“Time’s up.”“Uuugh.”Kiriel clawed at her hair, then finally dropped her pen.I took her test paper and graded it.The result: 27 points.It was still very low, but there was a clear improvement compared to before.And it wasn’t like she’d gotten those points by random guessing either—on the easier questions at the front, her correct-answer rate was high, and the farther back into the harder questions she went, the higher the wrong-answer rate became.Of course, given that this was an exam she’d already taken once, getting at least this much was only natural.I looked over the result and slowly nodded.“At least you did some studying.”“Yeah, I felt like I couldn’t just stay like this forever.”Watching her weakly scratch at her head, I spoke.“You finally realized how powerless you were after what happened last time, huh?”Back at the Sports Festival, when she ran into a demon and almost lost not just her own life but her friends’ as well.Kiriel gave a feeble nod.“…That too, I guess. Even though that doesn’t seem all that related to written grades.”“There’s a saying that knowledge is power. If you don’t mind, can you tell me what happened back then?”“Yeah.”Kiriel let out a long sigh, then told me what had happened to them before I arrived.The bat-type monster with terrifying power that had appeared after the gremlin. Silphy and Rina, who had been helplessly beaten down by that monster.And the details of her own situation, powerless to save them.However, there was a significant gap between what I’d gone through and how Kiriel described it.Seeing how her memories of the demon had been replaced by a bat-type monster, it seemed the Director had tinkered with Kiriel’s and her friends’ memories a bit.'Well, that might actually be better for Kiriel.'I slowly nodded.A man-eating demon that had invaded Union.The situation where it had captured her friends and forced her to choose one of them.Keeping a memory like that around would do her no good mentally.Whether for the sake of information control or for Kiriel’s well-being, the Director seemed to have made the right call.Kiriel finished her explanation.“That’s how it went. You showed up right then and said you’d buy time.”After listening carefully to her story, I replied in an arrogant tone:“I see. Then be more grateful that I happened to show up at a perfect time and saved you. I saved your life and your friends’ lives.”Kiriel scratched at one of her slightly reddened ears and muttered:“…I know that even if you don’t say it. Accepting your offer to tutor me this time is kind of my way of thanking you, in a sense.”“Well, fine. Then today’s lesson will focus on reviewing that battle.”“Battle?”“Yeah. You said you chose the mid-rank forest spirit Trent and the mid-rank water spirit Naiad when you fought the monster, right?”“Uh-huh. Since we were in a forest, wood spirits were efficient, and I supported it with Naiad as a complementary attribute.”“Not a bad choice. But I wouldn’t have done that. There was a better way.”“A better way?”“Right. If you’d summoned the fire spirit Salamander, you would have gotten better results.”“Why’s that?”I added more detail for Kiriel, who was tilting her head.“What attribute supports fire?”“Wood generates fire, so… when there’s a lot of wood, a fire spirit’s power gets stronger.”“Exactly. If you’d summoned Salamander and backed it up with Trent, you would’ve been able to draw out much greater power. And in a forest, there’s firewood lying around everywhere, so Salamander could’ve temporarily displayed power on par with a high-rank spirit.”“Ah.”Kiriel let out a small exclamation, like something had just clicked.Then she tilted her head again and asked:“But in terms of mana efficiency, isn’t that not that different from supporting Trent with Naiad?”“Sharp observation.”I closed my eyes for a moment and thought.Adding the ‘power of wood’ overflowing through the forest to the ‘spirit of fire.’And adding the ‘power of water’ to the ‘forest spirit’ filled with the power of wood.At a glance, the two seemed to have similar mana efficiency.At Kiriel’s unexpectedly sharp point, I added an explanation.“On the surface, you can think that way, but there’s actually a pretty big difference. First, when you use your mana to summon a water spirit and use it to support a forest spirit, that just means your mana keeps getting drained. On the other hand, if you summon a fire spirit and support it with the forest’s power, you’re using nature’s power itself as support. In terms of mana efficiency, the latter is better.”“Mmm…”Kiriel’s expression said she still didn’t fully get it.So I gave her a simple example.I told her that constantly hauling water to pour on a big tree was exhausting, but lighting a pile of firewood was much easier.“Ahh.”“Plus, you can’t just think about your own mana efficiency and attributes. You also have to consider the attribute of your opponent. You said that bat-type monster’s regenerative ability was extremely strong, right?”“Yeah, I crushed its wings and they grew back right away. It was terrifying. But regeneration… regeneration, ah!”Kiriel repeated the word a few times, then clapped her hands like she’d realized something.I smiled and nodded.“You’ve got it. The power fire governs is ‘dissolution.’ It has the property of interfering with the ‘growth’ and ‘recovery’ powers that bat-type monster had. Even if the mana efficiency is the same, the result changes drastically depending on your opponent’s attribute.”The fact that my Fire Bolt one-shotted that huge demon, Demper, probably had something to do with that attribute, too.The power of fire had a property of interfering with recovery.Of course, in that case, it had more to do with the destructive power of magic woven with ‘magic energy’ than with pure attribute advantage.Anyway, the power of the Five Elements wasn’t limited to physical fire, water, wood, steel, and earth.It also corresponded to the ‘traits’ and ‘concepts’ each being possessed.If you kept that in mind when you fought, you could get the maximum possible efficiency.“I see. So you have to consider your opponent’s attribute too.”“Yeah. From now on, when you fight, consider both the enemy’s counter-element attribute and the attributes of your surroundings, and fight more efficiently. We’ll stop here for today.”“Oh, an hour’s already up?”Kiriel glanced at the clock on the wall and her eyes went wide.Between the time spent on the test and all the talking and explaining, the agreed-upon hour had flown by.“Yeah, that’s it for today. Come again next week. And don’t forget to bring your textbooks and notes.”“Okay. Thanks for teaching me.”“You’re welcome.”As she got up to leave, Kiriel left me with one last comment before stepping out.“…Studying was actually kind of fun.”***“You’re saying something pretty unbelievable. You really expect me to buy that?”“If you don’t want to believe it, don’t.”Meister Academy.Meyer’s luxurious office.I lounged arrogantly on the sofa, sipping tea.Meyer frowned as he turned the remote I’d given him over in his hands.“This is ridiculous. I thought I’d be able to clearly learn the principles and operation of the mana core signal disruption, and you’re telling me you just stumbled into it by accident.”“Well, what can you do. Discoveries and inventions are often the product of chance.”“I agree with that, but still… sheesh.”Sighing, Meyer handed the remote back to me.I looked at the remote he returned and smirked.'This remote was something I stumbled into while running gacha using the [Amplification] function of Alchemy.'I felt a bit bad for Meyer, but even I didn’t know its exact operating principle.Still, since the function itself worked, we could backtrack from the effect and figure out how it operated.Seated in his chair, Meyer changed the subject.“That aside, where are the blueprints for the next-generation core?”“Right here.”I set the copied blueprints we’d obtained from the Aether Dungeon on the table.“Ahem.”Meyer fake-coughed for no reason and tried to snatch the copy right away, but anticipating that, I pulled it back toward me.“Not so fast. I’m not showing you anything until we finalize the contract.”Meyer spoke in a dissatisfied tone.“Loen, I can’t sign an information exchange contract about that next-generation core without verifying that this information is real.”“Beatrice already vouched for it. Don’t tell me you don’t trust Her Highness the Princess. Are you a traitor?”“Wh-What? A traitor? That’s not what I meant at all!”Meyer flinched, and I pressed the attack.“And I even gave you the remote out of pure goodwill. And now you’re saying you’ll only sign the contract if you can check the blueprints first?”“That may be, but the remote is completely useless at the moment, isn’t it? We’ll have to investigate and experiment to figure out how it works. Just letting me see it for a bit doesn’t exactly count as goodwill.”“You’re supposed to be a magical engineering genius, aren’t you? Figure it out yourself.”“…Well, I am a genius, yes.”The moment I flattered him a little, Meyer lost control of his expression for a second, then quickly coughed.“Ahem, fine. Then I’ll trust Her Highness Beatrice and sign.”“Smart move.”Scratch, scratch—.Meyer wrote his name in elegant cursive.He brushed his limp blond hair to the side and handed me the signed contract.“Contract for sharing magic armor technology and using an S-class workshop, complete. Now, show me the blueprints for the next-generation core.”He just kept asking for the blueprints.Not letting his pace pull me in, I carefully checked the contract first, then finally handed him the blueprints.“Here. Take it.”Fwip—.Meyer snatched the blueprints like someone might steal them from him, then practically shoved them into his face as he read.As he studied the sheets, his eyes began to gleam with desire.“These are definitely blueprints for a next-generation core. Strictly speaking, it’s less ‘next-generation’ than a lost ancient technology. It seems to be an entirely different line from current cores, but it’s clear that the efficiency and output will be greatly improved. Now, if I look more closely at the principles here… huh? What’s this?”I tucked the contract into my coat and feigned innocence.“What do you mean?”Meyer shook the blueprints I’d given him.“The critical sections are missing. The core manufacturing’s key technical parts aren’t written anywhere!”I shrugged.“You didn’t think I’d show you everything from the start, did you? What I just gave you is only part of the blueprints. The full set consists of five sheets, and you have to layer all five to get a complete version. I’ll hand over the remaining four one at a time, each time you transfer another chunk of magic armor technology.”“Wh-What! That’s outrageous!”Meyer slammed his desk in anger.“Outrageous? Hardly. It’s the bare minimum safety measure, given that you’d happily suck up all the next-generation core tech and only give me the barest basics of your magic armor technology.”I gave the fuming Meyer a slow grin.“If you want the rest of the blueprints too, you’d better cooperate wholeheartedly with the tech transfer, Meyer.”***A few weeks later.“So this is it.”Arriving at the Meister Academy’s workshop zone, I looked up at the building.A spacious factory-like structure, maybe about two hundred pyeong.It was the S-class workshop I’d secured through my deal with Meyer.For now, the inside was empty since I’d just moved in, but the underground connections would soon deliver the equipment I’d ordered.And I had the right to use most of the inventory in the Meister Academy’s logistics warehouses.Give it a little time and this workshop would be crammed with fantastic facilities and materials.“Do you like it?”“Yeah. Somehow I feel like I’ve become a landlord.”Hands clasped behind my back, I smiled at Ciel’s question.The S-class workshop I’d obtained through my deal with Meyer.From now on, this would be the base for all projects that required a lot of space, massive equipment, and enormous mana supply—homunculi, golems, and so on.Of course, there was no way I could do everything alone.'I’ll need to hire a few assistants, too.'As I was mulling things over while looking around the workshop, a voice called out from a distance.“Mr. Loen, we’ll put this over here!”“Sure, thanks.”Philip and Josephine had carried over the sofa and furniture that had been gathering dust in the Student Council storeroom.I thanked them.“Once we’re done moving in, let’s grab a meal. By the way, how are things going with the Competition Battle?”Philip straightened his back and said proudly:“Oh, my ranking’s climbing nicely. I’ve gone up about twenty spots and I’m at 529 now, and as for Josephine here…”“I’m currently 130th. I may get matched against Miss Ciel in the near future.”“Oh? That won’t be easy.”“What rank are you, Mr. Loen?”“About the same. I’m currently 112th. I’m just about to break into the top hundred.”After defeating Meyer, I’d fought a few more Competition Battles over the following weeks.I could definitely feel that my opponents’ skill levels had gone up as my ranking rose, ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) but none of them were any real match for me.Another win or two and I’d break into double digits, landing in the stable average ranking I needed to maintain my Student Council President seat.After that, I could relax a bit.Thinking that, I asked Ciel about my next Competition Battle opponent.“Ciel, come to think of it, who’s my next opponent?”Ciel usually told me in advance who I was matched against next.But for some reason, she hadn’t said anything this time, so I asked first.“……”Ciel didn’t answer my question right away and hesitated.“Ciel?”When I asked again, she finally spoke after a long moment of thought, in a calm voice.“Mr. Loen’s next opponent… is me.”

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