You Will Be Blessed If You Do Good Deeds¿

After lunch, the trainees moved to the dungeon under the supervision of their training instructor.

"The raid will proceed by squad. Everyone, wait in turn according to the instructor's orders. Understood?"

For dungeons with economic value, private companies hire Hunters to manage them through bidding, but for dungeons without economic value, soldiers are inevitably sent in.

And this particular dungeon was one that would be visited frequently, like a morning walk, once they completed basic training and were assigned to Special Forces Battalion 1.

‘So this is really a dungeon...’

Yi Pyeonghwa swallowed hard for the first time before entering the dungeon.

The landscape of the dungeon was completely unfamiliar to Yi Pyeonghwa, who was used to the cities of Korea.

Instead of the gray concrete floors and tall buildings seen in any city, there was vast wasteland.

Thick, dense undergrowth that was nearly impossible to survive in without thick, durable clothing.

"Alright, let’s find some wild hedgehogs! We can find them by cutting through the underbrush. Be careful not to get poisoned by the thorns."

That’s right.

The main monster in this dungeon was the wild hedgehog.

The trainees had to find these wild hedgehogs by cutting through the ancient, unkempt thickets, seemingly untouched by human hands.

The trainees all raised their field shovels.

While you might imagine Hunters performing stylish actions in dungeons, low-level dungeons like this often involved simple, manual labor that felt a bit embarrassing.

Especially since they were all beginners.

Even a veteran soldier could find a wild hedgehog's den in just a few minutes, but the trainees were struggling to find one.

"Ha, I found it!"

After hours of digging with shovels, one of the trainees shouted.

• Monster Emergence: Wild Hedgehog (D-rank)

As the trainee shouted, a system message appeared.

A creature, large enough to reach knee-height, suddenly popped its head out of the ground.

The wild hedgehog's name was fitting.

It was covered in sharp spines like a hedgehog, protecting its body, and when needed, it would shoot out those spines to attack.

However, unlike a real hedgehog, it didn’t have a cute face—its eyes, nose, and mouth were replaced by fleshy, squishy lumps.

It was a creature that didn’t need sunlight and evolved to live buried in the ground, according to scholars.

In other words, it was disgusting.

"Ugh!"

"Jesus, that's so gross."

"Everyone, focus!"

The instructor yelled.

"These could be monsters we see every day from now on. Make sure you study them properly!"

The wild hedgehog wasn’t valuable economically, but because of its rapid reproduction rate, if it wasn’t dealt with daily, the risk of a dungeon break would increase.

"Surround it so the wild hedgehog can’t escape!"

"Yes!"

The first task was to surround the wild hedgehog so it couldn’t run away.

However, being beginners, they all fumbled a bit.

Still, they managed to form a circle and lined up as they had practiced.

"One!"

The swordsmen stabbed their swords toward the wild hedgehog.

• Ckeck!

The wild hedgehog screamed as it was stabbed. They had to be careful not to stab too deeply, or they would injure themselves on its spines. Control over their strength was crucial.

This made the wild hedgehog the perfect monster for beginner Hunters to practice on.

It helped them get over their hesitation to swing swords at living creatures.

"Two!"

At the instructor’s command, the swordsmen pulled back.

"Three!"

Once the swordsmen had backed off, the mages, who had been waiting in the rear, fired flame arrows at the wild hedgehog.

This was the simplest and most powerful magic that could be learned through the system tutorial.

Boom!

The flame arrows plunged into the wild hedgehog.

Normally, the flame arrows would be blocked by the hedgehog's spiny armor, but in this case, they scraped the wounds already created on the skin.

The wild hedgehog shuddered and cried out in pain.

However, its life didn’t end with this level of attack.

"It’s not enough! Monsters have basic magical defense. We need to inflict more damage so the magic can penetrate!"

"Yes! Understood!"

"Mages, watch your mana! Now, again!"

It was at that moment when the instructor gave another command.

"Ahh! Ahhh!"

The screams came from the rear where the trainees were preparing their magic.

"Traniee 105!"

The scream was from Lee Seung-hee.

She had suddenly started screaming while preparing her magic.

‘Is it mana depletion again?’

"I’ll drag her out!"

This had happened before during training, but this time, without Yi Pyeonghwa or the instructor’s interference, Choi Ji-su took action first.

"Ahhh!"

"Come out this way!"

Choi Ji-su, standing, tried to drag the screaming Lee Seung-hee out of the way, trying to avoid disturbing the others.

However, at that moment.

Crack!

"Ah!"

When Yi Pyeonghwa turned back after hearing the scream, she saw Choi Ji-su being flung into the air, as though caught in an invisible explosion.

"What the hell?"

"Choi Ji-su, are you okay?"

"Lee Seung-hee, what are you doing?"

This was something most of the people here had never seen before.

Just moments ago, Choi Ji-su had been trying to drag Lee Seung-hee out, but then ‘something’ had struck her, sending her flying nearly 3 meters away.

"Ahhh! Ahhh!"

And Lee Seung-hee’s madness showed no signs of stopping.

A strange aura spread behind her as she screamed.

No, it wasn’t an aura.

It looked like a mass of tangled electric threads dancing in the air.

Everyone, despite their inexperience, instinctively recognized the source of the strange energy.

‘Mana?’

Mana, normally invisible like air, was swirling around violently.

Crackle, crackle!

As everyone was distracted by this bizarre scene.

"Don’t lose focus! Look ahead!"

The instructor’s urgent voice rang out.

‘Crap!’

Yi Pyeonghwa snapped back to attention and finally saw the wild hedgehog they had been dealing with.

The moment felt like time had slowed.

The wild hedgehog wasn’t particularly strong for a D-rank monster.

Its main threat wasn’t its attacks, but its sharp spines.

The spines were strong enough to easily pierce human skin.

‘As long as we don’t give it time to shoot out its spines, it’s easy to deal with.’

But right now, Yi Pyeonghwa could see the wild hedgehog, crouching down, preparing to shoot its spines.

The hole in its skin where the spines were kept opened and then closed, ready to fire at any moment.

‘Am I going to die?’

Whoosh!

Someone shoved Yi Pyeonghwa with great force.

"Ugh!"

Thanks to that, the wild hedgehog’s spines barely missed Yi Pyeonghwa.

Thud!

A short shield appeared behind Yi Pyeonghwa.

The spines the wild hedgehog had shot fell harmlessly to the ground, blocked by the shield.

Thud!

The wild hedgehog’s head was cleaved off.

After dodging the spines, someone had vertically driven a field shovel into the wild hedgehog’s exposed neck.

Its fleshy head rolled off the body and tumbled across the ground.

It was a very clean finish.

Yi Pyeonghwa, who had fallen to the ground, stared blankly at the scene.

"Are you okay, Pyeonghwa?"

"Oh my God, you almost died!"

And the one who shoved Yi Pyeonghwa, deployed the shield with unbelievable speed to protect the other trainees, and mercilessly took down the wild hedgehog was...

"Jeong Da-on..."

Of course, it was Jeong Da-on.

‘Did she just save me?’

"How did she deploy that shield so fast..."

"Did she just kill that thing in one hit?"

In reality, Jeong Da-on didn’t seem to care whether she knew she had just done something that even veteran Hunters would find difficult. With a casual flick of her fingers, she dusted her hands off and turned away.

"Han Jae-young!"

"Yes, yes. I’m taking care of it now."

Thud!

The tall grass behind them shook.

Without warning, the wild hedgehogs, which the trainees had spent hours searching for, suddenly rose into the air.

It was as if they were suspended by invisible strings.

A massive magic circle spun at Han Jae-young’s feet.

The wild hedgehogs, now helplessly floating in the air, had their heads cleanly sliced off.

It was a bizarre and overwhelming sight.

• Enough monsters have been killed.@@novelbin@@

• The dungeon has been cleared.

• Dungeon escape is now possible in 00:03:00.

• The system will protect the user until dungeon escape.

"Sorry to interrupt the training, but it seems like we have an emergency. I’ll finish the clearance conditions right now, so everyone, let’s escape the dungeon. Instructor, get your act together."

"Everyone, follow the special instructor’s orders! Move out!"

Even the training instructor, who had been in shock, seemed to have regained his composure.

After all, in the eyes of a veteran like Han Jae-young, the training instructor probably felt like a junior.

"Are 104th and 105th trainees alright?"

"Of course."

Han Jae-young answered nonchalantly, as if brushing dirt off his hands.

"This is what we call a mana surge. Oh, and Choi Ji-su just got physically shocked and has a concussion."

"A mana surge?"

"Something that happens often with beginner mages. I’ll handle it, so don’t panic, and don’t get too close."

"Yes, yes!"

In this situation, nothing was more reassuring than the decisive instructions of a veteran.

Moreover, they had cleared the dungeon swiftly.

Despite the unexpected turn of events, everyone would be able to escape the dungeon safely.

And just when they were about to step back, reassured...

"I don’t want to! I don’t want to! NOOOO!"

"Calm down. It’s nothing serious. I’ll start intervening with the mana..."

"NOOOO!"

Lee Seung-hee’s madness continued.

The trainees couldn’t help but frown in frustration.

"Seriously, what a pain."

"She’s been like this since training... maybe she should just leave early."

"If she’s already acting like this, what’s going to happen in real combat?"

"She’s hopeless."

And Yi Pyeonghwa heard all of this clearly.

‘...It’s reaching its limit now.’

She had already made a lot of mistakes and was disliked by her peers. Now, she had ruined her first real mission as well.

Seung-hee must’ve tried to hold on, but... it seemed impossible for her to avoid an early discharge.

Lee Seung-hee, trembling, wrapped her arms around her body.

"I don’t want to! I don’t want to! NOOOO!"

Even under the system’s protective shield, Lee Seung-hee’s mana continued to swirl visibly around her.

And in that moment, Yi Pyeonghwa heard Jeong Da-on’s voice whisper in her ear.

"...This is bad."

What’s bad?

Yi Pyeonghwa was about to ask, but Jeong Da-on stepped forward first.

Without hesitation, Jeong Da-on left the formation and walked toward Han Jae-young.

"Wait, 44th trainee! Return to the formation..."

The angry words from the training instructor were cut off immediately.

Crack!

The mana that had been swirling around Lee Seung-hee abruptly stopped.

In that instant, Jeong Da-on seized the chaotic flow of mana, just as if she had stopped a runaway horse with a single hand.

It was unbelievable, even to witness.

"Jeong Da-on Hunter?"

Han Jae-young turned around, looking at Jeong Da-on in surprise.

"Jeong Da-on Hunter, you didn’t have to intervene. It’s nothing for me to calm down a mana surge like this..."

"I wasn’t helping you."

"Right. So, what’s the matter then?"

Jeong Da-on flicked her fingers, sending the tangled mana flying with ease, and frowned.

"That girl’s body is strange. This isn’t just a mana surge."

"Hmm?"

Han Jae-young seemed to take her words quite seriously.

"Really? If Jeong Da-on Hunter says so, I’ll take a closer look."

And that was strange.

Yes, her potential was S-rank, but Jeong Da-on had only recently awakened, just like the others.

Yet Han Jae-young, a veteran S-rank Hunter, was listening to her like she was his equal, discussing matters with her like a peer.

Everyone in the room felt both confused and uncomfortable at the same time.

"Ah, no."

"What’s going on?!"

Both Han Jae-young and Jeong Da-on widened their eyes as they sensed the danger ahead.

But this time, neither of them could react fast enough.

Boom!

A massive explosion shook the area.

What had just happened, Yi Pyeonghwa had no idea.

She could only see Han Jae-young’s surprised face in her vision.

And at the same time, Jeong Da-on’s face, biting her lip.

Before her sight faded to white, the last thing Yi Pyeonghwa saw was the strange system message.

• A connection error occurred with the user.

• The system’s connection is now restricted.