Ch.50Chapter 50. Side Effects (1)

“Damn it!”

Whoosh-

As the only flame burning in the darkness died down, darkness settled around.

Thud-

Along with the sound of someone slumping down in the pitch-black darkness, the surroundings gradually brightened.

The man sitting alone in the darkness, irritably tearing at his blonde hair, was Cain Hover.

‘Why…’

Cain had been living in anger day after day lately.

It was all because of Ryuyeong, that utterly lowly commoner.

At first, he had simply intended to teach that arrogant commoner a lesson.

The way Ryuyeong had behaved at the entrance ceremony would have disgusted any nobleman.

When he realized that he was the only male in S class besides Ryuyeong, such thoughts burned even stronger.

In addition to putting Ryuyeong in his place, it would be nice to impress the girls in the class too.

Plus, Sinclair was in the same class as well.

But Cain’s plan went wrong from the start.

Who would have thought he’d lose consciousness from a commoner’s single punch?

Everything went wrong from that moment.

Not only did he fail to put Ryuyeong in his place, but he also grew distant from Sinclair and the other students.

Nevertheless, Cain continued his training, watching for an opportunity.

He was confident that if his flame bird didn’t disappear so ridiculously like last time, the outcome of his confrontation with Ryuyeong would be completely different.

But watching Ryuyeong during the inter-grade competition, Cain realized his thinking had been completely wrong.

He had thought Ryuyeong had become the top student by luck and had merely avoided his magic, but Ryuyeong turned out to be unexpectedly skilled.

Even though he had been knocked out by Ryuyeong with one blow, Cain was still skilled enough to rank in the top 7 in the entrance exam.

He wasn’t so blind that he couldn’t see the gap between his current skills and Ryuyeong’s.

Watching Ryuyeong effortlessly cutting down monsters in the dungeon, Cain instinctively realized that he couldn’t defeat Ryuyeong with his current abilities.

On top of that, the team Ryuyeong had assembled won first place in the inter-grade competition despite being first-years.

The atmosphere around him changed from that point on.

Previously, everyone had viewed Ryuyeong negatively, but now it was the opposite.

A first-year who defeated third-years with outstanding skills despite being a commoner.

Public opinion toward Ryuyeong only improved, never worsening.

When things had reached this point, Cain had almost decided to give up.

He hated Ryuyeong and wanted to teach him a lesson somehow, but realistically, he couldn’t see a way to do it.

It was frustrating, but Cain had been thinking somewhat normally about improving his skills and getting revenge later.

‘One isn’t enough after all.’

What completely changed Cain’s thinking was a potion he happened to come across one day.

A potion secretly handed to him by a mysterious man who said it would help.

Cain wasn’t usually one to rely on potions or elixirs.

He was a rather orthodox mage who believed that only one’s own skills were true skills.

But his anger toward Ryuyeong was enough to shake Cain’s beliefs.

If he could just get a little help to teach Ryuyeong a lesson.

It wouldn’t be such a bad thing, would it?

Some people openly train with potions and elixirs anyway.

With such thoughts, Cain swallowed his pride and drank the potion someone had given him.

And the potion’s effect was far more impressive than Cain had imagined.

As soon as he drank it, the mana around him became more vivid, and he felt confident that he could control even the most massive amounts of mana.

In a word, it felt like omnipotence.

A feeling like he could do anything.

In reality, while he normally couldn’t properly create even one flame bird, after drinking the potion, he could make three.

And they were properly formed too.

Cain thought that with this potion, he could definitely teach Ryuyeong a lesson.

He calculated that even Ryuyeong couldn’t handle three flame birds simultaneously.

So he confidently confronted Ryuyeong, but the result was even worse than before.

Ryuyeong neither dodged his flame birds nor cut them with his sword.

He simply crushed them with the same “magic.”

“Fuck…”

Cain’s anger rose to his head again as he recalled that moment.

Ryuyeong had scattered the flames with wind magic as if deliberately showing off to him.

And then he made Cain writhe in pain and roll on the ground pathetically in front of Elaine and Emily.

Crunch-

Cain clenched his teeth so hard that a grinding sound echoed.

‘If one isn’t enough, then two.’

Cain fingered the potion bottle in his pocket.

He had three potions left from his previous purchase.

The seller had warned that taking more than two at once could have side effects, but that wasn’t important now.

Now Cain just wanted to see Ryuyeong suffering and panicking, no matter what.

If he could just see that, nothing else mattered.

‘Tomorrow.’

Cain stood up, organizing his thoughts.

Though he had deep dark circles from not sleeping properly for several days, Cain wasn’t tired.

After being completely defeated by Ryuyeong recently after taking the potion, Cain wasn’t in his right mind.

He was angrier than he had ever been in his life.

The cause or process of his anger no longer mattered.

Only the emotion of rage toward Ryuyeong remained.

‘Tomorrow…’

Cain moved forward, thinking that no matter what, tomorrow he would step on Ryuyeong’s face.

In Cain’s eyes, as he walked toward his room, a crazed fury flickered.

**

‘She looks too normal.’

“So, would you all like to come to my house today?”

“I’d love to! I want to see what Elaine’s house is like.”

“I… don’t mind.”

Cynthia, who had received a “candy” from an unknown man last night.

Cynthia showed no change compared to yesterday.

No, she actually seemed brighter and more cheerful than yesterday.

Honestly, I wanted to ask Cynthia directly about who she met last night, but it wasn’t easy.

If I brought it up first, Cynthia would naturally ask about my whereabouts too.

It was difficult to ask carelessly.

Besides, I didn’t need to ask Cynthia since I would know who was involved in Black Magic tonight through the mana analyzer.

“Ryuyeong, what do you think?”

“Huh?”

“About coming to my house? Cynthia says she’s fine with it today.”

“Ah. I can’t today. I have something to do.”

“I see…”

Elaine openly showed her disappointment, but it couldn’t be helped.

Tonight I needed to retrieve the mana analyzer I had installed yesterday.

‘Ugh, I’m so curious.’

I was dying of curiosity.

Since Cynthia wasn’t showing any signs, there was no opening to probe.

I was carefully observing Cynthia’s every move to see if she would take out something like candy to eat, but there was no sign of that either.

“Let’s go next week instead. I’ll probably have time then.”

“Oh!”

I figured that once I retrieved the mana analyzer today and delivered it to Yuria, the job would be mostly finished over the weekend.

Then next week would be free. Probably.

“By the way, does anyone know what we’re doing today?”

“That’s right. They said we’d have a simple event, but they didn’t specify exactly what.”

Elaine answered Cynthia’s question in a much brighter voice than before.

I also had no information about what we would be doing today.

Judging by everyone’s reactions, it seemed no one knew today’s schedule.

Everyone was just sitting in the classroom as usual, in time for the morning class.

‘That guy looks fierce though.’

Cain Hover was sitting alone in the very back seat as always, with a deeply furrowed brow.

I thought Cain’s expression looked more serious than usual when—

Swoosh-

Speak of the devil—just then, Professor Amillion opened the front door and entered the classroom.

“Everyone’s here, I see.”

Professor Amillion quickly scanned the classroom as she entered and smiled.

While we were all clueless, Professor Amillion seemed excited for some reason.

“Today, as I mentioned before, instead of a regular class, we’ll have a simple event to promote friendship among classmates.”

Professor Amillion began explaining in a deliberately excited voice.

“Today’s activity is simple. You’ll work in pairs of two. The location is the Training Forest.”

“The Training Forest?”

“Yes. I’ve hidden these things in the forest.”

As Amillion gestured, a glowing stone appeared floating in the air.

As soon as I saw the glowing stone, I realized what Professor Amillion had planned.

So, it was about finding glowing stones in the forest.

‘Good grief.’

Isn’t this too childish for something devised by an Academy professor?

“Hehe. You must stay together with your teammate. These stones are designed so that they can only be picked up when two people lift them together.”

“…”

Everyone in the class, including me, had the same reaction.

What is this, exactly?

“Now, I’ll announce the teams.”

Professor Amillion either didn’t notice the students’ reactions or deliberately ignored them, continuing relentlessly.

“First, Cain Hover and Ryuyeong. You’re a team.”

‘Ugh.’

I knew it.

I had been vaguely uneasy since hearing about the pairs, and sure enough.

‘This professor is more naive than I thought.’

Does she really think that simply being on the same team and doing something together will magically make us get along?

“Next, Emily Franz and Marie…”

Professor Amillion continued announcing the teams.

Of course, the four of us who had participated as representatives weren’t paired together.

I had thought it would be nice for class to end early, but my head was already hurting.

‘But why does he look happy?’

I stole a glance at Cain in the back, and surprisingly, he was wearing a sinister smile.

I wonder what he’s plotting now.

“Well then, shall we all move out?!”

Professor Amillion said energetically, but no one was thinking of getting up from their seats.

‘Sigh.’

I barely managed to hold back a sigh from escaping.