It’s an Academic Fact That Rankers Are Model Students – Chapter 5

Chapter 5: How a Studious Student Uses Skills

<^o^>

<You’ve worked hard.>

“Yeah, you too. It must have been tough teaching a clumsy student like me.”

<Don’t say that. You’re not clumsy at all.>

I’ve studied carpentry enough.

It’s time to stop studying theory and start studying in practice.

After all, anything is just armchair theorizing if you only read about it and don’t try it yourself.

Kyung-joon opened the blueprint he had gotten from the carpenter.

[Carpenter’s Sturdy and Durable Ash Wood Chair Blueprint]

▶Required Materials: 5 Ash Wood, 5 Beeswax, 5 Bronze Ingots

“Free bread, free blueprints… the NPCs are so nice, right?”

<^_^;;;>

<If Master feels that way, then I’m sure it’s true.>

Actually, the carpenter had initially refused, saying he couldn’t just give away his blueprints.

However, Kyung-joon visited the workshop every day and sat in the chair he liked, reading books ferociously while muttering to himself, so the carpenter had no choice but to reveal the blueprint.

Of course, Kyung-joon was just studying in the chair he liked.

And the muttering wasn’t actually muttering; he was just talking to Teemo.

“But after sitting for a while, I realized that the carpenter’s chair is comfortable, but not really suitable for studying.”

<Then, additional research will be needed when making it.>

“Right. First, I need ash wood, beeswax, and bronze ingots as materials… So that’s logging, gathering, and mining, right? I need to buy an axe and a pickaxe.”

<You probably won’t need to buy a pickaxe. You’ll need to buy bronze ingots instead.>

“Huh? Why?”

<Unfortunately, there are no mines near the Beginner’s Village. The blacksmith here also relies mostly on merchants for materials.>

“Oh, I see.”

So now, what Kyung-joon had to do was reduced to two things.

Logging ash wood and collecting beeswax.

“Speaking of which, how do you collect beeswax?”

<Beeswax is obtained with a certain probability when collecting beehives from trees.>

“Aha.”

He didn’t know if it was the same in reality, but it seemed to be that way in the world.

<There is an ash wood habitat east of the Beginner’s Village. You can do both logging and gathering there. There are no particularly dangerous monsters, and no aggressive monsters either, but…….>

“But?”

<Θ_Θ>

Teemo made an emoticon of cold, salty eyes while looking towards the eastern forest.

<……There have been strange rumors lately. I’ve organized them based on what I heard while Master was concentrating on studying at the carpentry workshop. Would you like to hear them?>

“Tell me.”

<Yes, they say that if you wander around the ash wood habitat, you’ll lose consciousness and collapse. And when you open your eyes, your whole body is wet.>

“Hmm. Maybe it’s because it’s ‘water’ ash wood that you get wet.”

<^^;;;>

<If Master says so, then I’m sure that’s it.>

Putting aside Teemo’s awkward recovery, a new status window popped up in front of Kyung-joon as soon as he heard those words.

Ding!

[You have met the requirements for the Natural Quest 『The Eerie Rumors of the Beginner’s Village』.]

[A quest has been issued.]

[The Eerie Rumors of the Beginner’s Village]

▶Recently, there have been a series of incidents where people have been fainting without knowing why in the ash wood habitat, east of the Beginner’s Village. And they say that when they wake up, their whole body is always wet…….

▶Quest Reward: Something related to water

▶Quest Type: Natural

▶Quest Grade: Rare

“A Natural quest, and a Rare one at that… Is that good?”

<Natural quests can only be received by a limited number of people who meet the conditions. Usually, you have to ask around to get them. And since it’s Rare, it’s a rare quest.>

There were others besides Kyung-joon who had received this quest.

Of course, that person had to ask around himself to get the quest.

But Kyung-joon didn’t have to go through such trouble because Teemo had made inquiries on his behalf.

“Hmm. The reward is something related to water. Is it because it’s ‘water’ ash wood?”

<^^>

Teemo just smiled silently with an emoticon at Kyung-joon’s silly joke.

🔷🔷🔷🔷🔷🔷

[Kyung-joon]

▶Job: Infinite Knowledge Seeker

▶Race: Human (Player)

▶Level: 1

▶Experience: 0%

▶HP: 240/240

▶MP: 214/770

▶Strength: 10→23 Agility: 10 Intelligence: 117 Stamina: 10→24 Mana: 77

▶Remaining Stat Points: 0

While Kyung-joon had cut down nearly 50 trees to obtain materials for his chair, his Strength and Stamina stats had each increased by more than 10.

Also, thanks to his hard work studying, his Intelligence and Mana stats had also noticeably increased.

Particularly noteworthy was Kyung-joon’s Intelligence stat, which was starting to exceed 100.

Even players at level 30-40 couldn’t exceed 100 unless they were wizards who focused on Intelligence.

It wasn’t a stat that Kyung-joon, a level 1 beginner, should have.

[Ash Wood: 49 pcs]

“Just one more tree to cut down and I’m done. I’m glad I’m finishing this today. I was going to start preparing for midterms soon anyway.”

Less than two weeks left until midterms!

Kyung-joon was planning to make a chair much better than the library chair and then immediately start preparing for midterms.

<Master’s logging method seems to be about 1.5 times faster than the usual logging method.>

“Oh, really? Gravity is amazing.”

Kyung-joon, who had recently been studying inclined plane problems in Physics 1, had an idea.

From then on, Kyung-joon only cut down trees from a slightly inclined position.

He thought this would allow him to incorporate the force of gravity into his axe.

This method worked surprisingly well, and he was able to cut down 49 trees in less than a day.

His goal was 50 trees, so now he only had one left.

“Alright, for the last one, I’ll give it my all…! Uh, uh……?”

[The effect of 『Water Sleep』 infuses your body with the energy of calm water.]

[Status Abnormality: Sleep]

The water magic 『Water Sleep』!

A representative water attribute debuff magic, it’s a skill that lulls the target to sleep by releasing water vapor containing drowsiness!

That very water vapor of drowsiness began to seep into Kyung-joon’s entire body.

“Oh no… I can’t sleep, exams are coming up… I have so much to do…”

Kyung-joon started to fall asleep instantly…

[Intelligence is higher than the skill caster.]

[Resisted.]

…and woke up just as quickly.

“Whoa, I almost fell asleep. What was that?”

Kyung-joon came to his senses and looked around.

He immediately spotted something he hadn’t seen before.

━Wawawa?!

There was a small, water droplet-like creature.

🔷🔷🔷🔷🔷🔷

“That’s…”

<That’s a spirit. A lower water spirit, an Undine.>

“A water spirit… Could it be that it’s the culprit behind that Rare quest?”

Kyung-joon examined himself.

His whole body was soaked from the Water Sleep he had just resisted and overcome.

It wasn’t unpleasant; in fact, he had been sweating, so it was rather refreshing and pleasant.

“But why did it try to put me to sleep?”

[General Skill 『Energy Bolt (Lv.3)』 ]

[A skill that condenses mana into a sphere and fires it forward.]

Wooong!

Mana gathered in Kyung-joon’s hand, forming a sphere.

He aimed it at the Undine in front of him, thinking,

‘It’s just a threat for now, so there’s no need to shoot it right away, right?’

He needed to delay the magic for a moment and fix it in place.

‘According to magic theory, mana consists of mana transmitters and mana fixation cores, so if I control them properly…’

Normally, Energy Bolt should have shot out as soon as he used the skill.

But the Energy Bolt that Kyung-joon created didn’t shoot forward and remained fixed in his hand.

[Learned Advanced Skill 『Spell Delay』.]

[3 hours have been added to the Dimensional Study Room.]

[Spell Delay]

▶Allows you to delay the activation of a spell by fixing mana in place. The higher the skill level, the more complex the spell it can be applied to.

▶Skill Level: Lv.1

▶Skill Type: Passive

▶Skill Rank: Advanced

The Advanced Skill 『Spell Delay』, which wizards can only learn after level 50!

It’s one of the most popular skills that wizards try to learn by any means as long as the conditions are met.

Being able to cast a spell in advance and have it on standby is extremely important in all areas from raids to PvP, where a split second can make all the difference in battle.

Kyung-joon had just replicated such a skill without even a skill book, simply by applying what he had learned.

━Mumumu?!

The Undine was greatly flustered, seeing the Energy Bolt aimed at it!

It was flustered because of the amount of mana gathered in the Energy Bolt.

It had already been determined when Kyung-joon resisted the Water Sleep, but his Intelligence and Mana were higher than the Undine’s, a lower spirit!

“Now, why don’t you tell me why you tried to put me to sleep?”

Kyung-joon threatened the Undine.

Surrender or attack.

Kyung-joon didn’t let his guard down, watching closely to see which stance the Undine would take.

However, the Undine’s choice was neither surrender nor attack.

Instead, a status window suddenly popped up in front of him.

[You have been recognized by the lower water spirit Undine.]

[Completed the Natural Quest 『The Eerie Rumors of the Beginner’s Village』.]

[You have been given the opportunity to contract with the Undine.]

The quest was suddenly completed, and he was given the opportunity to contract with the Undine.

[You will be able to communicate with the Undine for a short time.]

━Mumumul…!

“Hmm?”

The Undine shook its small, water droplet head rapidly, waving its hands in front of it.

It seemed to be pleading with him not to shoot.

[The Undine asks you to wait a moment.]

Kyung-joon nodded, looking at the additional explanation in the status window.

Then he asked…

“So why did you try to put me to sleep?”

━Mumumul! Mul!

[The Undine asks you to look up at the tree.]

Despite the Undine’s plea, Kyung-joon didn’t turn his head and kept the Energy Bolt aimed at it.

“Teemo, go take a look.”

<Understood, Master.>

Teemo checked the tree instead of Kyung-joon.

And quite interestingly…

<Master, I understand why the Undine tried to put you to sleep. Deep between the branches, there’s a beehive. And it looks like a giant hornet’s nest.>

“Whoa.”

<If you had continued logging, the hive might have fallen and seriously injured you. I’ve heard that quite a few people have died from giant hornet stings after letting their guard down in the Beginner’s Village.>

“So the Undine wasn’t trying to attack me, but to save me by putting me to sleep?”

━Mumu!

[The Undine nods, saying that you are correct.]

Kyung-joon looked a little surprised.

Come to think of it, the quest description only mentioned that he had fainted and gotten wet, but it didn’t say anything about him dying or getting hurt.

<Spirits generally don’t reveal themselves to humans. That’s probably why the rumors were so vague.>

“I see. So I actually received help.”

Kyung-joon canceled the Energy Bolt skill and approached the Undine.

━Mumul…?

The Undine was momentarily wary of Kyung-joon’s sudden approach, but then stopped.

Pat, pat.

It was the first time he had touched the Undine’s water droplet head.

Kyung-joon thought the cool sensation felt strangely pleasant.

[The Undine’s guard is lowered.]

━Muul~

“Thank you for saving me. You’ve saved many others besides me. Good job, good job.”

-Muul~

“I’ll take care of the beehive from now on, so you can rest, okay? I need to collect beeswax anyway.”

-Muul?

[The Undine asks if you have the ability to deal with the giant hornet’s nest.]

※If you fail to prove your ability, you may lose the opportunity to contract.

“Okay. I’ll show you right now.”

Kyung-joon gathered Energy Bolt in his hand again, this time aiming it at the giant hornet’s nest instead of the Undine.

‘If I shoot it too weakly, the giant hornets inside the hive might not die, and if I shoot it too strongly, the hive might be destroyed and I won’t be able to get the beeswax…’

Kyung-joon recalled his experience of dealing with a beehive on his apartment balcony.

‘Back then, I covered the entire hive with thick vinyl in one go.’

Wooong.

Kyung-joon adjusted his mana and transformed the Energy Bolt into a dense net shape.

The principle was similar to when he learned ‘Spell Delay’.

A technique made possible by his proper study of magic theory!

[Learned Advanced Skill 『Spell Modification』.]

[3 hours have been added to the Dimensional Study Room.]

[Spell Modification]

▶Allows you to modify a spell according to the caster’s will by adjusting mana. The higher the skill level, the more complex the spell it can be applied to.

▶Skill Level: Lv.1

▶Skill Type: Passive

▶Skill Rank: Advanced

Fwoosh!

The net-shaped Energy Bolt flew out and covered the beehive.

Bzzzt!

The giant hornets, startled by the impact of the falling hive, immediately rushed out.

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