I Became a Munchkin Spirit Sorcerer at the Academy

2 – Artificial Sorcery Tool

“At least there’s that.”

I repeatedly clenched and opened my fist, suppressing the joy rising from deep within.

With this, I had secured the minimum power necessary to defend myself.

“Though it still doesn’t feel great.”

Sorcery was quite a profound discipline.

A venerable discipline derived from the metaphysics of yin and yang, interpreting all phenomena separated from the universe as yin and yang pairs.

But in the world I’m possessing now, ＜I Became a Genius Sorcerer at the Academy＞, sorcery was an ancient forgotten power, favored by the villains in the novel.

Curses, spirit mediums, evil arts – the villains constantly threatened the protagonist’s party using sorcery. And the protagonist’s party had to fight against the summoned yokai and approaching curses.

Of course, thanks to the insane abilities of my younger brother the protagonist and the heroines circling him, the villains didn’t get the chance to do anything.

Thinking about those crazy bastards severing yokai with swords, dispelling curses with magic, and lopping off the villains’ heads with magic swords made chills run down my spine.

If I make one wrong move, I’ll face the same ending as those bastards.

Though I need to twist the original story first.

To conclude, Harvey the third-rate villain had some talent in sorcery.

Compared to those lunatics who readily sacrificed people and abused sorcery like they were possessed, my talent was quite lacking, but for a useless sack of meat like me with no magical talent, discovering a new talent could be considered a blessing.

“Phew…”

Hiss…

Were there still remnants of power left? The muscles in my right arm were screaming loudly.

Clearly, not having a proper sorcery tool to contain the power of sorcery intact was a huge factor.

If I just had a medium, I could abuse sorcery freely.

Well, not abuse it, but I could definitely reduce the risks.

A sorcery tool could be said to be an essential item for using sorcery.

Just like how a mage always carries a magic wand, sorcery consumes the practitioner’s body slowly without the aid of a sorcery tool.

The villains in the novel also seemed to think using sorcery barehanded was insane, with how obsessively they searched for sorcery tools.

Seeing as they did crazy things like turning living people into artificial mummies just to find excellent sorcery tools, simply taking the risks barehanded was probably the better choice.

“A sorcery tool, huh.”

It was definitely something I desperately needed as someone without experience as a sorcerer.

Fundamentally, using sorcery always came with a price to pay for results, and what sorcery demanded as payment was the human soul – in other words, spiritual power.

The more frequently sorcery is used, and the greater the effects, it is unleashed upon the world at the cost of the user’s spiritual power.

Naturally, the more sorcery is used, the more it consumes the user’s soul, eventually leading to death…

But a sorcery tool could act as a safety device, substituting for the spiritual power demanded.

“Should I try to find one?”

With not much time left until the original story, I briefly considered trying to find a sorcery tool, but immediately shook my head.

A sorcery tool wasn’t some house pet I could just easily find if I looked for it.

The villains frantically climbed mountains and hills trying to find excellent sorcery tools, didn’t they?

Besides, my image within the academy was already rock bottom as Harvey.

On top of already earning the simmering scorn of the professors, skipping lessons on top of that?

“I’d rather bite my tongue and die.”

I’d immediately lose my place at the academy.

And I’d meet my end at some rural manor prepared by one of the families…

At the hands of sinister villains in hoods, no less.

I may not be on good terms with the protagonist, but I’m still officially Orphe’s older brother and the eldest son of the Artur house.

The villains would definitely try to use me as a pawn to shake up the protagonist somehow.

When I lost my use, they’d kill me to keep me quiet. And if I got caught while spying diligently, Orphe would turn me into an electrocuted fried chicken.

No, even if Orphe spared me, the heroines surrounding him definitely wouldn’t let me be.

“Those damn b*tches.”

To the readers, heroines were existences they could geek out over.

Who could dislike the heroines who supported the protagonist?

Moreover, in the novel communities, people would heatedly debate and take sides over the different heroines – ＜I Became a Genius Sorcerer at the Academy＞ was a work with excellent heroines.

While they were a blessing like rain in a drought to the readers, to me right now the heroines were extremely dangerous existences I had to be wary of.

The heroines who believed the protagonist’s words like iron – if Orphe felt even an ounce of pity for me, the heroines would immediately smash my head in with an iron club.

This is why blind faith is so frightening.

Ugh.

Phlegm wells up my throat through my esophagus.

The spit mixed with blood scatters near the flowerbed.

Undoubtedly the price to pay for forcefully gathering power just now.

Sorcery tool, sorcery.

The two keywords jumble my mind.

Discomfort shakes my brain, dominating my whole body.

I really didn’t like the situation.

To state it accurately, I really didn’t like my current situation of needing to obtain a sorcery tool.

If I just had a little more time, or had possessed this body a little earlier…

I wouldn’t be standing here stupidly shaking my head like an idiot.

“Damn Harvey, you bastard.”

He didn’t prepare anything, didn’t make any arrangements.

In the end, Harvey was just a brat who did nothing but whine for Orphe’s death while sucking his fingers in the corner of his room.

Now I understand why his father disowned him.

Not only was he a ne’er-do-well son, he even tried to kill his own brother?

If I were his father, I would have struck him from the records long ago.

After scolding the original owner of this body for a bit, I fell back into thought.

Taking the risks of sorcery with my bare body was impossible, but I was also short on time to find a tool.

But it’s not like there were no options at all.

“An artificial sorcery tool.”

Exactly as it sounds, a tool made artificially.

By performing a ritual to imbue a certain object with spiritual power, an artificial tool could be created.

The convenience of artificial tools was that they could be made artificially, but…

“They also have many drawbacks.”

While it was a huge merit that they didn’t need to be found and could be made artificially, artificial tools had many issues compared to natural ones.

Not only was their basic efficacy inferior to natural tools, but their return on investment was low.

Safe but with terrible returns.

“Tch.”

But a sorcery tool was a necessity for me right now.

No matter how subpar the performance of artificial tools were for the investment…

“It’s better than nothing.”

It would be better than having my soul ripped into four pieces and controlled by the villains, or getting killed by Orphe.

Artificial sorcery tool – let’s make one first.

Both my survival instincts and reason indicated this was a way I could survive.

“Let’s return to the dorm first.”

There was psychological pressure performing the ritual to create an artificial tool out in the open field.

Imagine someone else seeing me mumbling to myself out in the open.

From psycho thug Harvey to psycho madman Harvey in a day.

Tromp tromp.

I turn my steps towards the dorm.

Before I knew it, time was racing towards evening, the hour when students finished with club activities and left the academy.

To avoid running into anyone, Harvey picked up his pace and managed to return to the dorm safely.

And not long after Harvey entered the dorm…

“…”

Someone who had been watching Harvey’s every move was imprinting the sight of Harvey entering the dorm into their eyes.

********

The expression of the watcher observing Harvey from behind a tree sours.

Thwack.

The watcher clambers up a nearby tree to keep the sight of Harvey going inside fixed in their eyes until the end.

“Ha.”

A mature feminine voice flows out from the watcher dressed completely in black.

Slightly protruding breasts and smoothly stretched legs proved the watcher was a woman.

Whoosh.

As the wind blew, the hood covering her was stripped away, and ash gray hair with a tinge of black swayed in the wind.

“…What is he scheming?”

She had been tasked with watching Harvey, known as a scoundrel at the academy.

Harvey was like a walking, living time bomb.

There’s that saying that those with nothing left to lose are the most dangerous, right? That described Harvey perfectly.

Disowned by his family, and lost all friendly ties.

Because of his past wrongdoings, even the professors shunned Harvey.

In blunt terms, Harvey had become an outcast.

“Master…”

She recounted the commands given by the one she served.

– Keep an eye on Harvey.

– Why that scoundrel?

– From what I’ve seen of Harvey so far, he’ll definitely cause trouble no matter what.

– You mean…

– Yes, watch him so he doesn’t cause any major incidents. If you notice anything…

– Understood.

Just as her master said, Harvey was not someone who could accept his current circumstances.

In the past, Harvey was trash who would throw things and spew verbal abuse whenever he was in a slightly bad mood.

So she watched him as her master ordered, to stop him before he caused greater harm, a prudent way to protect her master’s honor.

But it was strange.

She watched Harvey for several days, but he didn’t cause any issues, obedient as a dog.

He didn’t throw things at commoners, or hurl abusive language at weaker classmates like before.

For several days he diligently attended classes, and after classes were over he quietly returned to the dorm to spend his time.

Harvey had started acting like the model students who had no friends.

“…How curious.”

Just what was he scheming?

She wanted to crack open his skull and peer into his brain, but her master’s orders came first for now.

“I should head back.”

Today was the day for regular reports.

She had to return and report on Harvey to her master, so she decided to shelve her questions about Harvey for now and go back.

Whoosh…

As if fusing with the trees, she slowly concealed herself from the world.

If someone saw how she blended into her surroundings like a chameleon, distorting along with the space around her, they surely would have been shocked speechless.

After a short moment passed, she disappeared from the world.

As if she had never existed there to begin with.