The Chick Class Hunter is Being Filial

As the potato’s blazing glow abruptly died down, all that was left in its place was a charred black lump.

‘That’s a fail.’
‘It’s… totally burnt…’
In front of the pitch-black potato, both Jurim and Gidan clammed up, sneaking glances at Guru.

Failing a skill wasn’t the end of the world, but from the way her lips twitched and her eyes shimmered, they could read too many complicated emotions.
Gidan shot Jurim a look, silently urging him to do something.
Jurim reluctantly opened his mouth to comfort her.

“The potato… uh, it’s cooked perfectly.”
“…?!”
Gidan whipped his head toward him in disbelief—

“……”
Guru shot Jurim a sharp glare, then took a deep breath and composed herself.
“…Guru-yah, want Oppa to show you something fun?”
Guru shook her head vigorously and pouted.

“Gwuu wanna go home…”
“I’ll take you,” Jurim offered.
“I’ll go with her, hyung,” Gidan said at the same time, standing up.

But Guru just shook her head again.
“Wanna go wif Yoon Teawm Leadeuw…”
She gazed at the two with a wistful look.

“Gwuu wanna be awone…”
Leaving the two of them exchanging desperate glances, as if begging the other to say something, Guru scampered off and slipped into a bathroom far, far away from the guildmaster’s office.
Then, sitting atop the toilet lid, her eyes sparkled as she split open the still-steaming potato.

Inside the roasted potato was a seed-shaped crystal—a solid gem-like core embedded within.
A tiny mana stone burned like a miniature sun inside the transparent crystal, glowing like a jewel.
[Achievement: Unlocked!]

You are the Heaven Beyond Heaven of Potatoes. You can now harvest all potatoes, and occasionally their grade may increase upon harvest.
[You have created a new substance unknown to the world.]
[Please name it.]

[                ]
A window appeared asking for a name.
Guru’s favorite—naming things!
It had to be cute and cool.

[Criteito]
Combining the crystal-like beauty of “crystal” with “potato,” she typed out the name “Criteito”—and instantly—
[Seed Potato with Criteito Reactor (S+)]

A potato containing the Criteito energy core.
The Criteito Reactor boosts mana stone energy, drawing it out larger and more efficiently than ever before.
When planted, root tubers will grow in clusters, and the grade of the harvested potatoes depends on environmental conditions.

—And so, the new potato species had its official name.
“Ooh.”
The potato itself, embedded with the “Criteito Reactor,” could now act as a seed potato. Plant it, and it’d grow like ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) any other.

Squirming with excitement, Guru launched her kid-friendly crafting helper app and opened a blueprint to check more details.
The Criteito Reactor was a hybrid of mana stones and transformation tech. It converted mana stones into “Criteito,” triggering controlled surges to increase energy efficiency by up to 80%—essentially a mana stone booster.
Pulling 80% efficiency from a mana stone meant drawing the highest possible modern output.

That’s over 15 times the usual energy draw of a typical mana stone.
“Hooooh…!”

And on top of that, she got an achievement that let her increase harvested potato grades.

Eyes squeezed shut, Guru clamped a hand over her mouth to hold back a shriek.
“~~~!”
If she made a sound now, it would all go to waste!

‘Daddychann’s gonna find out!’
The only reason she was keeping this skill success a secret… was Daddy.
That sharp, suspicious look he gave her!

He was definitely suspecting Guru had gotten herself into more mischief again.
‘Gwuu’s data on Daddychann is now compwete!’
Guru pretended to adjust nonexistent glasses with hawk-like eyes.

If Daddy found out the skill succeeded, he’d obviously start asking questions about the potato.
And if he asked where the transformation item came from, she’d be forced to say it was taken from “a kinda shady person” she defeated in the middle of the night. Then what?
Would he really let her use it?

In that case, based on how Daddy reacts, Guru’s emotional flowchart goes like this:
1. If I tell Daddy right away:
He praises me → Good mood

He says no → Bad mood
2. If I tell him after it’s done:
He praises me → Good mood

He scolds me → Unfair, but kinda fun
Even the best-behaved student in the Chick Class (self-proclaimed) would have no choice but to pick option 2!
Guru bit her lip and swallowed her tears, staring up at the ceiling.

‘Sowwy, Daddychann. But Gwuu got somefing impowtant to do.’
With this… With this reactor! She’d show all those who looked down on her exactly what she was made of!
It wasn’t a lie that Guru had been sulking about more than just the vaccine shot.

Lately, whenever she went online, all she saw was talk about China saying this about the drone, or Japan saying that. Always the same old thing.
“Railgun drone? Meh, not a big deal.”
Huff! Guru took a deep breath and puffed out her cheeks to calm her boiling rage.

She was a crafter.
She’d even named it the “Mephisto Series Prototype,” modeled after Mephisto himself. She couldn’t stand by and watch people disrespect her precious creation.
The baby chick drone’s main flaw was its low energy efficiency—and the absurd mana stone consumption required to power it.

Since the drone hadn’t been officially released yet, full specs weren’t out, but due to repeated Q&A, this much had already been revealed:
“For a B-Rank support weapon, it burns through A-Rank mana stones and only manages to fire two shots—outrageously inefficient.”
Because of this, critics in China and Japan had started mocking her drone, even calling it the “Emperor Drone.”

Basically, a weapon only an emperor could afford to use.
Guru snorted out hot air through her nose.
“But what if the potato booster shows up now?”

DUN DUN DUN!
If she sold drones equipped with this, it’d be a counterpunch to all those trying to slander her baby—and praise from those who’d been waiting.
Praise↑ = Filial Piety Points↑

She could already see her points stacking up in her savings bank.
Heheheh.
By then, even Daddy would have no choice but to notice.

And if the numbers exploded before he could confiscate it, he wouldn’t be able to stop her.
With potato boosters growing like weeds, they’d be everywhere anyway.
“Uhehehe.”

Holding the halved potato in both hands, Guru let out a wicked giggle.
Then clueless Mephisto tried to peck at the seed-bearing roasted potato (S+).
“Nuh-uh! Don’t eat dat~”

Guru whispered urgently as she hurriedly extracted the reactor from the potato.
[Criteito Reactor (S)]
One-time use. Expires once all mana stone catalysts are consumed.

'So it’s single-use. I wonder if the seed potatoes grow better with nutrients?'
It did say the grade depended on various environmental factors.
As she reviewed possible spots with rich sunlight and mana, Guru began humming a potato song.

***
The first test site for seed potato cultivation was the forsythia garden.
It had nutrient-rich specialty soil, and she and Woojoo had already grown potatoes there before, so no one would think anything of it.

Guru planted the seed potato in the garden, gave it lots of sunlight, and fed it nutrient juice squeezed fresh by Woojoo.
And the next day, after school—
After finishing horseback riding, Guru returned to the garden and gaped in shock.

“It gwowed in one day?!”
One long stem had grown straight up.
Guru grabbed it and dug around the soil with her trowel, then pulled.

But the potatoes didn’t budge—as if mocking her pitiful Strength stat of 2.
“Pwease, hewp me!”
Then Veilach and Mephisto joined in and tugged together.

Hup—!
RUSTLE—!
[Seed Potato with Criteito Reactor (F+)]
[Seed Potato with Criteito Reactor (F+)]
[Seed Potato with Criteito Reactor (F+)]
……
……
[Due to Achievement ‘Potato Master,’ the grade of one potato has increased!]
[Seed Potato with Criteito Reactor (E+)]

With a pop, a status window appeared—among the tubers hanging in clusters, one was E-Rank.
Guru narrowed her eyes.
Just an E+?

Was that first S-Rank just a fluke?
“Hyuung…”
Her sulky face lit up again as a thought passed through her mind.

'No, that’s not it.'
Since the grade depends on the environment, maybe she just needed a different method.
Guru thought of different factors: rich soil, warm sun, clean water, Guru’s love, sweet words…

Her Chick Class teacher once said that giving plants lots of love and kind words helped them grow strong and healthy.
“Mmm, dis time, I’ww teww dem I wuv dem.”
With her chubby cheeks flushing pink, Guru hummed a happy tune.

“Meuuuuh…”
“Piiiii…”
Mephisto and Veilach, both groaning back to back, were clearly exhausted. Pulling potatoes with tiny bodies wasn’t easy.

Guru neatly packed the potatoes into her bag but pouted again at the disappointing grades.
“Too many to use…”
At this rate, her backpack would become a box full of F-Rank potatoes!

“Hm.”
Guru stroked her chin.
F-Rank reactors could only use F-Rank mana stones as catalysts, so they wouldn’t make much difference for drones.

But maybe they’d still be useful to someone. Probably?
'Let’s just extract the reactors and sell those.'
If she anonymously handed them off to the agency like last time, they’d take care of the rest.

Might make for some decent pocket money.
With a cheerful face, Guru rolled the shiny E+ potato in her hand.