The Support Ate it All
Chapter 62: No.388 Feathered Serpent Altar (1)

What’s this for?

A large ruby was emanating a red glow in my hand.

The essence imbued with the unique magic of the Ruby Magic Tower.

Any transaction involving it would undoubtedly involve gold, and using it in crafting or upgrading items guarantees a high quality.

It seemed excessive for merely making a replay private.

After all, keeping replays confidential could be considered a matter of team ethics and was often resolved with something small like snacks or coffee.

So when Hong Yeon-hwa offered the ruby, I shook my head. I didn’t need it.

But then, an even larger ruby appeared.

Refusing again might lead to something even more extravagant, so I accepted it, though not without reservations.

This wasn’t something to be overly thrilled about; swallowing it whole could likely lead to stomachaches.

I’ll take it to the Ruby side later.

I decided it would be best to discuss this with the club president.

After all, I had plans to visit the Ruby Magic Tower eventually.

I figured bringing the ruby might at least warrant some hospitality.

Upon checking the time, I realized not much had elapsed since we entered the dungeon.

It ended quickly.

The purpose of this clearance strategy battle was to look closely and develop observation skills, even if it took some time.

Yet Hong Yeon-hwa and I blitzed through the dungeon as if we were on a timed attack.

Hong Yeon-hwa did a great job.

It was the result of me meticulously planning efficient routes to minimize time but it was Hong Yeon-hwa’s ability to follow these routes that made it even smoother.

Even if I could quickly locate the monsters, taking too long to defeat them or missing them would have delayed us.

On the other hand, Hong Yeon-hwa displayed an impressive ability to burn down several monsters in an instant no matter how many appeared.

She also fought well against the boss monsters.

She held her own quite well against the twin trolls.

In fact, these twin trolls were among the various bosses randomly selected and if you were particularly unlucky you’d face them. They were even stronger than the notorious [Strong Enemy] Beheader Goblin.

After she managed to deplete about 30% of their health single-handedly, I realized she truly lived up to her reputation as a promising student.

And when it seemed she was reaching her limit toward the end, I stepped in but I had seen enough to make my decision by then.

Enough to decide which skill to copy.

▷Copy-Skill[2/2]

1. Overheat(D)

2. Thief’s Step(B)

Overheat.

This is a skill that absorbs a completed fire skill and grants physical abilities equivalent to the power of the absorbed skill for its duration.

It means that absorbing [Flame Orb] which creates a large fireball would increase my stats more than absorbing [Combustion] which creates a small fire explosion.

I only have one fire-type skill.

But it’s an exceptionally powerful one.

Inferno Fist.

It was so powerful that I anticipated a huge boost in physical abilities when absorbed.

Since Inferno Fist was a prohibited skill, it required cautious use, but now I could use it as an overheat sacrifice without caring much about others watching my replays.

With the enhanced physical abilities, combined with the B-rank Thief’s Step and the shoes I received from Seo Ye-in…

I could probably play tag with the third-years.

It seemed safe to divert my attention away from mobility for a while.

[Sub Quest: 4th Week Strategy Battle](Completed)

▷Objective: Clear the strategy battle dungeon

▷Clearance: 100/100%

▷Reward: [Copy-Trait] Slot +1

Copy-Trat [1/2]

1. Elemental Resistance (S)

2. (None)

The 100% clearance reward was an additional [Copy-Trait] slot.

Now, I could copy a new trait without having to overwrite [Elemental Resistance].

Unlike skills, traits did not have noticeable precursors when activated, making it more difficult to ascertain whether they were activated or not.

And gauging their rank was even more difficult.

And with all the original game characters replaced due to the aftermath of the EX-rank reincarnation quest, it would take some time to discover the traits of other students and teachers.

So, I decided to postpone the task of copying the trait and focus on targets I was certain about.

The boss monsters residing in the underground dungeon.

***

“Kim-hyung.”

In the evening,

On my way to the dungeon building at the appointed time, I ran into Go Hyeon-woo.

We walked side by side and exchanged a few words.

“Have you memorized all the strategies?”

“Of course. I haven’t missed a single detail just as you instructed.”

“The more closely you follow them, the better, and it’s okay to make a few mistakes. Just don’t get too lost.”

“I’ll make sure not to disappoint you, Kim-hyung.”

“I trust you.”

Upon reaching the entrance of the dungeon building, Shin Byeong-cheol who had been waiting there greeted us with a grin.

“You’ve arrived. Are you all prepared?”

“Of course.”

“Good, good. Start by taking these.”

Shin Byeong-cheol handed out the items he had prepared one by one.

One was a silver pin for a tie.

It was a second-year pin.

Currently, first-years couldn’t even go downstairs and their tie pins were white.

Being caught with the wrong pin meant immediate disciplinary action on the spot.

To avoid such an unfortunate incident, switching to a second-year pin was necessary.

Changing the tie pin was against the school rules and getting caught meant severe punishment but if you weren’t caught that was the end of it.

The second item was a badge shaped like a human face but instead of facial features, there was a prominent question mark in the middle.

[Anonymous Badge]

I attached the badge to my front pocket and looked around at the other two.

Go Hyeon-woo also looked at me and Shin Byeong-cheol in turn and let out an exclamation.

“Ah, so this is what it means to be ‘Anonymous’.”

The faces of the two of them now seemed blurred as if they were people passing by in a fleeting moment, or perhaps they now even resembled the faces of a completely different person.

It was an item enchanted with a kind of perception-distorting magic, designed to make a person’s face appear as ordinary as possible.

However, concentrating mana in one’s eyes would make the unnatural flow quite noticeable, and the more astute individuals could quickly sense a feeling of discomfort.

It was a flawed item in many ways.

Yet to most people, it made the wearer’s face appear just ordinary, causing them to overlook it and not retain any memory of the face.

Despite its flaws, when combined with the above, it was surprisingly effective.

Due to its frequent use for illicit purposes, this Anonymous Badge has also made its way onto the list of prohibited items.

To summarize, there were already three violations of school rules: unauthorized entry into the dungeon’s underground levels, swapping year-specific pins, and wearing prohibited items.

One might wonder: Is it really acceptable for a student to break so many rules in a row?

It’s all for the sake of world peace.

If you don’t break the rules, you won’t get the hidden pieces.

If you don’t get the hidden pieces, your growth will be delayed.

If your growth is delayed, you may be defeated by strong enemies you will meet later.

This could in turn lead to the world’s destruction.

This reasoning was likely correct when considering that this was an EX-rank quest.

Shin Byeong-cheol uttered with a sly grin, seemingly unaware of his contribution to world peace,

“Shall we head down then?”

“Let’s do that.”

Following Shin Byeong-cheol’s lead we stepped onto the staircase descending below.

At first, it resembled a basement stairwell, but it gradually widened into a large circular staircase.

Looking over the railing down below, the circular staircase seemed to extend endlessly down.

Even though the area was fairly well-lit, the depths below appeared ominously dark.

After a considerable descent on the circular staircase we came upon a fork in the path.

We could either continue downward or take a right through a corridor.

Shin Byeong-cheol who was leading the way gestured for us.

“To the right.”

A short distance to the right led to another descending staircase.

Although this once was narrower compared to the first circular staircase, it similarly led downwards.

After we continued down for a while, we encountered yet another fork in the path.

There were paths that split into two and even into three.

Each time, Shin Byeong-cheol faithfully played the role of a guide.

“This way.”

“Not there.”

“Over here.”

However, since it felt like he was deliberately choosing the more secluded paths, Go Hyeon-woo’s curiosity was piqued and he had to ask.

“Shin-hyung, may I ask you something?”

“Sure, go ahead.”

“What’s the difference between simply going down and taking these routes like you do?”

He meant to ask why we needed to navigate through this complex maze instead of just descending via the spacious and comfortable circular staircase we initially encountered.

Shin Byeong-cheol answered that there was a reason for everything.

“Honestly, we’re not exactly in the clear here. It’s best to avoid trouble as much as we can.”

It was an obvious fact that we weren’t the only ones roaming the underground floors.

Upperclassmen engaging in strategy battles was the norm here and even the disciplinary committee and faculty members periodically conducted patrols.

The more frequently traveled routes naturally carried a higher risk.

That’s why he chose to go down the least traveled paths.

Shin Byeong-cheol pointed to himself with his thumb and started confidently boasting.

“Don’t worry and just follow me! I’ll make sure we won’t even run into a single rat.”

But as the saying goes, speak of the tiger and it will come.

In less than five minutes, Shin Byeong-cheol flinched and signaled to us.

He urgently mouthed the words:

Let’s just pass by naturally. Just naturally.

Soon, we could sense someone approaching from below and saw a group of second-year students coming up.

We naturally lined up in a single file and stuck to one side while the others did the same on the opposite side.

“……”

“……”

As we passed by each other, a couple of them glanced our way.

They tilted their heads with an expression that seemed to say,

“Were these kids in our grade?”

However, they didn’t seem to feel the need to scrutinize us further and quickly looked away.

They were probably tired and bothered by everything after just finishing a dungeon raid.

Fortunately for us, this worked in our favor.

After the second-year students had disappeared up the path,

Go Hyeon-woo and I silently turned our gazes towards Shin Byeong-cheol.

Wasn’t he the one who promised that we wouldn’t run into even a single rat?

Shin Byeong-cheol immediately started making excuses.

“…We just had bad luck this time. You trust me, right?”

“……”

Instead of offering words of encouragement, Go Hyeon-woo seemed to decide it was best to quickly change the subject.

“How far have we come?”

“We must be in the 700s by now.”

“And what does the 700s mean?”

“F-rank. We have to go much deeper for D-rank.”

Go Hyeon-woo was genuinely impressed.

“Wow. I had heard that the dungeon building was vast, but I had no idea it was to this extent. If it takes this long just to reach D-grade, I wonder how much further we have to go to reach the deeper levels…”

“It’s not called the depths for nothing. Let’s worry about that when we get there; for now, let’s keep moving.” sᴇaʀᴄh thᴇ NovᴇlFɪre .ɴᴇt website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of nøvels early and in the highest quality.

In fact, the reason it felt so bottomless was largely because we secretly went down to the underground levels.

To accommodate students who found walking tedious or didn’t want to waste time, various means of moving between floors, such as elevators and teleportation circles, were scattered throughout the underground levels.

However, one typically needed to scan their student ID to use these facilities and the usage of such things was recorded due to the installed crystal balls.

We couldn’t afford to leave a trail just for a bit of convenience, so we had no choice but to walk past them while ignoring their existence.

While a more skilled guide might have been able to deceive the crystal balls, unfortunately, Shin Byeong-chul was also a new student just like us.

We were left with no choice but to trudge along diligently.

***

On our way to the destination, we encountered two more groups of second-year students.

We had chosen what we thought was a quiet time in the evening and took the least crowded routes yet here we were.

“Ha… This is a bit embarrassing.”

Shin Byeong-cheol scratched the back of his head.

You can brush it off as bad luck once, but when it happens three times, it’s hard not to feel a bit shameless.

Yet I didn’t complain.

After all, it was only his first time coming down here too.

This was all about gaining experience for him.

“It’s all good as long as we don’t get caught. Just lead us better next time.”

“Oh my, without doubt customer-nim. Please come this way.”

After escaping the dreary staircase, we ventured deeper into the dungeon corridors that resembled an ant colony.

D-rank dungeons were scattered here and there with their mouths open and waiting for challengers.

Each teleportation portal had a different appearance and the scenery glimpsed from inside was also different.

[No.396] [Correspondence Bureau]

[No.394] [7th Laboratory]

If they shared one thing in common, it was the atmosphere; each one exuded a vibe several times more sinister than that of any artificial dungeon.

We passed by several such portals until we stopped in front of one.

[No.388] [Feathered Serpent Altar]

“Wait a moment.”

Before entering,

Shin Byeong-cheol took several items out of his inventory and began to hurriedly install them around the area.

This was to briefly disrupt the surveillance of the crystal balls in the area and ensure that no traces were left behind for potential tracking later.

This was also part of the services provided by the thieves’ club.

Shin Byeong-cheol swiftly completed the setup and dusted off his hands.

“All set. How long will it take?”

“We’ll be over soon.”

“Alright. I’ll wait outside.”

After saying that, he took a few steps back.

I exchanged glances with Go Hyeon-woo and nodded my head.

Then we stepped into the portal one by one.

Soon our surroundings changed abruptly.

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