Ch.25025. A Twisted Tale of Jealousy

When Gilbert arrived at the lecture hall, the class had just begun. Professor Alexander didn’t say anything to Gilbert about his late entrance. Having received information about Gilbert from Professor Horizon a week ago, he was well aware of Gilbert’s situation.

Judging by his successful return to class, it seemed he had avoided expulsion.

‘Did he win the bet against that stubborn Grand Sage?’

Professor Alexander found it hard to believe that the Grand Sage, who had never once backed down from his opinions, had withdrawn his statement. The Sage’s stubbornness was founded on his knowledge. Having lived longer than anyone else, the weight of his accumulated knowledge was by no means light.

Although he used the term “stubbornness,” in reality, the Grand Sage always spoke correctly, which was why most disputes typically ended with Professor Horizon’s victory. As far as Alexander could remember, he had never seen Professor Horizon lose an argument.

Except for this time.

Professor Alexander briefly glanced at Gilbert as he found an empty seat, then resumed the lecture that had been interrupted.

“Let’s continue with the lecture. It’s already been a month since you cadets began learning about Titan operation from me. Until now, we’ve focused on theory, but theory that isn’t put into practice doesn’t do much to improve your survival rates. So starting today, we’ll begin practical training for Titan operation.”

Gilbert realized that during his week-long absence, the theoretical lectures had concluded. Since he had already acquired the necessary knowledge, moving on to practical training was welcome news for him.

In Tactical Combat, the main story would begin after the first month at the Academy, starting with Titan operation training. Since the game’s story revolved around Titans, it made sense that the main storyline would begin with Titan operation practice.

“Everyone, please proceed to the hangar.”

At Professor Alexander’s instruction, the cadets excitedly headed toward the hangar where the Titans were kept. Practical training in operating actual Titans was naturally more appealing to the cadets than the inevitably tedious theoretical lectures.

“Sir Gilbert!”

As Gilbert was walking toward the hangar among the crowd of cadets, he turned around at the sound of someone calling him. There were Hans and Angelina, who had been hanging around with him since the entrance mock battle, walking toward him.

“It’s Hans.”

“It’s been a week. Where on earth did you go without saying anything? We were worried when you suddenly disappeared.”

“I had some matters to resolve.”

“Rumors say you caused trouble again… which seems quite credible.”

Gilbert couldn’t help but smile seeing Hans’s dramatic reaction and Angelina’s characteristically calm tone. When he first possessed Gilbert’s body, he had worried about how to deal with his terrible reputation, but fortunately, the two relationships he had formed at the Academy were lasting longer than expected, which was a relief.

For now, recruiting the “Rice Bowl Pingchang” as an ally was out of the question, and with his current reputation, it was impossible to recruit anyone else as a companion. Even if he could recruit others, the protagonist Ian also needed people to recruit, so he couldn’t just pull everyone to his side.

On the other hand, bringing Ian into his party would be inefficient, and moreover, Ian had already started forming his own group within the first-tier class, making it difficult to draw him into Gilbert’s party. In this situation, Angelina and Hans, with whom he had naturally started working together since the entrance mock battle, were like rain in a drought.

Especially Angelina, who was quick to assess situations and skilled at command, and Hans, who had the potential to become a knight of at least third-tier if properly nurtured, had more growth potential than the original named companion characters, which was actually fortunate. Ian could gather his own companions, and Gilbert could form his own faction.

They arrived at the hangar while briefly exchanging stories about what had happened during Gilbert’s week-long absence.

The cadets formed four rows in front of Alexander, who had already arrived, and latecomers also lined up behind them.

“Everyone seems to be here. Let me briefly explain today’s lecture topic.”

Alexander brought over a board placed at one side of the hangar and wrote the lecture topic in elegant handwriting.

“The core of today’s lecture is the tactical operation of Titans. Many people might think that Titans are only used to combat other Titans. Perhaps some of you cadets here think the same.”

Professor Alexander briefly surveyed the attentive cadets before continuing.

“However, Titan operation is not limited to just that. The reason is simple. The best advantage in utilizing Titans as weapons is not facing other Titans. There are few methods that inflict as much damage as using Titans against regular troops. Therefore, depending on the assignment, Titans are often tasked with special missions such as destroying strategic magical weapons or striking the enemy’s rear.”

That was the tactical operation of Titans. Titans were war machines with clear mobility limitations, and the tactical applications of such war machines were endless.

Even missions that couldn’t be resolved by human power alone could be accomplished with an excellent knight and a superior Titan.

This was exactly what Professor Alexander was trying to convey in his lecture. While Titans were indeed meant to face other Titans, he wanted to instill the idea that this wasn’t necessarily the most efficient use of them.

Once trapped in a fixed mindset, limitations are set, and one tends to see only what they want to see.

In fact, when he was on the battlefield, it was not uncommon for him to lead a Titan alone on special missions to attack key enemy positions. While the risk was high, success could turn the tide of an unfavorable battle.

“To add more to this, when assigned such special missions, given the size of Titans, knights may sometimes need to disembark. Using the autonomous functions of artificial spirits to receive support from the Titan while carrying out the mission is a prime example of this.”

While this was less common in position strikes or rear attacks, knights often had to disembark in cases where additional missions involved information retrieval. The advancement in artificial spirit manufacturing technology had greatly contributed to planning such proactive operations.

As an outstanding knight himself, Professor Alexander had been dispatched on many such special missions and achieved numerous military accomplishments. The battle that cost him one of his arms also originated from one of these many operations.

“Today’s lecture will proceed under the assumption that you’ve been assigned such a special mission. First, I’ll take volunteers.”

Gilbert, who had been quietly listening to the lecture, could finally feel the main story progressing.

Although events varied slightly depending on the player, this special mission lecture part was where the first boss of the official main story appeared.

In particular, the protagonist would be selected first for the practical training regardless of his grades, and due to the jealousy of the first boss, Cook Yan Scott, he would become the practice opponent and face a boss battle. The reason for the jealousy varied depending on the entrance mock battle results.

If one achieved the best results, it was because they were superior to Cook; if the results were worse, it was because someone with inferior skills was gaining popularity with a sycophantic face. The battle would unfold as Cook envied the protagonist Ian for all sorts of strange reasons.

Gilbert briefly looked at Ian, who was standing with a relaxed expression, and then turned his gaze to the first boss, Cook Yan Scott.

As expected, Cook Yan Scott was the first to volunteer.

Professor Alexander gave him the right to choose and instructed him to select a partner for the practice.

Based on the skills Gilbert had gauged when directly confronting Ian, it didn’t seem like Ian would lose, but even if he did, it would serve as a driving force for growth, so the outcome didn’t particularly matter.

As Gilbert was leisurely thinking about watching their practice, his eyes met Cook Yan Scott’s. At first, he thought it was just a coincidental glance, but the intense, glaring look made him realize it wasn’t a mistake.

In that moment, Gilbert instinctively knew something had gone wrong. There was only one reason why Cook would be staring at him during the moment he had to decide on a partner.

“I’ll practice with Cadet Gilbert Lion Heart.”

“Cadet Gilbert, please step forward.”

Gilbert clicked his tongue, realizing his intuition was correct, and stepped forward. As he passed by, he caught a glimpse of Ian, who looked frustrated at not being chosen first.

Walking slowly to where Cook Yan Scott was, he stood beside him and faced Professor Alexander.

His mind was racing, but he wasn’t given time to think.

“I’ll assign missions to both cadets. The mock training ground has been set up for a data theft scenario, as I explained earlier. You two will each perform either data theft or data theft prevention missions. The situation has been designed so that the mission cannot be completed with just Titans, so keep this in mind. Any questions?”

“None.”

“None from me either.”

Nodding at their responses, Professor Alexander proceeded with the practical training.

As Gilbert boarded his Titan and headed toward the mock training ground, he was taken aback by the sudden turn of events, but he cleared his mind of everything except the task at hand. What had happened had happened, and adapting was something he had always been good at.

Assigned the data theft mission, Gilbert took his position as the data thief.

Taking a long, sigh-like breath, he focused his mind.

He didn’t know why the main story had shifted from the protagonist Ian to himself, but it wasn’t the first time things hadn’t proceeded like in the game. Rather, considering Cook Yan Scott’s jealousy, it made sense that he would be jealous of the person who ranked first in the entrance mock battle.

Gilbert quickly pulled the control lever as he heard Professor Alexander’s signal to begin the mock training exercise.