Ch.5453. Midterm Exams (7)

# 53. Midterm Exam (7)

Ray, who had been examining my sword intently, said:

“Rather than a sword, it would be more accurate to call it the abyss itself…”

“It’s a sword that reflects the depth of my abyss.”

“Honestly, I’m envious…”

“Unfortunately, it’s my unique skill.”

“I look forward to our next meeting.”

Ray handed me his business card and left.

When I dismissed the summoned sword, the abyss that had formed its shape was reabsorbed into my body. Chris, who had been watching the scene closely, said:

“That’s so damn cool…”

“Me?”

“No? That sword, it’s seriously badass. So you have three unique skills?”

“Not exactly. It’s an advanced skill of [Pitch-Black Sword].”

“[Pitch-Black Sword] has an advanced skill?”

It’s natural that Chris wouldn’t know.

Even I, who had been using [Pitch-Black Sword] for a long time, didn’t know there was an advanced skill.

After pondering something deeply, Chris shared his thoughts.

“No one has ever leveled up a unique skill to SSS+ before, right? Maybe if you level up [Pitch-Black Sword] to SSS+, it evolves into that skill you have? Like how [Leap] evolves into [Swift].”

“But I wasn’t at SSS+?”

“Then I don’t know…”

Chris’s theory certainly had merit.

Of course, as Chris said, since no one had ever reached SSS+ with a unique skill, nobody knows if that’s really how it works.

‘I’ve only reached SSS…’

In any case, I didn’t achieve this by reaching the highest rank.

‘But then, do all unique skills have advanced forms?’

There was no one in all of humanity who could answer this question.

Not just humans, but including all other races as well.

Even living 400 years in a human body with exceptionally fast growth, SSS was the maximum I reached.

In fact, my rank hadn’t increased for over a hundred years while at SSS.

‘Perhaps it’s impossible to go beyond that through normal methods?’

I couldn’t help but wonder.

“Let’s go take the exam for now…”

Since the martial arts practical exam was held in the training grounds like the swordsmanship exam, we could take it right away.

Chris, who had been waiting for me all this time, took the martial arts exam first.

***

After finishing the martial arts exam, we were heading to the dungeon conquest room for our final test.

“Why are you good at martial arts too?”

“I told you I learned from a friend?”

“Who?”

“Just someone I know.”

I couldn’t honestly say, ‘I learned from you.’

Of course, even if I said it honestly, he wouldn’t believe me anyway.

He truly never taught me, yet I genuinely learned from Chris.

“Introduce me sometime.”

“That might be difficult…”

“Really? Then I guess it can’t be helped. Let’s hurry inside.”

Chris entered the dungeon conquest room with an indifferent expression, and I followed him.

When we entered, we found Raycle already there, waiting for his turn.

Upon seeing us, Raycle sighed and said:

“You’re so late…”

“I’m just asking, but were you waiting for us?”

“Don’t misunderstand. I was waiting because the three of us have to take the exam together.”

Hearing this, Chris replied with an incredibly annoying expression:

“So you were waiting after all.”

“Shut up.”

At that moment, the dungeon conquest teacher appeared behind Raycle, patting his head.

“Let’s speak more nicely, understood?”

“Yes…”

The teacher explained about the practical exam.

“Kids, you don’t usually clear dungeons alone, right?”

“…Well… that’s true, usually…”

“Why are you looking at me?”

Chris and Raycle, who had been staring at me, quickly turned their heads away.

‘I never go alone these days…’

Recently, I always clear dungeons with party members like Her Majesty or Rachel…

This is why prejudice is scary.

“You three are the most skilled among the first-years, right? And you get along well, so I’ve put you together as a team.”

Normally, I’d want to ask, ‘Shouldn’t you have told us this a few days before the exam?’

‘We need time to prepare… to practice together…’

I could tell from their expressions that both Raycle and Chris were quite dissatisfied too, but in the end, none of us said anything.

“So what’s the difficulty level of the dungeon we’ll be clearing?”

The teacher smiled at Chris’s question and answered:

“Around B mid-level.”

“Wait… B mid-level?”

A B mid-level dungeon was something even I couldn’t clear.

Even with that skill, I didn’t think I could clear one of that difficulty.

“Even the princess clears B mid-level dungeons?”

From B-rank dungeons upward, the difficulty increases dramatically with each level.

Even she can’t clear B highest-level dungeons.

“You can do it.”

“Why do you have so much faith in us? We’re still first-years…”

“If the three of you clear a B mid-level dungeon, I’ll give all three of you perfect scores.”

Everyone exchanged glances after hearing “perfect score if you clear it.”

In that strange atmosphere, Raycle asked the teacher:

“And if we can’t clear it?”

“Then 95 points.”

Upon hearing “95 points,” Chris looked at us and said:

“Let’s do it. This is a gamble worth taking.”

“It’s B mid-level—we could die if we mess up, you idiot.”

“Why are you always so negative? Albert, what do you think? We should test out that sword’s performance.”

Certainly, 95 points was a good enough score.

And as Chris said, I was curious about the actual performance of [Sword of the Distant Abyss] in combat.

I also wanted to know what would happen when releasing the abyss.

“Alright, fine. Let’s just do it.”

“Nice! Raycle, get ready.”

Chris seemed excited, while Raycle was reluctantly gathering his equipment.

I waited with Chris at the dungeon entrance for Raycle.

“Just charge forward, I’ll heal you completely.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, really.”

“I’ll try to dodge as much as possible.”

“That would be helpful. Hey! Hurry up.”

“I’m already here…”

Once Raycle arrived at the dungeon entrance, we finally entered.

‘Huh?’

As soon as we entered the dungeon, we were transported to another location as if we’d gone through a portal.

The place we arrived at was a large forest with numerous dense trees.

I took a deep breath of the fresh forest air.

“A forest?”

“It’s a field-type dungeon.”

Field-type dungeon.

A dungeon where you need to complete missions given within a large field.

Soon, a mission would be delivered through our status windows.

“The air is amazing here.”

“You’re quite relaxed, aren’t you?”

“Field-type dungeons aren’t usually that difficult. We can take it easy.”

Field-type dungeons are quite manageable up to A-rank, as long as they’re not S-rank difficulty.

Usually, the missions involve defeating many relatively weak monsters.

“What if it’s not about quantity?”

“Then we’re screwed.”

Typically, when bosses appear in field-type dungeons, you don’t just fight one like in regular dungeons—you have to defeat at least 4-5 of them.

Sometimes it can even be in the double digits.

-Ding!-

A cheerful bell sound rang as the status window appeared.

We checked the message with tense expressions.

[Follow the map to the lair of the A-rank monster, Minotaur. Defeat 22 Minotaurs there.]

Everyone seemed to have checked their status windows, as they all wore expressions like they’d lost their country.

On behalf of the despairing duo, I picked up the map that had fallen to the ground.

The map roughly depicted the field, and when I infused it with mana, our current position was marked in green and the Minotaur’s lair in red.

“This shows our position too. We need to head north for now.”

“Hey… we can get back, right?”

“After defeating 22 Minotaurs?”

“Haha… easy for you to say…”

I asked them with a pathetic expression:

“Why are you both so scared? Are you going to die here?”

“Think about it logically… does this seem possible?”

“It’s perfectly doable.”

The fact that this was a field-type dungeon, meaning no one could enter to rescue us, seemed to have broken their morale.

“How long are you going to keep those expressions? I’m telling you it’s possible.”

It seemed they were so nervous because they’d never fought A-rank monsters like Minotaurs before.

Even if Chris couldn’t, someone with Raycle’s agility could probably take down about two on his own.

Of course, they wouldn’t know that.

“If you just stop being so scared.”

“Can we really do this?”

“Of course.”

They seemed to regain some confidence after I assured them it was possible.

“Minotaurs have simple movements. They probably just have one large greatsword, and if you avoid that, you can win easily.”

“What happens if we get hit?”

“Then you die.”

Since Minotaurs are top-tier in terms of strength even among A-rank monsters, if you get hit, you’ll die in one blow unless you have defense like Briton’s.

“We have to accept this level of risk, don’t we?”

Raycle, who had been nervously biting his lips, angrily said:

“Fine! I get it. Let’s go quickly. Where is this Minotaur lair?”

“Wait! Are we really going?”

“You were the first one who wanted to go. Take responsibility.”

Fortunately, Raycle seemed to have found the resolve to clear the dungeon.

‘What about him?…’

I couldn’t help but chuckle as I watched Chris being dragged along by Raycle’s grip.