Seo Ye-in had a habit of keeping her conversations short while focusing only on the main points, which often led to misunderstandings.

And it was always my job to fill in the missing parts.

“What kind of day is it today?”

“A day to rank up.”

“Rank up? What?”

“Core.”

I found this a bit puzzling and kept asking.

“Wait, weren’t we talking about you using me as a pillow?”

“Mhmm, Kim Ho pillow.”

“Then why does your core rank go up?”

At this, Seo Ye-in tilted her head slowly to the side, as if she was wondering why I was even asking such an obvious question.

“...Because I sleep?”

“You rank up your core while sleeping?”

“Mhmm.”

Mana cultivation typically required maintaining an extreme state of focus, guiding the mana within your body along the proper pathways, and allowing it to circulate.

And through this process, you would gradually accumulate mana in your core.

Just sleeping can accomplish that?

From my perspective, it sounded utterly absurd.

But on the other hand, it was oddly convincing.

Seo Ye-in had spent most of her time with me since enrolling, and whenever she wasn’t with me, she was usually sprawled out asleep in her dormitory room.

Which is to say, I had never once seen her do mana cultivation.

And yet her [Core] rank is C.

Although it’s the average rank for first-years, it’s not something you could achieve without a significant amount of time and effort.

Never seeing her practice mana cultivation yet finding out her core rank was that high?

It didn’t add up.

I had been curious about this for a while, but...

What if her mana control is extraordinarily advanced?

If she were capable of performing mana cultivation while sleeping, something that should only be possible in an intense state of concentration, then...

Seo Ye-in’s strange growth would start to make a bit more sense.

So she’s basically a passive sloth now that I think about it.

Her core grows steadily, even if you just leave her be.

From my perspective, this was actually a rather welcome revelation.

One of the things I had been concerned about in the long term had essentially been resolved.

On top of that, as Seo Ye-in had said, “Today is the day to do it.”

In other words, it was the day she would reach a B-rank core. There was no reason to hold back on supporting her.

“Let’s go right now.”

To become a Kim Ho Pillow.

I took Seo Ye-in and moved to another spot.

***

“Today, we’ll sleep here.”

The place we arrived at was none other than the Mana Cultivation Room.

Even for a genius sloth who could automatically cultivate mana no matter where she slept, it was still better to have her rest in an environment rich in mana to maximize efficiency. R?AN??Е?s?

Especially at such a critical moment before a rank-up.

“.......”

However, Seo Ye-in didn’t seem too happy with the Mana Cultivation Room.

This space was designed mainly for “training”.

It was about the size of a single room, cramped and narrow, with a hard floor and a consistently cool temperature.

Other than the dim lighting, it was far from an ideal habitat for a sloth.

Well, of course, I can just improve the environment.

I immediately began renovating the Mana Cultivation Room.

This was all in preparation, knowing that Seo Ye-in would soon demand to use me as her Kim Ho Pillow.

I pulled out the dormitory bedding from my inventory and set up a mini heater in one corner.

In no time, the Mana Cultivation Room transformed into a warm and cozy space.

“How is it?”

“...Approved.”

Seo Ye-in’s eyes sparkled brightly.

But I still had one last ace up my sleeve.

[Hoodie of the Hidden Master (A+)]

? 150% Efficiency for Energy Circulation Training

? Greatly Enhances Sleep Efficiency

“I don’t really know much about his skills. He hasn’t shown us much, after all.”

Even during the infiltration of the temporary storage, Kim Ho hadn’t taken a direct role and had only followed along with the members of the thieves club.

He had heard from Dang Gyu-young that Kim Ho played a “key role” but what exactly that entailed had never been disclosed.

“Still, one thing’s for sure. He’s got potential.”

This infiltration of the temporary storage had involved a large number of third-years, and the situation had been extremely urgent.

Even so, Kim Ho had remained calm and composed throughout.

In the end, he had been caught by Oh Se-hoon, the president of the disciplinary committee, but even as he was dragged into the Room of Truth, he hadn’t shown any fear. Instead, he had made a bet and won.

Hearing all this, Jeong Jin-myeong’s eyes glimmered with interest.

“...So, he’s got something. I’m glad I didn’t mess with him after it was all over.”

“It was good that you didn’t respond emotionally. But don’t let yourself get too intimidated, either.”

“I know, I know.”

Whether to view Kim Ho as an enemy or to build a friendly relationship with him was a decision that Jeong Jin-myeong himself would have to make.

Jeong Chong-myeong trusted his younger brother to handle the matter wisely.

***

Flash!

A brilliant light flared, causing Dang Gyu-young to wince slightly.

It wasn’t just the blinding brightness; it was irritating as well.

Damn, that’s annoying.

She was surrounded by iron training dummies.

Their stats were set extremely high, making them impossible for most first- and second-years to handle, and even third-years would find themselves in trouble if they let their guard down.

Of course, that also meant they weren’t too hard to deal with as long as one went all out.

Whooosh!

From beneath Dang Gyu-young’s feet, shadow arms erupted and they started swinging various shadow weapons around.

The iron dummies were struck and scattered in all directions, only to bounce back up like punching bags and charge at her again.

Up to this point, there hadn’t been any issues but—

It’s going to explode again soon.

Dang Gyu-young looked up at the ceiling of the training room with a displeased expression.

To be more precise, she was glaring at the glowing orb of light floating there.

Sure enough, the orb of light emitted a brilliant flash, like a camera’s flashbulb going off.

Flaaash!

In an instant, the shadow arms which had been long and thick like a giant’s arms shrank down to the size of a child’s arms.

Some of them grew faint and completely disappeared.

Because of that, the iron dummies which should have been knocked down merely flinched for a moment. Then they quickly closed the encirclement again.

Dang Gyu-young suddenly found herself on the run.

“Ugh, seriously.”

Even as she dodged their punches in a flurry of motion, Dang Gyu-young kept grumbling.

“What am I even doing this for? For what kind of glory?”

The glowing orb had appeared ever since Kim Ho gave her the [Hardship] quest.

It would hover nearby and, as it had just done, periodically release a blinding flash of light.

In the face of such intense light, shadows naturally lost their power.

And the shadow magic Dang Gyu-young had mastered was no exception.

The fact that its power was drastically reduced was already a major problem, but the way the skill’s flow was abruptly severed was an even greater source of stress.

This really is a hardship, no doubt about it.

Kim Ho’s confidence in the quest suddenly made sense to her.

Right now, she was barely holding on. But if she could overcome this ordeal, she was sure to grow significantly stronger.

At the same time, Dang Gyu-young realized something else.

There was a reason why Kim Ho had repeatedly asked for confirmation before giving her the quest.

This is ridiculously difficult.

She had expected as much, but this truly was a hardship worthy of its name.

And to top it off, this was just the first stage.

She couldn’t even begin to imagine what stages 2 and 3 might hold, let alone what lay beyond them.

It felt like she hadn’t even climbed halfway up the mountain, yet she could already see even taller and larger peaks looming in the distance.

Even so, she was determined to overcome it all in the end.

Because I made a promise.

– Are you sure you won’t give up?

– I will do it. Whatever it takes. I won’t give up.

Dang Gyu-young reaffirmed her resolve and drew forth the shadows once more.

The shadow limbs surged like a tidal wave before crashing into the iron dummies.

Whooooooosh—!