Sweeping the Academy with a Wooden Sword

Before I knew it, two weeks had passed since I entered Iroaz Academy.
My daily routine had now become somewhat systematized.

I entered the training ground wearing workout clothes. Ryu Jia, who was swinging her wooden sword, smiled brightly.

“Hello.”

“Oh, hi. You came early.”

Early in the morning, I swung wooden swords standing side by side with Ryu Jia.
We occasionally sparred with wooden swords too.

And sometimes Baek Hwayeon’s head in front of me would fall back.

To the point where I could see her crown very well.
I guess it’s fortunate that at least her hair didn’t smell.

Thud!

At such times, I patted Baek Hwayeon’s shoulder.

“Wake up.”

“Ugh… I hate theory. I hate it so much!”

How can a kid go crazy like this just from theory classes?
It was just amazing.

Practical classes three times a week.
My assigned instructor, Sword Empress Yoo Seol-ah, didn’t directly teach me her sword techniques.

The Sword Empress, who still summoned me to her private villa, sat me down in a chair in what looked like an analysis room.

“I really hate arrogance, Student Lee Dojin.”

Yoo Seol-ah smiled gently and played an incomprehensible video on the screen.

That video was none other than the video of me and Baek Hwayeon fighting.

“No matter how I look at it, Student Lee Dojin’s swordsmanship seems to be superior to the Plum Blossom Sword Technique. The movements permeating Student Lee Dojin’s body can’t be produced by just 5 or 6 years of training.”

It seems that training while dying over a thousand times had quite a big impact.

“It seems you’ve already learned swordsmanship from a much more excellent master than me. So I think it would be better for me to help with practical aspects.”

With those words, the place Yoo Seol-ah took me to was a simulation training ground inside the underground training room.

“What’s this? Where are we?”

“It’s a simulated combat training ground. It’s equipped with special devices that can recreate various monsters.”

Yoo Seol-ah continued her explanation.

“You’ll be facing virtual monsters. The principle is the same as the virtual mock raid that Student Lee Dojin has already experienced. Except for the drawback that it can’t summon more than 12 monster entities simultaneously.”

“…How much does it cost to install something like this?”

Yoo Seol-ah smiled brightly.

“8 billion won. About that much including monster updates and maintenance costs?”

I must have opened my mouth wide without realizing it.
Yoo Seol-ah started laughing, chuckling.

“Oh, come on. If Student Lee Dojin officially registers for a hunter license during summer vacation and goes to dungeons, you could earn that much in no time.”

“No matter how you look at it, I don’t think it would be that quick.”

“Then, shall we try killing numerous monsters?”

I nodded and entered the simulation training ground.

Swish-!

Monsters started appearing in front of Lee Dojin’s eyes.

Their birth had the unnaturalness of hologram system pieces rising intricately, but the completed form of the monsters was as vivid as reality.

Gray skin, yellow eyes. It was a goblin, with an impressive sharply protruding nose and ears.

-I’ll gradually increase the difficulty. You’ll need time to adapt.

Yoo Seol-ah’s words, holding a microphone, reached Lee Dojin on the other side of the thick screen.

It seems that no matter how good the performance, it couldn’t reproduce the sound made by mouths.

The goblin, like a calm hunter, quietly stared at Lee Dojin.

The moment that goblin kicked off the ground.

He swung his wooden sword. He struck down with the thought of making a very basic downward cut.

Slash!

A beam of light fell vertically towards the goblin.
And the goblin evaporated without a trace.

“Master, isn’t this some kind of error?”

Baek Hwayeon stared at Lee Dojin in the screen with a dumbfounded expression.

“Hmm, well. Since this simulated combat device recreates the average health points that each monster typically has, it means that Student Lee Dojin’s single strike was that perfect.”
After answering her disciple’s question, Yoo Seol-ah brought her mouth to the microphone again.

-I’ll continue. In order of monster difficulty.

Lee Dojin nodded greatly.

Crack!

And Lee Dojin, who annihilated even the next appearing orc with a single strike, organized his thoughts.
To grasp and apply the attack patterns of various monsters, he should moderately reduce the power in his sword energy.

(Lizardman / Monster Rank: B~A)
The third monster to appear was a lizardman.
It had a face that looked like a half-mix between a lizard and a crocodile, with a muscular body.
The skin covering its entire body looked as hard as armor.
In its hand was a trident with a faint silver glow.
Unlike goblins or orcs, the lizardman didn’t rush in immediately. With its upper body lowered, it slowly circled around Lee Dojin in a circular pattern, taking its own steps.

‘Lizardmen were said to move in groups with high probability.’
It was information he had heard in the class a few days ago.
And the characteristics of monsters are reflected in dungeons and gates.

‘Certainly, if five or ten of these cautious guys move in groups, it would be quite tiring.’
By the time Lee Dojin’s thoughts about lizardmen were organized in his mind, the lizardman kicked off the ground. However, the lizardman was much farther away than Lee Dojin had expected.

‘It has long arms.’
The attack reach was quite long. Not only were its arms long, but it seemed that the elasticity and contraction of those arms were quite free. It was not easy to predict the attack range.

After avoiding the rushing trident with quick footwork, the lizardman retrieved its spear and immediately launched another attack.

Swish!

It was literally swift.
A chilling sensation arose.
There was no systematic spear technique. But it was clear that with the superior characteristics of its species alone, it would chew up any ordinary spear technique. After all, having an advantage in distance and speed was no different from dominating the battle.

Lee Dojin raised his Reverse Heaven Divine Technique.
His body became lighter. While releasing energy outward was only possible through the medium of the wooden sword, there was no problem handling energy inside his body.

Three flashes.
He completely avoided the three sharply rushing trajectories by swiftly moving his feet.
In the lizardman’s eyes, five or six afterimages of Lee Dojin flowed like water.

The distance closed rapidly. Lee Dojin thrust his sword horizontally without hesitation.

Slash!

Along with a crack in space, the lizardman’s right arm flew into the air, still gripping the trident.
Nevertheless, the lizardman didn’t die gracefully.

Whoosh!

What rushed in sharply like the trident it was holding was none other than the lizardman’s tail.
Lee Dojin grinned. Though it was a virtual creature, not real, he felt considerable admiration for the characteristics of the lizardman species that didn’t give up until the end.

So he killed it by splitting it in half with a tiny bit of sincerity.

“…I’ll go train, Master.”
Baek Hwayeon, who had been observing their battle intently with narrowed brows, said with a hardened face.
It was because it was so different from herself who had simulated combat with a lizardman a week ago.

Even that must have been with suppressed power.
Unlike Lee Dojin, who didn’t allow even a single effective hit from the lizardman, her week-ago self had allowed 7 effective hits, unable to adapt to the lizardman’s long reach until the early stages of the battle.

Her master, Sword Empress Yoo Seol-ah, noticed her disciple’s small sense of frustration.
What flowed from her mouth was a gentle tone.

“It’s just that Student Lee Dojin is a genius beyond genius. It’s not that Hwayeon is weak.”

Baek Hwayeon smiled faintly at Yoo Seol-ah’s words.

“I know. That’s why I need to train more.”

Baek Hwayeon’s right fist was tightly clenched as she turned around.

‘I wanted to see the same scenery as Dojin.’
She had hoped that their view of the world as swordsmen would be the same.
But she realized that they were already looking at very different sceneries. She needs to fully bloom the plum blossoms that haven’t fully blossomed yet.

Baek Hwayeon picked up her sword again, whipping herself.

Every Friday evening, a text message came from Yeon Simun, the vice president of the student council.
-Food?
This was already the second time.
When I sent back,
-Yes.
The reply format was the same as last week
-Blood sausage, pork, soup rice.
And below was attached a map photo of the restaurant.
Last week’s reply was cream, tomato, pasta.
Anyway, this person is really unique.

Yeon Simun focused on the food today as well.
She mixed rice into the pork soup rice without hesitation and ate silently.
“Phew… phew.”
Except for occasionally puckering her lips to blow air to cool the heat, if it was hot.
The way she cleanly finished every grain of rice and even the soup didn’t match her noble yet sharp atmosphere.

I finished the rice but left some soup. Yeon Simun stared at my remaining soup rice with her golden eyes.

“…I’m disappointed.”

“Pardon?”

I was at a loss for words because her expression was genuinely disappointed. You’re disappointed because I left some soup? Is this why the student council juniors respect her but don’t eat with her?

Swish-
Yeon Simun, who took out a tissue and cleaned around her mouth, looked at me again.

“There will be a special exam for first-years in about two weeks. Using a simulated dungeon.”

“A special exam?”

“Yes, two people from upper classes and two from lower classes will form a team. The team composition will be done by the assigned instructors, of course.”

“Then I’ll be in a team with one person from my class and two from Class 10, right?”

Class 10 was where students evaluated as having the lowest grades and skills among the 10 combat division classes were gathered.
Of course, that didn’t mean they were far from being hopeless mediocre students. After all, to be in a combat division class, one had to know how to handle mana.

“Why did you tell me this?”

Yeon Simun spoke evenly as if it wasn’t a big deal.

“Just because. Since I knew. And anyway, there will be an announcement on Monday. I’m telling you to be aware that there’s such a thing.”

I bowed my head. It’s only two days earlier that I found out, but thanks to this, I could decide to start dealing with the things I had been putting off from the weekend.

“Thank you.”

Yeon Simun grinned.

“If you’re thankful, come to the club room after the special exam. Let’s have a match.”

It was the martial arts club.
I smiled back.

“Alright. I’ll definitely come.”

After parting with Senior Yeon Simun and returning to the dormitory, I organized in my notebook what I needed to do over the weekend.