I Became The Only Healer In The Academy [EN]: Chapter 18

18

The newly unlocked ability, Stigmata, had no side effects and no conditions.

It was an ability purely for combat.

“With this level of ability, I’m at least in the upper ranks, if not quite at the top-tier hunter level.”

The abilities of hunters who held power like heads of state were all monstrous.

They were capable of single-handedly annihilating an entire national army.

“But this Stigmata ability is for single targets, right?”

He wondered if he could apply the Acolyte’s Pendant, but since the description specifically mentioned healing, it was probably impossible.

“Then, just a moment…”

Seonghyun took out his phone to check the time.

Since it had been a few days since he entered the gate anyway, a few more hours wouldn’t matter.

“Huh? What is this?”

The time on his phone was completely different from what Seonghyun expected.

Only an hour had passed since he first entered the gate.

“Time flows differently in single-person gates.”

Seonghyun tried to recall if there were any other single-person gates in his memories, but unfortunately, he had no further memories of single-person gates before his regression.

“Let’s go to a nearby gate for now.”

He wanted to enter a higher-grade gate, but he needed the Association’s permission, so Seonghyun headed to the open gate he had been consistently visiting.

He had to clear his daily quest anyway.

When he entered the gate, quite a few hunters were hunting monsters.

[Sage Exclusive Daily Quest Remaining Time: 3 hours]

“Three hours is plenty of time.”

Seonghyun leisurely headed deeper.

The monsters near the gate were already scarce, and the weaker ones were hard to find. The ones he did see were already engaged in battle with other hunters.

“Just a little deeper…”

Seonghyun continued to venture deeper.

After walking for a while, he arrived at a familiar place.

“This is definitely…”

It was the place where Hanwook had collapsed before.

That meant there were wolf-type monsters in this area.

“I would have run away before…”

But not now.

He was overflowing with confidence.

It was almost arrogance, but Seonghyun had already seen wolf-type monsters before, so he wasn’t arrogant.

“Krrr…”

The howl of a wolf-type monster could be heard from ahead.

‘…Let’s go.’

Seonghyun hid his body and presence in the bushes.

He didn’t know if this ability was single-target or area-of-effect, or how long it took to cast, so he could be in trouble if there were many.

He approached the source of the sound, and there was a monster just ahead.

“It’s alone?”

No other monster sounds or presences could be detected, and Seonghyun emerged from the bushes.

“Krrrk!”

The monster sensed Seonghyun’s presence and quickly lowered its stance, wary of him.

‘Wait, it’s being wary?’

Wolf-type monsters had particularly keen senses.

They were excellent at distinguishing whether the target in front of them was prey or predator, and it was showing wariness now, which it hadn’t before.

“Stay right there.”

When Seonghyun didn’t move, the monster remained wary but didn’t move either. Seonghyun took out his phone, checked the time, and used Stigmata.

‘Stigmata.’

As soon as he used Stigmata, the monster, which had been on alert, collapsed to the ground and began whimpering.

“…”

Seonghyun approached the monster while maintaining his guard.

When he arrived in front of the monster, it was writhing on the ground, seemingly in more pain than before.

“Does it die? How long does it take?”

Seonghyun sat on a nearby flat rock and watched the monster.

Would it die from the pain? If it did, how long would it take?

“Hmm…”

Seonghyun took out his phone and checked the time.

The time it took for the monster to die was a whopping 10 minutes.

“Should I consider it a combat support ability?”

It was quite difficult to kill with Stigmata alone, but since it caused pain and made it difficult to move, it could be considered a curse-related ability.

“I’m satisfied with just this much.”

Seonghyun didn’t take out the monster’s core and turned around.

“Today’s quest is…”

Since there were many hunters in the gate, there would be plenty of injured hunters.

As he wandered near the gate, he heard a voice nearby.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah, it’s nothing much.”

He checked the source of the voice and saw a hunter holding his ankle and sitting on the ground.

‘That person will do.’

Seonghyun immediately appeared in front of the two.

“Wh, who are you!”

“Who…”

The two were wary of Seonghyun’s sudden appearance.

Inside the gate, hunters sometimes targeted other hunters, so it was natural to be wary when a stranger suddenly appeared when they were injured.

“…”

“Who are you!”

“C, calm down. Who are you?”

The injured one asked calmly.

He seemed to know that it was not good to provoke the other party when injured.

“…”

Seonghyun didn’t answer and simply looked at the injured hunter for a moment before leaving.

[Physical abilities are increased by the spirit of sacrifice.]

[Sage Exclusive Daily Quest completed.]

[Proficiency in healing ability has increased.]

“Huh…?”

“Why? Is the pain worse?”

“Ah, no, suddenly it doesn’t hurt…”

The two hunters looked at the place where the stranger had been, but he was already gone.

“Could it be…”

“N, no way… why would someone like that…”

But the complete lack of pain kept turning doubt into certainty.

“Let’s go home. Now.”

Since he had finished his daily quest, Seonghyun returned home without regret.

Today was the day of the Academy exam.

“I hope everyone gets good results.”

With the homeroom teacher’s short greeting, the first exam, physical ability assessment and situational judgment, began.

As it was an exam to select the class representative, the exam itself was not easy.

All the Academy students taking the exam headed to the open gate.

There was no better way to assess physical ability and situational judgment than to directly face monsters.

Of course, they had to fight only with physical abilities, excluding their powers.

“As you all know, you must not use your powers. If you are caught using your powers, you will receive the lowest score, so be careful.”

With the examiner’s warning, those who would take the exam first had their order determined based on their first semester grades.

Ten students entered at a time, and the supervisors were already inside the gate coordinating the situation, so there was no chance of not encountering monsters.

“Each of you has 15 minutes. If you fail to handle it within that time, you will also receive the lowest score.”

On the day of the Academy exam, the opening of the gate was restricted to other hunters, so there were enough monsters even with 10 people entering at once.

“The perfect score is 5 cores, and 1 core is deducted for each grade below that.”

Seonghyun’s turn was almost last.

‘How many did I get in the first semester?’

The number of cores Seonghyun had obtained back then was 4.

Considering that only one or two students in the entire grade received a perfect score, Seonghyun’s score, just below that, was quite high, in the upper ranks of the class.

“Next students, please enter.”

The 15 minutes passed quickly, and soon it was Seonghyun’s turn to enter.

“Good luck.”

“Ah, yes. Thank you.”

Hayeon, who had already finished the exam, greeted Seonghyun lightly, and Seonghyun bowed slightly before entering the gate.

‘Everyone’s nervous.’

Seonghyun wasn’t very nervous because he had received good grades in the first exam, but those who entered with Seonghyun had not received good grades in the first exam and were heavily reliant on their abilities, so their expressions were not good.

‘5 cores… it won’t be easy.’

Seonghyun had already experienced the limits of his body in the single-person gate.

The monsters that appeared in the open gate were not much different from the enemies of the first night in the temple.

“There they are.”

Just in time, 5 goblins entered Seonghyun’s view.

They would have been relatively difficult opponents in the past, but now they were not even considered difficult.

Seonghyun immediately drew his sword and appeared in front of the goblin group.

“Kieeehk!”

The goblins, upon discovering Seonghyun, began to take a fighting stance.

“What is this?”

Seonghyun looked down at his hands.

In the blurry vision behind the sword, the corpses of 5 goblins were already scattered.

“Was I this strong?”

Before facing the goblins, Seonghyun had been seriously mistaken.

The goblins were not at the same level as the enemies of the first night.

Rather, the enemies of the first night were much stronger.

The lightly swung sword cut through the goblins’ limbs as if cutting tofu.

The time it took to deal with the goblin group was only about 3 minutes.

“Should I go back in a bit?”

Seonghyun pondered for a moment after taking out all the goblin cores.

The supervisor would have witnessed the current scene anyway.

“I don’t need to worry about it anymore.”

Until now, he didn’t want to stand out, but now it was different.

To become the class representative, and further, the grade representative and the representative of the national competition, he had to act differently.

To receive the full support of famous giant guilds or associations, he couldn’t simply rely on the rarity of his ability.

That rare ability was just a bonus, and apart from that, his other abilities had to show a different side from others.

“Let’s go back.”

Seonghyun collected 5 cores in exactly 3 minutes and came out of the gate.

“Hmm? Student Kim Seonghyun?”

“Yes.”

“Did you give up the exam? Why didn’t the supervisor come out?”

The examiner was a little puzzled by the different situation from the usual process of giving up the exam.

To give up the exam, you had to inform the supervisor inside the gate of your intention to give up, and immediately upon giving up, you would come out of the gate with the supervisor.

“No. I didn’t give up.”

“Really? Then would you give me the cores?”

The examiner expected him to bring at most about 2 cores.

Those who had entered now were those with the lowest grades based on the first semester, and Seonghyun in front of him was a student with only healing abilities.

“Here you go.”

Seonghyun took out 5 cores from his pocket and handed them to the examiner.

“Five… cores? In 3 minutes…?”

The examiner checked the records so far.

It was the shortest record since the student who brought 5 cores in 1 minute and 18 seconds 3 years ago.

But that student’s ability was that he had no ability.

An extreme ability where everything was focused on physical abilities.

Of course, the time difference was more than double, but considering Seonghyun’s ability, it was an amazing record.

“Student Kim Seonghyun… is perfect.”

Those who were not very interested in how many cores Seonghyun would receive looked at Seonghyun and the clock alternately at the examiner’s words of a perfect score.

“A perfect score in 3, 3 minutes?”

“Wasn’t Kim Seonghyun a healer…?”

“…Well, what would happen if a great healer got a low score.”

Most of the reactions were surprised, but there were quite a few reactions that Seonghyun would not have received a perfect score by fair means.

“Ah… well, he’s the one who raised the national prestige ranking, so of course he should get a perfect score.”

“I’m telling you. He’ll probably get a perfect score on the second exam too and even compete as the class representative.”

Seonghyun ignored the divided reactions with a hollow laugh, even though he had saved their lives.