Ch.54Chapter 54. Side Effects (5)

“This doesn’t make sense.”

Crescen Academy’s Vice Chancellor, Landgar Bayer, slowly reviewed the situation he had just witnessed.

It was a series of scenes that made no sense in many ways.

It began with a massive mana wave he felt from the Training Forest next to his office.

A typical mana overload phenomenon.

If it had been an ordinary mana overload, even Landgar wouldn’t have noticed it, but his senses detected a special type of mana.

The wave of Black Magic that only practitioners could feel.

Landgar instinctively felt that the mana wave from the forest was related to the organization.

It was probably connected to the “drug” that had been secretly distributed to students recently.

A stimulant that temporarily raises the user’s potential beyond its limits.

Mana overload was one of the common side effects that occurred when consuming more than a certain amount of the drug.

They had managed to eliminate almost all other side effects, but this one showed no signs of being controlled.

Having sensed the presence of Black Magic, Landgar decided to move personally.

If anyone else at the Academy noticed something suspicious, it would cause a commotion.

The inter-grade competition had just started to quiet down, and he didn’t want to create another noisy situation.

Landgar arrived at the source of the wave, intending to quickly resolve the situation.

But faced with the unexpected scene before him, he hid himself instead of stepping forward.

The person confronting the flame humanoid in the Training Forest was Ryuyeong, someone Landgar had been meaning to meet personally.

The top-scoring freshman this year who had shown unbelievable skills during the competition.

Ryuyeong’s abilities, witnessed firsthand, exceeded Landgar’s expectations.

‘This is absolutely not student-level.’

The Ryuyeong he saw in person was at a level that could never be called a student.

Not just his skills, but his attitude in battle and unique presence made it impossible to see him as a student.

He was like a warrior who had been through countless battles.

Despite the urgent situation, there was a subtle sense of composure.

Moreover, Ryuyeong was deliberately avoiding harming the person experiencing mana overload.

Landgar knew very well how difficult it was to fight while controlling one’s strength to avoid injuring an opponent.

It was impossible without a significant difference in skill level.

Such a difference in level between students was unthinkable.

“Hmm.”

After confirming that Professor Amillion had taken care of the overloaded student and left the forest, Landgar returned to his office.

Sitting in his familiar office chair, Landgar let out a hollow laugh.

When he first saw Ryuyeong at the competition, he thought he would be a talent worth recruiting into the organization.

A commoner with no family and sufficient skills.

He had planned to meet him personally once his urgent matters were settled.

‘Who sent him?’

But after seeing Ryuyeong’s skills firsthand, Landgar’s thoughts changed completely.

Landgar was convinced that Ryuyeong was definitely not an ordinary student.

He didn’t know who sent him or for what purpose, but he was clearly a spy who had infiltrated the Academy.

‘I need to meet him quickly.’

The fortunate thing was that neither Ryuyeong nor Professor Amillion had sensed traces of Black Magic from the overloaded student.

Black Magic had been lost from the continent for decades.

It would be strange for those who had never encountered Black Magic to recognize its energy.

And the overloaded mana’s fire nature had erased many traces.

“Ryuyeong…”

Landgar thought he should summon Ryuyeong to his office as soon as tomorrow.

The incident in the Training Forest provided a sufficient pretext.

‘If he was sent by the church, I’ll have to deal with him immediately.’

Landgar’s expression grew more serious.

**

“How…”

“You know. It’s already too late.”

“…”

Professor Amillion’s expression darkened further.

The middle-aged man in a white coat shook his head at Amillion and walked out.

I wondered if I should be hearing this conversation, but what could I do?

Professor Amillion had told me to follow him.

‘That boy is unfortunate.’

Professor Amillion’s gaze turned to Cain lying on the bed.

Though he appeared fine externally, Cain had remained unconscious since collapsing earlier.

Cain Hover had missed the golden time to recover from his mana overload.

Even if Cain Hover regained consciousness, he would likely never be able to use mana again.

The only fortunate thing was that he had survived.

“Damn it…”

Professor Amillion muttered in a low voice.

It was still awkward witnessing this scene directly.

‘What excuse should I make?’

While Cain Hover’s situation was unfortunate, I had my own problems.

I had shown too much to Professor Amillion while dealing with Cain.

Not only consecutive teleportations but also drawing the Black Shadow Sword.

On top of that, I had openly emitted black mana.

“Can I leave now?”

I tried to break the awkward atmosphere.

“…No. We need to talk.”

“Hmm. Cain’s condition looks serious though.”

“…”

Professor Amillion’s gaze returned to Cain.

After staring at Cain for a while, Professor Amillion let out a long sigh and stood up.

“Let’s… change locations.”

“Where to?”

“To my office.”

Professor Amillion said this and left the ward without hesitation.

It was a surprisingly quick change in attitude from someone who had been looking at Cain with sympathetic eyes just moments ago.

This made me uneasy.

Thud- Thud-

The professor’s building wasn’t far from the treatment room.

After confirming I was following, Professor Amillion took the lead, and I quietly followed behind.

Surprisingly, Professor Amillion didn’t ask me anything on the way to his office.

It was a very uncomfortable silence.

‘Should I use Yuria as an excuse again?’

This still seemed like the most realistic option.

Given the situation, it was actually helpful that Lois Sinclair had discovered my identity previously.

At least I could tell a somewhat plausible lie.

Click-

We had arrived at Professor Amillion’s office.

“Sit here.”

“Yes.”

“Sigh. First of all.”

Professor Amillion let out a long sigh before speaking.

“Can you tell me how Cain ended up like that?”

“Ah.”

It was a natural question, but one I hadn’t expected.

I thought he would immediately ask about my identity or abilities.

“I’m not sure myself. He suddenly started shouting and went into overload.”

“Just suddenly?”

“Yes. Before the incident, we were having a minor argument. Just a simple dispute at a student level.”

“Hmm.”

“But then, as if he couldn’t control his anger, he suddenly shouted… ah.”

As I was explaining, I remembered something.

Cain didn’t just suddenly shout and go into overload.

“No, wait. He drank something.”

“Drank?”

“He drank something from a small vial, like a potion. After drinking it, he suddenly went into overload.”

I had been so focused on figuring out how to explain myself to Professor Amillion that I had momentarily forgotten.

Thinking about it, there was definitely something suspicious about Cain’s overload.

After drinking the potion, he suddenly became stronger, and later couldn’t handle his own power and anger.

“That’s right. Did you find any potion among Cain’s belongings?”

“There was… no potion.”

“Then it might still be at the scene. After drinking it, he suddenly became stronger, and eventually his mana went into overload.”

“He lost control after drinking a potion…?”

Professor Amillion’s expression turned serious.

Looking back, it was 100% certain.

Cain wasn’t an unskilled mage who couldn’t control his mana.

He was skilled enough to rank in the top 7 in the entrance exam and handled magic very well.

For someone like that to suddenly lose control, there must have been external interference.

No matter how emotional he became, reaching the stage of mana overload made no sense.

“I’ll have that investigated right away. Investigation teams are already at the scene. And as for student Ryu.”

Amillion nodded seriously while naturally changing the subject.

“Many explanations are needed. Starting with that sword.”

‘Ah.’

Now came the interrogation I had been worried about.

Amillion’s eyes looked even more serious than when he was asking about Cain.

“This sword is something I happened to acquire…”

“I’d appreciate if you didn’t try to get by with lies. I saw everything up close.”

“…”

I knew Professor Amillion’s reputation.

The title “The Penetrating One” wasn’t given for nothing.

It was a title given for his exceptional ability to read mana.

And in front of such a person, I had not only used teleportation but also the Black Shadow Sword.

‘I guess I’ll have to be direct.’

I had hoped to hide as much as possible, but it seemed difficult.

“As you suspected.”

“Yes.”

“I didn’t enroll in the Academy as a regular student.”

“I figured as much.”

Despite my somewhat shocking statement, Professor Amillion wasn’t surprised at all.

He seemed to have predicted this much.

‘Well, whatever.’

“I belong to the Phrysis Family.”

“…What?”

“Specifically, I work under Yuria Phrysis.”

Finally, Professor Amillion’s expression changed.

He hadn’t reacted when I said I wasn’t a student, but now he frowned.

His expression showed he couldn’t easily believe it.

“It’s true. If you don’t believe me, you can ask her yourself. Not anyone else, but ‘Yuria Phrysis’ directly.”

“…”

I wondered if it was right to tell an Academy professor that I had enrolled under false pretenses, but I had no choice.

Professor Amillion was speechless for a while.