Cube created a variety of artificial terrain for more efficient training: mountains, hills, limestone caves, volcanic caves, etc. Each environment contained its own unique puppet monsters. Naturally, they also created artificial dungeons with their cutting-edge magic technology.

“Today’s combat training is a bit special.”

Kim Soohyuk announced to the 2 classes participating together. We gathered outside an eerie cave with a black tunnel-like entrance that oozed ominous energy. Indeed, it was full of traps and puppet monsters. Djinns would’ve also set lethal traps and real monsters inside. I felt myself trembling.

“Today, you’ll be entering this cave with another class as a joint training exercise. A team from each class will combine to form a larger one.”

The name of this training was Mock Dungeon Trial. Cadets formed a team of 8 to clear the massive grade artificial dungeon. Two hundred cadets would participate, so one could only imagine its size.

“Now, get in your usual teams.”

I looked for Yoo Yeonha, who nervously stared at the cave entrance. The fact that Yoo Yeonha felt nervous showed how threatening this dungeon was.

“I’m shaking.”

“Me too. Look, I have goosebumps.”

Jin Hoseung and Hazuki joined us. The other cadets also found their teams and quickly formed into 50 groups.

“Next, we’ll announce your team pairs. For the record, the cadet with the highest grade was chosen to be the team leader.”

Kim Soohyuk pressed his smartwatch and projected a hologram of the team list.

[Team 1] Veritas class – Team Kim Suho, World class – Team Jo Yoon-Ah

Kim Suho’s team joined another led by a girl named Jo Yoon-Ah. She was just a generic filler character who acted haughtily before realizing Kim Suho’s greatness. I wondered if the co-author changed anything, so I approached Jo Yoon-Ah.

[Jo Yoon-Ah — Her personality has gotten worse.]

Thankfully, that was the only change. I prayed for Kim Suho who would suffer.

[Team 2] Veritas class – Team Shin Jonghak, World class – Team Kaine

I didn’t know much about Team 2. Honestly, I had never heard of Kaine.

[Team 3] Veritas class – Team Chae Nayun, World class – Team Sven

“Huuu…”

Team 3 formed just like the novel and was the team to watch out for because Sven was dangerous. He was an international student from Germany who had a crush on Chae Nayun. Sven was an elite star in his country ever since he was young. He must’ve thought he would top Cube’s rankings in Korea, but unfortunately, Cube was filled with heaven-defying characters. Sven couldn’t come close and struggled with an inferiority complex. His pent-up frustration would explode during this dungeon trial.

The result?

Sven would sell his soul to a djinn, but that wouldn’t happen today. He would form a contract after contemplating it for a day… At least, that’s what I wrote in my novel.

My laptop alerted me of a change.

[Sven – His mental weakness has intensified. Has a significantly increased chance of contracting with a devil’s servant during the Mock Dungeon Trial.]

The keyword was during. It meant the incident would happen today. That posed a serious problem as I stared at Team 3.

“H-Hello, Nayun. I saw you in the hunting club.”

Sven reached out to Chae Nayun. His eyes filled with affection, but Chae Nayun replied apathetically, “Ah, yes, how old are you?”

“I, I’m the same age as you.”

I focused entirely on Sven as other teams were announced. I wanted to tell Chae Nayun not to treat him so rudely.

“Team 8. Veritas class, Team Yoo Yeonha. World class, Team Jayden.”

Team 8 was announced. The name Jayden sounded familiar. I immediately looked him up in my settings book. There was only a brief summary because he didn’t play an important role.

[Jayden] Typically acts strong in front of the weak, and weak in front of the strong. Has a potential of 7.5/10, enough for Essence of the Strait to scout him.

“Hello, haha.”

Jayden greeted us with a hearty laugh. He looked generically Western with deep brown eyes and a tall nose. An alert popped up on my laptop. Jayden’s setting had also changed.

[Jayden – Potential has increased from 7.5 to 8.]

His potential had increased by 0.5 points. I had assigned potential to characters so I could easily estimate their overall worth. The number wasn’t a part of this world. Kim Suho’s potential was 10 as the main character and Chae Nayun’s was 9.5. Even if one worked their entire life, it would be impossible to make up for a 0.5 point difference. This showed just how important Jayden’s half-point increase was.

“You must be Yoo Yeonha! It’s great to meet you. I’ve heard a lot!”

“Ah, yes. Nice to meet you.”

Jayden held out his hand. I wondered if Yoo Yeonha would shake someone’s hand in their first meeting. She answered my question by readily shaking his.

“Next to me are Kim Jingyu, Oh Soojung, and Lee Shuang.”

“This is Jin Hoseung, Hazuki, and Yi Hajin.”

“…?”

For a moment, I doubted my ears. Who’s Yi Hajin? Was she doing this on purpose? I’m Kim Hajin! Yoo Yeonha spoke respectfully to Jayden while his teammates listened. I didn’t know whether or not she was managing her image because she had determined Jayden’s worth, but I found it interesting.

“I’m a sharpshooter. My main weapon is a bow.”

“Mine’s my fist.”

“Mine is a shield.”

Kim Jingyu, Oh Soojung, and Lee Shuang introduced themselves. Hazuki, Jin Hoseung, and I went next.

“Swordsman. Typical, right?”

“I use an axe.”

“… I use this.”

I held up the training handgun. Although I had my Desert Eagle, which was a much better weapon, cadets were prohibited from using personal weapons. Of course, I had my Desert Eagle conveniently stored inside stigma. Since I could use stigma’s magic power at will, creating an extradimensional storage wasn’t difficult.

“Ah, you’re that guy. The one who chose a gun. I heard.”

“It feels strange seeing you in person.”

The 3 of them looked at me, but I couldn’t say it was pleasant. Their looks seemed to say, At least I’m better than this guy.

“Aren’t you wasting your gift? Or is your gift not good enough?”

That was brutally honest. I turned toward the voice. As expected, Jayden slyly smiled as no one defended me. I didn’t expect much from Yoo Yeonha, but Jin Hoseung and Hazuki didn’t say anything either.

I felt a bit disappointed, but I understood. The rumors circulating about me weren’t a joke.

Things like using my position as a Cube cadet to blackmail or rape a girl, going to Seoul every weekend to enjoy women and drink… I was practically a societal evil. After today, these rumors would surely spread even more among other classes. I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. Well, at least my SP would increase.

“Everyone, get ready.”

The team assignments ended and cadets quickly moved at Kim Soohyuk’s words.

“Go in one by one starting from Team 1.”

“Let’s go!” Kim Suho bravely shouted and took the lead. Jo Yoon-Ah followed after him annoyed.

“Yoo Yeonha, I heard you were number one among this year’s supporters.”

“Haha, really? I heard a lot about Jayden too. I think the instructors misbalanced the teams. We’re at too much of an advantage.”

“No, that’s just how the teams are. When there’s one exceptional person… I’m sure you know the rest. Yoo Yeonha clearly has baggage to carry.”

Yoo Yeonha and Jayden chatted. Even from my perspective, Jayden did a good job pleasing Yoo Yeonha without going too far. He was a good talker for a high schooler. Maybe I should have approached Yoo Yeonha the same way.

“Team 8, enter.”

Kim Soohyuk signaled our team’s turn.

***

The 8 of us walked through the cave. Our formation was perfect with 3 warriors in the front, supporters in the second row, sharpshooters in the third, and a single warrior in the last row.

After walking for a while, we arrived at a fork. There were 8 paths to choose from.

“Which path should we take?” Yoo Yeonha spoke to me for the first time.

“Jingyu, what do you think?” Jayden also asked his sharpshooter. Sharpshooters often acted as pathfinders.

“I don’t know.”

“Take the sixth path.”

I walked up and stood in front of the sixth path. However, the sixth path would likely be difficult. In truth, the difficulty of the paths was in order. The sixth path had a level 6 difficulty, but I had no other choice since Chae Nayun should’ve chosen this path. If Sven contracted with a djinn, Chae Nayun wouldn’t be able to handle him alone.

“Let’s take the sixth path.”

No matter what, I couldn’t lose a righteous character with a 9.5 potential. Not only would the future story become a mess, but it would also be a huge loss for this world.

“Huh? Who are you to tell us where to—”

“Just do as he says,” Yoo Yeonha interrupted Jayden. It was nice to know she trusted me as a pathfinder. 

“He might look like that, but his eyes are exceptional.”

“Look like what? Do you have to put it that way?” I muttered.

“I’m praising you.”

Our team walked into the sixth path.

It was completely silent with only a dry wind from the entrance hitting our backs. After 10 minutes of tension… We finally encountered a target.

“There’s a monster in front.”

The salamander flashed its terrifying eyes and flickered its tongue. It seemed to be low-intermediate rank at best from its size, but monsters that could wield the 4 elements (water, wind, earth, fire) were tricky. Salamanders used the most destructive element, which was fire.

“You can see it?” Yoo Yeonha asked.

“It’s a salamander. That should be the switch.”

The scenery should change once we defeated the salamander. A dungeon was an extradimensional space created with magic power. It might look like a cave at first, but the interior could change completely once we set off the switch. More often than not, a specific monster served as the dungeon’s switch.

“You can see? I don’t believe you,” Jayden doubtfully muttered.

“I’m telling you because I can see it. Just listen to me, jackass.”

He started to get on my nerves.

“What did you say?”

“Tsk. Quiet, both of you. Prepare for battle.”

Yoo Yeonha audibly sighed as she held up her whip.