Chapter: 476
The light in Luca’s office was already on when I arrived early in the morning, as if it was the most natural thing in the world.
“Lady Alrn, what brings you here so early?”
Luca, neatly dressed and sipping tea, seemed completely unfazed by my visit.
“Would you like a cup of tea?”
“Nah~. I bet that creepy perv professor would put something weird in it.”
“Hmmm. I doubt anything ordinary would be enough to satisfy you, my lady.”
With a shrug, Luca seated me on the sofa and took a place opposite to me.
“Now, back to the matter at hand. What brings you here? Need some exam questions leaked?”
“Can a loser like you even do that?”
“I could if I wanted to. Most of the professors creating the exam questions are fresh faces—it’s not hard to swipe them from the authority-challenged nobodies, you know.”
Wait, is he serious? Can exam questions actually be leaked!?
In a moment of weakness, I felt the allure creep in before quickly pulling myself together.
No, what’s important right now isn’t my exam scores; it’s the act of raising my intelligence itself.
If exam questions were all that mattered, I would’ve bet everything on Log, Grandpa Emong, and Dice God, just like before! Who needs to leak exam questions?!
“Well, you probably don’t need that sort of thing, right?”
Luca chuckled lightly, taking a sip of his tea while patiently waiting for me to speak.
“Creepy professor. Just tell me straight up what ridiculous nonsense you’re up to.”
I shot my question directly instead of testing the waters. At that moment, Luca’s hand holding the teacup paused for an instant.
“…Aren’t you being a little too blunt?”
“You can’t talk smart to a dog and expect it to get it. So I was trying to be considerate.”
I had thought long and hard about how to extract words from this slippery snake when I decided to confront him.
The more I thought, the more I realized that acting all clever would just trip me up. I clearly don’t have a talent for this kind of psychological game.
So, I decided to just charge in. After all, no matter what I do, Luca can’t really mess me up, can he?
“Well, I do have something I’m preparing.”
Luca set down his teacup and continued speaking.
“However, since this involves the dungeon studies professors, it might be inappropriate for me to divulge.”
“What do those losers have to do with you?”
“Believe it or not, I’m a professor of combat studies. Given last year’s incidents, I can’t just distance myself.”
Luca spoke as if he was merely assisting in dungeon creation at the request of the dungeon studies professors, but I suspected that wasn’t the whole truth.
I can see right through him. This topic is clearly something he wants to skirt around—this could be his weak spot.
“Creepy professor♡ Are you seeing me as a total idiot?♡”
I didn’t need to think hard about why this could be his weak point. He’d eventually spill something just by nature of the confrontation, so why should I waste energy worrying about that?
“A coward who fled at the sight of others’ talents♡” I mentioned his past, making his shoulders jerk slightly.
“A useless trash forced to relinquish their desires to others♡”
A hint of tension crept into his gaze.
“A pathetic fool who felt jealousy towards the friend who took care of him, fleeing in shame♡”
Alright, let’s see what you have to say, Luca. What are you up to? Who are you colluding with?
“Why do you act like you’re better than everyone?♡”
Despite my teasing laughter resonating in his ears, Luca desperately managed his expression. If I think about how others have reacted in the past, I’d call his restraint superhuman.
“Why so quiet today?♡ Am I piercing too deep to the point you’ve lost your words?♡”
But it’s all futile. Even a soulless golem would be drawn in by my taunts—what can Luca, full of emotions, possibly do?
“Maybe your ego has been crushed so much that you find it hard to get angry anymore♡ Hahaha! This must be it!♡ This pathetic♡ filthy♡ creepy professor!♡”
I could hear the sound of leather gloves crumpling beneath his desk.
“Angry?♡ Do you want to hit me?♡ Want to shut this cocky brat up?♡”
“…Lady.”
“Imagine all the things you want to do in your fantasy♡ You’ll never manage any of it in reality♡ Isn’t that right?♡ You and your pathetic dreams will remain….”
Luca, waiting to make a move, suddenly had that intent slip out.
In that moment, a chill swept down my spine—this wasn’t fear, but a more instinctual sensation. Yeah, I guess you’d call it intuition.
“Why did you stop talking so suddenly?”
I regarded Luca with a smile. I had been aiming to trigger his complex.
The fact that no matter how hard he struggled, he’d still be crawling beneath his friends’ feet—that’s what I aimed to shred to pieces in his mind.
But at that very moment, my intuition warned me to hold my tongue. I felt a scream rising inside me: don’t cross that line.
“Lady?”
Suppressing my excitement from the mesugaki skill, I examined Luca.
The aesthetic sense gifted to me by the Goddess of Crows told me there were several oddities around Luca.
Among them, the most off-putting was his hand hidden beneath the desk.
Seeing the area veiled by leather gloves, I felt a sudden urge to retch.
The emotions stirred within me were far stronger than when I tackled the alchemist’s dungeon, recalling a setting I had glimpsed on the screen about a “broken oath.”
Betrayers are loathed even by the refuse of the underworld.
I had previously thought this was just a custom or environment, but perhaps that loathing actually has a real form.
“Boring.”
Frowning, I sprang up from my seat and without a backward glance at Luca, I exited his office.
Then, I moved aimlessly until the instinctive warning weighing down my body disappeared.
“Haah. Hah.”
I had distanced myself quite a way from Luca’s office building and leaned against the wall, trying to steady my heavy breathing.
[Lucy. Are you alright?]
‘…For now, at least.’
What was that sensation just now?
It felt completely different from anything I’d experienced before.
It was something deeper.
Could it be…
Suddenly, something dawned on me, and I opened the log to look back up.
While I was sleeping last night,
Or rather, to check what happened while I was rolling around with Grandpa during training.
[The God of Martial Arts grants you their power.]
[In the gaze of the God of Martial Arts, a flicker of displeasure remains.]
Risk perception.
Last night, the God of Martial Arts had bestowed their power upon me without my knowledge—as if they wished for me to remain unaware of their involvement.
The very God, who had seemed so friendly that they wanted to talk to me, has suddenly flipped their attitude.
Ganshu, that fool. I didn’t ask for their hostility—instead, I simply wanted the skills!
This is why I can’t just lock myself away in the library!
I mentally vowed to tease him until he cries the next time we meet as I wiped my face to shake off the immediate emotions.
“Grandpa. Did you feel murderous intent coming from Luca just now?”
[If you had, I’d have made my presence known.]
‘…What? But.’
[He was clearly angry but gauging you strangely, separate from his feelings.]
I thought there was only one reason for a sense of crisis, but Grandpa’s words contradicted that notion.
He wouldn’t misinterpret something like this.
Then what was it? Why did I sense danger from Luca?
Feeling my head getting foggier, I let out a deep sigh and sought help from the text.
[Doubt.]
The blue prompt that appeared in front of me explained the situation with one word.
Luca suspected I had caught on to the games he was playing.
As his certainty began to morph into plans before I could act, he probably devised something I wouldn’t be able to manage. The notification chimed as if affirming my thoughts with another blue prompt.
[Luca’s Trial.]
[Those who wish to be stars while falling to the earth will pay any sacrifice to engrave their presence upon another star. Prove that you shine brighter than anyone else while overcoming their plans.]
[Reward: ???]
[Failure: GAME OVER]
…Great. Normally, I’d be the one whining about why that pathetic god didn’t give me the heads-up ahead of time, but this time I can’t do that.
The pathetic god probably gave me the signal that Luca was going to unleash some crappy scheme.
Even after seeing that sign, I didn’t take it seriously—that’s on me. I never thought Luca would be nuts enough to break an oath!
With my lips pressed together in frustration, I slammed my hand against the wall, erasing the message.
What can I say? I did something foolish.
Letting out a long breath, I started moving again.
Initially, Luca mentioned he was collaborating on dungeon creation.
Whether that’s a lie or not remains to be seen, but if he’s causing trouble, then that’s where I’ll strike.
The time spent chatting with Luca felt prolonged, as I now noticed several students bustling about the Academy. They seemed to consider the upcoming midterms as their biggest crisis.
As I observed them, I suddenly thought: would that lunatic actually risk everything just for me?
If that madman made grand plans with his own life at stake, there’s no way it would only involve me.
Grinding my teeth, I soon arrived at my intended destination.
The place where the dungeon for the Academy exam is built—the space that would soon be filled with the despair of numerous students when testing time rolls around. I set my foot down there and opted to use [History Confirm] skill near the wall.
[?@$입@%!%!5건]
The inscriptions listed were unintelligible, seemingly altered by outside interference.
Considering that only another god can respond to divine powers,
Hah. Figures. I’d heard rumors of void cultists showing up all the time in the Academy.
Luca—you madman; you’re linked in with this?
Stopping the [History Confirm] skill caused a wave of dizziness to wash over me.
As I staggered and clutched the wall, I barely managed to regain my balance.
You’re coming at me like that? Then I’ve got plans of my own.
Luca. You little bastard.
The stage you set will become your nightmare.
I’ll make sure it ends up like that.
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