The Support Ate it All-Chapter 347 - 2nd Mentoring Session (4)

So when Hong Yeon-hwa opened her eyes, I congratulated her.

“You hit B-rank Core.”

“Mhmm…!”

Hong Yeon-hwa looked genuinely happy.

Her mana had increased dramatically, and in terms of specs, she had taken a big step forward.

She would now be able to fully draw out all the magic spells that had been stuck at C-rank until now.

But then, as if something had crossed her mind, Hong Yeon-hwa darted her eyes around slightly and cautiously opened her mouth.

“Um, there’s something… I’m curious about…”

“What is it?”

“Uh, Seo Ye-in right now…”

“You’re asking what Core Rank she’s at?”

“M-Mhmm…”

It was a rather sudden question, but I could understand why she was curious.

It’s probably a rival thing.

Starting from the first semester’s duel battles, Hong Yeon-hwa had faced Seo Ye-in countless times, but she had only managed to win once.

And even that had only been possible thanks to my help during the Cloud Stairs duel battle.

Every other match had ended with her getting thoroughly beaten.

And there weren’t many people who enjoyed being stuck in the role of a punching bag.

Especially since she’s pretty hot-tempered in her own way.

She was probably biding her time, determined to get back at Seo Ye-in one day.

And now, she had learned defensive magic and even reached B-rank with her Core.

She must be thinking it’s finally doable.

“……”

Even Dang Gyu-young seemed quietly interested, stopping her shadow crafting and perking up her ears.

I thought about it for a moment.

Technically, I shouldn’t be saying anything.

Whether it was your own abilities or someone else’s, disclosing the details of skills or traits was practically taboo.

That was because there was always the risk of the other party preparing countermeasures or compatibility-based items with ill intent.

But with [Core], there’s not much to worry about.

It was a trait that everyone possessed, differing only in rank, and it wasn’t hard to infer from watching replays or matches anyway.

This much, I figured, I could tell her.

Although it probably wasn’t the answer Hong Yeon-hwa had been hoping for.

I spoke casually.

“She hit B-rank a while ago.”

“Huh, when…?”

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“Before the finals. Didn’t you know?”

“Ah…”

Hong Yeon-hwa’s mouth fell slightly open, and the excited energy around her quickly deflated.

If it was before the finals, that meant almost two months ago.

That was how wide the gap between them had grown.

And in reality, Seo Ye-in had already achieved B-rank in several skills and traits.

At that point, Dang Gyu-young who had been listening nearby joined in on the conversation.

“She didn’t really stand out at the beginning of the semester, but she already cleared Core B that fast?”

“She’s just a bundle of talent.”

A passive sloth. Strong.

Even just sleeping builds up her mana; her rank shoots up several times faster than others; she picks up control techniques in no time, and on top of that, her luck was crazy.

If Shin Byeong-cheol was running and Hong Yeon-hwa was flying, then Seo Ye-in was practically a jet.

“……”

Hong Yeon-hwa’s expression grew more and more sullen.

She was already at a disadvantage against a marksman in terms of class matchup, and now she was falling behind in specs too.

Her dream of a rematch and revenge felt further and further away.

Even to me, it didn’t look very likely.

Still, I should say something encouraging here.

You never know what might happen.

Maybe an event that favored her will come up later.

And you have to be ready to seize the opportunity when it comes.

So I tossed out a line as if it was nothing.

“I even triggered Stage 3 of [Harship] for her before coming here.”

“Oh… okay…”

“But we’ve still got almost a month left in our mentoring. If things go well, you could even overtake her.”

“…….!”

Hong Yeon-hwa’s eyes lit up with interest.

Ever since I learned [Time Share], the cooldown time for Hardship had dropped to under three days.

Alternating with Dang Gyu-young meant they’d each get a turn roughly once a week.

So if she kept it going nonstop during the mentoring period, she might even reach Stage 5.

“Of course, that depends on how fast you can clear.”

“…I’ll give it a try.”

“Yeah. The cooldown should reset by today.”

“Mhmm.”

Hong Yeon-hwa nodded with renewed determination.

***

I was originally expecting it to happen sometime this evening, but the schedule moved up unexpectedly.

Right around the time I took down three summoned monsters, a buff popped up that felt a bit different from usual.

[Cooldown time has been reduced.]

When I checked Hardship, the cooldown that had a few hours left was completely reset.

I exchanged a glance with Hong Yeon-hwa and asked,

“Ready?”

“M-Mhmm. I’m ready…”

“Good. I’m using it now.”

[Activated ‘Hardship’.]

[‘Stage 2 Hardship’ has been granted to the target.]

Hong Yeon-hwa stared seriously at the quest window.

I asked again to confirm,

“It’s similar to Stage 1, right?”

“Mhmm.”

Since she hadn’t completed the derived skill yet, she’d probably be given one or two more quests similar to this.

Naturally, each one would increase in difficulty.

I asked once more,

“Want to try it alone? Or should I help?”

“I think… I can handle it on my own.”

“Alright. Let me know if you get stuck.”

If she found a breakthrough on her own after struggling, it might take more time, but she’d gain much more in the long run.

Besides, she must’ve gotten the hang of it from Stage 1, so for now, I figured she’d be fine handling it herself.

Fwoooosh!

Hong Yeon-hwa immediately cast Fire Pillar.

The rising column of flame slowly began to take on a specific shape.

After observing it briefly, I moved over to Dang Gyu-young.

“……”

As usual, Dang Gyu-young was deeply focused on her Hardship quest in a corner of the training ground.

A small cone shadow had formed above her palm.

Perhaps it was the result of days of relentless focus, but it held its shape for quite a while.

Eventually, though, it began to tremble and then dispersed.

“…Hoo.”

Dang Gyu-young took a deep breath to calm her mind.

Maybe it was because she had failed so many times already, but she didn’t even seem that angry anymore.

Then, she turned her head toward me and asked,

“What?”

“What’s your record time?”

“About… 19 seconds? I didn’t check today, though.”

That was about half of the quest target of 40 seconds.

Dang Gyu-young asked again.

“But why do you ask?”

“I just used Hardship on Hong Yeon-hwa.”

“Told her to hold out until the cooldown’s over?”

“That’d be ideal.”

If the cooldown finished quickly, it would soon be Hong Yeon-hwa’s turn again, and then Dang Gyu-young’s turn after that. In the end, everyone would benefit.

But Dang Gyu-young crossed her arms and gave me a sharp look.

“Young monarch, is it really okay to pressure people like this? I’m struggling enough as it is.”

“I know you’re working hard. Don’t feel pressured. It’s not like I’d get mad if you missed the deadline.”

“Hmph, so how many days are left?”

“Probably three days.”

The base cooldown was six days, but with [Time Share], I had cut that down by more than half. And if we added buffs from summoned monsters like earlier, it could get reduced even further.

Dang Gyu-young did some quick mental math and then spoke.

“Since I’m about halfway there… I guess it might actually be doable.”

“You’ve got this.”

“That kind of encouragement really doesn’t hit home, you know.”

Then Dang Gyu-young sharply turned her head away again.

From experience, I knew this usually meant she wanted something from me.

And since I knew exactly what that was, I stepped in close and whispered,

“Hang in there, Qyu.”

“…Seriously, I’m way too easy.”

Though she kept grumbling non-stop, a faint smile had formed at the corners of Dang Gyu-young’s lips.

***

A few more days passed.

Dang Gyu-young stood completely still with her hands raised to chest level like a statue.

In her hands, she held a black shadow cone. It occasionally trembled slightly, but it held its form firmly without collapsing.

After focusing intensely on the cone for quite some time, Dang Gyu-young suddenly shifted her gaze into the air.

A notification message must have appeared, and judging by her reaction, the contents were probably exactly what she’d expected.

Especially considering how her face immediately lit up.

“…It worked!”

After nearly a week of wrestling with the shadow, she had finally succeeded in maintaining its shape for forty seconds and completed the Hardship Quest.

She then came running over to me, clasped my hands in hers, and started jumping up and down with excitement.

“It worked! I did it! I really did it! Puhahahah!”

Then she grew suddenly aware of Hong Yeon-hwa’s gaze and stopped jumping.

Though her hands, still holding mine, were shaking with just as much excitement.

I gave a nod and said,

“Great work. Let’s move on to the next phase.”

Just in time. The cooldown had ended a little while ago.

At that, Dang Gyu-young instantly dropped her smile and said with a serious face,

“Kim Ho.”

“Yes, noona?”

“You couldn’t have let me enjoy this a little longer? You totally killed the mood.”

“The sooner, the better in cases like this.”

“A quick beating is a good beating, huh?”

Her eyes narrowed, but I played it off smoothly, like a snake slipping over a wall.

“Of course not. It’s because you are top priority.”

“Funny… same words, but it feels different.”

“Must just be your imagination.”

“You better watch your back.”

“Alright, here we go~”

[Activated ‘Harship’.]

[‘Stage 5 Hardship’ has been granted to the target.]

Dang Gyu-young began carefully reading through the quest details.

It was definitely related to maintaining form, but it seemed like the details were slightly different.

Then she looked tired and pressed her forehead.

“Ugh, my head already hurts.”

“Did something come up?”

In response to my question, Dang Gyu-young raised one hand and formed a small shadow cone.

By now, it looked like both creating and maintaining it had become noticeably easier for her.

Of course, if that were all, she wouldn’t be making that kind of face.

“They want me to catch a monster with this. A D-rank one.”

Defeat a D-rank or higher monster using shadow magic.

Stage 4 was something you did alone, so maintaining any shape was good enough. But from Stage 5 onward, the opponent was a monster.

So it means she has to use a form suitable for combat.

Like, for example, a shadow butterfly, a fist, or various weapons.

And the more complicated the shape, the harder it would be to maintain.

What made it even more difficult was,

She has to maintain it while fighting.

Even when she was standing still and focusing, if I so much as poked her, she’d end up making some weird shadow blob.

But now, she had to move constantly, exchange blows with a monster, and still maintain the shape of the shadow?

It was obvious that this would be much harder than before.

Dang Gyu-young seemed to have reached that conclusion too, judging by the completely unmotivated look on her face.

“I’m just gonna go on strike.”

“Why are you talking about going on strike?”

“Ugh, whatever. You guys do your mentoring.”

“Come on, don’t be like that. At least give it a try.”

“I said I’m not doing it.”

I gently coaxed Dang Gyu-young and led her to the summoning gate.