Lortelle Kehelland was not a merchant who accepted the word “no” easily.
Despite Ed’s icy warning the previous night, her ambition gnawed at her.
She needed the Faelover family’s spirit summoning rights and political backing for the Elte Company.
So, early that evening, she intercepted Janica near the student council building.
“Senior Janica,” Lortelle greeted, her usual merchant smile replaced by an expression of rehearsed, inviting warmth.
She didn’t offer money this time; she offered a calculated alliance.
“I know how suffocating the expectations of the academy can be.
You don’t have to carry it all alone.
The Elte Company, and myself, would be honored to stand by your side as true friends.
With our political backing, no noble would dare pressure you again.”
It was a tempting offer for an isolated genius—a golden cage wrapped in the guise of friendship.
But not today.
With the quiet confidence of someone who had learned to identify and drop her ‘dead weight’, Janica saw right through the transactional nature of the offer.
She looked at Lortelle, shook her head, and politely but firmly declined the fabricated friendship.
Lortelle was left standing in the hallway, staring at the pink-haired girl’s retreating back, a profound sense of defeat mixing with a growing respect for Ed Rothtaylor’s hidden influence.
The next morning, the Northern Forest was crisp and cold.
Ed was currently splitting firewood when he heard impeccably quiet footsteps approaching his camp.
Stepping into the clearing was Belle Mayar.
She wasn’t the head maid of Ophelius Hall yet, but she already carried the terrifying aura of an absolute perfectionist.
She held a small basket containing fresh bread and smoked meats.
“Good morning, Young Master Ed,” Belle greeted, bowing perfectly.
“Though you have been evicted from Ophelius Hall, the culinary staff had an excess of provisions.
I took the liberty of bringing them here.”
It was a polite lie.
She was secretly making sure he didn’t starve.
“Leave it on the table, Belle,” Ed replied, his tone pragmatic and distant.
“Thank you.”
Belle gave an approving nod and swiftly departed.
Ten minutes later, that peace was violently shattered.
BOOM!
A massive shockwave of displaced spatial mana erupted right in the middle of Ed’s camp.
The wooden shelter he had spent two agonizing weeks building splintered into a hundred pieces.
Sitting in the crater of what used to be his bed was Lucy Mayrill.
The white-haired archmage was panting, clutching her oversized hat.
“I escaped…” Lucy mumbled, looking around lazily.
She noticed Ed staring at her.
“Oh.
The blonde guy.
Sorry.
That terrifying maid found out I skipped my elemental theory classes.
I panicked and blinked blindly.”
Without offering any further explanation, Lucy curled up on a pile of Ed’s broken wooden planks and instantly fell asleep.
Ed stood in silence.
You couldn’t fight a natural disaster.
With a deep sigh, he finally opened the blue interface in his vision.
He hadn’t checked his overall progress in a while.
[System Booting…] [Oh, look who finally remembered I exist!
Did you enjoy playing lumberjack while ignoring your primary support mechanism?]
Show me my stats, Ed commanded mentally, completely ignoring the System’s banter.
[Status Window] Name: Ed Rothtaylor (Arthur Leywin Template: 10% Synced)
Physical Strength: E (Up from F-)
Agility: D- (Up from E)
Mana Core: Embryonic Stage
Active Skills:
Wind Blade (Lv.
2)
Basic Ki/Mana Control (Lv.
Max – Limited by physical vessel)
Passive Skills:
Mana Rotation (Lv.
1)
Spirit Affinity (Lv.
1)
[System Note: Congratulations, Host!
You have upgraded from ‘Rotten Log’ to ‘Slightly Sturdy Twig’.
Please try not to snap.]
Closing the window, Ed realized wood wouldn’t survive Lucy.
He needed stone.
Leaving the sleeping archmage, he headed toward the academy’s central library to research masonry.
The library was quiet.
As Ed reached for a heavy volume titled ‘Geological Applications in Defensive Architecture’, another hand reached for it.
He looked over to see a fragile, sweet-looking girl from the second-year magic department.
To her, he was just a random blonde student; she had no idea who the disgraced Rothtaylor was by face.
“Oh, I’m sorry.
You can take it,” she said softly.
Ed pulled the heavy book down and handed it to her.
“You take it.
I’ll read the compendium next to it.”
She blinked in surprise.
“Thank you very much.
I’m Elka, by the way.”
Ed just nodded slightly and walked to an empty desk.
His assimilated memories instantly supplied the context: Elka, the supportive girlfriend of Ziggs, the northern grasslands prodigy.
He merely filed the information away for tactical use and buried himself in his reading.
Meanwhile, inside an isolated practice room, Janica Faelover was making a catastrophic mistake.
Kneeling before an ancient summoning circle, she poured her vast mana pool into the stone floor.
She wanted to be undeniably strong.
But the circle didn’t glow with the warm light of a natural spirit.
It tore open with a sickening, abyssal black hue.
From the shadows, Glaskan, the High-Ranking Spirit of Darkness, tore through the spatial fabric.
“N-No!
Dispel!” Janica screamed, but the dark aura forcibly took control of her consciousness.
A pillar of pure, destructive black mana erupted through the academy roof, shooting into the sky.
In the library, the air pressure violently dropped.
The massive glass windows shattered inward.
Ed recognized the event instantly from his assimilated knowledge: The Dark Spirit Glaskan Rampage.
His dominant instincts as a veteran commander took immediate physical control.
He stood up abruptly just as the ambient lesser spirits in the library were corrupted by the dark mana, turning into violent, red-eyed Berserkers.
One of them shrieked and lunged directly at Elka.
Ed didn’t hesitate.
Channeling his ki into his legs, he crossed the distance in a blur, drew his iron hunting knife, and slashed the Berserker spirit in half.
“Get up,” he ordered calmly, grabbing Elka’s arm.
He led her out of the library, efficiently cutting down two more maddened spirits, until they burst out into the main courtyard, which was currently a scene of utter chaos.
Princess Penia was standing at the center, maintaining her regal composure as her royal guards formed a defensive perimeter.
Nearby, Ziggs was frantically scanning the crowd, while Taylee McLore gripped his practice sword, glaring at the dark pillar.
Lortelle Kehelland was standing safely near the edge of the courtyard, her sharp merchant eyes analyzing the disaster.
“Elka!” Ziggs shouted, rushing forward and pulling her into a hug.
“Are you hurt?!”
“I’m fine!” Elka gasped, pointing at Ed.
“He saved me!”
Ziggs looked at the blonde boy, his eyes widening in shock.
“Rothtaylor?
You…
saved her?”
Ed didn’t answer.
He shoved Elka fully behind the line of heavily armored knights.
He looked at his small iron knife.
It was already chipped.
Without asking, Ed reached out and swiftly pulled a standard steel broadsword from the scabbard of a bewildered royal knight.
“Hey!
What are you doing, commoner?!” the knight yelled.
Princess Penia turned, her eyes narrowing as she saw Ed.
She had to maintain order, and an unpredictable variable like him was dangerous.
“Rothtaylor.
Drop the weapon immediately.
You lack the status and the power to intervene.
You will only be a liability to my knights.”
Taylee McLore stepped forward, his hostility palpable.
“Put the sword down, Ed!
You can’t bully a real monster!
You’ll just get in the way and get someone killed!”
Standing near the wall, Lortelle watched Ed tightly grip the sword, his gaze locked on the dark pillar.
She connected the dots instantly.
Janica Faelover was missing.
‘I don’t sell out my allies,’ he had told her.
He’s really going into the center of that nightmare for her?
Lortelle thought, a strange shiver running down her spine.
It was a terrible business decision, yet she couldn’t look away.
Ed ignored the crowd’s emotional outbursts.
But before he could step forward, the golden interface of the System violently flashed red, obscuring his vision.
[EMERGENCY SCENARIO TRIGGERED!]
[Main Quest: The Rampage of the Dark Spirit Glaskan.]
[System Warning: Host’s current physical parameters have a 99.8% mortality rate against a High-Ranking Spirit.
Proceeding will result in immediate death.] [Emergency Support Mechanism Activated!]
[To ensure Host survival, the System will allow the temporary, single-use materialization of ONE advanced technique from the Arthur Leywin template.] [Select your temporary asset to proceed…]
Ed’s expression remained perfectly flat.
The System knew he was too weak, but it was providing a tactical lifeline.
He accepted the reality of his limitations without hesitation.
“Secure the perimeter, McLore,” Ed stated coldly, testing the balance of the stolen sword, completely unbothered by their demands.
“I have an ally to retrieve.”
Before Taylee or the Princess could physically stop him, Ed gathered a highly compressed burst of wind mana around his feet.
With a sonic crack, he sprinted directly toward the epicenter of the darkness.