Once again, a translucent ice spear cuts through the air flying toward me.
The floor has already become an ice rink due to Kang Hana's field magic. If I move too much, I'll lose balance and fall instead. She's drawn the most advantageous situation for herself and is attacking from all angles. Proving she didn't reach Platinum rank just with magic talent alone. Her combat sense was definitely top-tier among Academy students.
'But it's not like there's no way to break through.'
I stomp hard to shatter the ice floor beneath me. I don't need to break the entire area. Just enough space to support both feet is sufficient.
Once I've roughly created the space, I swing my sword once toward the front. Just once. It's better to avoid any more unnecessary attacks. I just need to precisely calculate and block only what will hit my body.
The ice shatters and falls to the floor as I charge forward simultaneously.
Ice spears I couldn't completely deflect graze past my arms and shoulders. But thanks to moving with precise calculations, I didn't get injured.
Does she absolutely refuse to give up distance easily? Kang Hana immediately erects an ice wall, hiding her figure. As if telling me I should prepare for the next magic.
If it were someone else, they might slow their attack or switch to defense entirely due to having their vision momentarily blocked and not knowing when the mage behind the wall might cast magic.
I've long since figured out Kang Hana's magic usage patterns. Although her magic talent is excellent, she still needs preparation time. And since she has to calculate mana as well, she can't finish casting immediately.
I charge straight forward and swing my right hand with all my might.
The thick ice shatters to pieces, revealing Kang Hana standing behind it. She seems to have just entered the final part of her incantation, with blue light flowing out. If I had been just one second faster, Kang Hana might have gotten me instead.
Unfortunately, Kang Hana couldn't make up that one second.
Kang Hana groans as my sword points at her neck. Then she dismisses the magic she was casting and slowly raises both hands.
"I surrender. Examiner-nim. It's my defeat."
"Good work, Kang Hana student."
Applause comes from the side.
"Good work! Both Examiner-nim and unnie!"
Yoo Dasom, who came first and took her 'examination,' says so.
It was literally an examination, not sparring. Yoo Dasom's current Academy standard rank is Bronze, not Gold.
Despite everyone around her discouraging it, she ultimately requested the examination herself. And the result was naturally a return to Bronze.
'Her healing ability is excellent. And her heart is firm, probably from being on the front lines. The problem is...'
The problem was, as expected, her slightly lacking crisis response ability.
Yoo Dasom's trait is Warm Frontline Angel. A very strange trait where healing ability increases the closer to the battlefield. I could roughly guess how she came to have such a trait.
Yoo Dasom isn't someone who just provides adequate healing from behind. She's a genuine healer who cares far more about the injured than herself. So when someone got hurt, she probably unconsciously ran to the front lines.
That's how she developed a trait that only I can see, unknown to herself or anyone else.
'Plus, with the trait's effects overlapping, she probably feels like healing works mysteriously better when she's in front rather than behind.'
Therefore, Yoo Dasom's crisis response ability is essential.
If she's on the front lines instead of the rear, there's a possibility that cover might get tangled even briefly. In such situations, for the safety of both the injured and herself, her crisis response ability—that is, her combat ability—must be above average.
If only that part improves, I might immediately allow her Silver advancement.
"Unnie. Shouldn't you also come to Bronze at this level?"
"You keep coming to Examiner-nim and losing. At this level, you should come to Bronze!"
Yoo Dasom giggles as she jokes with Kang Hana.
More than that, well. I don't see any particular shortcomings in Kang Hana. In the early days, there were some slightly disappointing aspects. But even those have almost disappeared recently. I can clearly feel she's been working hard.
Not for nothing is she the daughter of the Magic Tower Clan Master. Proving she's not just a case of good parents and luck. Kang Hana was running hard even without me telling her to.
'At this rate, Kang Hana would gain more from sparring with me than from the Gatekeeper trait.'
The members of the task force I'm planning have roughly been formed.
First, Lee Hyunwoo definitely goes in, plus including Kang Hana and Yoo Dasom. Then including one more person joining in the second semester would complete the original party. If possible, adding Kim Suhyeon as well is the current goal.
"Examiner-nim! Examiner-nim, you're not injured anywhere, right?"
"Yes? Ah, yes. Yoo Dasom student. I'm not."
"Amazing. Earlier during the Ice Piercing attack, you swung your sword just once and immediately charged. There was still a lot of magic left, but you just went in. I was so surprised."
When Yoo Dasom said that, Kang Hana next to her picked up the conversation.
"I felt the same way. Weren't you scared? There was still more than half the magic left."
"I was scared. But if I swung the sword more there, the speed would inevitably slow down. If that happened, wouldn't Student Kang Hana have prepared the next magic behind the wall?"
"Wow... you calculated that far? Amazing."
Yoo Dasom looks at me with amazed eyes. Kang Hana seems similarly impressed.
But honestly speaking, I actually wasn't scared at all.
I could see the path of Kang Hana's magic so clearly. I was confident that I could just swing once and pass through that gap. Rather than fear, I was just filled with thoughts of breaking through quickly.
At this time, Yoo Dasom, who had been quietly looking my way, opens her lips with a smile.
"Do you know? You've gotten a new nickname lately."
"Yes. Students are calling Examiner-nim the Academy Gatekeeper."
...I was momentarily surprised. Wondering if there was someone else besides me who could see traits. Since I can't be completely certain such a possibility doesn't exist.
"Gatekeeper. You mean me?"
"You absolutely prevent students from going to Silver, and then you block villains and protect people. They say you're amazing at blocking in many ways!"
"...Is that meant in a good way, or the opposite?"
Kang Hana tilts her head, making an expression that she's not sure herself. I'm also a bit like that, since I always feel sorry for preventing students from going to Silver. Meanwhile, calling someone 'this gatekeeper bastard!' definitely sounds like a curse.
"Probably both? Honestly, it's true that Examiner-nim tightly binds the path to Silver and absolutely won't step aside! Thanks to that, it came out that there are the most Bronze ranks since the Academy's establishment!"
Wow. This feels like achieving a life accomplishment. I renewed an Academy record with my own hands!
"One of them being Yoo Dasom student."
"Don't worry! I'm planning to go up soon! Just watch! Yap yap!"
Yoo Dasom makes exaggerated gestures, throwing punches swish swish! Though not as much as martial arts types, that level is still considered sharp.
"Examiner-nim. Um, I also have something to tell you."
"Are you also asking to come down to Bronze, Student Kang Hana? You're always welcome."
"That's not it! So... well, you're not a civil servant anymore, right?"
As Kang Hana says. Fuck being a civil servant! I quit.
Now I'm on the side of causing complaints rather than receiving them! I quit that long, fucking awful civil service life while telling my boss to eat shit!
"Now you don't need to worry about other people's opinions. So, father would like you to make time for a meeting sometime."
"The Magic Tower Clan Master."
"The reason is, as expected, that thing, right?"
The reason a Clan Master would personally want to meet is predetermined. To recruit an ability user who hasn't decided on their affiliated clan yet.
'Come to think of it, I thought it was strange. Now I'm not even a civil servant, just someone employed by the Academy. But contacts from clans have decreased even more than before.'
I think it's because my market value has skyrocketed.
Two battles with Elders, overwhelming skill demonstration in combat. Plus connections with the Kang family and the Academy Principal's trust. There were plenty of reasons why they'd be reluctant to make casual offers.
"By any chance, do you still have no thoughts about it? Clans, I mean."
"Hmm... well. Honestly speaking, I haven't thought deeply about it."
I had no choice. For me, the Academy was the gate and students were monsters. After the Gatekeeper trait emerged, I achieved tremendous growth. As a result, I've now reached a level where I can compete almost equally with Elders.
However, I do feel like growth has been slowing down recently. Despite continuing examinations to reach the question mark in required numbers, not only were there no trait changes, but even numerical changes didn't occur.
I don't know the exact reason, but I was predicting two possibilities. One is that the students' level is still insufficient to affect the trait. The other is that the students' level is fine, but I've grown too much.
'Whatever it is, there's no reason to refuse change in this situation.'
I'll probably go ask Ma Hakjun first, then make a decision. If there happens to be a condition that Academy employees can't join clans, it could be troublesome for me as well as Kang Hana and her father.
"Don't be too disappointed, Kang Hana student."
"Actually, I've been thinking deeply about clan-related matters lately too. However, I need to ask the Principal once, and there shouldn't be any disruption to Academy work."
"Father will coordinate that part well! He already said so!"
Since Kang Hana says that, I trust it for now. I heard he even came to visit the hospital several times when I was there.
"Then how about this evening?! He happens to be free today!"
What? Why is she so enthusiastic? I looked at Yoo Dasom wondering if she knew something. But Yoo Dasom just chuckled and shrugged her shoulders.