NOVEL NEXT Chapter 163
The investigation committee for Mystic Island, as part of the concluding phase, saw Claris Academy’s dean, who had been handling royal duties, make his official appearance.
– “I promise to reveal everything… clearly.”
He was an elderly man named Dormant Tedeirov.
He was roughly known as a war hero and was elected as dean for his contributions to the academy.
Of course, all of this was… a lie.
His true identity was the Great Demon Belial, and his purpose was to serve as a foothold for taking over Claris Academy completely for the demons.
‘Humans are really annoying, you know? Do you have any idea how hard it is to play the old man role? Huh?’
Upon arriving at the academy, the first thing Belial did was to show the Great Demon Paimon the sanctum of the Central Magic Tower, and yesterday, he focused on stabilizing the families of the anxious students by firming up the academy’s stance on the Mystic Island incident and clarifying the progress.
It was quite a bothersome task.
He couldn’t care less about how many of the creatures died since it was his fellow demons who created this mess in the first place.
‘Still, deceiving them is kind of fun, you know?’
Of course, it was tolerable to see these foolish idiots hold the dean of Claris in such high regard as a hero and problem-solver.
“Hmm hmm hmm…~.”
Thus, Belial’s next destination was nothing other than Sellafi Black House.
The dormitory where the newbies who claimed to have defeated Markosias resided.
‘Which creature, or girl, finished off that Marko?!’
The assassination of Markosias in Pandemonium, especially since it was done within his own territory, was quite an unusual and shocking incident, so the demons needed to uncover the truth about it.
…
“Welcome, Dean!”
A bright-faced female student greeted Belial.
“Oho.”
“I am Yeriel Artina, the dormitory supervisor of Sellafi Hall.”
As Yeriel introduced herself, she felt a bit uncomfortable looking at the deep wrinkles on the dean’s face.
‘Is it because of that incident…?’
He seemed to have a rather gentlemanly demeanor but…
Given the Umberto incident, she wasn’t feeling too pleased.
However, she had received notice that the dean was officially coming to pay a visit, and since Selena was inside, it wasn’t a solo situation.
“Cough cough!”
Satisfied by the scent of maidenhood, Belial pretended to be nonchalant and said.
“A student as a dorm supervisor, how interesting. So you actually live here?”
“Yes.”
Savoring Yeriel’s brief response, Belial took out a diary made from fine leather and began to read it slowly.
“Great… The residents are Selena Windforce, Lily Forget… Aria Bluebell. And…”
“I, Yeriel Artina, and Lev Denec, are here.”
“Only the very best students, I see. I want to be introduced to all of them.”
“Thank you… If you give me a cue, I’ll make arrangements…”
Yeriel expressed her thanks briefly, and then,
‘…’
‘…?’
Belial stared at her for a long moment before he couldn’t hold back and said.
“Shall we start with a handshake?”
*
Vroom…!
On the circulation train heading to Sellafi Hall, I recalled the settings of the Reincarnated Hero.
A perk is a piece of content in RPG-like games that enhances specific attributes, so you could say it’s like an additional passive skill.
In truth, the treatment of perks in the Reincarnated Hero Closed Beta was a bit ambiguous.
Since each character had their own passive skills and traits, a system based on perks wasn’t strictly necessary.
However, as part of an experimental element limited to that closed beta, the concept of a “shared passive for all characters” remained.
For example, there’s a perk that grants a guaranteed critical hit when attacking an enemy that hasn’t recognized me, increasing normal damage as a perk.
And there’s another perk that gives additional damage when hitting a weak point, equal to a critical hit.
These perks were fundamentally in a hidden state where detailed information couldn’t be checked…
I recall the old-timers trying to find out what perks were in the game on game forums.
Of course, all this ended up being integrated into character base passives when later patch versions were released…
‘But it wasn’t like that then.’
Anyway, lost in thought, when I arrived at Sellafi Black House,
…
-!
I spotted a man who seemed to be the dean of Claris.
No? The Great Demon Belial was conversing with Yeriel.
‘Stay calm.’
This was somewhat expected.
After all, neither Andras, Bunea, nor Markosias knew how they met their end…
But if he messes things up and suddenly tries to kill me here…
Game over.
“Ah…! Lev!”
Yeriel’s face brightened as she spotted me.
“Cough. Cough…!”
“Yeriel, I’m back… um… who… are you?”
I awkwardly cleared my throat, looking at the flustered Belial, and began to respond with pure cringe.
…
“Oh, Lev. The dean has visited…!”
“Hello, Dean. Welcome.”
‘What’s this guy doing…’
A man’s interruption left Belial no choice but to withdraw his bewildered hand.
‘Forget it, it’s definitely that girl, there’s something different about her, isn’t there?’
They weren’t being suspected for just defeating Markosias without reason.
The feelings Belial felt towards Yeriel weren’t ordinary.
She emanated a magical circuit that was hard to find in students.
She might be stronger than the imperial mages or the random professors from Claris.
‘To figure out the origin, I should see her use magic directly…’
That’s why he had offered a handshake.
“Dean? Aren’t you going to return the greeting?”
“Oh, right.”
Yet, a skeletal figure that exuded no power kept barging in with his words.
‘Why does this useless creature keep interrupting me?’
“Dean.”
Then he called out to Belial with a serious expression.
“What is it again?”
Belial revealed a hint of discomfort behind his smile as he said,
-Swish.
The fool grinned stupidly and respectfully extended something with both hands.
It was a blank piece of paper. White paper.
“Could you sign… I’d like to ask for your signature.”
“…?”
“I’m just a huge fan of war heroes.”
*
-Despite being a grandfather, the dean has quite a strong body~.
-I’d love to have a match with the dean in a manly manner!
-Hey, Dean! Would you like to sleep in my room?!
-Dean, why not have a meal? Today I’m the one on dish duty, you see? How about a dish-washing bet with me…!
‘How does it feel to be a cheap thrill?’
In any case, the setting for the dean of Claris in Reincarnated Hero was described as gentle and kind.
I used this to annoy the one who had to pretend to be the dean.
-That’s enough. It’s fine.
-Huff, ha. That’s enough.
-I said enough!
-Haa… I’ll come again next time…
With a deep sigh from the demon, I managed to succeed in physically escaping for today.
‘That was close.’
In between, I felt a hint of malice,
His muscles trembled with tension above and below, and occasionally the sound of grinding teeth reached my ears.
This guy’s gaze changed to that of a murderer.
Next time we meet, he won’t let me die easily.
Well, there was no other way.
The moment I came into contact with Yeriel, Belial would surely notice the curse of the Tarchangel on her.
-Fwump.
I lay on my dorm bed, staring at the ceiling.
Time was running out. The opportunity would only come… once more.
Of course, the demons’ intentions were still too obvious.
They were trying to approach us one by one to gauge our battle power, and if anyone had killed Markosias, find out who it was.
‘The problem is, he… is probably going to be disgustingly strong.’
Since he was in human form, the exclusive pattern analysis interface for Belial didn’t pop up,
When I used the magic eye behind me,
[Are you really using the magic eye?]
[*The opponent can notice it.]
It popped up, and I couldn’t check his stats.
If, like Markosias, he had a soul that was immune to annihilation,
It would ruin everything, and a full offensive by the demons would ensue.
“I have to kill him at the surest moment.”
For a moment, the image of Edwin, possessing execution attributes, crossed my mind.
‘Alright.’
I no longer needed to worry about whether or not to assassinate him.
If not, I’d just make it happen.
I took a deep breath, and
‘Crossbow proficiency.’
I pulled up my status menu.
-Ding!
——————————————————
[Crossbow Proficiency – 9]
You can select a reward from the Archer’s Path!
——————————————————
‘Select reward.’
In fact, other than the perks provided in the unfinished Closed Beta, there was no way to obtain anything else.
However, there was one way; it’s given as a reward upon maximizing weapon proficiency up to its highest level.
I had achieved the peak level of crossbow proficiency, which was 9, in the last battle against Markosias,
And I recalled what I had forgotten while at the café with Yellody.
‘Couldn’t they give a notice…’
-Dingaling…!
In any case, I focused on the reward window popping up in front of me.
“I need to choose the one with the highest potential…”
——————————————————
[Constant effect activation]
[Preparation]
When enchanting a weapon, the effect of all enhancement spells increases by 1 level.
…
[Awareness]
Increases the attack speed of your primary weapon by 20%.
…
——————————————————
“I’ll skip the soup…”
Constant effect activation types don’t have penalties and can be reinforced slowly with SP, so they are quite safe, but that’s why the scope of increase is clear.
That wasn’t enough.
Therefore, what I should be keeping an eye on is…
[Effect activation upon condition fulfillment] types.
As I considered earlier, just like the basic perk that guarantees a critical strike when attacking an enemy that hasn’t noticed me,
Those that offer sweet returns as long as the conditions are met are what I should be looking for.
-Ding!
——————————————————
[Effect activation upon condition fulfillment]
[Last Blow]
Damage is increased in proportion to the target’s remaining HP.
(Note: There’s no effect at HP: 51-100%.)
…
[First Strike]
The first attack made today has an increased damage for one time.
…
[Prophecy]
You specify the type of enemy you will engage in battle. (Demons, demon creatures, human tribe, dragon tribe, etc.)
An hour later, when battling the specified race, you can deal additional damage.
——————————————————
‘Nah, these aren’t it.’
Filtering through mediocre-looking traits, I scrolled down for a long while.
…
…
…
——————————————————
…
…
…
[Sniper Master]
Damage increases in proportion to the distance from the target.
(Note: Activation of effect begins from above a specified distance.)
——————————————————
“Oh…?”
I let out a short sigh, immediately choosing Sniper Master.
-Ding!
[Selection Complete.]
This trait increases damage based on distance… while it seems way too standard and appears trivial.
But it’s not.
If the constantly activating perk can be reinforced and leveled up with SP, then it can also…
-Ding!
[Sniper Master]
[Would you like to add a penalty to the selected trait?]
Since condition-triggered perks can enhance their power by adding penalties.
‘Time for a spear custom.’