106 — Throwing a Stone and Getting Pulled In

1

After-school, in the club room.

Everyone was gathered, except for Anais.

With a click, the door opened, and Nia and Manus entered, having finished their classes, completing the gathering.

The club room, without Anais’s red hair, felt strangely empty.

“We’re all here, huh? It’s been a while since we’ve had everyone together like this.”

“What’s the reason you called us?”

Emerson looked at Manus, the one who had summoned them, and asked.

Manus opened his spatial storage pouch and poured out all the artifacts inside.

Clatter, clatter-!

Crash-!

Magic tools that could each be worth several gold coins tumbled out onto the large table.

“This, this is…”

“When did you collect all these? These came from the Tower, right?”

“That’s right.”

It was time to distribute the equipment.

Emerson’s face began to pale.

“You, you want me to appraise all of these?”

“Yes. Is that impossible?”

Manus looked at Emerson with a slight smile.

As if he were taunting her, saying, ‘You can’t even handle this?’

He was effectively manipulating Emerson’s personality.

Indeed, she made a face of irritation and picked up an artifact.

Emerson’s appraisal ability allowed her to appraise one item at a time.

In the game, requesting appraisals was a system that often caused players to complain.

[Oh? What’s up?]

-Request an appraisal.-

[Appraisal? Sure, I’ll do it. Which artifact should I appraise?]

-Select item-

[Leave it to me!]

-Post-appraisal option description-

Since appraisal was treated as a single event, appraising dozens of artifacts meant seeing the same lines dozens of times.

Later, they introduced a convenience patch, but…

‘I didn’t expect this to be the case here.’

Manus held back a smile.

Emerson was indeed appraising each item slowly, one by one.

Manus was able to check the text for the options in real time, but none of them had good options so far.

Once they passed ten items, Emerson’s concentration began to wane.

But she gritted her teeth and appraised all of the items.

Thirty-two in total.

She wiped the sweat from her brow and caught her breath.

“Whew… It’s done!”

“Impressive. Maybe we can increase the number next time.”

“This is just too much! You’re going to work me to death!”

Emerson shouted in protest.

Manus chuckled and said, “I’m just kidding.”

“Ugh… You’re becoming more devious, aren’t you?”

Emerson muttered that if it weren’t for the pocket money, she would have quit immediately.

The atmosphere lightened a bit.

Not only did she appraise the artifacts, but she also neatly categorized them based on their effects.

Items found between the 70th and 77th floors were mostly accessories.

Rings, bracelets, necklaces, chokers, and so on.

Artifacts that were both stylish and inconspicuous were the main focus.

From among them, Manus selected two pieces each with the options ‘Magic Power Amplification’ and ‘Mana Consumption Reduction.’

“Emerson, distribute these.”

“Yes, first—”

To the versatile Kael, she handed a bracelet with the option to reduce mana consumption.

There were many with overlapping options, so she chose the one with the best effect.

Pearson received a ring with the effect of ‘Buff Magic Effect Amplification,’ and Melanie and Guillermo were given necklaces with the effect of ‘Increased Physical and Magic Defense.’

“I only need to use specific magic well. Do you have anything suitable?”

Nia said with a relaxed expression.

She glanced briefly at Manus before turning her gaze back to the artifacts.

It seemed like everyone else knew, but only Guillermo and she had been kept in the dark.

To be honest, she thought it was quite unfair.

If she had known a little earlier—

‘I could have had all this to myself.’

She clicked her tongue and picked up an artifact.

Emerson continued her explanation.

“That one looks like it can store a magic spell and then amplify its power.”

“Huh, I see.”

It was an artifact that allowed one to store a spell in it and then use that spell with increased power.

Such magic tools could be worth a few gold, if not dozens.

These days, the technology to craft artifacts had developed enough that they had become more common…

“I love the Tower. You get things like this, right? It’s like we’re enjoying special privileges.”

She said while wearing the artifact.

Manus glanced at Nia for a moment and then turned away.

The remaining items could be handed over to the chairman.

Alano, after selecting an artifact she liked, looked at Manus.

He would probably go for training again, wouldn’t he?

They hadn’t had much time to connect recently due to his busy schedule.

“Manus.”

“Hmm?”

“Want to go up the Tower with me today?”

Manus nodded lightly.

He hadn’t taken a good run up the Tower recently.

It would be a good time to farm equipment, level up Alano, and so on—quite a solid choice.

At her suggestion, Nia raised her hand enthusiastically.

“Me too! I want to go too!”

Manus nodded again, then left the club room.

“Gather everyone and come.”

After he disappeared, Nia let out a sigh.

She looked around at the atmosphere before muttering in a complaining tone.

“We’re in the second year, but he acts like he’s the leader—huh? What’s with everyone?”

Nia looked around, feeling the cold stares.

The intensity of the first-year students, along with Alano’s presence.

Everyone’s gaze was practically burning.

Melanie, who had to join Manus for training, stood up and spoke.

“S-Senior, you might think this is rude, but… everyone here has received help from Senior Manus.”

“…”

“That’s right. We all know that Senior Manus isn’t the most gentle person, but thanks to him, we’ve grown this much.”

Pearson also chimed in, supporting Melanie’s words.

Nia realized that she had made a serious mistake.

Ah, they’re already tightly bound together.

Manus, it seemed, was a much more clever and political figure than she had thought.

Scratching her head, she opened her mouth.

“Haha, sorry. But I came here because of a bet, right? I didn’t know.”

“He’s been paying close attention to everyone. Manus has.”

Alano added, pressing Nia further, making the situation even more awkward for her.

In the end, she decided to take a step back for now.

Instead, she wanted to throw a small stone before leaving.

The gentle ripples on the lake could turn into fierce waves with the right wind.

Nia was determined not to live a life where she was dragged around by someone else.

That determination had turned into suspicion and independence from Manus.

“Yeah, but I still don’t get it. According to you, I’m… an outsider, right?”

“Senior, that’s not what we—”

Nia tossed a small pebble to the naive ones and then left.

This could be quite entertaining, couldn’t it?

For a group that seemed tightly bound, there was merit in investigating further.

Caesar.

There’s no way that great family didn’t know about this.

Or perhaps the academy was hiding some cruel and terrifying truth.

Even the chairman was on Manus’s side, so it wouldn’t be an easy investigation.

‘But, if I can use this well—.’

There are two ways to rise.

One is to work hard and surpass others.

The other—

2

Several days passed.

Despite her words, Nia seemed to get along quite well with Manus.

Anais and Kael also spent their time preparing for the student council president election.

Kael prepared for her relatively weaker area: interviews.

She sought a lot of advice from Alano, who kindly shared strategies with her.

[Understand the personalities of the professors.]

[Make sure to clearly express what you want.]

[Present specific methods but show that you are willing to accept advice.]

Kael took her senior’s advice to heart as she prepared for her interview.

Anais focused on physical strength, continuing her training.

To beat Kael, she needed overwhelming power above all else.

Just as those two spent their time busy with preparations, the others also used their time meaningfully.

In particular, Manus was busy making sure his comrades had the right equipment, running the gauntlet.

Even Alano, Nia, and Guillermo were left in awe.

Who was the most dissatisfied?

Of course—

“Senior! I’m not an appraisal vending machine!”

“…I apologize. But it can’t be helped.”

“Ugh!”

It was Emerson.

She was being run ragged, just like in the game.

If it was just climbing the Tower together, that would be one thing.

But every day!

After school, she was exploited by Manus in the club room.

Manus apologized, but his face didn’t look sorry at all.

The issue was that Emerson was making quite a bit of money from it, and the more she did, the better her appraisal skills got.

Because of that, even though she grumbled, she didn’t skip any appraisals.

“You’ll improve the more you do it.”

“Okay. Leave it to me.”

“From now on, I’ll bring mana stones for you too.”

“Really?”

Manus nodded lightly.

Appraising required mana, and absorbing mana stones was essential for handling large workloads.

That level of investment was worth making.

He could just do more farming.

Time passed fairly, and the much-anticipated interview was set for the next day.

Today, no one went up the Tower, and they enjoyed a peaceful night.

Anais looked up at the night sky, lost in thought.

‘By the way, when will the underside of the Tower end?’

She had almost forgotten.

In the life she originally led, there was no Tower.

The academy was a place to build culture and knowledge, a place to study hard to prepare for entering society.

She never imagined she would get entangled in something so crucial in a place she was just passing through.

Her father and mother had met at the academy as well.

Did they know about the Tower’s existence?

“I don’t know—.”

They say time dulls emotions.

Anais, too, found that the initial surge of emotions had faded quite a bit.

She wanted to surpass Kael.

She also wanted to understand her own limits accurately.

Did Kael still consider her a friend?

Her head throbbed with too many worries.

“Snore—.”

“…She sleeps so soundly.”

Seeing her roommate sleeping peacefully with her belly exposed, kicking off the blanket, Anais felt that she was truly living in a world outside the ordinary.

She thought.

If she could surpass Kael and become the student council president—

What kind of first-year student did she want to be?

How did she want to live over the next four years?

She looked at the starry night sky and pondered for a long time.

It was a night filled with deep thoughts.

–TL Notes–
Hope you enjoyed this chapter. If you want to support me or give me feedback, you can do it at patreon.com/MattReading

Join my Discord! https://discord.gg/BWaP3AHHpt