<642 – The Crisis of Mob (4)>
While the mob was experiencing a crisis of a second job class, Oknodie was facing a terrifying event of a one-on-one meeting with the professor at the Gift Academy.
“Oknodie. What do you think of the Dragon Master Peak, and why did you send your friends there?”
The Dragon Master Peak.
An ancient dragon’s nest, long gone from the ground.
A sacred place revered by many powerful beings seeking to gain the energy of the sacred vein. Oknodie assessed it with a sullen face.
“The Dragon Master Peak? It’s just a house of bedbugs.”
“…Bedbugs? The Dragon Principal would love to hear that. What kind of thought leads to such a conclusion?”
With all Oknodie’s underlings being out on passes, Second-Year Head Jepar called Oknodie in for a brief consultation.
Given the circumstances, he wanted to investigate the purpose of sending the organization members to the Dragon Master Peak. But to think the party involved harbored such absurd thoughts.
“Bedbugs can’t even suck blood properly; they just stick together and move around. How is a dragon moving around the peaks any different from a bedbug?!”
“Bedbugs hide in shady corners or gaps.”
“And dragons hide in the peaks!”
“…Has life suddenly become troubling for you? No matter how suicidal you feel, I wouldn’t recommend provoking the Dragon Principal as a way to do so.”
“Come on. The Principal is of a different caliber than the lowly lower-class humans who think of their kind as worthless; they’re all divided into high-class and low-class humans, right?”
Is this the Dark Princess that I only heard rumors about? Indeed, there’s not a trace of humanity to be found.
Jepar felt a bit of admiration honestly. When malevolence is this neatly evil, it mostly evokes admiration.
However, the underlings being manipulated by Oknodie weren’t as strong as Oknodie.
“Regardless of your thoughts, the Dragon Master Peak is actually one of the pilgrimage sites for masters to gain strength through the energy of the dragon vein. It’s not something that just any student from the Academy can easily climb.”
“Our underlings aren’t easy either, you know?”
“Anyway, if your underlings get injured or die, you’ll be responsible for that misfortune. They’ve all headed to a reckless place at your request. Are you prepared for that?”
If he answers intending to treat others’ lives like disposable items, he wouldn’t spare the Dark Princess or the heir of the Foundation.
With that intention, Jepar Professor growled in a low, fierce voice.
Suddenly Oknodie stood up from his chair and spun around.
“Look here!”
“…?”
“Don’t you see it yet?”
Oknodie said with a nonchalant face.
“My guard golems aren’t here beside me. Naturally, I sent my friends with them to protect them in case of an emergency!”
…Is he not as wicked a child as the rumors suggested?
According to Professor Robert Elahim of the third year, he was an extremely terrifying child, a likely candidate for the next Demon King. But after talking to him directly, the impression was better than expected.
Is that really such a bad child, or is Robert Elahim trying to tarnish a student’s reputation to make it so other professors wouldn’t dare interfere, while he preps to bring in a new Jaku? The suspicion was reasonable. Considering there are professors who gaslight students by isolating them from social interactions for the sake of recruiting them as Jaku, it seemed even more suspicious.
“How strong are your guard golems?”
“I left one behind; do you want to see it?”
“It would be even better to see it in person.”
Oknodie rummaged in his bag and pulled out a golem taller than himself.
Considering that items that can be stored in a pocket dimension are
It meant he had created a golem capable of automatic response through only its spell design, without any living being boarding it.
[Compulsory Erosion]
Professor Jepar raised a finger and injected his mana into the golem’s spell.
As he attempted to seize control and take ownership, the spell inside the golem automatically reacted and burned all of Jepar’s mana.
Stability Pass.
At least it confirmed that a catastrophe where the golems slaughtered Oknodie’s friends wouldn’t occur.
[False Blessing]
A fake blessing spell that excessively acts on beneficial spells to cause destruction.
A spell that strengthens muscle to the point that it crushes bones and a spell that increases mana output to the degree that it breaks the mana circuit.
Once the power of blessing is forcibly raised to destroy the target, the golem dismantled the mana spell placed on it and stored it.
Spell storage, dismantling, and reprocessing? Application ability pass.
With this level of skill, he was certainly capable of protecting his friends from seasoned masters’ schemes.
[High-Level Summoning Technique]
[Ego Sword – Violetta's 5 Series]
[Ego Sword – Nemert's 7 Singly Sword]
The final exam was the combat power of the golem itself.
For each sword, the swordsmanship of one swordsman was embedded; multiple 5th-tier swords and one 7th-tier visionary sword.
In a flurry of attacks resembling a joint assault by powerful beings, Oknodie’s golem spun at a tremendous speed, deflecting the swords.
Spin!
Great Spin!
Spiral Cut!
The unsettling Spin feature seemed like it was directly embedded, effortlessly rebuffing the 5th-tier joint attack.
Jepar Professor’s eyes widened.
Embedding functions within matter, that was part of the advanced course about what he teaches on [Function Marking Technique].
A level of proficiency beyond mere skill, a completeness hard to find even among fourth years.
It was as if Oknodie had rigorously refined functions as a specialty; it was an astounding skill that seemed like it had been passed down 1-on-1 over five years since his days as a graduate student!
“Well, even so, he couldn’t possibly defend against my 7th-tier Nemert’s 7 Singly Sword.”
The 7th-singular sword was a warning blade.
Indeed, even such a master existed at the Dragon Master Peak.
Don’t grow too arrogant in the role of a leader, lest your friends and guard golems find themselves in dire straits.
That was a fact meant to remind him, not to send them out to win but to lose and be broken.
[Leap!]
[Spatial Leap!]
[Sunlight Sprint!]
Just as Oknodie’s golem had the Spin function, Jepar’s Nemert’s 7 Singly Sword had the Leap function embedded within.
Though the principle was the same, as a professor, his understanding of functions and marking technology wouldn’t fall behind.
Ding!
When the heavy metal sound made one’s ears tingle, Jepar realized.
His technique wasn’t lagging behind!
“Tsk, can it be this way?”
“This is absurd.”
Oknodie’s golem’s arm, adorned with the spinning functionality, broke.
But it didn’t pierce through.
The implication was clear.
Oknodie’s techniques weren’t lagging either.
Against his own ego sword in the professor’s class.
What had been lacking were the differences in capital and resources, the effort put in.
Had they sharpened their skills with the same materials over the same timeframe, the results suggested Oknodie wouldn’t fall behind in understanding marking technology and functions.
“With this level of skill, my friends should be at ease, right?”
“…I acknowledge that your friends will be safe.”
“Phew!”
“And your talent is also quite terrifying.”
“Huh?”
“Oknodie, are you interested in being a Jaku?”
At the emergence of the 7th-tier ego sword, Oknodie smoothly backed away, sweating profusely while exclaiming, “I just wanted to calm the professor down by showing off a bit!”
“Don’t worry. If you become a Jaku, the benefits you’ll enjoy will be plentiful, and the strength you gain will be great. With Excalibur as the holy sword or Degmund as the demon sword, you could potentially create a weapon comparable to those at the pinnacle of the ego sword class. Just bringing a rough prototype for the fourth-year graduation project would guarantee a pass. So, what do you say? Are you interested in joining my research lab…”
“Oh no! I have Professor Sadako and Professor Bronze!”
Oknodie screeched and bolted.
Though any silly talk could be instantaneously dealt with using [Spatial Leap], the mentioned names were too formidable.
“Sadako and Bronze…?”
A queen of the undead and a rogue.
Each one was undoubtedly stronger than average male professors.
Naming them to divert a momentary crisis was still too risky.
But to verify the facts was a must.
Professor Jepar confirmed with both professors whether Oknodie was indeed their apprentice, and he received a positive answer.
“Haah. The privilege of first-year professors to secure talented students from the first year is indeed admirable at such times. I’ll have to come up with a lecture next year to teach trivial marking techniques akin to child’s play.”
Professor Jepar’s thought was indeed correct.
Oknodie had lied to escape a momentary crisis.
But whether the professors Sadako and Bronze also shared the thought that Oknodie had recognized himself as their apprentice after Professor Jepar’s contact was still unclear.
The 50% increase in the failure rate of the rune of misfortune due to its effects was still being triggered today, as an evil outcome, stacking the second stack of graduate students to avoid the failure of the first stack, contributing to Oknodie’s crisis.
