Field Training (3)

The purification ritual was successfully completed. 

Although it was called a purification ritual, it was actually a process to re-seal Isaac Morph's body, but in any case, Hong Bi-Yeon had performed her role excellently.

Contrary to expectations, the nobles were astonished by the fact that Princess Hong Bi-Yeon had perfectly executed the Flame Spirit Array at a mere class 4 level. However, they tried hard not to show it outwardly.

For their princess to become queen, Hong Bi-Yeon had to disappear. Recently, her reputation had been rising more and more, causing unrest among them, so there was no need to stir up unnecessary trouble.

"Well done, Princess."

As Hong Bi-Yeon slowly caught her breath after dispelling the Flame Spirit Array, Terriban approached with that familiar, repulsive smile.

"Oh, my. You seem to have broken into a cold sweat. Do you need a handkerchief?" 

"I don't need one."

Just by looking at him, she quickly understood.

She realized why the royal chief mage was here, playing the role of a priest.

'I thought it wasn't time for him to retire yet.'

She had assumed there must be some reason behind his sudden change of heart. 

Looking back, Terriban was a man full of ambition. Why would he suddenly retire? It didn't make sense.

'Was he researching perpetual cold here…' 

And the fact that he still hadn't returned meant that he had not yet discovered the reason why coldness was emanating from Isaac Morph's body.

'Hong Si-hwa. So that's why she's been able to move around freely until now—thanks to this altar.'

After completely finishing the ritual and dismissing the mages, Hong Bi-Yeon boarded her private airship and began organizing her thoughts.

Typically, descendants of the Adolevit family had difficulty living past their twenties. 

Unless, like her mother, they completely abandoned magic or lacked the talent for flames. 

However, Hong Si-hwa wasn't like that, was she?

'She's absorbing cold energy to extend her lifespan…' 

In other words, without this altar, Hong Si-hwa's pitiful life could be naturally cut short. Yet, she felt disgusted with herself for having such a thought.

Wasn't that the exact same way of thinking as Hong Si-hwa?

'I won't stain my hands with blood.'

Moreover, saying she would destroy this altar meant she would have to dispose of Isaac Morph's body…

'…That's not an option, either.'

For Eisel's sake? No, that wasn't it.

It was simply to respect Isaac Morph to the very end because she had once admired him.

'A man who sacrificed himself to protect his family, the world, and his own daughter…' 

Who could easily make such a decision? Isaac Morph, as seen in the memories of the past, was not a person to be insulted in such a way.

Crack!

Blood oozed from her tightly clenched fist. She couldn't forgive Hong Si-hwa and Queen Hong Se-ryu for insulting Isaac, but for now, there was nothing she could do.

She had to endure. 

To endure, withstand, and persevere. 

Until the day she graduated from Stella Academy. She would become queen and repay them. 

Absolutely…

———

If you hear an instructor's order to assemble early on a Monday morning, it's natural for complaints to arise.

"What are we, dogs?"

"Who does he think he is to order us around?" 

"That old geezer is so annoying."

Of course, no student would dare voice such complaints directly in front of the person in question.

Obviously.

"Everyone, quiet!"

The students of Class A and Class S gathered in the Stella Dome and looked up at Instructor Heslon, who was hovering in the air with a terrifying expression and his hands behind his back.

Although they had called him all sorts of names, Instructor Heslon was also a renowned mage who had made a significant name for himself as a war hero. Therefore, no student dared to challenge him recklessly.

"I believe everyone practiced enough by the end of last week." 

Hearing those words, Baek Yu-Seol yawned and thought to himself.

'Did I even participate in any practical training…?'

Although he had experienced more real combat than anyone, all he could remember from the past few days was skipping classes altogether.

"There's no point in doing more practice. You're tired of the boring repetitive drills, and we instructors find it uninteresting because there's no progress. Therefore, starting with Class S, we will assign real combat missions in order."

At Instructor Heslon's words, the students began to murmur. 

When he said they had enough practice, in reality, since the beginning of the term, they hadn't even had proper training. 

They did rigorous theory study in the first semester, but how much time had passed since the second semester began, and now they were already being sent into real combat?

However, this was the Stella way.

The plan at Stella was to send the higher-ranked students in Classes A and S on missions first to gain real combat experience and accelerate their growth. Then, when enough experience had been accumulated over one to two weeks, the cadets in Class B and below would be sent on real combat missions.

"Ugh, my brother said they didn't have anything like this last year..." 

"I'm confident. I can hit a running wooden dummy 8 times out of 10 now." 

"You idiot. Do you think monsters are the same as wooden dummies?"

As the best students from Classes A and S were being sent into real combat, they could expect good results, but Baek Yu-Seol thought it was all pretty much the same anyway.

'How was it in the game...?' He pondered briefly but...

'I don't remember...'

He had forgotten. He recalled it wasn't a particularly impactful episode. 

It was just a brief story before the League of Spirits began. Dark mages were involved, but it wasn't anything particularly dangerous.

Of course, that was in the original story. Reality now had changed so much from the original game that even if he knew the future, he had to be mentally prepared for anything.

'Practical training?'

While he casually listened to Heslon's words, a clear, fresh voice of a young girl echoed in his mind.

It was Leafanel.

'Oh. Practical training. Did you just wake up?' 

'Yeah. But I'm still sleepy.'

She and Baek Yu-Seol were connected by heart and soul. So, they should have been able to communicate telepathically earlier, but up until now, Leafanel had been too focused on recovering her strength.

Even when she had somewhat regained her strength, there were times when the blessing of Pink Spring Moon became so strong that it completely blocked her, making communication impossible.

But now, Baek Yu-Seol had weakened the blessing of Pink Spring Moon enough to connect his consciousness with Leafanel's.

Of course, this connection wasn't always active. 

This process also consumed a lot of mental energy, and most importantly, it depended on Leafanel being awake in the first place.

'How much have you recovered...?'

She was still corrupted and hadn't fully returned to her proper state. Recovering her strength was already difficult enough, but she also had to purify her dark mana. He couldn't imagine how hard and painful the process she was going through must be, but as always, Leafanel's voice was bright and cheerful.

'Don't worry! Since your friend found my heart, it won't take long now!'

'... Is that so?'

She was probably referring to Chelven. 

Even though he had told her several times that they weren't friends, Leafanel considered anyone close and helpful to each other to be friends. 

To her, there were only two people she could talk to, and she called both of them friends, so it was understandable.

'By the way, why did they return the heart?'

Chelven was neutral, neither good nor evil. 

In some ways, his position could be seen as similar to Ma Yu-Seong's, but while Ma Yu-Seong often ended up leaning toward the side of evil, Chelven always remained neutral no matter what. 

He was someone who avoided anything troublesome, yet, for some reason, he repeatedly hunted down specific dark mages, carefully avoiding any unnecessary actions in the process. 

He avoided being exposed to others, knowing that it could lead to further innocent bloodshed. 

'I don't know why, but I guess it's a good thing.' 

'Yeah. A good thing is a good thing!'

'So, do you have two hearts now? Like Park Ji-sung?' 

{TN:- Park Ji-sung is a retired South Korean professional football player, widely recognized for his time at Manchester United in the English Premier League. He earned the nickname 'Three-Lung Park' because of his ability to run tirelessly throughout matches.}

'Huh? No. I need to absorb it, but it's still too contaminated... Um… ' 

'Is it like washing dishes?' 

'Yeah! I'm washing the heart!'

Because she had not been in society much, Leafanel sometimes got confused with her word choices. 

Whenever this happened, Baek Yu-Seol would throw out a random word, and she would smile broadly and say it was correct. 

It was fun to joke around with her like this sometimes, but he did feel a little guilty. 

'Yawn... I'm sleepy.'

'Go to sleep.' 

'Okay. See you later…' 

Perhaps Leafanel was overcome by drowsiness again. She stopped chatting abruptly and quickly broke the mental connection, and fell asleep. 

Spending the whole day purifying dark energy, cleansing the contamination from her heart, and polishing the divine beast's heart left her no time to rest properly. 

Still, the good news was that once she completely finished purifying the dark energy, she would be able to leave her place anytime. 

Now that she had regained her divine heart, even if it was impossible to regain her overwhelming abilities from the past, she would be free to walk on her two legs outside the confines of the sacred tree as a spirit. 

No one knew exactly when that time would come, but thanks to Florin's magic, a perfect barrier had been set up around the garden, ensuring that no one would disturb her. It would likely be soon.

"Then, let's classify the types of missions."

It seemed the conversation had ended as Heslon finally got to the main point.

"First, dungeon exploration. Second, Persona Gate destruction. Third, dark mage elimination. Fourth, monster hunting."

All four types of mission were tasks that would be experienced by any magic warrior.

"The dark mage elimination is a second-year combat mission, so it is excluded. You will have the opportunity to choose from the remaining three options. You can form teams ranging from a minimum of one to a maximum of six members, but keep in mind that a teaching assistant will always supervise your mission performance."

From this point onward, the information was properly stored in the Sentient Spec.

In the original game, Ma Yu-Seong typically took on the Persona Gate destruction mission alone, Hae Won-Ryang went dungeon exploring with Eisel, and Flame... 

'Pung Harang?' 

It was noted that she teamed up with a boy named Pung Harang from Class S to hunt monsters.

'Now that I think about it, there was a character like that.' 

Since he was a supporting male character who didn't make a significant appearance until the latter half of the semester, he was barely memorable, but his impact was definitely there. 

On the last day of the first semester, when winter break started, he confessed to Flame and got rejected, earning a lot of sympathy from male players. 

At one point, the community was a sea of tears, with people saying they felt a sense of camaraderie.

'Hmm. What should I do?' 

Honestly, if it were a game, he'd think dungeon exploration or the Persona Gate would be fun, but to be honest, it seemed like a hassle. 

'I'll just go for a simple monster hunt.' 

"Commoner."

"… Huh?"

As Baek Yu-Seol was blankly reading the mission application form handed out by the instructor, Hong Bi-Yeon approached him from behind and started talking.

She wore that familiar haughty expression and with her arms crossed over her chest, she spoke to him. "Let's go to the Persona Gate."

"... Isn't it too sudden?"

"Yeah. Don't want to?"

She was radiating an aura that seemed to say, 'If you say no, I'll kill you,' so he didn't dare shake his head.

"No... I would love to. I've been eagerly waiting to go."

Anyone could tell it was a lie, but Hong Bi-Yeon seemed pleased and gave a slight smile as she nodded.

"Alright then. Follow me quickly."

"... Yes."

Baek Yu-Seol had planned to quickly finish the simplest task which was demon hunting. However, he ended up getting stuck with the most troublesome mission, the Persona Gate.