“Oknodie is different!”
“How is it different?”
“We’re best friends!”
Sometimes, I just don’t get what Jiang is saying.
He must have his own thoughts!
Just as I shrugged that off, Jiang let out a sigh filled with deep relief, as if he was patting his chest from behind.
The assassin says emotions should be restrained, yet Jiang is just as emotional as Titosso!
Maybe that’s why Jiang can’t become as strong as Rung Nosa.
If he could just merge his emotions into one and trigger the top-tier meditation technique, [Awakening of Consciousness], his growth speed would shoot up!
‘If Jiang needs a spec upgrade for the later event, should I test the waters a bit?’
If I cast “You’re fired” on a party member, it might trigger a certain awakening event with a solid probability.
Instead of despairing at the shout of “I’m fired!”, there’s a wonderful phenomenon where they say, “I’m different now,” and get a spec upgrade.
But right now, I’m scared that if I use “You’re fired,” Jiang, with his mediocre mental power, might be so shocked he wouldn’t be able to speak and fall apart, so I have to hold off for just a bit.
Actually, the original use was to expel the party’s baggage carrier, and when the baggage carrier gets strong, they would automatically take over the warrior’s great undertaking—it’s a hidden gimmick for the baggage carrier.
However, a baggage carrier not chosen by the god will easily become a great evil that causes new calamities in the continent, no matter how strong they get, so I didn’t even consider using it officially.
‘Anyway, the rounds where Ishtar or Astarot need a baggage carrier are already half-baked!’
The random variable elements have fallen apart, going out frequently from the Academy and facing tons of loot with enemies, making the world precarious.
Such rounds are considered essentially doomed from the point of winning, and should be thought of as collecting achievements and ending points for perks.
Anyway, Jiang, who is living through this decent round, rolls his eyes under the mask, trying to gauge the situation. Although it doesn’t show on the surface, he’s actually a rather pitiful Titosso-like character.
“Let’s try to collect some items while we’re here!”
“Right! Should we try out the rides?”
“I want to ride too!”
“Then let’s all three of us ride together!”
With Titosso’s bright shout, I also chimed in.
Honestly, I only heard about the theme park rides from Jezel, and I’ve never actually tried them out myself, so I still don’t know what they’re really like.
– Do you have any specific facilities you’d like at the theme park?
– When you think of a theme park, it’s gotta be rides, right?
– How about just putting in a seesaw?
– No way!! I can’t be satisfied with such childish rides! I need something bigger and more amazing!
– Haha. By my standards, a little lady is still a child, but that wouldn’t be courteous to a lady. If you tell me your desired specifications, I can put in a production request.
– First, there’s a giant drop, where you fall while screaming with just a safety bar keeping you secure, and then there’s the Dragon Train, where you traverse installed rails in mid-air, experiencing steep drops, spins, and continuous curves!
For some reason, Jezel’s expression changed to one of utter disbelief, as if she couldn’t believe her ears. It made my heart ache to think she was an adult who had never ridden a ride.
But still, an ache is still an ache; there’s something unsettling about it.
A person who’s never been on a ride before is requesting one to be made? Can I trust the safety?
“Haha. That’s just the determination expected from a VVIP customer. You’re bravely challenging the extreme course.”
“Extreme course?”
“The Giant Drop, Dragon Train, and Death Field Maze. They’re referred to as the extreme course, which means you’re challenging the three major rides that hold the most valuable collectibles of this theme park. Just yesterday, the infamous Eungchilgeom Hiscliff came to challenge it and left a review.”
“Wow, a review! I want to see it!”
“Here it is.”
Knowing I came from a family of traitors but still not changing his attitude toward me, the clerk, Valefor Wasabi, bowed in gratitude and opened the Mana Board.
The reviews from challengers who took on the first challenge of the extreme course, the Giant Drop, appeared on the Mana Board.
━━━
[Giant Drop]
– Eungchilgeom Hiscliff: It was a devilish ride that reminded me of Rung Nosa.
– Sword King Reinhardt: I’ve made a resolution. As soon as I get off this ride, I’ll become a Giant Slayer. Such wicked giants deserve to be extinct.
– Omoshiroi: It was pretty interesting. Thanks to it, I got a fun test idea. Thanks to the original creator.
━━━
“…”
“…”
Suddenly, our group fell silent!
While Titosso glanced around cautiously, he carefully asked.
“By any chance, was this Omoshiroi person someone with wings or a body as big as the ride?”
“No, he was a very handsome man.”
“Oh, just a namesake, then.”
“It’s recorded that he praised the ride as fun but suggested that a bit more speed control during continuous drops would be beneficial.”
“Anyone can see that’s the principal, right?!”
“He might have polymorphed. Dragons are good at transformation magic.”
Suddenly, Jiang made a gagging sound.
“What’s wrong? Morning sickness?”
“You wanna die? Morning sickness? What are you talking about… I just had a bad thought.”
“What kind of thought?”
Jiang grimaced and said.
“Usually, transformation magic starts changing from the closest shapes to one’s body type, gradually increasing the transformation scale and precision with mana.”
“That’s right?”
“If a strong being like the principal decided to enlarge the transformation range, I imagined how gigantic that form could be, and ended up visualizing the ground we are standing on as the body of a transformed dragon.”
“What’s wrong with that?”
“I don’t know which part of its body I might be stepping on. If it’s its face or torso, I might just trample over it. But what if it sneezed right in front of me?”
Hieek. That’s a pretty terrifying thought.
“Stop with those nasty thoughts!”
“Oknodie harassed me first with weird stuff like morning sickness. I didn’t want to say anything originally.”
As I was heading to see the actual ride, I already had a thought when a massive something shot up like crazy, tearing through perspective.
That’s definitely the Giant Drop.
A giant’s figure was tearing through the clouds and raising a hand from somewhere beyond the stratosphere, looking like it was going to be at least 100m, if not 1000m tall.
How can something like this be built in just one week…?
“You can trust the stability. Under the special orders of Jezel, as it will become the symbol of the theme park and a sacred ground for challengers, the Dark Trading Company invested a significant amount of money into it.”
– The most important facility at the theme park? Without a doubt, it’s the tallest Giant Drop!
I felt an inexplicable guilt.
I felt like I needed to apologize to all the countless people who would use this facility in the future.
“Come on, let’s go, Titosso!”
“Wahhhh… Oknodie… can’t we not ride this?”
“You wanted to come ride, didn’t you?”
“I didn’t know it was going to be this terrifying.”
“I’m okay, it reminds me of the training grounds.”
Jiang, who had been trained by free diving off a cliff, feels familiar, but Titosso looked like he would have a heart attack if he was forced on.
“Tch. It can’t be helped. Even actual rides say not to let children or the weak on.”
“Wait…? Oknodie. Does that mean we can’t ride?”
“Us? The rides?”
Aren’t you kidding?
“If you’re stronger than an adult, you should be able to ride, right?”
“Ah, I’m sorry. I forgot since it’s applied infrequently that safety regulations don’t allow anyone under 150cm to ride.”
…This humiliation, the last time I was rejected was at the entrance of a gambling den before entering the Academy.
“I’m so angry! I’m so mad, so you, the clerk, should ride this in my place!”
“What? Me?”
“They say you have to meet the demands of a VVIP! My demand is for you to ride that for us!”
With the clerk Valefor Wasabi nearly bending backward to look up at the clouds, he let out a heavy sigh and opened the safety bar to take his seat.
Kaboom, gugugugugung!
With a dull sound, the circular seats begin to slowly rise.
As the seats rise, the giant steel giant’s arm also starts to move up slowly.
Hieek! No way, is that actually moving?
Titosso’s terrified gaze.
What might seem impossible came true.
As soon as it reached the top, a heavy bang came down, as the metal giant’s hand came crashing down on the structure surrounding the seats.
The speed that had been so slow suddenly became astounding as the Giant Drop plummeted downwards.
[Forfeit Time]
Passengers getting a spicy experience screamed as they hit the emergency eject button and were shot out hurriedly.
But the VVIP, who boarded with fervent expectations, silently endured, and the Giant Drop rose back up with the giant’s kick.
Thud, bang, thud, bang!
Kicked up, slammed down, kicked up, slammed down.
After about ten minutes of trials that felt close to abuse, Titosso and Jiang burst into applause as they saw the clerk staggering out of the seat.
“That was awesome, clerk! …But Jiang, why do we have to say that?”
“If I don’t do at least this much lip service, I might just be stabbed with a dagger by a graduate senior come midnight.”
“R-right!”
Titosso’s applause doubled in speed.
“Hey, why are you clapping already?”
In my innocent confusion, this time Jiang looked perplexed.
“Because we just finished the Giant Drop. If we don’t clap now, when will we?”
“We have to enjoy it for all three of us. Doesn’t that mean we have to ride it three times?”
The clerk staggered in his half-dazed stride.
“…Oknodie. No matter how close we are, I can’t defend you on this one.”
Jiang gave me a serious look.
“The opinions of the involved parties can be different!”
Isn’t that right, clerk?
The clerk smiled and responded to my gaze.
“I will use all the authority I have to change the regulations so you can ride once.”
