“Hey! You little bastard, what are you, some kind of thug?!”
The residence of Chief Professor Galois from the faculty building. The old man exploded in rage— because I came out with one high-grade potion instead of ninety garbage ones.
“Why’re you asking? You know exactly why! If you’ve snagged the good one, get the hell out!”
He shouted like mad and kicked me out.
And, honestly, he had every right to.
＊ Mana Potion (MP+451) [Legendary I]
Because I took this one.
“Hmph! Professor Dante, you really don’t know how lucky you are! My poor Farhan... Farhan...! If only his mentality hadn’t shattered, it would’ve been my victory...!”
“But it did shatter, didn’t it?”
“Shut your damn mouth, you lucky son of a—!”
If distributed among ninety people, the combined gain from ninety smaller potions would raise MP by far more. But the more mana you have, the less efficiently you absorb these potions.
For example, take this one I got from Kaiser a while ago:
＊ Mana Potion (MP+37) [Rare]
If I drank that now...
＊ Mana Potion (MP+21) [Rare]
...the value would show up differently.
Because I’ve already increased my mana pool considerably through personal training.
With lesser-grade potions shoved ten at a time into my mouth, the increase plummets exponentially—+21, +17, +8, +5...
‘The maximum mana value for the human race is 10,000. And only an insanely rare few ever reach it.’
Which is exactly why you need high-grade potions.
And now I had one that gave me a whopping +451.
Magnificent.
“...So this one’s expensive?”
“Shut it! Get out of my sight!”
“All right, all right. No need to be so cold.”
As I stepped out, I looked back over my shoulder at him.
“But if it’s really that expensive, can I sell it?”
Leaving the convulsing Professor Galois behind,
I returned to my lab and immediately took the potion.
A yellow pill, coin-sized.
What the hell did they grind up to make this, a mummy?
“...Urgh.”
The stench scraped past my nose.
A few dry heaves later, a wave of euphoria surged up and filled every inch of my body.
< Total Combat Power: 165,837 → 170,573 (▲4,736) >
< [MP]: 1,751 / 1,751 (▲451) >
Finally broke 170,000 in total combat power.
Now, I could cast 『Kaleidoscope』 at full strength—twice—and still have mana left over.
I was becoming more of a monster professor by the day.
‘Next up is personal training...’
With illusion magic, I conjured a single 『Butterfly』 above my palm.
A flickering blue-winged butterfly.
Visually flawless.
But...
< 『World Forgery』 Mastery: 89.99% >
After all my effort in chipping away at 『World Forgery』—I was finally at the cusp of 90%.
And yet, this cursed 0.01% just wouldn’t budge.
I’d spent the entire day holed up in the lab, crafting every complicated [Illusion] imaginable, and still, it hadn’t moved an inch.
‘It’s like drawing a dragon and having no idea how to paint the eyes.’
I could now forge anything in the world.
Matter, phenomena, space—even perception itself.
If something was complicated, it just took more time. As long as it existed in the realm of cognition, I could recreate it.
And yet, mastery still posed a question I couldn’t answer. It insisted there were things I couldn’t forge. That I hadn’t reached the summit.
Even after crafting an illusion so vast it blanketed the sky—a tree of incomprehensible scale, something never once seen in human history—
What more was left for me to forge?
‘I don’t know.’
Right now, I was standing before a wall. This is the honest confession of a scholar.
At this point, trickery and mechanical grinding wouldn’t work.
I needed an epiphany.
Not a lightning bolt from the sky type of revelation.
Just the end of a single, fine thread I’d never grasped before. Any kind of enlightenment would do.
‘Of course, I could just use Star Fragments and force the breakthrough...’
< To reach 90.00% mastery, cost: 53 Star Fragments. Invest? >
To raise it by a mere 0.01%, it was asking for fifty-three.
Including the ones I received from “Peace Star☮,”
I had 400 total in reserve.
< Owned Star Fragments: 400 >
And those 400 weren’t just any 400.
Meals from charity kitchens. Clothes fished from donation bins. Sleeping on cardboard sheets outside Seoul Station.
These were fragments I scraped together with tooth and nail.
No way in hell I was spending them on something like this.
‘I’ll save them for a better use.’
Right then, I stood up.
It was time to meet someone.
The top scorer from the final exam.
***
The meeting spot was the Batalion Gym.
...or rather, what used to be the “Cain Gym.”
Batalion Gym had burned down. This was a newly built indoor facility.
The department slapped my alias on it—embarrassing.
I’d arrived early, but a cadet was already there waiting for me.
“...Hello, Professor.”
Gray-haired cadet. Gray «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» Habanero.
As usual: a short skirt. Revealing uniform. Tattoos.
But today, something was different. There was no mischief in her face. Her snaggletooth wasn’t even showing.
“Gray Habanero. Congratulations on ranking first in the finals.”
“Congrats to you too, Professor.”
“For what?”
“For getting to teach a genius.”
She flashed a V sign against her cheek. Even winked.
But the playfulness was faint.
If anything, she looked... a bit down.
“Starting today, we begin personal training. All sessions will be held one-on-one at the Cain Gym. I’ll be teaching you one secret technique. Up to three sessions will be held, depending on your progress.”
“Yes.”
“So, what do you want to learn?”
“......”
Gray looked at me, then down at her feet, then back up.
That hint of melancholy deepened.
After a few cycles of that...
“...Um, there’s something I want to say. Honestly.”
Her voice came out cautious.
“I’m listening.”
“......”
Even then, Gray hesitated.
“......”
“......”
I waited.
She scratched her neck awkwardly, then averted her eyes.
“...What do I do.”
That muttered sigh at the end.
“Why?”
“...I don’t think I can say it.”
“You can say it.”
“I could say it, but... I feel like you’ll think I’m just some arrogant brat...”
“I won’t think that.”
“Really?”
“Yes.”
“......”
She tucked some hair behind her ear, and carefully opened her mouth.
“...Honestly, Professor, I know you’re good at illusions. You’re probably better than me... definitely better.”
“And?”
“But, um, um...”
She glanced sideways.
“Speak freely. I don’t mind. You were the one who came to class in a bomb vest because you didn’t like the other professors, remember?”
“Ehh?? I mean... yeah, I didn’t really care about impressing them...”
Some things just take time to say.
Knowing that, I waited in silence.
After some more hesitation, Gray finally whispered like she was squeezing it out:
“...I don’t even know if you should be teaching me.”
Her tiny voice echoed through the large gym like a ripple.
“What do you mean?”
“...Are you mad?”
“No. I just didn’t understand what you meant.”
“......”
Gray scratched her head.
...Um. I’ve... never learned illusion magic from anyone else before.”
“Not even once?”
“Yeah... never from anyone outside the Habanero family. You know how the Habanero illusions are unique and great, right? But my family...”
Gray trailed off, hesitating.
“...Do you already know?”
“I do.”
The Habanero family was virtually annihilated during the Habanero Incident.
As far as I knew, nearly all of the adults had died.
Meaning, there’s no one left to teach Gray anymore.
“Someone once told me, if the techniques or formula system are different, it can create bad habits or even damage the original ability framework.”
“That is absolutely true.”
“Actually, back in the first semester, I had the chance to learn from Gloomy, but I refused. I’m the last one who inherited my family’s illusions. If I learn some other [Illusion], it might ruin our unique family techniques...”
Gray looked away, continuing quietly.
“I have a duty to protect the Habanero illusions... If I mess up just once, that’s the end of a tradition that lasted 200 years. It would die with me.”
“That’s true.”
“So I don’t know... if I should be learning from you...”
I understood the gist of it.
Gray vaguely knew I was Cain. And from her perspective, I was the most talked-about professor at the moment.
A one-on-one opportunity to learn from someone like me—
Even for a Dormant Dragon Cadet, it was huge.
And yet, having to hesitate because of her personal situation...
That must have been hard to admit.
“...Do you get what I’m saying?”
“I do. Completely.”
There’s a distinct difference between regular illusion magic and Gray’s illusion techniques.
If I had to make a comparison—
Most of us illusionists work with “computers.”
The Habanero style?
It’s more like using a “magic mirror.”
What’s the point of teaching someone code if they don’t even have a keyboard in front of them?
From that standpoint, Gray’s dilemma made sense.
And there was no real workaround.
‘Still, for the sake of the [Affinity Web] and for the use of the Betting Table... Gray has to grow by learning from me.’
So, what do we do?
Silence settled between us.
And I thought through several possibilities.
The relationship between my understanding of illusion magic and the Habanero family’s unique technique, 『Glass Butterfly』—their compatibility or lack thereof.
But no matter how hard I thought, I came up short.
Even if I was a master with computers, there was no shortcut to operating a magic mirror.
“...I’ve decided.”
Gray looked at me, tension in her eyes.
A tinge of guilt, too—like she knew she’d brought up a problem with no solution.
My answer wasn’t much different.
At the moment, there really was no way for me to teach her.
“I will not teach you.”
“......”
Maybe she still held onto a sliver of hope.
Her gaze dropped, her eyes clouded over with sadness.
“...Sorry. I was the one who asked to be taught.”
“Instead, I’ll contact the department and extend your training sessions from three hours to five.”
“...?”
A strange response.
Gray turned toward me, clearly confused.
“As it stands, I cannot teach you. That’s obvious. But I’ve decided against skirting the issue with a workaround.”
“...Then?”
Life is full of problems—large and small.
This one just happened to be that I currently had no way to teach Gray.
So I arrived at a different answer.
“You will teach me.”
That blank stare slowly gave way to her signature snaggletooth peeking out.
“...Huh?”
“Exactly what I said. I will learn from you. Your family’s illusion technique, 『Glass Butterfly』. And in turn, using my ultimate mastery, I’ll be able to reflect that knowledge back to teach you. That’s my conclusion.”
“...Huh??”
The next moment, Gray furrowed her brows.
She looked thoroughly deflated.
“What is that even supposed to mean... Professor, have you ever even tried to learn 『Glass Butterfly』 before?”
“I haven’t.”
A long sigh leaked out from her catlike lips.
“...Aren’t you taking this way too lightly?”
“I don’t think so. I know what kind of illusion 『Glass Butterfly』 is.”
“You clearly don’t know how hard it is... 『Glass Butterfly』 is a really difficult [Illusion]. I once tried teaching it to some symphony-level illusionists during a department exchange, and none of them could even grasp the basics...”
She crossed her arms.
Like she’d just heard the most absurd thing.
“You probably think it looks easy ‘cause I whip it out so effortlessly, but that’s because I’m a genius. Other adults in my family took 30 to 50 years just to reach my level.”
She was right. Ordinary people could never reach her level, even with a lifetime of effort.
“I appreciate that you’re doing this for me... But it’s okay. I’ll just learn something else later.”
She was ready to give up.
I had no intention of persuading her.
“I understand. Then let’s try this.”
“Huh?”
“I’m aware of the third form of 『Glass Butterfly』—[Embroidering]. I’ll learn just that today. One session. From you.”
“......”
Her expression grew even more puzzled.
Maybe she was surprised I even knew about [Embroidering].
Or maybe it was because I planned to skip forms one and two entirely.
“Where’d you even hear that...? But [Embroidering] usually takes a year to learn. I spent a whole month on it myself.”
“I know.”
“What do you mean, ‘I know everything’...? You’re more stubborn than I thought...”
“I’ll take that as a compliment. Shall we move somewhere more suitable?”
“Where?”
“Here.”
Snap.
The instant I snapped my fingers, the entire gym transformed into a dazzling spring meadow full of dandelions.
⋮
『World Forgery: Spatial Forgery [Flower Field]』
⋮
Gray’s eyes went wide.
The best environment for learning [Embroidering] is nature. Preferably a place where butterflies would exist.
“...How does he even know stuff like this...”
Her muttered complaints grew softer.
By now, she must’ve realized I knew more about the Habanero family than she expected.
“...Ugh, it’s supposed to be hard... Alright, whatever...”
“Okay.”
“...Come sit over here.”
And so, we sat side by side in the forest.
“...So, first off. 『Glass Butterfly』 is an [Illusion] that depends a lot on imagination and mental imagery. For [Embroidering] specifically...”
Gray began explaining it to me in a grumpy, half-pouting tone.
“No, no, it has to be step-by-step... That’s way too fast. You can’t do it like that...”
She occasionally grew frustrated.
“...Yeah, it’s nice, but still a little artificial. It flies too well. Real animals, especially butterflies, they wobble a lot more than people imagine. So try to make it... like... more like... this...”
She taught me. Really taught me.
“...But seriously, no matter how you look at it, this just isn’t doable in one day...”
***
For an ordinary person: one year.
For a genius: one month.
For me?
One hour.
A little over an hour since I began learning. A swarm of butterflies now embroidered the flower field and sky.
Countless blue butterflies...
Gray, the gray cat, looked around in a daze. Her lips slightly hidden behind the butterfly resting on her clenched fist.
When the butterflies finally vanished, her aimless gaze wandered until it landed on me.
Gray stared at me for a long time—without even showing her snaggletooth.
“......”
As if she were staring at a monster.