranking matches against opponents up to 100 ranks above you.”
“Urk…. That’s true.”
After Gang Hanbyeol pointed that out, Lisa grimaced as if she had nothing to say in response.
Leaving the two of them behind, I decided to look on another monitor for the testing room I had to enter.
My ranking was 2711th, which, excluding Gang Hanbyeol, made me the second highest after Yeon Haneul, who was 2664th.
For reference, I guessed that my ranking being lower than Yeon Haneul’s was due to my academic grades from the first semester.
“Let’s see….”
“Gyeonu, did you find it?”
“Hold on…. Ah, here it is. From 2600th to 2800th, it’s Lecture Room 306.”
As fate would have it, our rankings were similar.
So Yeon Haneul and I ended up taking the promotion match in the same place.
By then, there wasn’t much time left.
We wished our friends good luck and headed straight for the testing room.
“We will now begin the promotion match. Keep in mind that your rankings may rise or fall depending on the results.”
The person overseeing the promotion match was Su Hoguk.
After giving us the precautions before the test, he got to the main point.
“In today’s promotion match, the use of magic and mana, devices, and artifacts is prohibited. You will use only your physical abilities. So anyone without confidence should withdraw in advance. If you give up on the promotion match, your ranking will drop, but the extent of the drop will still be small. Think carefully until I finish the explanation.”
“…”
“You will attach special balloons to your heads. The point of the promotion match is to protect that balloon from your opponents while popping your opponents’ balloons. …Do Gyeonu, why is your hand raised? Do you have a question?”
“Instructor, what about demi-humans? If they attach balloons to their heads, their ears will get in the way….”
“We have tools prepared specifically for demi-humans, so you don’t need to worry. Any more questions?”
“Geumgang Academy really is nice. No, nothing in particular.”
“Gyeonu….”
The contents of a promotion match couldn’t be known in advance.
Because of that, you had to consider the possibility that it might be applied in a way disadvantageous to you.
Meanwhile, Yeon Haneul blushed and pinched my arm.
From my perspective, I had asked Su Hoguk out of concern for her, but from her perspective, it seemed embarrassing.
I quietly said, “Sorry,” and glossed it over with a smile.
‘Anyway, popping balloons, huh….’
It was a promotion match optimized for making use of the effects of Evasion Instinct.
On top of that, there was no rule saying we couldn’t cooperate.
I decided to join forces with Yeon Haneul and go around popping the students’ balloons.
“Stick close behind me as much as possible.”
“Okay. You shouldn’t try to get too far away either.”
* * *
The promotion match that Yeon Haneul and I took part in over the course of an hour ended safely, without anything deviating from expectations.
Having protected our balloons until the very end, we left the lecture room feeling refreshed.
‘They said ranking changes are updated every Monday, so I can check then.’
My ranking probably wouldn’t rise noticeably from just one promotion match.
I decided not to expect too much and planned to take promotion matches whenever I had time from now on.
Occasionally taking part in ranking matches would be fine too.
Either way, it would help with training.
“I wonder if the others are done. I heard they usually finish in about an hour….”
“Seeing as there’s no message in the group chat, they must still be in the middle of their promotion matches, right? Ah.”
“What is it?”
“Eunsol already finished and is waiting in the lobby. She sent a message 20 minutes ago.”
We were on our way to the first-floor lobby.
Holding my arm, Yeon Haneul, who was coming down the stairs, showed me the group chat.
After seeing Cha Eunsol’s message, I clicked my tongue briefly.
“Did she half-ass it because she couldn’t be bothered? It’s suspicious that she finished so quickly….”
“No way….”
Considering Cha Eunsol’s lazy personality, I couldn’t help but be suspicious.
It was a reasonable suspicion.
Yeon Haneul couldn’t completely deny it either and only defended her halfheartedly.
‘Cha Eunsol really is a tricky one.’
The person who had become even harder to handle than in the game was probably Cha Eunsol.
She was more difficult than Nam Yuri, who acted however she pleased without considering others and was impossible to predict.
Of course, since I wanted a diligent nature that was the exact opposite of my own lazy disposition, I supposed it was inevitable.
‘The problem is that I have to find the right compromise.’
Since I wanted Cha Eunsol to grow, my head throbbed at the thought of struggling with her again this semester.
Even luring her with food had its limits….
Still, if I looked at it positively, she was following along fairly well in her own way.
She wasn’t simply playing, eating, and lazing about like she said she wanted to every day.
‘For now, let’s go ask Eunsol what happened.’
Yeon Haneul and I soon entered the first-floor lobby.
Cha Eunsol was sitting in a chair where she could see the monitor, eating a sausage.
“Welcome back. Good work, both of you. Yum yum.”
Cha Eunsol took her eyes off the screen showing the exam site and waved at us.
I walked up to her and pressed her.
“Be honest. You half-assed it, didn’t you?”
“Yum? I did half-ass it, but that doesn’t mean I wasn’t serious about it.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
Cha Eunsol answered with something cryptic and handed Yeon Haneul a chocolate.
Then, without giving me one, she peeled open a newly taken-out chocolate and popped it into her mouth.
That was seriously petty.
Meanwhile, she explained the reason.
“It was an exam where we had to go back and forth between classrooms. Yum yum. Ten laps in a straight line. So I wanted to finish it quickly, yum… which means I took it seriously. Since I moved by flying, it didn’t take long. There were obstacles in the air too, though.”
“So it was a promotion exam that put people who couldn’t fly and had to run at a disadvantage. So that’s what it was.”
“Yep, that’s what it was.”
“Then why aren’t you giving me any?”
“Yum yum. Any what?”
“Give me chocolate too.”
“Sorry, I’m all out.”
“Then what are you eating right now?”
“…This is the last one.”
“Gyeonu, I’ll give you half of mine. Eat this. Here, ah.”
“You’re the only one I have.”
Unless she was on a diet, there was no way she had run out. Absolutely no way.
I clicked my tongue as I watched her lie with a perfectly composed face.
Instead, I decided to replenish my sugar by eating the chocolate Yeon Haneul kindly shared with me.
It was then that I heard a voice calling us.
“Gyeonu, Haneul! Eunsol’s here too? Did you come to watch the promotion exam? No, is it already over?”
“Instructor Noeul?”
Yu Noeul emerged from the corridor and approached us with a pleased expression.
Beside her stood a female Hunter who looked like a guest instructor.
After glancing at her briefly, I spoke with Yu Noeul.
“What brings you here, Instructor? Did you come from supervising a promotion exam?”
“Yeah, I supervised a promotion exam while earning overtime pay. Did you all do well? I feel like you probably did, even without me worrying. Ah, Instructor Miyeon. As for who these kids are, first, this child is a student in the class where I’m the assistant homeroom teacher….”
Yu Noeul seemed to feel bad for leaving the guest instructor beside her excluded.
She arranged an opportunity for us and the guest instructor to become acquainted.
“Hello, everyone. I’m Kim Miyeon from the Maru Clan. I look forward to working with you.”
The guest instructor who introduced herself as Kim Miyeon handed out business cards with an amiable smile.
Kim Miyeon, Head of Human Resources, Maru Clan.
After receiving the business card with her name on it, I exchanged a brief greeting with her.
Yu Noeul cut the flow at just the right moment so we wouldn’t feel awkward.
“Then, kids, we’ll get going. It’s late, so be careful on your way back. Gyeonu, I’ll see you in class tomorrow.”
“Have a good day. Goodbye.”
“…”
Yu Noeul left with Kim Miyeon.
We stood there and saw the two of them off as they exited the Hall of Honor.
It was then that Cha Eunsol spoke up.
“That person’s soul is unstable, huh? It looks like her soul took damage….”
“What?”
It was a meeting I normally would have tossed into a corner of my memory without finding it particularly impressive.
But Cha Eunsol’s sudden words snapped me wide awake.
My heart abruptly unsettled, I decided to check Kim Miyeon’s status window as she walked away.
Fortunately, our eyes met, and a blue message appeared in my vision.
Soon, after checking the personal information in her status window, I had no choice but to be shocked.
‘…What?’
[The target’s rank is too high.]
[Information will be revealed with restrictions.]
[Personal Information]
Name: Lee Gahyeon (Female · ?? years old)
Alias: Six Demons - Doll Ghost Lady, and ?? more [+Details]
Affiliation: Demonic Society
One of the Six Demons of the Demonic Society.
It was the Doll Ghost Lady, Lee Gahyeon herself.
I Became the Childhood Friend of the Mid-Boss