Chapter 73
Chapter 73
Chapter 73
EP19 - Glass Butterfly (1)
"Hey!" This punk, is he a gangster or what!”
Professor Galua, the head of the Professor’s Residence, burst into anger. It was because instead of 90 miscellaneous Mana Potions, he got one good Mana Potion.
“What’s wrong?”
“Why are you asking when you know?! If you got something good, get out!”
He was furious and chased me out.
There was a good reason for that.
＊ Mana Potion (MP+451) [LegendⅠ]
It was because I took this.
“Hmph! Professor Dante, you better know you’re really lucky! If our Parhan… If Parhan hadn’t had a mental breakdown…! It would have been my victory…!”
“But he did break down, didn’t he?”
“Shut your mouth, you bastard! You lucky bastard!”
If distributed to 90 people, 90 Mana Potions would show a much higher Mana increase rate. However, as the Mana pool grows, the absorption rate of Mana Potions gradually decreases.
For example, this one I received from Kaiser before.
＊ Mana Potion (MP+37) [Rare]
…If I were to take it now.
＊ Mana Potion (MP+21) [Rare]
Like this, even the notation is different.
Because I have already increased a lot of Mana through personal training.
When I put ten other miscellaneous Mana Potions in my mouth, the numbers drop exponentially, such as +21, +17, +8, +5…
‘The maximum Mana value for the human race is 10,000. Even that is an area that only a select few can reach.’
That’s why you have to take high-grade Mana Potions.
I got a Mana Potion with a whopping +451.
Excellent.
“By the way, is this expensive?”
“Shut up! Get out!”
“Alright. Alright. Don’t be so cold.”
I turned back to him as I was leaving.
“By the way, if this is expensive, can I sell it?”
Leaving the convulsing Head Galua behind.
I returned to the lab and immediately put the Mana Potion in my mouth.
It was a yellow coin-sized pill.
No, did they grind up a mummy to make this?
“……Ugh.”
A disgusting taste brushed the tip of my nose.
After feeling like I was going to throw up a few times.
A sense of elation filled my body.
< Overall Combat Power : 165,837 → 170,573 (▲4,736) >
< [MP] : 1,751 / 1,751 (▲451) >
Finally, my Overall Combat Power broke through 170,000.
Now I can use 'Kaleidoscope' at full power twice and still have Mana left over.
I am becoming more and more of a monster Professor.
‘Next is personal training time….’
I created a 『Butterfly』 on my hand with Illusion Magic.
A blue light butterfly fluttering around.
Its form is perfect for anyone to see.
But…….
< Proficiency of 『World Fabrication』 : 89.99% >
The proficiency of 『World Fabrication』, which I have been continuing in my spare time, is now almost 90%.
But this damn 0.01 doesn’t go up.
Even if I locked myself in the lab all day and created all sorts of complex [Illusion Magic], there was no change at all.
‘I drew a dragon, but I don’t know how to draw the eyes.’
In fabricating the world, I can now fabricate everything.
Matter, Phenomenon, space, and even perception.
If it’s complicated, it just takes time to implement. As long as I can perceive it, there is nothing I cannot implement.
Nevertheless, [Proficiency] was throwing a problem at me, saying that I was still far away. It’s saying that there is something I cannot fabricate.
I even created a tree that covered the sky, and I even succeeded in creating a super-giant Illusion Magic that had never existed in human history.
What more do I have to fabricate here?
‘I don’t know.’
Right now, I am blocked by some Wall. This is an honest confession as a scholar.
From here on out, deceptive tricks or mechanical proficiency will not work.
I needed enlightenment.
That doesn’t mean I need enlightenment with lightning striking.
Even if I grab the very small end of a thread, I had to grab an enlightenment that I had never grabbed before.
‘Of course, if I invest Star Fragments, I will immediately gain enlightenment and exceed 90%…….’
< The cost to reach 90.00% Proficiency is 53 Star Fragments. Would you like to invest? >
It says to offer 53 Star Fragments to raise a mere 0.01%.
Including the gift of 「Peaceful Mark☮」 last time, I have a total of 400 Star Fragments.
< Star Fragments Owned : 400 >
What kind of 400 are these 400?
I get free meals at the soup kitchen. I pick up clothes from the used clothing collection box. Instead of a house, I lay cardboard at Seoul Station and sleep. These are 400 that I have painstakingly collected.
I can never use them in a place like this.
‘I have to use them when there is a slightly more certain use.’
Around that time, I got up from my seat.
It was time to meet someone soon.
The top scorer of the final exam.
\ \ *
The meeting place is Battalion Hall.
……It was ‘Kai Hall’.
Battalion Hall burned down and disappeared, and it’s a newly built indoor gymnasium.
The department attached my pseudonym to it. Embarrassing.
I arrived earlier than the appointed time, and there was already a Student waiting for me there.
“…Hello, Professor.”
A gray-haired Student. It was Gray Habanero.
As always, a short skirt. A revealing Student uniform. And tattoos.
But today was a little different from usual, as there was no playfulness on his face. In fact, his fangs were not visible.
“Gray Habanero. Congratulations on being the top scorer in the final exam.”
“Congratulations to you too, Professor.”
“For what.”
“For becoming a teacher of a genius.”
He makes a V with his fingers and puts them on his cheeks. While winking.
But the playfulness was faint.
He seemed a little depressed.
“From today, we will begin private lessons. All schedules will be conducted 1:1 in Kai Hall. I will teach you one Secret Skill. There will be a maximum of three lessons until you reach a certain trajectory.”
“Yes.”
“So, what do you want to learn?”
“…….”
Gray stared at me, then looked at the tips of his feet, then looked up at me again. The depressed look I saw earlier becomes a little darker. He does that several times.
“……Um, honestly, there’s something I want to say.”
A cautious voice came out.
“I’ll listen.”
“…….”
Even so, Gray hesitated.
“…….”
“…….”
As I waited, Gray scratched his neck awkwardly and avoided my gaze.
“…What should I do.”
A sigh-like word flowed out at the end.
“Why.”
“…I can’t say it.”
“You can say it.”
“I can say it, but I think the Professor will think I’m a rude kid….”
“I won’t think that.”
“Really?”
“Yes.”
“……”
Gray smoothed his hair and carefully opened his mouth.
“…Honestly, I know the Professor is good at Illusion Magic, right? Similar to me…. No, probably better than me.”
“And.”
“But, um, um….”
Gray glances at me.
“Speak comfortably. I don’t care. Didn’t you come to the department wearing a Bomb vest because you didn’t like it in the first place?”
“Eh…? No, I didn’t need to look good to those Professors….”
There are words that take Time.
Knowing that, I waited quietly.
After hesitating a little more, Gray said in a small voice like a rat’s tail.
“…I don’t know if the Professor is allowed to teach me.”
A small voice spreads like a ripple in the large auditorium.
“What do you mean.”
“…Are you angry, maybe?”
“No. I didn’t understand the implications of your words.”
“…….”
Gray scratched his head.
“…Um, I’ve never learned Illusion Magic from anyone else in my life….”
“Never?”
“Yeah…. From someone outside the Habanero family…. Because the Habanero family’s Illusion Magic is unique and great, right? But our family is….”
Gray stammers.
“…Do you know?”
“I know.”
The Habanero family was on the verge of extinction during the Habanero Incident.
As far as I know, almost all the adults are dead.
In other words, there is no one left to teach Gray now.
“Someone told me that if the school of thought or operating formula is different, bad habits can develop, and it can negatively affect the existing Superpower system.”
“That is an obvious fact.”
“Actually, I had a chance to learn from Gloomy in the first semester, but I refused. I am the last person to learn the family’s Illusion Magic. Learning other [Illusion Magic] could negatively affect the family’s unique Illusion Magic….”
Gray avoided my gaze and continued.
“I have a responsibility to protect Habanero’s Illusion Magic…. If I learn it wrong once, the [Unique Illusion Magic] that has been passed down for 200 years will be ruined in my generation.”
“That’s right.”
“So I don’t know. If I can learn from the Professor….”
I roughly understood.
Gray vaguely knows that I am Cain. From that point of view, I am the Professor with the highest stock price right now.
The opportunity to learn 1:1 from someone like me is an enormous opportunity, even for someone in the Hidden Dragon Society.
But he must be embarrassed that he has to hesitate because of his personal situation.
“…Do you know what I mean…?”
“Yes. I fully understand.”
There is a difference between general Illusion Magic and Gray’s Illusion Magic.
To put it simply.
All Illusionists, including me, handle ‘computers’.
Habanero’s Illusion Magic feels like a ‘Magic Mirror’.
What’s the point of teaching coding all day long?
There is no keyboard in front of the mirror.
In that respect, Gray’s concerns were valid.
At the same time, there was no answer.
‘But, in the end, for the sake of [Relationship Stat] and the use of the 「Betting Table」, Gray must learn from me and grow.’
Then, what do I do?
We both fell into silence. I continued to think about this and that.
About the relationship between the [Illusion Magic] I recognized and judged, and the Habanero’s unique Illusion Magic 『Glass Butterfly』. Or about compatibility.
But no matter how much I thought about it, it was hopeless.
No matter how well you handle a computer, there is no way to handle a Magic Mirror right away.
“……I have decided.”
Gray looks at me with nervous Eyes. With a slightly apologetic look. Because even though he threw the problem, he knows that there is no solution to the problem.
My answer was similar. There was no way to teach Gray right now.
“I will not teach you.”
“…….”
Perhaps because he expected something.
In the lowered gaze. There is depression in his Eyes.
“…I’m sorry. I said I wanted to learn.”
“Instead, I will contact the department to increase the number of lectures from three to five hours.”
“……?”
My words are a little strange.
Gray turns to me. As if he doesn’t understand.
“Right now, there is no way for me to teach you. That is obvious. However, I have determined that it is not good to bypass this problem.”
“…Then?”
Life is full of big and small challenges.
This problem was that I ‘still’ have no way to teach Gray.
The answer I found at the end is this.
“You teach me.”
His dazed face showed his fangs.
“…Huh?”
“Literally. I will learn from you. Your family’s unique Illusion Magic 『Glass Butterfly』. Then, based on my supreme proficiency, I will be able to return the teaching to you. That is the conclusion I have reached.”
“……Huh??”
The next moment, Gray frowned.
“What is that….”
The expression that he was losing steam was a bonus.
“No, that doesn’t make sense…. Professor, have you ever learned 『Glass Butterfly』…?”
“No.”
A sigh flows out of his cat-like mouth.
“…I think you’re thinking too easily right now?”
“I never thought that. I know what kind of Illusion Magic 『Glass Butterfly』 is.”
“Don’t you know it’s difficult…? 『Glass Butterfly』 is a very difficult [Illusion Magic]. I also taught a few Symphony-level Illusion Mages at the department exchange meeting before, but they couldn’t even get a feel for it….”
He crosses his arms.
As if he heard something absurd.
“I think you thought it was easy because I make it so easily even at a young age, but I’m a genius. It took other adults in the family 30 or 50 years to reach my level.”
He also knows that. Ordinary people will not be able to achieve Gray’s achievements even if they try their whole lives.
“Thank you for caring about me…. But, I’ll just learn something else later.”
He tries to give up.
I have no intention of persuading him.
“I know what you mean. Then, let’s do this.”
“Huh?”
“I know the third form [Embroidery] of 『Glass Butterfly』. I will learn only that from you for this one hour.”
“…….”
Gray’s expression became a little more bizarre.
He may be a little surprised that I mentioned the 3rd form [Embroidery].
It could also be because I said I would learn directly from the 3rd form, skipping the 1st and 2nd forms.
“Where did you get that…? But it usually takes a year to learn [Embroidery]. It took me a month too.”
“I know.”
“What do you know everything…? I didn’t think you were so stubborn….”
“I’ll take that as a compliment. Shall we move the place? To a more suitable place.”
“Where are we going?”
“Here.”
Snap-
The moment I snapped my fingers, the inside of the auditorium was transformed into a beautiful dandelion field in spring.
⋮
『 World Fabrication : Space Forgery [Flower Garden] 』
⋮
Gray’s Eyes widened.
The best place to learn [Embroidery] is nature. Especially a place where there are likely to be butterflies.
“How did you know this too……?”
The grumbling voice gets smaller. She probably realized it by now. That I know more about the Habanero family than I thought.
“Haa, it’s difficult, but you keep……. …Are we doing it now…?”
“Yes.”
“……. …Come over here.”
So we sat side by side in the forest.
“…First of all, 『Glass Butterfly』 is a [Illusion Magic] where imagination and imagery are important. Among them, [Embroidery] is…….”
Gray began to teach me 『Glass Butterfly』 in a disgruntled voice, as if he was dissatisfied.
“No, you have to do it step by step…. You can’t do it that way. You’re too hasty….”
He was frustrated from time to time.
“…Yeah. It’s good, but it’s still a little artificial. It flies too well. Animals stagger a lot more than people imagine, right? So a little more like this…. Like th……is….”
He taught me really hard. Really.
“…But, no matter how I look at it, it’s impossible today…?”
\ \ *
One year for ordinary people.
One month even for geniuses.
It was one hour for me.
One hour and a few minutes after starting to learn. Many butterflies ‘embroidered’ the yellow flower field and the sky, fluttering around.
Too many blue butterflies…….
The gray cat looked around with dazed Eyes. With a butterfly on the back of his clenched fist, he covered his mouth diagonally.
When the butterflies finally disappeared, his lost gaze wandered and finally reached me. Gray stared at me for a long Time, even hiding his fangs.
“…….”
As if looking at a monster.