Violet de Crescent.
It was a slightly bewildering scene for her, who had grown up delicately.
She had come to personally see Lev Denec after hearing that he was at Seongyeok, only to find Yeriel Artina, the top second-year student in the Magic Department, casually draping her arm around his neck.
“…”
If she had arrived a bit later, it might have resulted in a violation of school rules, especially if the involved parties were typical boys and girls rather than an exemplary student like her.
‘But how… ?’
When checking the student information, Lev Denec was a problematic student from a noble family, accumulating many demerit points.
In contrast, Yeriel came from a prestigious family and was recognized for her diligence and skills as an exemplary student in the Magic Department.
The fact that these two were close enough to have physical contact made Violet’s head spin, especially with the understanding that Professor Diana had accepted Lev as her apprentice.
Yeriel distanced herself from Lev and cautiously asked Violet.
“Violet-senpai…? Did you come to check on Lev’s condition?”
“…That’s right.”
Violet answered shortly, casting a disinterested glance at the gray-haired boy’s condition for a few seconds.
From the number of bandages wrapped around him, it was clear he would need some recovery time.
‘But…’
Usually, when ordinary humans face a Great Demon for the first time, they often lose their sanity from the aftereffects.
The alien fear emitted by demons is so threatening that even if one survives, they can no longer live a normal life afterward.
Even if they aren’t consumed by fear, it can be challenging to maintain composure due to heightened animosity towards demons.
However, Lev’s eyes looked quite alive, appearing mentally stable.
‘…’
Rather, his expression was surprisingly relaxed, as if he knew he was special.
Those who were born under similar circumstances in the de Crescent family usually had light personalities.
I don’t know much about him, but I somehow felt Yeriel had been deceived in that manner, and anyway, it was a style Violet wasn’t particularly fond of.
“Do you have business with me?”
Finally, the boy opened his mouth.
Even by Violet’s standards of politeness, his voice was quite pleasant to hear.
In the end, she combined some courteous words and replied briefly.
“…I’m glad to see you’re recovering.”
It wouldn’t do to get straight to the point with someone who had just awakened.
‘I’ll have to request a separate meeting with Yeriel…’
There was an unexpected twist in another direction, but Violet had merely come out of curiosity about a human named ‘Lev Denec’.
“Rest. I will visit again later.”
With just those words, Violet vanished.
*
By the time night fell again in Claris that afternoon, I had moved rooms for recovery to the one next door with Edwin.
It seemed Edwin’s tenacity passive was doing its job.
He was badly hurt, but returning to his original state seemed just a matter of time.
Yeriel was taking care of Edwin and me in a 30:70 ratio, but when Melissa arrived, all attention shifted to me.
She too had been through a lot, so it was reasonable to expect she’d be tired.
Yet Yeriel’s care was… relentless.
– Lev…! If you feel uncomfortable, let me know!
Checking my condition, meals, snacks, asking if there was anything wrong, and patiently answering whenever Academy investigators visited.
‘Now I’m the one who’s worried.’
And whenever things quieted down or got sorted out, she would scamper back to my side.
…
After some time had passed, Yeriel started to doze off beside me.
“Yeriel.”
“…”
“Yeriel.”
“…Uh, yeah?!”
At my question, Yeriel’s drooping eyes shot wide open, only to start closing again.
“I can’t let this continue. You need to get some sleep.”
“I can’t… Not until Lev feels better…”
“It’s fine. Just for ten minutes.”
“No… It’s against the rules for a caregiver to sleep in the same bed with a patient…”
“Five minutes.”
“F-Five…?”
Controlling Yeriel is surprisingly simple.
“I’m serious, it’ll just be for a moment…”
“Okay.”
“Just… a moment…”
“Sure.”
Gently stroking her hair seemed to lull her to sleep, and she quickly slipped into a deep slumber.
“I need to wake you up…”
“Got it.”
– Plop.
Her delicate body soon took up one side of my bed.
-…
‘Edwin is one lucky guy. Leaving behind someone like her…’
She looked like an angel while sleeping.
The problem is that there’s a ‘ta’ angel existing in my body.
I thought as I covered her with a blanket.
‘I have no intention of waking her up.’
She would likely be upset later for not waking her up and would regret not being able to take care of me properly while asleep.
Imagining her frustration brought a faint smile to my face as I headed toward a chair made for caregivers.
‘By the way, Violet…’
Was it because Lev Denec, who should have originally disappeared, managed to survive this far?
The character who takes center stage in Chapter 4, Violet, approached me.
She was the epitome of dignity, 100% aristocracy.
In a nutshell, she dislikes light-hearted styles like Caeran’s…
Funny enough, she harbors similar ambitions.
She plans to gather her own party and defeat the Demon King.
Just for this, she ends up getting uncomfortably entangled in later events.
When you think about it, from Caeran’s point of view, she might be written off as an obstructive villain, but to me, she could actually take on a heroic role.
I don’t particularly like the idea of using people, but with Caeran returning to the Academy soon…
I guess I have no choice if I want to survive.
Thinking about all the characters that have approached me so far,
Violet wouldn’t have approached me without a reason.
She’s also set up as Diana’s disciple, and most importantly, she’s a fellow marksman.
There’s definitely potential for connection.
In other words, this means I’ve established a certain level of presence in the narrative.
There are some advantages, too.
Violet possesses tremendous potential but is unfortunately a genius unable to blossom.
Thus, if I can build a connection with her, there is a possibility of growth on my part as her marksman or even as an ally.
‘Now, let’s think about the future.’
The closest episode would be…
Chapter 3, the secret meeting of Half-Elf Selena and Black Fairy Dalian teaching Wind Archery.
Chapter 3, side story, each of our campus lives.
I had almost forgotten. Since Selena had already learned Wind Archery… this is also an important turning point.
‘Once I recover, I’ll have to keep an eye on Selena from now on…’
After that, starting from the second semester,
The much-anticipated Chapter 4, the Hero Selection Test.
Here, Edwin will be defeated one by one by the now-powerful Caeran who returns from Crow Pay.
It’s a relentless cycle of giving and taking by the author, a typical NTR development.
Yet, hilariously, it becomes the force that strengthens Edwin even more.
‘Hmm.’
At present, since the copy of Caeran is gone, he likely has skills much inferior to the original.
Perhaps there’s still some possibility for Edwin.
‘…This renders predictions based on the original narrative impossible.’
From now on, I may know when significant events occur at the Academy, but I won’t be able to predict the intricate details or outcomes.
To begin with, while I was busy capturing Bunea, Pandemonium must’ve been in chaos by now.
But that’s okay.
So far, I’ve managed well, and after all, demons will invade regardless.
I’m not completely devoid of plans moving forward.
Above all, I have…
▶[Confirmation Reward]
[You can check the rewards!]
[You can check the rewards!]
[You can check the rewards!]
[You can check the rewards!]
“This is it.”
Five minutes had long passed, yet,
-…
Yeriel remained lost in slumber.
After briefly checking on her, I returned my focus to the status window.
‘Looks like I’ll be up all night if I want to check this out.’
Whether it’s Bunea’s corpse legion or whatever…
I don’t know how much has been swept away in a single attack of Reflection Annihilation…
An unprecedented reward window awaited me.
*
– Ding!
——————————————————
▶Status
[Strength]: 3.4 -> 4.75 (up!)
[Stamina]: 3.5 -> 4.95 (up!)
[Dexterity]: 3.6(4.68) -> 5.2(7.15) (up!)
[Magic Power]: 3.2(3.52) -> 4.7(5.17) (up!)
[Mana]: 3.75 -> 5.0 (up!)
[Mental Strength]: 2.7 -> 3.9 (up!)
[Sensitivity]: 2.4 -> 3.1 (up!)
[Luck]: 4.0
[Specialization]
Circle Magic (4)
Crossbow – Mastery (7) -> (8) (up!)
Curse Resistance (4) -> (7) (up!)
Fire Resistance (3)
Physical Resistance (4) -> (6)
——————————————————
The final stats after sorting out the various data were as follows.
Overall, a massive increase.
While it’s a cheaty stat boost, achieving a Dexterity of 7.15 at this stage is remarkable.
In terms of Dexterity alone, I was slightly lower than the professors of Claris.
Of course, considering the captured numbers, one might think it’s insignificant;
However, the growth rate was slow in this outrageous difficulty and, due to the setting that reduces experience points when hunting duplicate monsters in Closed Beta, it seems unavoidable.
At least my luck helped me come this far?
Well, the main dish is…
The skills transferred through [Hierarchical Order].
‘Time to inherit.’
– Ding!
[Hierarchical Order – You can inherit Bunea’s powers.]
As I focused on the inheritance button, countless status windows began to pop up again.
– Ding!
[Skill – Hierarchical Order activated! You have the right to inherit Bunea’s will.]
– Ding! Ding!
[You inherit Bunea’s skills!]
[Trait – Gamer activated! You can store skills.]
[Trait – Gamer activated! Skills will be modified according to the current player’s expertise.]
– Ding!
——————————————————
▶[Majesty of the Great Demon (Unique Trait)]: You can acquire three additional unique traits.
——————————————————
The first to appear was Bunea’s passive, the Majesty of the Great Demon.
Along with the contract with Ariel, plausibility, etc., I could additionally gain three unique traits of my own.
With this taking up one slot, I effectively had two slots left to fill.
‘This feels reliable.’
Unique traits can’t be deleted at will, but they possess overwhelming performance compared to normal traits, so more is better.
‘I’ll have to do some trait farming too.’
As expected of the – Reincarnated Hero – base, there’s quite a lot to do.
– Ding!
——————————————————
▶[Great Mana Barrier] [Lv.1] (Passive)
When the player possesses mana that can be utilized, they can ignore magic up to 4 (the player’s current circle magic level).
(*The barrier weakens as the amount of mana held decreases.)
Exp: (0/300)
Difficulty Level: Extreme
——————————————————
Next was Bunea’s unique skill, Great Mana Barrier…
While it’s somewhat weakened in my possession, I simply inherited the ability.
Anything lacking can just be reinforced with skill points.
‘Nice… Next.’
– Ding!
[The skill ‘Target Designation – Living Dead’ has been changed to Soul Collector.]
– Ding!
——————————————————
▶[Soul Collector] [Level: None] (Unique Trait)
You collect the souls of defeated enemies.
Collected souls can be held or released, and when you release the soul of a Great Demon, rather than random stat increases, you can gain skills.
Acquisition Difficulty: Very Hard
——————————————————
Due to my setting as Lev Denec, someone who isn’t a magician…
The skill “Target Designation – Living Dead” has changed into a farming-style unique trait.
‘The thing is, I can’t use it anyway because it’s a necromancy skill.’
Its grade may be one rank lower, but it’s better than having it disappear entirely.
– Ding!
——————————————————
▶[Fount of Souls] [Level: None] (Passive)
: If you receive damage that would kill you, you will resurrect from a predetermined source of magic.
(*Your status upon resurrection is determined by the size of the ‘Vessel’ that has been left behind.)
(*Resurrection can only be designated to Pandemonium.)
(*Can be used once.)
Acquisition Difficulty: Very Hard
——————————————————
The last skill of the confirmation rewards was the ability I couldn’t select previously.
Fount of Souls.
The downside is that it doesn’t activate if you’re hit with a ‘Execution’ type attack or ‘Quri’s’ effect, and the resurrection location is fixed to Pandemonium.
‘I think this might actually be good…?’
With a change of mindset, I feel like this could contribute to something great down the line.
And now, the only thing left…
The flower of the Great Demon. The power skill.
– Doo-doo-doo!
At that moment, a new sound effect popped up alongside a golden-framed status window.
[[Will you combine Wind Archery and Bunea’s Authority?]]
Huh?
Could it be… a combination skill?
If it’s a combination skill, that’s simple.
I’m talking about Reflection Annihilation, which has become my main line.
“Wait a second…”
Combining Wind Archery with the Authority of the Great Demon?! I can’t even envision the result…
But based on my experiences so far, there’s no reason to doubt the performance of combination skills.
‘Huff…’
– gulp.
With the author’s dirty play at work, I’ve long abandoned any sense of principle.
Now that I’m entirely on the path of evil,
‘Combine.’
Combination, a hundredfold.
