Although there were still a few days left until the strategy battle week, rather than recklessly diving into a dungeon, I decided to focus on keeping my condition in top shape for the midterms.
After all, I was planning to use a Handicap Scroll for the upcoming quest.
Still, it felt like a waste to just sit around doing nothing, so I called Song Cheon-hye over and began whacking her enthusiastically with a toy hammer.
Boing! Boing boing!
“……!”
Song Cheon-hye tried to look unfazed, but a twitch between her brows betrayed her irritation.
She took a step back and swiped her hand through the air—
Fzzzzt!
A wide fan-shaped burst of electricity spread outward.
It looked like she intended to at least clip me with that wide-area spell.
I could have easily dodged it if I wanted to, but I didn’t.
Blocking’s easier anyway.
A swirl of wind gathered around me, and a translucent dumpling-shaped wind spirit appeared, wrapping me in armor-like currents that blocked the lightning.
At the same time, I dashed forward and brought the toy hammer down.
Boing!
Since I was training her anyway, I decided to actively use Sylphid myself and do some rank grinding.
To boost efficiency, I’d also set up an Orc Hero Statue in one corner of the training room, applying a double rank boost.
Thanks to that, it didn’t take long for a system message to appear.
[The rank of ‘Sylphid’ has increased. (F+ → E+)]
Of course, rank grinding had only just begun.
To perform properly, I’d have to raise it to at least the same level as my other wind spells.
I kept swinging the toy hammer with Sylphid’s help.
Boing boing boing!
After a while, during a brief pause in our training, Song Cheon-hye spoke up.
“Um… how long are we going to keep doing this?”
“Until you can dodge properly, obviously. Why?”
“It’s just… I was wondering if maybe we could also practice something else. Like magic control, perhaps?”
Instead of answering, I simply brought the toy hammer down again.
Boing!
Song Cheon-hye clutched her forehead in protest.
“Hey, why’d you hit me?”
“Hoho. A child who hasn’t even learned to walk yet is already trying to fly. How impatient.”
“I can walk, you know?”
“But you can’t dodge.”
Boing!
“Seriously! You hit me every time I—”
Boing!
“—try to talk!”
Boing!
“Hey!!”
“You always start speaking informally when you get mad.”
“That’s because you make me! Can you please take it easy?”
“My bad for that. But we’re going to keep doing this for a while.”
“Why?”
“I told you. You need to learn to walk first.”
Song Cheon-hye still didn’t look convinced.
So I threw her a question.
“You’re almost at Core rank A now, right?”
“Yeah, I’m just about there.”
Well, that made sense. She’d already been B-rank when she entered the academy, and her family had been backing her heavily.
It was about time she advanced.
“Once you reach A-rank, you’ll start learning high-tier spells like Blink, for example.”
“I… guess so?”
“But as you know, Blink isn’t exactly an easy spell to cast.”
As a space-type spell, its structure was complex, and to land precisely on the target location required fine control.
For me, it was as natural as breathing. But for Song Cheon-hye?
“There’s gonna be a lot more you’ll have to pay attention to, right?”
“…Yeah.”
“And while all that’s happening, if your opponent throws something at you, are you really going to consciously think about how to dodge, where to move, and everything else?”
“……!”
“When your focus is divided, your magic won’t come out properly. Your body needs to move on its own without conscious thought.”
“Ah…”
Song Cheon-hye looked at me with a strange, almost searching expression.
When I silently asked what that look was for, she slowly opened her mouth to speak.
“…My grandfather always believed it was better to learn a bit of everything. But… now that I hear you say it, your way makes sense too.”
“Everyone has their own teaching method.”
I replied casually.
Song Cheon-hye fell silent again, seemingly torn between my approach and that of the Thunder Lord.
Of course, this wasn’t really a question with two options.
If she were going to follow the Thunder Lord’s way, she wouldn’t even be here in the first place.
“…Alright. I’ll give it a try. Your way.”
“Good. Let’s keep going.”
Song Cheon-hye took her stance again, lightning crackling as she closed the distance.
I raised my toy hammer and stepped forward to meet her.
Boing, boing, boing, boing!
[The rank of ‘Sylphid’ has increased. (E+ → D+)]
***
Monday.
The first class of the day was Monster Ecology.
The teacher, Mrs. Cho Ok-soon, was basically a walking sleep aid….her lectures could knock out the entire class within minutes.
But today, her demeanor was several times more serious than usual, and the students immediately sensed something unusual, leaning forward to listen.
“First, an announcement. According to new faculty guidelines, the overall curriculum will be adjusted.”
– …!
“Recently, there have been confirmed movements among dragons. The faculty decided that it’s necessary to inform and prepare you students in advance.”
Normally, this was material reserved for third-year students, but given the current circumstances, the schedule had been pushed forward.
“Today, we’ll learn how the conflict between humanity and dragons first began.”
A single word appeared on the chalkboard.
[Long-lived Species]
“As you already know, dragons have lifespans far exceeding ours. For them, living several hundred years is like being a child; they live for thousands of years at minimum.”
Mrs. Cho added that certain elder dragons like the Meteor Dragon or Mountain Dragon were said to have existed even before recorded human history.
“When one lives for that long… it seems even dragons eventually grow bored.”
The board was erased again, and a new word appeared:
[Amusement]
“So they soothe their boredom through amusement. And the types of amusement vary greatly.”
One of the main examples is shapeshifting into another species and blending into their society.
Of course, not many species possess intelligence advanced enough to build a society, so the target was usually humans.
A great mage who developed legendary spells,
A scientist who made a historic discovery,
A hero who saved a nation in its time of crisis.
All were later revealed to have actually been dragons in polymorphed form.
“It would’ve been nice if most of their amusements were this friendly toward humanity, but in reality, it was quite the opposite.”
Just as every person has different hobbies, dragons too are amused by very different things.
Many found joy not just in destruction but in fusing and mutating living creatures like lab rats or in inflicting extreme pain. There were countless dragons like that.
Still, those types were at least easier to predict, since they showed their malice openly.
By concentrating enough power at their location, they could be driven back…somehow.
The real problem was the ones who defied common sense.
Among them was a dragon whose actions left such a deep impact on humanity that they are still spoken of to this day…
“Let’s talk about the Craftsman Dragon.”
One day, he suddenly appeared before the people and introduced himself as a dragon.
Naturally, no one believed him at first but when he demonstrated the divine power of an S-rank being, they had no choice but to accept it.
Interestingly, the Craftsman Dragon’s “amusement” seemed to lie in spreading his skills far and wide.
He was a master of all crafts, like blacksmithing, tailoring, carpentry, masonry, leatherworking, and even cooking. There was nothing in the production arts he couldn’t do, and he shared everything generously and taught others without holding back.
Thanks to his broad and profound instruction, people quickly gained recognition as craftsmen themselves, and in turn, they also shared what they had learned freely.
As this virtuous cycle repeated, the number of craftsmen increased rapidly, and the city where they gathered saw unprecedented, explosive growth.
“Everyone spoke in one voice to praise the Craftsman Dragon.”
Helping humans and developing a city as a form of amusement—!
There had been friendly dragons before, but none to this extent.
Monuments and statues were erected all across the city, and eventually, even the city’s name was changed.
It was renamed “Craft Haven”, the sacred land of creation.
“But the prosperity of Craft Haven didn’t last long.”
It all happened far too suddenly.
The entire city was engulfed in a vast barrier, making it impossible to enter or leave.
To cast a barrier of that magnitude, one would need to be at least S-rank, with considerable expertise in the relevant magic.
And everyone knew just how versatile the Craftsman Dragon was.
– But why?
While people were still reeling in confusion, his guardians and summoned monsters launched a full-scale assault.
“In less than a week, the sacred land of creation was reduced to ashes.”
Someone asked:
Why would you do something like this?
Wasn’t this the very city you built with your own hands?
To that, the Craftsman Dragon is said to have replied:
– I had my fun. Now it’s time to clean up.
Just like a child who builds a sandcastle only to stomp it down before leaving.
To him, amusement was nothing more than that.
Or perhaps… even that destruction was part of the amusement.
If he had simply wanted to wipe out the city, he could’ve unleashed large-scale magic or breathed fire.
The fact that he went out of his way to trap the city in a barrier and slowly destroy it over several days—
It meant he wanted to savor the process.
“This incident dramatically changed how people viewed amusement.”
At first, it might seem like the dragons were friendly toward humanity.
But no one could say how it would all end.
And if that amusement took a turn harmful to humanity, disasters like this could happen again at any time.
“This was when the need for powerful heroes began to rise.”
If there’s no way to predict what tricks the dragons might pull…
Then we needed to become strong enough to stop them….no matter what.
If someone reached S-rank, they could at least stand toe-to-toe with those monsters.
The dozens, even hundreds of fractured factions joined into four main alliances, pouring all their resources into their most promising talents.
As time passed, the number of S-ranks that were once few enough to count on one hand grew into the dozens.
And in the end, the Craftsman Dragon was subjugated.
Even so, humanity could never truly rest easy.
Countless dragons still existed, and their lifespans far exceeded those of humans.
Hundreds of years later, when the heroes had vanished and a void remained,
There was always the chance that their twisted amusement would begin anew.
To prepare for that time, heroes would need to be raised through a more systematic approach.
“This is the reason the Dragon Slayer Academy was founded.”
To carry on the will of the dragon slayers and raise shields to protect humanity.
Ms. Cho Ok-soon concluded her story by expressing her hope that one day, the students would become that shield.
***
Lee Soo-dok looked around the classroom and spoke.
“I assume you’ve all heard the announcements from Teacher Cho Ok-soon.”
The notice about changing the curriculum to focus more closely on subjects related to the war against dragons.
“The same goes for the practical exam. I’m sure you’ve also heard about the secrets of Craft Haven. Assuming you weren’t asleep in class.”
His pointed words and glare were aimed directly at Seo Ye-in.
I glanced in that direction too.
I’m pretty sure she was awake at the time.
Maybe she had shown a bit of interest because her uncle was a dragon.
Though now, she was slumped over without a twitch.
Lee Soo-dok had earned yet another loss, but for some reason, he didn’t seem too upset about it.
In fact, a grim smile lingered on his lips.
A wave of unease swept across the students’ faces.
From past experience, they knew that smile usually meant he was about to drop something nasty on them.
And sure enough, their bad feeling was spot-on.
“This midterm exam will be held in Craft Haven.”
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