After talking with Kim Sunwoo, Choi Ilhyeon was walking down the street with a sense of emptiness.
“What the heck, seriously.”
He had a strange feeling when he couldn’t get in touch during the contact period, but he never imagined something like this would happen.
He never expected that the guidance instructor registration would already be completed.
“…Was I too overconfident?”
Choi Ilhyeon scratched his head with an awkward look.
Thinking back, he had been so absorbed in his personal research that he hadn’t come out into the world for several years, acting like a fool with no sense of reality.
He needed to reflect on himself a little.
But still, what now?
If not for Kim Sunwoo, there was no reason for him to come to this school.
Kim Sunwoo was someone who, for the first time in a while, had piqued his interest in something other than research.
The battle style he saw in the video was impressive, and the boldness of someone who specialized in manifestation-type magic kicking a reinforcement-type mage really appealed to him.
It almost reminded him of his younger self.
Of course, the fact that the target of that kick was Lee Seo-jun was what he liked the most.
“Kim Sunwoo…”
Meeting him in person gave off a different impression. There was something subtly mature about him that felt nice, and even though he knew who Choi Ilhyeon was, his rather indifferent reaction was intriguing and also appealing.
He definitely felt drawn to him.
‘I’m not the type to give up so easily.’
According to Kim Sunwoo, he was now under the guidance of a teacher named Lee Hee-young.
The name was unfamiliar, but if he went to talk to Lee Hee-young in person, maybe he could figure something out.
After all, Kim Sunwoo didn’t seem to have any real dislike to him.
With that resolve in his heart, he started walking again, and then noticed a tall male student in the alley.
Choi Ilhyeon unconsciously stopped walking and stared at him. It was a face he had recently seen in Kim Sunwoo’s battle video.
Most people would have been surprised at how good-looking the student was, but Choi Ilhyeon felt a strong sense of discomfort and dislike when he saw that face.
At that moment, the student also sensed his gaze and looked back at him.
After staring at him with curious eyes, the student cautiously spoke.
“Are you… Mage Choi Ilhyeon?”
Choi Ilhyun nodded silently.
“Ah, I’ve heard a lot about you from my grandfather. I heard you were coming as a external instructor, but I didn’t expect to meet you here…”
The student was none other than Lee Seo-jun, who could be considered his pupil.
Choi Ilhyeon silently observed Lee Seo-jun’s face carefully before speaking.
“Is that old man doing well?”
“Yes, my grandfather is always healthy.”
“Well, that old geezer. He’ll probably live for another hundred years.”
It could have sounded like an insult, but Lee Seo-jun could sense the affection in his voice.
“Grandfather seems to miss you a bit. You should come see him sometime.”
“…Misses me, huh. Forget it. I’m sure we’ll meet when the time’s right.”
Muttering that, he continued.
“Well, I’m busy, so I’ll be going now.”
“Ah, yes! Take care.”
With that, the two of them went their separate ways.
Left alone, Choi Ilhyeon recalled Lee Seo-jun’s face again.
“…Unnecessarily looks just like him.”
After finishing secondary form training with Yoo Ara, I was wrestling with Gretel in the dorm.
Gretel was struggling desperately to escape my arms.
“Hang in there just a little, Gretel.”
“Unga!”
Gretel shook her head hard and slipped out of my arms. Then she ran away on her short legs.
I quickly used grasp of nature to gently restrain her feet. Gretel’s body toppled forward with a soft plop.
“Oops.”
Seeing that made me wince with guilt.
“Are you okay, Gretel?”
As I approached, Gretel slowly picked herself up with a pitiful look on her back. Then she tried to run away again.
I didn’t miss the chance and reached out to pull her into my arms again. But right at that moment, Gretel showed an amazing jump and dodged me.
“Ugh, come on.”
I ran after her again. Gretel wasn’t going to let herself be caught so easily. She used her magic to summon tree roots from the floor.
The roots tightly bound my feet.
“Hey!”
I shouted, and Gretel flinched and released the bindings.
I seized the moment and grabbed her quickly. Trapped in my arms, Gretel flailed wildly.
“Okay, okay. Just a moment, Gretel. Just close your eyes and bear with it once, alright?”
“Unga!”
Gretel screamed.
I gently grasped the fruit attached to Gretel’s head.
At that, she kicked the air with her feet again.
“It doesn’t hurt, not at all~”
Like coaxing a child about to lose a baby tooth, I tried to calm her gently.
As soon as she let her guard down, I yanked the fruit right off.
“Whew.”
Gretel escaped my arms and touched the twig on her head, glaring at me with resentful eyes. Soon, tiny tears started welling up in her eyes.
“There, see? Didn’t hurt at all, right?”
Gretel shook her head. And not just once — she shook it hard five times.
Guess it did really hurt. Now I feel kind of bad.
“Gretel.”
I approached her slowly, pulled her into a hug again, and patted her back.
“I’m sorry.”
I meant it. Though… I’ll probably do this again when the next fruit appears.
I’ll just say sorry again then.
So, sorry in advance for next time too.
Maybe Gretel sensed my (dubious) sincerity, because she nodded her head.
Thankfully, it looked like she’d forgiven me.
I put a few sausages into her mouth and sat down on the sofa.
Then I checked the fruit in my hand.
━━
[Mysterious Demonic Tree Fruit (S)]
Category: Elixir
Description: Upon consumption, increases strength and agility by 5%.
Improves physique. Growth plates open, gradually altering the skeleton for combat suitability.
Flushes bodily waste and increases sensitivity to magic.
━━
“Wow.”
It was surprising the first time I saw it, and it’s still surprising now. I never expected an S-rank elixir to come out of this.
I was expecting maybe a B-rank elixir at best, so this result far exceeded my expectations.
And the effect wasn’t just about increasing stats.
It even improved one’s physique.
And the growth plates would open, too.
Does that mean I might actually get taller?
Feeling hopeful, I washed the fruit clean with water.
“So I just swallow it like this?”
…Wait, no.
There’s something I need to do first.
Upon consumption, strength and agility increase by 5%.
To maximize this effect, it would be best to have higher base stats beforehand.
Which means it’d be smarter to buy some stats using points before consuming it.
“Hmm.”
That seems like a pretty solid idea. I still have some spare points, after all.
[Entering the Points Shop.]
━━
[Basic Stat Shop]
▶Stamina 0.1 – 100 points
▶Strength 0.1 – 100 points
▶Magic 0.1 – 180 points
…
━━
The needed stats are strength and agility.
Buying about 10 points of each seems good.
The total cost would be 29,000 points.
It’s quite a bit, but considering the fixed 10-point stat increase, it’s not a bad deal at all.
[Strength has been purchased.]
[Agility has been purchased.]
[In the Basic Stat Shop, ‘Strength’ now costs 200 points per 0.1.]
[In the Basic Stat Shop, ‘Agility’ now costs 200 points per 0.1.]
“It’s done.”
I could instinctively feel that something had changed in my body.
Strength surged through me, and my senses became sharper.
I wanted to immediately check my stats with my own eyes, but I held myself back.
I wanted to see the dramatically improved stats after taking the elixir.
“I’ve still got some points left… should I buy more magic power?”
It wouldn’t be good to create an imbalance in my stats, so it seemed reasonable to invest a bit more into magic power.
Not too much—just about 5 points.
[Magic power has been purchased.]
[In the Basic Stat Shop, ‘Magic Power’ now costs 230 points per 0.1.]
In an instant, I had spent 39,000 points. I worked so hard to earn them, but using them takes only a moment.
Now then, shall I eat the fruit?
I put the mysterious demonic tree fruit in my mouth.
Crunch. As I bit into it, a sweet flavour spread through my mouth.
The texture was like a tomato, but the taste was more like watermelon, I’d say?
I’d been worried it might taste like sausage since Gretel had eaten so many, but thank goodness it didn’t.
[Achievement ‘Consumed Demonic Tree Fruit’ has been completed.]
[You’ve received 3,000 points as a reward.]
[Due to the effect of the adaptive trait ‘Potency Amplification,’ you have gained additional stats.]
[Strength +0.69, Agility +0.67]
“…Did it work?”
I checked my body. I didn’t feel any immediate changes. But something would happen soon.
That was when it began. Just as I expected, a burning energy erupted from my chest and started to spread throughout my body.
“Haaagh!”
Just like when I’d consumed the Golden Line Fruit before, I steadied my posture and focused my mind.
But this time was a bit different.
With the Golden Immortal Peach, it felt like the magic power inside me was running wild. But now, it felt like my bones and muscles were separating.
“Ghhhhh!”
Unable to bear the pain, I collapsed onto the sofa and curled up. The agony was so intense it felt like I might lose consciousness.
And then—
I passed out completely.
Ding ding! Ding ding!
My eyes snapped open. A loud alarm was ringing from the smart student planner on the sofa.
I lifted my head and looked around.
A spacious living room. And the sofa.
Then I suddenly recalled what had happened yesterday.
…Right, I passed out after taking the elixir.
I turned off the alarm and immediately opened my stat window.
━━
[Stats]
Stamina: 70.8
Strength: 74.77
Magic Power: 62.5
Speed: 37.9
Agility: 71.12
Dexterity: 29
━━
“…Wow.”
My stats had clearly risen. Strength and agility had both surpassed 70. They were even higher than my stamina now.
Who in the world would think these were the stats of a manifestation-type mage?
“Oh, right.”
Now wasn’t the time to be dawdling. I quickly got up. Today was Monday. Time for school.
I washed up quickly and changed into my school uniform.
“Hmm?”
Something felt off about the uniform. Kind of stiff?
I hurriedly checked inside the uniform. Nothing seemed different.
“Was I just imagining it?”
I bit into the bread on the table, then gently stroked Gretel’s back as she lay sprawled out asleep.
“Gretel, I’m heading out.”
Gretel stirred as if to say okay and went back to sleep. Smiling at her cute reaction, I opened the door and stepped outside.
I walked to school, feeling the cool autumn breeze.
Somehow, the walk to school felt different today.
Colourful decorations. Various installed magical devices and banners.
Looks like they decorated the streets for the upcoming Taehwi Festival in two days.
“Sunwoo-senpai!”
At that moment, Choi Seo-yoon came running toward me with a bright face. Standing right in front of me, she smiled silently and said,
“Wow~ We meet again here. You’re on your way to school, right?”
“Yeah. That’s right.”
“Hehe. Then we can go together.”
And so, Choi Seo-yoon and I walked to school side by side.
From early morning, Seo-yoon chattered excitedly about something.
To summarize, she was telling me what role she’d taken in the upcoming festival and what she needed to do.
Then, as I turned my head, my eyes met hers.
Choi Seo-yoon didn’t look away. She stared right at me, then gave me a curious look.
Poke.
She poked my cheek with her finger. I rolled my eyes to look at her.
“What is it?”
Seo-yoon pulled her finger back and looked at the tip.
“Nothing. I was just wondering if you were wearing makeup or something.”
“Makeup?”
Why would I be wearing makeup all of a sudden?
Seo-yoon stared at my face again.
“Yeah, today your face looks super… I mean, your skin looks really good.”
“Isn’t it just the sunlight? It’s morning, after all.”
“Come on, it’s not like I’ve only seen you once or twice.”
Then she suddenly brought her face closer. I flinched and pulled back instinctively.
“Hey hey. People might get the wrong idea.”
“Oh, sorry.”
She quickly backed away, then stroked her chin like a detective examining my face.
“Hmm… no really, your face looks better. Did you do something?”
“No, nothing…”
Then a thought flashed through my mind.
Could this be because of the elixir?
Seo-yoon took a step back.
“Now that I think about it… you also look a tiny bit taller. And maybe your shoulders are a bit broader too. Hmm. You’re not wearing lifts or padding, are you?”
“What are you talking about? I don’t wear stuff like that.”
“Hm. Yeah, I figured. Must’ve just been my imagination.”
Seo-yoon smiled brightly.
Time passed leisurely, and we arrived at the main building.
She looked a little disappointed but said,
“Well, I’ll be off then.”
“Ah, yeah. See you.”
“Good luck today, senpai!”
She struck a pose, holding up a fist. I couldn’t help but smile at her energy.
“Yeah, you too. Good luck.”
After parting with Kim Sunwoo, Choi Seo-yoon walked alone down the hallway. Then she suddenly recalled his face from earlier.
His face was glowing today. It didn’t look like he was wearing makeup, so how could he change that much in such a short time? It’s not like he hadn’t washed for days and finally did or anything…
Clatter.
Choi Seo-yoon opened the door to Class 1-A and stepped inside.
As usual, a lot of students greeted her warmly.
“Seo-yoon~ I missed you~”
“Hey, what’s with you.”
“Hug me!”
“Why are you being so clingy this morning?”
Seo-yoon playfully accepted their attention and took her seat.
As soon as she sat down, a crowd of female students gathered around her.
“Oh right, Seo-yoon. I’m in big trouble!”
One girl sitting in front of her cried out dramatically.
“Big trouble?”
“Yeah. I went to the movies with Taehyun yesterday.”
Morning love talk. Here we go again. Still, Seo-yoon smiled and pretended to be interested.
“The movies? What the—weren’t you saying you wouldn’t go?”
“Yeah. But remember how I used to say I wasn’t really into him?”
“Of course. You said it like a hundred times.”
“Well, after that day, Taehyun started looking kinda handsome to me. Isn’t that weird? What’s wrong with me?”
“…Huh?”
Seo-yoon’s thoughts froze for a moment. It didn’t feel like someone else’s story.
She’d just had a similar experience.
Just then, a girl who had been quietly listening burst out laughing.
Seo-yoon turned toward the laughing girl.
“Oh boy. Look at you. You’ve got heart-eyes for him, that’s all!”
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