The Support Ate it All

Once the flower bloomed from the flowerpot left with the Mother Nature Club and the sculpture was completed, preparations would be complete to go see the Dimensional Crow.

At most, it'll take about a week, which happens to coincide with the weekly strategy battle schedule.

Maybe the Qyu-Qyu Hardship will finish even earlier.

As soon as Dang Gyu-young finished stage 9 Hardship, a schedule will be set with Seo Cheong-yong to tackle the A-rank dungeon.

That too should wrap up within a week, but which will finish first remains to be seen.

***

Since the promise to hang out with Seo Ye-in had been kept, training resumed on Sunday.

After grinding rank with Destructive Gale and working on the Hardship quest for a while, she had collapsed completely from exhaustion.

She lay sprawled out in the middle of the training room.

"This place is practically your bedroom now."

"……."

Seo Ye-in didn't respond at first, then rolled over and scooted to the side, making room.

She beckoned gently toward the empty space.

I lay down there and commented,

"I feel like I'm getting lazier just being around you."

"A good change."

Seo Ye-in looked rather pleased.

Then she tried to roll closer, maybe to lean against the Kim Ho-pillow, but I gently pushed her away, knowing she'd be getting up again soon.

Something came to mind, so I asked,

"When are you going to use the skill book?"

The [Random Skill Book – Trap] we bought at the first auction.

It had been carefully kept aside, deemed not the right time yet.

I expected another "later", but Seo Ye-in tilted her head, then suddenly pulled out the skill book.

And without any warning, she used it.

Flaa—ash—!

A powerful light burst forth.

That meant she'd acquired a decent skill.

After staring blankly into space for a long moment, she glanced at me and shared the notification message.

[You have used 'Random Skill Book – Trap'.]

[You have acquired 'Fickle Trap (F)'.]

As expected of a lucky charm.

She really learned a skill that suits her perfectly.

Fickle Trap.

When the skill is activated, a random trap would be placed at the designated location.

The power of the trap follows its rank, but the type was entirely up to luck.

Some traps were barely useful in battle, like ones that make the enemy trip slightly or simply give them a jump scare.

Others, however, were far more dangerous, such as venomous snakes that bite the target's legs.

Given Lucky Charm's ridiculous "luck", it would likely lean toward the latter, but as always, we'll have to see how it plays out in actual combat.

Might as well use my skill book too.

[You have used 'Skill Book – Wise Armor'.]

[You have acquired 'Wise Armor'.]

As the notification popped up, my core responded.

A certain amount of mana was automatically allocated to form a protective layer around my body.

It auto-activates, which is convenient, and since the skill's power scales with my [Core] rank, there's no real need for additional training.

Simply using the skill book resulted in a permanent defense boost.

Well worth the 480,000 points.

I'll take the Grand Elixir tonight, too.

When I glanced back at Seo Ye-in, she was still rolling around on the floor, now curiously inspecting a dagger.

That too was an auction item we'd won. [Night of Severance].

I asked,

"You seem to like it."

– Nod

Seo Ye-in slowly nodded and added,

"I gave it a nickname."

"You like it that much?"

"Treasure No. 4."

"Fair enough. It was hard to get. What's the nickname?"

With a sparkle in her eyes, Seo Ye-in pointed the dagger at me.

"Night of Confinement."

"That's… not what it's meant to be used for."

"Test drive."

"You can do that by yourself."

"Just once."

"Nope."

I backed away from the slowly approaching Seo Ye-in.

***

Monday.

Strategy Battle class.

Seo Cheong-yong wrote two clear terms on the board:

[Fixed Zone]

[Slot]

Then he slowly looked around the classroom and began to speak.

"Mr. Lee Soo-dok probably already explained about the tournament."

The tournament was scheduled to take place three weeks from now.

It was a major event involving all year levels, and many external guests have been invited.

To ensure fairness between grades, ranks were limited by the Fixed Zone, and the number of abilities was restricted by Slots.

At that moment, a student raised their hand.

When Seo Cheong-yong pointed at them, the student spoke in a slightly dissatisfied tone.

"Even so, it still seems kind of unfair. Even if the skill ranks are the same, seniors' skills are way more powerful."

Composite skills like [Spiral Explosion], for example, were made up of multiple skills but could be registered in just one slot.

Also, some skills, traits, or equipment weren't ranked at all, so they could still be used at full strength in the Fixed Zone.

For example, I registered [Poison Immunity] in a slot, so I didn't have to worry about poison for the entire tournament.

Whether it was the former or the latter, seniors were bound to have far more of them. So even if the ranks were made equal, first-years were still at a disadvantage.

Seo Cheong-yong smiled slightly.

"Looks like Mr. Lee Soo-dok didn't mention this part. Seniors have fewer slots. Second-years get nine slots, and third-years get eight."

"Oh… then…"

The student who had asked the question trailed off, a bit embarrassed. Seo Cheong-yong's face turned serious as he added,

"It does level the field a bit. But you're still at a disadvantage. You can't ignore the difference in skill combinations or mastery of each ability."

"……!"

"You'll need to practice as much as you can to get a good result. Fortunately, you've got time."

This week's Strategy Battle was also a Fixed Zone match, and so was next week's Duel Battle.

When Seo Cheong-yong snapped his fingers at the board, the rules and environment for the Strategy Battle appeared.

MAP: [Random Dungeon]

RULE: [Fixed Zone] [3 People] [Random Matching]

"If you're planning to go down to the lower levels, don't forget…you only earn points by entering Fixed Zone dungeons."

Dungeon numbers designated for the class were displayed on the board.

Since there weren't many Fixed Zone dungeons to begin with, the selection was noticeably smaller than usual.

And because of the rank restrictions, they were more dangerous too. Most students would probably try to play it safe on the surface level.

"Slot isn't added in the rules, but assume you have to use it and practice accordingly. Also, teams are randomly assigned."

This was meant to give students experience in a variety of situations.

Of course, even though it was "random", the teams were likely grouped by students with similar performance so far.

Seo Cheong-yong looked around the class and said,

"By now, you should've all received a message. Check it."

Sure enough, I had just been added to a group chat.

At the top, a brief message was written:

[Group 122]

▷ Kim Ho

▷ Song Cheon-hye

▷ Lee Seong-hyeon

Huh, I keep getting paired with her.

Even in the duel battles, we've been matched two weeks in a row.

Apparently, Song Cheon-hye had the same thought. She turned to look my way.

But when our eyes met, she flinched and quickly turned her head back.

Actually, this might work out well.

We bickered a lot, but she was a model student who took practical evaluations seriously and her skills were solid.

The surprising one was the third member.

Lee Seong-hyeon.

A promising student affiliated with the Knights, one of the four major factions.

Up until now, fate had kept us narrowly missing each other, but in the end, we ended up on the same team.

Now that he's here, I've basically encountered all the top promising students.

As soon as class ended, Song Cheon-hye and Han So-mi came walking over.

I wondered why Han So-mi was tagging along. Maybe she had something to talk about with Go Hyeon-woo? But surprisingly, her target was Seo Ye-in.

She greeted Seo Ye-in, who was fast asleep, with a bright smile.

"Hello, hello!"

"……"

"Hello, hello!"

"……?"

Only then did Seo Ye-in groggily lift her head.

She blinked around, trying to figure out what was causing the noise.

Meanwhile, Han So-mi remained cheerful as ever.

"We're on the same team!"

"Mm……"

"Let's go right away!"

"……"

"I have a question! Can I ask?"

"No……"

"It's about Kim Ho!"

And with that, she dragged the half-asleep Seo Ye-in off toward the dungeon building.

Huh. So that works.

Figuring they'd take care of themselves, I decided to focus on my own team.

I turned to Song Cheon-hye and asked,

"You came because of the strategy battle too, right?"

"I want to get started as soon as possible."

"Same here. Makes things easier. Do you know Lee Seong-hyeon?"

"I've only faced him in duel battles."

So this would be our first time actually teaming up.

I was hoping for a bit of insight in advance, but no luck.

Either way, we'd get a sense of things once the raid began, so we made plans over messaging.

We headed near the dungeon building to get started right away.

When we arrived at the meeting spot, a small boy was standing around awkwardly.

He had neatly kept blonde hair and a very youthful face.

He was short and small in stature.

Based on his appearance, he looked like he was still a few years away from being old enough to attend Dragon Slayer Academy. But the tie pin confirmed it. He was a first-year.

Unless our meeting spot overlapped with another team's, this had to be Lee Seong-hyeon.

I gave Song Cheon-hye a glance.

– That's him, right?

– Yes.

She gave a small nod.

Just as I was about to say hello, Lee Seong-hyeon spoke first, seemingly recognizing us too.

"Song Cheon-hye, and you must be Kim Ho. Let's work well together."

"Oh, yeah. Sure."

I returned the greeting casually.

But inwardly, I was a bit caught off guard.

What's with that voice?

A deep, gravelly baritone.

Lee Seong-hyeon had what people often call a "cave voice".

He was part of the knight order, so he'd be wearing heavy plate armor on top of that.

Of course, my surprise lasted only a moment.

Honestly, what does appearance matter? As long as he can fight well, that's enough.

Getting to the point, I asked the two of them,

"We're going down, right? To E-rank."

E-rank usually doesn't feel all that dangerous, but it's a different story in a Fixed Zone.

Even so, Song Cheon-hye and Lee Seong-hyeon both nodded without hesitation.

"Of course."

"There are plenty of people who'd rather stay safe on the surface floors, but you don't improve that way."

Just as expected from promising students.

At the very least, their mindset passed the test.

We picked a dungeon from the assigned list, then spent some time analyzing it.

After that, we all headed toward the dungeon building.

On the way, Song Cheon-hye kept sneaking glances at me, as if something had come to mind.

Before long, she came a little closer, lowered her voice as much as possible, and spoke.

"Later… I have something to talk about."

That sounded like something she could've just said out loud, but the fact that she was trying to keep it secret meant she probably felt guilty about it.

And really, there was only one thing between us that could cause guilt.

"The wish ticket?"

"……"

Song Cheon-hye nodded her head silently.