Copying Runes to Become the World's Strongest - Chapter 31

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 31
A simple run.
Simple as it is, it’s the fastest way to measure stamina.
Kang Daewoong had assumed Kim Changdong would be far ahead.
Yun Mihui, too, had expected Seong Sohui, the D-Grade, to take first place.
But the result fell completely outside anything they had anticipated.
And it had happened in a way no one could have imagined.
“What is that?”
“His running form just changed in real time?”
“And he’s even faster now.”
“What’s scarier is that he’s smiling.”
“I’d be struggling by now, but that Hunter doesn’t look like he’s struggling at all.”
Even for an E-Rank Hunter, running thirty laps around a track that size without a single break, at a B-Grade Awakened’s pace, was impossible.
In fact, more than half had dropped out partway through.
It was hardly a strange result.
That was why the first-place finisher was an irregular in every sense.
The fact that he’d taken first place.
And the way he’d pulled it off. Both were unprecedented.
“Did he get some sudden enlightenment mid-run or something?”
“His running form looks like the Awakened’s up front now. Did he copy it?”
“If it were that easy, wouldn’t the others have copied it too?”
“So what, then? He learned a running skill mid-race or what?”
The Hunters kept bickering, each offering their own theory.
Meanwhile, Baek Jehyeok pressed a hand to his forehead and let out a sigh deep enough to crack the ground.
“Haa…”
He’d half-suspected it from the name, but seeing the face, there was no doubt. It was Hyeonjun.
What was he doing here?
That alone was a headache, but his physical abilities had improved far beyond what they’d been the last time Baek saw him.
‘Even if big brother did give him a billion won, could he really grow this much in such a short time?’
And on top of that, how had he copied that running form as if he’d learned a skill?
It was an ability that could only be described as ‘talent.’
“Aaaaargh!”
Baek Jehyeok clutched his head and gave voice to his anguish.
‘The Hyeonjun I used to know all to myself is becoming everyone’s Hyeonjun!’
Why hadn’t he pursued recruiting him more passionately the first time he saw him?
Regret came crashing in, but it was already too late.
“Huh…”
Kang Daewoong was at a loss for words.
Chaos was breaking out beside him, but his eyes were fixed solely on the screen.
‘Is Changdong falling behind…?’
Yun Mihui’s thoughts were much the same.
Still, she’s only a D-Grade.
Her prized pupil hadn’t been able to put up any fight against that first-place finisher.
‘That brat! He’s definitely not the kind of kid to be like that!’
Yun Mihui clenched her fists tight.
Anger rose within her, but she barely reined it in.
‘Calm down. There’s still plenty of opportunity.’
Sohee has a gift for magic.
In combat training, she could overwhelm everyone and take first place.
Next, strength training began.
Pull-ups, push-ups, planks, and so on.
A stretch of bodyweight strength exercises followed.
This time, aside from a few exceptions, there wasn’t much difference.
Leading the pack was Hyeonjun.
He breezed through every strength exercise hundreds of times.
And yet he was grinning cheerfully the whole while.
It stood in stark contrast to the Hunters writhing in pain.
The executives watching couldn’t help but sense a hint of something close to madness.
“I’m starting to find that guy a little scary.”
“Everyone’s practically dying, and he’s sitting there grinning all by himself.”
“What’s so funny about that?”
With Hyeonjun’s expression, which no one could make sense of, lingering in the air, the basic stamina training came to an end.
.
.
.
“The second item is the application of basic skills.”
Following the basic stamina drills came the lesson on applying basic skills.
The staff members carried in hard cases.
“For training purposes, I’ll hand each of you a Magic Arrow skill rune.”
Skill runes passed into the Hunters’ hands.
Since the runes were handed out for free, most reactions were positive, but not everyone was pleased.
“Using this means losing a rune slot, you know.”
“I deliberately didn’t learn Magic Arrow, though.”
“Couldn’t we substitute another skill?”
Nam Jaewoon opened his mouth without hesitation, as though he had expected the reaction.
“What do you all think Magic Arrow is?”
A rather out-of-the-blue question.
The ones who had voiced objections found themselves under Nam Jaewoon’s gaze, waiting for an answer.
“Uh…”
“Isn’t it just a skill where you shoot arrows?”
“A ranged attack option?”
A scattering of answers rang out.
Nam Jaewoon turned his attention to the other Hunters as well.
“If you think differently, feel free to say so.”
The Hunters fell silent.
Hyeonjun casually raised a hand.
“Those are all true, but Magic Arrow can be used in a wider variety of ways.”
Hyeonjun laid out the advantages of Magic Arrow he had been mulling over.
“Besides plain attacks, you can use it to draw an enemy’s aggro, or to keep opponents in check in fights where you’re outnumbered.”
There were many other applications beyond that.
Most of them were tied to combat.
“Magic Arrow gives you more options in battle. Adding even one option in a fight is worth far more than can be put into words.”
Life and death are sometimes decided by the thickness of a sheet of paper.
Magic Arrow isn’t strong enough to overwhelm an opponent, but it was a skill that could create exactly that sliver of difference.
“Magic Arrow will make your battles richer. And someday, it may very well save your life.”
A tremendous value, gained by sacrificing a single rune slot.
Nam Jaewoon struggled to make the Hunters understand just how great that value was.
“Still, if you don’t want to learn Magic Arrow, you may return your rune.”
Not a single Hunter handed their rune back to the staff.
Everyone understood, even if only a little, the importance of Magic Arrow.
“I’ll take it that there are no objections and proceed with the training. Everyone, absorb your runes.”
The Hunters swallowed their runes.
Hyeonjun’s Magic Arrow also rose from level 4 to level 5.
“Since you’ve all used skills before, you should know the basics of how to use them. First, create an arrow, and feel the presence of that projectile.”
The lesson had begun.
Blue-glowing arrows appeared here and there.
Some arrows drifted freely through the air, while others, poorly controlled, dropped to the floor.
“The key to Magic Arrow is control. Compared to other combat skills, it offers a high degree of freedom, but its damage is weak, so you must focus as much as possible on control.”
Under Nam Jaewoon’s instructions, the practice continued.
The Hunters who were still struggling.
Watching them, Seong Sohui curled up the corners of her lips.
‘Hmph. This time, I’m the one who’s first.’
Seong Sohui, who had awakened a magic-type trait.
Magic Arrow wasn’t a skill she used often, but she was confident in her control.
‘Go Hyeonjun, was it? He mocked me during the theory session. I’ll make him pay dearly for that.’
Hyeonjun had never mocked her, though.
Still, in Seong Sohui’s memory, it was etched in as an undeniable fact.
She whipped her head around and glared at Hyeonjun.
An arrow in midair wobbled unsteadily.
A sly, sneering smile spread across her lips.
‘Not even worth looking at.’
So he’s good at studying but can’t handle magic.
Then again, with a dagger as his main weapon, I never expected him to have any talent for magic to begin with.
‘A Bird Hunter, and he dares to eye someone like that.’
Guess all that running around catching birds has only built up his stamina.
“Hmm.”
Meanwhile, Hyeonjun watched the Magic Arrow drifting through the air with a grave expression.
‘Fine control is still hard.’
If the others were simply trying to move their arrows.
Hyeonjun attempted to create far finer and more intricate movements.
That approach would be far more useful in actual combat, he judged.
‘Subtly twisting the angle of the arrow mid-flight, so it slips past the enemy’s expectations.’
Hyeonjun kept practicing.
Little by little, the arrow began to move the way he wanted.
‘Oh, it’s working.’
Gradually, Hyeonjun grew accustomed to the sensation.
Once he’d adapted to a certain degree, he closed his eyes.
In the pitch-black darkness, he sensed the presence of the Magic Arrow through instinct alone.
In that state, he cast the fine control he had been practicing until now.
‘Not bad.’
As he kept practicing, Hyeonjun suddenly felt a gaze on him and opened his eyes.
Nam Jaewoon was staring straight at him.
“……?”
Jaewoon tilted his head, watching Hyeonjun’s bewildered face.
‘He definitely shouldn’t have any magic-related traits at all.’
He pulled out his smartphone and checked Hyeonjun’s information again and again.
It wasn’t just magic-related traits that were missing.
The skills he possessed were also far removed from magic.
‘So what on earth was that just now?’
At first, he hadn’t paid much attention. Hyeonjun had been on par with the others.
But suddenly, things changed.
His control became more delicate and fluid.
He had reached an extremely high level in an instant, something that couldn’t be achieved on the spot.
‘……Absurd talent.’
I’ll need to keep watching, though.
For now, that’s what I’ve seen so far.
“Let’s stop practicing and begin the test.”
After some time, the practice session came to an end.
Hunters who had been scattered around the gym, practicing on their own, gathered together again.
“The test will be conducted as target shooting. Targets will appear at distances of 10 meters, 40 meters, and 100 meters, and the closer to the center you hit, the higher your score.”
The floor of the gymnasium opened, and from beneath it rose a structure built in the same form as the shooting lanes.
The testing ground was assembled in no time.
Hunters took their places one by one across five shooting lanes.
“For fairness, we will apply different evaluation standards to those with magic-based traits and those without.”
No Hunter voiced any objection.
Everyone considered it a reasonable decision.
‘That penalty’s fair enough. Not that I won’t crush them anyway~’
Amid the visibly anxious Hunters, Seong Sohui overflowed with confidence.
No matter how much of a penalty she received, she was certain she would take first place.
“Alright, let’s begin now.”
The shooting started with Group 1.
Five shots at 10 meters, five at 40 meters, and ten at 100 meters, twenty arrows in total.
Most hit at 10 meters, but accuracy dropped off from 40 meters onward.
Barely more than half.
At 100 meters, it was even worse.
Hunters who missed more than half of their ten shots were countless.
‘Why are there so many people who can’t even get this easy one right?’
Seong Sohui, assigned to Group 4, watched the test with her arms folded, completely at ease.
Not one of them came anywhere close to her standards.
“Next, Group 4.”
The previous three groups had just finished their tests.
Five members of Group 4 stepped into the shooting lane.
Seong Sohui spotted Hyeonjun standing beside her and taunted him.
“Care to congratulate me in advance? I’m going to take first place this time.”
“Congratulations.”
Hyeonjun said it with a bored face, giving her exactly what she’d asked for.
He didn’t see any reason to get into a battle of wills with her.
“…Thanks, I guess?”
Why was it?
She’d been congratulated, yet instead of feeling pleased, she was left with this strange, uneasy feeling.
‘Ah, no. What does that matter right now.’
Seong Sohui shook her head hard, shaking the thought loose.
‘That nearly got to me.’
Even that, she figured, must be part of Hyeonjun’s strategy, and she focused her attention on the target ahead.
‘Let’s make it quick and clean.’
The speed of the arrow and the speed of casting the spell were both part of one’s skill.
Seong Sohui wanted to finish fast and sink a deeper sense of despair into Hyeonjun and everyone else watching.
“Alright, we’ll begin now.”
A three-second countdown.
Then the test began.
Seong Sohui summoned a Magic Arrow with spirited confidence.
Whoosh!
Just as she was about to release the arrow.
A sharp blue line flashed past the corner of her eye, streaking by at lightning speed.
‘Huh?’
Her gaze drifted to the target in the next lane.
A Magic Arrow, fired like a bullet, punched a hole straight through the dead center of the target.
Then a second arrow slipped through that very same hole.
A third, a fourth, and a fifth did the same.
All of it took only a few seconds.
‘W-what is this?’
Seong Sohui doubted her own eyes.
The casting speed was so fast it could practically be called simultaneous casting.
Five in a row through the exact center, with an insane level of accuracy.
Even if the distance was a short ten meters.
That wasn’t something just anyone could do.
Whoosh!
Another arrow streaked past in front of her, stunned as she was.
Her head turned slowly, like a broken doll’s.
A target forty meters away.
Without fail, an arrow lodged squarely into that target too.
The speed matched a machine gun, and the precision was as exact as if it had been fired by a machine.
“….”
Seong Sohui stood there with her mouth hanging open, at a loss for words.
She had assumed Hyeonjun’s magic would be pitiful.
With no trait and no skill, it had seemed a reasonable judgment.
But the reality was not like that at all.
It was an overwhelming display that couldn’t be described simply as talent.
He was a being utterly defying the rationality that ought to govern the world.
“Hunter Seong Sohui. Aren’t you going to proceed?”
At the voice from behind her, Seong Sohui flinched.
‘This isn’t the time for this.’
Still dazed by the shock, she belatedly pulled herself together.
Whoosh!
Seong Sohui’s Magic Arrow streaked toward the target.
All shots at the ten-meter distance hit their marks.
But she couldn’t drive them consecutively into the dead center the way Hyeonjun had.
‘Why won’t it work!’
The thought that she had to show something better than Hyeonjun, somehow, took over her mind.
Such impatience tends to breed mistakes.
At forty meters, Seong Sohui lost one arrow.
The shaft that had been streaking toward the center wobbled unsteadily, lost its sense of direction, and veered off the path she had set for it.
‘How could I make a mistake like this…’
Seong Sohui glanced to the side.
Hyeonjun, having caught his breath for a moment, had now reached the hundred-meter mark.
Despite the considerable distance, his arrow once again pierced the center.
One, two, three…
Seong Sohui had been counting, but the moment the tally passed five, she stopped.
Her hand trembled.
She had been certain she would overwhelm him in this field, and now she faced an opponent far beyond anything she had imagined.
Some might have thought she had lost her fighting spirit.
But her eyes were shining brighter now than they ever had.
‘I can do this too.’
Seong Sohui clenched her trembling hand tight and raised the other one.
A finger pointed forward.
From its tip, a blue arrow took shape and sliced across the open air like a bolt.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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