Inside the lecture hall.

There were only two students and one instructor.

One of the students was Kim Songcheol.

The other was a male staff member trainee who had entered the Training Institute around the same time as Kim Songcheol.

Kim Songcheol sat at his desk, looking at the instructor.

The instructor sat at another desk, grading test papers.

The other trainee was playing a game on a tablet.

He’d heard it was some kind of defense game, but he couldn’t remember the exact name.

“Trainee Kim Songcheol.”

“Yes.”

The instructor, with his short hair, approached and placed a test paper on Kim Songcheol’s desk.

It was an essay test on tactics, and it was also the final exam.

The letter ‘P’ was written on Kim Songcheol’s test paper.

It meant he had passed.

“Trainee Park Jinman.”

Before the trainee could answer, a test paper was laid over his tablet.

F.

It was a failure.

“Huh? Really?”

The trainee looked up at the instructor in disbelief.

The instructor just nodded silently.

“Damn it, I’m already swamped with swordsmanship practice…”

The trainee gathered his test paper, bowed his head, and left the lecture hall.

He was reportedly good at swordsmanship, but seemed to have no interest in theory.

With one person gone from the lecture hall of three, only two remained.

“Today is the last day, isn’t it?”

The instructor spoke as if regretting their parting.

Kim Songcheol was an excellent student.

Not many trainees showed interest in boring theory classes.

Many trainees would play games during class or simply zone out.

“Yes. Thank you for your guidance until now.”

“You don’t have many classes left, do you?”

“It seems almost over.”

Over 80 percent of the theory classes were finished, and the illusionary tactics class also ended recently with his promotion to E-rank Dungeon.

Other classes were also nearing completion.

All that remained was magic and physical training, which would never end, and interpersonal combat training.

“It was fun feeling like a student again after a long time, but the curriculum is a bit short, haha.”

At Kim Songcheol’s words, the instructor laughed understandingly and nodded his head.

“Being a student is truly the best.”

“Nothing beats being a student, indeed.”

“Haha. Anyway, the lecture is over now… I hope you become an excellent Hunter and protect the future of the Republic of Korea.”

“Yes, I will do my best.”

After exchanging pleasantries with the instructor, Kim Songcheol left the lecture hall.

He exited the building and went straight to the training hall.

Even though the regular classes were over, he couldn’t spend the remaining time playing around.

Trainees were rookie Hunters, and their power was their lifeline.

It was natural to fill the rest of the time with training.

Kim Songcheol first entered a private training room.

It was a space wide and tall enough to swing a sword.

He took off his bag and closed the door, and complete silence fell.

The soundproofing was almost perfect.

Kim Songcheol sat in the center of the room and practiced the Mana Breathing Technique.

It was a continuous cycle of absorbing mana with each inhale and expelling the remaining mana with each exhale.

It was a familiar routine by now, but he couldn’t help but feel a lingering sense of disappointment deep down.

This was because mana wasn’t accumulating as much as he thought it should.

In reality, this was quite relative.

Compared to other trainees, his mana accumulation speed was incredibly fast.

However, since his circle was also larger than theirs, the expansion of his circle felt slow.

‘There’s no other way, I guess…’

He had even asked Kim Myeongju about this, but there was no particular solution.

The Mana Breathing Technique was the only ‘mana storage method’ commonly used in Arcadia-style circle magic.

This meant that there was no other breathing technique that could be bought with points.

Kim Songcheol sat with his eyes closed for 30 minutes before getting up.

He could have done it for three or four hours if he wanted to, but for now, it was just a warm-up to clear his mind before practicing magic.

“Hoo…”

Kim Songcheol sharpened his mind, which had been cleared through the Mana Breathing Technique.

The training he was about to begin required stronger mental power and concentration.

This was because he wasn’t practicing ordinary Arcadia-style circle magic.

Kim Songcheol’s unique ability.

Something that couldn’t be explained by circle magic.

For now, he was only using it to change the trajectory of magic, but Kim Songcheol intended to expand its scope through training.

‘If I can change the trajectory, then other things are definitely possible.’

That was Kim Songcheol’s theory.

He didn’t know yet what else was possible.

Because he had no knowledge of it.

But he could try.

Kim Songcheol planned to first invest time in increasing the ‘power’ of magic.

Circle magic is a collection of tightly woven magic formulas.

It’s stable and effective, but also not as flexible.

Power control was the same.

Even if he had an abundance of mana, the amount of mana that could be invested in a single magic spell was fixed.

Kim Songcheol first cast a Magic Missile.

A perfectly ordinary energy mass slowly emerged from the magic circle.

“No.”

Kim Songcheol seemed displeased and simply dispersed the Magic Missile.

‘Where should I put my strength?’

Another Magic Missile was created.

This time, he wasn’t satisfied either.

It dispersed again.

Created.

Dispersed.

Created.

Magic Missile repeatedly appeared and vanished.

If anyone had seen this scene, they would have thought Kim Songcheol had gone mad.

This was because he was just standing there, staring at a point in the air, repeatedly creating and dispersing Magic Missiles.

‘I definitely poured my concentration into the magic formula’s power source…’

Kim Songcheol had disassembled the Magic Missile’s magic formula and tried to adjust the power source responsible for mana charging.

But it wasn’t working.

There was no sign of it getting stronger at all.

This means it’s not the answer.

Kim Songcheol stopped wasting Mana unnecessarily and went back to the beginning.

‘He changed the trajectory… How did he change the trajectory?’

If he thought about it, he didn’t touch the Magic Formula when he changed the trajectory either.

Because Kim Songcheol’s ability was applied after the Magic was activated.

However, strengthening the power of Magic after it had been activated made no sense, no matter how much he thought about it.

This was because it violated not only Circle Magic but also the entire field of Magic as a whole.

That’s why he had tampered with the power unit.

‘Then what is it, exactly?’

“Just thinking that I want to use strong Magic and then Casting it…”

Kim Songcheol unconsciously Casted Magic Missile.

But this time, something was different.

It was different from the Casting that had been repeated over a hundred times before.

“It was like… this?”

He got a feeling.

Kim Songcheol took a stance and stretched both hands forward.

Wishing for stronger Magic than ever before, he Concentrated his mind not on the Magic Formula, but on Magic itself.

That was all there was to it.

Without any special tricks, he just thought about making the Magic more powerful.

And when that Concentration reached its peak.

“Lightning Spear.”

A clear incantation filled the space.

As a large Magic circle appeared in front of Kim Songcheol’s hands, three or four times more Mana than usual was rapidly drained.

Soon, the Lightning Spear that emerged from the center of the Magic circle was twice its original size.

Crackling!

Stronger lightning sparks flew everywhere, and a faint electric shock raged fiercely, reaching the walls.

It was a success.

The moment Kim Songcheol was about to smile.

“Ah.”

Suddenly, dizziness struck, and his Concentration broke.

Naturally, an arrow is shot when the bowstring is released.

Whoosh!

The enhanced Lightning Spear immediately flew towards the wall and struck it.

Boom!

In the meantime, Kim Songcheol found himself slumping to the floor without realizing it.

To be precise, it would be more accurate to say that he found himself sitting on the floor after regaining consciousness.

“Why am I like this…?”

Kim Songcheol was so dizzy and nauseous that he just lay down on the floor.

Through his blurry vision, he saw concrete fragments crumbling from the blackened wall.

The wall was half-destroyed.

It was a power that was hard to believe for a 2nd Circle Magic.

‘I shouldn’t damage property…’

Kim Songcheol lay down and endured the dizziness for a while.

He thought it would get better in a moment, but then nausea and a headache followed.

‘Ugh…’

Kim Songcheol suffered for a full 20 minutes before finally regaining his senses.

The headache lingered a bit, but the dizziness and chills had greatly improved.

“Ha…”

Kim Songcheol, who had been sitting blankly, let out a short sigh and thought.

‘If I use this incorrectly, it could be a disaster.’

He succeeded faster than he expected, but the recoil was too great.

***

Kim Myeongju was sitting at her desk, scanning newly submitted proposals.

Strictly speaking, the Special Tactical Training Institute was also a public institution, and the Education Director could also be called an institutional head.

Public institutions are always plagued by proposals and official communiqués.

The same was true for Kim Myeongju.

There were 22 proposals submitted today alone.

Being Friday, there were even more.

As an institutional head, she could simply approve them carelessly, but Kim Myeongju always read them carefully before giving her approval.

“What did they break again…?”

Kim Myeongju mumbled, reading the title of the proposal sent up by the Facility Management Department.

Simply put, it was a request for payment for facility damage repairs.

As it was a place filled with hot-blooded trainees, property damage occurred frequently.

But this was facility damage.

The scale was different.

Kim Myeongju clicked on the proposal.

Then the details of the incident appeared, and the extent of the damage was attached with photos.

“Trainee Kim Songcheol?”

The proposal stated that Trainee Kim Songcheol had voluntarily reported it.

Kim Myeongju tilted her head after seeing the perpetrator’s name, then opened the attached photos.

There, a high-quality picture showed the blackened and half-destroyed wall of a private training room.

“Haha, really… How did he manage to do this?”

Kim Myeongju laughed in disbelief at the photo.

Unbelievable power.

Even if you brought in any average 2nd Circle Mage and told them to break this much, it would be impossible.

“He’s quite a handful…”

Kim Myeongju let out a small sigh and approved the 7.8 million won proposal.

The private training room’s finishing materials were so expensive that the repair costs were considerable.

However, she couldn’t ask Kim Songcheol to pay for it.

The same would be true for anyone else, not just Kim Songcheol.

Charging such minor costs to those who work hard for the country was a huge problem.

Knock, knock.

At that moment, a knock was heard.

“Come in.”

The door soon opened, and Dokgo Yeol, the Interpersonal Combat Instructor, entered.

He was a well-built male staff member in his thirties.

He was also one of the few active Hunters among the instructors, entering dungeons as a Hunter.

“Yes, what can I do for you?”

Kim Myeongju asked with a light smile.

“It’s nothing, but Trainee Kim Songcheol’s name appeared on the Combat Training roster, right?”

“Ah… has it already come to that?”

Kim Myeongju had also forgotten for a moment. It was standard for Interpersonal Combat Training to begin when other classes ended.

She had let her guard down recently and hadn’t kept track of it.

“Yes, but to what level should I match him…?”

Combat Training, simply put, is a class where trainees spar with each other.

Dokgo Yeol couldn’t figure out what level to set for Kim Songcheol’s matchups, no matter how much he thought about it.

Kim Songcheol was a 2nd Circle expert in terms of skill level.

However, he had heard too many stories to determine his level based solely on that.

“Hmm…”

Kim Myeongju hesitated for a moment, then opened her mouth.

“Shall we just follow the list for now?”

“Won’t there be a difference in skill level?”

Dokgo Yeol initially said, ‘I don’t know,’ but he seemed to want to put Instructor Kim Songcheol in the higher class.

“Even so, we can’t ignore the procedures. There could be talk of special treatment, too.”

“Then let’s try it once, and after that, I’ll move them according to my judgment.”

“You can do that.”

For now, by the book.

That was the Education Director’s decision.