The overall ability consists of several figures such as strength, mana (magic power), defense, and agility.
Its value is not affected by a player’s skill or light skill, and it is often the first thing mentioned when talking about a player’s level.
It’s the same in this world and in the game world.
‘However, in both worlds, skills and light skills are more important than a player’s level. A player on a lower level stands a chance against those on higher levels if he has the right tactics and abilities. You can’t judge a player’s capability just by the value of his overall ability.’
Nevertheless, combat-related skills and light skills, as well as the overall ability, often grow together with personal training.
Even if a player’s overall ability doesn’t reveal everything about a player’s power, it is true that that number is reliable enough to gauge a player.
Although there are individual differences, the overall ability of a player usually goes through a growth spurt from high school until their early twenties.
‘Except for Joo Soohyuk and Maeng Hyodon who had a high level of overall ability since middle school.’
Players who are in first-year high school usually have their overall ability between 10 and 20.
That number slowly increases as they grow older.
Second graders are averaging between 20 and 25, while third graders are between 26 and 30.
But that statistic is for high school players nationwide.
The national average didn’t mean much in Eungwang High, Korea’s most prestigious player-specialized high school.
‘The statistic for Eungwang High is different.’
It would be rather strange if Korea’s most prestigious high school and the other ones in the whole country are on the same level.
Just because the average of all examinees’ CSAT grades are between 4 and 6 doesn’t mean that the average grade of successful applicants at the most prestigious universities are the same.
Most successful applicants have a grade of 1, and they would compete fiercely for first place with only a decimal difference in their grades.
The same is true for Eungwang High.
I, Yoo Sanghoon, and Jang Namwook were at level 10 of overall ability during the entrance exam.
That falls in the range of the average level of first-year high school students already.
Even Yoo Sanghee, whose specialty is healing abilities and research, has a mid-30 level of overall ability.
‘I grew in level pretty quickly too.’
My current overall ability is already far above the average for third-year high school students.
However, the improvement of my overall ability, which had been soaring thanks to White Tiger’s training, reached a slump when I reached level 30.
Although my trainer is the mythical White Tiger, matches with him won’t be enough to improve my level further.
I need to experience real-life action.
‘I need to check my abilities before rushing into otherworld occurrences.’
I was a little reluctant, but I decided to check my stats so that I won’t make a mistake in today’s offensive play.
<Viewing information on Jo Euishin.>
[Name] Jo Euishin
[Title] Two-dimensional future transformational object, Nameless Supernova, Red Wall Thief
[Order] (Failed to load information)
[Light Skill] (Disabled)
[Status] Normal
[Overall Ability] Lv. 32.
[Skill]
Use Objects Lv. 5
Two-dimensional future transform object exclusive menu Lv. 5
Communication with Transcendent Universe Lv. 2
Fate Lv. 3
(Failed to load information.)
‘It’s been a while since I opened my status window. My overall ability increased by one since we went back from China.’
My gaze stopped at a certain skill.
Two-dimensional future transform object exclusive menu Lv. 5.
It was through this skill and the Replay function that Yoo Sanghoon and Jang Namwook had their nightmares.
I’ve never opened my status window ever since I found out what sort of effect the Reply function has.
I was worried that I would activate Replay by mistake, but I also just didn’t want to open my status window.
‘I need to think more about the Replay function. I might need to use it again someday.’
Every piece in chess needs to be developed for there to be a checkmate.
I can’t just give up on the Replay function without knowing exactly what it is useful for.
“Do you have any questions, Jo Euishin?”
Professor Ham Geunhyung’s voice brought me back.
It appears that we’re viewing the information on the second world attack as predicted by the SAT-K.
The rarity and difficulty level was low.
“No, I’m alright.”
“We’ll be departing in a short while. If you have any questions, ask them now.”
Professor Ham Geunhyung isn’t the type who nags a lot, but he spoke rather strictly as this was our first practice.
Some of the kids who finished reading all the target information left their luggage to the park manager.
Come to think of it, most of them came in light clothes with only item cards and card holders with them, but there were some of us who brought a lot of luggage.
“You brought a lot of things. Where do you plan on going after the practice?”
With Saeum of April’s question, Kim Yuri smiled hesitantly.
“I brought some lunch boxes as planned with the other kids who commute! I missed the right timing and I couldn’t reveal it to everyone right away… Hahaha.”
Kim Yuri was actually in charge of defense for today, but in reality, it’s likely that she’d end up exploring the park as there’s really nothing much to do.
Nevertheless, she must’ve been nervous because she was worried about her classmates who were about to practice offense for the first time.
It was Kim Yuri who suggested that the commuting students bring lunch boxes for us dorm students, but she couldn’t say anything up until a few moments before we depart.
The dorm students thanked the others and asked what they brought.
“What did you bring?”
“I brought a ciabatta sandwich and a bagel sandwich! I made several bagel sandwiches. Ah, there’s also some green apples here.”
Kim Yuri brightly answered Hani’s question.
I could see Hani’s face light up at the mention of a sweet sandwich.
“I personally prepared healthy summer desserts. You can look forward to the taste and the nutritional benefits.”
Hwang Jiho lightly lifted the heavy-looking ice box.
Hwang Jiho was very reliable in terms of menu selection and delicious cooking.
However, since Saeum fell victim to Jiho’s trick in the past, he questioned Jiho with a suspicious look.
“Does it taste good? It doesn’t have pine needles or red ginseng in it, does it?”
“Shall we reveal the menu before we have our meal? I can tell you if you’re really curious.”
“…It’s alright.”
“Hahaha! There’s a lot of sweet stuff too. What do you think? Are you curious about the menu?”
“No.”
Saeum and Hani sternly refused, but Hwang Jiho just gave his signature laugh.
In the old man’s eyes, it was good that he can distract the other kids from being too nervous about today.
“I made an almond tortilla pizza.”
Min Geurin chose to make a dish with Song Daesok’s favorite almonds.
The kids knew that she made it in consideration of Daesok, and so they looked at the two of them with pleased faces.
The problem was Song Daesok.
‘He’s not empty-handed this time.’
In the past, we decided to bring drinks for everyone to celebrate the end of exams season.
Song Daesok got scolded by Min Geurin for being the only one who didn’t bring anything.
He drank “something that was a drink” which was a mixture of different kinds of liquids like fruit juice, soda, coffee, milk, red ginseng, and pine juice.
Maybe that incident pushed him to his senses and now he’s brought something good.
“I asked Daesok to bring some kimbap. There’s a snack bar nearby so he didn’t have to make the food himself…”
Song Daesok’s response to Min Geurin’s words wasn’t good.
Min Geurin must’ve noticed by now that something’s not right with Daesok.
“Daesok?”
“…Hm?”
“Daesok… Did you fail to bring anything?”
“No! I brought it from home!”
“What did you bring?”
Min Geurin reached for Daesok’s bag.
He tried to hide the bag behind his back for a moment, but he had to give it to her in the end.
Song Daesok is much taller, so he could’ve just raised the bag, and Min Geurin wouldn’t have reached it.
But he didn’t do that to her.
Geurin was visibly shocked once she opened the bag.
“What is this…!”
The only things inside Daesok’s bag were seaweed (kim) and rice (bap).
It’s a packed lunch box of just seaweed and some instant rice.
My classmates’ deadpan faces looked like they were saying “Oh, classic Daesok,” but Mok Wooram reacted enthusiastically.
“I think it’s a great menu! When I was in a foreign country, I used to eat this whenever I had money. I couldn’t eat instant rice often because it was precious and expensive, and I could only dream about eating dried seaweed.”
“…Instant rice is precious and expensive? Didn’t you get ripped off there too?”
“Eh? But I heard things are naturally expensive because they’re imported…”
Mok Wooram’s sad story ended with him realizing that he ate rice at a price about 100 times the retail price.
Anyway, even though Daesok brought simple seaweed and rice, there was one kid in our class who liked it.
However, Min Geurin looked very disappointed.
It’s highly likely that this was an innocent mistake from Daesok, but it seems that in Geurin’s eyes, he may still seem to be trying to be stubborn against their classmates.
“Daesok, you’re such a fool! You became more stone-headed after you joined the association!”
Maeng Hyodon snapped out of spacing out when he heard the word “stone-headed,” as if he thought it was referring to him.
Meanwhile, Daesok was greatly hurt by the word.
“Sorry! I’m sorry!”
“I wanted to go out with you and eat kimbap together… I’m not giving you the stuff that I brought!”
It was an elementary-school level declaration, but Min Geurin’s words had a strong impact on him.
The attack from the other world still hasn’t started, but it looks like Daesok’s unable to fight now.
Min Geurin had reacted a bit too violently, but Daesok seemed to think that he deserved it.
The other kids proceeded to leave their luggage.
I saw Kwon Lena carrying her violin case again.
‘She’s brought a violin case again.’
Kwon Lena was now an energy violin and an energy bow which are transformable to cards.
That means that she doesn’t need to carry around a violin case anymore.
‘Hmm… I’m not very sure about this since Kwon Lena didn’t learn the violin in the game.’
The design of this case seemed to be different from the one I saw last time.
The case she took to Joo-Oh Island was made of carbon fiber, and this one was made of leather.
‘What could be inside the violin case?’
I couldn’t think about it for long.
The alarm in our devices rang, indicating that the occurrence of collision with an otherworld has begun.
Particles of light slowly emerged from the air, and the space around the point where the occurrence was predicted began to deteriorate.
Screech…. Screeech…!
I heard the sound of something like a misaligned cogwheel engaging by force.
When the sound stopped, I saw a gap beyond a dark and hazy energy wave.
“It’s the collision point. The entrance from the other world.”
Yong Jegun took the lead.
“Well then, shall we start with your first practice?”
The other kids and I followed behind him.
* * *
The Yellow Tiger was the last one from Class Zero who entered the collision point.
The entrance to the Olympic Park sounded busy, and an air van with the team logo of the Lake of Eternity stopped near Kim Yuri.
When the door of the van opened, Kwon Jein appeared in a slightly disorganized outfit.
“Oh? Professor Kwon Jein! Hello!”
Since she was now an honorary teacher, Kwon Jein requested the students to call her “professor” during school hours.
“…Hello.”
Kwon Jein had a vain expression when she saw the otherworld gap.
“It’s too late…”
“Huh? What do you mean late…?”
The others had a similar expression to Kwon Jein’s.
The others were wearing short capes and carrying their violins.
Their outfits looked like they had the letters “E” and “L” from the team’s name.
Kim Yuri realized that all the adults with grim faces are members of the Lake of Eternity, one of the world’s top ten professional player teams.
“We wanted to cheer for her first participation. We were going to play a march to wish them good luck and a safe return.”
Kwon Jein felt disappointed.
She thought that they should prepare an impromptu concert and cheer for the kids outside.
The Lake of Eternity team members busily moved as they set up some instruments.
Gung! Crash!
Suddenly, Jared Lee dropped a music stand and looked flustered.
At the end of Jared Lee’s gaze was the collision point.
“Jared?”
“…Is the first practice for Eungwang High students usually this high in difficulty?”
“What?”
Jared Lee asked in awkward Korean as he looked at the gap.
He usually speaks well enough to be mistaken as a native, but he was so flustered that a strange accent came out of him.
“This target has a very high difficulty level for a first practice.”
Ham Geunhyung replied to what Jared Lee said.
“Eungwang High freshmen can handle R-level difficulty.”
Jared Lee blinked after he glanced at the gap again.
He invoked his skill and looked at the gap again.
This time, he shook his head.
“This isn’t R-level! It’s exceeded SR-level and… there’s a possibility that the difficulty level would increase even more!”
