CH 45

Chapter 45: Transcendent Mock Test (2)

He couldn’t avoid the breath that was fired at the start and got blown away.

How could he dodge something that could swallow the entire Dream Academy building with Chiron sense?

Even if he dodged, then what? Seo-joon couldn’t even imagine what would happen next. That’s why he could only describe the situation like this.

<Step 1 failed.>

<Time remaining: 29 minutes and 58 seconds.>

“No, crazy, how am I supposed to do this!”

It didn’t make sense. No, it shouldn’t make sense.

Thinking about it, it was only step 1. Not step 10 but step 1.

He thought he could at least reach step 5 but even the monster that appeared in step 1 was a dragon. Not just any dragon, but Fafnir, the dragon of doom!

The dragon from Norse mythology, the Ring of Nibelung!

“Holy shit!”

This was far beyond the scope of common sense.

“If level 1 is Fafnir, then level 15 is, what, fighting God?”

If so, does that mean that transcendents can fight God and win? No. Does that mean that transcendents are gods?

“…… There are some transcendents who might be gods.”

Seo-joon was at a loss for words for a moment.

“No, but still.”

That didn’t mean this difficulty level was normal. After all, he took the test for rank 9 Swordmaster. Not the lowest rank, but still a low rank.

Since Seo-joon’s goal was to progress his lectures, not to get a grade, he thought he should at least take the test for rank 9 but he really didn’t expect the difficulty level to be this high.

“Then what are the higher ranked ‘Fifth Grade Fable’ and ‘Seventh Grade Grand Sword Master’ people doing?”

Without realizing it, Seo-joon’s respect for the Transcendents had begun to grow. He realized that if he ever had a mentor, he would have to ask him what a Transcendent was and why does the Transcension Academy train such transcendents.

“Whoa—”

Seo-joon took a deep breath to calm himself down. After repeating these deep breaths a few times, his mind began to calm down.

With a calm mind, he slowly looked around. Luckily, the academy building was untouched by Fafnir’s Breath.

“Looks like it didn’t affect anyone but me.”

That was probably not surprising, given that Seo-joon was the only one that could see the lectures from the Transcension Academy.

“What should I do now…?”

Seo-joon muttered somberly.

Regardless of the difficulty level, considering the results, he lost in less than two seconds in the first stage. Rather than significantly increasing the progress rate of the lecture, the sense of shame has increased significantly.

One thing he was glad about was.

<Would you like to try again?>

<Chances Remaining – 10 times.>

He realized that he had a total of 10 chances, not just one. Of course, he didn’t think 10 tries would make much difference.

“At least you have a conscience.”

Shaking his head, Seo-joon left the academy building.

After exiting the Dream Academy building, Seo-joon headed for a large sports field that was about three times larger than Dream Academy.

And the reason he was here was, of course, for the Transcendent mock exam. Or more precisely, the breath that Fafnir used at the start of the test.

Fafnir’s breath could almost engulf the entire Dream Academy building so if he were inside the academy building, the test would be over the moment it started.

He had no choice but to try to avoid it. Luckily, Fafnir’s breath didn’t affect anyone but Seo-joon, so a wide open space was enough.

“The question is, can I avoid it?”

Seo Jun sighed and pressed the retry button.

Then, as before, Fafnir pops out with a tremendous roar.

And

<Step 1 Failed.>

<Time remaining: 29 minutes and 57 seconds.>

It ended almost at the same time as it started.

<Would you like to try again?>

<Chances Remaining – 9 times.>

“Oh, my God…”

Seo-joon could feel a sense of shame rising from deep inside his heart.

“Come, let’s see if you win or I win.”

However, Seo-joon did not give up. With a fighting spirit that bordered on comeback, he continued to take on Fafnir.

And then.

<Step 1 Failed.>

<Time remaining: 29 minutes, 54 seconds.>

<Step 1 Failed.>

<Time remaining: 29 minutes, 59 seconds.>.

<Step 1 Failed.>

<Time remaining: 29 minutes, 53 seconds.>.

<Step 1 Failed.>

<Time remaining: 29 minutes, 56 seconds.>

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<Would you like to try again?>

<Chances Remaining – 5 times.>

“I can’t! I can’t! How am I supposed to fight that?”

After less than 30 seconds, Seo-joon threw the towel.

Of course, he knew that better than anyone, but the problem was that he couldn’t even get his lecture progress up.

He had to do something to make progress, but it was over before he could do anything, so there was no way he could make progress.

“Can I get another opponent?”

At this point, he was wondering if he could get a refund or switch to a different level.

“Ring.”

<Do you want to listen to the explanation lecture for the problem? Y/N>

<But if you take the explanatory lecture, you will lose points on your assessment>.

“Explanatory lecture?”

Seo-joon tilted his head at the sudden notification.

“Are they going to tell me how to fight it?”

Seeing the lecture would decrease his final score but Seo-joon didn’t think twice about it and pressed Y. He didn’t give a shit about the score anyway.

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[The harder it is, the simpler it is] (Instructor Great Sage)

[Let’s analyze the characteristics of Fafnir] (Instructor Siegfried)

[Right? right? No, breath! (Instructor: Four Gods, Blue Dragon.)

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“There are separate commentary lectures for each instructor.”

Apparently, commentary lectures were distributed free of charge to students who took the mock test.

“More than that, there’s Great Sage explanation.”

Seo-joon was glad for some reason since he was going to listen to “Great Sage – Ran Na Chal” as an individual lecture in the future.

“Well, maybe I can learn from the commentary lecture.”

Seo-joon pressed the commentary lecture of Great Sage with excitement.

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[This is a bit of a tricky one, since Step 1 of the practice test is Fafnir the Doom Dragon, right?]

A monkey with a giant stick appeared on the screen.

When he first saw it, he scoffed at it as an extreme concept, but not anymore. Especially now that he faced Fafnir himself.

Seo-joon focused on the commentary lecture of the Great Sage.

[But it’s not that hard, actually. A lot of students get stuck on the first pattern, the breath. That’s the beginning and the end of Fafnir. There’s not much else.]

[In other words, if you avoid the breath, you’re done. Watch].

At that moment, Fafnir appeared in front of Great Sage. It was the same Fafnir that Seo-joon had faced just a moment ago.

-Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!!!

With a tremendous roar, Fafnir appeared and immediately spewed out a breath towards the Great Sage.

Even Seo-joon, who felt it himself, couldn’t describe the pressure on the screen. However, Great Sage calmly spoke to the screen as if he didn’t care.

[Don’t even think about blocking it. It’s nice if you can, but you don’t have to, so just avoid it.]

“Kaaaaaaaah!!!”

At that moment, Fafnir’s breath approached; however, as if he had teleported, Great Sage disappeared from the scene.

[After shooting a breath, Fafnir can’t shoot another for a while, which means he’s just a lizard].

When he reappeared on the screen, he was high in the air.

Great Sage chuckled mischievously and said.

[Then what? We can simply beat it up].

As soon as he finished speaking, a tremendous burst of momentum came out of him.

“What—”

Even though I was only watching it on the screen, Seo-joon couldn’t help but tremble.

Great Sage swung Ruyi Jingu Bang (his staff) and used Meteor Fall. At the same time, a light burst out of the sky and with a huge explosion that shook heaven and earth, Fafnir exploded.

On the other hand, Great Sage lightly landed on the floor and shook its palm as if nothing had happened.

[It’s simple, right? The harder it is, the simpler it is. That’s it!]

That was the end of Great Sage explanatory lecture.

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“…is he out of his mind?”

Seo-joon spoke as he watched the frozen screen.

Was this really the ‘Commentary’ lecture? Don’t you know what the concept of commentary is?

Or is the concept of ‘Commentary’ different in the Transcension Academy?

“Or am I out of my mind?”

Seo-joon thought it might be like that.

A person who is normal alone in a crazy world was nothing short of crazy.

“Is this how the other commentary lectures are?”

Seo-joon also looked around other commentary lectures slowly. As expected, most of them were no different from Great Sage’s, especially this one.

[[Instructor: Blue Dragon]

I thought it was strange from the title of the lecture and as expected it was.

As soon as it started, Blue Dragon fired a breath like Fafnir, so he turned it off.

“How do you want me to copy that? Is it a commentary lecture for beginners?”

When he said it out loud, he thought it could really be.

“What should I do with this?”

Seo-joon let out a deep sigh without realizing it.

There was only one commentary lecture left.

[Let’s analyze the characteristics of Fafnir] (Instructor: Siegfried)

“Siegfried…”

Siegfried was the hero of the Northern European myth, the Ring of Nibelung, the master of the famous sword, and the first dragon slayer. And the dragon he caught to obtain the title of Dragon Slayer was Fafnir.

In a way he was the person who knew Fafnir the best.

“If this is weird, I’ll just quit.”

Seo-joon started Siegfried’s lecture without hesitation.

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[As you know, breath is the key to Fafnir. Therefore, the core of this problem depends on whether or not you can avoid the breath.]

The person who appeared on screen was a muscular man with spiky hair. On his back was an unusually large sword that looked like it belonged to a collection of famous swords.

[So you just need to avoid his breath, that’s the end of the Fafnir strategy].

Seo-joon was about to turn off the lecture without realizing it.

[By the way, if you’re listening to this lecture, it’s because it’s not easy, right?]

Seo-joon nodded fiercely at Siegfried’s next words. And then, as if seeing Seo-joon reaction, Siegfried smiled roguishly and said.

[In that sense, I’ll analyze Fafnir’s characteristics and give you two strategies. First, Fafnir shoots his breath at the place where he is summoned].

[What I mean by this is that Fafnir doesn’t shoot his breath at you, he shoots at the place of the summoning].

[In other words, if you press summon and move away, Fafnir will not see you and will fire his breath at the summoning medium].

[It’s a trick, but it’s probably not that hard to avoid the breath if you know that].

[Well, there will be some students who can’t avoid it, so the second trick I’m about to tell you is for them, so listen up].

Siegfried chuckled, and continued.

[Prepare a piece of gold]

“…What?”

Seo-joon thought he heard it wrong for a moment.

Gold? Why gold all of a sudden?

Whether he knew Seo-joon’s thoughts or not, Siegfried continued to talk with a deep smile.

[Actually, he became a dragon because he was blinded by gold. He’s a very greedy bastard, otherwise why would he have killed his parents to have all the gold for himself?]

[Anyways, prepare a gold piece. It doesn’t have to be gold. Just prepare something that looks like gold and throw it in front of Fafnir’s eyes at the same time as he is summoned.]

[Then he won’t use his breath because the gold would disappear.]

Siegfried then laughed out loud.

[What? You can’t solve that with your skills? It doesn’t matter whether you solve it with your skills or tricks, you just have to get the right answer.]

[Anyways, that’s all I can tell you] If you’re curious about other dragon methods, come to my dragon sword class. I sometimes share stories about dragon hunting there.]

Siegfried’s lecture ended like that.

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“…Is he out of his mind?”

After staying still for a few seconds Seo-joon went to a nearby gold and silver shop and bought a lump of gold. Of course, it wasn’t a real gold bar, just a plated piece of iron, but it looked like one.

“Will this really work?”

And the reason for the purchase was none other than Siegfried’s words.

“Oh, I don’t know. It’s worth losing anyway.”

Seo-joon pressed the retry button in doubt then the roar of Fafnir came immediately and as he was about to shoot his breath Seo-joon threw a gold bar at him.

Hmm?

Fafnir tilted his head for a moment and his attention shifted from Seo-joon to the gold bar then he rushed towards it.

“…Is he crazy?”

Seo-joon stared blankly at the scene but after a while Fafnir roared angrily because he discovered that what Seo-joon threw was not a gold bar.

“Damn!”

Seo-joon came to his senses at Fafnir’s roar.

Fafnir ran toward Seo-joon angrily but fortunately he had no intention of using his breath.

But the problem is that Fafnir attacked him with his claws, torso, and tail.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

And each of them is a fatal attack for Seo-joon.

“How can it be a lizard?”

Seo-joon avoided the attacks by making full use of Chiron’s sense but,

<Step 1 failed.>

<Time remaining: 28 minutes and 56 seconds.>

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<Would you like to try again?>

<Chances Remaining – 4 times.>

“Cough! Damn it…”

Seo-joon unknowingly uttered swear words at the surging pain.

He didn’t feel pain from the breath but the tail attack was painful.

“How do you want me to catch this?”

And just then.

<Chiron Lecture Progress 65.9% (+3.1%)>

A sudden notification sound was heard.

“…….Do you want me to make a golden armor?”

Seo-joon was deep in thought.