ALL NOVEL Chapter 940
<940 – Rolling Oknodie (8)
The functionality drain is the scariest curse in this world.
If it’s at a level where it falls higher than [Divine Punishment], which is classified as a high-tier attack skill in the curse category, then indeed, functionality drain ranks as the supreme curse.
Even without understanding this curse hierarchy, one can grasp the seriousness of the situation based on common sense in this world.
When practicing swordsmanship, one’s sword skill increases, and as the sword skill goes up, there’s a ‘probability’ to perform specific actions or exert power even in situations where one struggles to handle the sword properly, thanks to the swordsmanship boost.
The more skills one accumulates, the greater the variety, making it possible to showcase strengths in unfamiliar and difficult environments.
Naturally, having more skills is better, while having fewer is detrimental.
And to think those functionality scores are forcibly taken away.
It’s almost like a life being robbed.
“W-wait. Was it that serious? Did I commit that grave of a sin?”
“Well, honestly, that seems to be the case, right? Titosso is practically our academy’s mascot, so it’s understandable for functionality drain to happen to them!”
“Ah, that explains it. They seemed ridiculously strong, turns out they were born with the secret affection that the principal secretly spread. Given they’re the principal’s child, it makes sense they’d be that enraged.”
While it was far from the truth, Alex fell into deep regret, trying to piece together the reason for his own punishment of functionality drain.
“If I hadn’t taken others’ monster cells. If I hadn’t agreed to such a vile contract. If I hadn’t developed such a habit, I wouldn’t have touched Titosso at all!”
If only he could turn back time.
He wished to live a life satisfied with only his own efforts.
Filled with such regrets, Alex thought, “I’d happily enter the Punishment Room. If I just spent as much time in there as my sins warranted, wouldn’t the curse of functionality drain eventually be lifted?”
“Yeah, that sounds right?”
“I think that after living about 300 years, the principal’s anger would settle down.”
Just as Alex was prepared for the mental fortitude to head towards the Punishment Room, he paused.
“What? Three hundred years?”
“What’s wrong with that?”
“No, wait a moment. Three hundred years? Why would such a horrifying number come up? Usually, it’s like three months, or three years, those are the common measurements. Even if you stretch it, it would be thirty years, but am I really that bad?”
“Considering the lives or time of others you’ve taken, and the principal’s temperament and racial traits, I think three hundred years is quite merciful.”
Well, that’s what would be the case for a principal who has lived for a thousand years.
But in the Middle Realm, where basic lifespans are around 50 years due to gunpowder, swords, magic, monsters, nobles, demi-humans, great evils, and gods lying in wait, three hundred years is equivalent to six lifetimes.
“Isn’t there any way to reduce the sentence?! Please share your wisdom! I might die of old age in the Punishment Room! No matter how much monster cells extend life, it’s even scarier! It’s not like I could just live a hundred years poorly and die; I might be stuck in the Punishment Room for the full three hundred years!”
Not surprisingly, Alice, the Foundation’s Agassi, seemed indifferent, questioning whether three hundred years was long for his status.
She appeared to hint that Alex could choose to run away or enter and not bother her or Oknodie.
However, contrary to his thoughts about her being strict, the Dark Princess showed sympathy.
“Thinking about having to eat cheap hospital-like meals repetitively for three hundred years is just too pitiful!”
“Right?!”
“Let’s dive into the inferno for Senior Alex and try to reduce those three hundred years to thirty!”
Alex, who was prepared to nod his head vigorously, suddenly slammed on the brakes, halting like a car that unexpectedly stopped.
His eyes were filled with fear as they turned toward Oknodie.
“What do you mean, Dark Princess…? Inferno, isn’t this already enough?”
“Eh? Right now, you’re just boiling in the pot like a frog. To seek the principal’s mercy, you gotta roll harder!”
“Didn’t I already roll as much as I could?”
“Running away was not rolling, that was just hiding.”
Even by Oknodie’s often unnecessary strict standards of rolling, it was clear that whatever actions were deemed rolling had some level of cruelty.
Slowly, Alex started to realize something.
He thought he had survived with Oknodie’s help, but in reality, being with Oknodie was as dangerous as drawing the wrath of Professor Buzhaar and becoming part of a monster core.
Hearing Oknodie’s upcoming plan, he became certain.
It was like trying to avoid a wolf only to encounter a tiger.
*
The principal received a very fascinating paper airplane.
━━━
I would like to outline the locations of ancient artifacts hidden in forgotten dimensional realms and secret temples where the gods’ treasures slumber, as noted in Professor Buzhaar’s treatise.
Please, I request that if this information is beneficial, kindly reduce my sentence in the Punishment Room.
━━━
It’s a smaller, more subtle hidden dimension not categorically belonging to the Middle Realm or a hundred dimensions.
If a god possesses dimensions like these, then certainly the ancient artifacts hidden there are far from ordinary.
[Hmm, feels like I got the coordinates to a weapons storage after beating up a local delinquent. Is this fella a treasure goblin or what?]
The principal’s reflections on Alex weren’t entirely wrong.
After all, having robbed the principal’s treasure, wouldn’t the other professors have also been looted?
When considering the history of professors raiding each other’s dimensional realms, anything stolen in the midst wouldn’t be noticed.
[Hmph. If all there is is trashy artifacts, I’ll boost the penalties fivefold as a punishment for audacity.]
The principal prepared a ten-year sentence in the Punishment Room for Alex.
While lesser than Oknodie’s expectations, there was one trap.
Due to the curse of mental acceleration and insomnia, the actual time he’d have to spend without sleep would drastically increase, with an acceleration rate of ten times.
If he had just stayed put, his mind would have wasted away for 100 years while his body barely aged ten, but instead, he would face a grueling punishment that would torture his mind for 500 years to come – a definite life of a mental wreck.
What a fitting case of court-mandated suffering for oneself.
[First things first, the dimensional realm is real.]
Oknodie himself discovered the asteroid in his cosmic travels, so unless he had directly observed it, it was an undiscovered hidden dimension.
But that only made him angrier.
For something that secretive to get revealed, the information should not have been accessible at the student level.
[Professor Buzhaar surely favored that disciple of his. A dimension of such high value, just what had they been up to in the research dimension away from my sight?]
What was Alex to do with revealing such a precious dimension?
Should he ask for forgiveness from his mentor as a reconciliation offer?
Or is this his opportunity, the betraying disciple, attempting to survive by selling out his mentor?
Of course, he thought neither.
A dragon takes what it sees.
[Prophecy]
[Area Observation]
[Automatic Spell Release]
All magic within the knowledge of dragons automatically released once recognized by the senses.
What treasures might dwell in the ancient storage?
The hands itched to open the unlocked treasure chest.
Creek
At long last, the door opened.
The principal’s eyes widened.
“Why is this here?”
The stolen treasure appeared from the treasure chest.
What is this?
Is this a cute little gift asking for forgiveness?
*
Since I’m already at the ancient ruins site, I thought, why not throw in a decent treasure as a bribe to the principal and earn some points?
With that thought, I subtly took a treasure from Professor Bronze’s treasure room.
“Hey, is this for real…? You want to go back to the same professor’s dimension just to bribe the principal?”
“Trust me. Dragons are inherently greedy for treasures!”
Just as expected, the mark that had been clamped onto Senior Alex slowly disappeared.
He was safely freed from the crisis of three hundred years of imprisonment.
But wait, what’s this?
Before he could celebrate, a new mark appeared on Senior Alex.
A powerful mark, which could be sensed by any strong being within the same dimension, shouted through its spells to all directions.
[There’s a thief here!!!]
A mark that denounced him as a thief!
Indeed, with his tail long, he’d been caught, and his presence had been reported to the professors by the principal.
“Take care, Senior!”
“Hey! You said you’d be fine!!”
“If I say I sent this, Papa in the Netherworld will see it nicely!”
How could I resist the referral rewards?
The professor sure to rush first will undoubtedly be Professor Bronze.
Leaving a note saying [Alex has been at it again], surely that’d be enough for Senior Alex to suffer sufficiently.
It’s about time I pulled my foot out from this.
Should I keep Alice unaware of Senior Alex’s end?
On my way back, I needed to grab one more batch of special culturing solution to give to the Plant Club.
While counting the candidates I might shop for on the way home, suddenly, a bright light flashed upon me.
Huh?
Huh?
Is this, perhaps?
[Hey, little mouse. Did you think I wouldn’t notice the paltry acts you tried to pull off?]
“Gah?!”
[Hurry up and give those professors a good scare, you brat.]
In my panic from being caught together with Senior Alex, I headed toward the dimensional gate without even looking back, only for spatial distortion to start occurring faster than the speed at which I opened the door.
The professors had already caught wind of this dimensional coordinate and were racing through the dimensional gate in a ghostly manner.