[Congratulations!]
[You have defeated the Lava Yeti, one who defied the laws of nature.]
The Yeti collapsed across the shattered stone ground. From the dust cloud that rose like a construction site, a message window appeared.
[You have earned 10,000 Welfare Points.]
A gift box wrapped with a red ribbon materialized before his eyes.
[You have obtained the Lava Yeti’s Essence.]
“The Lava Yeti’s Essence?” Eun-Ho muttered to himself.
A palm-sized snow crystal rested within the box.
Fwoosh—
The pentagon crystal, with arrow-like tips at every edge, glowed a fiery red as if it were burning.
Red snow...
An exterior like unmelting ice, yet within flowed molten lava—contradictory, yet undeniably real.
[Lava Yeti’s Essence]
- An essence distilled from the eternal snow and molten core of a Lava Yeti.
- It contains the eternity of everlasting snow and the fleeting moment of blazing lava.
- Upon consumption, it greatly increases Stamina by 10 and increases critical hit rate for swordsmanship attacks by 5 percent.
Eun-Ho hadn’t expected a swordsmanship class to raise other stats to this extent. Back in the Basic Physical Training class, he had to earn an outstanding evaluation just to gain eight Stamina points and two bonus points.
So this is Intermediate...
If every swordsmanship training came with rewards beyond skills, he had no complaints. After all, just for this trial alone, he had burned through every last drop of the Foam Mirage Energy Tonic. He had wanted compensation commensurate with the cost.
[Congratulations!]
[You have made a new achievement, Proxy Taunt!]
“Huh? What is this now?” he asked.
He recalled the potion’s description.
[Foam Mirage Energy Tonic]
- An energy tonic made by blending Sperm Whale Oil with Mermaid Foam.
- Upon consumption, physical stamina stats are doubled for thirty minutes, and the skill Taunt(Lv. 1) is activated, drawing enemies’ attention.
- Caution: it may attract unwanted attention as well.
Well, Eun-Ho did technically taunt something. He just didn’t pour the potion on himself, but onto the enemy. Strictly speaking, Proxy Taunt was indeed the term they were looking for.
[You have acquired the title Master of Pheromones!]
“Master of what?”
[You can emit Seduction Pheromones that entice targets.]
[You can emit Alert Pheromones to nearby allies.]
[You can emit Taunt Pheromones that lure enemies.]
What in the world...?
Taunt and Alert Pheromones were one thing. He didn’t know the exact activation method yet, but once he tested the range and effects, they could be useful. However, when was he supposed to use Seduction Pheromones?
“Well, I’ll shelve that for now,” he said quietly.
A faint dizziness washed over him, and he shook his head hard. Then, one welcome message after another followed.
[Class complete!]
[Course objectives have been achieved.]
[Basic Swordsmanship(Lv. 6) has been upgraded to Intermediate Swordsmanship(Lv. 1).]
Seriously? Straight to Intermediate?
A swordsmanship skill that should have required tens of thousands of swings had leaped forward in a single bound.
Swish—
To test it out, he swung his sword. It felt so light that he felt an urge to massacre the rest of the Lava Soldiers and Yeti Soldiers. A surge rose in his chest, his blood pounding in his ears. He forced it down as his gaze moved to the next message.
[You have acquired the title Seasoned Swordsman.]
[Upon equipping this title, attack power with bladed weapons increases by thirty percent, and swordsmanship-type skills are learned thirty percent faster.]
[New record achieved!]
[You have cleared the Intermediate Swordsmanship class in the shortest time.]
Finally, he received an extra reward for setting a new record, the shortest-time clear.
[Stage two of the Swordsmanship Skill Tree, Sword Thread, has been unlocked.]
Judging by the name, it seemed to involve weaving sword energy into thread-like forms and firing them.
“Open skill tree,” Eun-Ho said.
[Opening Skill Tree.]
[Swordsman Skill Tree]
[Sword Aura]
- Sword Force
- Sword Thread
- Sword Mirage
...
[?], [?], [?], [?], [?] ...
After pulling up the root-like skill tree, Eun-Ho tapped the Sword Thread box, now highlighted in bold. Then, the skill’s description appeared.
[Sword Thread(Lv. -)]
- Compresses Sword Aura and materializes it into thread-like form.
- Power is equivalent to standard swordsmanship attacks, but the more threads created, the lower the attack power per thread.
After reading it, Eun-Ho said immediately, “Sword Thread.”
The Sky-Shattering Blade’s low hum stopped. Then, a spiderweb-like, blue thread extended outward and wrapped around the blade, gleaming like a shooting star streaking across the night sky.
One isn’t enough.
As he thought that instinctively, the thick blue thread began to split. One split into two, two into four, four into eight. As the threads multiplied until the black blade couldn’t be seen, an image formed in his mind.
Fire them.
He focused on the blue threads and imagined each strand flying out like a projectile. That was all it took.
Fwoosh—
Rigid, arrow-like threads tore through the air, slicing through a turbulent space where intense heat and bitter cold collided. The piercing sound of something breaking through the air rang in his ears. The speed and power exceeded his expectations, startling even himself.
Thunk—
The threads only stopped after cutting cleanly through the back of a distracted lizard’s neck.
Huh?
The lava that should have flowed from top to bottom was blocked, as if by a dam.
“Kuk!”
Sword Thread had spread out not like strings, but like a sheet of fabric. Having found the point of origin, the lizard glared at him, but Eun-Ho did not withdraw his blade. Moments later, a series of messages appeared.
[You have defeated a Lava Soldier of the Snowfields.]
[You have earned 2,000 Welfare Points.]
That’s it.
One couldn’t cut flowing lava with ordinary attacks. Now, he had found another way.
You just have to block its path.
[The proficiency of the skill Intermediate Swordsmanship(Lv.1) has increased!]
[Classroom effect applied: +1%]
As if that weren’t enough, his skill proficiency even increased.
“Attack! Where is he?!”
The monsters that had been freed from the taunt lifted their heads one by one, regaining their senses. Lava Soldiers radiated scorching heat. Yeti Soldiers exuded a numbing cold that made his limbs tingle. The sheer pressure of the creatures filling the wasteland sent a chill down his spine.
Since it’s come to this, I’ll just finish them all before I go!
***
The Personnel Bureau’s director slammed his fist down onto the desk. “Secretary!”
The solid wooden table split apart with a sharp crack. At the same time, deep lines etched themselves into the secretary’s brow.
“Yes, Director,” the secretary replied calmly.
He already knew the director’s patience was at its limit. While covert operations were underway to deal with the Labor-Management Cooperation Team, an unexpected avalanche of new work had suddenly come crashing down.
“Do I really have to personally read through garbage like this?!” the director barked.
“I apologize. The Operations Bureau submitted a collective petition,” the secretary answered.
“The Operations Bureau? Why are they suddenly making a fuss?”
“We’re still investigating. It appears to be an organized movement, centered around younger employees...”
“Tsk!”
There was little the secretary could do.
“Request for adjustment of excessive working hours.”
“Proposal for establishing night-shift compensation.”
“Petition to improve poor working conditions.”
...
Suggestions and complaints from the Operations Bureau were pouring in nonstop. Technically, it carried no real negotiating power, and they could have ignored it outright.
Pop. Pop. Pop. Pop. Pop...
However, endless system windows kept appearing, clogging the director’s vision and preventing him from doing anything else.
“As if I’m not busy enough already! This is annoying me to death!” The director growled. “I should’ve just replaced them all.”
There were plenty of people eager to work, after all.
The director clicked his tongue. “And him? What is he doing?”
Amid the sea of people he looked down upon with open hostility, there was only one he cared to ask about: Lee Eun-Ho.
“As for Eun-Ho...” the quick-witted secretary said, flipping through a file he had brought. “He’s reportedly maintaining the office buildings.”
The director repeated. “Maintaining buildings?”
“Yes. The entire team has halted external activities and is repairing structures within the Wailing Forest.”
“That maintenance should’ve been finished a long time ago.” The director crossed his legs and rubbed his chin, his gaze sharpening with suspicion. “Is there a chance he’s noticed the ambush?”
“That seems unlikely.”
“Why’s that?”
“Reports say they demolished a log cabin wall with a soccer ball, tore the whole thing down and rebuilt it. They also pulled out the fence around the clearing, reinstalled it, then tore it out again.”
The director’s brow furrowed tightly, his expression plainly asking what kind of nonsense that was. “What?”
The secretary added cautiously, “They seemed bored.”
Perhaps they are insane, or bored to the point of insanity. One of the three.
“Hah.” The director let out a hollow chuckle. “So carefree.”
After everything Eun-Ho had done to him, caution should have been the obvious response. Yet, those people were spending their days in leisure, oblivious of the impending danger.
“They truly know nothing,” the secretary said.
Ignorance granted them a brief, fragile peace. Also, the director found that peace rather pleasing. The more carefree they were, the greater the shock when the ambush came.
“Let them enjoy it for now,” he said, his voice lighter.
He found it laughable that they were fussing over buildings and fences destined to become ruins.
***
“Enemy! I’ll take his head!”
“I will!”
“I’ll bite and eat! Kraaagh!”
The system chimed.
[You have defeated a Flame Yeti Soldier!]
[You have earned 2,000 Welfare Points.]
It was absolute chaos.
[You have defeated a Lava Soldier of the Snowfields.]
[You have earned 2,000 Welfare Points.]
[You have defeated a Flame Yeti Soldier!]
[You have earned 2,000 Welfare Points.]
...
Actually, calling it chaos wasn’t quite right. It was a battlefield overrun by lizards and bears. From severed red lizard heads, lava poured out in place of blood. The molten liquid pooled across the rocky plain, and wherever it spread, white bears screamed as their paws burned and melted.
They thrashed about the wasteland in blind agony, crashing into one another.
“Monster! Demon!”
“Die!”
The lizards were already extinct. All that remained were three white bears.
“If you’re going to kill me,” Eun-Ho continued flatly, “at least come over here.”
Instead, the bears fled in confusion, scrambling to avoid both him and the lava pools. It was irritating more than anything.
[The proficiency of the skill Intermediate Swordsmanship(Lv.2) has increased!]
[Classroom effect applied: +1%]
[Intermediate Swordsmanship(Lv. 2) has been upgraded to Intermediate Swordsmanship(Lv. 3).]
Thanks to the classroom effect, his Intermediate Swordsmanship had already reached level three.
[Two hours have passed since the start of the lecture!]
In such a short time, he finished an eight-hundred-hour course in eighty minutes and eliminated the stragglers. While he could afford to relax a little, he didn’t.
“Sword Thread,” Eun-Ho said.
He still didn’t know how difficult the remaining courses would be, and taking it easy had never been his style.
Fwoosh—
[Critical hit!]
[Attack power has increased to 200 percent!]
“Kuh!”
Three strands of blade thread shot out, each cleanly taking a bear’s head.
“So it works,” Eun-Ho murmured.
He could draw out a large number of threads, split, and send them in different directions. The more he used the skill, the more natural it felt, just like moving his own fingers.
[You have defeated a Flame Yeti Soldier!]
[You have defeated a Flame Yeti Soldier!]
[You have defeated a Flame Yeti Soldier!]
As the final bear’s head hit the stone floor, an announcement echoed.
[There are no enemies left.]
[The Intermediate Swordsmanship classroom is closing.]
[Return through the door.]
Pop—
The classroom shut down, and as if to prove it, an ordinary steel door appeared before him.
Return.
It was a door meant to send him back to the Wailing Forest. However, he was far from done. “Summon. Activate.”
[You have activated the audit pass.]
[Moving to the classroom.]
Click—
Ignoring the door the system had prepared, Eun-Ho opened one of his own.
On the other side stood the assistant instructor, wearing an utterly incredulous expression. “What are you?”
That counted as a greeting, probably. His narrowed eyes clearly held amusement despite the scowl.
“You’re the only lunatic in this entire place who’d use a taunt potion like that,” the instructor said.
“Thanks for the compliment,” Eun-Ho replied. “Anyway. Open the door. I have no time to waste.”
“Right away?” the assistant instructor asked.
“Every minute counts.”
The assistant instructor shook his head. “Proper rest is part of training too.”
“I know, but I’m still fine.” Eun-Ho drove the point home. “I’ll do Advanced Swordsmanship right away.”
He asked to be sent straight into a course with an average clear time of two thousand five hundred hours.
Fwoooosh—!
The only answer was a piercing shriek in his ears as blinding light consumed his vision. He was about to demand an explanation when his eyes met the assistant instructor’s. The man looked just as confused, his brow tightly furrowed.
Then, a voice rang out.
[Consecutive challenge by a record holder detected.]
[New record achieved!]
[You have cleared the Intermediate Swordsmanship class in the shortest time.]
That message had already appeared earlier. He had assumed unlocking Sword Thread was the reward.
[A customized Advanced Swordsmanship classroom is being generated for you.]
Thud—
The classroom trembled. It was not an earthquake, but something tighter, more focused.
Ruuumble—
From the ground directly ahead, two rectangular structures rose, with two doors.
[Please select your desired door.]
Just like the first time he had entered the Training Institute, he was given a choice. On the left stood a door the color of a starless night sky. On the right shimmered a door akin to clear water traced with a gentle breeze.
← Weight of Trial │ Aid of the Tailwind →
“Which will you choose?” the assistant instructor asked.
Eun-Ho didn’t answer immediately. Instead, he calculated in silence.
I have 9,998 hours remaining.
How he used that time would decide everything.
At last, he stepped toward a door. “Obviously, it’s this one,”
The assistant met his gaze with a knowing smile. “Yeah, I thought so.”
Together, they looked at the door labeled Weight of Trial.
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