Sunday.
The training center.
I was sitting and leaning against one side of the training room wall.
Resting on my shoulder was a blanket-wrapped bundle like a rolled-up kimbap, and from its edge, I could just see a glimpse of gray hair and the top of a head.
As usual, it was Seo Ye-in who was recharging her sloth battery.
I simply accepted it and shifted my gaze forward.
There, two iron dummies were facing off and pointing their weapons at each other.
One of them was holding a heavy two-handed hammer, and the other was holding a thick greatsword.
The two dummies inched closer to each other, and the one with the greatsword moved first.
Whoosh—!
The greatsword sliced through the air diagonally, leaving a faint sound behind.
I firmly maintained [Earth Line] with Deep Root and reached out toward the dummy with the hammer.
Whooosh—
A gust of wind swept through the training room.
The wind formed a circular barrier around the hammer-wielding iron dummy.
Bang!
As the greatsword struck, its speed momentarily slowed, but soon passed through and finished cutting what it was trying to cut.
A long diagonal mark appeared across the upper body of the hammer-wielding iron dummy.
But the training dummy couldn’t feel pain of course.
It immediately swung its hammer with full force, bringing it crashing down.
Whooosh—
The greatsword slowed again for a moment as it connected, but it sliced clean through, completing the strike.
Creaaaak!
A long diagonal scar was etched into the upper body of the hammer iron dummy.
When I reached out again, this time a wind barrier enveloped the head of the greatsword-wielding iron dummy.
But, just like before, it wasn’t enough to defend against the huge weight of the descending hammer.
Clang—!
“……..?”
Following the sharp sound, the blanket-wrapped kimbap on my shoulder trembled slightly and a bit more of the gray hair peeked out from the edge.
I spoke in its direction.
“Doesn’t that sound familiar?”
“…….”
The blanket-wrapped kimbap shrank back and the gray hair slowly slid out of sight again.
It didn’t move anymore.
Ran away, huh.
I tore my gaze away from Seo Ye-in who had drifted off into dreamland and alternated casting Wind Barrier on the iron dummies again.
Whoosh—
Currently, Wind Barrier was at F+ rank.
Even with the double bonuses from [Blessing of the West Wind] and [Earth Line], the iron dummies’ attacks kept breaking through.
It’s always like this at the start.
The defense would steadily improve as the rank increased.
Clank!
Bang!
After fighting intensely, two of the iron dummies were reduced to scrap metal.
I immediately summoned two new iron dummies to continue the battle and kept casting Wind Barrier without pause.
After repeating this process countless times,
[The rank of ‘Wind Barrier’ has increased. (F+ -> E+)]
Since it wasn’t a skill with a high training difficulty, I quickly managed to escape F-rank.
That’s enough for today.
It was time to start moving.
I deactivated the iron dummies and stood up from my spot.
At that moment, the blanket-wrapped kimbap shifted slightly and Seo Ye-in peeked her disheveled face out.
“Come back…”
“Let’s get up for now. We’ve got somewhere to be.”
“Just one more hour…”
“Miss, you really have no conscience.”
“Ten more minutes…”
It seemed she felt a bit guilty, as her request for an extension dropped sharply from an hour to ten minutes.
Even so, I shook my head firmly.
“You’re already in the negative.”
“How could this be…”
“Get up already.”
If she didn’t cooperate, there would be no more Kim Ho pillow for her in the future.
Seo Ye-in had no choice but to comply.
***
The [Multicolored Scale Box] I obtained during the dungeon raid with Dang Gyu-young.
When opened, it randomly drops between one to three scales.
After handing it over to the lucky charm,
[Multicolored Scale (C)]*3
It casually produced three scales.
It was perfect for Hyeon-woo, Seo Ye-in, and me to each take one.
The main use for multicolored scales is for armor.
More specifically it was for “upgrades”.
After discussing this with Ahn Jeong-mi, I heard the good news that a Hye-seong Group scholarship student could help solve this issue.
For this reason, the place I brought Seo Ye-in to was the sewing tailoring club where that scholarship student was.
Inside the room, clothes racks were crammed together; each one was hung with all sorts of garments.
Students were seated at each desk working on their tasks, but their figures were mostly hidden behind mountains of materials.
Looks like they’re busy here too.
Production class students were always overwhelmed wherever you went.
Tailors in particular had no choice but to be busy because they made armor, which was in high demand after weapons.
Soon a third-year male student sensed our presence and greeted us.
He was beyond slim; he was practically skin and bones with dark circles hollowing his eyes.
He must have been the scholarship student Ahn Jeong-mi mentioned since he recognized us immediately.
“Kim Ho, Seo Ye-in?”
“Yes, senior-nim.”
“I got the message. You want to request an upgrade?”
“That’s correct.”
I pulled out two pairs of sneakers first.
They were white with light blue accents. Apart from the size, they were identical.
[Cloudstepper (B)]
▷ Bonus to movement skills.
▷ Inertia Ignoring (C) applied.
▷ Automatic durability recovery.
▷ Upgradable.
▷ Upgradable.
Two pairs of Cloudsteppers, two people.
The senior gave us a strange look.
“So, are you two in some kind of relationship…?”
Seo Ye-in and I answered at the same time.
“Friends.”
“My butler.”
“?”
“?”
We then glanced at each other.
She tried to slyly make me her butler back in the marketplace, and now she’s doing it again.
I drew a very firm line.
“I’m not your butler.”
“…An apprentice butler?”
“Not even that.”
Then Seo Ye-in rummaged through her inventory and pulled out a thick black card before holding it out to me.
“………?”
“…I said no.”
It was a bit harder to refuse this time, but no was still no.
Becoming a butler in exchange for a black card wasn’t a deal worth taking.
The scholarship senior who seemed eager to get down to business cut off the conversation.
“Anyway, what do you want me to upgrade?”
“Use these, please.”
I handed over two [Multicolored Scales].
The senior accepted them without hesitation and then asked again.
“Is that all?”
“One more thing, please.”
With that, I pulled out one more multicolored scale and a chestplate from my inventory.
It was made of bronze and shaped like a crustacean’s shell.
[Bronze Carapace (D)]
▷Physical Defense (E)
▷Upgradeable
Go Hyeon-woo had bought this armor from the marketplace, and I had borrowed it in advance to use here.
A rare armor called the Transparent Carapace had an unnecessary bronze upgrade added to it.
For someone like Go Hyeon-woo, a warrior, it was extremely heavy and the defense wasn’t particularly outstanding either.
So what I wanted to request was,
“I’d like you to cover the bronze upgrade with this scale.”
The senior slightly furrowed his brow.
“But why are you bringing this armor to me? You should ask a blacksmith.”
“I didn’t think the upgrade would be difficult for you.”
The application and removal of upgrades could be done by anyone in a production class as long as their skill level was above a certain threshold.
Since the senior in front of me was a third-year, he obviously met the requirements.
Another reason was that if I gave it to a blacksmith, I’d have to pay a separate fee.
As I had already gone through a hassle during the crafting of Root, simply handing over the task wouldn’t be easy either.
Why go through the trouble of doing something twice when the senior could take care of it in one go?
Of course, from the senior’s perspective, it wasn’t appealing to have more work.
He waved his hand dismissively while showing his annoyance clearly.
“Ugh, fine. I’ll take care of it when I have time and let you know. Now go.”
But then Seo Ye-in quietly watched him while tilting her head slightly as she asked,
“Are you busy?”
“….…!”
The senior’s pupils wavered from side to side, and he swallowed nervously while staring at Seo Ye-in.
She probably didn’t mean much by it.
She likely asked because he seemed busy, but to that senior, it would have sounded entirely different.
A request had come from the daughter of the Hye-seong Group, and he who was just a mere senior, handled it carelessly or delayed it because he was busy?
What would happen if this news reached the Future Strategy Office?
– Oh, you’re busy. I understand. So, you must be too busy to work with us, then.
– That’s…!
The senior’s scholarship status and even his potential employment at Hye-seong Group after graduation might slip away at the same time.
Of course, it seemed like an over exaggeration to me, but to that senior, it probably wasn’t.
And as if he had a split personality, the senior’s attitude completely flipped, and he began addressing us in a much more pleasant tone.
“Busy? Who, me? No way! I’ll upgrade all three items right away. This Wednesday—no, actually, come by tomorrow.”
“Thank you.”
“Sure, take care on your way out~”
The senior kindly saw us off, right to the end.
As Seo Ye-in and I left the tailor’s club, we exchanged glances.
“Strong.”
“Strong.”
***
After unexpectedly turning the tailor’s club upside down with a bit of forceful persuasion,
The next place we headed was the magic engineering workshop.
I recalled the conversation I had with Dang Gyu-young a few days earlier.
– Bong Jae-seok was looking for you.
– What for?
– Don’t know, he just asked if you could come by when you had time.
Bong Jae-seok, the president of the magic engineering club.
Like most people in the production classes, he was always pressed for time.
He was the kind of person who’d even dislike the time spent negotiating.
The fact that he went out of his way to make time to meet me meant one thing.
It must be something he really needs.
If that was the case, he wouldn’t treat me poorly when I visited.
After all, he had a straightforward personality.
I also had a good idea of what the matter was.
There hadn’t been many deals between Bong Jae-seok and me.
And it was likely something I could easily resolve.
For me, it was a favorable situation in many ways.
So, after getting in touch through Dang Gyu-young, I passed by the tailor club and made my way to see him.
When I arrived at the front of the Magic Engineering Workshop No. 1 with Seo Ye-in, I saw a familiar face.
It was Park Na-ri, the promising student from the Mother Nature Club along with her small tiger Bum.
“Ah, hello…?”
“Meow.”
Park Na-ri, as always, waved shyly while Bum slowly moved his front paw through the air.
Then he leaped from her arms and rubbed his forehead against my leg.
I greeted them casually.
“Hello. What brings you here?”
“My sister, no, the club president, told me to hurry and come…”
“Who are you here to see?”
“Uh… the club president here…?”
She had been sent directly by the Mother Nature Club, and it turned out Park Na-ri also had business with Bong Jae-seok.
On top of that, they had timed her arrival perfectly with mine.
I became even more certain of what Bong Jae-seok was going to ask.
“Oh, you’re here.”
“Hello.”
Just then, Bong Jae-seok walked out of Workshop No. 1.
Beside him was a third-year female student. This was someone who had tried hard to recruit me before.
She must be the vice president.
“Let’s talk inside.”
As if he couldn’t waste even a single second, Bong Jae-seok turned on his heel right after the greeting.
Then he started leading the way toward Workshop No. 4.
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