Chapter 05 - The Test (2)

Shin Ah-yeon was a smart woman, just as Choi Ho-joong had described.

“Explain the overall context rather than the details.”

“I understand.”

She understood my words precisely and gave a perfect lesson.

Every explanation was concise, without any long-windedness, and her manner of pointing out the important parts, point by point, was impressive.

In fact, much of what she was explaining were things I already knew. And for that reason, I could feel a deeper trust in her.

Because not a single thing contradicted the experiences I had gained from numerous battlefields.

In any case, thanks to Shin Ah-yeon, I was able to get a general idea of what the Hunter License written exam was like.

“Thanks for your hard work today. I’ll be sure to keep my promise of rewarding you after I get the license.”

“You really intend to pass, don’t you, Young Master.”

“Then do you think I’m doing this to fail?”

“It’s not that, but……. the time is just too short.”

“The idea of it being too short is just a prejudice. How much do you know about me?”

“Th-that is.”

Shin Ah-yeon hesitated, unable to answer right away.

She must have heard the rumors about me.

The powerless youngest son with a terminal illness who can’t do anything. It probably wouldn't deviate much from that frame.

“What I can say for certain is that you, Young Master, are completely different from the rumors I’ve heard.”

At least she was better than Choi Ho-joong.

That guy had stuck to my side for so long and still didn’t know.

“The time you’ve dedicated to me today won’t be in vain.”

“I understand. Then, the reward you promised. I will trust and wait for it.”

I also liked her personality, not asking what the reward would be.

It would be perfect if her swordsmanship skills were the real deal.

After obtaining the Hunter License, I planned to ask my father to let me form a sword unit of my own soon.

There would be new members to recruit from the outside, but incorporating existing members of the Haewen Sword Family into my unit was also an option.

I was thinking of putting Choi Ho-joong and Shin Ah-yeon in it.

It wasn't that these two possessed outstanding abilities at this point or had such great talent that they met my standards, but that they had given me a good impression during a difficult time. That triviality was enough.

In fact, I was like that in Kalia as well.

The guys who journeyed with me until the very end. When I think about it, there was nothing particularly great about them either.

All they had done was give me a small sense of favorability.

Since Choi Ho-joong didn't belong to any sword unit, there wouldn't be a big problem, but the fact that Shin Ah-yeon was currently a member of the Moonlight Unit was a concern, but that could be settled with the Moonlight Unit's leader later.

So far, I had never failed to get the person I wanted, so there shouldn't be much difficulty this time either.

***

The Hunter Qualification Exam, held once per quarter, consisted of a total of 3 stages.

The first of these was the written exam.

It was said that a significant number of active swordsmen had been held back by this written exam.

This was because, as they only ever swung swords, they naturally ended up building a wall against studying.

“Why do we even have a written test!”

“That’s right. What’s the big deal about theory for a hunter!”

The examination hall was filled with complaints.

In fact, public opinion to abolish it was said to be fierce, but my thoughts were different.

From what I heard, dungeons were places where thousands, tens of thousands of different ecosystems appeared randomly.

If so, I thought that theoretical preparation for them was also absolutely necessary.

No matter how superhuman a hunter's abilities were, they were still just humans made of flesh and blood.

For example, a desert dungeon with a lack of water could be fatal regardless of a human's strength, and dungeons with extreme heat or cold would also be sufficient environments to torment hunters.

Therefore, it was as important as swordsmanship for hunters to acquire as many survival skills as possible.

In any case, I did well on the first stage of the exam.

There were no questions I didn’t know, so I just had to wait calmly for the second stage, which would be held shortly.

“Young Master!”

Choi Ho-joong was waiting outside the examination hall.

“Don’t call me in such a loud voice.”

“Are you ashamed of me?”

“It’s not that, it’s just that there are cameras all around. It’s no good to attract unnecessary attention.”

Earth was a truly strange place.

With a thing called a camera, one could save real-time images, and these could be broadcast for many people to see. In some cases, even people on the other side of the globe.

“Oh! It would be troublesome if people found out that you were taking the exam, Young Master.”

“Well, it’s not that troublesome.”

“No, it is troublesome. No matter how little you’ve been active outside, you are still the direct lineage of the Haewon Sword Family. If you appear on broadcast, there will definitely be people who recognize you. If you were to fail the exam……”

“That won’t happen.”

This guy seemed convinced that I would fail.

He probably had secretly concluded that I would be eliminated in the first stage.

“By the way, the written exam. Did you really do well?”

“You seem anxious that I might have done well.”

“Hey, what are you talking about.”

“Be honest. Don’t you just want to finish quickly and go home?”

“I would be disappointed if you really thought of me that way, Young Master.”

The scoring results were said to be coming out soon.

The scientific technology incorporated here was also amazing.

Through artificial intelligence, a machine, not a person, would grade the written exam; the fact that this was possible was simply marvelous.

“Young Master! The results seem to be coming out already over there!”

The screen in the waiting room turned on, and a notice was posted that the list of successful candidates would be announced soon.

“Young Master, you must be very nervous, right? I know from experience that the first stage announcement is the most nerve-wracking.”

“Ho-joong, be quiet for a moment.”

It seemed I wasn't completely calm either.

A spoonful of anxiety washed over me.

Was it because I distrusted the AI's grading method?

A nagging worry arose, wondering what would happen if the machine couldn't read the implications contained in my answers.

But that thought was only for a very brief moment.

Because my result appeared on the board the fastest.

[Registration Number 1183/ Pass/ 15 points]

“Fiftee-eeen pooooints?”

“Ho-joong, let’s be a little quiet.”

“I don’t know who number 1183 is, but that score is ridiculous!”

“Why?”

“I’ve never even heard of anyone getting a score like that on the written exam! That person’s a real madman.”

“That madman, it’s me.”

“Whaaaat?”

It turned out there was no reason to distrust the AI's grading method.

“The grading is very accurate.”

I could only admire the scientific technology that the people of Earth had cultivated.

15 points was the full score for the written exam.

It was a whopping 7 points higher than the cutoff of 8 points, and far above the next highest score of 11.74 points.

Suddenly, the surroundings became noisy, and the cameras started moving busily.

It seemed they were looking for me, but I didn't want any unnecessary attention.

In any case, nearly half of the challengers were eliminated in the first stage.

Watching them spew all sorts of curses out of dissatisfaction with the exam system, I could only let out a sigh.

If they didn’t even have the guts to prepare for a written exam of this level, their limits were clear anyway. They would be better off finding a different career path than that of a hunter, where they had to risk their lives.

A short while later, the successful candidates of the first stage moved to a different location according to the guide’s instructions.

The subject of the second stage exam was an assessment of individual capabilities.

Here too, I could feel the benefits of the amazing scientific civilization.

The challengers would put on specially made suits and enter the assessment room, where monsters created by holograms would appear.

The rules were simple.

All you had to do was defeat all these virtual monsters, relying on the one sword you were given.

Challenger number 1183, please enter room 7.

I calmly entered the assessment room.

***

The control room, equipped with a 24-panel large screen.

Here, one could observe in real-time the Hunter Qualification Exam challengers taking the second stage exam.

In fact, there wasn't much of a major task in the control room.

The assessment scores were calculated by the artificial intelligence anyway.

The sole duty of the control room staff was to check for any potential system errors or minor accidents.

For that reason, it was very rare for Department Head Yeom Jae-han to visit the control room.

But today, there was a special reason he had to come here.

“Team Leader Kim. Could you come over here for a moment?”

“Is there a problem, Department Head?”

“It’s the challenger in room 7 here. Something is a bit strange.”

“Weren’t you watching number 23? Han Ye-ji of the Muwon Sword Family is taking the exam in number 23 right now.”

“Of course, I was watching there at first too. But I happened to see something strange happening in room 7. It might be a system error, so I think you should take a look here!”

What’s with all the fuss all of a sudden? Kim Min-jae thought.

System errors were very rare. In fact, since the hardware had recently been replaced with the latest model, there hadn't been a single one.

Still, since Department Head Yeom was making such a fuss, he had no choice but to respond. With that in mind, Kim Min-jae turned his gaze to the screen for room 7.

The man on the screen was slowly walking along the path reproduced by the hologram.

His movements looked very relaxed.

As if he had come out for a stroll in a neighborhood park.

“Now watch carefully. What this challenger does when the goblins appear.”

“Yes, Department Head.”

As soon as he finished speaking, goblins popped out.

One from the left diagonal, one from the right diagonal.

The man, who had been walking as if on a stroll, nonchalantly raised the sword in his hand.

And then.

Thwack!

He stabbed once to the left,

Thwack!

and stabbed once to the right.

At the man’s attack, the two goblins’ forms immediately distorted and they vanished.

It was certainly a strange occurrence.

Because the hologram goblins were designed to disappear only when they received a certain level of impact. Typically, like the dismemberment of the body.

But it was difficult to see the attack just now as having crossed that line.

“You saw that too, didn’t you, Team Leader Kim?”

“Yes, I saw it!”

“What do you think this is? Isn’t it a system error?”

“I think the possibility of that is almost zero.”

“Why is that?”

“We conducted pre-inspections twice yesterday, and there were no abnormalities.”

“Then are you saying a goblin can just die from being poked by the tip of a sword like that? Is that even possible in a real fight?”

“It is possible. If you inject mana into the monster's body through the sword as a medium and then detonate it, you can generate a massive shock.”

“Is that really possible?”

“I think it might be possible for a 5-star hunter.”

Even as he answered, Kim Min-jae himself found it absurd.

“A 5-star hunter? Are you kidding me right now?”

“I really don’t know what to say. But it’s safe to say that the possibility of a system error is almost nil.”

“And it’s possible that a hunter aspirant is at the level of a 5-star hunter?”

When asked like that, he had nothing more to say.

It was enough to make a ghost wail.

“Bring me the application file for the challenger in room 7. Let me see what kind of guy he is.”

“Yes. I’ll print it out right away.”

A short while later, the two men could only tilt their heads in confusion.

“Haewon Sword Family?”

“Seo Ji-han……. It’s a name I’ve never heard before. If it were Seo Ji-hoon or Seo Ji-won, I might know.”

“Just by the names, they’re brothers. But did the Haewon Sword Family have a third son?”

“To be honest, this is the first I’m hearing of it too.”

“Anyway, it seems the mystery is solved. The prestigious Sword Families aren’t prestigious for nothing!”

Meanwhile.

Seo Ji-han, who was taking the second stage exam in room 7, was smiling with satisfaction.

He was able to proceed with the exam much more easily than he had expected.

‘This works?’

The monsters appearing here were hologram goblins without a physical form.

Perhaps because these things were nothing more than scraps of data, injecting mana through the sword as a medium and detonating it was as easy as breathing.

Even if only a very small amount of mana was used, it would penetrate the goblin's body without any resistance and explode with a pop.

Thanks to that, the mana remaining in my dantian still had some reserve.

Thwack-

This time too, Seo Ji-han simply poked the goblin's skin with the tip of his sword.

The mana emitted from the sword immediately penetrated the monster's body and began to stir up all sorts of organs.

And then.

Baaang!

The data exploded.

It was a really easy test.