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Chapter 8: The Equation of Growth-3

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Translator: Meg

Editor: Sotheno

The next day at dawn, Kang Shin-hyuk was greeted with a rather special message when he woke up early.

[For today’s login bonus, you will receive a growth rate buff! For two days, the growth rate of your status and skills will increase by 30%!]

“There was something like this, too?”

He knew of course that VIP had the benefit of receiving login bonuses. But until yesterday, he had only received an additional 500HP as a bonus, while the reward he received today was unbelievable in comparison!

He felt a mysterious power wrapping around his entire body. Yesterday, he had been told that the third day would be different, but to think it would be this special!

To think his status and skills would grow faster–such an effect couldn’t happen even from a super rare potion found inside a gate.

[The login bonus for a VIP member is special in the Hero Universe. It can provide abilities and effects that are beyond comprehension, you will receive whatever you need most depending on your situation. If you improve your assimilation rate, you will receive login bonuses of a wider variety.]

“You should have told me earlier!”

Kang Shin-hyuk stood up, heading for the training facility. He was finally taking a break after intensely training both his Martial Arts and Spirit Power for two hours.

“Come to think of it, the added growth rate should apply to metallurgy as well. All right, I’ll definitely grab a hammer today!”

So he wouldn’t waste the growth buff, Kang Shin-hyuk couldn’t just doze off for the day. After taking a shower and eating breakfast with Eiren Jelly as dessert, he left the dormitory, heading to the Wyvern Hall located beside Shinyoung’s gymnasium of knight majors.

“It’s my first time here, and it’s..... Super big. An ordinary school could easily fit in here.”

The Wyvern Hall was a facility that provided appropriate amenities for the students’ individual activities and self-development programs. To put it simply, it was a building that contained various student clubs including the student government and volunteer groups.

Since a student club at a prestigious school like Shinyoung possessed a lot of power, a student could climb a few levels higher in authority simply by being accepted to a renowned student club.

Among the renowned clubs, three–the Student Government, the Wyvern Knights and the Shinyoung Magic Academy–possessed an overwhelming degree of authority. Simply put, if you were a member of these clubs, you had nothing to worry about for your future.

“I have no interest in any of them, though.”

The student government was responsible for several important events like the student festival, annual school trip, and exchange meeting with a sibling school. Because the positions were usually monopolized by the students who came from renowned families, ordinary students couldn’t dream of joining the organization.

A bloody warzone where rich students with authority, wealth, as well as physical power try to bite each other off to obtain their seats in the organization.

Baek In-ha criticized them for smelling like a pile of blood-soaked rags, but Kang Shin-hyuk could estimate his wealth just by that one audacious statement.

“The Wyvern Knights club is a group of the knight majors’ top elites and the Shinyoung Magic Academy is the equivalent for the magic majors. If I were to join either of them, it would certainly be the Wyvern Knights club......”

Not only would someone without mana like Kang Shin-hyuk be rejected by a bunch of students who were drunk with privilege, but now Kang Shin-hyuk himself opposed the idea of being a part of them.

Though he had paid a little respect for them when he had first arrived. That wasn’t the case anymore, because he clearly understood what he had to do to grow stronger.

“Metallurgy. Isn’t there a student club where I can practice metallurgy?”

He smacked his lips and skimmed through the various pamphlets placed at the entrance of the Wyvern Hall.

He hadn’t thought much when he had decided to train his metallurgy, but calmly thinking about metallurgy he realized it wasn’t something he could just train in a dormitory.

“Not that I can just go and hire a blacksmith in downtown either.”

It was a mystery if there was a workshop nearby that had the right materials and conditions he could use. It was also an issue if he was going to constantly be going in and out of the school; though, most importantly, he lacked money. Although he had plenty of HP, not only was it unable to be converted into gold, but it couldn’t even be used freely due to member restrictions.

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“That’s why I came to the conclusion of joining a student club......”

Shinyoung Academy, an organization that was willing to use any amount of money to nurture each student as an elite. As part of that commitment, they poured countless resources into establishing and maintaining various types of student clubs, but......

“Tseup.”

The problem was that no matter how much he looked, he couldn’t find any club that was related to metallurgy. But that was to be expected. Even if someone had awakened a trait related to metallurgy, that person would have attended an academy other than Shinyoung.

A significant number of clubs were merely places intended for socializing with fancy names. The majority of knight majors’ clubs were under the physical activity category (a pretext for sparring sessions), and the majority of magic majors were under the category of culture (a pretext for magical research).

Occasionally there were a couple of clubs run by people who wished to pursue their respective subjects for their own sake to temporarily escape the harsh academic environment at Shinyoung, but unsurprisingly none of them dealt with metallurgy.

“Then the only remaining solution is......”

Kang Shin-hyuk thought of one last solution: to establish a new student club. As proven by the hundred-or-so existing student clubs, one did not require complicated qualifications to make a new club.

But still, there were three essential conditions that had to be fulfilled: prospective members, high grades, and lastly a supervising teacher. Three conditions which Kang Shin-hyuk couldn’t fulfill at the present moment

“My grades for the entrance exam were already at the bottom due to the written exam...... The midterm was no different. Do I have no choice but to ask for Baek In-ha’s help?”

Everything could be resolved if Baek In-ha were to come for help. Who in their right mind would object to a student club being founded by a student possessing an S rank trait of all people?

Countless students would flock toward the club in hopes of joining. He had excellent scores in his written exams, and he could probably amass about a dozen interested teachers. However, Kang Shin-hyuk didn’t feel like it, there was a limit to what one could ask from a friend.

“But if there is no other way, I have no choice but to ask for his help. Tseup, I keep owing him more and more.”

“Move out of the way.”

“Heu-uh!”

Surprised by a sudden female voice from behind, Kang Shin-hyuk frantically turned around. Out of instinct Kang Shin-hyuk reached for his waist, but he was unarmed at the moment.

Fortunately, the person didn’t show any hostile intention towards him. She was only gesturing for him to move out of her way with a slightly irritated look on her face. Looking at it now, he had been blocking the path to the Wyvern Hall’s front entrance.

“I’m sorry, Sunbae-nim.”(1)

“It’s ok.”

She was absentmindedly nodding her head as if she didn’t care in the first place. Kang Shin-hyuk was able to recognize her as his senior due to her tie.

‘The magic majors’ uniform along with a blue tie–she’s a sophomore.’

Shinyoung academy operates 8 Knight and 2 Magic classes, totaling to 10 classes for each year. Since an average class consists of about thirty students, each year consisted of about 300 students, adding up to a total of 900 students.

As an academy that assembled only the elites-among-the-elites while disregarding their country of origin. The total student body of Shinyoung was small compared to that of a typical high school (2). But having attended Shinyoung for only two months, Kang Shin-hyuk still had difficulty recognizing all the faces. But there was still a way to figure out their major and year–through their uniform design and tie.

The Knight majors’ uniform exhibited more of active-type design and the Magic majors’ uniform was more of a scholarly one. A 1st year’s tie was red, a 2nd year’s tie was blue, and a 3rd year’s tie was black.

‘But...... Is she an international student? She’s really pretty; even if our majors are different, it’s odd that word about her hasn’t spread among the 1st-year students.’

More than her uniform, what caught Kang Shin-hyuk’s attention was her nicely tanned, brown skin.

As he thought she might have spent some time at a beach in the South, the riddle was solved by her exotic features, starting from a sharp nose too deep eyes.

Attractively tall with long, straight legs and sizable breasts, she had a distinctively Western body. To add to that, the silver hair that slopped around the rim of her neck and her dimly burning eyes, attracted him.

Though her unrealistically sleek hair and the color of her iris should be the effect of her awakening...... Overall, she gave Kang Shin-hyuk a very deep impression.

“I’m not a foreign student. My dad’s Korean.”

“I’m so sorry.”

Kang Shin-hyuk bowed his head again to his senior who responded before he could ask the question as if she could read his mind.

“Don’t worry, I get asked pretty often. Excuse me, then.”

She passed Kang Shin-hyuk entering the Wyvern Hall.

But just as Kang Shin-hyuk tried to calm himself to survey the student club pamphlets again, the senior student, before walking up the staircase, told him in a soft voice:

“It’s a good thing to pay a debt as soon as possible...... Though, it’s best not to owe one in the first place.”

“Ah, yes.”

He was confused at first, then realized; she had overheard him talking to himself.

As if that was all she wanted to say, she quickly climbed up the stairs and disappeared out of sight.

Thinking that she might be a nicer person than she looked, Kang Shin-hyuk turned back from where he was standing. When he did, a certain object entered his field of vision as if it was destiny.

“Hm?”

A single page of paper was on the floor.

There was a rather bleak headline of “List of student organizations to be disbanded next semester” written at the top. Under it, there were several rows mentioning the different club names; one of them caught Kang Shin-hyuk’s attention.

“Artifact Production Club.”

“Could this be......?”

His heart skipped a beat. There was definitely a possibility.

The problem was the club was scheduled to be disbanded in the next semester...... But he decided there was no need to worry about that for now.

“All right.”

Let’s visit them after school.

Kang Shin-hyuk left the Wyvern Wall with a bright look in his eyes.

@@@

Eager to commence his metallurgy training as soon as possible, Kang Shin-hyuk felt that time passed by unnoticeably during the lectures.

Strangely, as if they were wary of him since the previous day’s sparring session, nobody had picked on him during the whole day. Kang Shin-hyuk’s presence was gradually building up tension for those around him, which Kang Shin-hyuk didn’t give much thought about.

“A student club? At this time?”

“Yup, so I’ll get going first.”

After the last class ended, Baek In-ha quickly approached Kang Shin-hyuk’s seat to chatter about his experience at the Superhuman Market the day before, but Kang Shin-hyuk took the initiative as he was about to speak. Baek In-ha’s eyes narrowed in response to form a look of suspicion.

“......Is our Shinyok-yi hiding something from me?”

“Yup.”

“Yesterday you absolutely dominated in the sparring match and now...... You’re hiding something? Hm?”

“Yup. I’ll tell you all later.”

“I sense a girl involved...... Shinyok, there’s a girl you like at the club, right?!”

It was a hopelessly wrong answer. Kang Shin-hyuk flung a fierce finger flick toward Baek In-ha’s forehead which was gradually approaching closer to question him and subsequently headed to the Wyvern Hall.

He located the Artifact Production club’s clubroom in a corner of a 3rd-floor hallway after searching for a long time. To be designated a clubroom at such a remote corner, the club had to be very unpopular from the beginning.

“Excuse me...... Ohhh!”

Kang Shin-hyuk was totally captured by the unexpected sight as he opened the door. Unlike its appearance, the clubroom was massive! As expected of an academy that unhesitantly pours an incredible sum of money to fund the physical spaces students need.

But Kang Shin-hyuk didn’t pay much attention to the desks standing in a row, the drawings of magic circles placed on the desks, or the props that seemed to be used for a certain craft.

“It’s there! It’s really there!”

A soundproof wall was segregating the clubroom into two. Beyond that translucent wall, Kang Shin-hyuk could see a room that was equipped to train metallurgy!

To think that they’d have a Blacksmith workshop in a clubroom–this is the quality of the best Superhuman Academy in the nation!

“Hm? Who is it?”

He rejoiced and stepped into the clubroom after confirming the workshop’s existence. Soon after he stepped inside, someone called out to him.

Just as Kang Shin-hyuk flinched and stopped moving, he spotted a person sitting on the floor with his back against the wall. At first, Kang Shin-hyuk mistook him for a statue, but that was not the case.

Those wide-open eyes that gazed at him definitely belonged to a human.

‘......An old man?’

There was an old man, who was well over 70 in age with white hair in front of him. Struggling to look unflustered, Kang Shin-hyuk asked him.

”......Are you a teacher? The supervising teacher of the Artifact Production Club?”

“That’s right.”

“Hi! I’m Kang Shin-hyuk, a 1st-year student of Knight major from Class C. I came here today in hopes of enlisting in the Artifact Production Club.”

“There’s no work available for you.”

The old man–or rather, the teacher–flapped his hand back and forth while giving a firm response to Kang Shin-hyuk, who was pulling off a perfect performance of a cheerful freshman.

“The Artifact Production Club is over as of today. I sent the last remaining student earlier. So look for somewhere else.”

“But I need to hammer metals.”

Kang Shin-hyuk’s glare was blatantly pointed towards the workshop. The teacher raised his eyebrow as if to signify his interest in the student’s rather unusual reaction, but his answer hadn’t changed:

“A student club scheduled to be disbanded can’t accept new members. Not that it can be sustained with only one member either. So just leave.”

“But, sir......”

“Tsk.”

The teacher stood up in annoyance as Kang Shin-hyuk was about to say something as if to indicate that if he doesn’t leave, then he will leave himself.

“This conversation is over. If you’re still here when I return, expect to receive a penalty.”

“Ah......!”

As the teacher looked around the clubroom while passing Kang Shin-hyuk, he gave a soft glare to the workshop.

But then he shrugged his shoulders and left the room. Only Kang Shin-hyuk remained in the spacious clubroom.

Not knowing what to do, Kang Shin-hyuk shifted his gaze towards the workshop that was left alone in the room like him.

“I put a lot of effort into finding this place......”

[Dear member, you have to hammer a heated metal at just the right time.]

He knew he shouldn’t do what he thought of doing.

But his violent impulse, his firm desire, and his fierce origin were pushing his hesitation back.

“If it’s just taking a look, won’t it be okay......?”

[A whole-hearted 10HP bonus from the Administrator!]

He didn’t think for long.

Kang Shin-hyuk acted as instinct told him to.

Everyone was waiting for him.

Translator and Editor Notes:

(1) Sunbae-nim” is the equivalent of “senpai”, “senior” or an upperclassman. ~Meg

(2) The average Korean Highschool holds around 2000 students on average. So 900 is a small number unless compared to the American schools which usually hold 1000 or less. ~Sotheno