Chapter 39

Chapter 39:  Killing the Talent Freaks (1)

The lecture hall that morning was quite chaotic.

“Ooh…….”

“Hey, hey, look at this. It sparkles strangely every time I move the angle?”

“Keu. It has style.”

Seeing everyone show one another cards made of rectangular plates with excited expressions, I chuckled.

‘Is a License that fascinating?’

It would not be an exaggeration to say that the history of humanity on the Luknica Continent had continued alongside monsters, demons, and rifts.

Because of that, monsters and demons were divided into low, mid, and high ranks according to the degree of their strength.

And an objective indicator became necessary to determine the abilities of those who dealt with monsters and demons.

That was why the License System had been created through an agreement between the various nations of the continent.

Originally, Licenses were generally issued by nations, but Saengterminum was an academy established in the first place to deal with monsters and demons.

Saengterminum had long since introduced its own curriculum in the form of issuing Licenses to its students.

Just by entering Saengterminum, the students here had fulfilled the minimum condition to be issued a ‘License.’

“I got Grade 7?”

“You too? Same here.”

“Apparently everyone starts from Grade 7 at first.”

The License grades ranged from Grade 1 to Grade 7.

As that male student said, one normally began at Grade 7 and raised one’s grade step by step.

That was the norm, but this was Saengterminum, where talents from every nation on the continent had gathered.

There were a few irregular existences who fell outside the standard.

“Wow!”

Yes, like those two.

When I looked in the direction the exclamation came from, the students were standing around Yulia and Viole with their mouths wide open.

“Yulia is Grade 1 and… Viole is Grade 2?”

“You are both amazing.”

“Is there really anything surprising about it?”

“Right. Both of them are from the Holy Order. They are on a different level from us. A different level.”

“No. I was just lucky.”

“What luck? Being that humble is a disease too.”

“Really… how can you say something like that?”

After pushing back the students who could not stop admiring them, the two women began exchanging pleasant compliments with each other.

Like this, students who had achieved high scores in the Entrance Exam received higher grades.

She was already Grade 1 with only her ability as a student, and on top of that, she could use the Sacred Mark.

Truly, she was a cheat character in all sorts of ways.

“Hmm.”

I picked up the License issued in my name.

My polymorphed face and the three words ‘Damon David’ entered my eyes first.

And beneath them was…….

<Measured Grade: Grade 7>

Haha, damn it.

Since I had crashed into last place in the entrance results, I had expected it. 

In the previous round, I had been Grade 3.

If I had taken a Black Magic exam with my current skills, I would have easily received at least ‘Grade 2,’ but… it was not an issue worth paying much attention to.

The most important thing right now was the joint class that would proceed as soon as we received these Licenses.

Clap!

Professor Noel, who had handed out the Licenses, lightly clapped her hands and drew everyone’s attention.

“Everyone received your Licenses properly, yes? Today’s class will take place in the Artificial Rift, so everyone, please change into your combat uniforms and come back.”

As everyone left the classroom, I briefly slipped away to a place where no one was around.

There was something I had to do before entering the Artificial Rift.

“Ow, that stings.”

After plucking out a few strands of hair with my fingers, I raised my mana.

Curse Casting.

Faaaaaa…….

I cast a curse on the strands of hair I had picked up.

***

Professor Noel guided us, now changed into our combat uniforms, to the entrance of the Artificial Rift.

As soon as we entered, sweltering heat and humid air covered my entire body.

“Ugh, it is hot…….”

“I should have brought water.”

“It is terribly muggy…….”

Because of the hot and humid weather, many students fanned themselves with their hands or wiped away their flowing sweat.

In contrast to the wide-open entrance area, the place beyond it was packed with trees and vines growing everywhere, so dense that it was almost excessive.

This was the Artificial Rift’s ‘Jungle’ Field.

“You are here.”

Professor Dave, who had arrived first, gave us a brief greeting, then tapped the large box beside him.

“You know the grades written on your Licenses, yes? Everyone, wear one of these on your wrist according to your grade.”

Inside the box were piles of wristbands dyed in seven different colors.

Since I was Grade 7, I picked up a purple band and wore it on my wrist. 

The material itself was highly elastic, so it fit snugly around my wrist.

Around us, not only the first-year students of the Holy Magic Department, but also the first-year students from other departments had gathered in small groups around their respective professors.

From a quick look, half of them were wearing purple bands, which represented Grade 7, while the other half were wearing bands of higher grades.

That was proof of just how many of them had received high scores in the Entrance Exam.

However, there were only a handful of students wearing orange bands, which signified Grade 2.

I slowly examined the people who had received Grade 2.

Lloyd Desmond.

Viole Yustis.

Including the two whose faces I had already become familiar with in this round, there were four people in total wearing orange bands.

Highsmith’s disciple, Jaeger Maximov.

The exiled Dark Elf, Karin.

Every last one of them had made quite a name for themselves even before entering the academy.

Among them, the one who stood out the most was naturally her.

“Ugh… I dislike red because it feels ominous…….”

“You know it really does not suit you when you say things like that, right?”

Yulia, the only one among them wearing a red band, was touching her wrist and grumbling softly.

…Shall I start making my move?

I approached Yulia and Viole, who were talking to each other.

“Did you two bring something like water to drink?”

“No. I did not know it would be this sweltering.”

“The professors are too much. If it was a place like this, they should have told us beforehand. Even if this is a practical class, are they not treating us a bit too roughly?”

“That works out well.”

I put my hand into the Subspace Bag I was carrying and took out two water bottles.

“I brought some ice water just in case. What do you think? Since I owe you for the Holy Magic matter, I was thinking of giving one to each of you.”

The two women’s faces brightened when they saw the water bottles covered in cold droplets.

“I will drink it gratefully.”

“Wow, look at your sense. If you had been this perceptive when confessing to Senior, that would have been ni……. Ow!”

Yulia stopped Viole’s words by pinching her waist.

“It has already spread everywhere. Why are you making such a fuss about it now……. He said he does not really care either.”

“Even so, do you think it is good to bring that up right in front of the person involved?”

“Hmph, fine.”

There was a slight happening, but the two of them each took one of the water bottles I handed them.

“Phew……. I feel a little alive now.”

“Hah, it is so cool.”

After wetting their throats, the two women put the water bottles into the small backpacks they were carrying.

The two of them would not know.

That I had secretly attached my cursed hair to the surface of the water bottles.

Whoooooosh!

Without warning, a cold wind swept through the entire entrance area of the dungeon.

As the heat vanished in an instant, the students let out refreshing breaths.

There was only one person in Saengterminum who could ignore the weather like this and casually change the surrounding air.

“Ugh……. It is hot.”

Along with an irritated voice, sea-colored hair fluttered in the cool wind.

“This is a little better.”

Headmaster Levia, who drew everyone’s attention just by appearing, looked over all the first-year students from every department.

“You all received your ‘Licenses,’ yes?”

Going straight to the main point without any tedious greetings was both Headmaster Levia’s strength and weakness.

“Most of you must have been grinning because you liked it. But you have far too little real combat experience. I am sure you are overflowing with talent. But do you know this? The beggars who are barely surviving from day to day down at the very bottom are probably living more fiercely than you talented lot.”

That mass of arrogance of a lizard was shaving away the students’ self-esteem again, but that was clearly intentional.

Saengterminum was an academy, but it was also a combat training institution that cultivated superhumans who would deal with monsters and demons.

Since it also had the nature of a military school to some extent, she was probably tightening the students’ discipline in that manner.

Well, her original personality being like that probably played a part too.

“What you will do from now on is simple. You will cross the jungle ahead of you and arrive at the ice castle where I am waiting. Of course, it would not be fun if all you had to do was arrive, would it?”

Whoosh!

As she smiled coldly and swept one arm sideways, densely engraved Rune Characters rose from the bands the students were wearing.

The formulas Levia had engraved in the bands beforehand had activated.

“As long as you are wearing those bands, no matter what kind of attack you receive, you will not suffer a fatal injury. The feeling of impact will be transmitted as it is, but once the shock accumulates, the band will snap. If the band falls off, you are eliminated immediately, so you had better take good care of it, yes?”

The moment they heard her words, several students gathered and began talking among themselves.

“Is this a cooperation test?”

“We can just go together. It will be easy if we make teams.”

“We are all friends here, are we not?”

Their attitude of joining forces was not bad, but their thinking was shallow.

This was not a class that encouraged team play.

“I will give those who make it through the jungle a chance to take the treasures I possess.”

“……!”

All the students swallowed their breaths at once.

“T-Treasure? She is giving something that precious to us?”

“Would they not all be expensive things?”

“This is insane…….”

A chance to obtain treasure gathered by a dragon, a being that could be said to reign at the peak of all races?

If there were a reward more attractive than this, I would like to see it.

“You are not thinking that all you have to do is pass through the jungle, are you?”

Levia, who had seen straight through what the students were thinking, giggled.

“The bands you are wearing right now are the points you can use to buy my treasures. If you have a higher-grade band, that itself becomes points.”

The students who had been trying to form teams until just now shut their mouths and began gulping as they looked at the bands worn by the high-grade students.

“That looks mighty tasty.”

“Should we ask the other kids to form a team too?”

“I am in.”

Lower-grade students would form teams and attack in order to seize the bands of high-grade students, while high-grade students would naturally become everyone’s targets.

“Show me here just how much tenacity you have.”

Though she spoke in such a bloody way, the barrier created by these bands shared Levia’s mana.

In addition, to prepare for any possible incidents, professors were stationed throughout the jungle.

It was safe to say there was no risk of the students losing their lives.

If there was anything that bothered me, it was that senior students were also hiding throughout the jungle, targeting us first-years.

Lucia, who was a second-year student, was surely waiting somewhere in that jungle for us to appear.

Hmm…….

I narrowed my brow and glanced at Yulia standing beside me.

Had Yulia really not noticed anything about Lucia? 

Even after sparring with Lucia in the Training Hall?

Lucia was a Demon Cult Leader. 

Even if she was suppressing herself, there was no way the madness accumulated in her body would disappear.

And Yulia had been born with a body sensitive to Holy Power itself.

She probably could not sense madness, but I had wondered whether she might have indirectly detected it through the reaction of the Holy Power within her body…….

Tsk, asking about this would make it too obvious.

If I asked unnecessarily and an even worse suspicion sprouted, it would be worse than not asking at all.

It could not be helped. 

For now, I would put that matter aside.

I intended to take this class seriously too, after all.

There were many useful items among the treasures Levia possessed.

Ingredients for elixirs that increased the amount of mana within the body, or materials for rare weapons, for example.

Every last one of them would be tempting. 

How could I bear not to participate?

“And Damon David?”

While I was quickly thinking through the things I had to obtain, Levia called my name and looked toward me.

Thanks to that, every gaze around us turned toward me.

“Your Entrance Exam score was last place, so you were registered as Grade 7, were you not? However, your combat sense is quite usable even in my eyes.”

She pointed with her finger at the band I was wearing.

“So I will raise your points specially.”

Crackle!

Sparks briefly flew from my band, and its color changed.

From a dark shade of purple to a conspicuous yellow.

“Shall we begin now?”

Whoooooosh!

When she stirred her arm in a circle, the wind that had been blowing coolly rose upward all at once.

What unfolded next was a Teleport magic circle radiating blue light.

It was overwhelmingly large, enough to swallow every student here.

Large-Scale Teleport.

Faaaaaaa!

“Uwaak!”

“Argh! My eyes!”

“Kyaaaaa!”

After the brilliant light burst out, I rubbed my eyes and slowly opened my eyelids.

Before I knew it, I was standing alone somewhere in a jungle ruled by humid air.