Ch.361361 – A Deal with the Professor

<361 – Deal with the Professor>

The skeleton instructor revealed his envy.

“You’re really lucky. Without a professor’s invitation, you can’t enter this deep into the catacombs. Even I never came here when I was alive.”

“Ah! I understand that feeling. You’re jealous because dark mana increases just by breathing here, right? Just entering fills up your mana reserves, but students usually can’t come until junior or senior year—so unfair!”

“The increase in mana is secondary. Only ignorant fools use magic by intuition. Proper magic is strengthened through experience and understanding. Just walking through this place will greatly enhance your necromancy, won’t it?”

The instructor wasn’t wrong.

Magic grows stronger through imagery.

With prerequisite knowledge and prior experience to create clearer, more concrete images, magic becomes more powerful.

To experience such terrifying catacombs outside the academy, wouldn’t you need to visit some officially managed hero’s tomb?

Naturally, entry permits aren’t easily granted.

You could visit simply by performing heroic deeds and dying, I suppose.

Well, since I’ve experienced all this before, it’s not particularly new for me—I just enjoy the mana increase.

‘Still, this is the first time I’ve entered the real catacombs so easily!’

Professor Sadaco normally only teaches during the first semester of freshman year, then fades into the background before leaving the academy in sophomore year.

Seeing her still teaching in the second semester of freshman year, radiating such vigorous malevolent energy deep in the catacombs, makes me oddly proud.

“Hello, Professor! You’re looking especially energetic today!”

Professor Sadaco stood in the center of six glass containers emitting crimson energy, her long hair covering her face completely.

Even a demon would be horrified by the bizarre mana cultivation technique she was performing. The professor composed herself and released a massive wave of malevolent power.

KWAAANG

The six containers shook violently as if about to burst open.

Knowing what chaos would ensue if even one container opened, it was a startling sight, but the professor calmly spoke.

“I will enter… whichever container opens first…”

The six containers that had been raging like a storm suddenly calmed down simultaneously.

Senior-exclusive DLC content successfully sealed!

Having finished her strange cultivation, the professor restored her crimson-stained white dress to its original color and turned her head toward me.

“Have you come to learn the secret technique of necromancy, the Cruel Mind Cultivation…?”

“Nope! I came to place a permanent petrification curse on a ghost and keep using its replication function!”

The professor nodded as she observed the hook ghost I was dragging with one hand.

“You’re not interested in Cruel Mind Cultivation?”

“Not at all!”

Seeing my firm response, the professor pulled a pitch-black darkness mass from her sleeve.

“If you learn it now, I can give you Essence of Darkness as a gift…”

“I already have some!”

When I showed her the Essence of Darkness I’d received as a snack from Papa’s mansion, the professor regretfully put hers back in her sleeve.

Though hers seemed more iridescent and filled with higher quality mana, it wasn’t tempting enough to change my mana cultivation technique.

“This is the ghost I’d like to ask about!”

I held up the ghost like a one-handed weapon, and the professor stared directly into its eyes through her long hair with chilling eyes.

The hook ghost trembled and shook its body, suddenly struggling.

“Close your eyes.”

Tremendous mana gathered in Professor Sadaco’s eyes.

I quickly closed my eyes as a fierce wave of mana swept through the room.

Crack.

When I opened my eyes, the hook ghost in my hand had turned into a solid statue.

6th Tier Necromancy <Guardian’s Prison>.

A higher-level spell than the 4th Tier Necromancy <Gargoylification>, which petrifies the target and allows conditional release.

Now the hook ghost’s spirit remained alive while its ethereal body was trapped in a petrified state—its very soul had become a prison.

Professor Sadaco explained further about the ghost’s pitiful condition, calling it good teaching material.

“Ghosts wander the afterlife due to lingering attachments. Evil spirits are impure souls that harm the living due to grudges. They gain power from harboring resentment, but temporarily lose strength when that resentment is depleted…”

“Keeeeng…”

“Pretending to be weak is useless… I already know you planned to take hostages in your dimension and torture them to forcibly generate energy from their resentment to replace your depleted power…”

Professor Sadaco wasn’t easily fooled by the hook ghost’s pitiful keening.

“How often do you want the replication…?”

“Once a week would be enough!”

“Any recovery beyond that weekly limit…”

“You can use it however you like, Professor!”

“Then we have a deal… Leave it with me… I happen to have one coffin left.”

While Rozini was freed from petrification after being exposed to sunlight, the hook ghost wasn’t even given the chance to be released.

Professor Sadaco reached out somewhere in the catacombs, and a stone coffin slid out with a rumbling sound.

Grrrr…

CLANK!

The hook ghost was shoved into the loudly opened coffin, its eyes brimming with tears as it begged for mercy, but the coffin closed mercilessly.

Sounds of the ghost’s struggles could be heard from inside, but the professor simply turned a switch on the coffin to create a barrier.

With the gloomy energy filling the catacombs powering a soundproofing spell, no one would ever hear the hook ghost’s cries again.

‘Well, it was an evil ghost to begin with, so being confined isn’t too harsh!’

* * *

After capturing the most delicious hook ghost to use as a copier and successfully upgrading Morb’s armor, rumors spread wildly throughout the academy.

“They say catching named ghosts is really good for your body?”

“I heard that Morb, despite being in the lower class, has become impressive enough to compete with the upper class.”

“If we just hunt one named ghost well, can we also move up to the upper class next year…?”

Since ancient times, the things that drive people crazy are those good for virility, health, and studies.

As lower class students jumped into named monster hunting hoping for promotion, the previously quiet upper class students also became tempted.

“If they’re that impressive, wouldn’t they help us too if we caught them? Honer, let’s have a competition.”

“Good. I’ll show the might of the Three Great Imperial Merit Families by hunting named monsters first. It’s a competition, Cheddar, Reph. Let’s see who can hunt more named monsters!”

“We can’t let those Imperial folks take everything! We’re joining the hunt too!”

“As a nun of the Lightning Thunder Divine Church, I’ll also lend a hand in this exorcism.”

Thanks to this, the weekly event completion rate soared, and the event finished successfully without me having to lift a finger.

“Damn… my broken arm has a non-healing curse on it, so only natural healing will work…”

“Ugh. To think that I, Cheddar of the PotatoPizza family, would fall victim to a curse. If I had known, I would have built up curse resistance like that frontier kid did last semester. How careless of me. Of all things, I got hit with a vision-reducing curse that makes studying difficult…”

Of course, the event ending successfully didn’t mean the participating students came out unscathed.

Even I used cunning instead of brute force, but these students charged headfirst at opponents I had strategically approached, resulting in severe aftereffects.

“Nyaaaa… how did Oknodie manage to catch such monsters unharmed…?”

Zenya, cursed to be conscious of her blinking, breathing, and tongue placement in her mouth, sprawled across her desk like dried fish, completely exhausted.

“Good home education?”

“That’s unfair! Zenya wants to benefit from the Foundation too!”

At Zenya’s cry about wanting to become a Foundation scholarship student, startled glances shot from all directions.

The cat-person Zenya didn’t realize what she was saying, but as an upper class student, she could speak carelessly without consequences.

If a lower class student said such things, they’d be beaten for “planning a dark mana suicide attack!” but upper class students would only receive mild scolding or dirty looks.

But is the Foundation really that bad?

They prevented the Beastkin Revival Movement from causing trouble, helped maintain a studious atmosphere in the second semester, and have actually been quite helpful to students.

“If you’re that interested, would you like to attend a new class with me starting this term?”

“What class?”

“My butler just got hired as a professor at the academy starting this week. I’ll definitely be attending!”

The sound of writing stopped—from Honer FriedChicken with his cast to Cheddar PotatoPizza wearing glasses.

Even Zenya looked up at me with surprised eyes.

She was so shocked that her fur stood on end.

“Not satisfied with 38 credits and wanting to take more classes? You’re insane!”

So that’s what surprised them.