<395 - Stalker>
The Jaku did a great job.
Professor Red Mountain confirmed that a control spell signal was detected on the Mana Board.
This time, let’s use the Rainbow Grass to spy on the Oknodie and uncover its weaknesses.
Before activating the stealth spell, Professor Red Mountain had made that resolution.
“Hmm? This is… there’s a larger magical response surrounding the herbal medicine case.”
While there are many incompetent knights at the Academy, this reaction indicates a significant artifact.
It’s a far cry from the treasures that amateurs could randomly acquire through sheer luck, bound to bring a curse that could ruin one’s life or cause instant death if touched by an unworthy one—an absolutely terrifying relic.
An immense magical response, typical of such artifacts, was being felt.
‘Even 3rd years would be insufficient for this talent. Truly, a 1st year who attracts attention like a Warrior.’
As seen from teaching the [Developing Insight] course, the strict Professor Bronze has a genius worthy of being his disciple.
However, the professors of Gift Academy are those who seek supremacy in one field.
The realm of genius is never unfamiliar.
Such a level of artifact?
He’s seen it many times.
He possesses some and has even faced artifacts in the hands of enemies.
“Haha. It’s been a while since I had fun.”
Professor Red Mountain’s eyes glowed with mischievous magic.
Keen Eye. Search Eye.
This technique, classified as a basic observation technique, has the next tier.
When obstructed by a barrier that blocks sight.
The ability to pierce through it.
Pierce Eye.
The power to see through the true nature of objects managed to penetrate the barrier and spy inside the backpack.
The structure felt like 100 compartments.
Ten horizontal and ten vertical.
Inside equally sized compartments, numerous backpacks were stored.
Surprisingly, all those backpacks were also artifact-grade.
Considering that the number of artifacts one person can manage is not that high, it’s frightening how many artifacts lie asleep in a single backpack.
Oknodie, this reckless little one, endures an enormous quantity of artifacts, just like the Sword Master of the Night Watch or the Head of the Magic Tower.
“If it were an ordinary professor, this would have been their limit.”
Uncovering the interior of an artifact through remote observation is no easy feat.
Working secretly so as not to be detected is even harder.
However, Professor Red Mountain once reigned as the master of the Cheonryeong Mountain Range that connects the East and the West.
Unlike regular professors, he’s an immortal who has surpassed the lifespan of humans and gained a millennium of life.
Even the training accumulated in laziness surpasses a human lifetime, so when combined with his genius talent, he reaches a realm that ordinary professors wouldn’t even dare approach.
Must-Read Eye. Read Eye.
A technique that allows one to clearly read the essence of the subject, transcending all constraints.
For those who lack sufficient causality, the act of reading alone can ignite all the existence’s karma, bringing forth misfortune—this forbidden technique unfolds.
━━━
[Backpack No. 2 (Artifact +12 Enhancement, Bound)]
Grade – Rare Level 3
Description – A backpack created by enhancing the amassed backpacks in the Tower of Training. This backpack can only hold backpacks. Growth is halted during wear due to the curse of the backpack.
Effect 1 – Capacity Expansion (100 compartments)
Effect 2 – Maximum Storage Weight Expansion (10 tons)
Effect 3 – Protection from physical damage below rank 4
Effect 4 – Protection from magical damage below rank 4
Effect 5 – Protection from status ailments like drowning and corrosion
Effect 6 – Complete weight alleviation of items within the backpack
Effect 7 – Search functionality to locate and retrieve contents
Effect 8 – This backpack can only hold backpacks.
Effect 9 – While wearing this backpack, height and weight do not increase.
Valuation – 10,000 gold coins, 1 million points
━━━
Current Backpack Inventory (32)
Backpack No. 1, Weapon Backpack, Armor Backpack…
━━━
As Professor Red Mountain’s gaze pierced through the backpack inventory, numerous windows popped up in succession.
Weapon Backpack.
Armor Backpack.
Accessory Backpack.
Wood Material Backpack.
Ore Backpack.
Some backpacks had immense spaces available to store over 10,000 assorted items.
Some backpacks had 100 compartments where the same type of material could be stacked by a certain weight.
Backpacks are operated differently through dividing, sharing, and combining spaces.
However, all these backpacks shared a common role.
Collect.
Professor Red Mountain suddenly recalled the time of the Cheonryeong Mountain Range.
Under her reign as the master of the mountain, there were various subspecies and monsters that divided the forest territory.
Just as not all beings possess equal strength, among them, some were particularly strong, and remarkably, they all shared one trait.
That was gathering.
Some collected the bones of invaders in different types.
Some gathered various living beings as minions.
Some collected all kinds of plants native to the Cheonryeong Mountain Range, all the mysterious magic they could encounter, and an array of colorful currencies.
Those who gathered rare items or vast quantities of things became definitively stronger than others.
Those who didn’t understand would hastily criticize it as undue extravagance, but in reality, that extravagance made them stronger—this was the principle of the world.
‘I realized this at the age of thirty-two when I gained control over all of the Cheonryeong Mountain Range.’
Professor Red Mountain realized that her own strength was recognized by owning all that she had ‘collected’ from the mountain range.
When she encountered the being who seizes the entire world using his own rules, she realized she could never defeat him.
The ultimate collector, Red Mountain called him with mixed feelings of reverence.
“Omoshiroi Principal. This little one resembles that terrifying Dragon more than the Rogue, doesn’t it?”
There are no restrictions on the types of collections.
Greedily collecting all manner of items in the world.
As if trying to fit the entire world into a backpack.
“Hmmm~ I kinda want this.”
Stealing from a collector does not necessarily trigger collection judgment.
However, some items do allow for collection judgment.
Such are the one-of-a-kind
Treasure. Relic. Unique. Legend. Myth.
Items that rank above unique in the five classifications of items exist only as a single entity in the world.
Unless it’s a replica imitating the original, there cannot be more than one item containing the enormous story of legends and myths.
The magical responses emanating from those valuable collections were intensively felt inside each backpack.
However, espionage artifacts can ultimately only be used for espionage.
It is impossible to teleport items from inside a backpack to an arbitrary location.
Having already consumed much energy just to peek into the backpack, she was only able to identify a few unique-grade artifacts.
Soon, the spells inscribed on the badge would wear out, making it impossible for her to look into the backpack any further.
While the badge’s spell restores itself over time, she couldn’t peek inside.
“Hmmm~ what a funny little guy. What a funny foundation.”
That little one possesses collections that rival the artifacts held by the Sword Master and the Tower Master, yet its individual strength does not measure up.
Now, Professor Red Mountain has a choice.
Will she pretend not to see this astonishing fact?
Or will she seize the opportunity to easily claim the rare finding that caught her eye?
“Unless you’re a fool, you should create opportunities that didn’t exist.”
Professor Red Mountain began to devise a scheme.
*
The faint aura emanating from the badge disappeared.
It seems peeking is over now.
“Ugh, I really hate this. Being a stalker feels so unpleasant.”
Goo.
“Goo, shouldn’t you learn from seeing things like this? A fool who gives a spying item to someone they like truly deserves a good lesson!”
The Howling Mandragora, as always, was crying and grooming the downy roots.
However, perhaps due to having grown for quite some time on the nutrient solution, it now seemed quite a struggle to fit its entire body into a single water bottle.
“Hmm? Goo, you’ve grown a bit, haven’t you?”
“Ugh, Goo!”
The little one shook its head adamantly.
As if it knew it wasn’t the time to eat.
In reality, it could speak other words, but one starts to suspect if it is intentionally saying only Goo.
Blahhhh.
No matter how closely you looked, the intent behind the Goo remained hidden.
[Observation Function is over 200.]
[Specialized Trait has already been selected.]
[Special Effect [Auto-Analysis] is activated.]
†Goo (Young Mandragora/Fighter/Belonging to Oknodie’s Water Bottle)
The results of the automatic analysis were the same.
Unable to shake off the lingering suspicion, Professor Red Mountain wandered around and observed.
“Oknodie.”
“Yep?”
The 2nd Hat called out.
“Stop picking on the poor Mandragora. Someone peeked inside your backpack.”
“Really? How does the Hat know that?”
“How can I not see inside a backpack when I’ve wandered through the highly secured walls of the academy? I sensed the gaze that was peeking at what I was already looking at.”
Ah, so there’s a primary stalker!
“Wanna have separate rooms starting tomorrow?”
“Just bear with it. Instead, I’ll tell you about the last meeting with the Butler.”
“Is it worth hearing enough to endure having a 24-hour stalker at my side?”
“You’re interested in [Collect], right? Then you’ll surely need my help. I’ve seen where the students have hidden items all over the academy.”
“!”
“You’ve found many items, but there are many more you haven’t. Are you interested now?”
Correction.
The 2nd Hat had evolved from a stalker to a treasure seeker.
