The Academy had few requirements for students to gain entry.

First, all students had to be at least 12 years of age. Most students at the Academy were in their early teens, but there were a few outliers who entered in their mid to late twenties.

Second, all students were required to take in-class lessons in order to qualify for field-training. This wasn't just to encourage discipline, but also so that students were well-trained and disciplined in practical theory and strategy before ever getting close to monsters.

And finally, no one with a Class was allowed to enter the Academy as a student. At most, they could become instructors or lecturers. The reason was simple: most players with classes focused their efforts on training their strengths and skills rather than learning the lessons the Academy had to offer.

As such, early field-training consisted of multiple students with no skills or strengths along with one or two instructors. Instructors would act as party lead and take small groups of students into dungeons. There, the instructor would engage monsters on their own. This gave students the chance to observe battles and monster behavior without having the strain of engaging directly in combat.

The practical reason was that a party of first-time students was less likely to kill a monster and more likely to accidentally step in front of another's arrow or swing an ax too wide and lop off a classmate's head. Instead, students were encouraged to watch from the sidelines before engaging in the battle. It was the students' jobs to figure out the quickest and safest way to dispatch the monster. It was the instructor's job to keep the monster's attention fixed on themself.

It was a strategy known as “kiting”.

Being that Willow was less than a year out from the Academy, she was disappointed in herself for not recognizing what Hana was up to.

"What do we do?" she asked.

A quick glance around told her that Seunghyo had made himself scarce. He had either decided to retreat on his own or, more likely, had recognized Hana's strategy and decided to move into a new position to observe the battle.

"We watch," Jinyoung replied. "Monsters come in different shapes, sizes and forms. But they all have weaknesses."

"Like fire," Willow said.

Jinyoung nodded. "Exactly, but that won't be enough. You don’t know any high-level spells, I don’t have any elemental skills, and Seunghyo doesn’t have anything in his quiver to take this thing down with.."

"How do you know that?"

For a moment, Jinyoung took his eyes off his sister and surveyed the staging grounds. The large domed glass above them was dark, but there was plenty of light coming in from a large open doorway to the west. A few minor portholes let in sunlight that was slowly making a path across the smooth concrete floor.

Nowhere for a pathfinder to hide.

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"Because if he could, he would've by now."

Jinyoung [scanned] the wraith again. The System fed him information about each attack, giving him a small hint as to when each wild swing was coming. But besides the initial profile, there was no hint of any weaknesses.

Meanwhile, the wraith wasn't slowing down or showing any signs of tiring. It swung wicked claws at Hana that she was forced to block or dodge. And judging by the way she was dodging more, Jinyoung guessed that even with a solid metal shield, those attacks were causing damage.

Just like the dragon in the mountain, this thing moved with a purpose. When Hana moved, it mirrored her motions. She stepped left and the thing would follow. Hana had countered uselessly with her sword enough that the thing didn't fear it anymore. The only times it stepped back was when Hana used [shield bash], thus far the only skill in Hana's repertoire that even affected it.

Then, it happened. Maybe Hana was tired or maybe she had rushed her movement, but she rolled sideways in front of the opening to the west and slid instead of stopping solid. Instinctively, she waved her arms to catch her balance and realized her mistake too late.

The bright light of the setting sun behind her outlined her in white and everyone held their breath, waiting for the blow that was surely coming. But it didn't. Instead, the wraith drew in its arms as if it were taking a breath and then let out a piercing scream.

SHRRRAAAYYKKK!

The cold wind hit the unprepared shield knight and blew her out through the western exit into the frigid tundra outside.

Without anything to stop her, the force of the attack sent her barreling across the flat frozen wasteland until she felt herself crash into something hard and soft at the same time.

She looked up to see Seunghyo smirking down at her.

“I knew you’d end up back in my arms in the sun.”

Even in the blistering cold, she felt her face flush before she had the sense of mind to push him away.

“Where is it?!”

She raised her shield and looked up at the sky, expecting the damned thing to strike down at her. But nothing came.

“It’s still inside,” Seunghyo said.

Hana’s face was a picture of confusion. It would’ve been easy to follow-up the pushback attack with one or two wicked swipes that could’ve easily cut Hana into ribbons.

But Seunghyo was right. She could see the wraith inside the staging area. Standing just beyond the sunlight, waiting for its dance partner to return.

Sunbae, are you okay?

She ignored Willow and thought back to what had just happened. At no point did the monster show any mercy or pull any of its attacks. Her shield was scuffed and scratched enough to show that many of the strikes would have been all-too-lethal had they landed.

Not to mention, its AOE attack didn’t directly deal any damage. It expelled a powerful force that had tossed a fully armored shield knight 15 feet, but that was all. That left two questions.

Why didn’t it land a killing blow when Hana had left herself open?

Why didn’t it follow her outside?

Seunghyo kept his eyes on the wraith. “I’ll go back in with you. Maybe if we create enough openings, your protege can hit it with some spells and weaken it.”

Hana shook her head. “She doesn’t have the spells or the skills to take it down.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Seunghyo said. “The sun’ll go down in a few minutes and we won’t survive more than a few minutes out here when the temperature dips another 50 degrees.”

“We can’t head in until we know how we’re going to beat it, Seunghyo.”

Seunghyo grit his teeth.

“You’re not listening, Hana. We don’t have much light left out here and-”

The realization hit her like a thunderbolt. All this time, Hana had been trying to ignore Seunghyo and focus on the situation at hand. And all this time, he’d been saying the answer over and over again.

The sun.