Chapter 1399

< Episode 1399 > 1399. The Academy’s Savior

We moved from the regular training room to the simulator room.

Unlike the sprawling regular training rooms, the simulator rooms are limited, so reservations are a must… but if you’ve got money, the rules change. I paid off the students using one of the standard simulator rooms and rented it for two hours.

Two hours for eight million won.

To ordinary folks, that might seem like an absurd price. But if you know the value of the simulator room, then eight million won for two hours is actually quite reasonable.

“There’s no safer way to train against monsters without worrying about your life than in a simulator room.”

This privilege of using the simulator room was exclusive to academy students.

For a Hero, renting an association simulator room for just one hour would cost over ten million won.

“Let’s face some monsters now.”

“Do we have to fight monsters for the final exam?”

“It’s not confirmed yet… but we’ll definitely be facing monsters. One-on-one, too.”

“One-on-one? Wouldn’t that be easier than fighting a person?”

I gave a wry smile.

“There’s no way the academy would be that easy.”

I scrolled through the list of monsters that could be simulated. From goblins to orcs, trolls, shadow stalkers, and more—every kind of monster imaginable could be generated here.

‘These small fries don’t count. In the original story, when they talk about a one-on-one monster combat test… the options are pretty limited.’

Large Monsters.

In this world, any monster with a size of at least five meters or more is considered a large monster.

‘The representative large monsters that usually appear in combat tests are ogres, drakes, and frost boars.’

Ogres are clumsy but incredibly strong. Just plain strong. Their thick skin and raw power make them beasts. A single punch can send a large truck flying.

Drakes are fast and unpredictable. For students who specialize in analyzing monsters, ogres might actually be easier to handle.

Frost Boars are giant wild boars that scatter frost. Ice-based attacks barely affect them, but they’re vulnerable to Flame-based attacks.

‘Let’s start with the ogre.’

KUHNG!

A massive ogre appeared in the simulator room. It’s fake. Totally fake. But its imposing presence feels as real as the real deal.

Lee Si-eun froze under the ogre’s overwhelming aura. Her face turned pale, and her legs trembled uncontrollably.

“Y-Yoo Jin, am I really supposed to fight this ogre alone? You’ve gotta be kidding me!”

“You can do it. It’s just a simulator room; even if you get hit, you won’t die, so relax.”

“But it still hurts when I get hit!”

Lee Si-eun made a pained expression but still gripped her dagger tightly in one hand. Energy began swirling around her.

I manipulated the simulator. Finally, the ogre’s heavy legs started moving.

ZIIIIIING!

Si-eun’s energy spread out widely. It soon transformed into gravity, latching onto the ogre’s legs.

The ogre’s movements visibly slowed down. Though Si-eun’s gravity was impressive, it wasn’t enough to completely stop the brute force of the ogre. She fired off an energy orb. Six of them—


The energy ball hit the ogre’s head and torso.

The ogre flinched a little, but that was all. The energy ball couldn’t penetrate its tough skin.

Eun Isi hesitated but didn’t give up. The ogre gradually broke free from gravity’s restraints and moved faster.

Zzzziiiiii!

Lightning energy surged toward the ogre, but of course it didn’t work. The ogre’s thick skin had excellent mana resistance. Even with lightning, only the surface got scorched.

Kuung! Kuung! Kuung!

The ogre approached.

Normally, you’d run away from an ogre, keep your distance, and fight accordingly. But Eun Isi didn’t flee.

“I’m not tired enough to run… You’re plotting something.”

The ogre swung its arm at Eun Isi. Prepared, she dodged by slipping under its attack and touched its torso.

KOOOOOOOOM!

A massive explosion sounded as the ogre fell.

Eun Isi used Reversal Flow.

She triggered an energy explosion inside the ogre using its own mana.

“Good try, but it’s not enough. Ogres are monsters that don’t directly use mana. If you had pushed your energy into it, the damage would have been greater.”

It seemed Eun Isi hadn’t thought that far. It wasn’t that she was stupid; she’d just acquired the Reversal Flow skill ten minutes ago.

Puck!

“Kyaaaah!”

Struck by the ogre’s arm, Eun Isi screamed and flew, rolling on the ground. I summoned mana into the spear in my hand.

Raitenryuu Rai Kojin (Heavenly Lightning Style: Thunder Blade).

I overlaid a blade of lightning onto the spear tip and hurled it. The spear pierced the ogre’s neck accurately, causing it to collapse and disappear.

“Is Eun, are you okay?”

“A-yeah, I’m fine.”

Eun Isi stood up as if nothing happened, though she couldn’t stop the cold sweat running down her face. She was clearly exhausted.

“Just take a rest.”

“Yeah, I will. Jinwoo, you should rest too.”

“Since we’ve entered the simulator room, we can’t waste time. I’ll train a bit more.”

My hands were itching.

There were a few things I wanted to experiment with.

I summoned a large monster through the simulator room controls.

Frost Boar.

A wild boar that scattered frost glared at me while snorting.

The Frost Boar charged at me. I unleashed lightning at it, controlling the lightning tendrils to form a net shape. The lightning net quickly surrounded and tightened around the Frost Boar.

Raitenryuu Gekki (Heavenly Lightning Style: Extreme Technique – Explosion Shock Lightning).

Dozens of lightning strands exploded simultaneously. The Frost Boar vanished without a trace.

“This is pretty good.”

“Waaah! Jinwoo is amazing!”

Eun Isi clapped enthusiastically from behind. I felt happy.

One week until final exams.

The atmosphere at Maruhan Academy changed. Everyone focused on studying. The training room lights never went out.

It wasn’t just because of the upcoming exchange match with the Japanese Academy. Students who weren’t in the top ranks didn’t care much about the exchange match since only a limited number could participate anyway.

“But rankings are fair for everyone. Support from the academy varies based on ranking. And after graduation, Hero Clans judge students by their rankings.”

Therefore, academy students felt increasingly desperate the lower their rank.

Sitting at my desk in the classroom, I noticed a man. A pale-faced man named Haesunwoo. He was in my class, ranked 294th upon entering.

Close to dead last.

Even if he graduated from the academy, his score was only good enough for a mediocre clan. There was still plenty of time, but…

“It’s extremely rare for entrance rankings to change drastically.”


The mat was nothing more than a mat at graduation. That’s the reality of the academy.

“Hmph, seems like things are progressing according to the original story. In the original, it was a side quest that could be left alone without any issues…”

But this wasn’t a game; it was reality.

There was no telling what kind of variable might come back to bite me if I left it alone.

“There’s something to gain here, so let’s move.”

I stood up from my seat. Since I was pretty famous, all eyes immediately turned toward me. The guys were looking at me with suspicion and jealousy. On the other hand, the girls’ gazes were warm. It was because I treated them well while flirting. Half of the girls had even slept with me.

I approached Hae Seonmu and grabbed his shoulder.

“Yo, Hae Seonmu.”

“Eh, Yoo… Yoo Jin-a. What is it?”

“Let’s talk outside for a sec.”

“…”

Hae Seonmu’s face froze stiff. His body started trembling. This was because my reputation among the guys was pretty low.

“Can’t we just talk here?”

“I said let’s go outside and talk. Are you ignoring me right now?”

“A-ah, no! Let’s go. We’ll talk outside!”

I took Hae Seonmu out into the hallway. Then, casually tossing words at him in his tense state, I said:

“Spirit summoning magic. You’ve learned it, haven’t you? For using it during the final exam, right?”

Spirit summoning magic.

The magic that summons a soul into a physical body.

“Eh, how do you—”

What Hae Seonmu had mastered wasn’t ordinary spirit summoning magic. It was a modified version that temporarily summoned weak souls without being detected by the academy teachers. However, its efficiency was abysmal compared to normal summoning magic. It was also weak. But similar to how athletes use doping, it could enhance one’s strength to some extent—at the cost of draining their life energy.

“You don’t know me? You can’t hide something like that from me.”

I activated my Spirit Eye. Upon seeing my pupils turn gold, Hae Seonmu clamped his mouth shut. His eyeballs frantically darted left and right.

“I-I did learn spirit summoning magic, but I didn’t use it for the final exam.”

“What are you talking about? If you learned it officially, there’s no problem in using it.”

“…”

Hae Seonmu tightly closed his mouth.

I grabbed the front of his shirt.

“I’m kinda interested in spirit summoning magic. Tell me exactly how you learned it.”

“B-but it was an accident….”

“Shit. If you lie, I’ll report you to the Hero Association right away. You know how persistent they are when investigating, don’t you?”

“The Hero Association wouldn’t just move so easily…!”

“Do you know who my mom is?”

“…”

With Mom’s influence, getting the Hero Association to act isn’t even a thing.

Hae Seonmu bowed his head as if resigning himself. Then he spilled everything about the spirit summoning magic.

“While I was downtown, I accidentally met a spirit summoner. He offered me a spirit summoning artifact that could be easily used for 20 million won…”

“What kind of artifact? Do you still have it? Show it to me.”

He fumbled around and pulled out a talisman shaped like a skull.

『Spirit Talisman

Rank: E

Allows the use of spirit summoning at the cost of vitality.』

“Interesting. You bought this for 20 million won, huh… Did that summoner sell anything else?”

“There were better talismans too, but I didn’t have much money…”

“Got any way to contact that guy?”

“I don’t have his contact info, but I know how to meet him. Should I introduce you to him?”

“Yeah. Let’s go together tonight.”

“G-go together? I’ll tell you how to meet him. So please…”

“Kid, I’m asking you to guide me. Why don’t you understand simple instructions? Want to die?”

“S-sorry…”

“Just do as I say. If you mess this up, I’ll kill you.”

“…Alright.”

In the original story, this quest ended with capturing and dealing with the spirit summoner. As a reward, I got a special item.

‘Clearly, this suspicious situation is connected to something bigger. I need to dig deeper. Of course, all items are mine.’