“Do you think it’s right for me to continue as an all-rounder?”
“You’re worried about your class path, huh?”
“Mhmm.”
“Whether to continue as an all-rounder or switch to a battery?” (TN: Like a stationary DPS I believe.)
“Mhmm…”
Hong Yeon-hwa began to have doubts as the weeks of mentoring went by. She felt she would be more effective in a battery role than as an all-rounder.
For example, in the defense strategy battle, she continuously cast fire magic and engulfed the front gate in flames.
Even in the crystal battle against Bukgong Han-seol, once she took a position, she barely moved.
So, rather than spreading her investment towards all-rounder skills, wouldn’t it be better to focus on battery-type skills and traits?
Or should she still push forward as an all-rounder?
This was Hong Yeon-hwa’s dilemma.
“First, let me ask you something. Why did you apply as an all-rounder for the mentoring program? Weren’t you originally more of a battery type?”
Even during the placement test, she barely moved throughout the fight.
And in the 2v2 match, she took a battery position with Baek Jun-seok in the lead.
During the sweep campaign, I had no choice but to make her engage in close combat with the twin trolls, but in the end, she finished them off with a Fire Pillar.
“We-Well …”
However, Hong Yeon-hwa’s eyes wandered in the air for a moment at my question.
As if she had received an embarrassing question.
“Why did I apply as an all-rounder… you ask…?”
I waited silently without urging her.
Soon, Hong Yeon-hwa turned her gaze away. She started fidgeting with her coffee cup as she stammered.
“I… because I’m good at everything? I thought I’d be good as an all-rounder… too?”.
And the more she talked, the redder Hong Yeon-hwa’s face became. To the point that it almost matched the color of her hair.
In other words, it was baseless confidence.
But if I said that outright, she might turn so red that she would explode.
To keep the conversation going, it was better to pretend I didn’t notice this part.
“Anyway, you didn’t have a clear reason for choosing to be an all-rounder.”
“Mhmm.”
Hong Yeon-hwa nodded her head.
First, I gave her a textbook answer.
“Wouldn’t it be better to focus on your strengths? What are you most confident in?”
“…Casting speed?”
Indeed, Hong Yeon-hwa’s casting speed was incredibly fast.
While it usually took other mages dozens of seconds to cast a Fire Pillar, it took at most ten seconds for Hong Yeon-hwa.
Moreover, she recently modified the Fire Pillar into a smaller form, which allowed her to set up a magic circle every few seconds.
I nodded my head.
“Then you should compare whether that casting speed would be more useful as an all-rounder or as a battery type.”
“Mhmm… What do you think?”
Hong Yeon-hwa asked me cautiously.
This is obviously more useful as a battery type.
There was already a precedent of someone being trained up to S-rank as a battery-type mage, like the Ruby Mage Tower Master.
Moreover, Hong Yeon-hwa showed even more potential than that.
However, since I hadn’t built enough trust to discuss this in depth, I held back my words.
“Well, wouldn’t it be better to ask others instead of me?”
She had her sister Hong Ye-hwa, other mage seniors from the magic tower, and her mentor Dang Gyu-young.
Their words would hold more weight than those of a first-year student like me.
However, it seemed Hong Yeon-hwa had a slightly different opinion.
“But… I still want to hear… your thoughts…”
“Why? You have your seniors.”
“The feedback you gave me last time….it was really helpful…”
Apparently, my advice had been the most helpful so far, so she wanted to hear from me first again.
If she insisted this much, I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to say a few words.
After carefully choosing my words, I began to speak.
“Regardless of the choice, casting speed is a major strength of yours. However, I think it’s better used in the battery type.”
“Why is that…?”
“An all-rounder has a lot more to focus on than just casting.”
An all-rounder had to dodge enemy attacks and maintain distance at close and mid-range. So their focus was naturally divided.
So no matter how fast their casting speed was, they couldn’t continuously fire spells without interruption.
On the other hand, a battery-type mage,
“Your other party members should take care of everything else.”
Since there was no need to pay attention to other matters, they could safely position themselves at the rear and unleash their firepower freely.
“……!”
Hong Yeon-hwa had a look of realization on her face.
She was probably leaning toward the battery type quite a bit, but I decided to apply the brakes here.
“But don’t rush into a decision.”
Even if she were to choose the path of a battery-type mage in the end, there was no need to hastily decide that right now.
Newbies had their own pace to follow.
“You’re only a first-year. You have plenty of time. Try different things, ask around, and think it over thoroughly before deciding.”
“…Mhmm, I’ll do that.”
Hong Yeon-hwa looked much more at ease.
Wednesday.
As soon as mentoring ended, I gathered with Go Hyeon-woo and Shin Byeong-cheol in front of the dungeon building.
Naturally, it was to head down to the underground levels.
The goal of the linked dungeon we were about to enter was escorting, which took longer to clear than standard dungeons.
This was true even considering the different flow of time inside and outside the dungeon.
If we miscalculated,
We might even miss classes.
And that would give the faculty a perfect reason to investigate us.
I could almost hear Lee Soo-dok’s voice in my ear.
– Why did you miss class?
– What were you doing instead?
– I heard there was an unauthorized raid during that time…
To avoid such mishaps, we absolutely had to attend all our classes.
Usually, we aimed for the middle of the night when we were unlikely to encounter anyone, but today, we gathered at this risky hour. It wasn’t even evening yet.
Shin Byeong-cheol handed out the supplies.
“Here, take this, and this too.”
Second-year tie pins and anonymous badges.
He had begged the seniors in the thieves’ club to get ones with stronger perception-blocking magic.
Shin Byeong-cheol spoke with a hint of tension.
“But it’s my first time going to the underground dungeon building during the day. Won’t we get caught?”
“Haha, we just trust your skills, Shin-hyung.”
“And if we do get caught?”
“What’s the worst that could happen? A few penalty points?”
Go Hyeon-woo was full of optimism like always
When Shin Byeong-cheol and Go Hyeon-woo both looked at me, I nodded slightly in agreement.
And I added,
“If you guide us well, who knows, maybe we’ll hand over a random box.”
“…Just leave it to me, customer-nims.”
Shin Byeong-cheol led the way with energetic steps.
The underground looked the same as usual.
Whether it was afternoon or midnight outside, it didn’t matter here since no sunlight ever reached this place.
However, there was one very big difference. The number of students going up and down the spiral staircase was enormous.
And murmuring sounds reverberated up and down like echoes in a cave.
Seniors and juniors exchanged light greetings,
– Hello, seniors!
– Hello, where are you guys headed?
– We’re planning to try the D-rank today.
– Alright, good luck.
A party of second-years looked in bad shape. They probably had failed their raid which caused other parties to recoil in surprise.
– Hey, didn’t you guys go down just a while ago? Why are you back up already?
– Damn, we totally messed up.
– What happened?
– We misread the boss pattern.
– Hey, since you blew it, share the replay with us. We’re heading there soon too.
– Pay up first.
Meanwhile, a party that had just cleared a dungeon came out rejoicing.
– Wow, we hit the jackpot today.
– The rewards are amazing.
– Totally agree!
We on the other hand acted strictly like second years, trying to match the color of our newly swapped tie pins.
Just then, we made eye contact with some third-years coming up from the opposite side and bowed our heads slightly.
“Hello, seniors.”
“Oh, hi.”
The third-years who received the greetings from their juniors acknowledged us but quickly passed by after realizing they didn’t recognize our faces.
The more dangerous encounters were with the second-year parties we met along the way.
They stared at the three of us with suspicious eyes, as if trying to recall if there were students like us in their grade.
Each time this happened, we followed Shin Byeong-cheol’s lead. We either ignored them and passed quickly or changed our direction as soon as we recognized the opposing party as second-years.
The second-year parties didn’t bother to chase after us; whether it was because of the better anonymous badges doing their job or simply because they didn’t care enough, it was hard to tell.
[No.471] [Great Eagle Escort Mission]
Eventually, Shin Byeong-cheol stood in front of the dungeon and asked,
“So, when should I come back?”
It was unreasonable to ask him to wait all day and night in front of a dungeon that took a long time to clear.
“We’ll be done by morning. Come then.”
“Alright, see you in the morning.”
We stepped through the teleportation portal, leaving Shin Byeong-cheol behind.
My vision went black before gradually brightening up.
The faint sounds I could barely hear grew louder and clearer.
– …Brother
– Kim…
“Brother Kim, brother Kim!”
Ratty and Woeful were calling my name while they were right next to me.
I quickly grasped the situation and responded.
“Yes, big brothers.”
“What are you spacing out for?”
“I was just lost in thought for a moment. I’m sorry, brothers.”
“Tsk tsk, snap out of it.”
Despite their scolding, the two Ronin turned their gaze with a bit of relief after they confirmed that I wasn’t completely out of it.
And including them, the people here didn’t seem to find it too strange that Go Hyeon-woo and I suddenly appeared.
Because it wasn’t sudden.
A dungeon was like an endlessly repeating puppet show, and we had just replaced some of the puppets in that show.
Since it was a linked dungeon, the decision of which doll to replace was based on the previous dungeon.
For example, after entering the dungeon, I had effectively replaced “Ronin Guard B”.
After realizing he had become “Head Guard Go”, Go Hyeon-woo slowly looked around the place.
Though he seemed a little confused, he seemed to be adapting quickly since I had given him a heads-up through the strategy guide
To quickly summarize the current situation, the convoy had already departed and was steadily heading towards its destination.
The scale was not very large; there were only a few carriages at most.
In contrast, the number of guards was excessively high.
In addition to the carefully selected head guards and escort warriors from the Great Eagle Escort Agency, there were also temporary guards made up of Ronin.
This meant one thing.
There will definitely be an attack.
Unless they were almost certain a battle would occur, the Great Eagle Escort Agency wouldn’t have organized the convoy to be big like this.
It was a fact that anyone, even the most clueless, could understand so the atmosphere remained heavy and tense.
And so as I stood idly in such a situation, Ratty and Woeful scolded me.
I leisurely turned my gaze to the front.
There were three mountains that the convoy had to cross.
We were currently crossing the first one.
They should be coming soon.
As if reading my mind, a person was standing ahead and waiting for our carriages.
A head guard who noticed this narrowed his eyes.
“Stop.”
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