NOVEL NEXT Chapter 13
Chapter 13
—–CROW—–
After leaving the Headmaster’s office, as I walked towards the dormitory, a thought suddenly occurred to me.
“…Cold?”
I was cold.
Of course, it was still early March, so it was natural to feel cold. But that wasn’t the problem. How was I feeling cold?
I checked the fingertips gripping the scroll, and they were trembling slightly from the cold.
Basic Magic
[Fireball]
Whoosh-
I cast the spell, and a small fireball formed in my palm.
It was a somewhat usable offensive spell among the basic magic spells.
“Warm.”
I could definitely feel the warmth.
Of course, since the magic formula included a protection spell for the caster, it wasn’t dangerous.
But it couldn’t block everything. If magic detonated at close range, I would also suffer significant damage.
Then what about [Master of Mana], which was a skill, not magic?
[Master of Mana Lv. 1]
As soon as I finished checking the basic magic [Fireball], I used the skill to deploy magic.
While feeling a chill from the chunk of mana being consumed, I checked the shape of the magic that appeared at my fingertips.
[Stun Gun]
A basic lightning-attribute magic spell used by N-rank mages.
It inflicted weak lightning damage and had a low probability of inflicting paralysis.
“Phew…”
Crackle──!
I composed myself and fired [Stun Gun] at my other palm. There was a loud noise and sparks flew.
But it didn’t hurt, and I wasn’t paralyzed.
“Then lastly…”
Basic Magic
[Stun Gun]
I deployed the basic magic [Stun Gun] with my own ability, not [Master of Mana], and cast it at my palm, just like before.
I couldn’t make an accurate judgment unless it was the same magic.
* * *
The experiment results…
Revealed an astonishing fact.
I proved that magic created by [Master of Mana] didn’t harm me.
To be precise, it blocked what constituted ‘damage.’
It was very similar to a game system.
Even if the magic in games had flashy and powerful effects, it didn’t harm the caster or their allies.
It was the same with [Curse of Perpetual Snow] and [Petit Breath].
I wasn’t sure about the criteria for allies, but at least I wouldn’t be harmed.
This was more useful information than I thought.
It meant I could completely overturn the common sense that mages couldn’t use large-scale magic at close range.
I also obtained some minor information.
Perhaps because it was detonated at close range, but the effect of [Stun Gun] wasn’t as bad as I thought.
It was tingling.
Aside from the pain, my body was paralyzed.
It seemed that even the low probability of basic magic wasn’t something to be completely ignored.
Or perhaps I was just incredibly unlucky. …It seemed like the latter.
Well, it would depend on how I used it in the future.
“…What is Master doing?”
As I lay on the cold floor, someone approached me.
As you could guess from the title, it was our attention-seeker, Eleanor.
“Experiment.”
“A human experiment? That mad scientist side of you isn’t bad. It would attract a lot of attention. But you should stop using your own body as a test subject.”
“If you’re saying that, then I should probably stop.”
My body currently had durability somewhere between N-rank and R-rank.
But my magic power coefficient was too high.
Even N-rank magic had the power of R-rank.
I should experiment on a more durable friend in the future.
“Alright. Get up, Master. I’ll help you.”
“How can even your way of helping be so unique…?”
“Ahem!”
That wasn’t a compliment.
Eleanor slung me over her shoulder like a freshly hunted game. Perhaps because she was a warrior close to R-rank, I didn’t even feel any swaying. Reliable.
“What classes are you taking, Master?”
“Why do you want to know? Our classes won’t overlap unless they’re common classes.”
“Judging by the way you talk, Master, you must not be popular with girls.”
“That’s harsh…”
The curriculum at
Of course, you could also learn subjects from other fields. But compared to specialized subjects, they were more basic and less in-depth.
Just general education level.
“You’re not taking close combat classes, Master?”
“No, I’m planning to learn basic combat skills.”
The final boss of Chapter 1 of the main story was Gerard Oren, the basic combat skills professor.
It would be beneficial to learn basic combat skills to gain information about his fighting style in advance.
And there was also the information I just obtained. Although I couldn’t expect much visible effect, I could maximize the variables of [Master of Mana].
“Since you’re aiming to be a mage, Master, you can only learn basic combat skills, right? Then how about learning from me?”
“Do you give out credits?”
“No…”
“Then I’m good.”
Besides, the paralysis seemed to be wearing off. It was still tingling, but I could move.
“Noah, put me down now.”
“Huh? Why should I?”
“…?”
It wasn’t a considerate remark. It was a very self-centered choice of words.
“Why…?”
“If I put you down, you’ll go back, right? Let’s play a little longer. I’m lonely being alone.”
“I won’t go back, so put me down…”
“…No.”
“Why?”
“…”
Say something.
* * *
On the second day, all classes started normally.
Considering that the first day was just orientation, it was quite tiring.
Still, I would get used to it eventually. It had always been that way.
“Then, that’s all for today’s class…”
It was already the fourth period of common classes.
Common classes mainly consisted of simple subjects like math and literature.
Classes unrelated to combat, unlike magic or combat skills.
“Any questions?”
At that question, everyone’s eyes turned to one spot.
Where Eleanor was sitting.
Eleanor, the attention-seeker, was naturally sitting in the front row.
I, on the other hand, was in the back, where I could easily observe everyone.
Slide─
As the professor asked the final question, with less than five minutes left in class, Eleanor tried to raise her hand.
Thud─!
And Lucia, sitting next to her, grabbed her hand and pulled it down.
Eleanor had raised her hand for that question in all three previous classes.
Not because she was curious about anything.
She just wanted to draw everyone’s attention to herself.
And she had achieved that goal perfectly. Even negative attention was still attention.
“Ugh, Lucia. You betrayed me…”
“…Noah? I want to enjoy my lunch break in peace.”
“Oh… Okay…”
Lucia’s expression turned serious.
It was to the point where I could glimpse her true self, not her acting persona.
Was it really okay for her to act like that? No, perhaps she was incorporating her true self into her act.
The students’ anxious gazes suddenly shifted towards Lucia.
“Uh, ugh?!”
Lucia lowered her head.
But her tail, contrary to her head, bristled and pointed towards the sky.
Was she uncomfortable with the attention?
This… she was a surprisingly timid cat.
“Huh?”
I briefly made eye contact with Eleanor.
She seemed dissatisfied with the attention shifting away from her and was looking around when our eyes met. She immediately turned her gaze forward. Was she angry?
Perhaps it was because I managed to escape from her grasp last night and returned alone.
But I couldn’t help it.
If I stayed clinging to her in that cold, I would have become frozen meat.
Since she was surprisingly cunning, she might be feigning anger.
“Then…”
Well, either way, I didn’t have time to play with Eleanor or Lucia right now.
I had already asked for permission to skip the intermediate magic class, my specialized class, this afternoon.
Seeing Professor Aira’s happy expression made me feel a bit sorry, but considering what I had done, I decided to just accept it.
* * *
The robe I was wearing, reflected in the mirror, resembled the night sky.
[Starry Sky Robe]
A black robe with constellations embroidered in white.
The only constellation I knew was the Big Dipper. I didn’t know the rest.
“Am I 6-star now…?”
That thought suddenly occurred to me after returning to the dormitory and putting on my personal robe, which I had brought with me when escaping from Spellergy.
Oz, an SSR-rank character, had a base rank of 5-star (★★★★★).
But in the game, if you leveled up the character and equipped them with exclusive gear, they gained another star.
When that happened, the character illustration changed to a more elaborate version, and student characters like Oz changed their clothes from the school uniform to something that matched their character’s atmosphere.
As a side note, even the background changed to match.
And I was currently wearing the clothes of a 6-star Oz.
In other words, these clothes represented a one-star difference.
“Hmm…”
Oz’s exclusive equipment was quite excellent. It significantly increased defense and magic resistance and added a bonus coefficient to all magic.
One star? No, considering the current state of [Master of Mana], it deserved at least three stars.
The probability shouldn’t have been this terrible…
I wished they would just disclose the exact probabilities.
“Damn game company.”
* * *
The weekday dungeon looked exactly the same as it did in the game.
Since fire-attribute monsters appeared on Tuesdays, the background also glowed like a lava zone.
“It’s not hot.”
I lightly touched the wall with my fingertip, but it was just for show.
It wasn’t hot. As I was thinking that, [Contemplation] detected something approaching me.
Convenient.
There wasn’t an assassin class in
“What appears on the first floor again?”
It was rare for the materials or currency required in a game to be unified.
Materials varied depending on their use, and currency was divided into free and paid.
But the more diverse the in-game currency, the more tedious it became to acquire them.
Some currencies were easy to obtain, while others felt difficult.
In a simple RPG, that could be considered part of the content, but in a collection RPG where you had to raise multiple characters, it only added to the fatigue.
In such cases, the methods game companies employed were usually similar.
One was to temporarily distribute the currency through events. This was usually just a temporary measure.
Another method was to prepare another means of acquiring the currency. A typical example was weekday dungeons.
In
Basic Magic
[Water Ball]
“Fire lizards, right.”
“Kieeek!”
I subdued the fire lizard rushing towards me with basic magic. The difficulty was exactly as I expected.
But the difficulty would increase exponentially as I descended to the lower floors of the dungeon.
Although the rewards would also increase accordingly, my current limit was probably the third floor. Of course, if I pushed myself, I could clear up to the fifth floor.
It meant I could clear up to the third floor without taking any significant damage.
Basic Magic
[Freeze]
The fire lizards approaching me were all frozen.
Due to the elemental relationship, although the duration was shortened, the probability of inflicting the status ailment was high.
“It’s absurd that these creatures, whose bodies are made of fire, are frozen by a mere [Freeze] spell…”
[Erosion Rate 4%]
It was probably because [Freeze] was classified as a water attribute.
Ridiculous physics were being applied.
[Master of Mana Lv. 1]
Flutter─
A pure white fan unfolded in my hand. The nine ribs of the fan resembled fox tails, and blue will-o’-the-wisps flickered at their tips.
It was [Blue Fire Fan], a high-ranking magic spell.
In the game, it was an offensive magic used by the SR-rank character [Blue-Eyed Fox Spirit].
Although the damage would be halved against the fire lizards since they were also fire attribute, the tier of the magic was different.
“…It doesn’t suit Oz, perhaps because it’s Eastern-style.”
If the empire had a fantasy setting, the federation had an Eastern setting.
It was striking how distinct the characteristics of the two countries were, despite being separated by just a border. It reminded me once again that this was a world inside a game.
They were right next to each other, so they should interact more.
Whoosh!
I swung the fan towards the fire lizards that were swarming after the [Freeze] status ailment wore off.
As the name of the fan suggested, blue flames, instead of wind, erupted, turning the fire lizards into ashes.
“Good firepower.”
Click─!
As I closed the fan, which had lost its flames, it disappeared like an illusion.
I had checked with [Contemplation] countless times, but I still couldn’t understand the principle of [Master of Mana].
“It should be the boss battle soon…”
I had defeated all the fire lizards roaming around.
Even a party composed entirely of N-rank characters could defeat the monsters that appeared on the first floor.
“Kieeeeeeek──!!!!”
Soon, the boss appeared. A slightly larger fire lizard.
As I mentioned earlier, the difficulty of the first floor of the weekday dungeon was quite low.
Even a party of N-rank characters could clear it.
“So noisy.”
And my strength was higher than that of an R-rank warrior character.
“Kiek…”
Crack!
I stomped on the head of the frantically crawling fire lizard, crushing it.
“Shall we go to the second floor?”
I left the corpse of the giant fire lizard behind and headed for the next floor.
I hadn’t obtained any material items so far.
It was possible that materials didn’t drop in this world, unlike the game, but it could also be that the drop rate was low because it was the first floor.
So, I would check the second floor and then go back. The monsters that appeared on the second floor were…
“Kieek.”
“They’re all so noisy.”
Fire lizards.
Typical monsters for grinding quests.
—–CROW—–