Chapter 28. Skipping a Grade, Kim Song-cheol (1)

Inside the classroom.

There were only two students and one instructor.

One of the students was Kim Song-cheol.

The other was a male trainee who had entered the Training Academy around the same time as Kim Song-cheol.

Kim Song-cheol sat at his desk, looking at the instructor.

The instructor sat at another desk, grading test papers.

The other trainee was playing a game on a tablet.

Kim Song-cheol had heard it was some kind of defense game, but he couldn’t remember the exact name.

“Trainee Kim Song-cheol.”

“Yes.”

The instructor, who had his hair cut short, approached and placed a test paper on Kim Song-cheol’s desk.

It was an essay exam on tactics, and it was also the final exam.

The letter ‘P’ was written on Kim Song-cheol’s test paper.

It meant he had passed.

“Trainee Park Jin-man.”

Before the trainee could even answer, a test paper was dropped over the tablet.

F.

It was a failure.

“Huh? For real?”

The trainee looked up at the instructor as if he couldn’t believe it.

The instructor simply nodded without a word.

“Dang it, it’s already tough enough practicing swordsmanship…”

The trainee grabbed his test paper, gave a quick bow, and left the classroom.

Kim Song-cheol had heard he was quite good at swordsmanship, but he seemed to have no interest in theory.

With one person gone, only two remained in the classroom.

“Today is the last day.”

The instructor spoke, seeming a bit sad to say goodbye.

Kim Song-cheol had been an excellent student.

Not many trainees took an interest in the tedious theory classes.

There were many trainees who played games during class or daydreamed.

“Yes. Thank you for your guidance until now.”

“You only have a few classes left now, right?”

“It seems they’re almost all finished.”

The theory classes were over 80 percent finished, and since he had been promoted to E-Rank Dungeon level recently, the illusion tactics classes had also ended.

Other classes were in their final stages as well.

What remained were magic and physical conditioning, which would never truly end, and interpersonal combat training.

“It was fun feeling like a student again after so long, but the curriculum is a bit short, haha.”

At Kim Song-cheol’s words, the instructor nodded with an understanding smile.

“Being a student is a good thing.”

“I’ve found there’s nothing quite like being a student.”

“Haha. Anyway, the lecture ends here… Please do your best to become a great Hunter and protect the future of the Republic of Korea.”

“Yes, I will try my best.”

After exchanging well-wishes with the instructor, Kim Song-cheol left the classroom.

He exited the building and went straight to the training room.

Even if the regular classes were ending, he couldn’t spend his remaining time just playing around.

The trainees were rookie Hunters, and their skills were essentially their lifelines.

It was only natural to fill the remaining time with training.

Kim Song-cheol first entered a private training room.

It was a space wide and high enough to swing a sword.

After taking off his bag and closing the door, complete silence descended.

The soundproofing was near perfect.

Kim Song-cheol sat in the center of the room and practiced the Mana Breathing Method.

A cycle of absorbing Mana on the inhale and exhaling the remaining Mana.

It was very familiar to him now, but he couldn’t help the lingering regret in a corner of his heart.

Because Mana wasn’t accumulating as much as he had hoped.

Actually, this was quite relative.

Compared to other trainees, the speed at which his Mana accumulated was incredibly fast.

However, because his Circle was so large, the growth of the Circle felt slow.

‘There’s no other way, so…’

He had asked Kim Myung-joo about this, but there was no clear solution.

In Arcadia-style Circle Magic, this breathing method was the only common ‘Mana storage method’.

It meant there were no other breathing methods he could buy with Points.

Kim Song-cheol sat with his eyes closed for thirty minutes before standing up.

He could have done it for three or four hours if he wanted to, but right now, it was just a warm-up to sharpen his mind before magic training.

“Phew…!”

Kim Song-cheol honed his mind, which had become clear through the Mana Breathing Method, to an even sharper edge.

The training he was about to start required even greater willpower and concentration.

Because he wasn’t practicing ordinary Arcadia-style Circle Magic.

The ability that only Kim Song-cheol possessed.

Something that couldn’t be explained by Circle Magic.

Right now, he was only using it to change the trajectory of magic, but Kim Song-cheol intended to broaden its scope through training.

‘If I can change the trajectory, then other things must be possible too.’

That was Kim Song-cheol’s theory.

He didn’t know what else was possible yet.

He lacked the knowledge.

But he could at least try.

Kim Song-cheol decided to first invest his time in increasing the ‘power’ of magic.

Circle Magic is a collection of very tightly woven formulas.

It’s stable and effective, but it’s just as restrictive.

The same went for power adjustment.

Even if one had leftover Mana, the amount of Mana that could be invested into a single spell was fixed.

Kim Song-cheol first cast a Magic Missile.

A completely ordinary mass of energy poked its head out of the Magic Circle.

“No, not this.”

As if dissatisfied with something, Kim Song-cheol simply dispersed the Magic Missile.

‘Where should I apply the pressure?’

A Magic Missile was created again.

He didn’t like it this time either.

Disperse.

Create.

Disperse.

Create.

The Magic Missile repeated the cycle of creation and annihilation.

If anyone had seen this scene, they would have thought Kim Song-cheol had gone mad.

Because he was just standing there, staring at a point in the air, repeatedly creating and dispersing a Magic Missile.

‘I clearly focused my attention on the formula’s power core…’

Kim Song-cheol tried to decompose the formula of the Magic Missile and adjust the power core responsible for Mana charging.

But it wasn’t working.

There was no sign of it being strengthened at all.

This means this isn’t the answer.

Kim Song-cheol stopped the useless waste of Mana and went back to the beginning.

‘I changed the trajectory… How did I change the trajectory?’

When he thought about it calmly, he hadn’t touched the formula when changing the trajectory either.

Because the ability he possessed was applied after the magic was activated.

But strengthening the power of magic after it had already been activated seemed nonsensical no matter how much he thought about it.

It would violate not just Circle Magic, but the entire field of magic as a whole.

That was why he had tried to tamper with the power core.

‘Then what is it?’

“I should just cast it while thinking about how I want to use strong magic…”

Kim Song-cheol unconsciously cast a Magic Missile.

But this time, something was different.

It was different from the hundreds of castings he had repeated earlier.

“So it was… something like this?”

He felt something.

Kim Song-cheol settled into a proper stance and extended both hands forward.

While ‘longing’ for a magic stronger than ever before, he concentrated his mind on the magic itself, not the formula.

That was really all there was to it.

Without any special tricks, he only thought about wanting to make the magic’s power stronger.

And when that concentration reached its peak,

“Lightning Spear.”

A clear incantation filled the space.

At the same time a large Magic Circle appeared in front of Kim Song-cheol’s hands, three to four times more Mana than usual was suddenly drained away.

Soon, the Lightning Spear that emerged from the center of the Magic Circle was two or three times larger than its original size.

Crackle, crackle, crackle!

Stronger sparks flew in all directions, and faint electricity raged fiercely enough to reach the walls.

It was a success.

The moment Kim Song-cheol tried to smile,

“Ah.”

Sudden dizziness hit him, and his concentration snapped.

If the bowstring is released, the arrow is naturally fired.

Zap!

The reinforced spear of lightning flew straight toward the wall and collided.

K-boom!

In the meantime, Kim Song-cheol collapsed onto the floor without realizing it.

To be more precise, it would be more accurate to say he found himself sitting down once he regained his senses.

“Why is this happening…”

Kim Song-cheol felt so dizzy and nauseous that he just lay down on the floor.

Through his flickering vision, he saw chunks of concrete falling from the blackened wall.

The wall was half-destroyed.

It was a level of power unbelievable for 2nd Circle magic.

‘I shouldn’t be destroying property…’

Kim Song-cheol lay there for a while, enduring the dizziness.

He thought it would get better after a moment, but then nausea and a headache washed over him.

“Ugh…”

Kim Song-cheol suffered for a full twenty minutes before finally coming to his senses.

A slight headache remained, but the dizziness and chills had improved significantly.

“Sigh…”

Sitting blankly, Kim Song-cheol let out a short sigh and thought,

‘I’ll be in big trouble if I use this wrongly.’

He had succeeded faster than expected, but the rebound was also much greater than expected.

—

Kim Myung-joo was sitting at his desk, skimming through new proposals.

Strictly speaking, the Special Tactical Education Center was a public institution, and the Director could be considered the head of that institution.

Public institutions are always plagued by proposals and official documents.

It was the same for Kim Myung-joo.

There were 22 proposals submitted today alone.

Since it was Friday, there were even more.

As the head of an institution, he could have just skimmed through them, but Kim Myung-joo always read them thoroughly before giving his approval.

“What did they break this time…”

Kim Myung-joo muttered as he read the title of a proposal sent by the facility management office.

Simply put, it was a request for payment for facility damage repairs.

Since the place was full of energetic trainees, property damage happened quite often.

But this was facility damage.

The scale was different.

Kim Myung-joo clicked on the proposal.

Then the details of the incident appeared, with photos of the damage attached.

“Trainee Kim Song-cheol?”

The proposal stated that Trainee Kim Song-cheol had self-reported.

After tilting his head at the culprit’s name, Kim Myung-joo opened the attached photos.

There, high-resolution photos of a blackened and half-destroyed private training room wall were displayed.

“Haha, wow… How did he manage to leave it like this?”

Kim Myung-joo laughed at the photo, finding it absurd.

An unbelievable level of power.

Even if he brought in a typical 2nd Circle Mage and told them to destroy it this much, it would be impossible.

“He really does things on a grand scale…”

Kim Myung-joo let out a small sigh and approved the 7.8 million won proposal.

Repair costs for private training rooms were quite high because the finishing materials were so expensive.

But he couldn’t ask Kim Song-cheol to pay for it.

The same would apply to anyone else, not just Kim Song-cheol.

Charging such minor costs to those who are working hard for the country would be a huge mistake.

Knock, knock.

At that moment, a knock was heard.

“Come in.”

The door opened, and Dokgo Yeol, the interpersonal combat instructor, entered.

He was a man in his thirties with a very sturdy build.

He was also one of the few active Hunters among the instructors who still entered Dungeons.

“Yes, what’s the matter?”

Kim Myung-joo asked with a light smile.

“Well, I saw that Trainee Kim Song-cheol was put on the interpersonal combat training list this time.”

“Ah… has it already come to that?”

Kim Myung-joo had forgotten for a moment. It was standard procedure for interpersonal combat training to begin as other classes ended.

He hadn’t kept track because he had let his guard down recently.

“Yes, but I’m not sure what level to match him with…”

Interpersonal combat training was, simply put, a class where trainees sparred with each other.

Dokgo Yeol couldn’t figure out what level he should match Kim Song-cheol at to arrange his bouts.

In terms of level alone, Kim Song-cheol was a 2nd Circle Expert.

But he had heard too many stories to finalize his level based on that alone.

“Hmm…”

Kim Myung-joo, after pondering for a moment, spoke.

“Let’s just go with the list for now, shall we?”

“Won’t there be a level difference?”

Dokgo Yeol had initially said he ‘wasn’t sure,’ but in reality, it seemed he wanted to put Kim Song-cheol in a higher class.

“Even so, we can’t ignore the procedures. People might complain about special treatment.”

“Then I’ll try it once, and after that, I’ll move him based on my judgment.”

“Let’s do it that way.”

For now, follow the procedures.

That was the decision of the Director.

***