If This Leaks Out, You're Dead

"If that gets out, you're dead."

Thirty minutes of explanation and instruction followed, but in the end, not a single person succeeded.

"Can't be helped. If it were easy to learn, I'd have no reason to teach it in the first place."

I demonstrated one last example, then completely withdrew my mana. Yena's eyes sparkled right up to the very end, determined to capture every detail of my form.

"Make it next week's homework. Same as before — transferring the stick's mana into the condensation stone."

"What if we can't do it? Do we fail to get in?"

"Of course not."

Of course you don't get in.

"......"

"I'm kidding. I'll let it slide once."

"Once...?"

At Yena's question, I nodded.

"One time. For you."

With a flick of my hand, a box full of condensation stones glowing blue with mana descended from the air and tapped against the table.

"A new batch of ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠students is coming in, so I'll allow one failure — you can still get in even if you don't succeed on your first attempt."

The four who had passed so far were students at the top in both skill and comprehension. Who knew how many of the next two hundred would manage to clear the bar, but it probably wouldn't be a large number.

So pushing straight on to the next lesson would be a problem for the incoming students. If only the strong ones raced ahead of the curriculum, everyone else would be left in the dust.

But I couldn't slow everything down for the stragglers either...

Consideration could only go so far.

Clatter.

"Also — I hear someone's been selling the condensation stones I handed out?"

I held up a fresh condensation stone — one crafted with magic of an even higher order than the last.

"Which is why this time, I used the Tome of Binding to make every single one of them a soulbound item. I raised the stability over the previous batch, too."

The Tome of Binding — purchasable in Edrium, the City of Mages. It was a place with a rather systematized shop, and inscribing an item in this book would attach a soulbound enchantment to it, making it impossible to sell at the auction house or to other players.

"Don't worry. I tweaked the Tome of Binding just a little, so each one can be exchanged exactly once."

Magic formulas that forbade any transfer whatsoever were easy enough to make. I already knew several, and if I'd wanted, I could even have the stones automatically return to a set point the moment they left a designated radius.

But the problem was the auction house, which ran on borrowed system infrastructure.

Not with things as they are now.

Piercing through someone's skill itself was possible, but blocking the auction house's trade system outright was ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠not. And even if it were, an act like that would be far too conspicuous.

The last class, huh...

Did I teach them the twelve-layered magic formula back then?

Computing and manifesting twelve different magic formulas, each with its own distinct structure — the vast majority of students either collapsed from the magic's side effects or gave up on the class entirely.

The headmaster had once strolled past, caught sight of me, and snapped at me demanding just what exactly I thought I was teaching.

And I'd taught less than half of half of what I was capable of.

That said, watching not a single student miss class that day — all of them showing up just to catch a glimpse of the saintess — had been a rather adorable sight.

Personally, I'd found it a real shame when the lessons fizzled out that day.

Just how far will they manage to keep up this time?

I found myself looking forward to it, a little.

"Then let's draw two hundred names."

Jiiiing~

The connection device spewed out its fresh white gleam along with a wisp of smoke. What emerged from within was a woman with a body slightly thinner than most, and a face that was — for a gamer — remarkably pretty.

"...Phew."

Dressed in silk clothing that looked close enough to pajamas, she stretched both arms toward the ceiling, then grabbed the sponsor-brand water bottle on the desk and chugged it down. The moment it was empty, she flung it into the trash with an irritated flick of the wrist and glared at the team logo mounted on the wall.

Three brown squares rising out of a rectangular frame.

It was the emblem of her second beginning — the team she now belonged to.

"...Fuck."

Candy Star. No — Choco, still replaying the horrifying events of moments ago in her head, flung the door open at the sound of movement outside and stormed out.

Pressed flat against the wall was the team's ranged DPS, Haneul.

"Uh... hey. We got caught."

Beside him stood the team's support player — and her cousin — Rater, sweat dripping down his face in rivulets.

The mastermind of the whole affair, and the next person she intended to kill.

"What are you two doing?"

"Ha, haha! We couldn't exactly skip our own Choco's broadcast, could we—"

"You knew it was going to blow up in my face, and you told me to do it anyway. Didn't you?"

Choco's words rang out cold enough to freeze the air, and Rater sucked in a sharp breath and backed away.

"Ah, no, no wait~ you learned techniques from Lily thanks to me, so really—"

"Cut the crap."

WHAM! Choco's fist buried itself in Rater's side.

It was a punch far too vicious to write off as a cousin's little tantrum. She'd spent a brief stint in her school's boxing club, and Rater — clutching his flank — threw both hands up in surrender.

"Wait! Wait! Time out! I'm telling Mom!"

"Auntie worries more about me than you. Did you forget what she said last time?"

"You wouldn't—"

"You want me treating you like an oppa after pulling this shit? Hey. Haneul. Get your ass over here too."

Haneul, who had been stealthily slinking backward, laughed a hollow haha and trudged back over.

"I-I didn't do anything..."

"You came to listen to me scream in humiliation inside my own room, didn't you."

"No, we already heard that part on the str—"

POW!

"OW! That's intra-team assault! I'm reporting this!"

"Goddammit."

"...But honestly, you were better than I expected. Maybe rebuilding Candy Star seriously isn't such a bad idea after all—"

CRACK!

...Yeah, that one's going to leave a mark.

Rater broke out in a cold sweat watching Haneul crumple into a pathetic heap. In the end, facing his absolutely livid cousin, he surrendered hands, feet, and all.

"My bad. I just wanted to see how you'd react. But sponsoring Lily's stream with your Candy Star account — that part wasn't intentional, I swear."

"......"

"Your account just had a ton of event-prize credit sitting on it, so I borrowed it. How was I supposed to know you'd get caught? You never watch streams — you don't spend a single won on them. I was just trying to help, out of the goodness of my heart—"

"...There are a lot of scary bastards out there."

"Huh?"

Choco's expression was oddly grave. Rater, fully braced for another blow, lifted his head at the unexpected response.

"I thought that much would be enough to stand out. It wasn't. Leo aside, there are more unexpected ones than I counted on. No — we're falling short. A lot."

"What are you getting at."

"Cancel all the scrims for a while. I need to train on my own. And get me a pile of mana stones while you're at it."

"Huh? Hey! You only lost a few exchanges, what do you—"

"Figure out the details yourself. Even without me, we've got sub players, don't we?"

"You're the core of the team! If you're out, the whole roster's balance goes to—"

"Then put Banner in. Kid's got nothing to do these days anyway. All she does is wash dishes."

She'll be absolutely thrilled.

With those final words, Choco turned away, walked back into her room, and shut the door.

Rater stood there in front of it, hollowed out.

Ah.

The door swung open again.

"And if word gets out that I'm Candy Star, you are genuinely dead. That day, I tell Auntie everything — that you ruined my life."

"What? Wait, what does that have to do with anything?"

"Which is exactly why you'd better plug every hole. Consider it interest on the favor you did me."

SLAM!

"...Ugh. Gonna get another earful from the coach over this."

"Not one."

—None at all?

"That's right."

A day had passed since the end of the second class.

On the first day, two people had succeeded right out of the gate — there had been genuine passers from the start. But now, despite the number of challengers nearly doubling, not a single one had made it through.

Is it just going to stay at four forever?

—Well, is that so bad? Anyone new coming in has to learn the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠same material anyway.

"I don't intend to teach the same material twice."

—Sorry?

I answered White Autumn, who was in the middle of what was nominally an editors' meeting but really a talk session.

"Reviewing is their own responsibility. Did you honestly think they could just show up empty-handed?"

What I meant by progression was simple: those who completed this week's homework would move on to the next stage. I had no intention of re-teaching this week's content next week.

There wasn't time for that either.

"The real problem is that the gap keeps widening for the ones who do advance. I skipped it because it seemed like it'd be boring for the stream, but... maybe I do need to run some theory classes after all."

Theory.

Even as the famous saintess, it ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠was the one part of class my students absolutely despised.

Wherever you go, hating to study is a universal constant.

The reason I'd deliberately given such a vague, roundabout explanation of the method was the same story — strip out the theory for the sake of stream entertainment, and this is what you get.

—Is it difficult content?

"It's easy once you understand it. Hmm... how should I put it? Imagine art, math, and science all fused into one subject?"

—...Yeah, that sounds hard just from the description.

Somehow I feel like I'm going to fall asleep mid-edit...

White Autumn gave an awkward chuckle and started posting a stream of messages and updates into the Discord room.

Even at this very moment, Lilytube kept growing.

—The Mock Siege Battle video I uploaded last time has hit 29 million views. It'll probably break 30 million within the week.

—Oh, and the lecture video passed ten million too, Lily. The comment section is overwhelmingly international these days.

"Good to hear."

The more people who watched, the better.