Chapter 120
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After a breathless Friday and weekend…
Monday has returned again.
Having finished all my classes, I was on my way to the library for a bit.
When a text came in from a familiar name.
[Lee Ji-hye] Hello, Holder Do Jae-hyun! It’s been a while since I texted you. Are you available for a call now by any chance?
Lee Ji-hye.
A staff member of the Korean Holders Association who oversaw my C-grade Holder promotion exam and got acquainted with me.
My memory of her is…
A competent association staff member.
Despite going through a lot of trouble with me while hunting in Bukhansan Mountain field to get my rank up quickly, she handled work professionally without any personal feelings. That left an impression on me.
Thanks to that image of hers, I was able to maintain a good relationship with her.
Exchanging pleasantries every now and then, and always looking for her when I had business with the Holders Association.
Of course, even that got neglected for a while after the semester started with so many things on my mind.
“I wonder what this is about?”
Getting a text out of the blue from her like this.
Asking if I’m available for a call.
Without hesitation, I promptly tapped the button and called her.
Seems she was waiting for my call, the ringtone didn’t last long before it stopped.
“Hello?”
– Hello, Holder Do Jae-hyun?
“Yes, Examiner Lee. It’s been a while.”
A pleasant voice came through the phone.
– Nice to hear from you! How have you been?
“Oh, you know. Same old.”
– Are you still hunting all day nowadays?
“Huh? Ah, that… Haha. Back then I was in a rush to get my rank up… These days I’m swamped after the semester started. No time to hunt at all.”
The C-grade Holder requirement for the S-grade disaster beast Swirl Leviathan hunt.
I’d pushed myself a bit to meet that standard in time.
…As a result, Examiner Lee got dragged along too.
Feeling apologetic, I awkwardly answered. Then Lee Ji-hye responded with an “Ah!” as if in agreement.
– That’s right! I heard you got into a fight with a berserk B-grade Holder and won single-handedly. Are you alright?
“Yes. Perfectly fine.”
– What a relief. I don’t know how Villain clan members infiltrated the academy.
Such sly bastards.
One of them was even a lackey…
I almost blurted that out but barely held it in and replied.
“Right.”
– Oh, that’s why I contacted you today too. It’s related to that incident.
“You mean… My fight with the Villain spy?”
– Yes, yes.
I heard paper shuffling sounds through the phone.
Seems Lee Ji-hye was looking for something.
Soon her voice came back on.
– This is just unbelievable but… your registered achievements with the Association are now close to B-grade.
At those words, my voice naturally grew louder too.
“What? B-grade?”
– Yes. Let me briefly summarize… The solo raid and complete claim registration of the undiscovered dungeon Goblin Lair, the joint hunt credit for S-grade disaster beast Swirl Leviathan, the joint raid credit for the undiscovered dungeon Forest Covered by Snakes, the joint raid and joint claim registration for the undiscovered dungeon Stained Rock Pile, and other various field and dungeon hunts…
Damn…
It really is unbelievably much.
Lee Ji-hye, who was reciting my breathlessly huge achievements, continued.
– I don’t know how you accomplished all this in barely 3 months, but in any case, your credits are enough for B-grade promotion. I believe satisfying the joint raid credit for a low-rank dungeon should meet all the requirements.
“I see.”
– But even if you meet the achievement conditions, you can’t get promoted if your ability is lacking.
“Right. Of course.”
– While I was looking into that, I heard about you, Holder Do Jae-hyun. How you fought and defeated a berserk B-grade Holder alone.
“I didn’t fight alone….”
Damn exaggerated news article.
I fought together with Moon Ga-eun.
– Anyway, I felt you’d be able to pass the B-grade exam in terms of ability too… So I contacted you like this. I was hoping you could come in for the B-grade promotion exam if you have time…!
At Lee Ji-hye’s words, I nodded my head.
Usually student Holders accumulate achievements by hunting bit by bit on weekends.
The raid credits required for B-grade promotion is quite substantial, so consistent hunting whenever one has time is necessary to get promoted.
But I spent a lot of time on training and was busy with personal matters, so I didn’t go hunting all that often.
Instead, whenever I did go hunting, the yields were huge.
Numerous undiscovered dungeon raids and hunts in high level fields…
I even participated in the disaster beast subjugation organized by the Association.
Having stacked up tremendously major achievements unknowingly, it seems I nearly met the conditions for B-grade promotion.
“Got it. I’ll drop by the Association when I have time.”
– Yes! You still need the joint raid credit for a dungeon, so don’t forget that!
“Will do. Thank you for looking out for me, Examiner.”
And that concluded my brief call with Lee Ji-hye.
I resumed my halted footsteps, fiddling with my phone.
“B-grade Holder, huh….”
It’s barely been 3 months since I got promoted to C-grade.
Although I knew I was growing at a rapid pace far exceeding my peers, I didn’t expect to rise to B-grade this quickly.
More than just the rank.
My surroundings were also becoming more solidly established.
“….”
It’s been about 3 weeks since the semester started.
This semester has become a major turning point for me.
If the first semester as a new student was about adapting to the new world and establishing my place as a Holder…
The second semester was the process of coping with that change and finding my own path.
Learning the [Plum Blossom Sword Technique] from Yoo Eun-seol and building up my abilities as an assassin. Forming the <Anti-Villain> circle myself and responding to <Villain>’s movements.
It was the busy semester that had raced by since the start, as I ceaselessly sought ways to not be swept away by the quick power and sudden fame but instead to undermine them.
The result was this second semester after the start of the term.
“But it’s still lacking.”
Yet it was still lacking.
Although I may be showing a much sharper and ruthless growth rate than my peers, more sophisticated and powerful strength was necessary to confront <Villain>.
Take Cha Soo-yeon for example.
With her as the <Villain> academy branch manager, moreover infiltrating as a field spy…
A future confrontation with her was inevitable.
Cha Soo-yeon, possessing at least A-grade up to S-grade threshold ability.
To stand against someone like her, I needed to become far stronger than now.
“And….”
And the method to become stronger.
While there may be various means, the choice I could definitely make right now…
Was practically already decided.
<Item Info>
◎ Name: Forgotten Dragon’s Stone
◎ Type: Special
◎ Rank: Legendary
◎ Creator: –
◎ Special Effects:
: Contains sealed special powers. When all slots of the forgotten dragons’ magic stones are filled, the seal will be released. (3/5)
…
…
The item obtained from raiding the ‘Academy Underground Dungeon’.
The item that allowed <Villain> senior clan member Ji Yoon-jae to become a ‘Dragon Riding Assassin’.
If I fill this [Forgotten Dragon’s Stone] and gain a legendary rune, I could surely become even stronger.
“…The problem is the lack of information about the dragons…”
In the original work, there were only scenes of Ji Yoon-jae having the [Forgotten Dragon’s Stone], and later having already gained power from the legendary rune.
The process of filling it up and getting stronger, or what dragons he hunted were never shown.
In other words, to fill this dragon magic stone slot, I had to run around myself and uncover the related information.
And the place with the most information on beasts gathered in the academy was the Academy Library at the center.
That was why I had walked all the way here to the library right after classes ended earlier.
‘Phew… When will I get through all this?’
I looked over the ‘Books on Dragons’ I’d haphazardly picked out, sitting in a corner of the library.
Just eyeballing it, there seemed to be over ten books…
I wondered if I could read through them all today.
Moreover, even reading them, I wondered if I could obtain the information I wanted.
With the massive number of books in the library, there were just as many useless ones filled with nonsense.
‘…But I have to read them.’
There was no other way without accurate information on the dragons.
I had to look through everything myself.
I slowly turned the pages of the first book, and began a seemingly endless reading session.
How much time passed?
The time approached close to 3 hours, and after flipping through more than five useless books…
“Ah!”
I was finally able to find a clue.
– … Meanwhile, the debate about the A-grade monster Wyvern still remains ongoing. Despite other monsters of the same rank like Griffin and Manticore occasionally appearing in some fields, reported Wyvern sightings are especially rare for some reason. It is also a monster with very little registered information, and the credibility of Holders who claim to have encountered Wyverns is…
‘Right, Wyvern.’
The A-grade monster, Wyvern.
A flying monster with very scarce registered information about it, whose existence is often debated.
Based on these bits of information and the dragon legends I’d looked up so far, Wyvern had a very high chance of being a dragon.
In the original work as well, Wyvern never directly appeared even once, but there was one undiscovered dungeon it was guessed to inhabit.
Sobaek Mountains Field in Chungcheongbuk-do.
Somewhere inside it was a hidden dungeon called ‘Nest Covered by Clouds’.
A dungeon with the peculiar trait of being filled with flying monsters.
If Wyvern really existed, the chances of it appearing were highest in this dungeon.
Of course, being only briefly mentioned then moved past in the original work, almost nothing was known about its location, raid conditions, monsters appearing, etc.
But just the possibility of it being a dragon was enough to make it worth challenging.
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