BOOOOM!
The Flame Bullet detonated.
CRASH!
Part of the impregnable wall collapsed in an instant, filling the area with a cloud of pale dust.
Park Hayul continued running without the slightest concern.
BEEP!
The stopwatch on the display froze the moment he reached the objective.
[Lap Time: 2 minutes, 21.04 seconds.]
It was an unexpected record.
Fifth place, behind Baek Sayoung, Cheon Seoyoon, Joo Arin, and Lee Daeho.
“W-What the hell? Was he not ranked seven hundredth?”
“Maybe sorcery arts really are that powerful. That was a Two-Star Fire Release Art, right?”
“But are you even allowed to just ignore the dummies and run past them?”
A tremendous commotion erupted in the waiting room after everyone saw Park Hayul’s record.
The control room was no different.
“That bastard……”
Lee Taekjin’s eyes widened.
His pupils visibly trembled amid the exposed whites of his eyes.
Something impossible—
No, something that must not happen had become reality.
“……Assistant Kim Miyoung. Who are the remaining applicants?”
His insides were boiling, but he postponed resolving his questions for later.
Excluding Joo Arin, who had not applied for the Special Scholarship Student position, that bastard’s record placed him fourth.
Fourth……
There was still Seol Yungi, a guaranteed contender, but he had not applied either.
And Taehak regulations required at least four Special Scholarship Students to be selected.
BANG!
That damned bastard from the Origin Sorcerer Family was now guaranteed to pass.
***
BUZZZZ.
BUZZZZ.
The vibrations urged me on.
Get up.
Wake up already.
I dragged my impossibly heavy body upright and searched for my phone.
“Ha…… It is already two.”
After a rough calculation, I realized I had slept for two straight hours after the diagnostic assessment ended.
It had been a rare stretch of uninterrupted, blissful sleep, but I immediately sat up and checked my remaining time.
[Time remaining: 11 hours, 14 minutes, 32 seconds.]
Nothing was better at driving away the last traces of sleepiness.
According to the original story, the scholarship results should have been announced around now, so I checked my phone.
There was a new message, but unfortunately, it was not the selection notice.
-We are introducing an article concerning Class A. Please refer to the link below.
Was there something like this in the original?
It felt as though all the gaps created when the novel became reality were being filled with little details like these.
Since I had time to spare while waiting for the results, I opened the attached link.
The title read:
Year 2, Class A Achieves the Highest Average Score in the Diagnostic Assessment!
Considering the nature of academy stories, where all the major characters somehow ended up in the same class, the result was hardly surprising.
But the author was Min Youngji?
The girl with the straight bangs.
The one who had sat beside me muttering observations throughout the assessment.
She worked fast.
Since I still had some time, I scrolled down and read through the article.
The opening belonged to Cheon Seoyoon.
She battered the dummies with an absurd quantity of mana……
It was roughly along those lines, and even the wording was as aggressive as her fighting style.
Next came Lee Daeho and Joo Arin.
A display of a giant’s strength.
Lee Daeho received exactly one line.
As for Joo Arin……
Possessing ability every bit as outstanding as her dazzling appearance, she summoned Yuhwa, daughter of Habaek, the god of water……
It was long.
Very long.
Min Youngji apparently had a personal fondness for her, judging from the endless stream of elaborate praise.
But even Joo Arin was not the main feature.
“This is practically a Baek Sayoung special.”
It was.
Nearly half the article had been devoted to Baek Sayoung, accompanied by striking phrases such as ‘the face of Taehak’ and ‘the undisputed number one.’
By comparison, Seol Yungi, who had placed second, received only a small section.
Even less than Joo Arin.
I could already picture the group of roughnecks who followed him throwing a fit over it.
“Well, that is none of my business.”
Still, up to that point, the article had been reasonably acceptable.
At least it had remained within the bounds of credibility……
The problem was what came next.
Student Park Hayul emerged as the dark horse of the diagnostic assessment, revealing the ability he had kept hidden until now.
……What was this?
The opening alone was ominous enough that I scrolled down with a growing sense of unease.
He cleverly bypassed the Section One dummies with an ingenious sorcery art.
Despite having the option to shorten his record with a movement-enhancement art, he chose not to do so and proceeded at a leisurely pace……
His final sorcery art was the true highlight.
As befitting a blood descendant of the Origin Sorcerer Family, he demonstrated both the Wind and Fire Attributes. He unleashed the Two-Star Fire Release Art, Blazing Flame Bullet, and destroyed……
My brow furrowed at an article filled with misunderstandings instead of facts.
“This is driving me insane.”
Running to conserve mana had somehow become ‘proceeding at a leisurely pace,’ while a One-Star Flame Bullet had transformed into the Two-Star Blazing Flame Bullet.
I understood that its power had been absurd for its rank, but if she knew nothing about sorcery arts, she could have simply refrained from writing about it.
Tsk.
To be fair, even I had not expected what happened with that final Flame Bullet.
According to my original plan, I should have needed two Flame Bullets to destroy the wall in Section Two.
Maybe going directly after Baek Sayoung had made me nervous.
Whatever the reason, I had somehow engraved a formula with eighty-six percent accuracy, something I had never managed even once during practice.
The difference was only a few percentage points, but the result had been tremendous.
Even I had never imagined that impregnable wall would collapse in a single shot.
“At least I deliberately kept my engraving speed around average…… Ha.”
My head throbbed.
Of course, I had never expected to get through the assessment without attracting any attention.
The moment I decided to prioritize quests, I knew living quietly like an extra would become impossible.
“But an article is too much.”
This was practically an advertisement.
And a wildly exaggerated one at that.
“Should I ask them to publish a correction?”
Or maybe I could leave a malicious comment saying it had all been luck?
While considering increasingly ridiculous methods, I opened the comment section.
……
Then I realized there was no need for me to do anything.
-asdf123: Did Park Hayul not basically get a free ride? Why was he allowed to just walk past the dummies?
-Archmage99: I could place in the top five like that too. Just cast Silas and Haste and you are done.
└Go Gwangdeok: How would you do that lol? Did you even know the dummies stop working if you use Concealment?
-SteelMan: This should be invalid. He just ran away. What about the kid who loses the scholarship spot because of that bastard?
“There are already more than enough.”
Anyone reading the article could tell that Baek Sayoung was supposed to be the star, yet most of the comments were attacking me.
Apparently, people were unhappy that I had simply bypassed Section One.
[Achievement-56: Center of Controversy.]
[Reward: 10 hours added.]
[You have earned 5 SP for an interesting development.]
[Time remaining: 20 hours, 44 minutes, 42 seconds.]
[Current SP: 15.]
This counts?
“Then thank you very much.”
[As a side effect of the achievement, public opinion of you has decreased.]
“Oh, even better.”
Now that I thought about it, Min Youngji was practically my savior.
For someone living from one day of borrowed time to the next, she had effectively donated ten hours of life to me.
Other people’s opinions were something I could simply laugh off.
Much more relaxed, I lay back down on the bed.
***
When the time came, my phone vibrated.
Congratulations. You have been selected as a Special Scholarship Student. Please visit the department office by 6:00 p.m. tomorrow. -Assistant Kim Miyoung-
It was the acceptance message I had been waiting for.
“In that case……”
Unable to wait, I looked into empty space first.
After a slight delay, the messages I had been anticipating poured out all at once.
[Main Quest #1: Special Scholarship Student objective completed.]
[Reward: 7 days added to remaining time.]
[Time remaining: 7 days, 20 hours, 4 minutes.]
[Reward: Time Shop activated.]
[Reward: 15 SP acquired.]
[Current SP: 30.]
This was……
It felt as though bundles of money had fallen from the sky.
My remaining time had finally exceeded a week, and I had accumulated thirty SP.
On top of that, I had gained a new possibility in the form of the Time Shop.
I was not the sort of person who could resist checking something like that immediately, so I called out.
“Time Shop?”
My vision rippled, and a green hologram appeared.
[Time Shop (Lv. 1) has opened.]
[The Time Shop is a special benefit available only to holders of the Terminal Condition trait.]
[Time can be used as currency to purchase various Armaments and stats.]
[While using the shop, the time expenditure limit of 3 days is removed.]
[Available products vary according to the shop’s level.]
[The shop level automatically increases after reaching the required number of purchases.]
“As expected……”
I had roughly anticipated something like this, but seeing it firsthand still made excitement well up inside me.
There were two main reasons.
First, Armaments.
In this world, relics themselves became Armaments, which made Armaments extraordinarily rare and valuable.
Supply was almost nonexistent while demand remained enormous. Even a Rare-Grade Armament could cost billions of won, while Special-Grade and above were effectively priceless.
Yet I could open a shop containing them with a single spoken command.
Regardless of whether I could actually afford to buy them, merely having this kind of access was an incredible privilege.
“And then there are the stats.”
What were stats?
According to the setting, they were precious rewards obtained only through grueling training, endless repetition, and the occasional moment of enlightenment.
All those hardships had to come together before a person could raise them.
And yet I could bypass that entire process and purchase stats as casually as buying something from a convenience store.
For Park Hayul, whose basic stats were abysmal, there could hardly have been a better alternative.
“Let us see.”
Unable to hold back any longer, I quickly selected the stats category.
▷Strength, Stamina, Agility
+0.1 = 2 days
▷Senses, Intelligence
+0.1 = 2 days
▷Mana, Luck
+0.1 = 3 days
[Prices increase every 10 accumulated purchases.]
……However.
Three days for a 0.1 increase?
“Let me think.”
The average Taehak student had roughly six points, and my current Mana stat was 3.3.
To raise it to the average……
“Oh, for fuck’s sake.”
Of course.
There was no way things would be that easy.
Even a rough calculation made the cost completely hopeless.
A mere 0.1 increase in Mana would consume more than forty percent of my entire fortune—
No, of my remaining life.
Tsk.
Still, viewed over the long term, the terms were not bad.
I could not abuse it indefinitely, but investing thirty days would raise my Mana stat by an entire point.
That would let me instantly achieve growth that others might struggle for years to attain.
“Too bad, but I will hold off for now.”
My current circumstances made stat purchases impossible, so I turned to the Miscellaneous and Armament categories instead.
The Miscellaneous section contained things such as Resistance Enhancers and Human-Skin Masks.
It was essentially a collection of items rather than Armaments.
Quite a few looked as though they might prove useful someday, but I did not need any of them immediately.
As for the Armaments……
Perhaps because the shop was only Level 1, the selection was small, and High Grade was the maximum available.
Among Low, Common, High, Rare, Special, Hero, and Mythic, that was only the third tier.
Yet even those were too expensive for me to consider buying.
“This is completely useless if I cannot afford anything.”
I was half ready to give up and had begun scrolling down when—
“Oh?”
One Armament suddenly caught my eye.
[Unnamed Shaman’s Bracelet]
[Grade: Common (Mid)]
[Description: An old bracelet once used by someone. Made from paulownia wood, making it relatively fragile.]
[Effect: Mana recovery +10%.]
[Price: 4 days.]
For an item with a mana-related effect, it was relatively inexpensive, and a ten-percent increase in mana recovery was by no means insignificant.
So I could buy one now, then another later……
“Wait.”
That was when I remembered something.
I was no ordinary customer.
I had Manifestation.
If I purchased one, acquired its information through Reading, and then manifested it……
“Buy one, get one free?”
No.
I could create as many as I manifested.
Buy one, get two.
Buy one, get three……
“Heh heh.”
At that point, the deal was so absurdly favorable that there was no reason to hesitate.
[You have purchased Unnamed Shaman’s Bracelet.]
[Achievement-06: First Purchase from the Time Shop achieved!]
[Reward: Armament Selection Ticket acquired.]
What was with today?
Unexpected achievements kept appearing one after another.
A ticket suddenly dropped out of empty space, and I swiftly snatched it.
[Armament Selection Ticket]
[Description: First-purchase bonus. You may choose one Armament from a list of recommendations. Tear to use.]
RIP—
Strike while the iron was hot.
I tore it open without hesitation.