Ch.6363. Back to School!

The Magician Guild, one of South Korea’s top three guilds and ranked among the world’s top ten, was taking a break together at “Crevasse.”

Though it was a gate with the world’s highest difficulty level, a top-three guild could still hunt here. Jo Seonghee sat down, letting her tied-up hair loose.

Though in her 40s, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say her physique was like that of someone in their early 30s.

“Sister Seonghee, have you heard?”

Heogoong, the guild’s vice-captain, came running over. He jumped over a monster’s leg as thick as a hundred-year-old tree.

The aftermath of monster disposal wasn’t like a game. Someone had to clean up and organize the scene.

Seonghee took charge personally. This was because monsters in Crevasse had resistance to most attacks, making it difficult to wound them.

“They say a child awakened magical power during that new monster incident. Amazing, right? And the Sea Neptune Guild happened to be nearby…”

“Minors can’t sign contracts anyway. I heard the child is seven?”

“Yes. Isn’t awakening magical power at age seven the second case in South Korea?”

The vice-captain’s eyes looked expectantly at Seonghee, who had also awakened at a young age.

“That’s right. If they develop well, they could become something special. Sea Neptune Guild made the first move, but we have plenty of time to persuade them.”

“Yes. I heard the White Dragon Guild and the Heaven and Earth Guild are all drooling over this too.”

“Good. Look into it slowly.”

But her reaction was less enthusiastic than expected.

“You’re not interested, Director?”

“What nonsense is that? That kid has too much time until military academy graduation. Focus on Aerial. Even if Jun gives up, he’ll be competing with Taesang. And besides Aerial, we also have Gu Sangheon, Geum Dohyeon, and Han Minwoo.”

“So securing other talents is the priority right now.”

“Of course. To be honest, there aren’t as many good kids in the second and third years as in the first year. At best, there’s Bang Seokcheon, In Yeseul, Ju Ara, and Go Jiyun.”

For reference, the people just mentioned aren’t all from the same year. They’re from both second and third years combined. Just looking at how the first year has Aerial, Seol Yuhwa, Gu Sangheon, Geum Dohyeon, and Han Minwoo shows how this year’s freshmen are overflowing with talent.

This isn’t unusual.

It would be abnormal if every year had an abundance of talented individuals.

The juniors entering next year didn’t have any particularly outstanding students except for Chae Songhwa.

Moreover, their standard for talent was higher than most people’s.

That standard meant “talent that could catch up to them.” It was different from ordinary evaluations.

Seonghee looked at the dead monster. Under its massive body, over 20 meters long, a Jaeger with a severed arm was wailing.

“To think Minsu would get hurt like that. The monsters seem to be getting stronger, Sister.”

“He can reattach his arm with his ability. The problem is the strength of the monster that cut off Minsu’s arm, who doesn’t usually get hurt. They’re getting bigger and stronger. That’s the issue.”

“True, monsters have been strange lately. New species that seem to have suddenly evolved are appearing frequently.”

“We need to destroy gates like these. Back then…”

Seonghee bit her lip as if remembering something.

The vice-captain, uncomfortable with the atmosphere, thought of changing the subject.

“Did you know? It hasn’t spread much yet, but there’s a strange drug being distributed.”

“Drug?”

Seonghee’s expression hardened.

“Yes. This is an internet rumor, but apparently a lower academy student was knocked out by a regular person? Funny, right? Though I don’t know if it’s true. If there’s an easy drug that makes your body stronger, it might be better for Jaegers to take that and fight monsters…”

“Heogoong.”

Seonghee suddenly grabbed Heogoong’s shoulder.

“What? What? Why so suddenly, Sister? You look scary.”

“Tell me about that story. I was wondering why the Goegyeopdan has been quiet lately!”

Seonghee’s expression changed dramatically, as if she knew something.

*

Before the opening ceremony, I’m collecting points by going around gates. My strategy was half successful.

-Monster Points: 4

-DNA Points: 11,500

-m Points: 12,000

Look at these incredible numbers. Not collecting many Monster Points is unfortunate, but unavoidable.

To earn points easily, I need to go to stronger places, and in stronger places, I need to transform into my adult form.

Losing some points by transforming for Seol Yuhwa’s situation was unexpected.

I’ll probably get used to it if I transform frequently.

Due to the recoil from adult transformation, I need to rest for two days after transforming for one day.

So my goal for the second semester is obviously this:

-Evolution Form Investment: 30 Monster Points

-Small evolution suitable for urban combat

In urban areas, as you know, being too large makes it difficult to save people and restricts technique usage.

So I need something smaller.

And the evolution form, being an evolution beyond the adult form, is probably a powerful transformation that exceeds SS-class specifications. It would be good to prepare it in advance.

[Evolution Form]

-You can transform into a powerful monster that surpasses the adult form.

-Requires at least 3 adult evolution forms

-Requires possession of all lineage sub-adult forms (currently avian sub-adult form does not exist.)

There are some conditions beyond just points.

To be honest, considering the level of monsters appearing in the first semester, I’ll probably only be able to reach the evolution form in the second year.

However, that’s only if I count pure Monster Points. If I convert all my current points to Monster Points, I’d have a total of 14 Monster Points.

This means I’d only need to collect 16,000 more points to quickly achieve the evolution form.

Of course, I’d need to fulfill the conditions mentioned above first.

“Finally here.”

I can see the academy gate in front of me. The visible reinforcements, like heavy equipment, are definitely not my imagination.

“It must be for security reasons.”

The first day of the long-awaited new semester was nothing special.

Familiar faces like Min Gangsu and others are coming in one by one.

Including those I became friends with during the training camp.

“Do Jonghyeon! Looks like we won’t have class today, want to play a round of League?”

Yun Yeol, who was the shortest, approaches me… wait, what?

“What happened to your height?”

He seems at least 6cm taller than during the camp.

“It’s my inner talent. I was supposed to be this tall originally.”

I’m amazed at his height, which has now entered the 170cm range.

Indeed, they say high school is when kids start growing!

Everyone’s physique is starting to change significantly.

Before class started, in the midst of the bustling atmosphere, the door suddenly burst open.

It was so violent that the door nearly broke. Naturally, we who were talking about League turned our attention to it.

“Yu Deokmin?”

There stood Yu Deokmin. The once timid and short guy had changed physically.

If it were just this, I could say it’s just puberty making him taller, but strangely, his body was muscular.

His shoulders had widened considerably, and his expression had sharpened.

“Wow, did you lose weight?”

I approached Yu Deokmin. Throughout the first semester, we were tied as the top two students.

Of course, we hang out together. I just missed a lot because I was busy earning points.

“You’ve grown taller and bigger. I’m jealous, man.”

“Jealous?”

“Huh? Why?”

But Yu Deokmin’s expression was somehow different this time. His face was hardening.

“Nothing. It’s been a while.”

He smiles again and extends his hand to me.

Anyway, as always, we don’t have regular classes on our opening ceremony day.

“Instructor, let’s skip today!”

“Honestly, what kind of class is this? We only have four periods anyway.”

Oh Juhwan sighed as he looked at us.

“You want to play that badly?”

“Come on, Instructor. You know how it is.”

“Well, I was just going to explain the second semester. From the second semester, you’ll have classes with your seniors…”

Oh Juhwan stroked his hair and sighed.

“Alright, I’ll let it slide for the first day. But as always, only consistent training…”

“Let’s play!”

Min Gangsu cheered, and the classroom became even more uncontrollable.

“But don’t go to other classrooms or cause trouble. I’ll be here too.”

So until the end of the fourth period, we had free time.

Naturally, students gathered in small groups. I was also deep in gaming discussions with my training camp comrades.

Gihyeon showed us a card with five stars on his phone.

“Look at this rare card. It wouldn’t drop for so long, but it finally appeared after investing 1 million won.”

“You crazy bastard. What are you spending your salary on?”

“No, this much is an investment. Good cards come out this way. Others say they get them after investing about 2 million won.”

“So this is how suckers are born?”

I used to play mobile games too. Since I earned at least a company employee’s salary, I had some leeway.

It was a happy time, but now we’ll be under the control of our seniors. We’re preparing for the new reality that changes from the second semester.

Let me recall old memories. What the seniors did back then…

[Jonghyeon. It’s okay if you don’t have talent. Just work hard. You’re good at analysis and studying.]

Second-year Yumi took good care of me when I was treated like an idiot for not having a summoning spirit.

[Hey, how are you going to survive like that? Anyway, if you can’t be helpful, at least learn some skills. I’ll teach you methods like collecting information on monsters’ weaknesses.]

Senior Jeonghyeon, though a bit rough, taught me study methods and how to deal with monsters. There were definitely good people.

But there’s one piece of trash among the current second-year upper class.

[Jealous? If you’re jealous, why didn’t you come earlier?]

[Do you think we’re joking? Shit, are you defying us?]

[The third-year seniors are busy going on guild training now, what are you going to do? Tell us. Do you think we’ll listen to someone who’s about to leave soon? Your year just needs to look good to Geum Dohyeon.]

Unfortunately, these trash were the core of the second year. Geum Dohyeon got along with them and caused trouble together.

We experienced all kinds of hazing. The atmosphere changed when Han Minwoo got severely beaten by a senior while trying to protect us.

When those guys brutally beat Han Minwoo, who didn’t resist because they were seniors, and sent him to the hospital, the atmosphere changed.

Eventually, Gu Sangheon knocked down Geum Dohyeon, and we regained our freedom.

I cautiously brought up the topic of hazing.

“But from the second semester, we can work with seniors too. They won’t haze us, right?”

“Hazing? Where would that happen? In Jaeger Academy?”

Gihyeon was incredulous, but I just smiled, knowing the future. No, you’ll experience it soon. I’m not sure about Geum Dohyeon, but the hazing will definitely happen.

“People from the top three guilds are like that too. They say that even though they didn’t receive formal education themselves, they beat down those kinds of people early on to teach everyone equally and well.”

“Right. But there are always some who mess things up in the middle. Comedians also say they haze juniors with traditions that didn’t exist in their time.”

“No way. But there was no news about it last year.”

“Is that important? Working with seniors is like experiencing a quasi-guild. We need to choose good seniors.”

That’s right. Working with second and third years means something different from our first year.

Naturally, if things are normal, second and third years know more and have more experience.

And like the military, the personality of your senior is random. If you work with good people, your performance will obviously be better.

‘How should I deal with those punks.’

It would be best if Gu Sangheon stepped in. Since things have changed from the past, I’ll have to use this somehow.

After the fourth period ended, we were told to decide where to go.

“Is there anywhere else but the PC room?”

“Let’s go to the pool hall! We haven’t been there in a while.”

As we were trying to reach a consensus, a voice came from the broadcasting room.

[Student Do Jonghyeon to the department head’s office! Student Do Jonghyeon, please come to the department head’s office now.]

Department head? This feels unsettling.

I moved right away, but the news I heard there was not good at all.

“Hmm. This is just like last time.”

I was grumbling as I reopened the classroom door.

Today seemed like it would end quietly, but that’s when the incident occurred.

“What did you say, you bastard!”

Suddenly, Min Gangsu was shouting at someone. The problem was that the target was Yu Deokmin.

“You look good now that you’ve been beaten and quieted down, Min Gangsu.”

“What do you mean beaten?”

“You kept talking big after getting beaten by Do Jonghyeon, even after fainting from a monster.”

Yu Deokmin was confronting Min Gangsu. Why?

“Hey, why are you fighting on the first day of school?”

I tried to intervene, but Yu Deokmin smiled at me.

“Hey, the guy who beat you up says to stop. Should we?”

“You bastard!”

The consequence of provocation was predictable. We all knew Min Gangsu was much stronger than Yu Deokmin.

Plus, Min Gangsu had become even stronger after participating in the training camp.

Yet he was picking a fight.

As I rushed to stop them, there was a sound like a hammer strike, and Min Gangsu crashed straight to the floor with one hit.

“…”

The surroundings fell silent. Yu Deokmin, of all people? He had gotten stronger. Under everyone’s attention, Yu Deokmin was smiling.