1-Second Invincible Player in the Game

77. Incompetent Instructors (2)

—

Of course, if I finish the quest with Bellen as my mentor quickly, it would hasten Leana’s growth, and that would be good for me as well.

But knowing how it would turn out, I hesitated to answer.

“Are you really going to leave Sir Bellen like that?”

“Do you think saying something will change anything?”

Comforting others is something that must be done with care.

Especially in Leana’s case, she had a bit of a clumsy streak, and there was a high chance she would fumble it.

“If you don’t at least try, you’ll never know.”

Leana said sharply.

I looked at her, as if peeling back the layers of her thoughts, and replied.

“Fine, let’s say I told you. What do you think you’d do next? You’d awkwardly approach your great-aunt and clumsily express sympathy about some sad event. Then you’d just keep repeating words of encouragement, not even realizing you’re tearing at a painful memory.”

Leana’s shoulders twitched slightly.

“I have basic awareness, you know.”

…A lie.

At the very least, look me in the eye when you speak.

“Everything has its process. If you truly want your great-aunt to act like a person, don’t give up and ponder it yourself. Who knows? The person involved might just open up.”

Still, I didn’t want to give up on the rapid growth of a playable character.

“Hm, it’s not much of a trade, but I’ll offer some help.”

But nothing in this world comes for free.

“Of course, there will be a price for it.”

Leana’s eyes widened, perhaps intrigued.

“A price, you say?”

“When the time comes, all I’ll ask is for you to do me one small favor. It’s something very simple.”

If Bellen were to rise again, he might inform Aol that I had enrolled in the Magic Department.

To prevent that, nothing would be better than Leana’s influence.

By then, Bellen would likely regard Leana as a granddaughter, and he’d be easily swayed by even a single request.

To summarize, I planned to ask Leana to keep the fact that I had enrolled in the Magic Department buried until the grave, and to ask Bellen on my behalf.

However, Leana seemed quite perturbed by my statement, displaying a look of disgust.

“A favor? You can’t mean something like that…”

Ah, right.

If the word “favor” comes from my mouth, only something vulgar would come to mind.

I cannot speak of my weaknesses before I have received a clear answer.

There was a need to reveal a bit of myself to persuade them.

“Rest easy. I cannot say what I was like in the past, but now I live with a basic sense of reason. I do not make strange requests.”

Since the possession, I have lived with utmost diligence.

I have not harmed others, nor have I committed any crimes worth mentioning—save for the one assassin who sought my life.

Moreover, I have done my share of good deeds.

As I smiled gently, Leana regarded me with a gaze laced with suspicion.

“I heard you struck a man on the day of the second exam. They say your gang resorted to violence to seize coins during the third exam as well. There are even whispers that you pushed a third-year off the walls. All of this happened in less than a month.”

Well, I had my reasons.

“I did not wish to associate with a vile crowd. In the case of Bidon, he provoked me first. As for the incident with the Burger clan, it was merely a response to their rampant misdeeds.”

All of it had unfolded against my will.

In Lethe’s case, the coin struggle was permitted, and had they been a volunteer group, I would have never laid a finger on them.

Despite my fervent defense, Leana’s doubts showed no sign of waning.

“It sounds like a convenient excuse. Even if what you say is true, your past actions speak for themselves.”

“Bring forth your evidence before you speak such words. What proof do you have that I acted with malicious intent?”

Leana pointed toward something in the distance.

“And what is that?”

As I lifted my gaze slightly, I found myself momentarily speechless.

“······.”

What Leana indicated was a five-meter-tall ice statue.

A full-body sculpture that bore an uncanny resemblance to my own face.

…Those b*stards.

No wonder I had wondered why so many ice sculptures were piled up in the courtyard as I returned to the dormitory.

“What is that?”

“It’s your face, isn’t it?”

“It doesn’t look like me at all!”

Just as I was about to brazenly brush it off, the oblivious fools chose that moment to shout with glee.

“Finally, it’s complete!”

“Hey, Hursel! Look at this! I couldn’t show you earlier because I was embarrassed, but this is the finished piece!! What do you think? It looks just like you!”

As our eyes met, the seniors erupted in raucous shouts, waving their hands.

“Indeed, there must be some symbol like this.”

“Right. Next, we should erect a statue in the Burger Hall too, shouldn’t we? Those who lost to us.”

“That’s a good idea! If we take down the Adel Hall lot, it’ll be our third!”

Leana trembled slightly at the corners of her eyes and asked me.

“Have you come to conquer the Academy?”

Her gaze was a mix of disdain and pity.

“As I said earlier… Never mind, let’s not speak of it.”

The deal with Leana was struck.

Though there was a condition to cancel the strange request and change it to something else, it mattered not.

“All you need to do is ensure that my father doesn’t hear about my enrollment in the Ministry of Magic.”

By attaching the word “cooperation,” I bound not only Bellen but Leana herself to keep this a secret as a single request.

And the help I offered was merely simple advice.

“Starting tomorrow, classes hosted by Aunt Grandmother will commence. Just prepare to sign up for now.”

“Will Lord Bellen be able to teach?”

“He’s coming as an instructor, so he has to pretend at least. Of course, there’s nothing to expect. At first, he’ll probably just kill time.”

Bellen had no enthusiasm for the class.

Moreover, he was so eccentric that all the students who had come to enroll, drawn by his past fame, fled in terror.

“Still, make sure to do everything he says. For a while, he’ll likely have you fetching large chunks of ice from the snowy mountains. Bring back the biggest one you can manage. Don’t forget gloves and spiked shoes. And of course, hide them well.”

Depending on the gear, one could bring back larger ice.

Bellen would nitpick if he found out, but as long as I wasn’t caught, it would be fine.

Thus, the concept of the quest was to raise favorability.

The deeper the impression left, the faster the progress would be.

That was beneficial for me as well.

A playable character’s rapid growth while scrambling to prevent destruction.

For someone like me, who wished to ride the coattails of peace, wasn’t that something to welcome?

“I can’t believe it. How do you know about Lord Bellen’s class?”

“You’ll find out tomorrow.”

That was the extent of my conversation with Leana.

And now.

Upon arriving in the classroom, I fixed my gaze on Henderson, the one who would impart his teachings to me.

He looked utterly exhausted, yawning repeatedly as if the weight of dark circles under his eyes was enough to draw tears.

It seemed he had done his homework, and I felt a flicker of anticipation.

As I stared blankly, Henderson scowled.

“I found it, but you might be disappointed.”

I narrowed my eyes and asked, “Why is that?”

“Because it’s magic that can hardly be called magic at all.”

I didn’t quite grasp what he meant.

Isn’t magic still magic, after all?

“Stop beating around the bush and explain it in detail.”

“What I’m about to teach you is the magic I learned before I entered the Shadows’ Watch.”

Suddenly, Henderson’s eyes glistened with nostalgia as he began to reminisce.

“In those days when my blood boiled, I roamed the back alleys of the cities, and there I encountered the leader of a gang who claimed to be a sword mage.”

A sword mage is a class reserved for those who possess a rare talent for magic, particularly the sense of smell, which must be awakened first.

Moreover, those who become sword mages are usually more engrossed in their blades than in magic, making them even rarer.

Rumor has it that they can cut without even wielding a sword.

To have fought and triumphed over such a being—indeed, not just anyone could be a member of the Shadows’ Watch.

“I was inwardly trembling, but a man lives and dies by his pride. I didn’t back down; I raised my staff. But then, out of nowhere, he cut my hair without even drawing his sword!”

Henderson tugged at his own bangs with his index finger.

“He hacked at my hair like a fool, and I nearly lost my mind. And then he had the audacity to smirk and say, ‘How’s that? Did you see?’ So, I struck him with magic and punched him right in the face.”

Suddenly, the excitement drained away.

“He must have been a fraud.”

“Indeed. He was a conman. Yet, he was quite the intriguing character. He hadn’t drawn his sword or cast a spell, yet he managed to cut my hair. So, I tortured him to find out how.”

Henderson placed a small glass vial before me.

The contents looked like a murky liquid, reminiscent of slightly diluted milk.

“What’s this?”

“It’s a liquid metal called water platinum. Open it.”

I leaned in closer, but there was no scent to be found.

“The slums are always thick with smoke from the drug users and the like. He hid this within the smoke and used it to sever my hair.”

Not a sword, nor a spell, if that’s the case.

“Are you saying it can be controlled without a spell?”

“Indeed.”

Henderson began to sketch something amorphous on the blackboard.

A body with four elongated legs.

Inside, he filled it with something resembling spots.

“A jellyfish.”

“…It’s a person.”

“My word.”

Henderson cleared his throat, subtly insisting that the jellyfish was a person.

“Ahem, now look closely at the shape drawn within the human body. I’ll explain from here, so keep your ears wide open.”

Henderson’s explanation was painfully basic.

Just as a knight draws upon the aura of the lower dantian, a mage channels their will through the mana of the brain to sketch a spell.

This was knowledge that even an ordinary person could grasp.

Though I felt puzzled inside, there was a reason for his simplistic explanation.

“Fundamentally, a spell is drawn by releasing the mana infused with your will. The mana within your body is like paint. Your staff or fingers can be seen as a brush. To put it simply, you’re to use this mana like a brush to create your spells.”

So, if I were to draw an analogy to martial arts novels, it’s akin to the ‘Sword of the Unyielding’.

In those tales, one manipulates with some mystical force, but here, it’s done with willful mana.

There’s another distinction: what is being manipulated is not a sword, but water.

“Of course, such a process is necessary.”

Henderson pointed to the spotted pattern, insisting it was the brain.

“When you draw a spell, you expel mana from here, the brain, through your fingertips, right?”

Then he gestured toward the jellyfish’s tentacles, continuing his explanation.

“Place the mana into your hands. Just by touching it, it will infiltrate on its own, you know? Then you’ll be able to handle it according to your will.”

…The thought of putting this inside my body is unappealing.

“What’s the difference from telekinesis? I could just float it with magic.”

“You know one thing but not the other. You seem just like that fool who was scamming people, don’t you?”

Henderson fell silent, as if urging me to think deeply.

From his intent, it seemed he wanted me to speculate about the application…

Wait, if it’s water, can’t I change its form at will?

“Can this be used to create a tool?”

“Indeed. You can shape it like clay into whatever form you desire. It’s nothing compared to mere telekinesis that just moves objects around. It all depends on your skill, of course.”

Surprisingly, it’s quite a decent weapon.

“What do you think? With this, even if your mana control is abysmal, you can still manage. It moves exactly as you will it, so nothing is wasted; it’s all usable in its entirety.”

That alone is impressive enough.

But Henderson astonished me further.

“By the way, you can also draw spells. This rare metal, the suhundum, resonates with mana.”

Draw spells, you say?

So, it’s not just with a staff or by hand; it can be done in the air as well.

That means surprise attacks on the opponent are possible.

“Do you have more of it, by any chance?”

“Greedy little thing, aren’t you? I told you it’s a rare metal. I’ve squeezed every last drop of it from my own body.”

So, it was something that had been inside someone else.

“…Ugh.”

“Look at that face. Even if I offer you something good, you react like this. If you don’t want it, don’t take it.”

Still, it’s a rare item.

I cautiously sprinkled just a single drop of suhundum onto my right hand.

If it turns out to be harmful, it could vanish due to the ‘1-second invincibility.’

Swoosh.

The suhundum seeped into my skin like mercury.

Fortunately, no system window appeared.

It seems it’s not a substance harmful to the human body.

Gurgle.

I shook the glass vial until it was empty.

Then I imagined a sphere, and a ping-pong ball-sized orb floated in the air.

Henderson grinned like he had gifted a toy to a child.

“Is it that good?”

“It’s fun!”

Moving the ping-pong ball around in the air felt just like controlling a drone.

“Just shape it into any form you like.”

“Don’t do that.”

I recalled the drawing sketched on the blackboard.

Then, jellyfish began to flutter about.

Henderson marveled.

“Seems you imagined jellyfish.”

“Didn’t you draw it?”

“······.”