*
The instructors, watching Yoon Seo-ah take down the Yeti with overwhelming skill, couldn't help but exclaim in admiration.
"She definitely has a unique battle sense."
The Yeti was one of the monsters found in the snowy fields, its entire body covered in white fur, standing on two legs like a human.
In terms of rank alone, it was at the C-rank level, which would have been a tough fight for an ordinary Academy student, but Yoon Seo-ah was different.
"The power is extraordinary, probably because of the buffer."
"Indeed, her growth rate is worthy of being considered a future S-Rank. I've been watching her, and she's made significant improvements in the areas that were previously pointed out as problems."
"Her stamina is incomparable to what it was before, and her movements have become more agile. There's nothing to criticize in either close-quarters combat or ranged combat."
The Yeti itself was one of the more difficult monsters to deal with due to its ice magic.
Living in the snowy fields, it had high cold resistance, and its thick hide provided high physical defense.
Due to its high cold resistance, Yoon Seo-ah's ice attacks were merely physical attacks without the cold damage.
"It was impressive how she realized that her attacks weren't working and switched to other methods. It would be surprising if multiple Yetis charged at once, but she maintained her composure until the end."
Even when multiple Yetis, against whom her attacks were not effective, charged at Yoon Seo-ah's party all at once, Yoon Seo-ah did not lose her composure.
Protecting her party members while dodging the Yetis' throwing attacks and completing her magic was truly admirable.
Unlike attacks using unique abilities, magic required a high degree of concentration.
Magic might seem convenient, but there were many requirements to use a single spell.
It required arranging Mana in the right shape, flowing the appropriate amount of Mana needed for the spell, and finally, calculating the coordinates.
Usually, to use powerful magic, other party members needed to buy time or provide protection, but Yoon Seo-ah showed herself protecting herself with her unique abilities while simultaneously using magic.
"It would be difficult to use fire in that environment, but she's definitely different. Blocking the Yeti's movements with ice and attacking with fire-based magic. There was nothing to criticize."
"Jeong Soo-ah student seems to have improved since last time as well. The power of her buffs seems to have increased."
Everyone praised Yoon Seo-ah, but in the next evaluation section, they all wore troubled expressions.
"In the teamwork score section..."
"It seems difficult to give a good score. Yoon Seo-ah student's combat ability and judgment are all perfect, but I think her teamwork was lacking."
"Still, I think she considered all her party members and engaged in combat. She also protected the other students from getting hurt."
"I think similarly. Frankly speaking, except for Jeong Soo-ah student, the others seemed to have no will to fight at all."
"That's true, but it's hard to say that they work well together. I acknowledge that Yoon Seo-ah student is outstanding, but she can't do everything alone. I think she needed to enable the other two to play their roles."
They could give the highest score in all other evaluation categories, but it seemed difficult to give the highest score for teamwork.
Even the instructors who defended Yoon Seo-ah easily admitted that point.
"But if we only look at the clear time, this party is overwhelmingly in first place."
"Well, that's an undeniable fact, but it seems unavoidable in the teamwork section. The party with Lee Da-eun student will probably get the highest teamwork score."
"Lee Da-eun student, you mean the party that Kim Si-woo student was in?"
Kim Tae-hwan, who was an S-Rank Hunter, had anti-magic abilities, and several instructors were admiring Kim Si-woo's growth rate.
It hadn't even been a few months since he awakened, and he was growing at a frightening pace.
It was as if his appearance had changed, and his personality had changed as well, completely different from his past self.
The instructors had experience as Hunters for a long time, so they all said that Kim Si-woo's changed and rapid growth rate was unbelievable.
"He wouldn't have had time to gain experience, but his ability to assess situations, his combat style, everything is perfect."
Kim Si-woo's ability to calmly respond to any situation was impressive.
Watching them properly perform their respective roles, you could see how hard they had worked to coordinate with each other.
"He has decisiveness and quick responses. He is one of the students I have high expectations for."
"Well, Kim Si-woo student is the most outstanding, but the other students also seem to be growing quickly."
"Indeed, there are many talented people gathered in Class A."
*
I loaded the game in an instant, packed the necessary items, and entered the dungeon.
After defeating the Golem that appeared first, a fork in the road appeared ahead.
I had always chosen the left path first, but it led to a dead end, causing a delay.
The structure was as complex as a maze, making it difficult to grasp the entire internal structure with just one completion.
To beat Seo-ah, it was important to reduce such mistakes.
"Da-eun-ah, which way looks good to go?"
"Huh... me? Are you asking me now?"
Da-eun's reaction felt a little different since defeating the Golem.
Even when I spoke to her normally like before, she showed such a surprised reaction.
Da-eun's inner thoughts seemed complicated, but since Min-ji and Kang Ju-ji were with us, it seemed better to focus on the evaluation.
More than just grades were at stake in this evaluation.
I was going to focus on the evaluation now so as not to miss both the scenario quest and the bet with Seo-ah by trying to catch two rabbits.
In the previous playthrough, I chose the left path as predetermined to avoid fighting each other, but now that it was revealed that there was a wrong path, it was necessary to make a different choice.
In fact, by repeating the load, I could memorize the entire internal structure of the artificial dungeon, but even if it was the right answer, I didn't want to show a dictatorial attitude.
"Da-eun-ah, you have the best Mana detection ability, right? If you feel anything, please tell me."
"Okay... I understand."
Da-eun made a troubled expression and then closed her eyes.
With a feeling of reading the power spread all around, an unknown force, Da-eun opened her eyes.
"I feel the flow of Mana that I felt at the entrance in the center direction."
"The entrance?"
To clear the dungeon we entered, we had to find the exit.
Since both the entrance and exit were connected to the outside, there must be similar aspects.
It seemed that Seo-ah felt that and moved so quickly.
"Da-eun-ah, do you feel anything else?"
"Ah, Min-ji. Yeah, well... it might just be my imagination..."
She scratched her head, embarrassed by Min-ji's curious expression.
"Then let's go in the center direction."
"Huh... is that okay? Before we came in, we decided to go to the left first."
Since she used magic, I thought Da-eun would be more sensitive to Mana than I was.
As I walked towards the center, Da-eun made a subtle expression.
"I just thought Da-eun is usually more sensitive to Mana than me, so it might be right?"
"Well... still..."
"And since this is my choice, you don't have to feel too burdened."
"Ah... okay, I understand!"
"Still, shouldn't we do as we initially decided?"
Kang Ju-ji spoke up as I tried to walk towards the center.
It was true that changing the action guidelines set before entering like this wasn't a good idea.
Changing the battle guidelines like this could lead to a major accident.
But this wasn't related to combat, so shouldn't we be able to do this flexibly?
"I'll take responsibility, is that okay then?"
"..."
[Lee Da-eun's favorability has increased.]
She had an apologetic expression on the outside, but I could see that she was genuinely satisfied that I was going to the center.
It seemed to be because she was being respected and could act according to her own judgment.
Even if she didn't seem like it, Da-eun was the vice-chief.
Being the vice-chief of the Korea Academy wasn't something anyone could do, and she must have had pride in her judgment and thought grades were important.
I could listen to this much.
"Okay, let's go quickly!"
We defeated the bats that appeared from time to time, listened to Da-eun's words whenever a fork in the road appeared, and moved forward.
*
"This is the internal structure, right?"
[Yes, that's correct.]
It was Makina's voice that I heard after a long time. I was in the corner, and the internal structure of the artificial dungeon was drawn.
I marked the places where dead ends appeared with an X and organized the route.
I had already grasped the overall structure because I had chosen all the forks in the road.
There were several routes to the exit, making it difficult to find the shortest route.
"Da-eun was amazing though."
Whether it was true that she could read the flow of Mana or not, the path Da-eun chose was close to the shortest route.
"This is where Da-eun made a mistake..."
Da-eun made one mistake near the end.
In fact, considering that she hadn't made a single mistake before this, it was amazing enough to be admired.
Da-eun was discouraged, but her record was good.
In the next playthrough, I moved along the shortest route, excluding the part where Da-eun made a mistake.
"What does Seo-ah do to be so fast?"
A narrow defeat. I tried to reduce the time by challenging several times, but I couldn't beat Seo-ah.
"..."
I repeated the load and finished grasping the internal structure, but I still can't win?
This might be a problem with the dungeon itself.
Since the internal structure is also generated randomly, the artificial dungeon that Seo-ah entered might have been a shorter route.
'It's just a guess, though...'
I was silently checking the part where Da-eun made a mistake.
If we only consider the location on the map, it was the closest route to the exit.
The problem was that it was a dead end.
The flow of wind was subtly different, as if there was a gap somewhere in the wall.
Da-eun probably made a mistake while feeling the Mana through that gap.
"This is... the closest place. There's a gap where the wind is blowing?"
Then wouldn't this wall be weaker than the others?
I checked what would happen if I broke this wall.
"The time is drastically reduced...?"