“Luke.”
At Luke’s appearance, Lee Seo-jun called out his name.
Luke looked at Lee Seo-jun with an expressionless face, then turned his gaze to us.
Then, he stared at me with a strange look in his eyes.
Thinking he might have something to say, I waited, but he said nothing.
“Why? Got something to say?”
Feeling frustrated, I spoke first.
Luke continued to look at me with that strange gaze, then shook his head.
“No.”
He said that and then continued speaking.
“I saw your performance during the Captain Match. You did pretty well.”
Luke said, acting familiar.
If he was talking about the Captain Match, he must be referring to the first midterm test. I guess he had watched the match with Lily Rose.
“…Oh, yeah.”
“Alright, enough greetings. Let’s get ready for the training.”
The woman with curly hair standing next to Luke cut in, speaking fluent Korean.
She seemed to be a character mentioned in the original story, but since there were several candidates, I wasn’t sure exactly who she was.
Since I couldn’t recall clearly, she probably wasn’t an important character.
“Let’s do that.”
After that, we discussed the upcoming training.
How the terrorist attack would unfold and how we should respond.
That conversation went on for about five minutes.
“By the way, did you know? This terror simulation is modeled after a real-life terrorist attack.”
“Huh? I didn’t know that.”
At a student from the American Mage Academy’s words, Shin Young-joon’s eyes widened.
“It’s not an exact replica, but I heard it’s implemented to be quite similar. Of course, it’s adjusted to a lower difficulty level suitable for training.”
“Really? A real terrorist situation, huh. That’s pretty fascinating.”
Shin Young-joon muttered with a tense expression and continued speaking.
“But how exactly is the terror event going to unfold?”
At his words, as if in response, we heard another announcement.
[We will now explain the rules for the anti-terror simulation.]
[First, a map of the terrorist attack location should have been added to your Smart Student Notebooks.]
“Oh? It’s true.”
Checking the Smart Student Notebook, I found a new explanation for the training and a map equipped with GPS functions.
[If you move to the location marked on the map, you will find a ‘Mystery’ targeted by the terrorists.]
Looking at the map, an area was highlighted in blue.
It wasn’t far from here. About a five-minute walk.
[Your have four objectives.]
[First, protect the Mystery.]
[Second, keep civilian casualties under ten.]
[Third, protect your own life.]
[Fourth, eliminate the terrorists.]
“What the heck. We have to protect civilians too?”
“Well, anti-terror training is also a kind of special operations training.”
“Sounds complicated.”
[The training will begin in 20 minutes. Please be ready.]
After those words, the voice disappeared.
“…….”
A brief silence followed.
Lee Seo-jun spoke up first.
“Let’s head to the terrorist site.”
“Yeah.”
Thus, we moved toward the designated location.
“Phew.”
A giant building stood before us. On the outer wall, it said [Magic Association Mystery Exhibition Hall].
Around it were portal gates and other public transportation facilities, with many NPCs gathered nearby.
If a terror event broke out here, rescuing civilians would be extremely difficult.
“Mystery Exhibition Hall? Wasn’t that the place that got attacked in the past?”
“Yeah, probably.”
Lee Seo-jun nodded at Shin Young-joon’s question.
“But there are way too many people around. How are we supposed to keep civilian casualties under ten?”
“Now that you mention it. Maybe we should start by evacuating them?”
Clicking our tongues, we entered the building.
Following the GPS, we found a gem imbued with a purple glow on display.
As I got closer to examine it, red smoke-like waves were whirling inside the gem.
“Oh. The model’s pretty detailed. Is this made from a real Mystery?”
“Seems like it. Hmm, what items were exhibited in the Mystery Exhibition Hall again…?”
Lee Seo-jun mumbled blankly while staring at the gem.
I also stared at it blankly. The purple-glowing gem.
The moment I saw it, I immediately realized what it was. It must be a replica of the Sacred Relic, ‘Space Stone.’
The description matched the one from the original story exactly, so I remembered it clearly.
The Space Stone is a Sacred Relic that allows its user to teleport to any desired location.
Eighteen years ago, it belonged to the Association but was stolen during a Jaun terrorist attack.
Of course, after Jin Cheonwoo’s defeat, the Association recovered the Space Stone.
Currently, Chairman Kim Jin-cheol is managing it under special care.
So this must be a recreation of the Space Stone terror attack from eighteen years ago?
I looked around in fascination.
Truly, the power of Mysteries was hard to comprehend.
Poseidon and the Space Stone are completely unrelated relics, and yet the world could be recreated this perfectly.
‘Right. By the way, what time is it now?’
I checked the time.
Only three minutes remained until the training started.
Tension rose slightly.
In the anti-terror simulation, the strength of the appearing enemies scales with the participants’ abilities. And the members here were the top elites of the Mage Academy.
From top-ranking students like Lee Seo-jun to America’s number one, Luke Fallon.
And judging from the recreation of a Jaun terrorist incident, there was a high chance the enemies would also be modeled after Jaun members.
Since it was training, they wouldn’t appear at full strength, but it would still be tough.
[The anti-terror simulation will now begin.]
At that moment, an announcement signaling the start of the training rang out.
Wiiiiiing─!
Then the blaring sound of a terror alarm filled the air. Everyone looked around in surprise.
“An alarm?”
“Wow. It feels like a real emergency.”
While we stood in confusion at the sudden sound—
Kwaaaang─!
A massive building exploded in the distance.
At the same time, everyone’s eyes turned toward it.
“Oh? Let’s go!”
We quickly ran outside the building.
Kyaaaak!
The NPCs screamed and fled as if it were a real situation.
The building tilted heavily and soon debris started falling to the ground.
Judging by the scene, it was an explosion caused by an installed device, not magic.
Paah!
I maximized my physical enhancements and dashed toward the building.
Then, I cast magic to shield the NPCs from the falling debris.
“Oh. Kim Sunwoo’s judgment is impressive.”
From afar, I heard Shin Young-joon’s voice in admiration.
When I turned my head, I saw not only Shin Young-joon but also several others staring at me in surprise.
I shouted at them.
“Don’t waste time! Save the NPCs first!”
“Ah, o-okay!”
At my words, everyone focused on rescuing the NPCs first.
Even if we captured the terrorists, minimizing civilian casualties was the priority.
Meanwhile, I kept scanning the surroundings to locate any terrorists.
However, since it was a device-based explosion, it was hard to find the terrorists’ location easily.
And naturally, since they weren’t real people, I couldn’t use ‘Character Insight’ here.
“Lee Seo-jun!”
“Yeah?”
At my call, Lee Seo-jun looked at me.
“You focus on guarding the relic for now.”
“Got it.”
“Then I’ll help guard it too.”
Luke followed behind Lee Seo-jun.
With those two guarding it, it wouldn’t be easy for the terrorists to steal the item.
Trusting them with that, I concentrated on evacuating people again.
While I was deeply focused on evacuating NPCs, my ‘Killing Intent Detection’ trait suddenly activated.
I sensed a strong magic energy from somewhere.
The magic energy took the form of a spear infused with lightning and shot toward me.
Piiing─!
I twisted my upper body just in time to dodge the attack.
At the same time, the spear struck the wall, causing a powerful explosion.
Kwaaang!
“Whoa, damn.”
It was an incredibly fast attack for a student training exercise.
The destructive power was also considerable.
This opponent was at least A-rank level or higher.
I turned my gaze toward the direction the spear had come from.
There, a blonde woman was walking toward me, her long hair fluttering.
In her hand was a spear charged with electricity.
A blonde woman wielding a lightning spear.
It almost felt like looking at Bert, a core member of Jaun.
“…Wait, is she modeled after Bert?”
Still, judging from the recent attack, she wasn’t as strong as the real Bert.
If it had been the real Bert, I probably wouldn’t even have been able to react properly and would’ve suffered a serious injury.
“…Whew.”
I took a closer look at my opponent’s face.
Though the glamorous blonde hair and abilities were recreated decently, the facial features were blurry, not fully implemented.
“Oh? Over there! It’s a terrorist!”
At that moment, commotion arose beside me.
When I turned my head, six people who had seemed to be civilian NPCs suddenly unleashed magic toward the exhibition building.
Kwaaang!
Another massive explosion occurred, creating a huge hole in the building.
It seemed they were other terrorists.
Shin Young-joon, Choi Seo-yoon, Lee Hyun-joo, and the American mage cadets all rushed toward the entrance to stop them.
“…….”
Now only the fake Bert and I remained on this road.
It looked like I would have to fight the fake Bert one-on-one.
Gulp.
Even though she wasn’t the real Bert, I felt strangely tense.
Crackle!
At that moment, an electric spear formed in the fake Bert’s hand.
She then extended her hand and fired magic at me.
I responded by immediately unleashing a magic sphere.
The two spells collided midair, creating a strong shockwave.
Kwaang─!
“…Why is she so strong?”
Even though it was just training, the difficulty was way too high.
At this opponent’s level, only someone like me, Lee Seo-jun, or Luke could handle her.
“Tsk.”
If I could use the Heart of Nature, I could probably take her down easily.
But with potential incidents coming up on this ship, I was reluctant to use it during training.
In the end, I had no choice but to defeat her with my pure skills.
Knowing that a ranged battle wouldn’t favour me, I dashed forward.
The fake Bert calmly fired another electric spear at me.
I dodged it with swift movements.
The spear exploded in midair, causing part of a building to collapse.
The fake Bert flinched slightly at my movements, seemingly surprised.
“……!”
Paah!
I closed the distance in an instant.
She swung her spear at me, but I dodged again and conjured a magic sphere.
She tried to evade my attack.
At that moment, I released magic from her blind spot.
Using ‘Grasp of Nature,’ I grabbed her hair.
This was a secret technique I had created by combining ‘Choi Ilhyeon’s Martial Arts’ and my telekinesis.
“…Ack!”
When her hair was grabbed by an unknown force, her eyes widened in shock.
She even let out a short scream, indicating she could speak.
And then.
For a moment, her body was completely defenseless.
The magic I had conjured flew straight toward her back and struck her with a powerful explosion.
Kwaaang─!
“……!”
Thud thud thud.
Her body rolled across the ground.
I didn’t miss the opportunity and gathered magic energy over my hand, compressing and compressing it even further.
This would finish it.
I reached out toward her.
Paaang──!
[One terrorist has been eliminated.]
[Remaining number of terrorists: 7]
“Whew. Barely won.”
Feeling the mana draining from my body, I let out a sigh of relief.
I was worried I might get overwhelmed, but thankfully that didn’t happen.
Well, if I had to use Heart of Nature and Fighting Spirit even during a simulation, that would have been a problem with the training’s difficulty itself.
“By the way, the uses for this are endless.”
I recalled the ‘Grasp of Nature’ I had just used.
I had thought a lot about how to use this force, which was like telekinesis, and realized it was best to target vulnerable spots with minimal force for maximum effect.
Like just now—grabbing hair, for instance.
And hair, having a broad surface area, was actually quite easy to grab.
Even though I couldn’t exert much strength yet, I had successfully used it in real combat.
A satisfied smile naturally spread across my face.
“Oh, right. I still need to take care of the others.”
The fact that there were 7 terrorists remaining meant that, besides the 6 who had entered the building earlier, one more was still left.
I needed to find that last one.
I hurriedly moved out.
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