I Entered an Academy in a Ruined Game

Chapter 91 : Level Assessment (2)

"Hisss."

"Grrrrrr."

A cluster of beast-type demonic beasts maintaining their original forms like snakes, wolves, and hyenas.

"Kyaooo!"

A horde of humanoid demonic beasts including goblins and orcs.

"Young human. I'll tear you to shreds."

And even Ma-in covered in blood, exuding blind hatred.

The forces before her eyes were clearly the strongest enemies Kim A-yun had ever faced.

"Haaah."

But she neither trembled in fear nor shrank from tension and pressure.

'It's okay. I just need to do what I practiced with Su-hyeon.'

What strengthened her willpower in this moment was a psychology that relied on Su-hyeon for more than 80 percent.

Pazzzzz.

With that, she could become strong.

"Yah!"

An intense streak of lightning dropped by Kim A-yun fell right into the middle of the demonic beasts.

"Kyaoooooo!"

With just one lightning strike, many of the goblins and orcs turned into pitch-black lumps of charcoal.

Their clumsily held weapons had served as excellent lightning rods.

'Good.'

Though she used quite a lot of mana, the effect exceeded her expectations.

"Come at me all together!"

Dogs, snakes, and hyena demonic beasts, frightened by the intense magical energy emitted by the Ma-in, all rushed toward Kim A-yun at once.

Chwaak!

Kim A-yun swung her electric whip, which she drew with her right hand, widely to electrocute the approaching demonic beasts.

"Kyaeng!"

"Kyaruk!"

Her whip easily penetrated the thick skin of the demonic beasts, thoroughly cooking their insides.

But it was impossible to block all the demonic beasts that were surrounding and rushing in from all directions with just one whip.

"She's exposed!"

"Dangerous!"

The watching cadets shouted with concern.

'That's nothing.'

Su-hyeon thought calmly.

"Come out, little ones!"

Pazzzzzzz!

Responding to Kim A-yun's command, an army of hamsters, rabbits, and squirrels made of blue electricity rushed toward the beasts.

"Cu-cute!"

"Hamsters?"

"Kyaaa!"

Leaving the cadets' surprise and cheers behind.

The small, agile electric rodents burrowed under the demonic beasts' feet.

Pzzzt! Pzzzt!

"Krururuk!"

"Kyeeeee!"

The beast demonic beasts that had rushed to tear off Kim A-yun's flesh couldn't escape becoming roasted meat.

"Woah!"

"What is that!"

"To control lightning to that extent!"

The watching cadets widened their eyes.

'That's Kim A-yun?'

'Insane.'

Especially great was the surprise of the two cadets who handled elements, Hwang Ji-su and Hong In-hyeon.

'Jeong Su-hyeon, just what did you teach her?'

When Hwang Ji-su heard that Su-hyeon would teach Kim A-yun, she hadn't expected this level of growth.

'He didn't teach me such...'

She shook her head after thinking that far.

'Hmph. What weakness. Since when did I rely on others' help?'

Meanwhile, Lee Yu-jin silently watched Hwang Ji-su's change.

'As expected, Su-hyeon is kind.'

But...

"Huff, huff."

Kim A-yun, who had used high-output lightning repeatedly, staggered slightly as a large amount of mana drained out instantly.

Momentary hypotension.

But Kim A-yun drew back the escaped mana by repeating short breaths.

Swoosh.

She brought her two hands together in the center and aimed at the demonic beasts, more than half of which had already been annihilated.

"How impudent!"

The enraged Ma-in roared and rushed at Kim A-yun.

Crack.

The Ma-in's knuckles, filled with mana, transformed into an eerie shape like a morning star.

If struck with that, Kim A-yun's body would be instantly destroyed.

Pzzzzzzzzt!

But Kim A-yun focused on her attack without being intimidated by the Ma-in's presence.

Two lightning bolts created from her left and right hands writhed, unable to contain their explosive energy.

'Urgh!'

Kim A-yun wove the lightning bolts together like chains while sweating profusely.

'Fly away!'

The chain-like lightning strike stretched unstably forward.

Kwaaaaaang!

With tremendous flash and explosion, it swept away everything in front of her.

'Blinding.'

The intense light lasted for nearly 20 seconds, forcing even Kim A-yun, who cast the attack, to cover her eyes with her hands.

"Keuuk."

All that remained standing where the light had swept through was just the Ma-in, blackened and groaning.

"Co-cowardly act..."

Thud!

The Ma-in, who hadn't been able to do anything, knelt helplessly and disappeared from the map as its breath ceased.

[Combat ended. Cadet Kim A-yun successfully exterminated all enemies. Ending simulation.]

"Wow, woooow..."

"Insane. No, what was that."

"She took down a B-rank Ma-in in one shot?"

"Impossible."

'I did it. I succeeded.'

Kim A-yun, completely drained of energy, fell on her backside onto the floor.

"Ouch."

That was an attack technique newly created by Kim A-yun, who hadn't forgotten the memory of nearly losing to the powerful destructive magic 'Energy Buster' during her duel with Park Chang-jun.

'Su-hyeon praised me while looking surprised too.'

Kim A-yun smiled broadly.

Normally, the Ma-in before her would have been an enemy she could never defeat.

But this technique was a one-hit kill attack that, if it connected, created a different level of power.

'That's what's good about lightning. You can use a killing technique that can instantly reverse the tide with just one hit.'

It was common for Kim A-yun to discover this kind of technique over multiple game sessions.

'But developing it this quickly is a first.'

Su-hyeon rubbed his chin.

'It's interesting how my growth rate and Kim A-yun's growth rate are accelerating simultaneously.'

While Su-hyeon was lost in his own thoughts.

The cadets who watched the fight of the unrecognizably strengthened Kim A-yun looked shocked beyond surprise.

"Was A-yun always that strong?"

"She's so different from the midterms?"

"I know right. Can a person change that much?"

"At that level..."

Glance, glance.

The cadets' gazes turned to those who might be able to have a good fight with the current Kim A-yun.

'She wouldn't stand a chance against In-hyeon, right?'

'In-hyeon would overwhelmingly have better sense, but with A-yun handling lightning so well now, who knows.'

The image of her being able to defeat Hong In-hyeon didn't come to mind yet.

'She might catch Park Chang-jun, if not Hong In-hyeon or Choi Mina.'

'Mm. Definitely.'

With Park Chang-jun, the story was a bit different.

"...What? Why are you all glancing at me?"

Park Chang-jun, feeling the heat, got needlessly angry.

"Kim A-yun. That was a very good fight."

Thus, today would be remembered as the debut stage of her rebirth under Su-hyeon's guidance.

"Th-thank you."

Kim A-yun, receiving everyone's astonished gazes, fidgeted her fingers in embarrassment and awkwardness.

"Your estimated rank was C, but with this level of combat ability, I suppose we should consider an upward adjustment."

"!"

'Could it be?'

If her estimated rank were to be raised to C+.

She could be called a member of the upper ranks among Class 1 cadets in name and reality.

'This sudden rise of Kim A-yun is something I really didn't expect.'

Instructor Kim Cheol-han's gaze turned to Su-hyeon.

'That guy, at this rate, should we hire him as an instructor later?'

Su-hyeon shivered from a chill he couldn't explain.

❀⋆｡°✿☆❀✿°｡⋆❀

"Well, what in the world happened here?"

Instructor Jeong Ju-hui, Kim A-yun's guidance instructor, looked at her disciple's face through the screen with a hollow laugh.

'No, this is getting too embarrassing for me?'

She had established an educational policy to slowly enhance Kim A-yun's abilities over a long period, seeing her as unmotivated and dull, not following guidance well.

But what on earth happened...

Instructor Jeong Ju-hui crossed her arms as she saw Kim A-yun approaching Su-hyeon.

'Oh my, she's quite attentive?'

She had heard that Kim A-yun was doing something with Su-hyeon.

'But this is really something. Why is she so...'

Fidgeting hands and gaze.

Eyes hoping for praise.

Watching Kim A-yun's attitude, which would have had rabbit ears perking up if she had them, Instructor Jeong Ju-hui finally reached a conclusion.

"Aha. I see. So that's what it was?"

She laughed.

"Youth, oh youth."

But that's that, and this is this.

'I should give her a hard time in the next class. This naughty one.'

Instructor Jeong Ju-hui's gaze, annoyed for no reason, turned to the next fight of Kwon Seung-yeon.

'Hmm. That one fights pretty well too.'

Kwon Seung-yeon's characteristic of being able to instantly adjust her weight—becoming extremely light or extremely heavy—created tremendous synergy with her excellent athletic ability and fighting skills.

'Mass equals striking power, and weight class equals combat power. Even for Kwon Seung-yeon, who is about 168cm tall and probably only in her 50kg range, using that ability allows her to exert tremendous power far beyond the super heavyweight class.'

But...

'She's not yet at the level where she can take down a B-rank Ma-in.'

In a way, that's natural.

Kim A-yun was only able to defeat it because her shocking one-hit technique connected precisely.

In fact, it was almost nonsensical for a cadet who hadn't even finished their first semester to take down a Ma-in of that level alone.

'Seo Jun-seong and Jeong Su-hyeon were indeed masterpieces.'

Seo Jun-seong attacked the Ma-in with weapons dropped by demonic beasts like a snowstorm and cruelly broke the Ma-in's arm by compressing his telekinetic power into a single point.

'If Seo Jun-seong were released from the restriction of "no killing," he could perform quite remarkably even if he went to the field right now.'

And as for Jeong Su-hyeon.

'I understand why everyone keeps talking about Jeong Su-hyeon.'

His fighting skills, which were almost on par with Instructor Lim Jeong-tae, were simply shocking to the point of absurdity.

Sure enough, this time too, he showed an overwhelming numerical advantage against the Ma-in, creating a one-sided fight where the clear spec difference between the two wasn't felt at all.

'And he finished with restraint rather than elimination. Calm guy.'

Especially in the technique where he seemed to strike the Ma-in's arm with his sword, then instantly broke the arm with a flying armbar, Instructor Jeong Ju-hui couldn't help but admire.

Meanwhile, she found Hwang Ji-su's fight more interesting than Lee Yu-jin's, partly because she herself was an element-type awakened person who controlled water.

'In terms of sense, she could be counted among the top handful of ice manipulation ability users I've seen.'

After watching Su-hyeon's dynamic fight, Lee Yu-jin's orthodox and solid fighting seemed somewhat boring, so Hwang Ji-su's brilliant characteristic utilization caught her eye.

'But this generation of kids is really no joke?'

Seo Jun-seong, Jeong Su-hyeon, Hwang Ji-su, and Lee Yu-jin were expected, of course.

All four were cadets who would have naturally taken the top spot in any other year.

But the fact that among the upper ranks below 5th place, three more cadets had won against Ma-in was very surprising.

'An overwhelming record. Taking down seven Ma-in?'

Hong In-hyeon, Choi Mina, Kim A-yun.

Choi Mina's skill level was also rising much faster compared to when she entered.

'No, is that possible? Doesn't the mage class require consuming that many potions to grow so rapidly?'

...Of course, she had no way of knowing about the smooth supply through the black market trade with Su-hyeon.

"Aaack!"

In the end, Kwon Seung-yeon, unable to handle the Ma-in, transparently disappeared from the map.

"Ow! Frustrating!"

[Combat ended. Cadet Kwon Seung-yeon failed to exterminate the Ma-in. Ending simulation.]

Though she narrowly failed to win, the Ma-in had also taken significant damage.

'Hmm. Kwon Seung-yeon's combat power is also at least enough to give her a C rank.'

Instructor Jeong Ju-hui nodded.

Besides them, Kang Geon-woo, Park Chang-jun, and others showed considerable combat power.

Nam Tae-hoon, Go Do-il, Oh Min-seon, Kim Ho-su, and other cadets also showed decent combat power, demonstrating they could somewhat fight even against B-rank Ma-in.

'This year is a historically good harvest.'

❀⋆｡°✿☆❀✿°｡⋆❀

The next day, after completing the third stage, the final readjusted estimated ranks were announced.

"Seo Jun-seong, Jeong Su-hyeon, Lee Yu-jin, Hwang Ji-su. Your estimated ranks are adjusted upward to B-."

'As expected.'

It was as anticipated.

"Hong In-hyeon, Choi Mina, and Kim A-yun are C+."

And Kim A-yun finally received the C+ rank, showing her mettle by overtaking upper ranks like Kwon Seung-yeon and Park Chang-jun.

"Wow!!"

"A-yun is C+?"

"This is truly a historic reversal."

"Kim A-yun received an estimated rank of C- upon entering, but her actual combat power was D+. However, in this test, she showed tremendous growth in output, attack power, and operational ability."

Kim Cheol-han nodded while looking at Kim A-yun.

"Even I was surprised by your growth. Congratulations."

"Th-thank you!"

Kim A-yun bowed her head with a face full of emotion.

"Meanwhile, those measured as C rank are..."

"Thank you, Su-hyeon."

I quietly gave a thumbs up to Kim A-yun's whisper.

"Well done."

[You have achieved B- rank before the end of the first semester!]

[Remarkable growth rate!]

[Achievement points 400 awarded!]

'The gap is widening.'

Like money attracts money, achievements were attracting more achievements.

'If I collect just a bit more at this rate, I could start enhancing that skill too.'

It was while I was thinking that.

"There's a place where these ranks will be put to good use."

Kim Cheol-han, after announcing all the adjusted ranks, suddenly dropped a bombshell.

"Where do you mean, sir?"

To Seo Jun-seong's question, Kim Cheol-han smiled meaningfully.

"Intern selection."