ALL NOVEL Chapter 46
46. Outlaw? Isn’t it just a Necromancer?
Jenny and I arrived at the Academy by evening.
Aligieri Town was vast and expansive. Thank goodness it was close to the volcano; if it were on the opposite side, we would have arrived not by evening but at night.
I almost ran into trouble at the end of our outing, but I managed to laugh it off.
Of course, Jenny asked what I was up to, and I told her exactly what happened—except the part about Spirit Power.
The money pouch I had shown those guys was an illusion… that is, fake. Its true nature was a pouch filled with venomous insects.
It was the moment when my ‘Insect Summoning’ skill really shone, and Jenny was left speechless.
I couldn’t tell if her reaction was one of awe or if she was about to scold me for being too overboard.
But Jenny thanked me, assuring that if I hadn’t stopped her, she would have truly swung her sword.
So we returned to the dorm with smiles on our faces. Upon entering, while I was finishing up the shower and setting the dinner table, it finally happened.
[Decline in Erosion Rate: -1000%]
[+100,000 Credits]
[Experience as a ‘Scammer’ has reached maximum. You have gained 10 stat points.]
[Skill ‘Deception’ proficiency has increased.]
[Skill ‘Spirit Power’ proficiency has increased.]
It seems the bug pouch I had given to those ruffians really backfired. By now, they probably thought it was a money pouch, opened it, and got bitten by insects, falling unconscious.
In that state, they wouldn’t be able to move for a week. They wouldn’t even be able to mutter a word to solve their meals.
“Those punks… they brought this upon themselves.”
[The proficiency of the skill ‘Deception’ has surpassed its limit.]
[The proficiency of the skill ‘Spirit Power’ has surpassed its limit. The utility and versatility of Cursing have increased.]
[As a result of imposed effects, skill levels have risen.]
– Insect Summoning Lv3, Cursing Lv2
[A new skill has been activated!]
– Curse Aura Lv1
Since I had utilized the ‘Spirit Power’ field, the level of the curse-type skill either increased or was added. The usage of curses has notably improved, so I needed to experiment with what that meant.
I tore a piece of paper from my desk and tried to impose a curse on it. However, the curse didn’t get applied at once; it merely writhed, as if waiting for my command.
I then thought, usually when one is cursed, their health tends to deteriorate. Isn’t that what I’m setting here?
And then…
[The will and spirit you assumed combine. The ‘Curse of Diminished Vitality’ has been imposed on the object.]
The ominous energy swirling on the paper completely vanished. And when I touched the paper again,
[You have come into contact with an object containing the ‘Curse of Diminished Vitality.’]
[You are not the target of this curse since you are already cursed or have immunity.]
“Hmm… So that’s how it is.”
By imposing a curse on an object, it would also help with fishing if I ask them to touch it. Then both my Spirit Power and Scammer proficiency would increase simultaneously, a two-for-one deal.
Next, I checked the newly acquired skill.
__________________________
– Curse Aura Lv1
Imposing a curse while bestowing aura upon a body or weapon enhances its power. It’s a fundamental skill to learn in order to become a Spirit Master.
It is effectively applicable against holy-affiliated enemies.
__________________________
The curse can also be converted into physical energy. It was definitely practical for someone in the Combat Department like me. And it had mentioned a path toward becoming a Spirit Master.
If that’s the case… could it be!
[Job advancement route activated! A pathway to transition to a higher-level occupation as a Scammer has opened!]
__________________________
[Advance Job Mission: Outlaw]
“As an Outlaw, not only will you become more adept at using curses, but you’ll also be able to awaken existing false skills or combine and enhance them into one. The magical devices born from your hands will carry powerful curses, and you’ll be able to make contracts with spirits.”
[Clear Conditions]
– Achieve a Spirit Gauge of 20 or more
– Raise Curse Aura to maximum level 5
– Have at least one spirit bound to you
– Conduct your business in an area filled with cursed spirits
[Upon Clearing: Transition Job ‘Scammer’ -> ‘Outlaw’]
[Advancement Tree]
Scammer -> Outlaw -> Delinquent
__________________________
The conditions seemed simple, but it would probably take quite a while.
The name ‘Outlaw’ also seemed fitting to signify it as a higher tier than Scammer.
If a modern-day outlaw would shoot a gun, the outlaws in this world would likely employ strange sorcery.
And what did it mean to conduct business in a region filled with cursed energy? It sounded like it referred to a graveyard…
In simpler terms, was it a horror spot, perhaps?
*
Time passed, and with only about four days left until finals.
There was no instance of the Students of Aligieri exiting the Academy.
Due to the tightened exam schedule, there simply wasn’t any time for leisure.
Whether they were the top students or the bottom tier, everyone was holed up in the Academy, but some had even given up on the exams.
Those students generally fell into two categories.
Either they felt hopeless due to low grades or they were already outstanding enough that they didn’t need to worry, no matter how relaxed they were.
But there was… a student who didn’t fit into either category.
“…”
Deep within a hidden, dark underground chamber somewhere in the town. Known as the Room of the Departed, this place was inaccessible to just anybody, even though one knew where it was.
Sleeping there was Luska Mad Eye, rubbing her groggy eyes. Even though sleep crumbs wandered in her pupils making her vision blurry and her back was hurting from a bad sitting posture, it didn’t matter.
Because every time she sleeps, she often experience hell.
“Not that dream again…”
A nightmare of being kidnapped by soldiers along with her mother and forced to undergo training.
The abuse she faced during hellish training and the cadets who always bit at her would always spring forth in her dreams.
That past, never forgotten, had grown the seeds of hatred into a towering tree. Her thirst for revenge had escalated to the point where she was now a beast stained with the taste of blood.
It was already too late to turn back. The reckoning would soon be at hand.
“I’m sorry, but Your Highness. This is not blood that enhances talent.”
“What…?”
In her field of vision, there were three people.
One was an old man with a beard, nearing his sixties, who was an accomplice of Elder Enviel seeking revenge.
Another was Prince Totema, thoroughly being used by Enviel.
And the last one… no, on the surface, she appeared to be a little girl, but her true identity was that of a being born from the blood of a divine beast.
To some, she was merely a test subject. To others, she was the girl known as Angela Greenwhite.
Today, the girl appeared atypical. She had animal ears on her head and multiple beast tails attached to her back.
It was hard to tell whether a beast had become a person or a person had transformed into a beast. In any case, the term “Beastman” seemed appropriate.
The girl, always bright in front of her older sisters, seemed more worn out than anticipated.
One of her originally nine tails had been cut off, causing the floor to soak in blood, and she was completely restrained within a barrier, as if she didn’t care about the pain at all.
In this plight, she appeared to have lost her will to live, her eyes devoid of vitality, while before her, they continued with their own discussions.
“Here, look. This is just blood that heals wounds. It certainly isn’t something that enhances talent.”
“Then what… what am I supposed to do! I believed in this blood and revealed all my secrets!”
The prince sobbed, lamenting.
He had believed in blood that would boost his stats and had disclosed all his hidden accomplishments.
Now, he had become the laughingstock within the Empire.
The last shred of hope—blood—had been rendered useless, and who wouldn’t go mad in such a situation?
“Teacher… what should I do now? If I mess up my final assessment, I’ll be forced to withdraw by my mother and secretively executed back in the capital.”
Prince Totema pounded the ground with his fists like a child overtaken by emotion. But Enviel knew how to handle such a child.
“Rather than being executed… why don’t we dispose of you first?”
“What?”
“Have you ever felt happy living as a prince? Please, be honest.”
Totema stared intently at Enviel’s eyes.
As he continued to gaze into those eyes that seemed to draw him in, Totema’s own gaze momentarily transformed into a rainbow hue.
“Never. Not even once.”
It seemed as though his previously heated emotions had settled, and Totema spoke in a low tone.
Regardless of whether it was brainwashing, it was not a lie.
How many times had he been belittled for being impotent, even to his younger siblings? With the pressure from his father piled on top, the prince could no longer endure that life.
“However, should the king disappear, those lurking in the darkness of the capital will seek the prince’s life. Your brothers will also turn on you first.”
“Then what do I do…?”
“It’s quite simple.”
Enviel smiled.
“Let us erase the entire Papias kingdom. Permanently.”
The prince wanted to live freely.
From birth, he had never known cruelty and found it hard to be accepted in Papias.
He had sometimes wished this savage country would simply disappear; it was a form of self-hatred.
“But… how?”
“I already have a method in place. For that, there is something urgent you must do, Your Highness.”
When the prince asked what it was, Enviel said there was a bomb ready to destroy Papias right in front of him.
It was the Beastman… the divine beast.
“Your job now is to set this beast loose.”
“I can’t do something like that. Moreover, this poor girl…”
“This isn’t human. It’s no different than a monster that knows nothing but destruction. However, to use it as a bomb, Your Highness’s hidden powers will be required. Please take a look in the mirror.”
As he looked into the mirror that Enviel showed him, Totema was drawn in. In fact, the mirror was a magical device that had the power to switch personalities with another self dwelling inside.
The prince indeed possessed a special ability—the power to freely enhance or control spirits, divine spirits, and phantoms.
Yet, within the combative atmosphere, there had been no conditions for the prince to hone that ability.
If he had been born as a commoner, wandering through forests to build his sensitivity, or if he had felt the flow of nature and become one with the flora and fauna, that ability would have awakened long ago.
If that had been the case, he would not only have not stumbled around in a place like this, he wouldn’t even have been admitted to the Academy in the first place.
‘Poor thing…’
‘You have a crazed father.’
Enviel and Luska internally reminded themselves just how foolish the current king of Papias was.
“Finally awakened, Your Highness.”
“….”
As she withdrew the mirror, Totema’s face transformed into something mannequin-like. Striking like a puppet, he began to act solely according to his whims.
He intended to live as he wished. All he wanted was a peaceful life without conflict, but Papias wasn’t allowing that.
Therefore, destruction was the answer. Given that it offered only torment instead of comfort… it would qualify as self-defense.
Totema grabbed the girl by the head with one hand. At that, her rainbow-colored eyes shone, and an unknown energy seeped into her.
As if she were being tortured with electricity, the girl thrashed in pain, and Luska couldn’t help but frown at the sight.
“Hey? Why the sudden grimace? Are you starting to feel sympathy now?”
“That’s not it.”
“Don’t forget. It was you who cut off this monster’s tail. You’ve given it vertigo and left it sleeping till now, but there’s no turning back.”
He knew well. As long as he could achieve his vengeance, he didn’t care what happened to him. After all, once everything ended, there was a likelihood he could face a fate worse than death.
Yet for some reason, his head would spin every time he glanced at that girl. It had been the same when he severed her tail to extract her blood.
At that time, the prince had hesitated because he found her too pitiful, and that impulse could not be suppressed.
‘It’s just my imagination.’
He wasn’t sure… but it was better to not think about it. After all, the day of the final practical exam would soon end his revenge.
Luska tightened her scarf around her neck again and reminded herself.
“Mom… it won’t be long now.”
She couldn’t afford to let emotions sway her for the sake of her mother, who had unjustly perished.
Even if the Academy was destroyed, it didn’t matter. By then, her purpose would have vanished… causing her life to be effectively over.
“Well… seems like a moth has flown in.”
Enviel, watching the girl’s raging consciousness, suddenly turned his head. No matter how much she looked, all she could see was darkness, but something slowly approached.
The entities that revealed themselves were known as spirits. Resembling ghosts, they dragged something in and placed it before Enviel.
“To think you’d find this room. I thought you nobles only displayed baseless confidence, but surprisingly, you have keen eyes. Crona Delaware.”
As if she had been harmed by the spirits, her body was filled with a curse’s energy.
Instead of her usual shimmering golden locks cascading down, the noble woman was now a mere rag, felled by being taken down by Spirit Power.
Crona was not alone. One by one, investigators who had also entered the Aligieri Tower alongside her, enduring the same humiliation, began to appear.
“Enviel… Elder? What are you doing here…!”
They must have come to retrieve Angela. There was no way they expected such a formidable presence here.
“You should have been calmly preparing for your exams. Why on earth did you come to this place?”
“….”
Her excellence meant that it didn’t matter if it came late.
Moreover, her assumptions couldn’t be more accurate.
Someone must have been intentionally hiding Luska… and that someone happened to be Elder Enviel.
“You can’t be… Ugh!”
“How can you be so rodent-like?”
Enviel curled his lips into a sly grin as he crushed Crona’s hand. Then, she turned her head slightly.
“However, this turned out well, Crona Delaware. I have something I want to show you.”
The runaway consciousness of Prince Totema was still in progress. Though it wasn’t complete yet, Totema finally released his grasp from the girl. The chains and seals restraining her were slowly being lifted.
He then turned his head slowly toward Crona.
“Angela… isn’t it?”
The girl was clothed in white fabric with animal ears and tails. There was no doubt she was their little girl they had cared for.
However… she had grown taller. Had it not been for her distinct features, they might not have recognized her at all. A profound sense of disquiet filled the air.
“This can’t be….”
The girl approached slowly. Her body had grown to be of similar age as Totema, and her crimson eyes glowed in an oddly erratic state.
Crona’s reaction needed no further explanation.
And Luska, too, exhibited her surprise, her eyes wide as saucers.
The forcibly matured Angela felt eerily similar to herself.
Surviving as an Academy Scammer.