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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Mod7
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I realized how foolish I’d been to indulge in such unrealistic optimism—thinking I could achieve the true ending by evenly developing everyone while minimizing variables.
The happy fantasy of leisurely enjoying academy life and becoming friends with my classmates…
I was painfully realizing just how naive that had been.
“Healers! No—anyone who can use healing, come here immediately!”
“Does anyone know emergency treatment? If you have experience, come forward now! No beginners! We need people with actual practice!”
“Strong students, help us sort the severe cases! We need to move them to the infirmary as quickly as possible!”
Final Destiny had fairly generated bad luck patterns in every dungeon.
The results were devastating.
Teams that sensed danger and used their escape scrolls early were relatively unharmed, but those who failed to tear their scrolls met tragic ends.
It was hell for students who had no idea how much stronger Pertonba was than regular golems or what patterns it used.
Whether by miracle or design, there were no deaths.
‘It must have been intentional.’
This was clearly Final Destiny’s consideration for the first appearance of a bad luck pattern.
While everyone was seriously injured, no one was in critical condition—they would recover without lasting effects in a few days.
“Students who aren’t injured, please come help quickly!”
At Lee Hwa-ryeong’s call, students who had just emerged immediately moved to help, even before grasping the situation.
Even if they couldn’t do much, they could carry medicine and disinfect wounds.
The joy of clearing the dungeon was buried under screams of pain as the grueling hours continued.
“When using heal, don’t spread it around—target the wounds directly for better effect.”
“Don’t carry them like that. Lifting them over your shoulder isn’t always the best way.”
“The infirmary is on the third floor of the S building, all the way on the right from the reference point. You can get bandages there.”
All I could do was fulfill my role as class president while diligently changing bandages.
‘Only Team 1, Team 5, and my team made it out unscathed.’
In Team 1, Woo Do-hyun had apparently handled all attacks himself—everyone else was completely uninjured, looking immaculate.
Even Do-hyun, their leader, barely had any dirt on his clothes, let alone injuries. It was easy to guess what had happened.
He must have been taking it easy during the team dungeon until Pertonba appeared, then finally wielded his sword properly.
The sword prodigy who could allegedly cut even gods was already showing his potential.
‘So-hyun must have torn her escape scroll immediately thanks to my advice.’
Team 5, with Yu So-hyun, had torn their escape scroll the moment they saw Pertonba, and were now tending to the injured faster than anyone.
“Seok-hyun, are you okay?”
“Yeah, I am. Thanks for asking.”
“I’d like to talk more, but I need to go help.”
“Sure.”
Meiri spoke to me briefly with her arm bandaged before leaving to tend to the injured.
‘Mijuran and Bellos got badly hurt.’
Mijuran, specializing in close combat, was naturally at a disadvantage against golems.
Bellos was a mage, but I guessed he’d taken damage when aggro shifted due to his tank line’s lack of experience.
An event severe enough to injure the main characters.
The problem was that this wouldn’t be the end.
“There are injured students in other classes too! Anyone who can still heal, follow me!”
Fairness could sometimes be cruel.
Giving everyone a chance to grow meant exposing them to equal danger.
‘It’s not just Class S.’
While they wouldn’t have encountered Pertonba-level monsters in their level-appropriate dungeons…
They had definitely faced named monsters at the limits of their current abilities.
And since they weren’t as capable as Class S students, the results were even worse.
“…There’s been a death in Class C.”
“I’ll head there.”
“…”
The professors’ words cut through the chaos and stuck in my mind.
The fun of clearing dungeons and growing stronger was swallowed by harsh reality.
Our first dungeon would remain forever etched in our memories as an indelible scar.
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After clearing the dungeon and things settling down somewhat…
The students all retreated to their dormitory rooms as if by agreement.
I was no exception.
‘A death already.’
I had expected someone would die eventually, but I never imagined it would happen in the first dungeon.
Or perhaps this was common in the game too, but I hadn’t known because I’d skipped these parts.
It was easy to forget the small details when mashing the spacebar through situation descriptions.
But now that I was inside the game, someone’s death wasn’t something I could skip with a keystroke.
Tomorrow, all classes would be cancelled for the Class C student’s funeral.
“This is exactly why I have to go solo.”
While I couldn’t save every nameless background character…
I needed to at least build up enough power to protect my own classmates.
Instead of despairing at the situation, I needed to look forward and do what I could right now.
Congratulations! You have cleared [Land of Golems]!
Analyzing dungeon contribution…
Special note: Perfect elimination of two Named Golem Pertonbas.
Despite low damage contribution, bought time for teammates through excellent judgment and prolonged engagement.
Solo defeat of one Pertonba and one golem.
Considering all factors, your contribution rank is…
..
.
1st Place.
Reward: [Pertonba’s Drive Core]
You cleared the dungeon calmly despite desperate circumstances.
Will stat increases to 30.
Additional rewards for defeating Pertonba:
Sub-skill [Golem’s Sense] acquired.
[Golem’s Sense] :: Blocks all pain for 15 seconds.
Temporarily removes physical penalties from pain, allowing full ability usage in any situation.
You have twisted the fate of destruction.
!#@ increases by 1.
Other byproducts…
The first thing I could do was check the dungeon rewards.
I didn’t bother checking the byproducts—they would just be some cheap magic stones.
‘The drive core is what matters.’
The drive core, a mana cluster that powered named golems.
With this, the pure steel, and the Forenta sapling, I could complete ‘that.’
It wouldn’t be perfect—just a prototype covering the gauntlet part.
But that was the best I could do for now.
Golem’s Sense was useful immediately but couldn’t grow and would become useless once I obtained Infinite Track.
Still, since my sub-skill slots weren’t full, I learned it right away.
The will stat increase was good since it helped in various ways as it grew.
“The problem is something increased that even I don’t know about.”
In games, sometimes seemingly useless early-game items would become crucial in the late game.
A broken mirror turning out to be a portal to a hidden dungeon, or a random handkerchief being something a princess was searching for.
While having unknown or seemingly useless items was common, this was different.
‘A stat that I don’t know about?’
I had checked the rewards for killing two Pertonbas in the Land of Golems countless times.
But I’d never seen a reward written in special characters that I couldn’t even read.
‘Maybe it’s because I’m actually inside the game now.’
New situations naturally led to new occurrences.
Since pondering wouldn’t solve anything right now, I left the dormitory immediately after checking the rewards.
“I never thought I’d go there voluntarily.”
That place I’d sold out Kim Seok-cheol to escape.
The place I’d planned to visit leisurely later, not right away.
The only place that could make ‘it,’ and simultaneously ranked first as the worst place students wanted to avoid.
‘Ki Ju-seon’s laboratory.’
I had no choice but to go there myself.
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“Hmm…? I can feel it… I can feel it…”
“What is it, Professor?”
Ki Ju-seon’s laboratory.
Unlike usual, it was filled with sweet music and bright sunlight creating a pleasant atmosphere.
Partly because they hadn’t heard about the student’s death yet, but mainly because the research students had gotten enough sleep.
After sleeping six and a half hours in one day instead of their usual five hours per week, they were naturally in good spirits.
Ki Ju-seon had also regained his sharp senses through proper rest.
“I can feel… the talent I’ve been searching for… walking here on its own.”
Wahahahahaha.
Ki Ju-seon’s evil laughter slowly filled the laboratory.
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