It’s an Academic Fact That Rankers Are Model Students – Chapter 33

Chapter 33: How a Second-Place Science Student Clears a Dungeon (1)

[Toxic fumes are penetrating your entire body]

▶Status Abnormality: Poisoned (1 stack)

▶HP decreases by 0.13% every second.

▶Damage taken from poison monsters is increased by 13%.

The reason why Contaminated Underground Villa is a unique dungeon.

It was because of the poisoned status effect.

Your HP continuously decreases just by being in the dungeon.

And that’s not all.

Poison can stack.

All the monsters here attack with poison.

And the higher the number of poison stacks, the more damage you take from poison monsters.

The poison that stacks up over time will become stronger and instantly take your life.

[Water attribute affinity is over 50.]

[Resisted.]

[Status effect 『Poisoned』 has been removed.]

“Ugh……! This totally smells like a sewer!”

Poison magic originally belongs to the water attribute attack category.

Kyung-joon, who made a contract with a spirit and had a water affinity of over 50.

Unfortunately, poison attacks didn’t work well on him.

<Master, no matter how high your water affinity is, constant exposure to poison is not good for your health. How about asking Bangwool for continuous purification?>

“Yeah, that’s a good idea.”

[Rare skill 『Summon Water Spirit (Lv.1)』 ]

Kyung-joon used his skill to summon Bangwool.

Undine Bangwool, a true water spirit even if it’s a low-level one.

Bangwool should be able to do something about poison magic, which is also of the water attribute.

━Mumul……?!

[Bangwool covers his nose at the terrible stench.]

“Bangwool, I have to clear this dungeon, but I keep getting poisoned. Is there any good way?”

━Mumul!

[Bangwool says this much poison is nothing.]

Bangwool jumped towards Kyung-joon.

[Bangwool casts the rare skill 『Water Shield (Lv.1)』 on you.]

▶Continuously defends against poison status effects.

▶Reduces all physical and magical damage taken (small).

※Water Shield will be removed if you give Bangwool another command.

Bangwool formed a round water barrier around Kyung-joon.

Soon, the green stench inside the barrier disappeared and was replaced with fresh air.

“Phew, that’s better.”

Kyung-joon looked around at the improved air.

A huge waterway flowed through the underground to the river outside.

<It seems that the underground waterway, along with the Underground Villa, has been turned into a dungeon.>

“I think so.”

Green liquid was floating in the water of the waterway.

It was contaminated.

The NPCs in the Beginner’s Village use this river for drinking water and agricultural purposes.

The quest objective that half of the NPCs would be killed if the dungeon wasn’t cleared within a week was also due to this contaminated water.

“What? Did Siri’s father do all this?”

<There are many scenarios that come to mind, but I think it’s best to go and see for ourselves.>

“Yeah. There must be a connection between the waterway somewhere and the Underground Villa.”

The underground waterway, which was as intricately intertwined as a very complex maze!

The first mystery is where to go from here to reach the Underground Villa.

Of course, it wasn’t a very difficult mystery for Kyung-joon.

“Teemo, let’s go in the direction the contaminated water is flowing.”

<Is the Underground Villa in that direction? Ah, I understand. How wise of you.>

Kyung-joon’s thought was simple.

The Underground Villa is the culprit that contaminated the waterway.

In the first place, the name of the dungeon was ‘Contaminated Underground Villa’.

It was only natural to think that if you followed the direction the contaminated water was flowing, you would find the Underground Villa.

“Can you guide me?”

<Of course.>

Kyung-joon, following Teemo’s guidance, made his way deep into the waterway without getting lost.

How long had he been walking?

The point came where the contaminated water floating in the waterway instantly changed from green to yellow.

<Master, enemies.>

Gulp, gulp!

A dangerous-looking group of dark yellow slimes flowed out from both walls.

<Displaying analyzed information.>

Teemo displayed a status window in front of Kyung-joon.

It was one of Teemo’s basic abilities, target analysis.

[Sulfuric Acid Slime]

▶A slime of sulfuric acid with strong acidity. It corrodes even weapons made of steel, rendering them unusable in an instant. I don’t need to tell you what will happen if its bodily fluids touch your skin…….

▶Level: Lv.143

▶Attribute: Water

▶Characteristics: Equipment Corrosion, Physical Attack Immunity

Gulp, gulp!

Sulfuric acid slimes pouring out from the walls endlessly!

There were already over a hundred of them.

If he just stood there and watched, he would be surrounded by sulfuric acid slimes and melt to death.

[Mythical skill 『Dimensional Study Room』 ]

▶Time Dilation: 2.0x

As Kyung-joon turned on the Dimensional Study Room, the surrounding time instantly slowed down by a factor of two.

He had bought himself time to react.

Naturally, he had already thought of a way to deal with them the moment he saw their name.

“I was just on my way to get a general chemistry book, and here I am, conducting chemistry experiments.”

Kyung-joon took out a white powder from his inventory.

It was salt he had used to make bread.

He poured it all into the contaminated water flowing by and put his hand in.

An act that would have melted anyone else’s hand instantly.

But Kyung-joon, thanks to Bangwool’s Water Shield, only had to consume a little more mana.

Concentrating mana in his hand, Kyung-joon thought.

‘Dissolve salt in water to create sodium ions. Then combine water molecules with it. The number of sodium ions, water molecules, and electrons needed for the combination is 2:2:2…!’

[Rare skill 『Fine Mana Manipulation (Lv.3)』 ]

[Advanced skill 『Spell Modification (Lv.4)』 ]

[General skill 『Energy Bolt (Lv.8)』 ]

[Rare skill 『Multi-Casting (Lv.1)』 ]

Control each and every atom in the water with Fine Mana Manipulation to combine them.

Supply the energy needed for the combination using Energy Bolt and Spell Modification.

Finally, perform the above process in parallel using Multi-Casting.

This was the explanation of what Kyung-joon was currently doing.

If that’s still too long, it can be summarized in one line:

『2Na (+) + 2H2O + 2e (−)』

[You have created the Unique skill 『Rain of Sodium Hydroxide』.]

[You have created new knowledge.]

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

Finally, Kyung-joon took his hand out of the contaminated water.

In his hand was a sphere of water the size of a human torso, so transparent that he could see through it.

Could this really be water drawn from contaminated water?

It was so alluring that he wanted to drink it right away.

Unfortunately, he couldn’t do that.

If he drank that water, his throat would melt before he could quench his thirst.

Because that was not ordinary water, but ‘sodium hydroxide’ with strong basicity.

“Goodbye, yellow guys.”

Kyung-joon threw the sphere of sodium hydroxide up to the ceiling.

Then, with a bang, it exploded and it began to rain all around.

It was a super-strong alkaline rain made of 50% pure sodium hydroxide solution.

It wasn’t that he couldn’t make it 100%.

He knew from his studies that it didn’t become alkaline unless mixed with water.

Sizzle!

As soon as the sulfuric acid slimes touched the rain of sodium hydroxide, they began to melt away.

Neutralization reaction.

The strongly basic sodium hydroxide and the strongly acidic sulfuric acid slimes met and turned into ordinary water.

Before long, the rain stopped.

The sulfuric acid slimes, which had easily numbered over a hundred, were all killed instantly.

Also, the surrounding yellow contaminated water had all been neutralized and turned into ordinary water.

[You have gained 4,066 experience points.]

[You have gained 4,066 experience points.]

[Level up!]

[You have gained 4,066 experience points.]

[You have gained 4,066 experience points.]

[Level up!]

[You have gained 4,066 experience points.]

.

.

.

[Kyung-joon: Lv.19→Lv.41]

Kyung-joon, who gained over 20 levels at once.

It usually takes a month to level up from level 20 to 40.

But Kyung-joon gathered mana, created a skill, and used it, all in a total of 7 seconds.

Since the Dimensional Study Room was activated, the actual time elapsed was 3.5 seconds.

That’s right.

Kyung-joon had leveled up in just 3.5 seconds, a level that others would spend a month grinding for.

It was a super-fast leveling that no one in The World could compete with.

“I was a little nervous because it’s a level 143 monster in a unique dungeon, but it’s nothing special.”

Of course, it was only like that for Kyung-joon.

Originally, when other wizard rankers attack slimes, they wipe them out all at once with powerful fire magic.

This is where the problem arose.

Sulfuric acid slimes are not ordinary poisonous slimes.

When they evaporate from fire magic, they release sulfuric acid gas, which is even more dangerous than poison.

What if over a hundred sulfuric acid slimes all turned into sulfuric acid gas?

Even a ranker would surely suffocate to death in an instant.

And that’s not all.

What happens when powerful fire magic meets high-concentration sulfuric acid gas from a hundred slimes?

The answer is an unprecedentedly powerful explosion.

The wizard ranker, who exploded with a bang, wouldn’t even understand why he died.

If the wizard ranker knew a little chemistry like Kyung-joon, he might have come up with a different way to deal with it.

Thus, only Kyung-joon could synthesize sodium hydroxide in the game and make it rain like he just did.

“Shall we go in then? Lead the way again, Teemo.”

<Leave it to me.>

<ㄱ_ㄱ!>

Kyung-joon proceeded to clear the unique dungeon ‘Contaminated Underground Villa’ without any difficulty, rather as if he was reviewing chemistry.

🔷🔷🔷🔷🔷🔷

“What! In! The! World! Is! That! Craziness!”

“T, Team Leader! C, Calm down! You’re going to pull out all your hair!”

The head of the 10th branch, who was watching Kyung-joon’s dungeon clearing, went crazy, beyond just being surprised.

It was a unique dungeon that even rankers over level 200 had to prepare thoroughly for.

But Kyung-joon, who was level 19?

He suddenly sprayed water and instantly wiped out a hundred level 143 sulfuric acid slimes.

What could this be if not a bug?

“Bug! It’s a bug! It’s a bug! We have to ban him right now! Right now……! Argh!”

“Please calm down! Team Leader! It’s not a bug! It’s chemistry, chemistry!”

“Chemistry, what’s that, you fool! Explain!”

At the team leader’s shout, Kim Bu-ha desperately tried to recall the chemistry knowledge he had learned over 10 years ago.

“Well, he took care of the sulfuric acid slimes with sodium hydroxide…… Sulfuric acid is a strong acid, and sodium hydroxide is probably strongly basic……? Like lye? So, you see…… It was neutralized. Simply put, it’s a counter.”

“The counter for water attribute slimes is earth attribute! Earth, I tell you, earth! Why is he using sodium hydroxide or whatever to deal with them!”

What is the beauty of fantasy games?

Isn’t it the diverse strategies through magic, swordsmanship, and various items?

But there was no trace of fantasy in Kyung-joon’s gameplay.

He was like a walking chemistry textbook.

“If it’s a fantasy game, solve it like a fantasy, please! What’s the point of learning magic if he’s not going to use it!”

“The skill Kyung-joon just used was also magic…… It’s called Unique skill ‘Rain of Sodium Hydroxide’……”

“What did you say, Kim Bu-ha?”

“N, Nothing, sir!”

At the team leader’s murderous gaze, Kim Bu-ha immediately stood at attention.

Seeing this, the team leader let out a deep sigh…….

“Neutralization…… That reminds me. Let’s have Chinese food for a late-night snack. Call and order it right now, you fool. Sweet and sour pork, fried dumplings, jajangmyeon, jjampong, everything!”

“Yes, sir!”

Kim Bu-ha immediately took out his phone and started calling a Chinese restaurant.

Then a thought suddenly occurred to him.

“Um, Team Leader? But at this rate of dungeon clearing, wouldn’t we not need to work a week of non-stop overtime?”

“……Is that so?”

The one-week non-stop overtime that was triggered because of Kyung-joon.

But now it seemed that it would be canceled because of Kyung-joon again.

“I don’t know if I should be happy or sad about this. He’s really giving us both good and bad news……”

In fact, Kyung-joon was no different from the real power that controlled the 10th branch monitoring team.

“Hey, Bu-ha, just order the food. I’m hungry.”

“Yes, sir.”

Anyway, they still had to monitor Kyung-joon throughout the night.

Besides, the team leader still had one card up his sleeve.

‘The flower of dungeon clearing is the boss fight. No matter how good Kyung-joon is, such strange tactics won’t work on the boss!’

It’s not a unique hidden dungeon for nothing.

It wouldn’t be defeated as easily as those sulfuric acid slimes.

Surely Kyung-joon would struggle too!

‘……Right? Please!’

The team leader desperately hoped that would be the case, for the sake of game balance.

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