The Support Ate it All

While Seo Ye-in slept soundly, I took some time to check through things on my own.

First, the side quest.

[Side Questt: 16th Week Duel Battles] (Completed)

▷ Objective: Complete 2 duel matches (2/2)

▷ Reward: Stamp Coupon (C+)

I had finished both matches in first place and received the best possible reward.

The C-rank stamp coupon I had earned previously allowed for a maximum of 10 stamps, but the C+ rank coupon increased that to 15.

Naturally, the rewards improved by an additional tier as well.

I saved these just for this.

I decided to save those for later.

Next, I pulled up the skill and trait windows for review.

[Skills]

▷ Chillwind (D+)

▷ Wind Force (C+)

▷ Wind Barrier (C+)

▷ Spiral Explosion (C+)

▷ Inferno Fist (B)

▷ Mysterious Yin Jade Demon Finger (B)

▷ Ghost Dance

▷ Amplification (B)

▷ Enchantment (C)

▷ Hardship New!

▷ Copy-Skill [3/3]

1. Thief’s Step (B+)

2. Overheat (C)

3. Ice Wall (B)

[Traits]

▷ Core (B+)

▷ Monarch (B)

▷ Blessing of the West Wind

▷ Distortion

▷ Elemental Resistance (S)

▷ Poison Immunity

▷ Copy-Trait [2/2]

1. Retrocovery (S) New!

2. Crown of the Wise King

[Equipment]

▷ Deep Root Sapling

▷ Storm Cloud Bracelet

▷ Cloudstepper

Based on all of this, if I had to set a direction moving forward…

The first priority is strengthening my foundation.

Achieving a B-rank Core had only been a relatively recent development for me.

For now, I believe it is more efficient to raise the skills I already possess to B-rank rather than increasing the variety of my skills.

After all, if I tried learning something new, I would have had to start from F-rank, which would inevitably be weaker than focusing on bringing Wind Force or Spiral Explosion up to B-rank.

It probably won’t take too long.”

Since I used Wind-type skills often, my proficiency with them was already quite high.

In particular, the lower-tier versions of Wind Force and Spiral Explosion were my core combat techniques, so I figured they would soon break through their stagnation period and reach B-rank.

The second priority is utility.

Among utilities, I needed to secure skills or traits that helped manage penalties.

With just an S-rank Elemental Resistance, the highest level of elemental penalty I could neutralize was B-rank. Anything higher than that would inflict some amount of damage.

Even though B-rank Inferno Fist or Mysterious Yin Jade Demon Finger were already formidable, the enemies I would face were only going to grow stronger.

In those cases, I would need to amplify them to S-rank, much like I did when I fought the Witch of Corruption. But I couldn’t rely on basic elixirs indefinitely.

At least I got Retrocovery.

Even if I amplified Inferno Fist or the Demon Finger to S-rank and used them, Retrocovery would at least heal me thoroughly once. Of course, that alone didn’t solve all the problems.

Moreover, there was another penalty I had to watch out for:

The cooldowns keep getting longer.

When my C-rank [Enchantment] had a reuse cooldown of about 35 minutes, it wasn’t a big deal until I used it 30 times in a row with Octopus Limbs.

Thanks to that, I managed to pummel the Witch of Corruption into submission, but the cooldown soared to a whopping three weeks.

Essentially, it was sealed away until the end of the first semester.

On top of that, [Retrocovery] had a cooldown of three days, and [Hardship] was seven days. If I linked those with Octopus Limbs again?

It wouldn’t be strange if it stretched to a few weeks or even months.

Hence, it became increasingly important to manage these penalties. That was the situation I found myself in.

Lastly, the third priority.

This was a lower-priority issue that I needed to tackle slowly over time:

[Crow Branch (S)]

It was an S-rank spatial-type material item that the Great Sage Crow had given me as both an investment and a reward.

If I processed it into equipment, it would definitely produce something incredible, but getting there wouldn’t be easy.

Finding a master craftsman is one step.

Obviously, such experts were not common. Compared to my other two concerns, though, this seemed less pressing.

If I just go find another Crow, that’ll be enough.

Dimensional Crows generally knew how to handle items like this.

Tracking these crows down might be difficult for someone else, but to an experienced stagnant water, it was practically second nature.

The real problem lay elsewhere.

I bet the crafting fee will be no joke.

When I met the Crow tailor at Rainbow Lake, I paid large rubies and emeralds. That was enough only because the materials I used back then were C-rank.

Handling S-rank materials wouldn’t be covered by just a ruby or two.

And I still don’t have all the materials.

Even if I made equipment using just the Crow Branch, it would be at least A-rank. But since it was hard-earned, I wanted the best possible result.

Which meant I needed supplementary materials as well. Most of which would be A-rank, and therefore just as tricky to obtain.

The first place that came to mind for acquiring them was the deeper-level dungeons, but Dang Gyu-young was busy with her Hardship quest, so that was out.

The principal and vice principal seemed fairly friendly, but I wasn’t sure if they’d be willing to trade, so I set that aside too.

By process of elimination, that left me with:

I’ll have to get help from the Hye-seong Group.

I would have to discuss this with Ahn Jeong-mi, but it seemed better to do it all at once after Seo Ye-in woke up. So for the moment, I stayed in my “Kim Ho pillow mode” and waited.

I wasn’t sure how much time passed after that.

The mana that filled the Mana Cultivation Room began rushing into Seo Ye-in at a terrifying speed.

Fwoosh—

For a moment, Seo Ye-in’s entire body seemed to glow blue, then she floated slightly in midair before sinking back down.

“……?”

Seo Ye-in finally opened her drowsy eyes.

While still using my lap as a pillow, she wriggled around and then looked up at me before speaking in a small voice.

“Today’s really… the day…”

“You leveled up, right? Your rank?”

“Mhmm…

Seo Ye-in gave a small nod of her chin and shared the notification message with me.

[The rank of ‘Core’ has increased. (C→B)]

“Wow, it really was the day to do it.”

At this point in time, there couldn’t be more than a handful of first-year students with a B-rank Core.

Song Cheon-hye, me, and maybe one or two other promising students.

I had been expecting Hong Yeon-hwa to be the next strong candidate, but once again, Seo Ye-in defied my expectations and reached B first.

A true passive sloth. How terrifying.

Anyway, since she succeeded in ranking up, the next step was obvious.

I looked down at Seo Ye-in and spoke.

“Let’s see your butler for the first time in a while.”

“I saw her.”

“I meant show her to me, not you.”

***

As soon as the communication connected, Ahn Jeong-mi appeared beyond the crystal ball and bowed politely.

“Young miss, Kim Ho-nim. Has everything been well?”

“Yes, it’s been a while since we last got in touch.”

I summarized the recent events while focusing on the main points.

Seo Ye-in had acquired Ghost Dance through the illusions conjured by the Illusion Demon, had recently been training so diligently that she’d cut her sleep to just ten hours a day, and moments ago, she had achieved a B-rank Core.

As I continued, Ahn Jeong-mi’s face increasingly filled with emotion.

By the time I finished, she looked close to tears.

“The young miss has been working so hard… I’m not sure how to express my gratitude.”

“Most of it is thanks to her own effort. Especially with Mana Cultivation, it happens even while she sleeps, so it’s not really due to me.”

Since Ahn Jeong-mi had been supporting Seo Ye-in for a long time, she must have known about her genius-level mana control and her passive sloth nature.

So I judged it would be a stretch to take credit for her [Core] progress as well.

But unexpectedly, Ahn Jeong-mi shook her head.

“That’s not true. According to the Future Strategy Office’s predictions, the young miss shouldn’t have been able to reach a B-rank Core until the latter half of the second semester.”

“I don’t quite follow. Why such a big discrepancy in the timeline?”

Even if she could cultivate mana just by sleeping, how could the prediction be off by almost half a year?

Ahn Jeong-mi made a slightly bitter expression and explained.

“It’s true the young miss is capable of Mana Cultivation during sleep, but whether she actually does it is another matter.”

“You’re saying she only does it when she feels like it.”

“That’s right.”

Apparently, the passive sloth mode can be toggled ON or OFF.

And from Seo Ye-in’s perspective, it’s probably much more comfortable to sleep without doing any Mana Cultivation.

Because she would train off and on like that, the Future Strategy Office had predicted she wouldn’t reach a B-rank Core until well into the second semester.

Ahn Jeong-mi continued,

“So it’s thanks to you, Kim Ho-nim that she achieved it sooner. You also willingly shared the Illusion Demon’s formation and we owe you a great deal for that. If there’s anything you need, please let us know.”

“Actually, there is something I need these days.”

I then relayed the item list I had organized in my mind.

The items I needed were related to penalty-reduction skills or traits or materials necessary for crafting equipment using the Crow Branch.

Even for the Hye-seong Group, these weren’t things that could be easily acquired. Ahn Jeong-mi remained silent for a moment before making a suggestion.

“How about you check out the shops in the downtown area first? We’ll cover all the expenses.”

In other words, I’d essentially been handed a blank check.

If I could find what I wanted, great. If not, there was always the chance I’d stumble upon something unexpected.

And if I found nothing at all, Ahn Jeong-mi would figure out another way to procure the items, so there was no real loss.

I nodded my head readily.

“I’ll give it a try.”

“When were you thinking of going?”

“Next weekend seems like the right time.”

The weekend before the strategy battle week. Essentially, the weekend just before finals week.

Since it was right before a big test, students would flock to the downtown area to blow off steam or stock up on items.

This also meant that the shops in the downtown area would stock up heavily during this time.

But just then, Seo Ye-in suddenly jumped into the conversation.

“This weekend.”

“You heard me. It’ll be more fun next weekend.”

I calmly tried to reason with her, but for some reason, Seo Ye-in was unusually stubborn.

“This weekend.”

“Why are you so set on going this weekend?”

If she had a good enough reason, moving it up by a week wouldn’t be a big deal.

But Seo Ye-in answered confidently,

“Because I feel like it.”

“Wow, look at you being all talkative for once. Still, no.”

I was firm. No meant no.

Caving in to every whim would only have a negative impact on our long-term relationship.

That said, attaching a condition could change the situation.

“It’s Monday today, right?”

“Mhmm.”

“If you can hit B-rank for Magic Bullets by Friday, I’ll consider it.”

I intentionally set an absurd condition.

Partly to encourage her to train harder and partly to ensure we’d end up going next weekend as originally planned.

But whether she saw through my intentions or not, Seo Ye-in stared at me quietly for a moment before nodding her head.

“I’ll do it.”

No way she pulls this off.

Magic Bullets were one of the core skills for a Marksman.

It had been a while since Seo Ye-in achieved C-rank in it, so her proficiency must have grown considerably during that time.

But no matter how I looked at it, jumping to B-rank in just a few days was an impossible feat.

***

Thursday.

I had been training in wind magic, sending the iron dummies flying around the training room.

In the middle of it, Seo Ye-in sent me a message, so I checked it.

[Seo Ye-in: Done.]

[Kim Ho: ?]

[Seo Ye-in: Magic Bullets.]

[Seo Ye-in: B.]

[Seo Ye-in: (victorious cat emoji)]

[Kim Ho: ??]

[Kim Ho: (shocked cat emoji)]

[Seo Ye-in: (victorious cat emoji)]

[Seo Ye-in: (majestic cat emoji)]

[Seo Ye-in: Let’s go to the downtown area.]

She really managed to hit B-rank?

And not even on Friday. On Thursday?

This is totally cheating.

***

TN: You’re one to talk…

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