<932 – Titosso's Exam (13)>
In the research dimension of Professor Buzhaar, the monsters that poured out were diverse and numerous.
I initially thought they were monsters raised in some dungeon that broke free from a sealed gate and rushed out.
“Tito. Monsters aren’t pets!”
“Aw, but my kids don’t bite people…”
“Your hand!”
I promptly thrust forward the hand holding a snack, and the monster bit down on it snap.
“Ugh, you silly fools! I brought you here to save you, and you bite Oknodie’s hand!”
“Pffft. Tito, come on. How do you keep falling for it? Look, you were holding food in your hand.”
“Phew… Oknodie, are you trying to scare people? You totally startled me, thinking you bit someone for real!”
But at least this confirmed something.
“Thankfully, the monsters still have some humanity left in them!”
“Humanity, you say?”
“Hey there, student. You don’t know this because you’re not a researcher, but at our facility, we mainly use beasts or monsters as test subjects. It’s quite rare to find a human who isn’t a researcher with monster cells grafted onto them.”
“Oh, since you all came from the First Research Dimension, I guess that makes sense!”
“… First Research Dimension?”
“What’s this, mentioning there are a Second or Third Research Dimension as if it’s a common thing?”
I gave a chuckle at the astounded expressions of the newbies and proudly placed my hands on my hips, grinning.
“The specimens you thought were monsters are actually just test subjects that lost their language skills and appearance. You could say they are a special kind of homunculus!”
“Humans? All those test subjects we’ve handled… were actually human at one point?”
“Ugh…!”
“I can’t believe it…”
“This can’t be real!”
The newbies were in a panic, shaking or collapsing in horror.
“Hey, don’t be too scared. You’ve already escaped the research dimension, right? As long as you don’t walk back in, you’re fine.”
“Um, Oknodie. What do you mean ‘fine’ based on what kind of specs?”
“Huh?”
“Oknodie’s standards are ridiculously high. If you just follow along, you’ll end up stuck with unreasonable conditions!”
“Is that so? I don’t have any particularly amazing conditions…”
I folded all my fingers down and opened one.
“First, you need to be capable of constant domain expansion or develop a body that can withstand it!”
“Oh, that’s easy!”
I opened another finger.
“Collect over 1,000 types of nutrient solutions from the cooking handbook!”
“Um? Is that really easy…?”
“Unlock the combat enforcement feature, an upgraded version of the combat speed function, by fighting for 10 hours straight!”
“Okay, there’s definitely something weird about that!”
“But if you don’t want to be called weak monsters making a mess everywhere, you’ve got to do at least this much! Plus, if you regenerate over 90% of your body, you’ll gain the shape restoration ability!”
You need to be at this level to be treated as an elite monster; otherwise, if you’re just strong and sturdy, you’ll be treated like a punching bag among the real deal.
“Oknodie, come on. Look at my kids. They’re all so deflated they can’t lift their heads!”
“Grrr…”
“Gugugugu…”
Seeing the dejected monsters made my heart ache a bit.
No matter how monstrous they were, they were still newbies, and maybe I pushed the harsh standards of a veteran too much.
It’s like when the neighbor’s mom’s friend’s son is an SSS-grade Harvard scholarship student, making our A-grade four-year Seoul university student feel small—it’s a harsh culture that stifles the newbies’ spirits.
“I think my standards were too harsh. I’m sorry!”
“Just knowing is enough!”
“Well then, since it seems survival is impossible in the hidden dimension, we should hide them somewhere else!”
“… What dimension requires you to be able to fight for over 100 hours and regenerate over 90% of your body to survive?!”
“It’s a dimension where a lot of meteors fall. Want to check it out later?”
“Absolutely not!”
Well, I figured as much. Newbies don’t usually like cosmic maps.
I’ll have to go by myself later on for my spec training.
“Then we can go to a safer place. There’s a good spot that just opened up not long ago, you know?”
“Professor Sadako’s abandoned catacombs?”
“The heap of lost items piled up by the bankrupt snack bar owner?”
Those places might work too, but the place I had in mind was a bit more stable and orderly.
“The Gift Academy Kiddie Zone building!”
“The Kiddie Zone? Isn’t that where the homunculi are?!”
“Exactly!”
Creatures born from biological experiments resembling monsters.
A place securely isolated to protect their rights.
It’s the perfect hiding spot for monsters, away from the professors, right in the Gift Academy Kiddie Zone building!
The vast area serves as both educational and living quarters, making it an excellent place to hide.
Even big monsters can be at ease!
“It’s against the rules.”
“Uh, since when were there laws like that?”
But the instructor, with a stern face, shook his head.
“It’s absurd to treat monsters the same as homunculi, but it’s a fact that those monsters don’t meet the requirements.”
“What requirements?”
“The lifespan requirement. Short-lived homunculi can join the Kiddie Zone, but monsters that have lived for decades or centuries are outright forbidden from enrolling.”
“Goodness!”
Having spent too long in the research dimension, the monsters whined about having to survive outside in the rain and wind without a home.
Their pitiful expressions as they looked up at me were incredibly clever.
“You don’t need to beg like that. Even if Director Kaizowski can’t take you in, there’s another director out there!”
“Really?”
“You might know him, Jiang.”
“Honestly, I have no clue.”
“Glowing Dinosaur!”
“… Ah.”
Jiang’s face lit up as he opened the door to his old memories.
“That was during the divine class corruption incident that made Nise furious when we dumped it on the Empire, right?”
“Exactly! Wow, you remembered?”
“Hmph. A journey with Oknodie is one I can’t forget. It’s not like we buried one of the Three Great Evils without a reason.”
Anyway, the one who will take care of the monsters outside is Director Heinrich from the Chimera Research Institute.
He is the main culprit of the Chimera predation event in the Southern Sacred City-State Federation during chapter 5 of the original game.
Now, he serves as the commander of the monster legion, leading monsters including Glowing Dinosaurs and Giant Golems, which were gifted to the Dark Empress Masugaki.
“When are you going to take all these monsters out?”
“Recently, due to the weekly events, a lot of the campus defenses got wrecked. I’ve already dug a ton of secret passages to sneak out!”
Utilizing a hidden dimensional gate in the underground passage, which we usually wouldn’t touch due to flood damage, we quickly reached the Chimera legion’s base set at the Imperial borders.
Director Heinrich, upon seeing me after a long time, bowed deeply and pleaded.
“Please, can we stop disturbing the Middle Realm and capturing strange monsters to integrate into the legion? As someone responsible for researching and developing the diets and management methods for all those monsters, please consider my position!”
“I’ll think about it!”
“Really?”
“Just after accepting these guys!”
“These guys…?”
“Ahem. Newbies, come in!”
At my signal, the monsters waiting outside charged in, crashing through the door.
As one monster, too big for the doorway, broke the door, another even larger monster knocked down the wall behind it.
Even though they tried to gather the brick debris, they clearly weren’t capable of reassembling anything, making their appearance rather dumb and clumsy.
“See? Aren’t they just adorably clueless?”
“Oh my gosh.”
“Seeing them come running when I mentioned newbies, it’s just too unfair for the Chimera folks to have to face monsters that are anything but cute!”
As Jiang observed, the existing legion monsters were beyond disappointed; they were in despair.
The Chimera monsters, already feeling threatened by the old monsters from the Underworld joining their ranks, now had more monsters to contend with, placing them at the bottom of the ecosystem cartel.
It’s no wonder the newbie monsters feel disheartened.
But newbies are meant to break and rebuild, right?
If I leave them be, they’ll come back stronger someday!
“Tito. Now we don’t have to worry about the monsters’ safety, right?”
“Yep! If the Masugaki’s legion takes care of them, even Professor Buzhaar can’t harm them!”
“Then it’s our turn!”
Senior researcher Alex, the shadow at the First Research Dimension, the controller of the monsters.
I’m really at a loss on how to fulfill the request to give him a hard time.
There are just too many ways to get back at him!
As I looked at the trembling researcher in fear, a brilliant idea struck me.
“Actually, I was planning to make a study guide for the final exam, and this worked out perfectly! Would you mind reading my guidebook?”
“Final exam guidebook reading…? Oknodie… Is that really going to be a punishment?”
“Lately, random memories have been popping up, and I’m not sure what’s going to come out of the guidebook!”
If there are terrible memories mixed in that a student shouldn’t see, wouldn’t that make the students feel sorry having to review it for a comfortable final exam?
“Oh my gosh, that’s horrific! I love it!”
It seemed I hit the nail on the head because Titosso was about to faint from excitement.
Alex, on the other hand, was truly close to passing out, but a self-preservation spell kept him alive.
What a relief to have a good test subject I can use without any guilt!
