“I need to hear the Goddess’s answer before I decide what to do. See you next time, Mr. Ex!”
Elia headed straight for the academy’s main building.
Her words lingered in his mind like the aftermath of a storm.
‘The Goddess Elysia?’
No such being existed in this world.
Deuslute was not the only divine entity in existence.
But there was definitely no goddess named Elysia.
That left only one possible meaning.
‘The author, Elysia, interfered directly.’
The moment Ex reached that conclusion, the system appeared.
『Notification! An element incapable of establishing plausibility has been discovered. The discovered element has been assigned Plausibility Destruction Grade B. You have been granted a Plausibility Advantage accordingly.』
『Plausibility Advantage acquired: Learning Ability +50%』
『You have acquired 50,000 Editing Points.』
‘Just as I thought…’
Elia was an element that destroyed plausibility.
And she was Grade B at that.
From the looks of it, she was Elysia’s latest attempt to attack him.
‘Does she not have enough points to change the entire plot?’
Ex checked Elia’s Character Information once more.
『Character Information
「Basic Information
Name: Elia
Race: Human
Special Traits: System Holder」
「Base Stats
Stamina: 5.1
Intelligence: 0.5
Agility: 4.7
Magic Power: 6.2
Luck: 1.1
Charm: 5.0」
Talents
Monstrous Strength and Chaotic Spirits (S): Stamina +4.0, Agility +4.0
Sea of Mana (S): Magic Power +5.0
Peerless Beauty (S): Charm +4.0, Persuasion +50%
Heaven-Blessed Intuition (S): Discovers a path to survival in moments of crisis.
Analytical Eye (S): Analyzes and learns merely by observing.」
「Titles
-」』
‘This is insane…’
Her stats were beyond absurd.
Even if he only considered her Base Stats, they were high enough for her to defeat Leon.
Worse yet, her Talents were so viciously overpowered that Ex genuinely wanted to know what Elysia had been thinking when she gave them to her.
‘She doesn’t have any Titles?’
The strangest part was how abnormally low her Intelligence was. It was only 0.5.
‘There’s no way Elysia couldn’t raise it because she ran out of points.’
It had to be intentional.
Once Ex considered that, he quickly arrived at an answer.
‘A weapon meant to be used once and discarded wouldn’t need intelligence.’
In other words, Elia had been created solely to perform certain predetermined actions.
Since intelligence was unnecessary, there was a strong possibility Elysia had deliberately stripped it away.
After all, if Elia were too intelligent, she would be impossible to control.
‘This is insane. How the hell am I supposed to deal with something like her…?’
Whether it was due to some quirk in Elia’s personality or not, she had left without finishing him off.
Fortunately, everything she had said left him with plenty of information.
‘The Goddess hasn’t answered her lately. She needs to hear the Goddess’s answer… That means she has some way to communicate directly with Elysia.’
For some reason, however, it seemed that communication was currently impossible.
— There’s no way he’s this weak. This can’t be the trial…
‘Has she fallen into some kind of hero complex? If that’s the case…’
Ex reconstructed the situation from the information he had inferred.
Elysia needed to create a weapon capable of killing Ex, but she had to do it with limited resources.
Then what would be the most efficient way to make that weapon?
Ex discovered an answer so revolting that it made his stomach turn.
‘I really hope I’m wrong about this.’
But if that was the answer, there was a way to deal with it.
***
Elia’s appearance changed nothing.
Roxwell still dragged Ex to the training grounds at six every morning, just as he always had.
“Your concentration has improved. Did you finally decide to change your attitude?”
“I’ve always given my best.”
“Don’t waste your breath on excuses not even a fool would believe.”
Perhaps because of the Plausibility Advantage, the effects of training felt far greater than usual.
Something that once required ten repetitions now took only five, and once Ex learned something, he no longer forgot it.
On top of that, he trained for twelve hours every day, so rumors soon began spreading.
“That guy’s relentless. He’s still training, even with everything going on?”
“Is that Screamweed or some kind of monster weed? And why did he dye his hair?”
“Hey, shouldn’t we be doing something too?”
Several students who had been watching from a distance began showing up at the training grounds.
Among them was someone Ex knew all too well.
“Hello!”
Elia was there too.
When Roxwell saw her for the first time, he frowned beneath the weight of her unsettling stare.
“…What are you doing?”
“Watching? Observing? Something like that! Anyway, I’m keeping an eye on you!”
With astonishing boldness, Elia stood off to the side and watched Roxwell train Ex.
“Ex, do you know her?”
“No, sir.”
“Then why is she following you around?”
“I’d prefer not to know.”
At that moment, Elia made a proud declaration.
“I have to kill Mr. Ex!”
Roxwell took a moment to consider how he was supposed to respond to that.
“Ex. It sounds like you did something wrong. Let her kill you once.”
“If I die, won’t you get fired, Professor?”
“It may still be worth attempting.”
“Please tell me you’re joking…”
From that day onward, Elia continued watching Ex train.
Telling her not to watch would never have been enough to stop her.
On one occasion, Ex asked her directly.
“Ms. Elia, why are you watching me?”
“I don’t have anything else to do! The Goddess has been quiet!”
That was her reason.
Fortunately, aside from the sudden ambush on the first day, she behaved herself.
Ex spent two nights wide awake, expecting her to come assassinate him, but nothing happened.
When he turned the tables and went to observe her in the middle of the night, he saw something strange.
“…”
Elia sat still, gazing up at the night sky.
That was all.
Ex watched her for a long time, but she did nothing else. Eventually, she simply went to sleep.
‘Is she even human?’
It was difficult to say she lived anything resembling a normal life.
Aside from the minimum biological activity necessary to keep herself alive and coming to monitor Ex, she did absolutely nothing.
She was like a tool.
‘Getting information out of her won’t be easy at this rate.’
Time passed, and Sunday arrived, the final day of Ex’s twelve-hour-a-day hell training.
The results were quite good.
『Base Stats
Stamina: 2.0 [Increased by 0.5]
Intelligence: 2.0
Agility: 2.0 [Increased by 0.5]
Magic Power: 1.5
Demonic Power: 1.0 [Sealed State]
Luck: 0.0 [Fixed]
Charm: 1.0』
His physical abilities had improved considerably.
Both Stamina and Agility had reached 2.0, the highest value he could currently purchase. That allowed him to save a considerable number of points.
One of his Talents had also changed.
『You have achieved complete mastery of Basic Swordsmanship (F).
It has been changed to Novice Swordsmanship (E).』
Basic Swordsmanship had evolved into Novice Swordsmanship.
Ex had become far more accustomed to wielding a sword.
Rather than limiting himself to the three stances of the Three Talents Sword Art, he could now adapt his swordsmanship and use it more flexibly.
Even Roxwell offered him something resembling praise.
“You are putting in some effort.”
“Thank you.”
“About as much effort as it takes to breathe.”
“…”
As the training session came to an end, Roxwell continued his evaluation.
“You’re a mage. What I’m teaching you is extremely basic swordsmanship and the practical combat experience required to use it. The difference between someone who has experience and someone who doesn’t becomes painfully obvious in a real battle.”
At present, everyone at the academy knew Ex as a mage.
That was because of his battle against Circe.
He had actually used magic during the fight, so it was only natural that people considered him a mage.
‘No one knows I can use aura yet.’
Lung might know, but he was not a man who spoke carelessly.
There was no need to worry about him.
Roxwell’s evaluation came to an end, and they were about to wrap up the training session.
“Mr. Ex, you’ve finally gotten stronger!”
Elia, who had been watching from the side, approached him.
“Let’s duel! Or fight? That’s what we should do!”
“…Do we really have to?”
“The Goddess said so! The greater the trial, the stronger the hero becomes!”
It was a fight Ex would clearly lose.
The result was already obvious.
“Fine. Let’s spar.”
“A sparring match!”
Ex accepted.
He needed to find out how effective his recent growth would be against her.
Besides, Roxwell was standing right beside them. Ex did not have to worry about being killed.
“Tell me when you think you’re about to die. I’ll at least listen to your final words.”
Now Ex was a little worried.
With Roxwell watching, the sparring match began.
Elia took her stance, still smiling brightly.
Ex tensed every muscle in his body.
The force behind Elia’s sword was beyond imagination.
Blocking it directly was not an option.
‘In that case…’
He lowered his stance and closed the distance.
The best defense would be a relentless offense.
Ex swung upward at her shoulder, but Elia raised her sword vertically.
Clang!
Their swords collided, yet she did not move even slightly.
She merely watched Ex with a smile, as though she were enjoying every second of this.
“You’re hiding some kind of secret move, aren’t you?”
“I don’t have anything like that!”
Since he could not break through her defense, Ex switched to thrusts.
He stepped back, assumed his stance, and immediately lunged.
His sword shot smoothly toward her head.
“What kind of trick is this supposed to be?”
Elia simply turned her head and avoided it.
Ex thrust several more times, but she easily read, deflected, or dodged every attack.
‘Her physical abilities are ridiculous…!’
He immediately tried to change stances and aim for another opening.
“I learned too!”
Elia’s sword came crashing down before he could.
‘I didn’t even see it!’
Ex hurriedly raised his sword to defend himself.
But his stance was misaligned, and the impact knocked his blade aside.
‘What kind of strength is this…?!’
During the brief instant Ex needed to recover his sword, Elia assumed another stance.
A moment later, her blade swept horizontally toward his neck.
“So this is how you do it?”
“Urgh…!”
Ex hurriedly threw his upper body backward.
The edge of her blade narrowly grazed his Adam’s apple.
He avoided the strike, but his stance collapsed completely.
Elia skillfully refused to let that opening escape.
Clang! Claang! Clang!
A relentless barrage of sword strikes descended upon him.
Every last one was sharp, precise, and potentially lethal.
The force behind her blade made Ex’s hands sting and his fingers go numb.
‘She’s skilled. There’s no way she’s still a beginner.’
Considering that she had done nothing but recklessly swing her sword on the first day, her improvement was impossible to believe.
‘Her Base Stats are monstrous, and her growth rate is monstrous too?’
She had completely seized control of the fight.
Ex was too busy blocking each attack to establish a proper stance of his own.
Her physical abilities also far surpassed his.
Creating distance would accomplish nothing.
If he wanted to reverse the situation, he needed something decisive.
‘I need to break her rhythm. In that case…!’
Ex pointed at Elia’s feet.
“Watch your step. There’s a rock in front of you.”
“Ah! A rock!”
He had used Ten Thousand Lies, so she was completely deceived.
It had only cost him 100 points.
Ex planned to seize the initiative the moment she moved to avoid the rock and readjusted her stance.
Or at least, that was what he thought would happen.
“I can just smash it!”
Boom!
Elia drove her foot into the ground with tremendous force.
Cracks spread through the earth as the ground caved beneath her.
Even if there had been a rock there, it would have been pulverized.
‘What the…?’
Far from being disrupted, her stance became even more stable.
The result was the exact opposite of what Ex had intended.
Maintaining that rock-solid stance, Elia brought her sword straight down.
It was a vertical slash delivered from a perfectly grounded position.
If Ex tried to block it poorly, both his sword and his body would be split in half.
More importantly, Elia had no intention of stopping her blade.
She had swung with the absolute determination to kill him.
‘This is driving me insane…!’
Strategies and plans no longer mattered. Survival came first.
Ex immediately drew up his mana.
In a fraction of a second, the calculated spell took shape as a magic array.
The manifested spell consisted of two Magic Arrows.
Magic circles formed instantly on either side of Ex.
The spells activated faster than Elia’s hand could move.
The two arrows shot toward her hand and head.
“You can use magic!”
Even as Elia exclaimed in admiration, she twisted her head aside to avoid the arrow.
But she could not evade the one aimed at her hand.
Bang!
“Ow, that hurts!”
A powerful impact rang out, and Elia’s sword wavered.
No matter how stable her stance was, even she could not remain completely composed after being struck by a sudden attack.
‘Now…!’
Ex did not let the opportunity escape.
He stepped into the opening and began an upward slash.
“That’s enough.”
Roxwell appeared between them.
The sparring match came to an abrupt end.
“You.”
Roxwell glared sharply at Elia.
“Were you truly trying to kill him?”
Only then did Ex notice that Roxwell had seized Elia’s left arm.
He was gripping it so tightly that the part beneath his hand trembled with a harsh grinding sound.
Ex finally understood what had happened.
Elia’s left hand had been aimed directly at his heart.
‘I really almost died…!’
The instant the spell struck her wrist, she had tried to crush his heart at a speed too fast for him to even perceive.
If Roxwell had not been there, Ex would have died without ever understanding what had killed him.
Even after Roxwell’s furious question, Elia continued to smile.
She looked as though she had simply enjoyed the entire experience.
“I never lie!”
“Do you understand what you’re saying right now?”
“But Mr. Ex is an evil being who will destroy the world! He deceived me just now and used his hidden trump card!”
“…This is maddening.”
Roxwell released Elia’s arm.
Apparently, he had decided that continuing the conversation was pointless.
“Go back and clear your head. If you threaten the life of another student like this again, I will not let it pass.”
Elia stared at Roxwell as though she could not understand his answer.
After thinking for a moment, her expression grew complicated.
“…I got scolded.”
Elia turned and left.
Only after she disappeared from sight did the suffocating tension finally ease.
‘I survived…’
“That was too pathetic to watch.”
That was Roxwell’s assessment after witnessing the sparring match.
Ex could not stop himself from complaining.
“I did my best. She’s completely beyond normal standards.”
“Wasn’t this the result of your own careless response? Good grief. You’ve made every lesson I taught you seem utterly pointless.”
Ex had plenty he wanted to say, but he held his tongue.
The atmosphere suggested that any further complaints would earn him a beating.
Roxwell considered the matter for a long moment before speaking seriously.
“Ex, you need to be on your guard.”
“I know. The Grand Festival is almost here…”
“That isn’t what I mean. I’m talking about that girl.”
Roxwell glared in the direction Elia had disappeared.
“She copied the swordsmanship you spent all this time learning simply by ‘watching’ it. In less than a week.”
The answer sent a chill through Ex.
‘So this is what the Analytical Eye Talent does.’
Analytical Eye (S), one of Elia’s Talents.
After recalling its description, Ex finally understood her astonishing rate of improvement.
“Ex, I don’t know what kind of relationship you have with that girl. But I can say this with certainty.”
Roxwell raised a single index finger.
“In one month, there will be an overwhelming gap between the two of you.”
“One month?”
“That is what it means to be a ‘genius.’”
Put another way, if Elia attacked Ex again in a month, he would ‘certainly die.’
His situation was already dangerous enough, yet it would only become worse. A cold shiver ran down his spine.
The fact that Elia had taken an interest in ‘magic’ was also dangerous.
‘With a system, it’s only a matter of time before she can use aura and magic together.’
The worst possible outcome would be if she could also use divine power like Hero Leon.
If that happened, it truly would be over.
Even so, Ex had already prepared a countermeasure.
‘Elia worships Elysia with fanatical devotion.’
That information alone was enough.
As long as he had that, making Elysia suffer was no longer an impossible dream.
‘The moment a god bleeds, they cease to be a god.’
Ex hardened his resolve.
Before that, however, he had a mountain of preparations to make.
Ex immediately called out to Roxwell.
“Professor, could you take a look at this?”
Until now, there had never been a student at the academy who used both ‘aura’ and ‘magic.’
Everyone believed such a thing was ‘impossible.’
But that was about to change.
“You…! That light around your sword…!”
Roxwell stared in shock at the blue light rippling across Ex’s blade.
“A mage using aura… How…?”
The plausibility of a mage using aura could not be established. Yet there was no penalty.
That was because Roxwell, just like Circe, was someone whose memories had been sealed.
‘I should’ve done this from the beginning. It isn’t without its problems, but I have a much bigger problem to deal with now.’
Until now, Roxwell had considered Ex a ‘mage’ who happened to know how to wield a sword.
Because of that, Roxwell had never taught him the things he would need as a ‘martial artist.’ He had believed Ex was incapable of learning them.
But now that Ex could use ‘aura,’ everything had changed.
“How strong of an opponent can I fight like this?”
“…Can you use magic in that state too?”
“Of course. Why would I bother learning both if I couldn’t?”
“Ha… You absurd bastard.”
Roxwell laughed in disbelief, but his expression soon turned serious.
“If you are my ‘disciple,’ then I will not tolerate you losing, whether your opponent is a ‘hero’ or a ‘genius.’ Your Academic Ranking no longer matters.”
It was the first time Roxwell had called Ex his ‘disciple.’
Ex smiled at that subtle change and answered.
“Of course, Master.”
Then Ex made a declaration to Elysia, who was no doubt watching through Roxwell’s viewpoint.
‘I’ll make full use of my cheats too.’
–TL Notes–
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