“What kind of technique is that?”
Did Zhuang sense the ridiculousness at a glance? His lips puffed out in disbelief.
“Just synchronize with the space under your feet from afar and stomp on it. That’s totally cheating.”
Honestly, I have no words. It’s cheating after all.
“If your spatial aptitude exceeds 1000 points, you can replicate it!”
“And how do you increase that aptitude?”
“You just need to have a genius-level talent for spatial aptitude!”
“…What if you don’t have talent?”
“You’d have to experience related environments like increasing other attribute resistances? For spatial aptitude, you’d need to experience various spaces.”
High humidity spaces.
Ozone-rich spaces.
Scorching heat spaces.
There are plenty of spaces to encounter.
“How many of those spaces do you need to experience?”
“At least 1000!”
“And the maximum?”
“100,000!”
“I’ll pass.”
Zhuang immediately brushed his hands off.
It was a good decision.
“Everyone has an aptitude. It’s a good thing the Assassin Agassi in the fox mask gives up quickly.”
Just then, Velvet Senpai approached, dragging a bloodied Tetraphos along. Zhuang pressed his mask down hard.
Desperately trying to hold on in front of a strong person who didn’t want to show fear was tough when the person could squash him just by shifting their feet.
“Senpai Velvet, will you attack us for violating the school rules by sneaking out of the dormitory to go to the library during lights out?”
“Me? You? Why?”
“That senior did something wrong for violating school regulations, right?”
“That one is in their third year. You guys are first years. Even if you break the rules, it won’t be made into such a mess.”
The Tetraphos in Velvet’s hand swayed side to side as if to make a point.
“I think there’s a big misunderstanding. The student council doesn’t define you as evil.”
“Really?”
“What crime could there be in a curious child? Opening a forbidden book that shouldn’t be touched will only bring pain upon themselves in the end.”
“…”
“Rules of the student council are merely a minimal safety device to protect lowerclassmen. The moment this line is crossed, the distinction between the academy’s internal and external worlds disappears. We are the guardians maintaining order in this academy, so don’t let hostility towards the student council overtake you.”
“Yes!”
As I cheerfully replied, Zhuang stared at me as if to say Oknodie wouldn’t act like that.
I finally found Zhuang’s hand that was reaching out behind me and grabbed it.
“!”
Zhuang’s shocked eyes. When I poked her to open her palm, her fingers cautiously spread apart like a frightened maiden on her first night.
I started scribbling on her surprisingly soft palm with my fingers.
– Let’s get Senpai to leave for now.
If she just says yes to whatever Senpai says, we can escape this nightmare of time and crisis?
Was my intention conveyed? This time, Zhuang pointed with her finger and tapped my palm. Then she pinched my skin.
“Ow.”
“Oh dear. Looks like the little lady of the foundation has been hurt.”
“That’s not it, ow!”
“Despite saying that the ability to endure pain is incredible, unexpectedly your emotional expressions are quite honest. Heh. I don’t dislike such honest kids.”
She pinched me again!
Zhuang, you’re going to get it later!
“The Oknodie that was just fooling around was bad.”
“Whoa, it wasn’t just fooling around!”
Did Senpai mistake our grumbling conversation for talking about the previous fight? She looked intrigued.
“Uh… shoes. I definitely heard shoe sounds coming from somewhere in the vent. Were those sounds calling for me?”
“Yes!”
“How surprising that a third-year talks to a first year. Exposing the fact that they lost to a classmate to a junior, aren’t you ashamed at all?”
“Senpai, you’re incredibly strong!”
“Still, you’re just a frog in a well. At least in this academy, there are three students stronger than me.”
Despite being so confident that there are only three stronger students in the entire fourth year, she is indeed a strong person.
It’s not as if I treated Seoguyeon’s Duke Andersen and the five fools as people who made poor choices for no reason.
Choosing to become the mine’s slave for such a terrifying senior willingly, how will she ever escape with brute strength later?
“Well, I suppose this is fate. As a reward for assisting in the capture of a wanted student, I’ll give you a small gift.”
Velvet Senpai manipulated something on her wrist magic watch and handed it to us.
[Student Council officer Velvet offers a [Student Council Tour] opportunity.]
[30 days left until expiration.]
“Thank you!”
“You only say nice things. Not like during the sports festival.”
“Hehe.”
“If the upperclassmen in the wanted list keep bothering you, report them to the student council with the magic watch. If you only hear shoe sounds, other student council members coming to help might actually run away.”
“Yes!”
“Don’t put up with such painful struggles to the point of being bloodied. If you end up getting caught by a lunatic and die, it’ll just be your loss, right? Thinking about it makes me even angrier.”
An alert rang from Velvet’s watch as she smashed the unfortunate Tetraphos against the wall.
“Oh right, I need to check myself. I forgot I have an assignment to do. Then, little ladies, enjoy your night out moderately.”
“Yes!”
After happily answering, Senpai soon left through the gate.
After a while, Zhuang carefully lifted her mask.
“That was a scary senpai.”
“Right?”
“Third years having to do assignments at this hour is scary.”
“That’s scary too!”
“Let’s gather the kids.”
At Zhuang’s urging, we regrouped Dorothy’s faction and Irene’s faction which had scattered along the way.
“Oh my, Oknodie! Your clothes are completely covered in blood!”
“This? I’m fine. It doesn’t hurt at all!”
“You look like you hurt a lot!!”
Dorothy gasped.
“That senpai did this to a child like me…”
“Irene? I’m totally fine!”
“…Okay. You always have to be okay. As the chief scholarship student of the foundation. I’m sorry for saying something terrible.”
“???”
Irene seemed to be suffering more.
We played hard and collected a lot of blood, so why was everyone like this?
“It’s because of the blood splattered on you.”
Even in Zhuang’s scolding, I tilted my head.
“But it’s not my blood?”
“Even if it’s someone else’s blood, that much bleeding usually causes concern.”
“Really? No one has worried before.”
Back in the [Marine who Specializes in Strength All-in], I received skeptical glances about whether that monster would really fall with this much blood loss, but worrying was never an option.
“I used to be like that too. My mentor told me not to whine.”
“Right? That’s normal?”
“Hehe. Exactly. We’re the normal ones.”
We reconciled and felt a sense of camaraderie as if we hadn’t fought.
“Yikes! Oknodie has turned into a ghost!!”
“Ow! My eyes hurt!!”
“Take that, white light that purifies ghosts!!!”
Even though Son Ohchun and Titosso, who joined last, got hit with a blinding attack, the road opened thanks to the help of Senior Tetraphos who swept the boss mob away.
With stinging eyes, we moved forward and soon finished all the quiz gate.
[Quiz Corner! Sudden event complete.]
[As a reward, intelligence experience points increase by 10.]
[You reached the library before becoming a second year.]
[As a reward for early arrival, you gain 10,000 points.]
[Loyalty of your organization members participating in the expedition increases.]
All the members of the organization joyfully looked down at the magic watch.
“We gained points for completing the challenge.”
“It seems like a hidden reward from the academy.”
“I heard there’s an art room for third years too. Should we sneak in there later?”
As I tightened the loose leash of tension at the nonchalantly fatalistic conversation of the organization members, I said:
“Everyone, don’t let your guard down too much. The reason the path to the library is treacherous is that the library is a dangerous place, designed to sift out those who lack the skill to breach its gates!”
“Even more than this…?”
“The library, seen it, should we just go back…?”
“What if there’s a penalty for overdue books…?”
The morale of the vastly excited members plummeted dramatically.
A sudden surge of anxiety!
In that moment, Hector, who had been quietly hitching a ride, stepped forward.
“Thanks to you, we’ve made it this far. I’m grateful. From here on out, we will act separately.”
As Hector’s team, who had been saving the members of the organization playing around Oknodie, parted ways at the library entrance.
“Go ahead!”
“You’re our enemy, but we will pay our debts another day.”
Hector and his team left proudly toward the library’s [General Stacks].
“What are those guys doing? Trying to look cool while parting ways and then meeting again inside while looking for books?”
“Pfft. That’s going to be so embarrassing.”
Even Titosso found it amusing enough to smile, but as a veteran player, I saw it as a very sad and tragic scene.
“Sigh. When newbies take the lead, they always do that.”
“Oknodie. Is something wrong?”
“By whose standards is the general section general?”
“Um… students?”
“What’s the minimum grade for students entering here?”
“Se, second year…”
Titosso’s complexion paled.
“Then are they… going to come out alive?”
“If the range of books opened is the easiest one!”
“Then where are we going?”
Jaku teased Titosso for making such an obvious statement.
“We’re here to get fairy tale books, so obviously we must go to the ‘Children’s Stacks.’”
“No? We’re going to the ‘Archaeology’ stacks.”
“How can you find fairy tale books in the archaeology corner?”
“Fairies can only read picture books!”
“…Aren’t there picture books in the children’s stacks too?”
“The drawing style is different!”
They can’t adapt without the right style!
