"Yusin sunbae! Yusin sunbae! The Ayla Guild is on!" Jin Bora shouted, glued to the laptop. I had just woken up and was chugging water, but I jolted in surprise and ran over.

"Did they clear it?"

"Yes! The rift is gone."

A massive crowd of reporters was swarming the guild members returning from the dungeon. They were all covered in a slimy green liquid, and in the background, people were being loaded into ambulances. We watched the monitor with bated breath.

A moment later.

A massive cheer erupted on screen.

With a deafening cheer, the hero of the day and guild master of the Ayla Guild, Ahn Sehyeon, appeared. He too was covered in the viscous green liquid. His armor was heavily corroded, and he looked utterly exhausted.

"Thank you. This is Ahn Sehyeon."

But the moment he stood before the cameras, his posture straightened and his expression became professional. Vitality returned to his voice. 'A pro is a pro,' I thought.

Immediately, questions rained down from the reporters.

"What kind of dungeon was the Swamp of Nightmares?"

"It was hell. We went in equipped for mobility, thinking we could quickly cross the swampy terrain, but it was actually a giant sea of poison. The entire guild had to swim across and fight monsters in that state. I believe we could have cleared it more easily if we had deployed members skilled in underwater combat."

"That sounds incredible! What was the most difficult part of the raid?" another reporter asked.

"The swamp's poison was more troublesome than the boss. All our members struggled with the status effect and had to fight in the worst possible condition. But thankfully… ah."

Ahn Sehyeon rummaged through his coat and held up an empty bottle.

"This is a potion with an antidote effect that was sponsored to our guild for this raid."

He scanned the bottle, looking for the brand.

"Hmm, it's from a place called Alchemia. I want to say that it was a huge help. Without this potion, we would have had several times more casualties. I'd like to visit them someday and express my gratitude in person."

"Kyaaaaaaah!"

Beside me, Bora let out a shriek of joy.

"Did you hear that? The guild master of the fifth-ranked guild is thanking us!"

"Haha. Calm down."

"And he wants to visit and thank us in person! Waaah! What do I do? Seriously!"

The interview continued on screen. It would have been nice if they'd talked more about the potion, but the reporters immediately shifted to the Moon Taeyeong recruitment issue and dating rumors.

Still, this was enough. It was a widely watched broadcast, and the impact of that one statement would be immense.

It wasn't long before we felt that impact firsthand. Bora, who was rewatching the interview and checking online reactions, shrieked again.

"Yusin sunbae, this is huge! 'Potion' is ranked tenth on the portal site's search trends!"

"Congratulations, Tower Master."

Seojin, who had come down to the lobby at some point, grinned and showed me the E-Market screen. "It's absolute chaos."

Inquiry messages began to flood in at an insane speed.

* * *

The money was rolling in. It was rolling in like crazy.

The day of Ahn Sehyeon's interview, the Poison Resistance Potion sold for two thousand per bottle, earning a total of forty thousand in a single day. Then, a bidding war broke out between the Snow and Kalan guilds over their simultaneous raids of an ice-attribute dungeon, and the price soared to five thousand per bottle. We earned nearly a hundred grand in a single day without lifting a finger. It felt like it should be illegal to make money this easily.

However, the market remained divided.

[A New Hunter Supply! A Study on Potions.]

[Who is the Mysterious Potion Specialist?]

[Ayla Guild Expresses Interest in Recruiting Potion Specialist.]

[E-Market US Headquarters: Seller's Personal Information Cannot Be Provided.]

[The Hot New Status Effect Potions! Can They Be Trusted?]

[Korea Healer's Union: Potions are unverified products. Side effects are a serious concern.]

The market's evaluation of the potions was still fifty-fifty. The biggest obstacle was, of course, credibility. That was an issue that would take time to resolve. Also, since our potions were still low-grade, a drawback emerged: their effectiveness diminished against higher-level status effects.

Despite this, Seojin insisted there was nothing to worry about.

"We're in no rush. For now, let's focus on the E-Market business and slowly build our distribution routes."

The person most excited about this jackpot was Seojin. He was rapidly moving through the procedures for mass production with the capital we'd secured. We were also considering opening a physical store or getting into hunter supply shops, but the issue of security had to be addressed first. So, we decided to expand beyond E-Market as slowly as possible.

Currently, various guilds and large corporations were frantically searching for the potion specialist.

"Did you see the forum today? They say a potion ability user appeared in Korea!"

"Damn, I'm jealous. Isn't that basically an ability to conjure money?"

"For real."

"Think I'll get to try one someday?"

"Dream on. They're sold exclusively on E-Market and are always sold out."

I was at the academy. As I walked down the corridor, I could hear students talking about potions. If they had this much influence among students who weren't even pro-hunters yet, the active hunters who were sensitive to every single item would react even more strongly.

Little by little, I could feel myself shaking up the hunter world.

'This doesn't feel bad.'

Things were going well with the Magic Tower. Now it was time to focus on my own activities.

I left the academy building and entered the gymnasium.

"Ooh! There he is!"

"The new student council president!"

The moment I opened the door, I saw the spectator seats packed with students. A tremendous cheer erupted.

I was here for one reason: the early graduation exam.

The exam was a major event at the academy, held over a week. It started with a round of sixteen, and the four who survived to the semifinals would automatically qualify for early graduation. From there, they could enter the market under the full spotlight of the hunter media.

My match was the first of the round of sixteen.

When I stepped onto the gymnasium stage, my opponent was waiting.

"I saw your duel with Hong Yeon, President." He was a man with his hair tied back in a long ponytail, wearing an impressive-looking hunter suit. "I'm Jang Hyunjin, a fourth-year."

"Kim Yusin."

"It's an honor to fight you. Honestly, I thought about forfeiting when I saw the bracket, but I figured the experience of fighting you would be a good addition to my resume."

The magic stones embedded in his suit whirred, emitting a blue light. It was a hunter-exclusive battle suit, born from the fusion of monster byproducts and modern science, and it looked expensive.

Normally, personal suits were forbidden in friendly duels, but this was an official match. Any equipment that met regulations was allowed. The objective was still to reduce the opponent's mana suit gauge to zero, but Jang Hyunjin was wearing his mana suit 'underneath' his battle suit. He had come fully prepared.

"Where's your gear?"

"I'm fine."

I took a mana suit from a staff member and put it on. Jang Hyunjin narrowed his eyes. "Are you sure? You of all people should know what happened in the battle with Hong Yeon."

He was telling me not to be careless.

"I don't really have any suitable equipment. Besides, I'm not the type to use weapons anyway."

"If that's the case…" Jang Hyunjin, who had been scratching his head, suddenly looked serious. "I'm a fourth-year, and I don't plan on losing meekly. Let's have a good match, President."

"You too."

We took our fighting stances. A staff member approached, checked his watch, and announced, "We will now begin the official round of sixteen early graduation match between second-year Kim Yusin and fourth-year Jang Hyunjin."

A thunderous cheer erupted, my name chanted from all directions. With most of the crowd cheering for me, it felt like a home game.

The buzzer blared, signaling the start of the match.

"I won't even give you time to act!"

The moment the match began, Jang Hyunjin charged, his sword leading the way. His speed was incredible, leaving afterimages in his wake.

-He possesses an acceleration-type ability, Tower Master.

'Okay.'

I raised my right arm and used Remote Casting to summon a shield to block his path. But Jang Hyunjin proved he was a well-trained player, skillfully dodging the obstacle even while accelerating. He wasn't just fast; his reflexes were excellent.

Closing the distance in an instant, he swung his sword sharply.

'Whoosh!'

I simply twisted my shoulder to the side, evading the attack completely. He looked shocked, probably not expecting me to dodge cleanly instead of blocking.

In a continuous motion, I thrust out my gauntlet-clad right hand. Utterly stunned, he raised his sword above his head to defend.

'Clang!'

Blue sparks flew as his body slid back several meters. His arms and legs trembled from the recoil.

"Ugh! How is this possible? I heard hand-to-hand combat was your weakness!"

I shrugged. "Not anymore."

From that single clash, it seemed Jang Hyunjin had to completely overhaul his strategy. He couldn't charge in recklessly, which gave me time to leisurely begin casting a spell.

"If you're not coming to me, I'll use my specialty."

<Fire Cannon>

'Fwoosh!'

With me adding the final calculations to the magic Ea had been preparing, a fireball blazed to life. Jang Hyunjin's expression hardened.

'Go.'

At my command, the fireballs flew in sequence. He used his acceleration ability to dash to the side.

'Boom! Boom! Boom!'

'Kaboom!'

Explosions erupted around him, flames engulfing the stage. The strain of blocking my gauntlet head-on still seemed to be affecting him, as his speed had dropped. Moreover, Ea's targeting wasn't aimed at him directly but was a highly calculated area bombardment designed to slowly but surely accumulate damage.

I glanced at the screen. His suit's gauge was already down by half. Even though he wore the mana suit under his armor, any impact on the armor was absorbed by the mana suit. The damage was definitely registering.

'Now, what will you do?'

-Warning. The opponent's equipment is overloading.

A high-pitched whine filled the air. Even amidst the flames, I could clearly hear the whirring of the magic stone in his armor. Novice hunters often use suits to cover their weaknesses, but it seemed Jang Hyunjin had chosen his to push his strengths to the extreme. I watched his movements with my Sage's Eye and laid a magic circle beneath my feet. Then, just as the Fire Cannon had drained his suit's gauge to twenty percent, his body shot forward like a beam of light.

He was fast. But not so fast that my Sage's Eye couldn't track him. I took a small step back and raised my index finger.

<Earth Claymore>

'Crack!'

A sword of earth burst through the gymnasium floor, rising up like a wall in front of me. Unable to react to the unexpected technique, Jang Hyunjin slammed into the rock with all of his overwhelming momentum.

'CRASH!'

The impact shook the entire gymnasium.

"Gah!"

About a third of his armor shattered. The shock should have been enough to knock him out, but he gritted his teeth with indomitable will and staggered back. His focus wavered as he prepared his next attack, but I was completely unscathed and faster to cast my next spell.

<Shield>

I blocked his staggering retreat with a shield at his back.

<Shield>

<Shield>

<Shield>

Next, I pinned the arm holding his sword with two more shields, then placed others at his leg, thigh, and flank, creating a prison of force fields.

This was a feat made possible only by my advanced proficiency in both Remote Casting and Accelerated Casting.

"Gah…!"

Hyeonjin couldn't move an inch.

I lowered the hand that had maintained the shield and swung my left arm wide. The Fire Cannon magic circles Ea had prepared unfolded all around him.

"Woooooah!" A fervent roar erupted from the stands.

This was an execution. Feeling the heat of the excited crowd, I clenched my fist. The moment the blazing fireballs launched from the magic circles, I dispelled the shield. Hyeonjin, suddenly free, lost his balance and staggered.

And then.

'KABOOOOOOOM!'

The fireballs swallowed my defenseless enemy, erupting in a massive explosion.

* * *

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