Ch.7070. Inventory Demonstration

The golden three-day holiday after midterms had finally come to an end.

I was dragged to the Imperial Palace just yesterday, and then immediately had to tackle the newly appeared Rift without getting proper rest.

Fortunately, the weekend was still ahead, but from what I could see, there was no chance of relaxing during the remaining days either.

“Ah, Ludion! Over here!”

In front of the student cafeteria. I could see Celia greeting me cheerfully.

As always, it seemed she had arrived early to wait for me.

The strange thing was, I felt bad about making her wait every time, so I’d been gradually arriving earlier and earlier, but somehow nothing changed.

I was getting close to arriving 30 minutes early now, but seriously, how early was she getting here?

Anyway, I had something to do today.

I needed to figure out how to use the Inventory that had been unlocked during yesterday’s Rift exploration.

I had experimented on my own after returning to the dormitory, but there was only so much I could learn from testing in my room.

That’s why today I planned to thoroughly examine the Inventory’s functions and potential uses with Celia’s help.

But… for some reason, there was another very familiar figure standing next to her.

“Good morning, Ludion.”

“President. What brings you here?”

“I came to have breakfast, and I saw Celia standing here. After chatting briefly, it seems you two have plans. Is that right?”

“Well, yes…”

“Could it be a date?”

What’s this? I didn’t expect such a question from Alkine.

“It’s nothing like that.”

“Then may I join you?”

Since it wasn’t that kind of appointment, I casually denied it, and Alkine immediately asked to join as if she’d been waiting for the opportunity.

She said something about helping us if we had something to do, but it seemed like she just wanted to tag along.

This is really strange today. What’s gotten into her?

‘Ah, maybe she wants to repay me?’

I guess that makes sense. She did receive a lot of help from me.

If we’re looking at the root cause, it was my fault for twisting the original story, but in the end, I was the one who helped resolve the situation.

“You’ll have to come by later to write reports anyway, right? Let’s go together when you’re done.”

“…Can’t I rest on the weekend?”

“You’re already out here doing something, aren’t you?”

…Maybe her goal wasn’t to repay me but to make me work.

Still, I couldn’t bring myself to refuse. I felt a bit guilty.

After hearing about the situation later, I realized Alkine had nearly gotten into serious trouble. If I had stayed at the Imperial Palace just one more day… the thought alone sent chills down my spine.

And since that situation was partly my fault for provoking Diggers… well, you know?

No one knows it was my fault, so I could brazenly refuse, but somehow I couldn’t bring myself to do it.

“Fine. Let’s go together. Celia, is that okay?”

“…Yes. It’s fine.”

And that’s how Alkine ended up joining our Inventory research group.

Alright then… first, breakfast.

The reason I met Celia in front of the student cafeteria was primarily to have breakfast.

We could have met near the dormitory, but considering there had been some unpleasant incidents related to the dormitory before, I was being cautious.

Lately, Celia’s fanbase seemed to be growing, and I didn’t want to give anyone a reason to report us and cause more trouble.

Actually, Celia was more sensitive about this than I was, so I didn’t really need to worry…

“What are you thinking about? Let’s go in.”

The problem is that if we keep hanging out like this, we’ll eventually run into trouble.

Well, we’re all academy students, so there shouldn’t be much to worry about.

I snapped out of my thoughts at Celia’s words and headed into the student cafeteria.

“Ms. Alkine.”

“Hmm?”

“Let’s talk later.”

“Why are you—”

“Don’t pretend you don’t know. It’s obvious.”

“…Alright.”

Celia let me go ahead and had this conversation with Alkine while keeping some distance, but I couldn’t hear what they were whispering about.

///

As I mentioned before, there were many unused—or more precisely, undeveloped—areas on the academy grounds.

If you searched these places well enough, you could find spaces that could serve as decent clearings.

“This looks good.”

After finishing our meal, we walked through the nearby forest to aid digestion and found a fairly spacious area with few trees.

Since it wasn’t located too far away, there were occasional signs that someone had visited before, but it was still a secluded place. It didn’t seem like anyone would come by anytime soon.

Now, let’s begin the Inventory demonstration.

First, I should give a simple explanation.

“I gained a new ability while conquering the Rift this time…”

“Again? Is it another useless ability like last time?”

Come on, Ms. Celia. Don’t mock me and just stay quiet.

This snake pattern already makes me laugh every time I see it.

“Again? What else was there?”

“He recently learned something strange. It’s a long explanation, but basically, you can think of it as a useless ability.”

“Now I’m even more curious.”

“Excuse me? That’s not the important part right now.”

I cut off their conversation about useless abilities and continued my explanation.

Well, it was just about being able to store items.

I thought they might not understand if I called it an “Inventory,” so I described it as a personal spatial storage, which seemed to be well-received.

As soon as she heard the explanation, Celia asked as if she’d realized something.

“So that’s why the sword you always carried isn’t visible anymore?”

“That’s right.”

The sword that had always been at my waist and was quite bothersome.

I had already put it in my Inventory a while ago.

I did feel a bit empty without it after carrying it for so long, but the convenience of not having it outweighed that feeling. After all, the less baggage, the better.

There was no worry about forgetting what items I had stored.

Amazingly, there was a system window with the same inventory interface as in games.

I could even organize it however I wanted.

‘This is totally like a game.’

Well, things like dodging and parrying were already game-like… but seeing it visually like this felt quite significant.

At that moment, Alkine asked casually.

“I understand the concept of a spatial pocket ability, but I don’t quite get it. Could you demonstrate how it works?”

“Of course.”

That’s why we came all the way to this secluded place in the first place.

I casually pulled out the sword from my Inventory.

When the previously non-existent sword suddenly appeared out of thin air, Celia and Alkine were quite taken aback.

“…It just comes out of thin air? What’s the principle behind this?”

“How would I know?”

“This is the kind of ability that would cause an uproar if used in front of Grain.”

…Huh? Come to think of it, I’m curious. How would Grain see this?

It might be as unremarkable as dodging or parrying, but we won’t know until I show her.

Well, I’ll figure that out later. Right now, we’re focusing on the Inventory.

Their surprise was completely understandable.

A spatial pocket merely had more space inside than it appeared, but it was still just a pocket that required rummaging through every time you wanted to put something in or take something out.

While it could hold more items and somewhat alleviated the weight issue, it was still essentially a bundle of luggage.

But the Inventory was different. The entire process of putting in and taking out was skipped, with only the result appearing.

It must have seemed completely beyond common sense.

But in games, this is normal, right?

After all, when changing equipment in games, characters don’t fumble around changing clothes, taking knives out of bags, and organizing their inventory.

Following dodging and parrying, the Inventory also demonstrated performance that defied common sense, which made me happy.

Then, Celia, who had been watching me, spoke up.

“…You look like you’re having fun. But is there more to this? I doubt you brought us all the way here just to show us this.”

She was right. If I only wanted to use the Inventory’s storage function, there would have been no need to arrange this meeting.

The reason we came all the way to this secluded place… was to experiment with how far the Inventory could be utilized.

‘Even if it’s a game-like function, this is still reality.’

While the Inventory function itself was already overpowered and could be used just like in games without any issues, I wanted to see if there were other ways to use it.

“Celia. Could you create a mana sphere and make it float?”

For instance, I wondered if I could put things other than objects into the Inventory.

I approached the mana sphere that Celia created.

Now, let’s start the first experiment…

BOOM!

“Ah.”

The moment I tried to put the mana sphere into the Inventory, it exploded.

I was thrown back and crashed into a tree that had been standing quietly, briefly losing consciousness from the unexpected impact.

“Ludion?!”

“Celia! What did you do?!”

“I don’t know! I was definitely maintaining it stably…”

I could hear their panicked conversation as my consciousness faded.

The first time I’ve fainted since coming to this world, and it’s because “mana exploded when I tried to put it in my Inventory.”

‘That’s hilarious.’

It was my own doing, but it felt pretty stupid.

I was too careless. I’ll need to be more careful next time.

With that thought, my consciousness slipped away.

And so, the great first experiment ended in absurd failure.