Chapter 15
Was it God’s prank?
It was the most bewildering moment since my ✿Animal✿Farm✿ skill manifested.
‘Why me, of all people?’
The one who would face Duke Ren was none other than me.
‘No, seriously, why me?’
In this episode, one of the characters who had grown significantly would face Ren.
And I had been chosen to be the one who would push him to his limits through a one-on-one duel.
‘Who even noticed my growth?’
I racked my brain, thinking hard.
Where did things go wrong?
‘I didn’t reveal any credit for the exam, and it’s not like Arowell or Nixie would’ve blabbed.’
The cadets still looked down on me.
The part where I had shone during the exam hadn’t spread as a rumor either.
Not to mention, I had deliberately kept quiet about my achievements.
I had also stayed silent when they accused me of clinging to Arowell and Nixie to get a score.
‘I stayed quiet on purpose because I was worried something like this would happen…!’
That plan had gone up in smoke.
‘The one who arranged the matchups must have been the professor.’
Professor Luber, who oversaw the first-years, must have noticed my growth and set me up against Ren.
‘Did he set up CCTV during the exam? Or maybe he had a familiar watch me.’
Or perhaps Nixie or Arowell had met with the professor privately and passed the information along.
‘This is a headache.’
It was already a decided matter.
I had to forget about the past and think about what lay ahead.
‘This will be a very important turning point again.’
Of course, there was never an unimportant main episode.
But this was bound to be even more important than I had originally thought.
The reason was this:
“Between Villed and Ren, who do you think will win? Not that either of them is strong.”
“This is the match I’m most looking forward to in the weakling league.”
“Of course. It’s going to be a revenge match.”
“Villed must be seething, thinking Ren is the one who ruined him.”
Sure enough, the rumor that it would be a revenge match spread in just one day.
I even heard that bets were being placed.
In some sense, they were treating it like a big fight.
‘Ren can’t possibly ignore this.’
Everyone thought the two of us would fight desperately to win.
‘Do they really think I want to win?’
Never.
I had absolutely no intention of winning.
I had to be the stepping stone for Ren’s growth.
The reason was obvious — Ren had to make it safely to the ending.
‘Besides, knowing the future is one of my few weapons.’
If the predetermined main episodes got twisted, I would no longer be able to predict what was coming.
There was nothing more terrifying than that.
‘The cadets still mistakenly think Ren is weak.’
The current Ren had grown so much that no one could call him a weakling anymore.
Only the Princess or the professor probably knew this fact.
‘He must have grown tremendously over the break… with my current self, I might be no match for him.’
I, too, needed to grow my strength to match, or even surpass, Ren.
‘If I lose too easily, it will hinder Ren’s growth.’
I had to draw out his awakening during the duel.
There was a condition that I had to either face him with passionate momentum that reached the extreme or push him to the brink of defeat.
Of course, the latter was almost impossible with my abilities.
‘If I want to lose without it being obvious, I’ll have to be stronger than Ren.’
Losing would be harder than winning.
I needed to create a dramatic situation so that Ren could gain both experience and fame.
‘I’m used to playing the villain.’
But the reality was that if my abilities were lacking, I couldn’t even play a proper villain.
‘The one-on-one duel will be in three days.’
The time was tight, but I thought it might be doable.
‘I’ll have to push myself as far as I can.’
My goal was to become stronger than Ren.
‘So, what should I do now?’
Normally, I’d have no choice but to work in the livestock shed, complete quests to grow, or practice skills in the air to slowly build proficiency.
But now, I had a better option.
‘Thankfully, I made someone who could bridge the gap owe me a favor.’
Just then, after class ended, the very person appeared with a beaming smile.
“Sir, here you are!”
It was the chatterbox, Keirin.
“The knee brace you gave me worked wonders! You wouldn’t believe how warm it was. And guess what? I saw a dragon in the snowy mountains…”
She was so excited that she spoke like a machine gun.
‘Why do you talk so much?’
I waited for a chance to ask her for a favor.
But she talked so much that the opportunity never came.
My gaze drifted away from her when I noticed nearby students giving us strange looks.
‘This isn’t a good situation.’
Keirin’s teammate must have felt the same danger I did, because they came closer.
“K-Keirin. What are you doing here?”
“You’ll be late for class! Let’s go!”
They were sweating as they tried to pull her away from me.
For the second-ranked student to be chummy with the so-called deadweight Villed…
‘Yeah, this isn’t a good look.’
I also realized the risk.
I couldn’t let Keirin’s reputation take a hit.
I decided it was best to leave.
I stood up and brushed past the still-chatting Keirin.
“Sir?”
I answered quietly, just loud enough for her to hear.
“Let’s go to the Magic Tower together later.”
***
At the very bottom of Yggdrasil, there was a restricted tower.
It stretched straight up to the clouds above, so tall you couldn’t see the end.
Its height alone was an incredible 100 floors.
It was one of the places where growth content could be carried out.
Every 5 floors, there was a boss monster, and you could only ascend if you met certain conditions.
‘In the early episodes, Yggdrasil is left abandoned.’
After the main episodes progress to a certain point, the Magic Tower officially opens.
Of course, clearing all 100 floors would be Ren’s task.
‘Defeating the low-grade monsters on the 1st floor won’t affect Ren much.’
With that judgment, I decided to hunt in the Magic Tower.
The 1st floor of the Cursed Magic Tower was a sealed-off library.
A vast library with collapsed bookshelves and scattered books.
The only light came from faint beams slipping through the gaps, leaving the place in darkness.
The books on the shelves of this library had been turned into monsters by tainted mana.
That was the setting.
Hwa-reuk!
When I swung my wand, flames attached, the flying book-shaped monsters quickly burned and vanished.
‘They burn well since they’re books. Makes me want to take them for firewood.’
Keirin sat at a nearby table, resting her chin in both hands, watching me.
“Are you sure this is okay? If the professor catches you, it won’t end with just a scolding…”
“Don’t worry, he won’t catch us.”
“Ugh… Just like we agreed, only three days, okay? No more!”
“I got it.”
After that, I didn’t bother answering and just focused on the hunt.
‘There’s no place like the Magic Tower.’
The Magic Tower was a special hunting ground.
‘The monsters are a good match for me, and since they’re the lowest rank, I can take them down quickly.’
The 1st floor was crawling with monsters, making it perfect for stacking up experience.
Ordinary monster hunting grounds were far outside the school.
And the Magic Tower was off-limits to regular students for safety reasons.
However, students with excellent grades were given special permission to enter.
‘And wouldn’t you know it, my trading partner just happens to be the runner-up top student.’
Thanks to second-place Keirin, I was able to enter with her.
Of course, it was illegal.
‘Well, I’d better get my money’s worth for giving her that 1,500 gold discount.’
Because I had sold her the knee brace cheaply, Keirin had reluctantly agreed to my extra request.
Thanks to that, I could finish my livestock shed work early and head to the Magic Tower with her.
‘Nothing beats real combat for growth.’
Swinging weapons into empty air was nothing compared to actually killing monsters.
‘It also raises my proficiency.’
By continuously using my skills, I could now imagine in my head how to execute them.
‘Let’s take a short break now.’
After training hard enough to drench myself in sweat, I sat at a nearby table to catch my breath.
Keirin trotted over without hesitation and sat right next to me.
“You’re practicing that hard to win the duel, huh? That’s some determination.”
If others heard that, it might sound like sarcasm.
‘But she’s not being sarcastic.’
She was just speaking purely from the perspective of a strong person.
‘She’s the type of character who sometimes causes misunderstandings with her slip-ups.’
Knowing that, I had no reason to get mad.
“I’ve been watching you, so why don’t you take fire-element classes?”
She seemed to be talking after seeing my abilities.
Keirin was a genius who could use four elements.
She must have found it strange not to see me during fire-element classes.
“I don’t have time because of the livestock shed work.”
I brushed it off.
Another question came flying.
“Your ability seems pretty unique. Is it an Arcana ability? Or not?”
“Well, I’m not sure.”
I gave another vague answer.
Arcana was a class that stored mana in cards and threw them to execute skills.
‘Using cards is the same, but in reality, it’s completely different.’
In my case, it was Hwayo’s ability I was using.
I wasn’t attacking through the cards.
My cards were more like a remote control to select abilities.
The chatterbox Keirin persistently kept talking to me even during breaks.
‘She sure has a lot of questions for me today.’
I found it a little odd, but I didn’t think much of it.
“You must really want to beat Ren if you’re working this hard.”
“Losing would be embarrassing.”
I said that, but I had no intention of winning.
If I told her the truth, she’d only grow more suspicious.
‘Better not overthink it and just give her suitable answers.’
After a few minutes of rest, I picked up my wand again and resumed training.
I trained until late at night, for a total of five hours.
The results were as follows:
Health: 5
Mana: 5
Strength: 4
Willpower: 4
Agility: 5
All my stats had increased by 1.
Normally, I would have been pleased, but this time, I could only sit in thought while looking at the results.
‘What were Ren’s stats in Episode 3 again?’
If I remembered right, he had mastered wind-element proficiency and had all his stats close to 10.
‘I’m only at about half that.’
Even if I raised each stat by 1 per day, at this rate, I couldn’t catch up to Ren.
‘My growth is much slower than his.’
I judged myself harshly.
I could improve my basic movements and proficiency.
But explosive stat growth was unlikely.
It was a game where raising stats and levels was notoriously difficult.
‘Three days isn’t enough after all.’
The time I had was far too short.
I wasn’t Ren.
I couldn’t expect short, explosive growth like the protagonist.
That didn’t mean I planned to give up.
‘Yeah, I have to surpass Ren somehow. No matter the means.’
No matter the means.
The answer to that wasn’t hard to find.
‘There’s the buff potion.’
It would greatly increase stats for a short time.
‘Feels like becoming a junkie… but oh well.’
According to the setting, as long as I didn’t overuse it like a drug, it would be fine.
The question was how to get that potion.
‘It’s not sold in shops, only crafted.’
But I didn’t know the potion recipe.
In other words, I’d have to pay someone else to make it for me.
‘Who in Yggdrasil could make that potion…?’
As I thought about who could solve this, I looked at Keirin.
“Introduce me to a senior.”