Chapter 135
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 135
“Time’s up.”
“Ugh…”
Kiriel, who had been practically tearing her hair out, finally set down her pen.
I took her test paper and began grading it. Her score was a twenty-seven. It was abysmal, but it was still a marked improvement over her previous attempt. It wasn't just lucky guessing, either; her accuracy was high on the easier questions at the beginning, only faltering as the problems grew more complex toward the end.
Of course, considering she had already taken this exact test once before, a score like this was to be expected.
I looked over the results and gave a slow nod.
“It seems you’ve done the bare minimum, at least.”
“Yeah, well... I figured I couldn’t stay like this forever.”
Seeing Kiriel scratch her head listlessly, I asked, “I take it you realized your own powerlessness after what happened last time?”
I was referring to the incident during the sports festival, where she had encountered a demon and nearly lost not only her own life but the lives of her friends as well.
Kiriel nodded weakly.
“...There’s that, too. Though I don’t think it has much to do with my written exam scores.”
“They say knowledge is power. If you don’t mind, could you tell me exactly what happened back then?”
“Okay.”
With a deep sigh, Kiriel began to explain the events that had unfolded before my arrival.
She described a bat-like monster of immense power that had appeared after the gremlins. Silphy and Lina had been utterly helpless against it. She went into detail about her own frustration, unable to do anything to save them.
However, there was a significant discrepancy between my memory and Kiriel’s account.
Her memory of the demon had been replaced with a 'bat-like monster.' It seemed the Chairman had altered the memories of Kiriel and her friends.
Well, that might be for the best for her.
I nodded slowly.
A man-eating demon invading the Union—a situation where her friends were taken hostage and she was forced to make an impossible choice. If those memories remained intact, they would do her no good mentally. Whether for information control or for Kiriel’s own well-being, the Chairman had made the right call.
Kiriel finished her story.
“That’s what happened. And that’s when you showed up and said you’d buy us some time.”
After listening carefully, I adopted an arrogant tone.
“I see. I appeared at the perfect moment to save you all, so you should be even more grateful. I saved your life and the lives of your friends.”
Kiriel scratched her slightly flushed ear. “...You don’t have to tell me; I know. The reason I accepted your help with studying was, in a way, to show my gratitude.”
“Well, fine. Then today’s lesson will focus on reviewing the battle from that day.”
“The battle?”
“Yes. You said you chose Trent, the intermediate forest spirit, and Naias, the intermediate water spirit, when you fought the monster, correct?”
“Yeah. We were near a forest, so a tree spirit was efficient, and I supported it with Naias since they have a symbiotic relationship.”
“Not a bad choice. But I wouldn’t have done that. There was a better way.”
“A better way?”
“Yes. If you had summoned Salamander, the fire spirit, you would have achieved a far better outcome.”
“Why?”
I elaborated for the still-puzzled Kiriel.
“What element supports fire?”
“Fire creates Wood… no, Wood feeds Fire. So if there are a lot of trees, the fire spirit’s power grows stronger.”
“Correct. If you had summoned Salamander and supported it with Trent, you could have unleashed far greater power. Moreover, since you were surrounded by a forest full of kindling, Salamander could have temporarily wielded power comparable to a high-ranking spirit.”
“Ah.”
Kiriel let out a small gasp of realization. But then she tilted her head again. “But in terms of mana efficiency, isn’t that pretty much the same as pairing Trent with Naias?”
“A sharp observation.”
I closed my eyes for a moment, organizing my thoughts.
Adding the ‘power of wood,’ which was abundant in the forest, to a ‘fire spirit.’
Versus adding the ‘power of water’ to a ‘forest spirit’ in that same environment.
At first glance, the two options seemed to have little difference in mana efficiency. To Kiriel’s surprisingly astute point, I added an explanation.
“One might think so, but there’s actually a significant difference. First, summoning a water spirit with your own mana to support a forest spirit means you are continuously consuming your own reserves. On the other hand, summoning a fire spirit and fueling it with the power of the forest is more accurately seen as using the power of nature itself. The latter is vastly superior in terms of mana efficiency.”
“Hmm.”
Kiriel’s expression showed she was still struggling to grasp the concept.
I gave her a simpler analogy. “It’s hard work to keep fetching water for a large tree, but it’s very easy to set a pile of kindling on fire.”
“Aha!”
“Besides, you shouldn’t only consider your own mana efficiency and attributes. You must also consider your opponent’s. You said the bat-like monster had incredible regenerative abilities, right?”
“Yeah, I completely crushed its wing, and it regenerated in an instant. It was terrifying. But regeneration… regeneration… aha!”
Kiriel clapped her hands as the pieces clicked into place.
I smiled and nodded.
“You’ve got it. The power that fire governs is ‘division.’ It has the property of interfering with the powers of ‘growth’ and ‘recovery’ that the monster possessed. Even if the mana efficiency were the same, the effect would be worlds apart depending on the opponent’s attribute.”
The fact that a massive demon like Demper was obliterated by my single Fire Bolt was likely influenced by that very attribute. The power of fire possesses properties that hinder recovery.
Of course, in that specific case, it was less about the attribute and more about the sheer destructive power of magic woven with ‘Magi.’
In any case, the power of the Five Elements doesn't just refer to fire, water, wood, metal, and earth in a purely physical sense. It’s a power that corresponds to the ‘traits’ and ‘concepts’ inherent to all existence. By taking this into account, one can fight with maximum efficiency.
“I see. I have to consider the opponent’s attributes, too.”
“Right. From now on, try to fight more efficiently by considering the enemy’s elemental weaknesses and the attributes of your surroundings. That’s all for today.”
“Oh, has it already been an hour?”
Kiriel’s eyes widened as she looked at the clock on the wall. Between the test and the explanation, the promised hour had already flown by.
“Yes. You can go for today. Come back again next week. And make sure to bring your textbooks.”
“Okay, I will. Thanks for the help.”
“Don’t mention it.”
As Kiriel stood up and headed for the door, she left me with one last comment.
“...Studying was actually pretty fun.”
*
“What a boring thing to say. You expect me to believe this?”
“Believe it or not, I don’t care.”
Meister Academy.
Meyer’s luxurious office.
I leaned back arrogantly on the sofa and sipped my tea. Meyer examined the remote I had handed him from every angle, his face twisted in a scowl.
“Good grief. I was hoping to learn the exact principle behind how it blocks a mana core’s signal, but to think you just stumbled upon it by chance.”
“What can I say? Discovery and invention are often the products of coincidence.”
“I suppose I agree with that, but… ugh.”
Meyer sighed and handed the remote back to me. I chuckled as I looked at the device.
This remote was a byproduct I stumbled upon while rolling the gacha using Alchemy’s [Amplify] function.
I felt a little bad for Meyer, but the truth was that I didn’t know the exact operating principle either. However, since the function already worked, it should be possible to figure out the principle by reverse-engineering it.
Meyer settled back into his chair and changed the subject.
“Be that as it may, where is the blueprint for the next-generation core?”
“Right here.”
I placed a copy of the blueprint I had obtained from the Ether Dungeon on the table.
“Ahem.”
Meyer let out a deliberate cough and tried to snatch the copy, but I had anticipated this and pulled it back.
“Not so fast. I have no intention of showing you the contents until the contract is signed.”
Meyer replied in a dissatisfied tone. “Roen, I need to confirm whether this information about the next-generation core is genuine before I can sign an information exchange contract with you, don’t you think?”
“This has been guaranteed by Beatrice. Surely you don’t doubt the word of Her Highness the Imperial Princess? What are you, a traitor?”
“A t—traitor! That’s not what I meant!”
Meyer flinched. I pressed my advantage.
“Besides, I even gave you the remote out of pure goodwill. And now you’re saying you’ll only sign the contract after you’ve confirmed the contents of this blueprint?”
“That may be, but that remote is completely useless right now, isn’t it? I have to uncover its operating principle through research and experimentation. Just showing it to me for a moment hardly counts as goodwill.”
“You’re a genius of magic engineering, aren’t you? Figure it out yourself.”
“...Well, I am a genius, but—”
My little bit of flattery made Meyer momentarily lose his composure before he cleared his throat.
“Ahem, well, very well. I shall trust Her Highness Beatrice and sign.”
“A wise decision.”
Scratch, scratch—.
Meyer signed his name in a splendid cursive script. He swept his flowing blond hair to the side and pushed the signed contract toward me.
“A contract regarding the sharing of magic armor technology and the use of an S-grade workshop. It is concluded. Now, show me the blueprint for the next-generation core.”
Meyer persistently demanded the document. Without getting swept up in his pace, I carefully reviewed the contract before finally handing over the blueprint.
“Here, take it.”
Snatch—.
Meyer grabbed the blueprint as if someone might steal it, practically pressing his face against the paper as he began to read. As he scanned the contents, his eyes began to gleam with desire.
“This… this really is the blueprint for a next-generation core. To be precise, it’s not so much next-generation as it is a lost, ancient technology. It seems to be from a completely different lineage than current cores, but it will certainly lead to massive improvements in efficiency and output. Now, for the principles in detail… Huh? What is this?”
I feigned ignorance as I tucked the contract into my coat.
“What is what?”
Meyer flapped the blueprint at me. “The most important information is missing! The core manufacturing technology isn’t written here!”
I shrugged.
“Did you really think I would show you everything from the start? What I’ve given you is only a part of the blueprint. The full design consists of five parts, and only when all of them are overlaid does it become a complete whole. I will provide the other four parts incrementally, each time you transfer a piece of the magic armor technology.”
“Wh—What! This is absurd!”
Meyer slammed his hand on the desk, expressing his fury.
“Absurd? This is a minimal safety measure, taken in consideration of the fact that you might just suck out the next-generation core technology and only transfer the most basic magic armor techniques.”
I gave the indignant Meyer a grin.
“If you want the rest of the blueprint, you’ll have to cooperate sincerely with the technology transfer, Meyer.”
*
A few weeks later.
“So this is it.”
Arriving at the workshop district of Meister Academy, I looked up at the building. It was a spacious, factory-like structure, roughly 7,000 square feet. This was the S-grade workshop I had secured through my contract with Meyer.
Although it was empty for now, the equipment I had requested from the underworld would gradually arrive. Furthermore, I had the authority to use most of the items in Meister Academy’s logistics warehouse. With a little time, this workshop would be filled with magnificent equipment and materials.
“Is it to your liking?”
“Yes. I feel like a proper landlord.”
I replied to Ciel’s question with a grin, my hands clasped behind my back.
An S-grade workshop, obtained through my deal with Meyer. From now on, this was where I would continue my work and research on things that required significant space, large equipment, and a massive mana supply—like homunculi and golems.
But I wouldn't be able to do all the work by myself.
I’ll need to hire a few assistants.
As I was looking around the workshop, lost in thought, a voice called out from a distance.
“Lord Roen, we’ll put this here!”
“Right, thank you.”
It was Philip and Josephine, who had moved the sofa and other furniture that had been crammed in the student council office’s storage. I expressed my thanks to them.
“Let’s have a meal after the move is done. By the way, how are the competitive matches going?”
Philip straightened his back and said proudly, “Ah, we’re climbing smoothly. I’ve gone up about 20 ranks to 529th, and Josephine here is…”
“I am currently ranked 130th. I may end up facing you soon, Lady Ciel.”
“Hoh, that won’t be an easy fight.”
“What’s your rank, Lord Roen?”
“About the same. I’m currently 112th. I’m about to break into the top 100.”
After defeating Meyer, I had fought several more competitive matches over the past few weeks. As my rank rose, I could feel that my opponents were getting stronger, but none of them were a match for me. Just one or two more wins and I would enter the double-digit ranks, securing a stable average rank to maintain my position as Student Council President. After that, I could relax a little.
With that in mind, I asked Ciel about my next opponent.
“Ciel, speaking of which, who is my next opponent?”
Ciel always informed me in advance about my next match-up. For some reason, she hadn’t mentioned it this time, so I asked first.
“…”
Ciel didn’t answer immediately, hesitating.
“Ciel?”
When I prompted her again, she, who had been deep in thought, calmly spoke.
“Your next opponent, Lord Roen… is me.”