Drift(4)

The lecture lasted for 180 minutes.

It was a marathon lecture that lasted for three hours, but none of the students complained of any inconvenience.

Rather, I listened to his voice to avoid missing even one, and even went to the bathroom to the point where there were those who controlled their metabolism with magic.

It is not a lecture of speech and listening, but a ‘silent’ lecture in which only information is conveyed.

The classroom is quiet as if silence has fallen, but on the contrary, their mental world is more active than ever before indulging in ‘knowledge’.

“… then. The lecture ends here.”

And, 3 hours passed.

The voice I heard for the first time after the lecture started was somehow unfamiliar.

The students’ bodies were drenched in sweat before they knew it, and the seething mana and heat proved the level of concentration they had.

What I felt at the end of the huge concentration that didn’t miss a moment was not a feeling of exhaustion that it was over now, but a regret that it was over ‘already’.

“The next lecture is in a week. Until then, I hope you have fully mastered today’s content.”

Putting on his hat, he walked out of the classroom with a tidy step that put the three-hour lecture to shame.

It wasn’t until the lights were bright, and the wind that seeped through the open doors swept through the empty podium that people were able to escape the afterglow of the lecture.

“This is… Professor Yujin Kang.”

“It’s already over… was three hours so short?”

“Oh, how can I wait another week…”

Sighs and laments follow.

Among them, among those who were called the Kang Yu-jin school, there were even people who cried uncontrollably.

“Eolssigu…”

Anyone who sees it will know that even a god has received it.

Skadi looked at them and shook her head.

However, that feeling was understandable enough, so I couldn’t bear to blow the pinjan.

Even she felt it, Kang Yoo-jin’s lecture was that impressive.

“Is that person a real monster…”

Who would have known that something like this could be possible with the sympathetic nervous system?

others and me

others and others.

With all the consciousness flowing in the classroom connected as one, expressing the knowledge of the other person that I did not know on the hand, and witnessing my knowledge that the other person did not know from all sides.

It was a shudder that ran down the spine.

Human communication system that has been maintained for hundreds of millions of years.

It is a science that shakes its foundation.

Kang Yoo-jin’s move today was truly unconventional.

“If it’s something like this, it’s worth not publishing a thesis…”

There is too much room for abuse.

That was the reason why he taught ‘how to use’ the sympathetic nervous system, but not how to ‘construct’ it.

Even in Skadi’s opinion, this kind of knowledge was too dangerous for humanity to accept.

ha···.

She let out a deep sigh and put her head on the desk.

“Why are you so weak?”

As I was lying on my desk, I heard a voice next to me.

Turning his head slightly, Roshua and Lapless were looking for him before he knew it.

And that, while holding the placard and cheering stick in ancient times.

“…what the hell is that like?”

“You mean this? Isn’t it Professor Yujin Kang’s lecture? We’re the same Professor Helios, so we have to support him.”

“No… Huh. Roshua, you understand, but I can’t believe even Professor Laflis…”

Glancing at him with open eyes, Laflis looked at Skadi with a pale expression.

“Because I decided to become a fan too.”

“Huh. Since when?”

“From today.”

Honestly, it’s weird if you don’t fan after watching that.

After answering that, Laflis cutely waved the (pistol-shaped) cheering sticks she held in both hands.

It was such a well-made thing that the light came out when I pulled the trigger…

“How about it? At this point, Professor Skadi, why don’t you join?”

“Enough. I’m not interested.”

Skadi jumped up from her seat and looked around the crowd.

There is a lot of bustle here and there.

There were people who reviewed the contents of the lecture without thinking about going back, and there were many people who were busy contacting them.

Perhaps, the shock that Yujin Kang showed will be published in the military or academic journals.

“The old man…”

Mason was already gone.

“Ah. The Mage Tower Lord has already returned to the Mage Tower. He said that he had to deliver today’s information to the Mage Tower.”

“…that nobleman is still the same.”

Even if you don’t look at it, a picture is drawn.

As soon as it was over, he must have rushed to the warp gate while making a fuss.

With a sigh, Cynthia and Encia were finally caught.

The two sat close together in the front row, reviewing the contents of the lecture like best friends.

“Whew. As expected, they’re listening too…”

“Yes?”

“Nothing~”

In the past, it was regrettable that I couldn’t get in as a major student.

All I could think was that I wouldn’t have a chin anymore.

“I heard there’s a discussion room here, so why don’t we all go and have a study session together?”

“Students feel good too. What about Professor Skadi?”

Skadi shook her head.

Having studied on her own since she was a child, it was very burdensome to hold the head of the desk with someone.

“Then let’s go by ourselves.”

“So be it.”

Roshua and Laflis went to the discussion room in harmony.

With a placard and a cheering stick.

“…Those house gourds.”

Looking at her back, Skadi shook her head and rubbed her face against the desk.

I have no energy these days, but after concentrating so much on lectures, I feel like dying.

“Should we go for a walk?”

Let’s go out and cool our heads.

She got up and headed outside with her limp body.

*

The lecture is over, but my work still goes on.

All of the 12-week lecture plans have been sorted out, and most of the existing work has been completed now that I have the necessary infrastructure, but that doesn’t mean all my work is gone.

Right now, in the center of the island, Laniakea is separating the source of Faelan, and I needed to clear out any obstructions in the meantime.

“Was it a bad choice to dismantle the barrier?”

When I discovered Faelan, I dismantled all the barriers in the cave.

At the time, it was removed because it was a nuisance, but as time went on, the obstruction of perception that had been hiding the place disappeared, so a blind monster could have gone inside.

Of course, Laniakea wouldn’t be that dangerous, but as much as it could get in the way of what I was doing, I had to do an untimely reconnaissance in preparation for an unexpected invasion.

“Is this… useful?”

I grabbed a monster that looked like a mix of a bear and a dog and analyzed its ingredients.

Identify the inherent characteristics of blood, bone, leather, etc., and write them down in a notebook.

There will be something that will be used someday, so I write it down.

For your information, there are already more than 5 notebooks that record flora and fauna and mineral resources.

“I’m going to make an encyclopedia like this… Hmm.”

In an instant, I sensed a mana that was alien to my senses.

Pure magical power different from those of Avantrat.

It was an energy that I couldn’t feel here, so I instinctively raised my gun, but I soon realized that I was not an enemy and let my guard down.

Sure enough, it was Skadi who appeared through the bushes covered in grass.

“Egogo… is there no proper way here?”

She continued to grumble as she ripped leaves from her clothes and tail.

As she straightened her messy hair, her purple eyes soon widened at me.

“Huh? Professor Yujin Kang?”

“Nice to meet you. Long time no see.”

“What are you doing here?”

I showed her a bear + dog monster that had fallen.

“We are investigating the environment.”

“Aha. You’re an environmentalist this time? How many alternative jobs are you planning on taking?”

“I’m just doing the best I can.”

She smiled brightly and suddenly looked into my face.

“What is it?”

“I want to be strange again.”

“Miraculous?”

“Reputation pierces the sky, but if you look at it like this, people want to be consistent.”

is this a compliment?

Or are you always making fun of being busy?

I glared at her with a disapproving gaze.

“Why don’t you review at a time like this?”

“What? You’re not so stupid that you’ll forget what you heard once?”

Because I’m a 9th circle Arc Wizard~

As if boasting, he stretched out his chest and said so.

It’s unlucky, but it won’t be bluff like that.

She also didn’t win the 9th circle in vain, and she was a genius who even had the title of the youngest Arch Wizard.

“Hi-Hi.”

I admit it in my own way, but she always looks at me and smiles.

It was like ice skating.

It’s the same jokey laugh as usual, but…

what to say He seemed a bit lethargic.

“What’s wrong.”

“Huh? No? Nothing happened?”

“Hmm···.”

She responded calmly, but my eyes couldn’t be fooled.

I looked into her eyes without saying a word, and then sighed quietly.

For some reason, I felt like I knew why.

“Is it because of Baltazar?”

“···uh?”

Her eyes widened, then narrowed slightly.

She glared at me with teary-eyed eyes, and replied bluntly.

“It’s against the rules to use mind control.”

“I didn’t use it. I just hit it with my eyes.”

In fact, this was something I had to talk to Skadi about once.

Having lost her hometown to Balthazar, she was the one who wanted revenge more than anyone else.

It was because he was a poisonous species that reached the 9th circle with just one desire to take revenge.

However, the work was over before it was properly concluded, so there must have been a lot of exhaustion and futility.

Having captured Balthazar, I was obliged to talk.

“Are you not happy with the results?”

“No, well… I’ve fought a lot, so I don’t have a big complaint~”

Suddenly, the tail drooped.

Her shoulders drooped like a cat in the rain, she said while kicking a pebble.

“I just want to be a little futile.”

Clearly, Skadi at the time could not decide against Baltazar even though he was in the 9th circle.

At first, they fought with each other, but that was only possible because they did not arrange magic.

Perhaps if all of her magical energy had been exhausted, it would have been Skadi who would be defeated.

Knowing that Skadi’s efforts in magic were not insignificant, I was able to measure the depth of futility she experienced to some extent.

“So…well. I feel a little lost. I don’t even know what to do.”

“Are you wandering?”

“Yes~ I’m at this age and I’m wandering~ Anyway, Baltazar has left my hand now~”

Balthazar, who was sealed in the polar night prison, will probably never wake up.

Even if the information in their heads is coveted, the allied forces aren’t stupid enough to wake up an enemy they can’t handle.

Skadi knows that, so it must be like that.

“·······.”

I stared at Skadi without speaking.

Perhaps trying to forcefully appeal that it was okay, she kicked the corpse of an innocent bear + dog.

Saying Eight Eight and kicking around was like a cat taking out its anger.

After organizing my thoughts, I grabbed her hand and led her to a nearby forest.

*

Leading Skadi, Yujin Kang headed for the deep forest.

It was a place where unknown plants of Avantrat grew naturally.

“Wait, wait… where are you going!”

The woman who was dragged out of nowhere shouted something, but the big and violent hand showed no signs of loosening.

Maybe all men’s hands are like this, but her hand was twice as big as hers and wrapped around her hand like a cloth.

Feeling ashamed of that, Skadi struggled to pull it out, twisting her wrist around with an inappropriately red face.

“Please be still.”

“Why don’t you explain then!”

Having said that, I shut my mouth again.

Instead of letting go of his hand, he pointed at the nearby trees and weeds one by one and said.

“All of the plants here have no names because they are unique breeds. However, each has a strong character and has a variety of uses.”

“Ah, I see. But please give me your hand…”

She twisted her body like a caterpillar.

His face was already as red as a tomato, to the point of dripping red water.

As he let go of his hand, he handed her a piece of grass he had plucked nearby.

She gazed at it with the faint smell of grass, and then glanced at Yujin Kang with her cold eyes.

“Huh…I didn’t know that the first plant I get from a man is a weed, not a flower.”

“This has no name, but it is a plant with high autogenous power and the power to purify the air. It grows well even when demonic energy is thick.”

“Yeah?”

I collected a few more and brought them to her.

“This is the one that collects sunlight and heats the atmosphere.”

“Me, over there.”

“This has the power to change the turbid magical power into pure.”

“excuse me?”

He didn’t stop talking.

In the unique environment of Avanrat, there were numerous indigenous varieties, and among them, he picked out plants related to ‘purification’ and handed them over.

When I came to my senses, the plants he gave me were already over 20.

“Wait, wait! What are you doing, jjikkeun!?”

In the end, Skadi, who couldn’t stand it, dropped the grass she was holding and ignited the double wick.

We didn’t know what we were going to do.

“Suddenly bringing someone over to play with…!”

“That should be enough to cleanse Rendire.”

“···Yeah?”

His simple yet firm voice lingered in my ears.

Even if I couldn’t kill her with my own hands, I wouldn’t know if her revenge was already over.

Balthazar was sealed, and left her hand.

But that won’t be the end of everything.

Even without Baltazar, Skadi is Skadi, and she has many years to live.

And surely, that time could have been written more brilliantly than now.

“At the end of revenge, nothing remains. Especially if the end is not satisfactory.”

“·······.”

“Isn’t it a waste to think about wasting precious time wandering around because of that sense of futility?”

Weeds she threw away.

Picking up one of them, he held it out to her again.

“Your time can be used more valuablely. You can purify your ruined hometown and turn it into a world where people can live, or you can devote yourself to the path of magic and challenge the 10th circle, which is said to be unreachable by humans. “

“…but you never know when it’s going to end. Maybe you’ll have to work on the impossible for the rest of your life.”

“Did you take on the challenge because you were convinced that something in the 9th circle was possible? If it weren’t for me, you would still be wandering around in the 8th circle.”

“What did you say?”

His eyes seemed to be ferocious, but he couldn’t be more angry because he wasn’t saying anything wrong.

It was just wagging Kang Yujin’s forearm with his wagging tail, but unfortunately, he didn’t even budge an eye.

“It’s too easy to say it’s someone else’s business—”

“We have to live for tomorrow.”

Her words stopped.

Those were the words Kang Yu-jin once said to her, who was grieving in her ruined hometown.

“Even if the first plant you get is just a weed.”

A nameless wild grass that infuses magical energy into it to temporarily speed up its growth.

The stems grow, the leaves are full of vitality, and the flower buds, which were previously shy, bloomed into attractive petals.

It was pure white, the same color as Skadi’s hair.

“Someday, even that weed will bloom.”

“·······.”

“So, if you have time to grieve, find at least one more thing you can do.”

“…you wouldn’t have to say the last word.”

Skadi responded bluntly and snatched the flower from his hand.

Then he plucked the white petals, cast a spell, and inserted them into his conical hat.

“All my people are dead anyway. I’m the only one left.”

“···Is that so.”

“I honestly don’t know what will happen to my hometown. Even if it were revived, who would want to live in that cold and remote place?”

Tuk-tuk.

She tidied up her hat and smiled brightly under the brim.

“But, well, I guess I’ll try to kill time.”

There is no way that a person’s feelings can be resolved with just one word.

Still, Skadi felt that her twisted heart was loosened a little.

It’s probably because he was the one who told me.

An honest person who always gives unwavering, accurate advice.

That’s why, hearing his unchanging voice will always put your mind at ease.

“Give me your hand.”

Kang Yu-jin held out her hand, and she wrapped her soft tail around his hand.

A handshake divided by the tail.

For the snow leopard, it was a meaningful gesture of trusting you.

“Thanks for the advice.”

She picked up weeds that had fallen on the ground, and put them all in her subspace bag.

“Then let’s go now. It’s too hot here, so it’s not suitable for me.”

“Go look.”

Skadi, who turned around, quietly placed her hand on her chest so Yujin Kang couldn’t see it.

My heart was beating loudly.

It was definitely a beating of strange excitement.

The sound of my heart is so strong that I can hear it in my ears, but I feel like I’m floating.

Has anyone listened to my voice so much?

Obviously, he will be the first.

Even though he didn’t smile, it was just a small courtesy that he carelessly gave…

Still, Skadi felt good about it.

To the extent that he couldn’t hide his shy, embarrassing smile.

“I’m sorry. The book is like this…”

slap slap-

A slap on the cheek to clear one’s mind

What is this?

It’s time to adjust your posture and go back to your usual Skadi.

I’m taking that step…

Suddenly, the watch vibrated violently.

Beep-!!

“yes?”

Startled, I checked the alarm.

It was a ‘disaster alarm’ that I had seen once before.

[Confirm the large-scale air raid by Corps Commander ‘Ouroboros’ near the front line]

And at that moment, Skadi’s sharp senses sensed a clear demonic energy spreading from afar.

“Kang Yujin—!”

The thought was not long.

Skadi, who ran towards him, raised her magical power with all her might.

Grabbing his hand as he turned around, she swung a flash of lightning.

Before long, a wave of mad energy swept the place where they were.