"What is the colour of your underwear?"

My body moved on instinct. Mana surged through me and in an instant I was right in front of the boy, my leg snapping toward his face.

CRACK!

He never even had time to react before the blow sent him skidding across the ground until he slammed into a tree at the side of the path.

Then… nothing.

No movement or any sound.

I stared at the motionless body, heart still pounding. "What the fuck was that thing?"

After a moment, my surprise calmed down.

I walked toward the boy slowly, each step echoing through the dead night.

He wasn't moving.

A dark, greyish blood was spreading beneath him.

"Oh… fuck," I muttered. "It's a demon."

I crouched beside him.

Is he dead?

For a second I just stared, then leaned closer, reaching out to check for a heartbeat.

There was a very small beat I could hear.

Ahh, he is alive, huh?

For a second, I almost thought I killed someone on my first day at the academy, no less.

Great start, Rael. Really setting the tone here.

But seriously, why the hell would anyone be wandering around naked like that?

Unless, of course… they had some very questionable interests.

I took out a healing potion.

I mean, I couldn't just let the guy die uselessly.

That'd be a hell of a stain on my reputation on the very first day and worse, a total headache if he turned out to have some elder siblings or came from one of those uselessly large noble families.

The last thing I needed right now was some self-righteous noble brat trying to avenge this dumbass.

And I was a benevolent guy, after all. Helping a poor, injured soul lying on the roadside? Yeah, that was something I could definitely do… Even if I was the one who made him like that in the first place.

I poured a healing potion into his mouth and went back to my business.

My kindness ended the moment I gave him a healing potion. If he didn't survive after that, well… that was on him.

As for the Academy blaming me? Yeah, no.

Noxvalen didn't care what happened to weaklings.

Their philosophy was simple… survive or don't.

The only real rule was that seniors couldn't pick fights with juniors.

Everything else was a fair game.

I sat back on my trusted bench for tonight and finally took off my monocle.

This damn thing… It was the whole reason I sent Bearlo into that cave in the first place and honestly, it had way too many good effects, even more than my so-called broken cloak.

I focused a bit as the details appeared before me.

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◈ Eidolon's Tear

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◈ Description: Forged long ago by a great blacksmith after his blind son died within a dangerous forest. This was the last artifact he made and named after his son before he killed himself in guilt. The true form of the artifact was lost through the time.

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◈ Rank: UNRANKED

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◈ Traits:

☉ Allows the user to appraise the divinity within any living being.

☉ Can morph its form into any type of facewear at will.

☉ Grants the user resistance to mental intrusion and erosion.

☉ Enables the user to record the aura of any three beings at once and replicate each aura until the stored amount ends.

[Current Stored Auras]

— Demon King Ashavar Von Noctharion. (100%)

— Matriarch of the Matherion Family, Veluna Von Matherion (100%)

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As I said before, this freaking artifact had some pretty great effects. Maybe not by other standards but for me, it was one of the best tools I could possibly have to scam—I mean, legally negotiate with anyone.

The mental resistance and erosion immunity were just side perks at this point, stuff I didn't even need anymore thanks to my Myth which made me completely immune to them.

Still… I wasn't complaining.

Because the other effects were that great.

Still, when I read the description of the artifact, something bugged me.

The same great blacksmith again?

Damn I was getting their whole life story here.

Honestly, in the novel, some random trash ended up with this artifact , a minor, useless villain.

It was never explained in much detail… or maybe it was and I just didn't bother to remember anything except the effect it had.

I mean, come on, just remembering that this thing existed was already a big achievement for me.

Expecting me to recall the full lore? Yeah, no thanks.

And that's why this actually surprised me, this artifact was made by the same guy who created the other two.

By now, I was starting to see a pattern.

I mean, why would that blacksmith forge all these artifacts for his son?

And more importantly… who the hell were they?

Because anyone who could craft things like these wasn't exactly normal. The previous artifacts might have been trash but this one was different.

An unranked artifact with traits tied to divinity itself?

Yeah, that was the kind of thing you didn't just stumble upon.

Even the strongest blacksmiths, mortal humans or demons, couldn't make something like this without burning their souls in the process.

Which meant that whoever forged it… wasn't just powerful.

They were something else entirely.

Still, at least I knew the son's name now, Eidolon.

Never heard of him before but maybe I would dig through a few books later.

Might as well find out who this blacksmith, the one even the damn System couldn't stop praising, really was.

I shoved the whole "great blacksmith" mystery to the back of my mind, still on my priority list, sure but not worth losing sleep over.

I just had a feeling it would come back to bite me sooner or later, now that I was basically walking around with half his legacy strapped to me.

But then… something else caught my eye.

The third effect.

The one that let me store the auras of three people at once and actually use them.

But something was off.

Because when I looked at the names listed under "stored auras," one of them made absolutely no sense.

Who the hell is Veluna?

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