Chapter 68
Chapter 68
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 68
Chapter Title: Re-education (1)
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“…Ah.”
I immediately pulled my hand away from Yuria's head.
I had committed a ridiculous blunder while lost in thought.
But to be honest.
The feel of stroking Yuria's soft hair was just as pleasant as stroking Seolbaek's.
Yuria head pats...! Any [Stella Academia] player would have dreamed of it at least once.
It might have been an unconscious impulse from that.
“ Sorry. ”
Anyway, since I had been rude, I apologized.
“ I-it's fine…. I didn't hate it or anything…. ”
Yuria mumbled in a tiny voice.
‘Phew.’
Good thing it was okay.
If it had been any other girl, she might have gotten seriously mad, but Yuria was kind.
A moment later.
We sat side by side in the spectator seats amid a slightly awkward atmosphere.
Just as Yuria had wanted, I gently stroked the sleeping Seolbaek in her arms with two fingers and said.
“This little guy's got some solid abilities, for sure.”
“…Right? Even Jeron thinks so—that really was Seolbaek who did that earlier, yeah?”
Praising Seolbaek eased the awkward vibe a bit.
Yuria continued.
“I never imagined Seolbaek had such incredible powers.”
She gazed down at Seolbaek with eyes full of affection, like it was a priceless treasure.
“And it jumped in on its own to help me, without me even asking. That shocked me too.”
“It's a good kid.”
“…Yeah. Lazy by nature, but with a gentle heart—I love that about it.”
She turned to me with a soft smile.
“Jeron. Thank you so much for giving me such a precious spirit.”
“It's because you raised it well, Yuria.”
I shrugged it off casually.
Of course, deep down I knew I had ended up giving a far better gift than I'd planned.
But I didn't mind.
I had zero spirit arts skills anyway, so I couldn't have handled the little guy properly.
If I was going to give it to someone, Yuria was the perfect choice—close to me, extremely kind-hearted, and brimming with spirit arts talent.
‘Perfect.’
My plan to develop Yuria and Artel was going exactly as intended—no, even better.
That said...
I blankly watched the other cadets' spars while mulling over my next steps.
My current rank: A-Rank 5th.
Goal: Reach S-Rank before the semester ends. Kate professor's quest demanded it.
To climb to S-Rank, I'd need to fight a 'promotion match.'
Beat the lowest-ranked 10th in S-Rank to enter.
But to even qualify for that, I had to claim A-Rank 1st.
The academy's ranking wasn't just about winning spots outright.
Professors evaluated based on wins and losses, but also fight execution, attitude, and more.
Naturally, my lazy dueling style wouldn't sit well with them.
Still, if I utterly demolished my opponent, they'd have no choice but to bump me up.
So no real worries there.
For reference, B-Rank and below dueled weekly, but A-Rank and up only once every two weeks.
Fewer participants, emphasis on quality over quantity.
Which meant today wasn't my duel day.
Not until next Friday.
My opponent was already set, of course.
‘Of all people, that guy... Great.’
I mentally pressed X to pay respects to the poor soul I'd crush next week.
Then, as usual, I lay down in the spectator seats to rack up sloth points with a nap.
As I drifted off...
It felt like someone was carefully, gently stroking my head.
Hard to say if it was just a dream.
***
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***
Time flew by—to Friday.
Lately, my daily routine had settled into a predictable rhythm.
(_ _) zzz…
“Zzz….”
“Hehe… You two really are one and the same.”
Morning classes: Snooze peacefully with Seolbaek.
[Human…! Note-taking help is ONLY for the blue-haired kid. Got it?!]
‘Got it. Calm down, Kerr. I'll pet you, ‘kay?’
[……Hmph.]
Tutoring notes for Ciel, Lily, and the new addition Artel: Handled via Kerr labor exploitation.
“Ehehe, Jeron junior—good news! The performance report's almost done. Once it's finished, we just take the artifact and submit it together…! Finally, we can stave off disbandment!”
“Nice.”
Club time: Head to Lily's clubroom, flop on the sofa, roll around reading novels.
“Skills improved a ton.”
“…Thanks, Jeron.”
‘Kerr's improved a lot too.’
[Hmph. I shall permit further praise for this body.]
After school: Auto-hunt duels with Artel.
Naturally, lazy antics whenever the chance arose.
All in, weekdays were netting about 400 sloth points daily lately.
Sloth farming had gotten way smoother post-shadow cloak and Kerr.
Riding my throne around for shocked student stares, or occasional Kerr brain-proxy for genius cosplay in class, etc.
Just more varied methods overall.
‘Been a while—let's check the status window.’
Time to review progress so far.
[Name: Jeron Airgia]
[Level: 36]
[Title: Stella Academy 1st Year]
[Stats]
Strength: D
Vitality: D
Agility: B-
Intelligence: D
Mana: B-
Luck +1
[Unique Trait]
Sin of Sloth (Myth)
[Owned Skills]
Sharp Eyes (Hero), Junior Reflex (Legend), Magic Blade Slash (Legend), Unstable Amplification (Legend), Shadow Barrier (Legend), Emperor's Aura (Legend), Spirit Body (Legend)
[Owned Runes]
Rune of Regeneration (Hero), Rune of Agility (Legend)
[Sloth: 3600]
‘Damn….’
Unrecognizable compared to that pathetic window when I first dropped into this game world.
Sloth points already at 3600, too.
‘Alright, time to grab it.’
No hesitation—I invested the hoard.
[Item]
[Skill Enhancement Ticket (Legend)]
Join the glorious enhancement!
Description: Enhance one of your owned skills.
Price: 3000 Sloth
For the overall evaluation, I needed a spec boost too.
Bought the skill enhancement ticket on the spot.
Skill to enhance…
The Legend-grade attacker [Magic Blade Slash], naturally.
Used it without a second thought.
[Using 'Skill Enhancement Ticket' on skill 'Magic Blade Slash.']
[Randomly drawing enhancement effect….]
‘Whew… Please roll something good!’
3000 points sunk in—had to pay off big.
Waited on pins and needles.
Moments later, the result popped up.
(New!)
[Enhancement: Magic Destruction Slash - Striking a magic projectile's weak point with the slash destroys that magic.]
‘Whoa?!’
Tier 1—no, Tier 0 enhancement. Straight jackpot!
Didn't dare hope for this good. Insane luck!
‘Overall eval just got way easier.’
Grinned in satisfaction.
***
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That afternoon.
Finally, some details on the 1st-Year 1st-Semester overall evaluation dropped.
“Jeron, Artel! You see the notice?”
En route to the practical arena, Yuria buzzed with excitement.
“The eval's on the full uninhabited island of the Adellan Archipelago! Departure in a month!”
“Saw it. Whole island as the test site… Stella lives up to the hype.”
“Impressive.”
Chimed in casually with a smile.
But I already knew.
‘Game knowledge checks out, as expected.’
Time, place—everything matched.
“What do you think they'll have us do on an island? Contents are top secret till the day.”
Yuria muttered curiously.
“Probably killer views. Kinda wanna vacation there.”
“Ahaha… Jeron's already planning his nap break.”
[Lazy statement detected!]
[Sloth +5!]
Acted chill dropping the lazy line, but truth was, I was pretty tense.
Knew full well what awaited there.
Lost in those thoughts, we'd arrived at the practical arena before I knew it.
Today was my A-Rank match day.