Deal with The Devil!

"Your power of illusion is really a great thing."

"Your [Caress of Death] is nothing simple as well."

In a desolate corner of the Redscale forest, a young woman and young man were standing, talking to each other. Although the cold expression and few words from the woman were off-putting, the atmosphere between them could have been said to be quite harmonious.

But… that is only if you choose to ignore the corpse of a beast lying at the feet of the young woman, slowly being devoured by her shadow.

Small snake-like tentacles would rise up from it and stab into the corpse, removing a chunk of its body.

Then another one would stab the same place, injecting it with a weird energy.

Bit by bit, the whole body was consumed by her shadow until nothing was left.

"The process is quite long." Jinn let out a sigh as he counted the minutes it took for a body to be devoured. 'Almost 20 minutes… So long.'

Evelyn simply nodded as her shadow finally returned to normal.

"Now, shall we leave?" Jinn asked casually, but there was a look of approach in his eyes when he looked at Evelyn.

Recalling the moment when she came with the big bag on the first day and the fight he had just witnessed, his view on the young woman was forced to be changed.

Glancing at the bloody sword in her hand, he could not help but ask, "Where did you get the weapon? I thought the academy did not allow bringing one from the outside to maintain the fairness."

Evelyn glanced at her thin sword and then looked back at Jinn. "You can apply for standard equipment in the combat class, or you can buy better equipment at the market area."

Jinn nodded while lost in thought and started walking with her to the outskirts of the forest.

It had already been two hours since the two met, and it took another hour for them to just reach the outer boundary of the forest, where they got off the carriage.

Unsurprisingly, the ride was still there since the drivers were responsible for bringing students or their bodies back.

Seeing them coming out, the sleepy driver let out a sigh of relief. Without saying anything, he drove them back to the academy, leaving them where he picked them up from.

"…what did you say?"

In the mission hall, there was no soul besides the four guides sitting behind the counter and two students.

It was the same man whom Jinn had registered the mission with before.

He had been sleeping just like the others until Jinn woke him to deliver the mission items.

But the man's sudden shout woke the rest of the guides as well.

"Shut up, bastard."

"What are you shouting for? let me sleep!"

"Someone bring me my hammer; I want to shove it down his hole."

The cause of the commotion, Jinn, just looked at the guide and slowly took out the items from his easy-go bag.

First were the fangs of the ironhide wolf, precisely ten.

Then it was the saliva of the White Bride Queen Spider.

And lastly, it was the Dew of Moonless Night.

"You really managed to complete all three missions… and that too in a single day."

His voice had not lowered even the slightest, making others annoyed.

"So what? anyone can do three harmless missions in a day."

"Yeah, this bastard is the oldest one of us here and still acts like a newbie."

Hearing their mocking words, Jinn's guide finally snapped out of his daze and snorted coldly at them.

"What do you know? It's three wilderness missions."

"…"

"Stop lying, bitch."

"Not even the new batch of second-year students has done something like that yet."

As the sleepiness in their eyes vanished, their gaze landed on the three items on the table.

"Where have I seen those things…"

"Wait… aren't they!?"

Soon they all realized that each item was a mission objective in the wilderness section.

And when it dawned on them, everyone looked at Jinn like he was some monster.

"Hey, how did you do it, kid?"

"Tell us."

"That nasty breath, those dreadful memories… ah, it's the saliva of the White Bride Queen spider."

"Back off, it's already late. Let the students register and go back to sleep." Finally unable to stand their question, Jinn's guide pushed them away. He could see the uncomfortable smile on Jinn's face and decided to help him a little.

"Bastard, you were the one who woke us up!"

He ignored their cries of injustice and hurriedly helped Jinn register the points.

"To think you completed the three missions and did not even receive a single scratch on your body."

Jinn chuckled a reply, "I got lucky. My skill allowed me to complete the task without taking much risk."

The Guide shook his head with a dry laugh and said, "What is luck and what is power? As long as you turn out to be victorious and alive, nothing else matters."

[ 468 ]

Jinn glanced at the new number on his token and looked confused.

To his confusion, the guide replied. "The quality and quantity of the dew was close to perfect, which warranted more points."

Jinn finally nodded in understanding and gave way to Evelyn. The less time the dew spends coming in contact with the worldly impurities, the higher the purity it has.

Despite how fast it was, the dew was still touched with imperfection.

But Jinn did not realize then that it was not the only reason his points were that high.

'How could I have made such a mistake?' The guide started sweating inwardly as he looked at the information of the mission.

[Danger Level: Not for First-Year Students.]

The warning was clear and cut, yet he somehow managed to miss it while registering the mission.

Maybe it was the chaos of the situation, but he gave a second-year mission to a first-year student.

'And to think he managed to complete it…'

The man did not want this mistake to be revealed to others, or he would be forced to resign from the academy.

[ 320 ]

Compared to him, the points Evelyn got were much less, but that was also because she had only completed two missions.

"Wait… she too."

"Shh! Did you forget who she is?"

"Ah! The cursed princess. As expected of the woman who—aak!"

Before he could say anything further, his colleague closed his mouth, making him bite his tongue.

'What did she do to make them react this way?' Jinn found himself more curious about Evelyn's past.

The young woman did not say anything and simply walked away after submitting the task item and taking her token.

Jinn followed after her shortly. The two walked in silence until Evelyn's room arrived.

"I will see you at the carriage spot at 3 in the afternoon."

She did not even wait for Jinn to reply and entered her room, closing the door behind her.

Jinn stared at the closed door with narrowed eyes, 'should I send the imp to snoop around… nah, let's leave it. The truth will soon be mine.'

Then he started walking again and entered his room, where his roommate was already under the sheets.

Dean had been this way since he was released from the hospital wing.

He was still the carefree and unbothered child, but he never talked to Jinn about what had happened to him that put him in the hospital or what happened afterwards in that place.

He would simply avoid the topic even if Jinn asked about it.

He stopped going out late at night and would only occasionally wander around.

'Now there is someone I should be letting the imp spy on.'

Ignoring the tearful face that had appeared in the air beside him, Jinn climbed into the bed and slept soundly.

Early in the morning, he finished his daily workout and breakfast before making his way to the market.

The market was not a special place outside the campus, but it was a single line of various stalls that usually had anything a student of the Nightshade academy would need.

There was no blacksmith, but there was a shop full of armor and weapons.

There was no shouting, but the clear distribution of product was arranged.

Banners and notices were used to attract customers.

"What would you like to purchase, kind sir?"

As soon as Jinn approached the nearest stall, a saleswoman approached Jinn with a kind smile.

"Your strongest poison. Something strong enough to knock down a demonic possession or devil."

"…" The woman paused, suppressing the twitch on the corner of her mouth.

"Unfortunately, we don't have a product like that. Among the items I have, only the blessed water of the saints and the Holy Night Arrows can have effects on something as dark as those things."

The woman leaned over the counter and placed both items before Jinn.

The first was a glass beaker filled with plain water and traces of gold lines, while the second was a silver arrow with black engravings.

"How much are they for?"

"10 points for one beaker and 5 for a single arrow."

"Can you describe their effects first?"

Seeing the hesitant look on Jinn's face, the saleswoman's eyes shone with greed before she started glazing each product.