After glancing at the rabid Chihuahua that was now reduced to a tiny dot in the sky,
We went back to being fishermen, luring in our catch and harassing Team A’s parties.
After unleashing mortars and sniper shots for quite a while,
[Side Quest: 17th and 18th Week Final Exam] (In Progress…)
▷Objective 1: Eliminate Competitors (33/20)
We managed to exceed the quest target by a wide margin.
We seized a total of five crystals.
This area’s starting to thin out.
Not as much as Team C’s territory, but we’d taken down quite a lot.
And judging by the sun slowly setting, it was probably close to evening.
So I asked Seo Ye-in and Park Na-ri,
“Should we head back and rest?”
“Good idea.”
“You’ve worked hard……”
They didn’t show it, but fatigue must have been building up, since both readily agreed.
We quickly packed up and began heading back to our base, while picking up any empty crystals we spotted along the way.
By the time we arrived, quite a few things had changed.
The barrier was noticeably thicker than before and now glowed a deep blue.
[Barrier (E → C)]
On one side, a radar slowly rotated.
[Radar (D)]
It wasn’t detecting anything at the moment, but if enemies approached within a certain range, it would mark them in red and alert us.
On the opposite side stood a structure with angel wings attached.
[Resurrection Totem (F)]
It reduces the re-entry waiting time for team members.
When you have dozens of people, no matter how safely you operate, someone’s bound to get knocked out by some bizarre circumstance.
There’s no harm in investing a little.
In addition, there was a campfire that provided recovery effects, turrets operated by mages or ranged classes, and even a device that slowly generated crystals. The place was gradually taking shape as a proper base.
And on one side, I noticed something I had asked them to set up before we left.
[Card Shop (D)]
A machine reminiscent of an old-school arcade cabinet.
It had a single button and a small dispensing slot.
Looking at the screen on top,
▷Available Cards: 3/5
▷Next Card In: 00:03:43
The number of available draws increased by one at set time intervals.
It looked like we had arrived just before it ticked up to the fourth.
Just then, Song Cheon-hye’s voice came from behind me.
“I haven’t fully upgraded it yet. It’s almost there, though.”
“And if we add this?”
I asked as I took out the crystals, making Song Cheon-hye stare in surprise again.
“Where have you been and what exactly were you doing?”
“Contributing to Team B’s development.”
“How, exactly?”
“Let’s talk over dinner later. Anyway, is it enough?”
“It’s perfect. Just a moment.”
Song Cheon-hye stepped up to the facility’s vending-machine-like console.
After tapping the screen a few times, she inserted the crystals.
[Card Shop (D → C)]
The arcade-like exterior became slightly more refined.
The item cards would likely appear more frequently now and better ones, too.
The available draws had just increased to four, and if we left it alone any longer, it might hit the cap, so we decided to pull right away.
I turned to Seo Ye-in and spoke in the most respectful tone possible.
“Lucky Charm-nim, would you care to demonstrate your talents again today?”
“Our Ye-in.”
“You know we’re counting on you, right?”
Seo Ye-in gave a small nod, then pressed the button firmly without hesitation.
▷Available Cards: 4/5
▷Available Cards: 0/5
Clunk—
One by one, item cards slid out of the dispensing slot.
Seo Ye-in, Park Na-ri, Song Cheon-hye, myself, and even nearby team members who had been lingering around all leaned in with curiosity to check the results.
And at the same time, our faces lit up.
[Return]
▷Instantly teleports you to your affiliated base.
A superior version of [Escape] that we used back in Craft Haven.
Since it sends you to your affiliated base rather than a random location, using it essentially guarantees your safety the moment you activate it.
Naturally, you can take your crystals with you as well.
If there’s a downside, it’s that it only works on a single target.
There’s no way to prepare one for every party member, so in most cases, only one or two key people would make it out alive.
Even so, that’s more than enough to be grateful for.
[Duplicate]
▷Duplicates a designated item card.
It doubles any chosen card, giving it virtually limitless applications.
Since we haven’t drawn anything we urgently need yet, we decided to save it for later.
The remaining two cards turned out to be the same, but no one complained.
[Bombardment] ×2
▷Launches a bombardment on a designated base.
▷The rank of two random facilities decreases.
When a facility is damaged, it means the crystals invested in it simply vanish.
It also means the team members’ effort and time go up in smoke.
At the blatantly overpowered effect, Song Cheon-hye’s eyes widened.
“This kind of thing… exists?”
“Well, it’s a three-way faction war. Something like this makes sense.”
“When you put it that way… I guess it does.”
I shrugged.
“It’s not something that shows up often.”
“But we pulled two.”
“That’s thanks to her.”
With everyone’s eyes on her, our lucky charm gave a short comment.
“…Guess I’m lucky.”
“This is why I said we should upgrade the Card Shop first.”
It seemed Song Cheon-hye had finally let go of the last of her doubts.
She nodded, then asked,
“You were right to insist. How are you planning to use them?”
“I’m thinking of stacking them on one team.”
That way, it would deal more meaningful damage than spreading it evenly between A and C.
And we had already decided which side to use it on.
“Team C?”
“Of course.”
At that, not only Song Cheon-hye but the rest of the team seemed to agree unanimously.
Since they were the ones who proposed the non-aggression pact first, it was only natural to find them more irritating.
Song Cheon-hye asked again.
“When are you going to use it?”
“From a purely efficiency standpoint, it would be better to wait until tomorrow or the day after.”
The higher the overall rank of their facilities, the greater the damage they would take from the bombardment.
But I continued with a faint grin.
“I think breaking their morale is more important.”
“That’s a good point too.”
After I went in and caused chaos, they probably moved very cautiously while gathering crystals.
With lower efficiency, their facilities were likely one or two levels behind ours.
So what would happen if even that were completely crushed?
It’d feel like a funeral.
And on top of that, it would likely affect their productivity on the second and third days as well.
So we decided to use [Bombardment] tonight.
We took our time resting over dinner.
We sat around the campfire chatting and played with Bum and Chammy, who had shrunk down to miniature size.
“Meow.”
“Piieek, piek.”
Seo Ye-in gently stroked the two of them as they squeezed into the Cube of Life.
Watching the scene, Song Cheon-hye asked,
“Can I try petting them too?”
“Mhmm… it’s okay…”
With Park Na-ri’s permission, Song Cheon-hye slowly reached her hand toward the cube.
Bum didn’t seem to resist either, but the moment her fingertips touched his head—
Crackle!
Startled by a sudden burst of static, he quickly darted to the other side.
In an instant, his fur stood on end and he bared his teeth.
“Hiss—!”
“No, I didn’t do that on purpose—”
“Haa—ak—!!”
He even took a stance as if he were about to throw a soft paw punch at any moment.
It was as if he were saying, “Come any closer and there will be blood, human.”
“I really didn’t do it on purpose……”
Swallowing her disappointment, Song Cheon-hye had no choice but to step back.
They say first impressions are half of everything, and hers had started with a burst of static.
It seemed she would have to work pretty hard to get close to Bum.
Fortunately, once Seo Ye-in and Park Na-ri cuddled him again, he soon returned to purring happily.
Who knows how long we played like that, but before we knew it, the night had grown deep.
Seo Ye-in’s eyelids kept drooping, so we tidied up and got to our feet.
“I’m heading in now. I’ll wake up later for a bit to use [Bombardment].”
“Yes, have a good rest.”
Song Cheon-hye nodded easily enough, but when she saw the two of us going in side by side, her expression turned puzzled.
“Wait, you’re going in together?”
“We sleep together.”
Seo Ye-in replied as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
Song Cheon-hye’s face went slightly blank.
“Sleep… together?”
“Kim Ho pillow comfy.”
“What kind of nonsense is that?”
“……?”
Seo Ye-in tilted her head.
It was as if she were asking, “Why is that nonsense?”
As though her brain had overloaded, Song Cheon-hye.exe froze for a moment, then her eyes snapped wide open as if she had realized something.
“Wait, then have you been sleeping like that this whole time? During midterms and finals too?”
– Nod.
Confusion filled Song Cheon-hye’s face.
Several times more than when she heard that Team A and Team C had signed a non-aggression pact.
After a moment, she spoke again, hesitantly.
“I… I… I can’t allow that. Sleep separately.”
“……”
Seo Ye-in stared at her in silence.
Then she turned her head away as if dismissing her and tossed out a single word.
“……Noob.”
“……Huh?”
“Noob.”
A faint flush rose to Song Cheon-hye’s face.
It seemed she had just remembered the time she used Blink in front of us and slammed straight into a wall.
Holding onto her patience, she asked,
“What does that have to do with this?”
“……Noob.”
Seo Ye-in quietly covered her ears with both hands.
At that, I stepped in as the official sloth-language interpreter.
“She says, ‘I don’t take orders from a noob’.”
“What? I don’t think you understand, but Blink is supposed to be hard, okay? At first, everyone crashes into things like I did, and then they gradually get better—”
As Song Cheon-hye protested, Seo Ye-in tugged at my sleeve and pointed ahead.
“Demonstration.”
Swishhh.
A perfect Blink, ten out of ten.
Seo Ye-in nodded, looking pleased.
“Pro.”
Then she faced Song Cheon-hye again.
“Noob.”
“I mean—! That person is—! Wow, seriously…!”
She looked like she was about to explode from frustration yet had nothing she could really say.
Even if she argued that “that person is an exception”, it wouldn’t change the fact that she was still a noob.
Figuring the initiative had shifted enough by now, I casually added a comment.
“I don’t think there’s any need to oppose it that strongly. We’re just sleeping next to each other. If you’re close enough, isn’t that something people can do?”
“From my perspective, I really can’t understand it.”
At that moment, Park Na-ri, who had been quietly listening beside us, timidly joined the conversation.
“Um… I also sleep… with Bum and Chammy…”
“Do you…?”
“Mhmm… because… we’re partners…”
“But that’s…”
Song Cheon-hye trailed off.
Judging by what she had been about to say, it was probably something like, “But that’s different. They’re animals.” She must have realized that would be extremely rude to a druid.
Park Na-ri might look timid and kind on the outside, but there was no guarantee her inner thoughts were the same.
A careless remark could easily stir up serious resentment.
Just like how a bit of static had already ruined Song Cheon-hye’s first impression with Bum.
So Song Cheon-hye hurried to salvage the situation before it was too late.
“Maybe… my thinking… was too narrow… perhaps…”
Still, it didn’t seem like she had truly accepted it, as she glanced back and forth between us, her lips twitching.
She had already said what she said, so she couldn’t quite take it back, yet couldn’t stand by it either.
In the end, Song Cheon-hye abruptly turned around.
“……Ugh, whatever. Do what you want.”
And she hurried into the lodging as if fleeing the scene.
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