Ch.194194 – Fate is a Revolving Door

194 – Fate is a Revolving Door

Among the Imperial students attending the “Fundamentals and Understanding of Imperial Magic Theory” lecture, Pepe was the ace of aces.

After his defeat, the fighting spirit of the other students hit rock bottom, but some tried to convince themselves that this didn’t necessarily mean complete defeat.

“She must be getting tired by now!”

“Doesn’t dark mana become more dangerous and uncontrollable the longer it’s used?”

“Right, if we just drag this out, even Oknodie will notice something wrong with his body and get impatient. If we can hold out through 70 consecutive matches by stalling for time, even Oknodie will have no choice but to forfeit!”

Their strategy was to acknowledge defeat in terms of skill, but to drag things out to secure victory in the “class competition.”

“What cowards!”

“They know about the side effects of dark mana and still do this?”

“The kid could die, you trash!”

They knew it was cowardly.

But society is inherently cruel.

“I’m fine!”

At the contestant’s confident shout, the Imperial students yelled back.

“Did you hear that? She said she’s fine!”

“You losers who’ve already lost should just stay in your corner.”

“He consented, so whatever happens is his responsibility now!”

Dorothy, holding a white tablecloth she’d found somewhere, shouted:

“Oknodie, tell me right away if it gets too hard! They say you can forfeit by throwing a white cloth during the duel!”

* * *

“Winner, Oknodie.”

“Winner, Oknodie.”

“Winner, Oknodie.”

Contrary to the Imperial students’ ambitious plans, Professor Warerd declared the winner within a minute of starting each match.

“This is getting annoying. Can’t I just raise the flag?”

Professor Warerd had reason to complain.

According to their plan, using too much dark mana would eventually reach a critical point despite attempts to control personality erosion and runaway magic with stabilization spells…

But the opponents were so pathetic that there wasn’t even a need to use dark mana.

“Shooting Stone!”

“Power kick!”

“Chase and hit!”

“Hit the vital spot if they don’t surrender!”

“Urgh! I, I surrender! I surrendeeer!!”

As the shouts became increasingly mundane, the Imperial students began to realize:

“That’s not even magic, is it?”

“Isn’t he just throwing stones with brute force and beating people up with his hands and feet?”

He wasn’t using magic.

So there was no mana consumption.

Therefore, his mana was naturally recovering to the state it was in before fighting Pepe.

In reality, after defeating about 40 students, his mana had completely replenished.

He was basically getting a free ride.

“Long throw!”

“Aaaaargh!”

A student who had been grabbed by the leg, spun around in the air, and lost by landing outside the boundary limped over and shouted:

“This is cheating! Even if strengthening your body counts as magic, throwing people isn’t magic or anything at all!”

“If I were you, I’d be too ashamed to say such things. If a magician gets grabbed by an enemy and can’t respond, they’re as good as dead.”

Despite Professor Warerd’s scathing remark, the student who had already abandoned all dignity shouted disgracefully:

“How are we supposed to block a monster like that approaching with such inhuman strength?!”

“Like this.”

A tremendous number of vines burst from Professor Warerd’s arms, sending the complaining student flying to the opposite side of the field.

“But we never learned magic like that…”

When another Imperial student gathered the courage to speak, Professor Warerd replied flatly:

“Isn’t preparation the virtue of a student?”

These were all things they had said while bullying the provincial students.

The Imperial students had to admit it.

We’re really going to lose 70 consecutive matches.

We all got wiped out by Oknodie alone.

They expected the victor of this unbelievable comeback to jump around celebrating or even do some victory teabagging, but suddenly he groaned, staggered, and collapsed to the ground.

“That tough kid. He must have been secretly using body strengthening magic the whole time.”

“Oknodie, are you okay?”

“Dorothy, ugh… I…”

“Are you in pain? Is it because you used dark mana for too long? Should I take you to the infirmary?”

“I used too much strength and now I’m hungry…”

“…Sigh. You’re hungry…”

Dorothy thought for a moment, then whispered to Oknodie:

“If we return the tablecloth to the cafeteria, will they give us food?”

“The culprit turning themselves in would just earn us demerits, right?”

The Imperial students watched Dorothy covering her mouth with a serious expression and let their imaginations run wild.

“He must be experiencing mana exhaustion from using too much dark mana. Otherwise, why would they be having such a serious conversation in whispers?”

“Didn’t he just say he collapsed because he was hungry? Isn’t he just ordering food he wants to eat?”

While the naive ones engaged in worthless speculation, the more realistic ones brought up more valuable topics:

“It’s too embarrassing to admit we were physically dominated by an 11-year-old kid.”

“We have to say we were defeated by the evil power of dark magic. For the sake of the reports to our families, we should all agree on that. Let’s get our stories straight.”

“If we say we were defeated by Oknodie’s power of friendship, willing to risk mana overload for his friends, it could become an inspiring story. We’ll spread the rumor that we fought well despite losing.”

Whatever the case, it would be better than the rumor that they were all defeated by Oknodie who, after using so much strength, was whining about wanting a milkshake and garlic seasoned potatoes.

The legend of Oknodie’s 70 consecutive victories and the rumors created by the losers to save face began to spread throughout the first semester.

And these distorted rumors eventually reached the Hero’s ears.

“Did you hear? Oknodie was so angry about his friends’ tearful 50 consecutive defeats that he controlled dark mana to the limit, determined to the point of coughing blood, and defeated 70 people by himself.”

“That’s different from what I heard. Oknodie extracted the pain of 50 people into beads, charged himself with it, and forced the remaining 70 people to experience 50 people’s worth of pain, making them all faint and becoming the final survivor of the class competition by default.”

“Fools. Are you both still believing in those outdated theories about Oknodie’s friendship and victory or the devil’s beads? The current prevailing theory is that Oknodie, tired of petty fights, knocked out 50 allies and then defeated the remaining 70 – a 1 vs 120 Tyrant Nodie theory that’s gaining strong support.”

The rumors about Oknodie grew like a snowball with each passing student!

While it was unclear what was false and what was true, it was evident that Oknodie had revealed his abilities to the students.

“Oknodie. Since you’ve become my rival, you no longer need to hide that ominous power…?”

I can’t forgive either Oknodie or the Foundation.

Hero Ishtar’s misunderstanding deepened once again today.

* * *

[You have safely survived the Hero’s wrath.]

[You have completed the Consecutive Victory event.]

<Point Calculation>

━━━

Event Base Reward +1000

Last Bastion +5000

70 Consecutive Victories Bonus × 30

━━━

Total 180,000 points

[You acquire 180,000 points as event completion reward.]

[Body Technique experience +30]

[Magic Theory experience +15]

[Mana Control experience +15]

[Breathing experience +15]

[Swordsmanship experience +10]

[Boldness experience +10]

[Combat Endurance experience +2]

[Mana Breathing experience +2]

[Rapid Movement experience +2]

It hasn’t been long since I reached 1.05 million points, and now I’ve already achieved 1.23 million. The rewards are insanely abundant, proportional to overcoming such a difficult challenge.

But in proportion, new threats have emerged one after another.

[The Hero’s hostility has increased.]

[Now the Hero’s companions in the Hero’s party also regard you as an enemy.]

Hero Ishtar and her companions.

The more I reveal my power, the higher their vigilance becomes.

It’s understandable that I draw aggro since I handle evil dark magic as my basic power.

From the beginning, when Morb’s friend Zaku used just a bit of dark magic in the mana verification test, it created considerable tension. How much more aggro would I attract, having used massive amounts of dark mana that overwhelmed him?

‘Tsk. The rewards from the Hero’s party would be nice though.’

“Ah. I wanted to be a hero too…”

As I was heading back to the dormitory, grumbling dejectedly, I sensed someone flinching nearby.

“Who’s there?”

“…Sorry. I wasn’t trying to eavesdrop.”

Cassia.

The electric human born in a laboratory.

A fusion life form.

She emerged slowly from behind a tree.

“What are you doing here?”

“Working on an assignment.”

In her palm was a giant rhinoceros beetle, lying on its back unconscious, barely covered by both her hands.

“Wow! Isn’t this a Hercules beetle?”

“Don’t know. It’s a bug for fighting in the midterm, so I caught the biggest one I could find.”

“That’s great~ You detected it with electrical signals, right?”

“…You can sense that too?”

“Sort of!”

“Must have been hard.”

“Yeah, yeah. It took quite a while to master!”

[Cassia’s affection has increased.]

My mood, which had been dampened by the notification of the Hero party’s increased hostility, improved a little.

“I’ll show you my collection later too. Let’s catch insects together!”

“No thanks. Once my assignment is done, I won’t be catching any more.”

“What if we go catch dragonflies with a net?”

“…I like dragonflies.”

We made a pinky promise and parted ways.

Those who meet must part, and those who part must meet again.

If there’s a meeting, there’s a farewell, and if there’s a farewell, there will be another meeting.

I can improve my relationship with Cassia as much as my relationship with the Hero’s party deteriorates!

While I had no intention of becoming a regular member of the Hero’s party, I had planned to use the Hero to participate in various events, so this hostility from the Hero’s party is somewhat painful.

Still, if I focus on deepening events with other characters, I can obtain decent rewards.

I’ve already taught the Imperial students and Professor Layve a lesson, so next I should teach the Hero one too.

Yes.

And the next opportunity for revenge is just around the corner.

The final practice period before midterms.

Professor Platton’s advanced physical training class.

The midterm exam event.

The <Triathlon> – the final practice competition measuring performance across running, swimming, and horseback riding from start to finish is happening tomorrow.