Chapter 21: Allied Conquest.

“Are you okay? That must hurt a lot….”

As I looked at him with a worried expression, Moon Cheol-woong bit his lip and shouted.

“Y-You did it on purpose! Don’t play dumb!”

I replied to Moon Cheol-woong with a genuinely confused look.

“Did I do it on purpose? Why would I do that to you?”

Seeing my innocent expression, Moon Cheol-woong seemed to get even angrier, trying to shout something back, but the instructor, Son Sae-bom, who was standing in front of us, intervened.

“Please stop fighting too much. Moon Cheol-woong, it would be best if you calmed down. I was watching the whole thing.”

Moon Cheol-woong had tried to trip me first. Son Sae-bom, having observed that, looked at him with a look of disdain.

“Such a nuisance.”

Only after Son Sae-bom said that did Moon Cheol-woong step away from me and return to his position. However, he was still glaring at me.

‘What’s he going to do by glaring at me?’

I acted casually in response to his childish behavior. And based on this incident, I decided to slightly change my approach going forward.

‘It’s good to openly suppress him, but pretending to be innocent like this can be effective too. It even seems like I’m the one getting wronged.’

In the future, some people would likely pick fights with me just like now. This is because there are quite a few followers of Yoo Hee-yeon and the children of guild leaders who have received money from her parents at this academy. Thus, conflict is unavoidable. If conflict is unavoidable anyway, I won’t shy away from it. However, if I respond too aggressively, those who aren’t even part of Yoo Hee-yeon’s faction might also start avoiding me. I didn’t want that.

‘Even if they are in F-Class, there are some who have great potential. If I can find and befriend those like precious gems, they could be useful later on.’

Even among students in F-Class, there are some with very high growth potential. For instance, some are destined to reach Epic rank or higher but are currently unable to awaken their abilities due to lack of skills or circumstances, or they may have fallen behind because they don’t know the way or method to grow.

‘I need to bring useful people to my side.’

I needed to build up my allies, even if they are not directly loyal followers, while I was in F-Class. This way, I might have a chance to win, even slightly, in the upcoming battle against Artemis and Hilleon.

Yoo Hee-yeon, who relentlessly cornered me and even pushed for my suspension despite it not being my fault. Artemis, who simply listened to her words, and Hilleon, who framed me for a crime when I was completely innocent. I have no intention of letting any of them go unpunished. They are the ones who destroyed my ordinary life, so they will receive the appropriate consequences. Not from the law, but from me directly.

‘To do that, I also need to build a faction.’

Artemis, the top guild in the country, and Hilleon, the criminal organization—there are countless individuals associated with them. No matter how strong I become, it’s impossible to take them on alone. So, I needed my own power. A faction that would trust and follow me, like Jeong Eun-seo. I could later gather my forces to establish a guild, and there are various ways to utilize them, so there was no downside to creating my own allies.

From now on, I needed to act a bit more like a good person. After all, people tend to want to follow a benevolent ruler rather than a tyrannical one.

So, my current behavior is not strange at all.

• Step, step, step

After hearing instructor Son Sae-bom’s suggestion to sit in an empty spot, I naturally moved next to a girl. I soon struck up a conversation with her.

“Nice to meet you, I’m Lee Hyun-seung, the new student in F-Class. Can we become friends and ask each other questions if we have any?”

The girl with long yellow hair and blue eyes turned slightly to look at me and replied.

“Sure. I’m Kim Yu-ri. Ask me anything if you’re curious.”

The name of the girl next to me is Kim Yu-ri. She is someone I know. She is one of the characters who will play a significant role later in the Broad Academy Online.

Although she hasn’t properly awakened her job yet, if I remember correctly, she will later awaken as a mage. From her first awakening, she will achieve the remarkable rank of Epic. Moreover, her personality isn’t the type that belongs to a specific faction or one that worries about others’ opinions. She may seem a bit chic and cold at first, but she is quite warm-hearted once you get to know her. A typical tsundere, and I can trust that she won’t stab me in the back if she becomes my ally later on.

I smiled at her with a friendly expression, as if to suggest that tripping my classmate earlier was truly unintentional. Then, I began to listen to the class.

Instructor Son Sae-bom was diligently explaining the subject of magic studies.

“All jobs can use and utilize magic. However, depending on how you utilize it, the power of magic…”

I listened to the stories with great interest. In fact, I already knew all of it, but every time I heard about magic studies, my heart would race. This knowledge had never existed on Earth, yet it had become a reality now.

As I was lost in the class, the bell signaling break time rang.

• Ding dong ding dong

The girl sitting next to me, Kim Yoo-ri, looked at me with curiosity and spoke.

“You’re from A-Class, right?”

“Yeah, I was in A-Class, but I moved to F-Class for personal reasons.”

“As far as I remember, you, Lee Hyun-seung, got a perfect score on the written exam. It’s surprising to see you taking magic studies in F-Class so earnestly. You must be very interested in magic studies.”

Her reaction was not strange at all. The difference in the level of magic studies between A-Class and F-Class was quite significant. While A-Class studied very complex and advanced magic, F-Class primarily focused on relatively simple and straightforward concepts.

Therefore, it was natural to find A-Class students bored when attending F-Class classes. However, I showed no signs of boredom and listened passionately, making it reasonable for her to think I had a strong interest in magic studies.

I nodded in agreement and replied, “I’ve always been quite interested in magic studies. To be honest, I regret not being able to become a wizard.”

I glanced at the gun I was holding.

What I said was sincere. Of course, gun mages could also use magic. The agile footwork I used during my duel with Seong Hyun-wook and the Last Bullet I employed were both forms of magic.

But true wizards could cast real magic, like Ice Sphere, Hellfire, and Lightning. Naturally, as a gun mage, I couldn’t utilize such magic.

To be honest, it was disappointing. The job I liked the most in Broad Academy Online was that of a wizard. I had a strong desire to unleash splendid magic, creating fire, water, and electricity from my hands. Now, I was just shooting guns.

As Kim Yoo-ri listened to my heartfelt words, she nodded and apologized.

“I’m sorry. To be honest, I had some biases about you. The rumors were quite bad. They said you were eccentric, selfish, and overly proud. Some also speculated that you came to F-Class just to get satisfaction from bullying other students.”

“Haha…”

I thought about how overly honest Kim Yoo-ri was as she sincerely shared everything with me.

‘She’s too straightforward; she didn’t need to tell me all that. Or is it a good thing?’

Those absurd rumors were likely spread by those who saw me shouting while fighting Yoo Hee-yeon, or by those in her faction trying to belittle me. I had expected my reputation wouldn’t be great, so it didn’t hit me too hard.

Kim Yoo-ri extended her hand and spoke to me.

“Honestly, I’m not sure what the rumors are like. But seeing you, I can tell you approach magic studies sincerely. In fact, I’m really serious about magic studies as well. I hope we can find time to discuss this in the future. I’m really curious about the magic studies taught in A-Class. Of course, if there’s any information I can share or help you with, I’ll do my best.”

I smiled and replied, “Of course, that sounds great.”

The future epic-level wizard, who would eventually grow into a unique wizard, was Kim Yoo-ri. I had uncovered the first gem in F-Class.

In the class annihilation battle coming up soon, where A-Class and F-Class would clash in a large-scale event, her presence would undoubtedly be a great asset.

● Author’s Note (Author’s Afterword)

I’ve seen comments in previous chapters expressing that the outfits used in illustrations didn’t match the content or situations, which broke immersion or were disappointing!

From now on, I will pay more attention to the outfits when including illustrations.

Additionally, I have deleted some of the previously included illustrations and will replace the rest one by one.

Thank you for the feedback.

*The illustrations used in this chapter were created by modifying and retouching images generated through Novel AI. The author takes responsibility for any issues that arise related to this.

*The images are available for commercial use.

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