The waves of light that had surged as though they would fill the chairman’s office forever slowly subsided with time.
When my vision returned, I used the enhanced Appraiser’s Eye on Gess without hesitation.
[ Gess Alep ]
[ Traits / Weak Against the Strong, Strong Against the Weak; Born Actor ]
[ Special Notes / He is ignoring Nia Filoni. ]
Up to that point, it was a status window exactly as it had always been.
However, beneath it was a new entry I had never seen before.
[ Potential Traits / Scene Stealer; Illusory Sword ]
The abilities I had expected, the abilities I had wanted, the abilities I needed more than anything right now.
‘Scene Stealer 'is an ability exactly as its name suggests, and Illusory Sword appears to be a type of swordsmanship... Unexpectedly, it may suit Nia Filoni well too.’
I had not expected much from Gess compared to Emma, but seeing his Potential Traits made me realize something anew.
Even if it was falling into ruin due to the chairman’s evil deeds, Calyps Academy remained the Empire’s most prestigious academy, and its students’ level was still higher than that of any other academy.
I barely restrained the beaming smile threatening to form and turned my gaze to Emma.
If Gess, from whom I had expected nothing, was this impressive, then how great was Emma’s talent, a pick of the original chairman?
[ Trait - Appraiser’s Eye reveals the target’s information. ]
[ Emma Novician ]
[ Traits / Kind Friend; Rider and Horse as One; Blessing of Mana ]
[ Special Notes / She is imagining cutting off Gess Alep’s arm. ]
From Rider and Horse as One, which increased her abilities while mounted, to Blessing of Mana, which enhanced her ability to control mana.
As expected of a talented student chosen by the chairman, Emma possessed flashy Traits that were essential for a knight.
Thanks to that, my expectations for her Potential Trait continued rising without limit.
‘Maybe I can discover a Grade 7 Knight before she graduates from the academy.’
I desperately suppressed the smile that was quietly leaking out and checked Emma’s Potential Trait.
[ Potential Trait / Indomitable ]
The moment I confirmed the single Potential Trait she possessed, I froze cold.
[ Indomitable ]
[ The only thing that can break me is death. ]
A Trait that made its possessor stronger the more they were defeated, and the more brutally they were defeated.
The fact that such defeat was not limited to battle alone showed just how incredible Indomitable was.
To use a rather extreme exaggeration, if Emma burned the roof of her mouth while eating hot food and sincerely considered it a defeat, she would gain immunity to a certain level of heat from then on.
It would be the same if she were cut by a sword, and the same if she were struck by magic.
As long as she did not die, Emma would someday become an indomitable knight.
‘It is a good Trait. No, it is an insane Trait. If I had to rank it, it would be on the same level as Creator of Another World.’
For me, who was raising talented students to survive Medio, this was the best possible situation.
Nevertheless, I had frozen because I knew whose Trait this had been in the original work.
I despaired with the feelings of Icarus, who had flown toward the sun and fallen.
‘This... is the Traitor Lord’s ability.’
The knight who had betrayed the Empire first and joined the Demon King, yet still possessed overwhelming strength.
No one knew the face hidden beneath that knight’s helmet, so they had only been called the knight who sold their country.
The Special Department’s first student was a future Demon King’s Army officer (command staff member).
The shock was immense, but brief.
It was surprising that the first student in the Special Department, which I had established by ignoring all procedures and forcing it through with power, was a future member of the Demon King’s Army... but when I thought it over carefully, it was not all that strange.
More precisely, I could somewhat understand why it might have happened.
‘Despite coming from a poor family, she somehow entered the Empire’s most prestigious academy. Yet before even finishing her second year, she was framed and lost both her reputation and scholarship. Then, in a duel with Gess that had been arranged by the chairman, her arm was injured and she was expelled.’
She had more than enough motivation to betray humanity.
If I had possessed this body a little later, accepted reality a little later, heard news of the duel a little later, and gone there a little later.
Then Emma would have injured her arm and been expelled from the academy just as before.
That was why I chose to hold Emma closer instead of throwing her out of the Special Department, and why I was raiding the chairman’s private storage.
“Chairman, I will check over there.”
“Do so.”
I gave a vague acknowledgement to the secretary’s voice from far away, then stared at the panorama of the absurdly vast storage building with an exhausted expression.
It was ridiculous enough that the entire building I had casually assumed was an annex whenever I passed by was actually a warehouse. Once I learned that its interior had been expanded with spatial magic, I simply... simply found it admirable.
‘This is the amount of wealth gathered during the chairman’s tenure?’
Gold coins were merely carpets rolling across the floor. Between them lay jewels and decorative weapons, while famous paintings hung neatly on the walls. There were even statues displayed with explanatory placards despite this not being a museum.
The chairman’s private storage taught me about the enormity of the Empire, which had only been vague to me before.
This was not the wealth of a marquess’s house, but wealth gathered solely under the name of the chairman of Calyps Academy.
The Empire had swallowed two-thirds of the continent, received the submission of five kingdoms, and built the ultimate stronghold that no enemy could threaten. The wealth it generated had reached a level I could not even imagine.
[ Trait - Possessor’s Composure activates. ]
[ Trait - Noble Bloodline activates. ]
The moment I was about to be swallowed by awe after glimpsing a fraction of that immensity, the two Traits brought my mind back.
Possessor’s Composure rebooted my mind as though someone had flipped a switch, while Noble Bloodline ensured that my restored mind would not be blinded by the radiance of mere wealth.
Though I was left with the unpleasant sensation that my brain had been rummaged through, I surveyed the storage with a somewhat cool gaze.
Among the treasures, which were still overwhelming but no longer surprising, there was something I needed to find.
‘Something that can protect my life. A magical tool or a weapon, for example.’
There was something I had realized anew while proceeding with that goddamn second Quest, which told me to avoid danger.
I had absolutely no way to protect my own life.
The secretary, who was both my guard and my connection to House of the Marquess of Calyps, was openly maintaining a connection to the mastermind. Not only the academy, but even the people of House of the Marquess of Calyps despised the chairman.
And as for raising my own level?
[ Curse of the Underachiever ]
[ There are far too many bastards better than I am in this world, so all of you must become like me. ]
[ You can use only Grade 2-level mana. ]
“Fucking hell....”
The profanity I had kept tightly restrained even at the moment of possession finally burst out.
Everyone else was constantly preparing to take my head, yet that damned Trait prevented me from finding any way to grow stronger.
So what choice did I have? I had to borrow the power of weapons instead of relying on my own.
Since the secretary had moved to the opposite side as well, I walked through the corridors of the building far too massive to call a warehouse, searching for a secret weapon that could protect my life.
‘<Tebia’s Space-Cutting Bracelet> is an item that would cut off my wrist too, and <Gilletio’s Time-Freezing Ring> freezes the caster’s time as well, creating a permanent seal... No, does that not just make me a frozen human?’
Every time I examined one of the items collected by the chairman, the concern on my face deepened.
Weapons and magical tools with good abilities always came with at least one drawback.
Even if they were not self-destruct weapons that killed the caster along with the target like the two magical tools I had just mentioned, most usable weapons had an annotation that read, ‘Requires the mana of at least a Grade 4 superhuman.’
In other words, I could not use any of them, since I could only use the mana of a Grade 2 superhuman.
...Tsk.
I had no choice but to click my tongue.
I could vaguely understand why the chairman had collected magical tools that he could not even use himself.
‘This, too, is ultimately a kind of inferiority complex.’
An inferiority complex toward a level he could not reach, a level he was not even allowed to look upon.
I shook my head and started walking again. Before long, I found a golden dagger that had been left almost abandoned in one corner of the storage.
[ Demonic Sword - Palakia ]
A demonic sword named Palakia.
Normally, people would hesitate to even approach a demonic sword because it was cursed. The contrast of such an incredible weapon being left in a corner with dust piled thickly over it caught my interest.
So I reached out, wiped the dust stuck to the description, and read it.
[ Demonic Sword - Palakia ]
[ For approximately 600 seconds, grants the user mana of up to Grade 6. The moment mana is infused for use, the user’s mind is controlled by a sentient being that calls itself ‘Palakia,’ which uses even the minimum mana needed to maintain life. The user then goes berserk and dies. ]
Among the descriptions, which showed traces of countless experiments or accidents, I found the words “mind is controlled” and smiled brightly.
In exchange for having my mind controlled, it would allow me to become a Grade 6 superhuman for ten minutes.
Yes, this was the secret weapon I had longed for.
Crunch. Crunch.
The forest path was strangely quiet except for the sound of gravel and dirt beneath my feet.
I looked around the forest, which showed no sign of human presence whatsoever, and nodded.
‘As expected, according to the report, no year is using it.’
The forest I was standing in was called the Exam Forest.
As its name suggested, it was a forest that existed for students’ exams, and the academy’s only space where magic beasts lived.
Divided into four zones by barriers, with magic beasts appropriate to each year placed in each zone, the forest itself was an enormous testing ground for spatial magic and a laboratory for researching the ecology of magic beasts.
Of course, that grand purpose had nothing to do with why I was here today.
“......”
Today’s objective was to test the abilities of the students assigned to the Special Department.
Of course, the primary target was Emma Novician, the future Traitor Lord, rather than Gess.
I glanced back at Emma, who was still steadily directing a defiant gaze at me. The moment I saw the fierce resentment swirling in her brown eyes, I quickly turned my head forward again.
‘It seems I have truly gotten on her bad side because of the Disciplinary Committee....’
Emma Novician resented me—the chairman.
That was likely because I had punished her, through the form of the Special Department, for fraudulent conduct she had never committed, thereby officially acknowledging it.
From Emma’s perspective, she would think that the chairman and the entire faculty had abandoned her and were framing her.
Based on my own experiences, it would have been stranger if a hot-blooded teenager had not resented me.
‘Still, this is not bad.’
Of course, her resentment did not bother me.
When I traced things back, it had begun when the chairman held an unnecessary inferiority complex toward Emma and framed her.
If she discovered that, her resentment could rise beyond a simple grudge and reach the level of a blood feud. I was deeply grateful that it had stopped at a little defiance.
Having learned through the original work just how strong the future Traitor Lord was and how she became humanity’s nightmare, I wanted to avoid becoming enemies with her above all else.
‘Right. At least she is following me.’
I brushed aside the negative thoughts billowing up inside me and searched for the positive sides.
‘First, perhaps because she is not alone, she does not seem entirely disappointed with the Special Department. Her anger toward Gess seems worse, but that is something he needs to deal with....’
Emma’s reaction toward Gess, her only peer in the Special Department, was almost seizure-like, to exaggerate a little.
Gess was the madman who had not only blackmailed her, but tried to injure her arm. Every time they met, Emma drew her sword and tried to cut off Gess’s head.
Of course, when I told her that Gess had been sentenced to unrestricted campus service until graduation as punishment, she stopped drawing her sword and instead glared at him in silence.
‘Come to think of it, that is not particularly positive either.’
Sigh....
I sighed at Emma, who was glaring at Gess in real time even now.
It was deplorable that the only two students in the Special Department had such a poor relationship, but what could I do?
One was the only person at the academy I could trust, while the other was an overpowered prodigy whose talent ranked at the very top of the world.
Lamenting that sad reality as I walked the forest path, I eventually realized that I could no longer hear birds chirping or even the rustling of small animals.
There was only one reason such a vast forest would fall silent.
“W-we are here....”
At Nia Filoni’s words, who had taken the role of guide in place of Giltier, who was still mentally and physically weak, I slowly looked around.
The forest was quiet because it was not exam season, and there was a sign that read .
Just as I was about to wonder why the sign was so clean despite being deep within a forest full of magic beasts, Nia Filoni spoke in a timid voice beside me.
“Seeing that the sign is clean... it seems it was maintained recently... The zones of the Exam Forest change according to the movement of the magic beasts, so they are maintained irregularly....”
Ah, so that was it.
I nodded vaguely. The condition of the sign was not what mattered.
I calmly explained things to Emma and Gess, whose faces had stiffened as tension rose.
“For the next three hours, I will conduct a test. Your results will be sent in real time through a crystal ball and reflected in your future curriculum.”
Nod.
I had thought that saying the results would be reflected in their curriculum would ignite their enthusiasm, but both of them merely nodded. Neither showed the burning determination to say something like, “I will definitely show you good results.”
That was probably because they did not know what I meant by curriculum, but their reactions were highly unsatisfactory from my perspective, since I needed to know what level of ability they could display at their best.
So I offered a reward that neither the shameless one nor the defiant one could help but bite at.
“The one who produces the better result will receive a top-grade mana stone.”
A top-grade mana stone.
A rare treasure worth well over one hundred million gold, which could provide a substantial amount of mana when used in mana cultivation.
Flames burst into Gess and Emma’s eyes.