Son Tae glared at the crowd. "There are four classes here and almost a hundred people. I'm not going to waste my energy repeating anything, so all of you better pay attention!" he shouted, staring directly at me.
I prayed he was looking at someone behind me, but the closest person to me was a girl with a bob who was two meters away. If she wasn't wearing a mini-skirt, I would've thought she was a hentåi protagonist with those bangs.
But why was Son Tae glaring at me? Did I steal his breakfast or something?
"There are eleven other fields similar to this one. You will learn hand-to-hand combat against each other, how to use your weapons and teamwork. If you look down on your peers because of their ranks, I'll personally see you in my office." He declared, crossing his arms. "Any questions?"
A student raised his hand with enthusiasm. "Are we allowed to use Skills to fight each other?" he asked excitedly.
"No! No abusing your Skills! Next!"
"Are we going to learn how to use our Skills?"
"Yes, but you're not going to use it against your peers!"
"Some people with high-ranked Skills are stronger and faster physically. Isn't fighting each other in hand-to-hand combat unfair?"
Son Tae's face darkened at the boy's question. "That's a brilliant question." His words were different from what everyone expected. "In class, you'll fight against someone with similar strength. However, when you meet an enemy in the real world, they're not going to always give you a fair fight. You need to learn how to take advantage of your own strengths and compensate for your own weaknesses."
Everyone frowned at the answer.
"Can that work?"
"What if the magic beast is faster and stronger than you?"
"Is he pushing us to death?"
"I heard there was a fellow trainee who had already met a Demon Worshipper a week ago." Many surprised expressions flashed on people's faces.
I had a bad feeling. Cold sweat started to form behind my neck.
Son Tae continued, glaring at the people muttering amongst themselves, "The student was able to outsmart the Demon Worshipper even though he had less strength, experience, and most importantly, he didn't have a single combat Skill."
I tried to keep a straight face.
Please don't be me, please don't be me!
"He suffered through serious poisoning after killing the Demon Worshipper." Is Son Tae mourning for my death? He's making a gloomy face like I'm dead! "Luckily, the student was able to survive without any permanent injuries."
"He killed one of those man-eating monsters?" Aren't they just moving stink bombs? I feel like people are over-exaggerating.
"He got poisoned?" It was just mana stone poisoning.
"Such an underhanded method!" You have to use whatever you find to survive.
"No permanent injuries?" I died a few times, but I'm okay.
The vast number of cliché commentaries is killing me.
Son Tae then continued, "The student doesn't want fame or money. Instead, he worried about troubling his teachers and the principal."
I was worried about the pain of dying. I didn't want attention. Who wishes to be a lamb in a den of wolves?
"Is the student a third-year?"
"Idiot! Who else other than a third-year student could kill a Demon Worshipper?"
Thank you for your side comments, dear mob characters.
I'm glad that Son Tae is not revealing my identity, but I didn't kill anyone. Also... I was going to get money? Why didn't you tell me? Why didn't anyone tell me? I could've received like a million!
The muttering between the students became noisier as I was cursing myself in my head.
Son Tae couldn't stand the cacophony and decided to move on. "Enough!"
All the lights in the stadium turned on, illuminating the wide stage Son Tae stood on. The Lights also revealed built-in benches on both sides.
Isn't this place a little too empty?
Son Tae took out a remote and pressed a button and the mattress on the seats flipped, revealing handguns, short swords, knuckle-dusters, and hand grenades- Why are there hand grenades under seats? We're sitting on bombs?
The wall behind Son Tae slid open, uncovered swords, spears, bows, sniper rifles, etc.
"You guys can test the weapons and choose one by the end of the day. What you chose will be used and kept by you for the rest of the year. We will provide targets and test dummies." Son Tae strutted away, leaving a few adults in some kind of armored one-piece to distribute the weapons.
[Ding! Those are battle suits provided to instructors by the academy.]
Now I recall the whole speech. Had Son Tae introduced himself? Did he hate kids?
After Son Tae finished, everyone started to run wild and asked questions to the instructors about what weapons they should use.
As a law-abiding citizen, I had never held a gun in my hands. Isn't it cheating to bring a gun to a sword fight?
[Ding! The Host is unable to wield a handgun or a rifle due to the lack of mana in his body. The Host's body is too weak to handle the recoil.]
The guns need mana!? What are they doing with the guns? Making magic bullets or something?
[Ding! The Host is correct. The strength and the distance the mana bullets travel depends on the user's mana.]
Looking at my 0.38 mana stat, I declared that I'm probably not using a gun in my life.
The walking trashcan- I mean, Park Rhea probably could use a rifle. She has over 87 mana after all.
I peeked in Park Rhea's direction. She was getting a... dagger. Hm? Why? That's wasting your outstanding mana stat! I'm jealous!
"Look! It's Nam Kyung! He's getting a sword!"
Could I get a sword instead-
[Ding! The Host can stop thinking about using a sword. The Host's strength is lower than an average person without Skills.]
Come on! I just want to take a look and maybe hold it in my hand for a minute.
[Ding! The Host's strength is not enough to pick up the sword.]
Good idea. I don't want to embarrass myself.
What else I can't use?
[Ding! The Host does not have enough strength to use a sword, spear, axe, or pull a bow, does not have enough mana to use a handgun, sniper, shotgun, or rifle, and does not have enough stamina to use a-]
Stop humiliating me! Tell me what I can use.
[Ding! The Host has the minimum required agility and dexterity to use a dagger.]
Ew! Close combat! That'll be painful since I don't have experience in anything. Do I have to choose a weapon?
[Ding! The Host doesn't if he doesn't want to use a free artifact.]
An artifact?
[Appraisal: Dagger, an F-rank artifact.]
It's only F-ranked. Can't I use the sea viper one?
[Ding! The Host could if he wants to be arrested.]
Poison is illegal. We live in a society where people point guns at each other's foreheads and a cockroach is strong enough to kill a person. Bullsh*t laws!
Beggars can't be choosers. I'll take it!
"Second place Song Hye is using a handgun!"
"Does he have enough mana?"
The familiar name caught my attention. I turned my head.
Song Hye, I think he's the twin with the snotty princess. Hopefully, he's a good person- Ah, nope. His face is turning dark because someone called him "second place," his face was so dark that his glasses could be mistaken as sunglasses. I guess that's what being the second-place twin does to someone.
[Appraisal: Song Hye, 17 years old Human. Title: Strategist]
He's getting a gun, so how much mana does he have?
[Ding! Song Hye has 18.39 mana.]
Looking at my 0.38 mana, I can't say I'm not jealous.
Since I'm done "picking a weapon for myself", I should check on the other title holders.
Kim Haru is using a longbow, Yamagata Kyou brought a katana, and Song Eun Sun would use a spear, right?
"Kya! It's Song Eun Sun! She's so pretty!" I heard excited fangirling near where Nam Kyung used to be.
"The famous red hair always reminded me of the glory of the young Song Chan-wook!"
Why is she heading towards the swords section?
Song Eun Sun grabbed a rapier.
A rapier.
Why was the Trashcan getting a dagger? Why was the Princess using a rapier?
Everything is wrong!
I want to use something else too!