‘So that’s how it works…’
Staring at the translucent holographic screen floating in front of him, a flash of realization crossed Asher’s eyes.
It turned out the flaws highlighted by [Insight] were automatically prioritized by severity.
For techniques with glaring, catastrophic defects like the Extreme Compression Breathing Technique and the Star-Shattering Fist, the system immediately displayed the primary flaws and their exact solutions.
‘Heh.
This makes things a lot easier.’
Reading over the optimization solution for the breathing technique, Asher’s lips curled into a wicked grin.
As the old saying goes: coming up with the right answer from scratch is incredibly difficult, but reverse-engineering the right answer from a known mistake?
That was a piece of cake.
And that was exactly what he was going to do.
Knowing exactly how to fix the flaw also meant he knew exactly how to infinitely amplify it!
The major defect of the Extreme Compression Breathing Technique was that it aggressively drained a person’s latent potential, right?
Then he was going to let it drain that potential to the absolute maximum!
He wanted to push Luna’s limits to the absolute breaking point!
Suppressing his racing heart, Asher immediately pulled out a pen and a stack of paper.
Following the system’s holographic blueprint, he began to intentionally reverse-engineer the technique.
This brutal optimization process took the better part of an hour, with fine beads of sweat constantly breaking out across his forehead.
Phew…
When he finally set his pen down, Asher let out a long, exhausted breath.
His hair was completely drenched in sweat.
The reverse-engineering process had been far more mentally taxing than he had anticipated, but he had successfully pulled it off.
Without taking a break, he immediately shifted his focus to the Star-Shattering Fist.
Compared to the complex reverse-engineering he had just performed, filling in the missing fragments of a combat spell was a walk in the park.
Less than thirty minutes later, Asher snapped his head up, his eyes shining with triumph.
Masterpiece complete!
Through his meticulous corrections, the patched-up Star-Shattering Fist had successfully evolved into a Mystic Tier, Mid-Grade combat spell.
As for the Extreme Compression Breathing Technique, while it hadn’t jumped up a grade, the frequency at which it violently squeezed out the user’s latent potential had been refined.
Instead of triggering randomly and dangerously, it would now trigger a massive, controlled burst exactly once a day.
It was absolutely perfect!
“Here.
I’ve custom-tailored this breathing technique and combat spell specifically for your body.
Memorize them, and then destroy the papers immediately.
If you run into any bottlenecks while training, come find me,” Asher said, his mood skyrocketing as he handed the freshly written notes to Luna.
“Understood, Master,” Luna replied solemnly, accepting the papers without a single shred of doubt.
Asher nodded in satisfaction.
“Aside from mastering these techniques, the absolute most important thing is your daily intake of magical beast meat.
I’m sure you can already feel the massive power difference from yesterday.
You must follow my dietary requirements strictly.
Do that, and in one month, I guarantee you will be completely reborn!”
“I understand,” Luna said, her tone resolute.
Her eyes burned with fierce determination.
“I absolutely won’t let you lose, Master!”
Grrrggll…
Just as Asher was feeling a wave of touching, master-apprentice camaraderie, an incredibly loud, awkward sound shattered the moment.
Grrrgll…
grooowl…
Luna’s stomach launched a violent protest.
A furious red flush instantly crawled up her pale neck and spread across her cheeks.
“Ah!
Look at me, I completely forgot it was past lunchtime,” Asher laughed, playfully slapping his forehead.
“Go get something to eat.
And remember what I told you—be yourself, and don’t care about the stares!”
“Mhm,” Luna squeaked.
She spun around and practically fled the classroom.
Watching her elegant, retreating figure, Asher’s grin widened into a predatory smirk.
‘Drake, you idiot…
that 600,000 Jewels is as good as mine!’
Cafeteria Two.
It was the official first day of the new semester.
Anyone who had ever attended an academy knew that the start of the month was when students lived like absolute royalty.
Start of the month?
“Chef, add two extra chicken legs!
How am I supposed to eat without extra meat?!” End of the month?
“Hey man…
can I have a sip of your instant noodle broth?”
Because everyone’s monthly allowances had just hit their accounts, the premium Cafeteria Two was absolutely packed today.
There were even rare lines snaking out the doors.
It wasn’t until the initial lunch rush passed that the crowd finally thinned out, though the dining hall was still buzzing with students.
Right at that moment, an elegant, graceful figure in a flowing white dress stepped through the cafeteria doors.
It was Luna.
She scanned the massive room, her eyes quickly locking onto the premium beast meat counter.
She hesitated for a fraction of a second before lifting her chin and marching resolutely toward it.
Her sudden appearance instantly drew a massive wave of attention.
As one of the undisputed beauties of the First Magic Academy, Luna was incredibly famous.
Back in her first year, she had even more boys chasing her than Chloe and Claire combined.
But that was all in the past.
The moment Luna awakened her F-Class Enhancement Magic, her suitors had vanished into thin air.
As the brutal saying goes: dragons breed with dragons.
For the sake of passing down strong magical genes to the next generation, no elite mage was willing to marry a bottom-tier awakener, no matter how breathtakingly beautiful she was.
The real reason she was drawing so many stares today was because of the massive scandal.
Everyone knew she was one of the three unfortunate apprentices scooped up by the academy’s biggest loser, Instructor Asher.
“Look, it’s Luna.
I heard that during yesterday’s awakening, she actually got taken in by that dead-last instructor, Asher.
I mean, she is an F-Class.”
“Honestly, an F-Class actually getting picked by an instructor is just dumb luck.
When I was a second-year, no one wanted my E-Class talent!
I had to suffer through a whole year just to get dumped into the written exam track.”
“It’s just luck, bro.
You just didn’t meet a ‘saint’ like Asher.
With your E-Class talent, you’d probably be his star pupil right now!”
“You’re not wrong!
I heard he only took the Heartfilia twins to suck up to Director Diana, and they’re both F-Class too!”
“So basically, even among F-Class trash, Luna is just the buy-one-get-one-free bonus!
Hahaha!”
The undisguised, mocking whispers drifted clearly into Luna’s ears.
Out of sheer habit, she instinctively hunched her shoulders.
But then, Asher’s words echoed in her mind: Don’t care about the stares.
Taking a deep breath, she straightened her posture, her aura turning cold and dignified as she stepped up to the counter.
“Chef, I need five Iron-Spine Boar legs and ten pounds of Golden-Horned Rhino meat.
All medium-rare, for dine-in.
Thank you.”
“Little lady, are you sure about that?” The head chef popped his head out of the kitchen window, eyeing her with deep skepticism.
“Can you really finish all that?
There are absolutely no refunds once you place the order.”
In his decades of cooking, a girl with such a delicate, slender figure didn’t look like someone who could conquer a mountain of dense monster meat.
“I’m sure.”
“Alright then, coming right up.” The chef shrugged and got to work, muttering under his breath as he tossed the massive slabs of meat onto the grill.
“Weird.
I don’t usually see massive orders like this for weeks, and today I’ve gotten two back-to-back.
What’s going on?”
…
Ten minutes later.
With the chef’s help, five massive boar legs and ten pounds of sizzling rhino meat were neatly arranged on a large table.
Compared to the modest trays of the surrounding students, Luna’s table looked like a literal mountain of flesh.
Swish!
Countless eyes across the cafeteria instantly locked onto her table.
Students froze midway through their bites, their eyes going round as saucers as sheer disbelief plastered across their faces.
The amount of meat on her table was enough to feed a party of ten grown men!
“What…
what is she doing?
Is she planning to eat all that by herself?!”
“What are you smoking?
Look at her frame.
She’d be lucky to choke down two pounds before passing out.”
“Exactly!
If she can actually finish all of that, I’ll eat my own shoes right here in the cafeteria!”
Feeling the burning, judgmental stares of hundreds of students, Luna couldn’t help but bite her lip.
But a second later, a flash of fierce, unshakable determination ignited in her eyes.
She elegantly pulled out her white handkerchief, tucked it neatly into her collar, and picked up her cutlery.
The next moment…
she tore into the food like a hurricane ravaging a coastline!
…
Exactly five minutes later, she stood up, dabbed her mouth perfectly clean, and walked out of the cafeteria.
She left behind a completely spotless table and a massive crowd of students staring blankly at her elegant, retreating back, their jaws practically unhinged.