Chapter 74
Chapter 74
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 74
Chapter Title: The Room of Time and Spirit
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“……What do you mean?”
My emotions went numb.
Even after playing [Devil Fantasy] for over ten years, this was something I’d never heard before.
To begin with, aside from emotions, I’d never even heard of a secret art having any side effects.
But it seemed to be true, as the academy president spoke with a serious face.
“The Bilgeff family’s secret art has the side effect of eating away at a person’s emotions. The more you succumb to its power, the more your emotions wear down.”
“Then if you fully inherit the secret art…….”
“You end up as an empty shell that can barely feel any emotions. ……Tch, I brought him to the academy precisely to prevent that.”
Only after hearing that did the scene from earlier come back to me.
The moment he’d unleashed overwhelming killing intent at Kayla and hurled an ice spear at her.
Roan’s face had been utterly devoid of agitation, completely expressionless.
‘……Yeah, something was definitely off.’
Up until now, Roan and Kayla had no connection whatsoever.
In other words, it was their first meeting.
Sure, he might have picked up somewhere that she was my companion, but that alone wasn’t a reason for him to try killing her.
So then…….
-It’s been a while since I’ve sparred, so I failed to control my strength……
Hurling such a threatening ice spear—wasn’t it probably just to test his newfound power?
Without a care for the risk to his opponent.
It was a truly psychopathic line of thinking, but if his emotions were already wearing down from inheriting the secret art, it was entirely plausible.
“That arrogant noble turning into an empty shell……? President, shouldn’t we do something to stop this?”
Thompson, who had been listening silently, spoke up with an urgent expression.
But the academy president shook his head.
“Thompson. This isn’t something we can interfere with. It’s a choice Roan made himself.”
“Himself……? You mean he knew about the side effects and still went through with it?”
“He knew about the side effects even before enrolling in the academy.”
“But why on earth would he…….”
“He probably thought growing stronger was more important than the emotions he’d lose to the side effects.”
I had a rough idea about this.
I’d already found it strange how he’d invited me to the academy only to vanish without a word that day.
Right after I’d succeeded in attribute fusion, no less.
‘Competitive spirit, deprivation…… something like that?’
Perhaps my success with attribute fusion was the trigger that made him decide to inherit the secret art.
No, in my view, it was almost certain.
Roan was the type who absolutely hated falling behind anyone.
‘……In a way, I unintentionally became the cause.’
It wasn’t my fault, but it still left a foul taste in my mouth.
Still, as the academy president said, this was Roan’s own choice.
There was nothing else I could do.
I could only pray that he grew as strong as he wanted to be.
As the mood grew heavy and gloomy, the academy president wrapped things up.
“I’ll speak with Roan separately, so everyone, don’t worry too much. ……Hm, since we’re all gathered, how about we go check on Miss Kayla?”
“……Yes, I’m fine with that, President.”
“You’re coming too, President?”
“Of course. I want to properly examine Miss Kayla’s magic myself. And I need to deliver her enrollment notice.”
True, the spar ended so quickly that Kayla hadn’t been able to show her full abilities.
“Understood. I’ll lead the way.”
With that, the three of us headed to the auditorium.
As soon as we neared the auditorium, explosive sounds started ringing out.
Boom! Boom! BANG!
The brutal explosions continued endlessly.
“……This is no joke? From the top ranker?”
“Yeah.”
It was clear they were still in the middle of intense training.
Had Kayla really changed?
With some anticipation, I opened the auditorium door.
Creak. Whoosh!
A scorching heat rushed out as if welcoming us.
The first thing that caught my eye was Professor Jairen, sitting in the center of the auditorium.
“Ah, you’ve arrived.”
She spotted the academy president, nodded in greeting from her chair where she sat with one leg crossed.
Just as relaxed as she’d been in the sparring hall.
In contrast.
“Huff……! Huff……!”
Kayla was practically on the verge of death.
She lay sprawled on the charred black floor of the auditorium, breathing raggedly.
Thompson approached with a worried face.
“Ah, miss. Are you okay……?”
“……Huff. Ah, Mister. Yes. I’m, I’m fi— Urk!”
Kayla suddenly shot up, twisting her torso to start vomiting.
Vomit soon poured out.
“Urgh—!”
I’d experienced it a few times myself, so I knew well.
It’s a phenomenon that happens sometimes when you train by squeezing every last drop of mana.
Of course, most people here would know that too.
However.
Fwoosh!
“Now. You’ve rested enough, so shall we begin again?”
Professor Jairen incinerated Kayla’s vomit with fire magic and resumed training.
“A-Al-Already? I just lay down……?”
“The more comfortable your body feels, the less efficient the training. This is sufficient.”
She wouldn’t even give time to catch her breath…… a demonic figure through and through.
Watching that, one question came to mind.
“President, is Professor Jairen from a prestigious family by any chance?”
“She is, but why?”
“I wondered if she’d inherited her family’s secret art too. If her emotions are worn down or something…….”
“……No. Professor Jairen is a complete person.”
“I see.”
A blessing amid misfortune.
Meaning she wouldn’t kill Kayla.
Though she was pushing her right to the brink of death.
‘As long as she’s still breathing, it’s fine.’
From my perspective, this grueling training was welcome.
Kayla and Thompson.
The reason I’d brought them here in the first place was to close the growth gap with me.
From that viewpoint, choosing the academy was a stroke of genius.
BOOM! Boom! Boom!
“Huff……! Huff……!”
The explosion from Kayla that I witnessed with my own eyes was completely different from just a few hours ago.
“The range of the explosion has gotten much wider. The power…… seems at least double.”
It wasn’t just the explosion.
Fwoosh!
Consecutive fire pillars and fireballs.
Even setting aside the faster casting speed, the firepower now had a faint blue tint.
Even with help from Professor Jairen, a 7th-circle mage, it was honestly unbelievable.
It was far more efficient than the two weeks of hunting I’d thought was decent effort.
“Impressive, isn’t it?”
“……Yes. How is this possible?”
“Mana naturally becomes denser with repeated exhaustion. That’s why such rapid change in a short time is feasible.”
The academy president stroked his prickly beard and continued explaining.
“Above all, Miss Kayla’s understanding of the fire attribute must have improved. No one matches Jairen when it comes to theory.”
“No one matches her?”
“That’s right. At least in Asteron.”
Professor Jairen seemed even more remarkable than I’d thought.
Enough for the academy president to say that.
“Of course, this is only possible under the premise that Miss Kayla has the talent to back it up. The girl must have more talent than she seems?”
“Ah…… She’s not bad.”
In fact, Kayla possessed [Desperate Wish], a heroic-grade trait.
Not as exceptional as Roan’s or mine, but enough talent to crush most mages.
With that bolstered by Asteron’s top theory expert, Professor Jairen, this was the result.
By the way.
“It’s fascinating that mana density increases with repeated exhaustion.”
This part intrigued me the most personally.
It was info I couldn’t have known from the game.
“You really didn’t know?”
But the academy president tilted his head.
Looking more surprised himself.
“Young Han-es, your mana density is already quite high. I thought you’d known this and trained accordingly?”
“Ah, that’s…….”
Now that he mentioned it, I could see why he’d assume that.
How many times had my mana been exhausted?
Fighting the slicked-back man, closing the rift in Aldeon, hunting beyond the border, and so on……
I’d unintentionally fallen into mana exhaustion multiple times.
I roughly explained, and the academy president let out a hearty laugh.
“Damn, you’ve got some filthy good luck?”
“……Do I?”
He seemed to judge this situation as fortunate.
Of course, I didn’t see it that way.
‘Lucky my ass.’
Unintended mana exhaustion meant I’d come that close to death just as many times.
I couldn’t call densifying my mana at the cost of risking my life “good luck.”
Anyway.
With this, Kayla’s growth—and Thompson’s too—were resolved at once.
Now, only my growth remained.
With that in mind, I asked the academy president.
“What about my mana circuits, then?”
“Ah, right. I’ve actually been thinking about that.”
Swoosh.
Mana gathered over the academy president’s ancient wand.
And a certain square form took shape.
‘Mana can be used like this too.’
It was a model with a large door on the front, covered in countless iron chains.
“What is this?”
“It’s a space beneath the academy president’s office. It doesn’t have an exact name, but…… we call it the Room of Time and Spirit.”
“……The Room of Time and Spirit?”
“Yes.”
The academy president nodded and added that once inside, a person couldn’t leave until they achieved their goal.
The most surprising part was this room’s unique mechanism.
“Time passes slower inside……?”
“Yes, exactly ten times slower than normal.”
Meaning one hour outside was ten hours inside.
I’d never seen or heard of such a structure.
‘……Why are there so many new things?’
The secret art’s side effects, this Room of Time and Spirit.
Everything I didn’t know.
Of course, the existence of a place like this would work in my favor.
“Honestly, I don’t know the principle myself. Just rumors that someone from a hundred years ago made it.”
“Someone from a hundred years ago? Who?”
“If I knew, I wouldn’t call them ‘someone.’ No one knows that person’s identity. That’s what makes the room even more mysterious.”
A hundred years ago overlapped with when I’d played the game.
However.
‘No one like that comes to mind.’
Time was still a power in an untouchable realm.
Someone with that much power should be predictable to some extent, but no one fit.
A true mystery.
Not important right now, though.
“So, what—you want me to go in there and do what?”
“Untangle your circuits, obviously. There’s no better way for something as tangled as yours. Or are you fine unraveling them when you’re old and gray?”
“……Of course not.”
Anyway, his point was for me to enter and untangle my circuits, but one thing bothered me.
The explanation that you couldn’t leave until achieving your goal.
Untangling circuits wasn’t something anyone could do, and if—hypothetically……
“What if I can’t untangle them all?”
What happens if I fail the goal?
The academy president’s answer was simple.
“You stay trapped forever.”
“…….”
Eternal imprisonment.
Experiencing that would be worse than death.
Did this guy even realize that?
“Will you do it?”
He asked casually, face unperturbed.
A psycho on par with Roan.
Of course, I had only one possible answer.
“I’ll do it.”
This crisis might just be the chance for me to leap forward in an instant.