Chapter 23
—The time was 7am.
Finally, a redundant signal tone sounded to signal the start of combat survival training, and the 700 or so students waiting at the start line began running around the island to the sound of the signal.
Kukukukun! Whoo-hoo!
700 people. As they began to run, the ground began to shake with a monstrous roar. First, it was a natural phenomenon, as all of them uniformly had strength and speed beyond that of ordinary people. but it was truly a wonderful sight to see them running at the speed of a car.
Ha Jun walked slowly into the forest, looking absentmindedly at them.
He had already decided on the first action he had to take.
“Yeah, this is the place, right?”
Ha Jun checked the map after putting on the bell point provided.
After unfolding the map, Ha Jun headed for a cave with a stream nearby.
Naturally, it was a place where he had beforehand stored food, including the necessities for daily life, as soon as he arrived on the island.
“That’s not bad.”
Hajun activated a time stop and moved on before anyone could enter this cave.
Of course, if he stopped, the bell point that displayed his current position would stop as it was, but he didn’t worry too much, because he had tried the path once and knew which direction to go, even roughly.
Well, if necessary, I could just release the stop, and check my position on the way, so there is no big problem.
“Ah, it’s a tough task…”
However, because it’s a mountain road, so I get that, a lot of energy is consumed.
No matter how much Stat had grown up a bit, it still took a lot of physical strength to walk in the forest, which he was not used to. To be honest, I was envious of the other kids who jumped around like monkeys between the trees, but there was nothing I could do about it.
If you don’t have it, you have to live without it.
“Hah…, at least I have some salvation.”
Fortunately, there was a lot of time.
Because the battle with the students would begin in five hours.
The students to be tracked will also have their estimated positions raised on the bell point and their names displayed once the five hours are up.
Literally, this meant they were safe until this point, but five hours of safety was not enough for Ha-jun.
“Well then…”
Ha Jun’s mouth went up in a sly grin.
In fact, he was already in a state of planning to take it easy for three days.
Only a minute past the time when the test started.
He planned to finish all preparations within that time.
***
“Huh? What is this?”
“What’s wrong?”
The training supervisor, Jo Ah Han, couldn’t help but question the record of the Monster kill, which was uploaded one minute after the start of the training.
One minute at any rate.
The situation could only be seen as an error, but the drones spread across the island, recorded, and uploaded the footage, so it was definite evidence.
“Wow~ Senior. What was the shortest record so far?”
“Hm? Maybe it was 30 minutes? … but that’s just luck too, they found the monster quickly.”
“But this one… how on earth did he…”
“Hm? Oh, that’s him…”
Jang Hyun-Joon then confirmed the name of the student who raised the record and nodded as if he understood.
The student’s name is Kim-Ha Jun.
He was the boy who had broken the academy’s artificial dungeon and taken the top position, and was predicted to be the protagonist of the video that had recently been spreading rumors.
“If it’s that boy, It’s understandable.”
“Eh? No, no matter what, how could this be? … didn’t he break some rule or something?”
Jang Hyun-Joon understood all the words of his junior instructor, Jo Ah Han.
If she hadn’t seen the video of the artificial dungeon being destroyed in an instant in the past, his reaction would not have been much different from Jo Ah Han’s.
For some reason, Jang Hyun-Joon, who felt a sense of similarity, tapped Jo Ah Han on the shoulder and smiled bitterly, as if he was asking him to accept everything.
“I know. Me too. But don’t try to understand it, just accept it.”
“Huh? No, what do you mean?”
“We are normal. This boy is crazy.”
Jang Hyun-Joon shakes his head.
Jo Ah-Han, who looked at him with his mouth open in dismay.
Jang Hyun-Joon, thought that it would be quicker to explain his junior’s confusion if he showed it to her than if he said words.
Jang Hyun-Joon chuckled quietly and began to point to the footage recorded by the artificial drone.
Jo Ah Han looks reluctant.
On the other hand, he naturally moved his hand to check the footage that had been recorded.
Of course, he had to watch it anyway in order to confirm the kill method and response to evaluate the score.
And after checking the footage, Jo Ah Han said…
“What is this?”
No, he was there, but… Gone now.
Disappeared just like that.
Certainly, the footage recorded up to the scene where he was facing the monster.
The Monster’s name is Rock Bear.
It was a monster with rocks growing all over its body, and although the danger level was not so high, it was a monster that took a little time for an individual to deal with.
And only for a moment.
A moment when the time of the image exceeds just one second.
The boy was gone, and all that remained of the image was a rock bear with an exploding head and a huge body slumping down.
“Huh? Huh?”
“You saw it, didn’t you?”
Jo Ah Han slowly turns her face away and looks at Jang Hyun-Joon with a panicked expression on her face.
Jang Hyun-Joon just nodded as if she understood.
“Understand? It’s just ridiculous to think about it.”
“…”
***
A minute after training began, I defeated the targeted monster and headed towards the cave where I would be living for three days.
The place itself was really nice. There was a stream nearby, so I didn’t need to worry about water.
“Nice.”
I quickly unfolded my sleeping bag and lay down, fixed my smartphone to the stand I had brought, and played a film.
After I opened a bag of snacks out of the food I had brought with me as it was, I spent some time watching the film.
Fortunately, no artificial drones came into the cave, so this scene was not recorded on video.
“Huh…”
When I became sleepy watching the film, I slept soundly with the time stopping.
If there was a slight problem, the sleeping bag, which had been reasonably fluffy while stopped, would turn hard. But I decided to accept the slight inconvenience as it was the only way to sleep safely and comfortably here, where the monsters are roaming around.
Time passed quickly as I slept that way, un-stopped again and spent some time watching a film.
Exactly five hours passed when the sun rose highest at noon.
As soon as the information notice for the designated students was uploaded at the bell point, the quest window appeared for the first time in a long time.
[1st year express class student (Haruna-Ruel)]
[Sub-quest].
Questable character:Kim – Ha Jun (Lieber – Raffelton – Phil – Ehrman)
Description:Defeat the Monsters. (0/70)
Reward: 400 experience.
[Sub-quest]
Questable character:Kim – Ha Jun (Liebel – Raffilton – Phil – Ehrman)
Description:Cook meals from the monsters you have defeated.
Reward:200 experience.
“Yeah? Two?”
Aside from the designated students, the number of quests was odd.
I wondered if it’s gathered all at once, considering how quiet it’s been lately.
As I looked at the quests with blurry eyes, one momentarily forgotten quest surfaced.
“Oh, by the way…”
[Previous job quest].
Questable character:Kim-Hajun (Lieber-Raffelton-Phil-Ehrman)
Description:Defeat Monster. (50/100)
Reward:You will be awarded the title of Master of the Past Maharaz, King of the Dwarves Hoston.
Title: Crusher.
“I forgot that completely…”
Ex-quest.
Of course, the title gives you skills and similar abilities, but frankly, the skill of stopping time is so cheat that I didn’t see much need for this quest.
In the first place, the title of Crusher was a title that had never been seen before in the game.
In a way, a title was a term for a character’s occupation.
Just as Han-Shi Young’s occupation was Swordsman, so he got the title of (The One Who Loved the Sword), and Anna’s occupation was Wizard and Sage, so she got the title of (The Master of Magic), this was also a word that in a way described what occupation. But I had no idea what occupation it was.
However.
“Umm…”
(What’s going on?)
I stared at the Maharaz, and the ego Piraten in the Maharaz asked in wonder.
If I refuse this job change quest, will she increase the weight so that I can’t use the Maharaz? The thought began to creep in my mind.
“I don’t have a choice, do I?”
I reluctantly got up from it and said to Piraten.
“Can I do the trials now?”
“It’s all right. Will it work?
“Yes, I think so.”
Wouldn’t it be better to end it once and for all, when we come to a place where everything is ready anyway?
“Let’s get it over with.”
Pilaten smiled at those words.
-It won’t be easy. Master.
***
Meanwhile, Yoo-Seol and Liam were looking at a certain monster.
Yoo-Seol glanced at Liam, who was walking at the front of the pack, with a curious look in her eyes.
“But I didn’t expect you to suggest it….”
Liam only chuckled at her words, scratching his head in embarrassment.
“Hmm. Well….”
Yoo-Seol was curious as to why Liam had accompanied her.
For the time being, it was not a bad proposal as Yoo-Seol was not particularly greedy for evaluation scores, so she accepted it, but after thinking about it, she did not understand it.
(Is this necessary for me?).
One of the points that I understood because I followed him was that Liam had a surprisingly aggressive side.
Because he killed all the monsters that appeared every time he walked from a while ago without avoiding them, and at the same time he even went to visit and kill them himself, even if they were far away from him.
I thought healing abilities were what he wanted, but that didn’t seem to be necessarily the case.
I didn’t need to heal because he never got injured in the first place.
“Ah! There it is?”
Yoo-Seol then spotted the target monster.
It was a rabbit with red eyes, but its body was comparable in size to a wolf’s.
When Liam saw, he raised his spear again, but Yoo-Seol shook her head, preventing Liam from doing so.
“I’ll take care of that one. You don’t have to help me.”
“Um, umm… OK, all right.”
At one point, she was registered as a hero with one healing ability, but a hero was a hero.
Yoo-Seol took out her own treasured rapier and approached at a fast speed as it was, and aimed at the gap where it was caught off guard and stuck its head in.
With a very clean movement and precise thrust, the monster was dead, without making a sound.
“Hmmm, it seems that all the monsters here are at the level of the students after all.”
This made it even weirder.
A monster of this level shouldn’t be able to injure Liam, so why did he encourage her to go with him?
“I just take the bell points now…”
Probably a surprisingly large number of students defeated a monster in one day.
Nevertheless, the reason they gave them three days was probably because of the fighting between the students to take away the bell points.
“By the way, whose one do you want to take away, Liam?”
“…”
Liam was silent for a moment, then quietly shifted his gaze to her.
Liam then looked at Yoo-Seol with a bitter smile and asked a surprising question.
“I’m curious about something.”
“What is?”
“… Kim Ha Jun. How strong is that guy?”
Why are you suddenly talking about Ha Jun…
“No way…?”
“…”
Liam showed me his bell point instead of replying.
And when Yoo-Seol saw Liam’s bell point, she finally understood why he had asked her to accompany him.
Liam then looked at Yoo-Seol with a serious expression and spoke.
‘If either of us gets hurt, will you heal?”
“…”
“I’m going to do my best.”
