Chapter 42
Qualification test questioning the qualifications of examinees.
The qualification test does not just demand the ability to deduce and solve problems from examinees.
It demands more than that.
If one only focuses on solving problems to get an exam number and earn extra points, there are things one might not notice.
“Wow, what’s up with them? They’re in blue.”
“Just yesterday, they were in red, and they changed again in a day.”
“How did they solve it all the way over there?”
“As the remaining problems decrease, the difficulty increases….”
Long term, up to a week, short term, within a day.
Until the day before the practical exam, from a week before, examinees freely challenge themselves, and the key to the exam is to have solved at least one problem on the exam ticket by the day of the practical exam.
Until then, the exam number remains in an undecided state, not confirmed.
It is only on the day of the practical exam that the exam number, which the examinee is wearing on the exam ticket, is finally confirmed.
“But why are they always together? They act separately when solving problems.”
“….”
In other words, the ownership of the exam ticket remains uncertain until the day before the practical exam.
Therefore, it is not impossible to take away someone else’s exam ticket and wear it.
It was a flaw in the qualification test.
Examinees who fail to solve problems or feel their limits at some point inevitably pay attention to this flaw and may fall into taking others’ exam tickets.
“Should we follow them secretly?”
“….”
“It’s just in case.”
However, it is unlikely that they did not notice the flaw at Geumgang Academy.
Yet, leaving it as it is implies a deliberate intention.
“Oh, are they moving too?”
“Darn, we targeted them first….”
“We can’t let them take it from us!”
From the outset, Geumgang Academy explained the necessity of always carrying the exam ticket on one’s person.
Even though it was impossible not to notice the fact that a large exam ticket was visible.
In the end, it was also part of the exam and what was required of examinees.
To conquer the gate, slay monsters, and protect the nation and humanity as hunters.
If one truly wants to become that hunter, they must show the ability to take or protect the exam ticket.
Therefore, the vigilance of examinees could only increase as the day of the practical exam approached.
Unlike ordinary examinees….
“Are there no companions with them?”
“I watched for two days, but didn’t see anyone. They seem to be just the two of them.”
“They’re practically asking to have it taken from them.”
A man with a gentle face and a woman with rabbit ears were boldly walking down the streets of Zone 23, wearing blue exam tickets.
As if they had no worries about their exam tickets being taken.
To the test-takers who sought to steal others’ exam tickets, they could only seem like tempting prey.
Of course, they were not lacking in intelligence.
“Hey, but they are wearing blue.”
“So what?”
“If they’ve answered 25 questions, could they be stronger than us?”
“Definitely… Perhaps the reason they’re both here is because they’re confident in their abilities.”
Although the exact extent of their abilities was unknown, the test-takers who had been following them for a few days were starting to realize that their speed in solving problems was extraordinary.
Thus, such thoughts were not unwarranted.
But that was all.
“With only two days left, what can we achieve?”
“We finally have a chance to get our test numbers and bonus points. Are we going to give up? I don’t want to.”
“Even if those guys are strong, it doesn’t matter. We can overpower them in numbers.”
“Well, it’s not just us targeting them; others are too.”
“If we cooperate, we can make it work somehow.”
“Who gets to own the exam ticket can be decided later.”
“They are going, are you not going?”
Pressing time, overwhelming numbers, irrational camaraderie, group mentality, and more.
The test-takers were pushed by these factors and had no choice but to make decisions.
They saw this as an opportunity.
Meanwhile, the exam ticket was worth money.
“I came here to earn pocket money. I’m not really interested in passing.”
“How much can we sell the blue one for?”
“How much did you agree to receive?”
“Me? The client said they would generously reward me with a good sum.”
“The truly wealthy just buy exam tickets with money.”
As demand exists, so does supply.
Every year in the city of academies, there are people who see exam tickets as a means to make money.
Most of them came to the city with dreams of becoming hunters, only to realize their limits in skills, leading to despair or falling behind others.
Yet, they could not leave the city of academies and struggled at the bottom.
They couldn’t afford to miss this opportunity either.
Hence.
“They turned into the alley!”
“But that’s a dead end.”
“It’s also a secluded place… If we follow them now, we can block the path and surround them, right?”
The enemy of an enemy is a friend, they say.
Naturally, the ragtag group and the test-takers, whose interests coincided, chased after the two.
Unaware of this, the two entered an alley out of sight of others.
It was like rabbits going into a burrow.
It was a golden opportunity for them.
“Such fools.”
The time to hunt rabbits was approaching.
Hyenas were openly chuckling.
Surrounding the alley, each of them took out a metal plate.
“Device On.”
To easily carry weapons.
Humanity, which had passed about 200 years since the Great Revolution, invented the technology to compress perfectly and preserve weapons made of mana alloy without damage.
The crystallization of that technology is the Device.
As they chanted the activation spell, the metal plates transformed into weapons, regaining their original form.
And so.
“The one who takes it first is the owner!”
Each of them brandishing weapons leaped into the rabbit hole swiftly.
However, what awaited them was a dead end.
“W-what is this…?”
“Wasn’t this the place!?”
“Who said someone came in here!?”
“Someone did come in here….”
“Where did these guys go?”
“Quick, find them!”
As if disappearing into the ground.
No matter how hard they looked with their eyes or rubbed them, the rabbits were nowhere to be seen.
They were visibly flustered.
It was right at that moment.
“Who are you looking for over there?”
“….”
A voice came from above their heads.
Startled by the sudden sound, they slowly raised their heads.
“Me? I’m right here.”
“….”
Above the wall they were facing.
The rabbits were looking down at them as if they were kings of the mountains.
Then, a man with a gentle face suddenly leaped from wall to wall and landed in the alley’s entrance.
“Right in front of you now.”
“….”
The tables had turned.
Now, trapped in a place with no way out, it was not the rabbits but the hyenas.
But the rabbits were not afraid just because the hyenas blocked the way.
After all, they were just rabbits.
The hesitance of the hyenas was short-lived.
“Take them out!”
“That one’s twitching!”
They came to their senses and moved.
The hyenas, easily surpassing twenty, trying to hunt down a single rabbit, were quite comical with no sense of balance.
Of course, that rabbit…
“Roar.”
It was merely in appearance that it resembled a rabbit.
◈
Unaware that they were being lured, they were beyond foolish.
Yet, in their foolishness, they did not even gauge their own and their opponent’s abilities before targeting us.
“Do they not realize they’re outnumbered?”
In a brawl among ordinary folks, that might be the case.
But in a fight among mana users, numbers did not hold much significance.
Just as one hero saves the world, strong power overwhelms quantity.
Mediocre fighters wouldn’t stand a chance against the sky.
To make that known.
“Device on.”
I pulled out a metal plate from my pocket.
A device compacted for hunters to carry weapons easily.
The device, which did not decrease in weight but only in volume, regained its original form in response to activation.
I drew the military green sword.
Right after.
Swish!
The one who rushed at me first swung the sword heavily.
The blade had rubber padding attached to it.
Maybe it wouldn’t kill, but it would surely hurt if it hit.
Of course, I had no intention of letting it hit.
“The attack is too straightforward and honest.”
Lacks distinctiveness in swordsmanship.
Feels like they only learned the basics.
I couldn’t afford to be hit by such a sword.
There was no need to rely on evasion instinct.
That’s why I wasn’t using the Identification Rabbit but the Lion Cub, which enhances the power of beast-type species.
My current agility stat was 68.
With the effect of the military green sword, it rose to 71.
To me, who entered the realm of agility in the 70s, their attack seemed slow.
I simply stepped aside and avoided the attack, then struck the back of their waist with the sharp edge of the sword.
“Cough!”
“This kid…!”
In the midst of one person falling down.
Meanwhile, the one who rushed in aimed from behind.
It was a bit late to wield the military sword.
However, without swinging the military sword, a strike with the scabbard was enough.
“…!”
As skilled as a scabbard, I swung without a worry.
I struck the man’s cheek.
‘Looks like his face turned pale….’
It’s fine, he won’t die from that.
If he dies… I should make a quick exit.
Meanwhile, without giving time to check the fallen man’s condition, they continued to rush in.
“It’s just one person! Charge ahead!”
“Hoo….”
It’s quite a task to consciously strike over twenty people with a sword.
I infused mana into the military sword.
Switch to reverse blade mode.
The positions of the blade and the back of the blade switch.
‘This makes fighting easier.’
Now, it might be a bit fun.
I blocked one person’s attack while dodging two others.
“…What!?”
Their eyes widened in surprise.
It seemed like a counterattack.
It may have looked slow to me.
The movements of the three were far behind the triplets.
“Cough!”
Meanwhile, the military sword, now in reverse blade mode, struck one man’s chest.
His bones are likely broken, making it hard to breathe.
He’s incapacitated.
I turned my gaze away from that man and attacked the two whose coordination had crumbled.
Thud!
The impact feels great.
The man who couldn’t withstand the attack hit the wall beside him.
Then, he lost consciousness and slid down the wall.
As if struck by an anesthetic gun.
Is this the beginning of the incident?
‘I’m the culprit.’
And she was the culprit too.
“It’s smoldering!”
“Coordinate attacks!”
The space is narrow to swing the sword.
Avoiding those who come through that gap, I landed behind the guys who kicked the wall with their feet and then kicked the wall again.
Then, hitting the back of their heads, I looked up at Yeonha’s figure restraining them from above.
＜Air Bullet＞
First-rank Wind Elemental Magic.
A bullet of non-lethal shot created by Yeonha’s index finger aimed at the guys.
While she was protecting me, she also controlled the situation to prevent the guys from escaping the alley.
And then it happened.
“This is cowardly…!”
“…!”
A guy who seemed to join the fray late appeared behind Yeonha.
The situation was too close for Yeonha to respond with magic.
But she was skilled in martial arts.
Unlike a mage who only knew how to use magic, she was also proficient in handling weapons.
“Device on.”
“…What!?”
Yeonha dodged the attack by turning her body.
Suddenly, she was holding a huge iron hammer in one hand, even bigger than herself.
As she swung the iron hammer…
Crack!
A loud noise echoed above.
I was hit by her iron hammer and could see the guy tumbling down below.
I jumped straight from the ground.
Thud! Swish! Thump! Plop!
Before the guy’s head hit the ground, I rotated my body and struck his side.
I sent him flying towards a pile of trash bags.
‘He shouldn’t die like this.’
I smirked at the guy buried inside the trash bags in an odd posture.
Yeonha seemed more intense than me.
“Thanks, Gyunwoo.”
“Uh… sure.”
Even saying that so calmly.
With a determined face, I decided to deal with the remaining guys.
There were still quite a few left.
I need to jump a bit higher.
I charged my mana circuit.
Zap!
“…Spark?”
“Wait, that’s…!”
Even though I realized it, it was too late.
I should have known who I was dealing with.
I smirked at them.
“Divine sword… Dogma…”
“You could die if you get hit wrong.”
Blue mana sparks.
Wall thunder.
It envelops my sword.
“So don’t die, for my sake.”
＜Su Wang Ryu Attack Form 6＞
Lions Roar
A swordsmanship freely wielded to face the enemies in front of me.
As the rotations continued, the sword grew stronger, overwhelming them.
* * *
From Noble mtl dot com
“So don’t die, for my sake.”
“….”
“Yeah, that was cool. Truly… awesome…”
After the situation was resolved.
Yeongha, who came down, spoke with a visibly sly expression.
Her lips seemed to be suppressing a smile.
“It’s like a scene from a drama… Kick…”
“Y-yes.”
“Ha ha! What are you doing…!”
No doubt.
Yeongha was teasing me.
I couldn’t just stand there and take the teasing.
I pinched her face and playfully tugged on her rabbit ears.
“You…”
“Who said I was teasing?”
“You tease me all the time.”
“I can, but you can’t.”
“Wow, such a double standard.”
Yeongha was dumbfounded.
I shrugged at her and decided to end the teasing.
And then, he looked down on those who had fallen and succumbed to us.
“Ugh….”
Moans could be heard from all around.
Those who were in such a state had clearly suffered greatly at our hands.
“It wasn’t us, it was you, right, Guenwoo? It’s all because of your swordsmanship that things turned out this way.”
“Did you not wield the hammer?”
“Still, you had fewer enemies than me, right?”
Yeonha-neul rustles.
But no matter how you look at it, the fact remains that she fought alongside me, wielding the hammer.
Trying to hide it is futile.
The condition of the man who was just moments ago thrust into a pile of garbage cannot lie.
Regardless.
It was time to clean up.
“Heaven, can’t you use magic to remove their exam tokens?”
“If you use the elemental magic of the wind, it’s possible. But why do you ask?”
“Why? Obviously those who targeted us should pay the price, right?”
“Oh, yeah… I see. You’re right.”
“Use magic to bring them to me.”
I pleaded with Yeonha-neul.
Yeonha-neul, with a somber face, complied without uttering a word.
Whoosh!
Suddenly, the wind whirled around us.
Following her command, the wind tore the exam tokens attached to the fallen ones’ chests.
“Ah….”
“My, my exam token….”
Though they tried to hold onto their exam tokens, they were utterly powerless at the moment.
Before long, the lost exam tokens began to gather around me one by one.
“….”
The gazes of those who had lost their exam tokens all turned towards me.
I smiled as brightly as I could.
“If you were prepared to steal from others, you should have been prepared to be stolen from, right?”
“W-what are you trying to do….”
“Just watch helplessly from there.”
“Guenwoo, that’s what villains do….”
“I may become one, but I won’t be a villain.”
“Yeah, right….”
There were about 30 exam tokens, to the point where I had to embrace them with one arm.
I threw those exam tokens with all my might.
Whoosh!
Even though I didn’t say a word, she, understanding my intention, lifted the wind.
The exam papers rose to that height.
Then, they began to fall.
Having captured them with my eyes, I thrust my sword consecutively.
＜Water King Style Attack Form 12＞
Lion’s Soaring Leap
A swordsmanship combining joy and sorrow.
Firmly planting oneself on the ground with two unshaking legs.
Infusing mana into the arms holding the swords, fiercely piercing the falling objects.
If the number of attacks exceeds twelve.
Crackle!
The mana I shed so far gathers, taking the form of a lion.
Now, that lion soared high.
────!!
The lion’s form, now possessing physical strength, swallowed the exam papers.
Torn to shreds.
“Ah….”
“My, my exam papers….”
“H-How….”
“Sigh….”
Glittering dust scatters.
The dust doesn’t settle on the ground but is carried away by the wind somewhere.
I decided to comfort those bewildered by the scene.
“Congratulations on being eliminated before even taking the exam.”
“….”
“It seems you don’t have the talent to be a Hunter, so it’s fortunate you were eliminated early, right? I hope you find your way forward.”
“Sigh….”
At my words.
They were moved and shed tears.
“Wow….”
Even the sky was amazed.
* * *
Two days passed since then.
[Checking exam numbers….]
[Exam numbers confirmed.]