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HELHEIM SCANS
[Translator - Night]
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Chapter 5: Huh, am I the only one who didn’t know?
“As a student of the Seoul Academy of Supernatural Abilities, as a sword and shield that protects the world, as a seeker of the truths of the universe, I solemnly swear to stand at the forefront and safeguard peace.”
The auditorium was larger than the sports fields of most schools.
On the stage of this grand hall, a female student stood as the representative of the new students, raising her right hand and reciting the declaration.
Even accounting for the fact that magic enhances appearance and physique, she was a beauty with jet-black hair and pale, porcelain-like skin.
Despite her young age, she exuded a remarkably composed aura, effortlessly drawing attention.
── And I sensed black magic.
It wasn’t a mistake.
I had slaughtered tens of thousands of demons and annihilated dozens of devils so thoroughly they couldn’t be resurrected.
If anyone knew demons and devils better than anyone other than the fiends themselves, it was me.
If this were the fantasy continent, I would have immediately drawn my sword and severed one of her limbs on the spot.
But this was an unfamiliar world.
I couldn’t act recklessly.
There was too much I didn’t know yet, and I had to be careful whose head I chose to lop off.
“Oh, that’s her…”
“Wow, she’s in our class this year?”
And yet, what had I been doing just moments ago?
‘Thorough market research.’
Or rather, an inheritance process.
It was a meticulous information-gathering operation.
If even ordinary students knew the top-ranking freshman, there was no way the information-savvy ones wouldn’t.
I absorbed the details from the nearby chatterboxes, gradually piecing things together.
The top-ranked freshman: Cheon Juyeon.
She was the successor of the mysterious martial sect, Yeongnak First School, whose previous master became famous for preventing an S-rank dungeon break near their headquarters.
Though the sect was shrouded in secrecy and their full history was unclear, they were undoubtedly among the elite combat groups.
And now, the successor of such a powerful sect was standing on stage during the entrance ceremony.
‘I can’t understand this.’
I gazed at Cheon Juyeon as she descended from the podium, feeling somewhat sullen.
It wasn’t that I denied the legitimacy of a black magic wielder serving as the student representative.
Nor did I intend to interrogate her.
From the surrounding whispers, it seemed everyone was already aware that she possessed black magic.
‘Oh, dear goddess. A dark mage.’
The previous master of her sect was rumored to be an SS-rank dark mage.
Apparently, in this world, where magic and all kinds of supernatural abilities were highly advanced, black magic wasn’t as taboo.
In fact, the latest trend in the hunter industry was apparently solo dungeon conquest by necromancers using their summoned minions.
Clearing entire dungeons alone.
No wonder there was some random skeleton-themed show topping the charts on Retflix.
Sure, I could process it logically, but the real problem was emotional.
After spending years as a hero cutting down dark mages, it was hard to accept seeing them treated as trendy professionals here.
No, honestly, I couldn’t fully wrap my head around it either.
How could anyone trust dark sorcerers who performed human sacrifices the moment they hit a wall in their magic research?
‘Skeleton minions as the new fad… seriously?’
Feeling somewhat betrayed, I glanced at a female student nearby who was muttering to herself,
“I want to be an SSS-rank necromancer making a trillion a year too.”
I couldn’t help but feel a twinge of exasperation.
* * *
On paper, I had graduated high school.
But in reality, I had only completed my first year before being summoned.
‘Not that I have any intention of going back.’
No matter how young my body was, my mental age was over thirty.
Did they seriously expect me to sit in the same classroom with a bunch of hormone-driven teenagers now?
So, enrolling in this academy—a pseudo-university—was a welcome option.
The only problem was that, having never been to university, I had no clue how one actually worked.
And considering this was a specialized academy in an alternate world, it was bound to be different from anything I knew.
Besides, I’d heard that attending the entrance ceremony wasn’t even mandatory.
Trying to apply real-world logic here would only lead to confusion.
But still, even knowing all that, I couldn’t help but feel a bit of nervousness,
like a middle schooler entering high school—a sense of stepping into the unknown.
An entirely different universe from the primary education pipeline of elementary, middle, and high school.
I was now part of this academy’s academic realm.
[‘The Guardian of Order and Causality’ smiles with satisfaction, looking forward to seeing how you’ll fare.]
The goddess, who had returned once I unblocked her, seemed just as excited as I was as I surveyed my surroundings.
After the entrance ceremony, the new students were divided into their respective departments and led to their classrooms.
In other words, I was now surrounded by the same people I would be spending the next few years with.
<Students for the Combat Department, this way.>
Since this institution was designed to train hunters, the Combat Department was naturally the most popular.
They had divided the students into classes based on their abilities and skill levels, and I was placed in Class 1.
Unlike in high school, the classrooms here were arranged in stadium seating, which was a bit of a novelty.
Being assigned to the first class made me feel oddly proud.
‘I’ve heard there are majors like artifact crafting, hunter politics, alchemy, and so on…’
But none of those fields really appealed to me.
After spending decades fighting demons, I had no desire to suddenly switch to being a blacksmith.
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HELHEIM SCANS
[Translator - Night]
[Proofreader - Gun]
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If I were to dabble in those fields, it would be through general education courses or extracurricular clubs—not as a major.
The same went for politics and alchemy.
And so, as I settled into the Combat Department classroom, I carefully observed the faces around me.
Most were unfamiliar, but since this was the academy’s most prestigious department, I quickly recognized some of the famous prodigies I had overheard the students gossiping about earlier.
There was a blue-haired woman with a cold, hardened expression—the genius of the Magic Tower.
A girl with a massive hunk of metal by her side—likely a scion of one of the most renowned families.
Cheon Juyeon, who had delivered the entrance ceremony speech, was also in Class 1.
Even a prodigy spirit mage from Japan was present.
But then…
“...Hm?”
I suddenly locked eyes with someone.
Even though I wasn’t using any concealment magic, I had been minimizing my presence.
Yet, they were staring directly at me.
At first, I thought it was just a coincidence.
But even after subtly shifting my position, their gaze persisted, following me.
No, it wasn’t a mistake.
They were watching me.
‘What the...’
For a brief moment, my inner loser’s sensibility flared up, and I wondered, Is she interested in me?
But I quickly dismissed the thought.
It was far too early to indulge in that kind of delusion, and besides, the other person looked a bit—no, quite a bit—younger.
Rather than feeling like a romantic comedy heroine, she seemed more like a junior or a close younger sibling.
‘Oh, she’s frowning.’
Still, there was something endearingly cat-like about the way she scowled, a bit of an adorable pout.
I watched her for a moment before shifting my gaze elsewhere.
Clatter—
“Is everyone here? No one snuck off home or ran to the bathroom, right?”
The professor had arrived.
“Whoa, it’s Shin Arin.”
“A high-ranker.”
Even in the auditorium, there were the inevitable explainers.
Though they were mumbling quietly due to the professor’s proximity, she could still hear them clearly.
“Hey, you shouldn’t call your professor by name so casually. Even if I’m half a public figure, I’m your teacher from now on.”
For someone among the world’s top-ranked hunters, even a whisper was easy to catch.
Shin Arin, an S-rank hunter, ranked among the top 100 in the world.
With her light purple hair and a black eyepatch covering one eye, she smiled mischievously at the student who had spoken out and continued.
“I’m not here to make the atmosphere heavy, but you should be more careful in front of someone as skilled as me.”
“...Y-yes, I’ll be careful.”
“Good. Since it’s the first day, that’s enough of a warning. Hmm, I’m sure you all know my name, but I’ll write it down anyway.”
Grabbing a marker, Shin Arin swiftly wrote her name on the whiteboard.
With a satisfied smile, she scanned the students in the lecture hall.
The gleam in her eyes revealed that she had already spotted a few promising talents.
Suddenly, I was reminded of that saying: Bad teenagers go to juvenile detention, but bad college students go to graduate school.
“I’m strong. And I believe you all have the potential to become just as strong. Our Academy of Special Abilities is a cradle designed to cultivate exceptional talents like you, and I accepted this professorship for that very cause. I will do everything in my power to help you become stronger than anyone else.”
“Wow, you’re so cool, professor!”
“Hahaha.”
Half a celebrity, she was less like an ordinary professor and more like the star of a show.
After sharing her ambitions, she moved on to the formalities—introducing the campus facilities, explaining how to sign up for lectures, and going over basic guidelines in a routine tone.
Then, she suddenly grinned and lightly tapped the desk in front of her.
“Ahem, while it’s important as students to make good use of the university and attend other lectures…”
But.
The moment she added that word, her voice lingered in the air, and I felt it—
A surge of mana emanated from the ground, the walls, and even the ceiling.
“Since you’re in the Combat Studies department, and as warriors meant to slay monsters, I personally believe that in the end, nothing is more important than real combat and actual power.”
Shin Arin winked and snapped her fingers.
The entire lecture hall was enveloped in a brilliant blue radiance, indicating the activation of a spell.
Only a few students flinched, while the rest showed no particular reaction.
‘What the... Am I the only one who didn’t know about this?’
It seemed to be a famous annual tradition.
“Now then, prove yourselves.”
The moment she said that, light exploded around us—and I didn’t resist.
Whatever was about to happen, it wouldn’t do to back out right from the start.
As the spell successfully activated, I felt a brief sensation of weightlessness before landing on a grassy plain.
“Hmm.”
A sudden change of location.
It couldn’t be teleportation magic—such spells consume an enormous amount of mana, making them impractical for large-scale use.
Having fought countless demons and devils, I was well-versed in magic and quickly analyzed the spell.
‘It’s illusion magic.’
A kind of barrier magic that temporarily imposes lifelike sensations on the participants.
The fresh breeze and the feel of grass underfoot were vividly realistic.
If not for the sudden shift in scenery, it could have easily been mistaken for a picnic.
But soon enough, my opponents appeared.
—Screech?
Twenty goblins armed with crude blades.
And behind them, larger hobgoblin warriors, each brandishing a heavy weapon.
The creatures cackled menacingly as they slowly advanced.
“Oh-ho.”
Seeing such low-level mobs after so long, I actually found it refreshingly nostalgic.
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HELHEIM SCANS
[Translator - Night]
[Proofreader - Gun]
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