Chapter 10: Team 25A Kim Song-cheol (1)

‘Wow, look at that?’

Watching the training, Ji Yun-o clicked his tongue as if he couldn’t believe it.

It was because of Kim Song-cheol’s response.

He wasn’t surprised by the casting speed like Mun Gi-jeong was.

He was a 3rd Circle Mage, and he could see much more than Mun Gi-jeong could.

‘A mere 1st Circle Mastery trainee is simplifying formulas.’

Kim Song-cheol’s casting speed was fast even by absolute standards.

Flash.

Magic circles appeared one after another, almost like a semi-automatic pistol firing.

The secret to that speed was Formula Simplification.

Formula Simplification, surprisingly, requires more intuitive sense than a perfect understanding of the Formula or rapid calculation skills.

It would be fairly accurate to say he was pulling it off through pure physical talent.

Usually, an experienced Mage would simplify Magic that was at a lower level than their own, but Kim Song-cheol was simplifying Magic that was at his current level.

From Ji Yun-o’s perspective, he couldn’t help but be impressed.

However, simplification had its drawbacks.

The power of the Magic becomes lower than that of a full cast.

Ji Yun-o deactivated the Goblin illusions that had been hit, but in a real situation, there was a high chance they would have stood back up.

“Even so, the response was perfect. Those hit by a single shot would have their combat power halved, and he bought time. A Dungeon is a place where you die because you can’t buy a single second or two.”

Even if it was just training, one would normally panic when Goblins approached from both sides, but Kim Song-cheol had fired off three consecutive rounds of simplified Magic in that situation.

It was a moment when he truly came to agree with Training Academy Director Kim Myung-joo’s judgment.

“Clear!”

Ser Gang-jin shouted. The last Goblin scattered under his sword.

“Clear!” Oh Song-hui responded as if she had been waiting.

They had dealt with all the Goblins that had poured out.

It seemed to be about sixteen of them—a slightly higher number than usual.

It was because Ji Yun-o had created more illusions after confirming Kim Song-cheol’s skill level.

“”

Mun Gi-jeong was staring at the back of Kim Song-cheol’s head.

Then, Kim Song-cheol glanced back, and their eyes met.

Mun Gi-jeong swallowed hard.

It was a situation where he would have nothing to say even if Kim Song-cheol complained loudly.

Of course, the other team members would have backed him up, but honestly, he lacked confidence.

He lacked the confidence to look Kim Song-cheol in the eye and crush him by saying, “You’re making a fuss over nothing.”

But Kim Song-cheol simply gave a slight smile, flashed a quick thumbs-up, and then turned away.

‘A thumbs-up? What does that mean? He must know I let those Monsters through on purpose…?’

Mun Gi-jeong’s mind became complicated.

He couldn’t even begin to guess the meaning of the thumbs-up.

“We’re moving forward.”

Just then, Ji Yun-o’s instruction came.

The illusions were pushed back, and a new section appeared.

Team 25A maintained their formation and walked forward.

Not long after, more Goblins popped out, and Team 25A dealt with them.

This time, Mun Gi-jeong didn’t let any Monsters through.

Since Mun Gi-jeong wasn’t letting anything leak, Oh Song-hui gave him a look.

But Mun Gi-jeong remained unmoved.

After a few more awkward glances were exchanged, the training session ended without further incident.

“Good job, everyone.”

Kim Song-cheol gave a simple greeting to his teammates.

He looked largely the same as he did at the start of the training.

On the other hand, Mun Gi-jeong’s face was pale.

Cold sweat was beaded on his forehead.

It wasn’t for any other reason than the fact that he had used up all his Mana.

Training requires dealing with many Monsters in a short period of time.

It’s a much higher volume than an actual Dungeon.

It wasn’t a level where a mere 1st Circle Mage could leisurely fire off Magic.

However, Kim Song-cheol remained perfectly fine despite using much more Magic than Mun Gi-jeong.

Far from being pale, his breathing wasn’t even labored, perhaps thanks to the three weeks of cardiorespiratory endurance training.

“Ha… are you okay?”

Ultimately, Mun Gi-jeong had to ask.

He was curious if Kim Song-cheol was truly okay or just pretending to be.

“About what?”

Kim Song-cheol asked with an expression that said he didn’t know what the question was about.

“Your Mana.”

“Ah, my mana tank is a bit big.”

Only then did Kim Song-cheol give a plain answer.

In reality, Kim Song-cheol still had more than 70 percent of his Mana remaining.

After forming his Circle, the speed at which Mana accumulated had increased further, to the point where he wondered if it was okay for it to pile up like this.

The Swordsmen also bit their lips as they looked back and forth between Mun Gi-jeong and Kim Song-cheol.

Honestly, Mun Gi-jeong was on the better side.

Their former teammate, Park Ji-yoon, would be nearly dead after training.

Having seen that repeatedly, the fact that Kim Song-cheol was so perfectly fine struck the Swordsmen significantly.

“Good job, everyone. Trainee Kim Song-cheol, in particular, was excellent despite it being your first training session.”

Ji Yun-o said as he approached.

To be honest, he wanted to give more praise, but he held back out of concern that it might backfire in various ways.

“No, it was thanks to the teammates helping out. Ah, since we’re done, can I head out now?”

“Is there something going on?”

“Well… I have a Magic Exchange Meeting.”

He called it a Magic Exchange Meeting because he didn’t have a formal name to present to the public, but in reality, it was the ’16th Floor Magic Academy.’

He had just received a request to look over some Magic today.

He needed time to practice a bit before the Magic Academy opened.

“A Magic Exchange Meeting?”

“…I’m just researching Magic with some other trainees from the same lecture hall.”

For a brief moment, Mun Gi-jeong’s eyes sparked.

With that level of skill, there was no way he was just ‘exchanging’ Magic with fellow trainees.

It was bound to be a one-sided lesson, and Mun Gi-jeong felt an instinctive desire to attend that lesson.

However, now was not the time to ask to join, nor did he have the face to do so.

Mun Gi-jeong’s gaze died down again.

“Originally, I should give you points for improvement… but you may go. I don’t really have any.”

“Ah, yes. Good work, everyone. Good job, Instructor.”

Kim Song-cheol bowed once more to the trainees and the Instructor before leaving the training grounds.

“Ha…”

Ji Yun-o let out a faint sigh as he watched Kim Song-cheol’s back disappear through the door.

When he turned back toward the trainees, his gaze had become quite sharp.

Oh Song-hui immediately avoided his eyes and lowered her head.

There was no way their Instructor, Ji Yun-o, wouldn’t know that they had tried to put Kim Song-cheol in a difficult spot.

They had done it prepared to get scolded in the first place.

All that was left was to endure Ji Yun-o’s sharp anger.

However.

“Either do it properly, or don’t do it at all. It’s better to choose one of the two.”

The words that came out of Ji Yun-o’s mouth were unexpected.

Not only Oh Song-hui, but Ser Gang-jin and Mun Gi-jeong also blinked in surprise.

At first, they didn’t understand what he meant, and only after their brains worked at full capacity for a few seconds did they catch on.

He was telling them to either truly screw Kim Song-cheol over or accept him as a teammate.

It was natural they didn’t understand right away.

It meant he would turn a blind eye to the cold-shouldering, and these weren’t the kind of words that usually came out of Ji Yun-o’s mouth.

“Tsk!”

The sound of Ji Yun-o’s small click of the tongue echoed in the empty training room.

For some reason, it sounded like he was criticizing Mun Gi-jeong.

“Training finished. Dismissed.”

He waved his hand and walked out of the training area.

Three trainees remained.

“What the Instructor just said, he meant it’s okay to ostracize him, right?”

Oh Song-hui asked.

“I think so? What’s the deal?”

Ser Gang-jin replied, tilting his head.

There was no way they could 100% understand Ji Yun-o’s mind because they didn’t know the background.

Ji Yun-o was dissatisfied that there was no benefit even after forcibly putting Kim Song-cheol into the team.

Kim Song-cheol wasn’t getting any practice in handling uncooperative Hunters at all.

At this rate, the teammate who had been excluded was the only one left high and dry.

“Regardless of that, why did you only do it once and stop? You kept making eye contact with me.”

Oh Song-hui badgered Mun Gi-jeong.

According to the plan, he was supposed to keep letting Monsters through to make things difficult for Kim Song-cheol.

But Mun Gi-jeong had unilaterally stopped.

“…Because there’s no point in doing it,” Mun Gi-jeong answered with difficulty.

“What do you mean? If I let them through and you let them through, that’s five or six Goblins swarming him.”

“That’s why I’m saying it’s useless.”

Mun Gi-jeong was a Mage, and the only Mage among the three of them.

His perspective on Kim Song-cheol was bound to be different from the Swordsmen’s.

“Being a bit fast? I admit that. I saw it too. He was fast. But it’s one thing to do two or three spells; how can you do five or six in a row?”

It was a valid point. With only one Circle, there is a physical limit to consecutive casting.

That was a physical constraint, separate from magical skill.

“I’m telling you, it’s not just a matter of being fast… If his casting is that fast, it means his understanding of the Formula is immense, so obviously he can do other things too.”

“Like what?”

“Formula Transformation.”

If Mun Gi-jeong had noticed the Formula Simplification, he might have listed more things, but at his current level, this was all he could see.

“At that level, he can just use Formula Transformation to spin a Magic Barrier 360 degrees. Or he could just use consecutive casting to use the Triangular Defense Method.”

True to its nature as a 1st Circle spell, Magic Barrier simply creates a square, transparent wall.

However, if one uses Formula Transformation, it’s possible to surround oneself in a curve or place three of them in a triangle to block all directions.

Of course, since it was 1st Circle Magic, it wouldn’t last long, but it was nonsense to think he would just stand there watching until it collapsed.

This was supposed to be joint training, after all.

“I’m saying he’s at a level where we can’t even touch him by letting Goblins through. You guys saw it too, right? How he was perfectly fine after training. He’s a 1st Circle, but he’s not a 1st Circle. You have to view it as a 3rd Circle Mage using only 1st Circle Magic.”

“Is it really that much…?”

When Mun Gi-jeong spoke so strongly, Oh Song-hui also took a step back.

Though Mun Gi-jeong was the leader, he was far from charismatic.

He always managed the team by aggregating and mediating members’ opinions, which made it hard to ignore his powerful stance now.

When Mun Gi-jeong spoke firmly, he was usually right.

“I’ll say one thing as the leader.”

Oh Song-hui and Ser Gang-jin quietly waited for Mun Gi-jeong’s next words.

“We have to go into Dungeons anyway, right? You know that people occasionally die even in F-rank Dungeons? Entering an F-rank Dungeon still requires putting your life on the line. I feel bad for Ji-yun, but we have to accept a teammate of that caliber. That’s the right move.”

Ser Gang-jin scratched his cheek and half-agreed with Mun Gi-jeong, saying, “I guess so.”

“So, should we go down on our knees or something?”

Oh Song-hui asked in a half-defeated tone.

“We probably won’t have to go that far. He… didn’t seem particularly interested in us in the first place.”

Mun Gi-jeong said with a hint of regret.

It was regret for a relationship that had been buttoned up wrong from the very first step.