Chapter 18
Chapter 18
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 18
Chapter Title: Secret Meeting with Professor Im Sol
-----------------------------------------------------------------
『Sexual intimacy with a heroine has been confirmed. The heroine strategy system's reward will be distributed!』
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ 『Equipment Status Window open!』 What the hell is this? I tried to make sense of the sentences popping up in front of my eyes, but it was way too out of nowhere.
The heroine strategy system had a reward system? And nobody bothered to mention it?
What an unfriendly game.
"What's this Equipment Status Window?"
I scanned the room for anything that might count as equipment.
Sure enough, there was a security stone on the window.
I stared at the security stone on the window and muttered "Equipment Status Window" under my breath.
⚔ STATUS ⚔ ────[ Security Stone ]──── ▶ Grade: Low ▶ A stone made by adding a bit of mana enchantment to a magic stone. ▶ It sounds an alarm if someone whose physical info isn't registered approaches. ──────────── "Whoa, nice. This is pretty good."
It seems like an ability that shows equipment stats in real time.
I'd only seen stuff like this in games, so I figured it'd be gone once things got real. Kinda nostalgic, though.
One 69 session with her, and I unlock something this useful out of nowhere? Screw training—maybe the fastest way to get strong is just banging all the heroines?
Anyway, now that I know this exists, I should get more aggressive from here on out.
To survive in this brutal world, I gotta suck every last drop of honey I can find.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ Monday morning. Today was especially hectic.
I'd snuck back into the dorm in the morning, showered, thrown on my cadet uniform, and headed out. Luckily, no one spotted me.
"Morning!"
As I walked out of the boys' dorm, Kim Young-han came up and greeted me.
"You look beat. Not some aftereffect from that Friday accident, right?"
"Nah, I'm good."
This blond punk's actually worried about me? Can't exactly say I was tired from sucking each other off with Lumi, so I brushed it off vaguely.
We chatted about nothing on the way to the first-year classroom building.
Kim Young-han immediately went off to greet the other cadets once we got there, while I looked around for Lumi to see if she'd made it to class okay.
"Lumi, what's up? You seem out of it today."
"Huh? Oh, nothing... Hehe."
"Your face is a bit flushed too. Caught a cold? Or is it from that day?"
"Yeah... Shh."
She seemed fine chatting with Lucy. Her face was red like she might have a fever, but nothing serious.
★ Heroine Status Window [Lumi] - [Affection: 65] - [Lust: 57] - [Appetite: 30] - [Fatigue: 45] "What the...?"
Affection and lust shot up insanely. Affection makes sense, but why lust?
If she doesn't remember sucking me off, shouldn't her lust stay the same? Or maybe her body remembers. Something like that.
No big deal. Higher is better anyway.
The door slid open.
"Hello, everyone~"
A female professor in a bright pink blouse and miniskirt entered the classroom.
"Whoa, Kang Hyo-rin for theory?"
"Who's that?"
"You don't know Dr. Kang Hyo-rin?"
Honestly, I didn't know much about Kang Hyo-rin either.
Dr. Kang Hyo-rin, theory professor. Pretty famous in dungeon and monster research, and hunter studies, but not a major character.
"I hear this year's freshmen are on another level. Your eyes are downright intimidating~."
Kang Hyo-rin excitedly handed out printouts to the cadets as she spoke.
"Since this is the first Modern Hunter Studies class, I've prepared a simple test to gauge your levels. It'll count toward your evaluation, so do your best~."
The test was split into question and answer sheets, with answers engraved on the answer sheet using mana.
'Huh, that's a method.'
I'd never written answers in the game, so no way I'd know.
Unlike the flashy professor, the questions were brutally tough. Not high-level, just dirty hard.
Like they scraped the tiny [Refer to] notes from the corner of reference books.
[1. Discovered first in Tokyo on January 16, 2032. Humanoid monster with four horns sprouting from its head?]
'Humitake Oni.'
Of course, difficulty didn't matter to me. Thanks to my perk [Memory Augmentation], I'd already skimmed every Modern Hunter Studies textbook, reference, and related paper once.
Just reading, no real understanding needed, so it didn't take long.
After finishing, I glanced around.
Top student Elise breezed through, but everyone else looked grim. A level check that impacts evals with questions like this? They'd be sweating bullets.
Nam Da-eun was face-down, not even trying. Lucy and Lumi groaned at the first question.
'How many should I miss?'
I considered tanking a few on purpose but decided to go all out. Need that scholarship anyway.
After the test, Kang Hyo-rin—who'd been savoring our suffering—got an urgent call and postponed the afternoon class due to circumstances.
Sudden free time. I headed to the training hall.
Needed to test [Clairvoyance]. Was supposed to over the weekend, but ended up sleeping with Lumi instead.
Arrived at the training building.
Third floor, mana training room. Not the private room from before, but a training room.
Training rooms let you run practical drills with various curricula.
[Please select a training.] "Magic Evasion Maneuver Training, stage 1."
Evasion maneuvers are for close-range awakeners, not mages. But I wanted to test my evasion with [Clairvoyance].
[100%] My remaining stamina percentage showed on the ceiling hologram. Direct magic hits deduct from it. Hits zero, training ends.
[Magic Evasion Maneuver Training Stage 1. Beginning.] A barrage of colorful spells rained down from the front.
'Clairvoyance.'
Bzzz—
Activating [Clairvoyance] widened my field of view. I could see the 'paths' of the incoming magic.
"This is doable."
Stage 1 was easier than my spar with Lucy. Simple elemental spells, fast but straight-line paths.
[Stage 2. Beginning.] ◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ ⚔ RANKING ⚔ [Congratulations! Stage 5 cleared in 72 seconds. New personal record! Please enter a name for the ranking.] "Whoa, damn. That nearly killed me."
Stages 1 and 2 were manageable. Stage 2 just sped up stage 1.
But stage 3 mixed in debuffs like bind, charm, paralyze. Stage 4 doubled the volume.
Stage 5 ramped up quantity, speed, variety. Stamina hit zero at 72 seconds.
"What's the ranking?"
So many systems not in the game...
[HYL] I entered my initials casually and registered.
[HYL registered on rankings!] [Ranked 22nd in Evasion Maneuvers. Keep pushing for higher!] "Show Evasion Maneuver rankings."
⚔ Evasion Maneuver Training RANK 1. Vice President 2. Seo Do-il : : : 22. HYL '22nd? Not bad.'
First try, 22nd. Repeat training, and I can climb anytime.
Only occurred to me after entering initials—good thing I didn't accidentally take first and draw unwanted attention.
"Eh, still feels kinda lacking."
[Clairvoyance] has endless potential beyond evasion.
But no breakthroughs coming to mind.
Where to get info...?
"Oh."
I know an expert in this. No need to rack my brain alone.
Just ask Professor Im Sol. Might get a hint.
She's iffy up close, but a magic expert regardless.
Ended training and left the facility.
Sweaty from maneuvers. Showered, changed to spare uniform, headed to Im Sol's lab.
Victoria Academy's magic profs mostly have private labs.
Magic Tower building for magic profs. Entire second floor is Im Sol's lab.
20-minute walk from dorm past first-year building, and there it was.
Tenser than expected, entering a building I'd only seen in-game.
Never visited a prof IRL, let alone here.
Magic Tower: 17 stories, massive and ornate like Victoria Academy buildings.
Over 50 magic profs research here.
Lobby on first floor.
That means 16 floors split among 50+ profs, but Im Sol hogs a whole floor.
Shows her status in the magic world.
Entered lobby: large convenience store, cafe, bakery. Central lobby, elevators on sides.
Approached the receptionist.
"Hi. Here to see Professor Im Sol on the second floor."
"Professor Im Sol insists no entry except listed names. Do you have an appointment?"
"No, but..."
Wanted to, but after helping with research, she never gave her contact. All my fault for falling for her charms.
Stumbled back to dorm in a daze, forgot to get her number.
"Any word about letting in a 'Lee Ho-yeon'?"
"No heads-up. List only has the Dean and Chairman."
"Can't you contact her? Tell Professor Im Sol that cadet Lee Ho-yeon is here?"
"She said not to even if weirdos show up..."
"I'm not a weirdo. I'll take responsibility—just contact her about Lee Ho-yeon."
This is frustrating. Why's she so reclusive? Stalker? Those hit Moon Soo-rin.
"Tch tch, thinks he can just barge in on a prof?"
"Kid'll get expelled before he learns."
Heard blatant mocking during my back-and-forth with reception.
Glared that way: dozen guys at convenience store benches, snacks in hand. Big dude in center held a cake box like a treasure. Their leader.
Ridiculous sight. Asked reception.
"Who are those guys?"
"Magic Research Club students."
"Magic Research Club? Fine, but why loitering with snacks? Snack party?"
"Well... Professor Im Sol buys tons of chocolate cake and snacks from the convenience store and cafe weekly."
"...Chocolate cake and snacks?"
"Yeah. They figured it out, wait like that, and when she comes for chocolate, they offer prepared snacks and beg her to review last week's club research."
"..."
"She skims it, gives a comment or two, takes the snacks, and goes."
Brain can't process all this.
Don't throw weird settings at me.
"How do they know when she'll come?"
"They guard in four 6-hour shifts, from what I hear."
What? Not Magic Research Club, but [Idle Losers Assemble Here Club]? Cadets pulling 24/7 shifts at the tower? Insane.
Im Sol uses teleport to skip walking to class, sure, but exploiting it like this?
"What's this about expulsion?"
"Last year, around now, freshmen mobbed to see her for a month. Warned expulsion for persistence, and one got kicked out."
"...Scary lady."
"Still send the emergency contact?"
"Yes. I'll take responsibility."
Reception sent it reluctantly.
Phew, connected at last. Hope she doesn't chase me off asking who I am. Unnecessarily anxious.
"Hey, you. What do you think you're doing?"
The big leader from before approached.
"What's your problem?"
Didn't expect meaningful talk from idle punks, but his brooch said senior, so polite for now.
"Lowlifes never know their place."
The burly guy loomed intimidatingly. Weirdly, zero fear.
"Freshman. Don't recognize you, so not from a big family. Desperate to cozy up to Professor Im Sol?"
"..."
"Ah, bet you don't know my name. Kim Hyun-do, Magic Research Club president. No way you don't know the club—Victoria Academy's most famous."
Kim Hyun-do turned to flash his club-embroidered robe.
Confidence was his thing.
'Not just idle—total moron.'
Wondered how brain-dead this'd get.
"So, don't mess with Professor Im Sol. She's our club's advisor. If you screw up her reviewing our research..."
Ding—
An elevator opened. A robed woman stepped out.
Kim Hyun-do spotted her, freaked, and yelled.
That blue robe was definitely Im Sol's from before.
Professor Im Sol descended the elevator and headed our way.