I Became an Academy Overpowered Growth Genius

I Became an Academy Overpowered Growth Genius – 96

EP.96 The Battle for Kang Seo-jun (1)

Today’s academy schedule was almost the same as yesterday’s.

In the morning, self-study in the classroom.

Lunch.

In the afternoon, self-directed training in the gym.

‘There are fewer instructors today.’

The noticeable difference was the reduced number of instructors supervising the self-directed training.

‘It’s probably because of the Kuyamoto Kenji incident.’

The academy staff likely had twice as much work to handle today due to Kang Seo-jun’s actions.

With the Park Shin-hoo kidnapping case still unresolved, another incident occurred where a foreign cadet, who was about to transfer, was attacked by an unknown assailant and severely injured.

‘Still, it’s surprising they didn’t close the academy.’

Given that two major incidents had occurred within two weeks, it wouldn’t have been surprising if the academy had closed indefinitely until security and defenses were thoroughly checked.

‘Should I consider myself lucky….’

If the culprit’s identity and motive hadn’t been determined, the academy would have likely closed.

During the morning assembly, Kim Ju-hee mentioned that the culprit was identified as the ‘Red Cross Society,’ and their motive was ‘eliminating promising talents.’

‘Although they aren’t entirely certain yet, the academy seems to be focusing on protecting promising talents while monitoring the situation.’

As a result, hunters from the Taesan Group, Seongjin Group, and the association were stationed in the gym, dressed in security uniforms, filling in for the absent instructors.

Since most of the promising cadets of the Korean Hunter Academy were in Class A, security was particularly tight.

‘Ju-hee noona was also very worried about me.’

After the assembly, Kim Ju-hee specifically called Kang Seo-jun aside and warned him to be extra careful as he was also a promising talent of the academy.

‘She would faint if she knew I was behind all these incidents.’

Of course, both incidents were caused by Kang Seo-jun, and the Red Cross Society was merely a scapegoat, so he had nothing to worry about.

‘It wouldn’t have been bad if the academy had closed.’

If it had, he could have taken Se-rin and Eun-ha to do some dungeon farming.

‘If my luck of 50 created this situation, then this must be the best course of action.’

In that case, he would just find what he could do now and do it.

– Whoosh! –

“Whoa, oh!”

Lost in thought for a moment, Kang Seo-jun nearly got hit by Jin Se-rin’s kick to the ear.

“Kang! Seo! Jun! Don’t hold back and do it properly! I’m being serious here!”

“…I’m not holding back.”

“Pfft. Don’t make me laugh!”

Sparring with Jin Se-rin.

She seemed to think he was joking, but Kang Seo-jun was genuinely giving his all to face her.

‘If it weren’t for the 《Eye of Providence》, I would have retired long ago.’

– Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! –

“Seriously! Stop just dodging! Counterattack a bit!”

“…I don’t see any openings.”

“Pffthaha. Seriously, stop joking!”

Jin Se-rin had been laughing a lot more since Kang Seo-jun became handsome.

‘But seriously….’

– Swish! Whoosh! Whirl! –

‘Wow! That was really dangerous!’

All Kang Seo-jun could do, being outmatched in pure specs and trait bonuses by Jin Se-rin, was use the 《Eye of Providence》 to read her attack paths and dodge.

– Swish! Whirl! Bang! –

“Huff! Huff! Ugh!”

After a circus-like dodging performance, they took a 20-minute break.

“Phew….”

While Jin Se-rin went to the restroom, Kang Seo-jun took a moment to catch his breath.

– Gulp! Gulp! –

As he drank a sports drink, Kang Seo-jun thought.

‘I really need to start learning combat techniques.’

Sparring with Jin Se-rin made him painfully aware of this.

Up to the level of [B] rank enemies, their stats weren’t much, and their combat skills were mostly poor, so he could manage to take them down with just physical prowess.

But when it came to someone like Jin Se-rin, who had bonuses making her effectively [A] rank, it became too difficult to handle without combat skills.

‘Until now, I focused solely on building my hardware, trusting in the Counter Time, but now I’ll be facing enemies with [Legendary] grade or higher skills. Surviving without software will be tough.’

The time for relying solely on physical prowess was over.

‘Now that my hardware is somewhat established, it’s time to build my software. Whether it’s swordsmanship, magic, martial arts, summoning, other weapon skills, mecha piloting, or nymph voodoo, I need to learn something.’

It was time for Kang Seo-jun to acquire ‘skills’ that would allow him to utilize his ‘physical’ abilities to their fullest extent.

‘Where should I start?’

There were countless ways to acquire combat skills.

‘I could use the 《Eye of Providence》 to copy someone else’s skills, purchase martial arts from the 《Dimensional Shop》, farm hidden pieces in dungeons, or steal secret manuals from the archives of powerful factions like the Kuyamoto clan.’

Given the options, he needed to carefully consider the best choice.

‘Let’s decide by elimination. First….’

First, dungeons were out. Properly tackling a dungeon would take at least three days, and he didn’t have the time because of the academy.

Stealing from the secret archives of powerful factions was also out. The rewards would be great if successful, but the risk of failure was too high with his current specs.

‘If I get caught…. I’d probably lose at least a limb.’

He had just regained a normal body from being crippled, and becoming crippled again would be too heartbreaking.

‘Well, physical losses can be fixed with the 《Life Support Device of Galactic Emperor》 or implants from the 《Dimensional Shop》, but those also cost dimensional currency. It’s best to avoid unnecessary expenses.’

That left two options. Copying skills with the 《Eye of Providence》 or purchasing a good skill from the 《Dimensional Shop》.

‘Hmm….’

Deciding wasn’t easy, but he soon reached a conclusion.

‘Copying skills with the 《Eye of Providence》 is out. There’s no one around with skills worth copying right now.’

Of course, it wasn’t that there were no ‘skilled people’ around Kang Seo-jun.

Jin Se-rin had mastered the 《Seongjin Spearmanship》 and 《Seongjin Martial Arts》, which combined various combat techniques from around the world.

Park Shin-hye had also mastered the 《Taesan Swordsmanship》 and 《Taesan Martial Arts》, based on secret manuals farmed by Park Tae-ho in the tower.

‘But all of them are below [Rare] grade….’

Of course, techniques like 《Seongjin Spearmanship》 or 《Taesan Swordsmanship》 could be polished to reach [Legendary] grade.

‘But that would take an enormous amount of time and effort. In that case, it’s better to start with….’

If he was going to invest the same amount of time and effort, it was better to acquire a [Epic] grade skill from the start and grow it to [Mythic] grade.

‘The problem is the dimensional currency….’

Recently, he had spent a huge amount of dimensional currency to purchase the 《Life Support Device of Galactic Emperor》, and he hadn’t been farming due to focusing on training, leaving him with just enough currency for living expenses.

‘Well, if I don’t have it, I’ll have to earn it.’

As always, Kang Seo-jun had a plan.

‘I’ll have to raid another one of Omen’s secret vaults.’

He had previously raided a secret vault in the cathedral, earning a huge amount of dimensional currency.

There were still five more of Omen’s secret vaults left.

‘One of them is in the Red Cross Society’s main base, so that’s out, but the other four are in places I can easily hit.’

Since the Red Cross Society was a demon group active mainly in Korea, most of Omen’s secret vaults were also in Korea.

‘One in Jeju Island, one in Gangwon Province, one in Ulleungdo, one in Russia, and the main base in Mount Kumgang, North Korea….’

All of these places could be reached within a day using portal checkpoints and ‘Dimensional Shop Teleport Scrolls.’

‘The easiest one is….’

The one closest to Stellaport, Ulleungdo.

‘It’s the smallest of Omen’s secret vaults, so the profit won’t be as big as the cathedral, but I can still earn enough to buy an [Epic] grade combat skill.’

It would be great to buy a [Legendary] grade martial art, but even with the dimensional currency, his current stats weren’t sufficient to handle it.

‘Whether it’s equipment, magic, or martial arts, to handle [Legendary] grade, you need at least 30 in all stats.’

◆Stats

[Strength: 19], [Agility: 19]

[Endurance: 18], [Resistance: 18]

[Health: 20], [Mana: 20]

[Senses: 18], [Intelligence: 18]

[Willpower: 33], [Luck: 50]

With all stats not even reaching ’20’ yet, handling [Legendary] grade skills was premature.

‘Well…. If I get an [Epic] grade combat skill, train hard as usual, buy elixirs diligently, and raid the remaining Omen’s secret vaults, I’ll hit all stats ’30’ soon enough.’

With a rough plan in place, it seemed like it was time to stop thinking.

‘I should get ready to train again before Se-rin comes back.’

As Kang Seo-jun walked towards the recycling bag to throw away his empty drink can, he heard a voice from below.

“Hey.”

“?”

He looked down to see Park Shin-hye looking up at him.

“I told you to contact me yesterday, why didn’t you? Why are you ignoring me??”

Park Shin-hye asked with a face full of irritation and complaints.

What’s her problem now….

“You said you’d help me with training!!”

“…? Oh. Right.”

He had promised to help her with training yesterday.

He needed to manage her to leech off the trait 《Heir of Taesan》.

He should have prioritized her before his stats increased, but he got distracted thinking about combat skills and farming.

Kang Seo-jun answered nonchalantly.

“I forgot.”

“Wha-what, what!???”

Park Shin-hye crossed her arms and raised her eyebrows, clearly displeased with Kang Seo-jun’s attitude.

“You said it yourself and already forgot? Are you senile? Anyway, if you said you’d do something, you should take responsibility….”

“Ah. Shut up.”

“…Ugh!”

She was acting like she had some authority over him.

“Trying to do you a favor, and you think it’s your right?”

“N-no! You said you’d do it first…!”

Just as Park Shin-hye was about to argue with Kang Seo-jun.

“Huh? What’s this? Park Shin…. Hoo?”

Jin Se-rin, returning from the restroom, saw the two bickering and tilted her head.

“What’s going on? What are you doing for her, Seo-jun? What are you doing?”

She seemed to have overheard their conversation.

“Ugh….”

Park Shin-hye glanced at Jin Se-rin and waved her hand dismissively.

“Don’t butt in and get lost. I have no business with you. I’m talking to….”

“…What?”

Jin Se-rin’s expression instantly turned icy.

“Oh.”

Kang Seo-jun sensed that a war was about to start.

“Are you insane? Talking to someone else’s boyfriend like that?”

“What…? Boyfriend? Hey Kang Seo-jun, are you dating Jin Se-rin? Huh?”

“…Damn.”

How did it come to this?

Was this supposed to happen?

“Hey! Park Shin! Say that again. What did you just say?”

“I said get lost!! I have no business with you!!!”

“You crazy bitch!?”

Jin Se-rin finally raised her hand.

“Whoa, whoa!”

Sigh…. How was he supposed to mediate this?

Just as Kang Seo-jun hurriedly tried to stop Jin Se-rin.

“Seo, Seo-jun!”

A third voice suddenly intervened.

Turning his gaze, he saw Lim Chae-won standing there.

“Can you spare a moment? Just a moment, please?”

“Ah! Seriously!! Lim Chae-won! What do you want now! I was first!! Hey Kang Seo-jun! You said you’d help me with training!!”

“No!!! Hey!! Park Shin! Who do you think you are?! Who are you to tell me to get lost?!”

“Ah….”

This was driving him crazy. Should he just run away?

Suddenly, the nightmare of the “Face Genius” episode with 1700 beauty points flashed through his mind again.