Reward

The academy's main building stood a good distance from the lecture halls. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠It sat far from nearly every other building, for that matter, because the place served as something like a prison island.

Wow. Get a load of this murderous atmosphere.

Arbel Academy was divided into three years. First- and second-years wandered the grounds and sat through their classes like ordinary students, but the third-years were a different story. To graduate, they had to complete a special assignment, and most of them lived in the main building, buried in research or closed-door training.

Eyes stuffed to the brim with exhaustion and venom.

The grounds around the main building were dreary. The seniors passing by wore sour faces, and from every corner came sighs and the occasional howl.

Handle the errand and get out.

Stay in a place like this too long and the gloom would start rubbing off. I walked straight into the main building and made for the administrative office.

"I'm here to collect my reward."

"One moment. Your name? Philip, you said? Yes, yes, confirmed. I'll show you right in."

The clerk verified my identity and, once that was done, led me off somewhere. We descended the central stairs past the first basement, the second, the third, and kept going. When we reached the fifth basement, a thick steel door stood before us.

"Hang on. Opening this takes a key."

Krik. Krik. Clank!

The door gave under the key the clerk had brought, and cold air spilled out in every direction. Beyond it stretched a long corridor, and the magic circles lining the passage felt distinctly threatening.

"No need to be so scared. Most of the traps are shut down."

The circles were indeed gray rather than blue. Gustav must have switched the traps off himself when he opened the vault. Thanks to that, we crossed the corridor quickly and safely and arrived in front of the storehouse.

"Opening it now."

Kreeeak.

The clerk set a hand against the vault door. An unfamiliar magic circle surfaced and began to examine that hand—something like a modern fingerprint scanner, as far as I could tell. Once the inspection finished, the circle flared a bright green, and the door opened with it.

This is insane.

Stepping inside, I couldn't help being stunned. The vault was far larger than I'd imagined. It looked as big as the Main Auditorium where the entrance ceremony had been held, and the walls were lined with drawers and racks, every treasure and artifact filed away with ruthless efficiency. In the game I'd only ever chosen from an item list at the entrance, so I'd never known.

"Don't tell me I have to look through everything in here to pick."

"That book over there is the item catalog. Look through it yourself and decide what you'll take."

For a second I'd thought I might have to ransack the whole vault. Thankfully, that wasn't the case. I walked over to the lectern where the catalog lay, picked it up, and started reading page by page.

They really do have every damn thing.

Treasures and junk took up most of the pages, with weapons, gear, and artifacts tucked in here and there. Plenty of it looked tempting, but I ignored all of it and hunted for the piece I'd already settled on. Ten minutes or so later, I finally found the artifact I wanted.

Its performance was awkward, to say the least. Copying weapons without end was obviously useful, but a duration of only ten minutes was a fatal flaw—and that wasn't even the end of its problems.

It can't copy bonus effects.

In Surviving the Academy, even C-rank gear came with one or two bonus effects attached. And this thing couldn't copy them. Duplicate an S-rank weapon and it came out no better than C-rank or below. An ordinary person had no reason to choose this artifact.

But I'm not an ordinary person.

Even if I had an S-rank weapon, I couldn't use it. How was I supposed to wield something that shattered the moment I gripped it? Using an S-rank sword meant mastering sword manipulation, and that wasn't the sort of thing you pulled off overnight. For a while, thrown swords would have to be my main weapon.

And where do the swords come from?

There was one fatal problem. A sword, once thrown, was hard to get back. To fix that, I'd either need a way to retrieve them, or I'd have to carry a whole pile around...

Neither is easy.

The first option required at ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠least an S-rank weapon. The second was a pain to haul, and expensive above all else. But with the Weapon Duplication Bag, every one of those problems disappeared. I hadn't given the artifact a second glance while playing the game. Now it would perform like exclusive gear made for me alone.

"I'll take this one."

"...? Are you sure? Once you choose, you can't change it later."

When I told the clerk what I'd decided, they cocked their head. The vault held plenty of better things, and they clearly couldn't understand why I'd walk off with an artifact of such middling performance. But I'd already made up my mind. The clerk brought the Weapon Duplication Bag over and handed it to me.

"Good. Then I'll be heading ba—"

Ping!

Just as I was about to leave the vault, the sound of magic activating cut in. Had a security spell misfired? I raised my guard and scanned the room, but the clerk waved a hand to tell me not to worry, then looked into empty air and started a conversation.

"Yes, Headmaster. I'm in the vault with Student Philip right now."

......

"What? You really want me to do that? Understood, for now."

The sound from a moment ago must have been Gustav's telepathy spell kicking in. The clerk traded a short exchange with him and turned back to me, wearing a rather peculiar expression—flustered, and yet looking at me as if seeing me for the first time. When I frowned in question, the clerk stepped back into the vault.

"Headmaster Gustav said to give Student Philip an additional reward. I'll bring it right out, so wait just a moment."

"Oh."

I couldn't help being surprised. The extra reward was only given to whoever placed first in contribution during the drake subjugation. The headmaster must have rated my ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠performance very highly indeed.

"Here is the additional reward."

"...Headmaster Gustav told you to give this to me?"

"That's right. It's one of the finest rewards even in this vault. Congratulations on obtaining it."

What the clerk handed over was neither common nor ordinary. It was the sort of performance pick I might actually have considered even while playing the game back in reality.

Sylph's Tear was one of those elixirs that stayed hard to obtain even in the late game. The elixir itself was rare enough, and this business of attribute affinity was no small matter.

Attributes are something only heroes and nobles can awaken.

In Surviving the Academy, attributes were a real thing. It meant an element—water, fire, wind, earth—taking root in the mana inside one's body. A warrior or mage who achieved that awakening could grow twice as strong as those who never did.

Because the person themselves picks up a bonus effect.

Awaken an attribute, and its nature seeps into your swordsmanship and your magic. Take the Fiorenzas. House Fiorenza was born with an affinity for the light attribute, and so their swords were as swift and brilliant as light itself.

Of course, having an affinity doesn't mean everyone awakens the attribute.

Still, having it was definitely better than not. And above all, I had that disgustingly broken trait, Extreme Sword Physique. Even without help I might awaken an attribute if I worked hard enough, but take Sylph's Tear on top of that and I'd get there far faster. Had I just received one hell of a gift from Headmaster Gustav?

"Shall we head out, then."

"Understood."

With that, the handover was finished, and we left the basement where the vault sat. The clerk returned to the administrative office. I headed for the dormitory with my rewards in hand, and the walk back passed in a flash. The moment I reached my room, I drank Sylph's Tear and began to meditate.

"......"

My insides grew cool and clear, as if I'd swallowed fresh air. At the same time, a torrent of mana surged through me. I guided it as carefully as I could into my mana heart, expanding the vessel in real time so the power wouldn't overflow.

How long passed, I couldn't say. When I finished meditating and opened my eyes, it was already dark outside, and the dorm room looked as if a typhoon had torn through it. But before I bothered to clean, I opened my status window.

"Jackpot."

Extreme Sword Physique was a god, and I was invincible.