漫画大王

Chapter 203

“Uh, it’s an application for a club.”

“Yes, I know that.”

Mr. Effenhauser narrowed his eyebrows as he looked at the piece of paper I handed him. This man who rarely showed any emotion was frowning.

“If my eyes aren’t mistaken, it says ‘Magic Research Club.’”

“Yes, that’s correct.”

“And it says the president is ‘Reinhart, Royal Class, Year 1, Class A, Number 11.’”

“That’s right.”

“And as far as I know, you are a superhuman with the ability of Self-Deception, and you are receiving close combat training.”

“Yes, sir.”

Mr. Effenhauser put the club formation application I handed him on his desk and looked up at me as he sat in his chair.

“...”

“...”

Mr. Effenhauser didn’t say anything, and neither did I.

Meeting his stare was genuinely terrifying. It had been a while since I’d felt this, like his gaze alone could make a mouse drop dead. Meeting Mr. Effenhauser’s intense glare made my legs tremble.

During the first semester, Mr. Effenhauser had let me try various things because I didn’t know what to do.

And now I was experimenting with magic? He had to be thinking that I was crazy.

“Teacher, please feel free to say it bluntly.”

‘Staring at me like that is even scarier!’

“Have you lost your mind?” Mr. Effenhauser asked.

“I’m completely fine, sir.”

This was probably the limit of Mr. Effenhauser’s restraint. He stared at me for a while, then pressed his fingertips against his eyelids and spoke as if he were spitting out the words.

“Then, explain it.”

If this was an ordinary screw-up like before, he wouldn’t have reacted this way.

‘No, it’s not like my screw-ups are ordinary in the first place. Maybe I’m just used to them.’

If I didn’t explain clearly, I might really get in trouble.

Did I finally succeed in pissing off the unyielding Effenhauser with my hidden talent to infuriate people?

‘No, it’s not that strange if you hear me out. It’s not a magic-less Magic Research Club or anything like that.’

“So, um, here’s the thing...”

I started to explain the situation in detail.

*

“Oh, so that’s how it is.”

Fortunately, after listening to my explanation, Mr. Effenhauser no longer looked as though he thought I was high on drugs. His eyes softened a bit, and I almost sighed in relief.

“I don’t want to do it either, but I’m forcing myself to do it.”

“If you don’t want to do it, why force yourself?”

“Well, there are some complicated reasons for that...”

“Are you being coerced?”

‘Yes! Honestly, I do think it’s coercion! Why do I have to be the president?’

I almost wanted to rat out this tyranny, but Mr. Effenhauser shook his head silently. “Hmm, you’re not someone who would be coerced, so you must have your own reasons.”

‘Oh... Yeah, I’m used to it by now. Living like this... I don’t even feel like denying it anymore.’

“The number of members is quite impressive, and the fact that there are students from both Class A and Class B involved is notable. Do you have any specific requirements for the club room or a supervising teacher?”

“No, please assign them as you see fit.”

“Very well, then I will inform you about the approval later.”

“Yes, sir.”

It was odd that the president of a magic club wasn’t a mage, but nearly all the members are either mages or very knowledgeable about magic. Therefore, there was no reason for the formation of this club to be denied.

Just as I was about to leave Mr. Effenhauser’s office, he called out to me.

“Number 11.”

“Yes?”

“...”

He stared at me silently for a while. After a brief pause, he added a short comment.

“One merit point.”

“... Thank you.”

Mr. Effenhauser didn’t bother to elaborate on why I deserved the merit point. He probably assumed I’d already understood the reason.

The merit points I received in the first semester had expired when the final grades for that semester were compiled. Honestly, I didn’t really care about my grades at the Temple, so I wasn’t too affected by it.

However, merit points weren’t only useful for grades. They could be used to offset disciplinary actions or demerit points. Although it hadn’t happened in the first semester, minor infractions could be nullified with merit points. They wouldn’t save me if I went overboard, of course, but minor mishaps could be whitewashed with merit points.

In other words, I now had a protective shield against penalties or disciplinary actions for the second semester.

*

“Did you do it?”

“Of course, I did it, you brat.”

Harriet had been waiting for me in the hallway, her eyes gleaming with anticipation when I came out.

She’d escorted me to the teacher’s office, probably thinking that I might escape midway, given how much I hated being the president.

‘Are you really that thrilled to make me the president? Do you enjoy making my life a hassle? Huh? Damn it.’

I had been hooked. I’d wanted to just be a name on the member’s list and show up whenever I felt like it, but being the president meant I had to attend every meeting. If I didn’t, she would definitely go ballistic.

“He said he’ll inform us of the result later. It’ll take a few days.”

“Mmhmm.”

She was way too happy, which made my stomach churn with annoyance.

‘No. I must be a really bad person. Is it seriously annoying me just to see her happy? How far have I fallen?’

“This isn’t the kind of miscellaneous task I was talking about...”

It was true that it was the president’s job to deal with various tasks, but I didn’t want my responsibilities to be on this scale.

Seeing my sour expression, Harriet covered her mouth and giggled. “You know you have to show up to every meeting without skipping now that you’re the president, right?”

“Does that make you that happy?”

“Of course, it’s grea—!”

Harriet began to say something but quickly covered her mouth with her hand and shook her head vigorously.

“No! No! I just think it’s great that you’ll be handling all these annoying tasks now that you’re president! It’s awesome! Serves you right!” she said.

“... Hey, you brat. I’m doing all this work for your benefit without getting anything out of it for myself. Can’t you at least say thank you?”

“Hmph! You’re always like this! You act nice at first, but you just have to needle me in the end! So I’ll do the same!”

“No, you didn’t even act nice. You were prickly right from the start to the end.”

“Oh, whatever—good luck being president!”

Harriet stuck out her tongue and ran down the hallway.

‘President, huh. Is she forgetting that it\'s a title of respect?’

*

The initial idea for this club was to bring forward the kind of challenges that the magic students would eventually face later on, so that they could get stronger a bit faster.

I thought it would be enough to get them together and say “Hey, you guys research and play with magic here, okay?”, but then I got pulled in and ended up as the president.

Of course, it wasn’t like I couldn\'t make time for it. Even though I trained with Ellen every day, I could still make time for this.

Mr. Effenhauser would inform us about the supervising teacher and the location of the club room once the results of our application were released.

It sounded easy enough, but it wasn’t something that could be approved on his say-so.

This wasn’t a normal club; it was a club that researched magic.

It wasn’t just about having a room; we needed equipment for magic research and a space to put those equipment in.

It wasn’t just a meeting where we sat around a table and had a chat.

We could use the existing equipment at the Temple, but if we needed new equipment, we had to request for it, and the school might provide it if it was within budget.

‘Wait a minute. I’ll have to handle all those things too, won’t I? This is already depressing...’

Anyway, it would take some time to learn about the details relating to the club, and until then, there weren’t many tasks to deal with.

Harriet was thrilled and constantly discussed with Adelia the research they wanted to do. Of course, since I was the president, they kept inviting me to join in their conversations, but honestly, I didn’t understand a word of what they were talking about.

In the end, life was busy, but still peaceful.

Of course, peaceful didn’t mean boring. I had to keep up with the rigorous schedule of daily training.

I also made a major resolution.

I had over 6,000 achievement points. I always kept some points in reserve for emergencies because the unexpected could always happen.

Also, I worried that the speed at which I was developing talents was too fast. The Royal Class was supposed to be a place for those who already possessed talents, not a place where new talents were awakened. However, I had awakened two rare talents within a year, and was afraid that growing too quickly might raise unnecessary suspicion, so I’d refrained from awakening new talents so far.

Now, though, with no imminent crisis in sight, it was better to blossom another talent before it went to waste. The timing couldn’t be better.

[Mana Manipulation - 4000 points]

It was time to awaken my third talent.

Self-Deception, Mana Attunement, and now Mana Manipulation...

Now that I had both Mana Attunement and Mana Manipulation, I planned to start training in Mana Reinforcement.

[Using achievement points.]

A new talent, Mana Manipulation, blossomed.

There was no significant change in my body. Although Mana Attunement accelerated my mana growth rate, the only benefit I had from it was using the Flame of Fire. I still would not be able to leverage my mana in any other way until I could use Mana Reinforcement.

[Baalier]

[Age: 17]

[Race: Archdemon]

Current Stats:

[Strength: 8.5(C-)]

[Agility: 8.8(C-)]

[Dexterity: 9.9(C-)]

[Mana: 13(C+)]

[Stamina: 13.2(C+)]

[Talents: Supernatural Power - Self-Deception, Mana Attunement, Mana Manipulation.]

Traits:

[Divine Spirit] - Increased resistance to mental magic

[Hero’s Lineage] - Greatly increased growth limits. Faster growth rate.

Skills:

[Control Demon C] (Archdemon exclusive ability)(Not usable in the current state.)

[Self-Deception C]

[Overall Ability Rating: Low-level Demon King]

[Combat Rating: B-]

My physical attributes had increased since the beginning of the semester, even though not much time had passed.

My growth rate seemed to have accelerated even more. It should have slowed down, but instead, it had increased significantly.

This was because of the Hero’s Lineage trait I shared with Ellen, which boosted my growth rate.

By the end of this semester, some of my stats might reach B-rank. To achieve a B- rank, they would need to hit at least 14, and that seemed entirely feasible.

Despite having two mana-related talents, the utility of my mana was still low.

Ultimately, this was an investment for the future.

However, this was not all.

[Talent - Mana Attunement]

[Talent - Mana Manipulation]

[Sub-talents are now prepared.]

[When Mana reaches A-rank, ‘Mana Attunement’ and ‘Mana Manipulation’ will evolve into ‘Mana Domination.’]

‘What the heck does that mean?’

The evolution of talents was a new concept.

I understood the idea of comprehensive talents, but evolution of talents through merging was a new scenario altogether. What could it possibly mean?

However, it was good news regardless. Having even a potential for something was better than having nothing at all.

At the moment, there were a total of four individuals in the Royal Class with comprehensive talents:

Ellen: Mana Domination and Weapon Mastery;

Cliffman: Combat;

Harriet: Magic;

Louis Ankton: Academics.

If I had to stretch it, there was also Dettomorian’s Sorcery, but comprehensive talents had incredible merit. Just one talent cost a thousand achievement points, while the comprehensive Magic talent alone was worth around 20,000 points.

‘But what’s the current situation?’

[Swordsmanship - 8,000 points]

After spending 1,000 points, 2,000 points, and 4,000 points, it now required 8,000 points to awaken a fourth talent. I had no clue what I’d need to do to earn that many points.

‘How much would a comprehensive talent cost now?’

[Magic - 50,000 points]

[Combat - 50,000 points]

[Weapon Mastery - 30,000 points]

[Academics - 30,000 points]

Although it wasn’t like they hadhadn’t doubled in price, they were still far more expensive than before. Even dreaming of buying a comprehensive talent with achievement points was out of the question.

There was also the potential comprehensive talent.

Mana Domination, which was a fusion of Mana Attunement and Mana Manipulation, was one of Ellen’s talents.

[Mana Domination - 50,000 points]

Among the comprehensive talents, it was a top-tier talent, on par with Magic and Combat.

Mana Attunement and Mana Manipulation were universal talents necessary for all activities involving mana. Mages needed it, and those who aimed to master close combat also needed it.

After that was Mana Domination, an even higher-tier talent. It allowed for more than just Mana Reinforcement; it could potentially lead to an individual reaching Master rank with relative ease.

However, the requirements are stringent. An A-rank in mana.

In other words, it seems to imply that, once an individual reached an A-rank in mana, their understanding and control over mana would become strong enough for the talent to forcibly evolve.

Even Vertus, who had the talents of Mana Attunement and Mana Manipulation, did not have an A-rank in Mana. If Vertus reached an A-rank in Mana, would he then acquire the Mana Domination talent?

Truthfully, from the first time I’d met Ellen, she’d already had an A-rank in mana. Ellen’s mana capacity was monstrous.

That meant Mana Domination wasn’t an innate talent, but one that blossomed when specific conditions were met.

At the moment, my mana was at 13, a C+ rank.

The subsequent rank classification would be as follows:

14-15 (B-), 16-17 (B), 18-19 (B+), 20-22 (A-), 23-25 (A), 26-30 (A+)

My mana would have to increase by 10 to reach A-rank.

While my mana now sat at 13, it had started at 9.9.

It had increased by 3.1 so far, and even the yoga master teacher considered this rapid.

My mana had increased by 3 over six months, so if I continued at that rate, it would take until the year after next to increase by another 10. Of course, if I focused more on mana growth, that could change.

Anyway, new goals kept appearing like mushrooms after the rain, and unexpected objectives also emerged.

A new talent, and the evolution of talents...

Mana Domination was the most necessary talent for me right now.