The Support Ate it All

Wednesday morning.

We headed to the ground floor of the dungeon building to take our midterm exam.

All the first-year students gathered in a large hall the size of an auditorium.

In the center, a large teleportation portal was open.

Of course, we didn’t need to jump directly into it. Instead, dozens of small magic circles on the floor were flickering gently.

The circles were large enough for two people to stand in, so their purpose was easy to guess.

Seo Ye-in and I chose one of the magic circles and stepped onto it.

She looked less sleepy than usual when I looked closely at her face. It seemed she had rested well the previous night.

I held a fist microphone up to her and asked,

“…70?”

Seo Ye-in tilted her head as she answered.

Although it was a somewhat ambiguous number, 70% was still something.

At this level, she should have no problem staying active at least until the evening.

When I looked around, I saw some familiar faces.

Like the small tiger Bum who was mercilessly biting the hand of Park Na-ri, a student from another class.

“Meow.”

“Bum, ouch, stop, biting.”

It seemed that Park Na-ri didn’t bring the [Cube of Life] with her. This was likely because it was an item that had no meaning if you didn’t store life-type items inside of it.

From Bum’s perspective, this was equivalent to a “three-day villa confiscation” so it was no wonder he was in a bad mood.

A little distance away, Shin Byeong-cheol was chatting rapidly with Go Hyeon-woo who was nodding his head along as he listened.

We exchanged brief glances and a light greeting.

In another corner, Han So-mi was hopping around like a rabbit with her hands on her head, while Song Chun-hye watched her seriously.

“I wonder what they’re talking about.”

In yet another corner, Hong Yeon-hwa was scolding Baek Jun-seok with a very distrustful expression on her face.

When she saw me, she paused for a moment and then shyly waved her hand with her eyes shifting nervously.

I waved back, and her expression brightened up. If she had a tail, it would be wagging.

“……?”

Baek Jun-seok who never saw Hong Yeon-hwa act like this could only look back and forth between us in confusion.

As the scheduled time approached, the homeroom teachers of each class began to appear one by one.

As expected, Lee Soo-dok was the last to show up.

This guy really doesn’t care about his students.

“We’ll start soon. Stand on the magic circles in pairs.”

The students then stood in pairs in the magic circles.

Seo Ye-in moved a little closer and gently held onto my sleeve.

Wiiiing—

Soon, a mechanical sound resonated from beneath our feet, and the softly flickering magic circles began to shine more intensely.

Before long, the ground was filled with light and the magic circles were no longer visible.

[5]

[4]

[3]

[2]

[1]

[Start!]

Flaaaash!

My vision turned white.

When my sight returned to normal, Seo Ye-in and I were standing alone in the middle of a forest.

We had entered the midterm dungeon, the deserted island.

[Kim Ho: 100%]

[Seo Ye-in: 100%]

▷Survival Items

(None)

▷Crystals

(None)

The scoreboard displayed our health gauges, survival items, crystals in possession, and charging status.

Of course, everything was blank at the moment.

“Wait here for a moment.”

“Mhmm.”

I left Seo Ye-in standing and kicked the ground.

I quickly climbed a tall tree and looked around from there.

I think I know roughly where we are.

I had memorized the geography of this deserted island in the game, and with this knowledge, I quickly determined our current location.

Compared to the other students who were merely dropped onto the island without a clue, this was a tremendous advantage.

And if you have an advantage, you should make the most of it.

I climbed down from the tree and extended my hand to Seo Ye-in.

“Take my hand. We’ll be moving quickly.”

“Jump?”

“That’s right. Jump.”

“Let’s go.”

Seo Ye-in grasped my hand and we started running through the forest.

Trees, bushes, rocks, passing animals, and monsters all quickly blurred past our vision.

Whenever we encountered troublesome obstacles like cliffs, large rocks, or clusters of monsters,

“Jump.”

“Jump.”

Bang! Bang!

We used Wind Force, Levitate Zone, and Feather Walk to leap over them in an instant.

After repeating this running and jumping several times, the view opened up and a broad rock appeared.

This was our first destination.

The place itself wasn’t special, but it was about to become special.

I pointed to the open sky.

“Look over there. What do you see?”

“The sky.”

“Isn’t that right? Now a gift will descend from there.”

“A gift…?”

Seo Ye-in tilted her head but continued to look up at the sky.

And not even a minute after I announced it,

Swaaa—

A jet appeared and quickly circled the deserted island.

Following it, large and small cube-shaped objects began to fall like bombs.

However, as they were falling, parachutes opened and they drastically slowed their descent which allowed us to clearly see their shapes.

Supply crates.

Inside were items useful for survival.

With our inventory sealed, we had to endure three days with nothing but our bare bodies.

In such a situation, supply materials were like rain during a drought, and gathering them was always beneficial.

However, the teachers only vaguely mentioned that “supply materials are occasionally provided” without specifying exactly when or where they would drop.

In contrast, I knew even that detail so I moved quickly as soon as the midterms began.

Sure enough, one crate landed right in front of us.

I removed the parachute and grabbed the crate lid.

“Shall we open it?”

“Mhmm.”

[Space Bag (D)]

[Knife (D)]

[Calorie Bar (E)] * 2

The space bag was a substitute for inventory.

The knife was an essential survival tool.

The two calorie bars were far too little to fill our stomachs.

They only included two, meaning we had to fend for ourselves for the rest.

Of course, this isn’t the end.

Since the supply crates had just fallen, everyone was probably panicking and running toward the nearest one.

That meant we weren’t too late and could try to grab another one.

I held out my hand to Seo Ye-in.

“Let’s go; we might be able to get one more.”

“Let’s go.”

Bang! Bang!

I used Wind Force once again and jumped before we soon arrived at our next destination.

When we opened the supply crate sitting there,

[Sleeping Bag (D)]

[Sleeping Bag (D)]

“We got sleeping bags right away.”

“Lucky.”

I had promised to get Seo Ye-in a sleeping bag since she couldn’t bring her tiger plush, and luckily, we found them quickly.

However, it remained to be seen if these basic sleeping bags could replace a B-rank living item.

Boom! Boom!

Explosions echoed sporadically from here and there.

It seemed students were fighting over the supply crates.

Since there were a limited number of them and they were parachuted in, it was inevitable that there would be conflict.

Whooosh!

A pillar of fire shot up from one side.

That had to be Hong Yeon-hwa, for sure.

It seemed to be closer than expected, so there was a chance we might encounter her.

“Just in case, let’s check one more place. Hands.”

“Hands.”

Although the likelihood of a crate being there was slim, it was still worth a try.

Once again, we pushed off the ground with Seo Ye-in’s hand in mine.

Bang! Bang!

We arrived at the third location while hopping along.

As we approached the distant supply crate, we almost simultaneously stopped.

“It’s already taken.”

“Empty.”

The crate was wide open.

Having already picked up two on our way, it wasn’t surprising if someone else got to this one first.

Also, the open crate meant,

Whoooosh!

There was a high probability that other students were nearby.

A swordsman and a thief jumped out from the bushes on either side.

Byeong-cheol’s friends.

They were two members of Shin Byeong-cheol’s gang and although they were in the same class as me, I barely recognized them.

So I had no intention of going easy on them.

Especially since they made the first move.

Seo Ye-in and I split up as if we had planned it. We each took on one opponent.

Ratatatata!

Seo Ye-in fired her assault rifle at the approaching thief.

Several magic bullets drilled a straight line from his abdomen to his forehead.

He collapsed to the ground in the same position he had been attacking from.

Whoooosh!

As I leaned to the side, a longsword barely grazed my shoulder.

Before the swordsman could swing again, I stepped in and grabbed him by the collar before casting Wind Force.

He lifted an inch off the ground before I slammed him down.

Thud!

The swordsman made a wheezing sound as the air escaped his lungs.

Seo Ye-in quietly looked down at him and then fired a magic bullet into his forehead.

Bang!

Soon, the bodies of the two fallen enemies evaporated.

Just like with any ground-level dungeon, the safety mechanism transported them outside.

Once someone was deemed incapacitated, they dropped all their survival items and crystals and faced a six-hour reentry delay.

This penalty could severely impact their midterms, so avoiding injury was crucial here.

And survival items were lying around where they disappeared like I expected.

They must have come from the third supply crate.

[Alarm Trap (D)]

[Calorie Bar]*2

The alarm trap was a device that alerted the user when another student approached nearby.

The calorie bars, there were two of them.

And if we were to combine the items from the three supply crates,

▷Survival Items

[Space Bag]

[Knife]

[Sleeping Bag]*2

[Alarm Trap]

[Calorie Bar]*4

“This is a good start.”

“Another jump?”

“No. Let’s stop looting the crates here.”

By now, most of the supply crates must have been emptied.

Running around actively like this would only be a waste of time, and it would increase the chances of encountering other students.

So it was better to set a new target.

At this point, the goals to consider were either to find and charge crystals or to establish a survival base.

I gave Seo Ye-in the choice.

“What do you want to do first?”

“…Crystals?”

“Okay. Let’s go for the crystals.”

“Let’s go.”

We started to move.

There was no need to hurry, so we proceeded slowly while staying alert.

While we were walking, Seo Ye-in asked me a question.

“Where do they come from?”

“Crystals?”

“Mhmm.”

“For now, we’re going to treasure hunt.”

Crystals could be obtained in various ways, one of which was treasure hunting.

Unearthing crystals cleverly hidden in every corner of the deserted island.

According to what we learned in the [Clearance] strategy battle session, the Dragon Slayer Academy instructed us to examine even the smallest details carefully.

Then Seo Ye-in pointed ahead and asked.

“Do they give them too?”

“Keureuk.”

“Keek.”

A group of goblins blocked our path.

They were hardly a threat, so I didn’t bother to step in. While Seo Ye-in fired her magic gun repeatedly, I answered her question.

Ratatatatata!

“Killing monsters can drop them, but goblins rarely do.”

I had taken the midterm exam on the deserted island countless times, and the number of monsters I had defeated reached the thousands.

Among them, cases of goblins dropping crystals were truly rare.

“So you should expect drops from stronger monsters like Beheader Goblins or Trolls, for now…”

I stopped talking mid-sentence.

Seo Ye-in had swept away the goblins with her magic bullets.

Amidst them, a red crystal was gleaming.

“It’s here.”

“…This is rigged.”