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<1004 – Eastern Experience Record (3)>

The Gift Academy’s second semester registration period.

Classes for second-year and third-year students together.

In Professor Red Mountain’s lecture “<Beyond the Cheonryeong Mountain Range>,” a huge number of students gathered.

“Where’s Andersen?”

“Not here.”

“What about Oknodie?”

“Not here.”

“Well, I found it right! A hidden gem of a lecture.”

The second-years smiled brightly.

Despite being a class popular among the seniors, there was a reason why the second-years had chosen it.

Dorothy, a guide from the Monster Forest and self-proclaimed registration expert, cleared her throat and strutted.

“I’ve figured out the tricks after signing up for it for the fourth time. I spotted something amidst the minefield.”

“What did you see?”

“Professors love their ‘practice’ sessions related to the lecture. If you study ‘<Boring History>,’ you’ll have to fight using historical data on past Great Evil candidates in a virtual training capsule, and if you study ‘<Doing Nothing>,’ you’ll have to react to avoid curses against high-ranking demons. But ‘<Beyond the Cheonryeong Mountain Range>‘ is just about the Eastern Empire, right?”

Dorothy’s childhood friend.

The swift blade, Rockbell.

He nodded, absent-mindedly fiddling with his recently sprouted scruffy beard.

“That makes sense.”

“Right? The Eastern Empire is inhabited too; it can’t be all that different from our Holy Dark Empire. And it’s slightly weaker, so it should be a little easier.”

Imagining the worst-case scenario still resulted in a low peak of difficulty for the lecture.

Dorothy successfully detected that kind of class.

After failing to dodge through minefield classes during her first three registration attempts, she managed to discover this hidden gem on her fourth try—truly a feat of human perseverance.

“Quiet.”

As lecture time began, a lethargic figure in a fairy wing outfit, a black cat-like being, appeared on the podium with a bored face.

Punctuality.

An uninspired face.

The lazy professor, who seemed to carry an aura of lowering the lecture’s difficulty, truly embodied a fairy descended from heaven.

Professor Red Mountain, swaying his wide sleeves colored peach on a white base, reluctantly opened the attendance book.

“This lecture is about the strange herbs that grow in the Eastern Empire beyond the Cheonryeong Mountain Range. Anyone who signed up without knowing it’s a Production Department liberal arts class should leave immediately.”

Three fools with awkward faces left the lecture room.

“I won’t let you sip on that precious elixir you were hoping for. Anyone with greedy thoughts upon entering should leave immediately.”

Twenty-nine seemingly disgruntled students glared at the professor as they exited the lecture room.

When Professor Red Mountain waved his hand, the twenty-nine students who had just left re-entered the room as if they had pressed a rewind button.

“Why are your eyes like that? Am I somehow an easy target because I’m a Production Department professor?”

“N-no, not at all.”

“We’re sorry! We made a mistake!”

“We won’t do it again!”

“Yeah. Everyone makes mistakes at least once in life.”

It turned out Professor Red Mountain was not just an easy target but also kind!

The students who came in after hearing that the professor’s Plant Club had been regularly raided by Oknodie couldn’t help but snicker internally.

The survival of the fittest academy.

Even the weak, even if a professor, can’t escape being looked down upon!

However, they hastily concluded that Professor Red Mountain was weak.

“The mission of a professor is to ensure that such once does not become twice. I will educate you thoroughly so that there isn’t even a chance of repeating your mistakes on an instinctual level.”

Professor Red Mountain opened the door that led to his ‘farm’ and kidnapped the arrogant students.

The sight of their classmates being whisked away left the remaining students trembling, and one asked in a shaky voice.

“Do you happen to know where they went? I think I should let my friends know if they come looking for them…”

“The farm.”

“Oh…”

The cautiously inquiring student let out a sigh of relief.

“I raise plant monsters for practice.”

“…”

“Don’t even think about rescuing them. While they can enter freely, they’ll be attacked until a certain time has passed when trying to leave.”

The student, still in a relaxed posture, froze.

Unwilling to endure an indefinite amount of forced labor among plant monsters, the students instinctively acquired proper demeanor and manners.

A kind of indirect embodiment of etiquette etched into instinct.

“The class is over. I’m too lazy for assignments, so just knock out a book report. Read any book related to plants and write your impressions. You can paraphrase, but watch out if the principal catches on, because you might end up writing something more vivid. That’s all.”

After the lecture ended.

Dorothy flashed a big smile.

“Once again, it’s a super sweet freebie class!”

“Glad I followed along.”

Rockbell was satisfied too.

Although it posed a risk of kidnapping for rude students, it was an easy and content-rich class with simple assignments and an easy exam for polite model students!

They eagerly counted down the days until the next class time throughout the week.

A class that spanned an hour and a half and consisted of two consecutive sessions.

If one didn’t look forward to a class that would ultimately wrap up an hour early, they were either first-year students or those about to graduate.

“What will we learn today? Distinguishing spirit herbs and poisons from the Eastern Empire? The ecosystem surrounding spirit herbs? Identifying spirit herb slayers?”

“Dorothy. You’re overly excited.”

“It’s just so fun because the lecture is easy!”

In her excitement, Dorothy gripped the lecture room doorknob, only to freeze as if receiving an electric shock.

“What’s wrong?”

“I feel…a foreboding sense.”

“…Of all places, why in front of the lecture hall?”

The intuition of the Forest Guardian.

Dorothy’s instinctive danger sensing ability activated whenever she sensed severe risk.

Mostly it kicked in when she was about to be late from her bed, when Oknodie wanted to play, when the exam difficulty unexpectedly spiked, or during weekly events.

“Ugh. I also feel like I’ve been stabbed in the foot by an ax I trust? To have this feeling in my favorite class!”

It wasn’t an exaggeration to say that her luck would go downhill if she ever caught such a vibe, leaving Dorothy with a pained expression.

That said, with the registration correction period already gone, there was nothing she could do.

Dorothy’s foot stopped upon entering the lecture hall.

“Why is he here…?”

“Excuse me. Treating people like a plague, are we?”

Dressed in a red cloak characteristic of Western nobility, the arrogant noble sat in a seat that cleared a radius of more than two spots around him, gathering everyone’s attention.

Andersen was the captivating presence that not even royalty could rival.

“I’m pretty sure he wasn’t here last week…?”

“I thought the class I registered for was a bit off, so I changed it.”

“How can that be…!”

Dorothy learned of a new pattern to the safety rules shared by all students of Class 981 through Andersen’s sacrifice.

Looking around with a desire to cry, she found all the seats filled except those around Andersen.

The popular professor, Red Mountain, known for his easy classes, had gathered nearly a full house due to that very fame.

“Don’t be so standoffish; sit down.”

“Oh no! The second semester is totally ruined.”

As the lecture time continued, Professor Red Mountain confirmed attendance within a second through seat scanning and signaled to his teaching assistants.

The teaching assistants climbed onto the podium, carrying several door panels and set them down with a thud.

“This door leads to the habitats of the spirit herbs we learned yesterday. Today, I’m too lazy to teach verbally, so you’ll have to experience it physically. Spend ten minutes with each door.”

Had it been last week, perhaps he would’ve declared this class an easy ten-minute onsite experience; being with Andersen changed everything.

He seemed to convey, “Good luck surviving ten minutes, considering your capabilities.”

“Rockbell. Let’s go…”

“Ugh…better to take the blow first.”

Hesitating, wanting to escape reality, they might have to endure tougher ten minutes in areas already poked by other students.

Following her instincts as a guide, Dorothy went straight into one of the doors.

“…This is supposedly a place for spirit herbs!”

A hellscape unfolded before her.

A serpent-like ghost with a long neck poked its head through the window and bit a person by the nape.

A ghost disguised as a large baby clung to someone’s back and broke their spine, killing them.

Abnormal revengeful monsters lined up in this magical territory.

A fieldification of energy similar to that of the Death Field could only be manifested under such exceptions—their haunting presence was evident.

“Calm down, Dorothy. Spirit herbs don’t discriminate between good and evil energy; they only care about quantity.”

Rockbell’s late advice made Dorothy take a deep breath.

Fortunately, amidst this harsh underworld, soldiers were fighting against the spirits, wielding swords and firing guns.

In the chaos of the battlefield, Dorothy distanced her thoughts and established a forest in her mind.

The demons which thrive on grudges.

She connected each one of them with the trees that formed the forest.

The moment she recognized the entire field as a single forest, her guidance ability as a forest guardian activated.

“This is it.”

A place for burning corpses.

That was the answer.

Bitter ashes, blood, dust, and grudges—all consumed by death, the vengeful herbs revealed their glorious form.

“Yum yum.”

“Huh? Huh?”

 

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