/
Chapter 49 — Endurance Test (3)
<After the hellish race was over>
It was time for the AR-battle system test to evaluate the cadets’ evasion skills.
All the cadets, without a care for their department, followed after Instructor Kim Seok-Gi.
And finally, an overwhelming sight spread out before them.
“…It’s been a while since I’ve been here.”
JaeHyun mumbled as he took in the sight of the open space before his eyes.
Equipped with dozens of state of the art cameras everywhere, this was the AR-battle system test field that Millaes Academy was proud of.
‘There are several varied facilities and programs prepared to test the combat abilities of cadets in Millaes Academy. The most famous among them is this AR equipment.’
JaeHyun gulped and looked around the room prepared in front of him.
‘You could expect no less from Millaes Academy. Even if it’s not your first time seeing it, it’s still overwhelming.’
JaeHyun clicked his tongue.
“Goddamn. This is insane.”
A voice suddenly rang out from beside him. JaeHyun sighed.
“Kim YooJung. Watch your mouth. You surprised me.”
“Oh, sorry. Hey. How do you expect me not to be surprised after seeing that?”
“…She’s right. It’s hard to hold back your awe when you see something of that size.”
As expected, Ina took her side. The two girls who’d suddenly appeared beside him looked at the cameras floating in mid-air and the equipment arranged on the floor. Then, they turned back toward JaeHyun.
“AR evasion test… I wonder how it will go?”
“…Hmm.”
As if Instructor Kim Seok-Gi had heard the two, he promptly started to explain.
“This AR combat measurement system in front of you will help test your ability through virtual battles with opponents created within augmented reality.”
The instructor explained with pride, as if he was the one who’d invented the system. He continued while pointing at the drones and cameras in the air.
“Normally, what you would do is eliminate the monsters materialized by the drones while analyzing their pattern of attack, but… since we are doing an endurance test today, we will only focus on assessing your evasion ability.”
Instructor Kim did not forget to mention that they would get additional points for eliminating the monsters.
Although this was an evasion test, evading without ever attacking would only harm them as raiders.
Raiders were people who normally hunted monsters and sought equipment and elixirs. As such, evasion was used merely to prepare for an attack.
‘Evasion is important in offense. It can help me predict the flow of the enemy’s attacks or set the starting point for my own. It is especially important when up against monsters C-rank or higher.’
The instructor started to pass an item to the cadets with the assistant instructors’ help.
“What’s this thing that looks like an earphone?”
YooJung tilted her head in curiosity. Ina also didn’t know. Looking at their reaction, it was clear both of them knew nothing about the device.
JaeHyun spoke up with a blank expression.
“It’s a type of receiver. A device that analyzes and records the combat simulation.”
Kim Seok-Gi raised an eyebrow when he heard JaeHyun’s words.
“Cadet Min JaeHyun, you’re quite well-informed. That’s correct. That is a receiver used to implement augmented reality. It stimulates the brain and, using the projector, creates the realistic illusion of an actual monster."
Jaeltyun scanned the equipment Instructor Kim was pointing at, with his arms crossed.
The AR combat system re-creates lifelike monsters via drones with cameras that augment 3D images with the surroundings.
The use of such devices was conducted in safety.
Although it was said that the monsters and their patterns had been recreated as realistically as possible, they were still just illusions. Since they were not real, there was no danger of the cadets getting hurt.
Of course, only a fifth of the monsters' attack damage is transmitted through the device. But the point of this device was not to stimulate the cadets, it was to create a certain level of caution so as to increase their probability of survival in dungeons.
“Euugh…”
“What’s wrong? Do you have a cold?”
YooJung asked. JaeHyun shivered at the chill that had suddenly come to him.
Before regressing, he had been beaten up numerous times by monsters under the AR combat system. Every day, he was ripped apart, crushed, and stabbed…
Although there were no actual wounds, it was still quite a huge shame.
‘I trained almost to the point of neurosis… and the result of that was D-rank.’
Sudden dejection rushed through him. In the past, JaeHyun had worked super hard just to peak as a D-rank raider.
He spent time studying without sleeping, focused on finding the enemy’s weakness. But his more talented peers easily became much stronger than him, pushing him into despair.
But JaeHyun didn’t plan on letting the same things happen yet again in the present day he had regressed to.
The talent he didn’t have in the past was something he currently held in his hand.
Instructor Kim Seok-Gi’s voice brought JaeHyun out of his thoughts.
“You can set up the level of this AR system yourself. The system has a total of 100 stages, and we will evaluate you only until Stage 10.”
After waiting for a moment, he nodded when there were no further questions.
“Then, we will now begin the test. The test will be done in teams of 4. You will now be grouped into teams and called in order for the test.”
***
Reaper Scans
Translator - Rainypup
Proofreader - Lyze
***
The teams were made up of 2 Warriors and 2 Magicians. They had tried to balance things out.
JaeHyun was in Team 3. The members aside from JaeHyun were Magician Lee SooHyuk, Warrior Jung SooJin, and Kang JuYeon.
It was an interesting party where the two Warriors were girls and the two Magicians were boys. The composition itself wasn’t bad, but JaeHyun’s expression was cold and stiff.
It was because of a familiar cadet walking toward him.
“Hey, are you Min JaeHyun?”
Cadet Lee SooHyuk asked out of nowhere. JaeHyun frowned in displeasure as he stared at the other guy for a moment.
‘Lee SooHyuk… Why did I have to be placed in the same team as this guy?’
Recalling the past, he felt annoyed. Lee SooHyuk was one of his enemies from before regression.
In a combined class where Warriors and Magicians trained together, the two of them had had a big fight. Lee SooHyuk cursed JaeHyun’s family and friends while JaeHyun wasn’t able to let it go and punched him.
The problem was that JaeHyun, who was a Warrior at the time, had lost to Lee SooHyuk, who was a Magician.
As a result, there was a rumor around the whole academy for a while that JaeHyun was the disgrace of the Combat department. He had suffered quite a lot of mental torment from this incident.
However—
‘It’s different now. Even if I wanted to lose, I can’t.’
JaeHyun smirked.
SooHyuk swaggered toward JaeHyun in an attempt to provoke him.
‘That bastard also wasn’t able to reach his full potential in the end.’
Inferiority complex—
The thing that broke SooHyuk was the inferiority he felt toward Ina.
Although he had great potential, a crooked sense of defeat turned him into a villain. The future Lee SooHyuk’s raider rank was merely B. He had stopped only two ranks higher than JaeHyun.
JaeHyun looked at the approaching SooHyuk and spoke in a placid voice.
“That’s right. I’m Min JaeHyun. Do you have something to say to me?”
SooHyuk replied as if he had been waiting for those words from JaeHyun.
“It’s because they said you got 1st place during the Freshmen Hunt. I figured you had some special method, so I wanted to ask.”
“I don’t have anything like that. If I had to say, it’d be my ability.”
SooHyuk smirked and replied.
“Oh, really? Then I guess you’ll get 1st place in the AR test as well? If you’re really as skilled as you say you are, that is.”
“Maybe. Nothing’s certain.”
JaeHyun said with a cold smile.
“If a team member were to hold me back and create problems, it would be hard to say.”
SooHyuk flinched. No matter how you looked at it, JaeHyun was targeting him with those words.
‘That attitude… I can't understand it. Does this mean he really didn’t use a customized item?’
SooHyuk bit his lip. When he had first heard that a Magic cadet got first place in the Freshmen Hunt, he was certain some dirty tactic had been used.
But what was up with that relaxed attitude?
Did it mean that he was confident that no one would figure out what tactic he’d used?
Trying his best to act calm, SooHyuk responded.
“It seems like you’re saying that with me in mind.”
“If that’s how you felt, I apologize. But… don’t you think it’s also your fault for asking so abruptly?”
At those words, SooHyuk’s face crumpled into a frown. He pushed his hair back with his left hand as he spoke.
“Ha… Listen carefully. I don’t know what kind of tactic you used to get first place in the Freshmen Hunt, but…”
SooHyuk narrowed his eyes.
“It’d be best if you didn’t think the same trick would work twice.”
“Well, I’ll keep that in mind.”
At JaeHyun’s sarcastic answer, the other team members who were standing behind them looked at them and gulped. The two whispered to each other and tried to read the air.
“…Why the hell are those two acting like that?”
“Dunno. Maybe they just don’t get along…”
Jung SooJin and Kang Suyeon both sighed and equipped their items as they waited.
<A moment later>
The team heard Kim Seok-Gi’s voice calling for them.
“Team 3! Please come up on the field.”
SooHyuk and JaeHyun maintained a distance of over one meter between them as they climbed up on the field. Feeling nervous even without such troubles, SooJin and Juyeon quickly had teary expressions.
‘…It will be fine… These guys…’
Standing on the field and in formation, Instructor Kim’s voice rang out clearly.
“Then, we will start the test.”
Whiiir…!
The sound of a motor running could be heard as drones shone with a blue light. The brain wave transmitted through the transmitters in their ears stimulated their eyes and took the shape of a monster in front of their eyes.
一AR Room Evasion Test Stage 1 will start in 5 seconds.
一5, 4, 3, 2, 1…
一A Skeletal Soldier has appeared.
A brilliant light flashed. Simultaneously, dozens of skeletal soldiers appeared before them.
The two Warriors in formation shivered.
‘Danger!’
Although they were Warriors, they were still newbies who had never hunted monsters in a dungeon.
Trembling in fear was natural and expected. Even Lee SooHyuk was gripping his staff tightly with a stiff expression. There was nothing more to say.
However, JaeHyun didn’t show any sign of fear. He went past Juyeon and SooJin who were bracing themselves at the front of the team formation.
“W-Wait!”
“JaeHyun! What are you doing?”
JaeHyun didn’t pay the voices from behind him any attention.
‘It’s best if I show a bit of my ability here.’
JaeHyun glanced at SooHyuk from the corner of his eyes and smiled slightly.
‘I hate it when idiots provoke me looking for a fight.’
There was a need to show the difference in their abilities here even if it was just for their grades.
The skeletal soldiers got ready to attack JaeHyun, who had stood away from the rest of his group, and gathered mana with their swords raised.
Of course, when compared to the amount they used in dungeons, it was far less. But to the others who were experiencing it for the first time, it was obviously frightening.
‘That bastard… What the hell is he planning to do?’
It was an insane act that even SooHyuk clicked his tongue at.
What did a Magician plan to do after leaving the safety of the vanguard?
It would be great if he didn’t turn into a pin cushion stabbed with swords.
However, JaeHyun merely had a smile on his face.
He gathered about half of his mana and smiled lightly.
“So, shall we start?”
____