I Became the Genius of the Gigant Academy - Chapter 25:

He didn’t get an answer. It didn’t ignore Abel’s words. It had simply gone dormant as soon as he’d finished speaking.

“Whoa.”

Abel realized that and let out a sigh of relief. It had been a very short conversation, but Abel’s hands were damp with sweat. Taking a cloth from his pocket, he wiped the sweat off and carefully placed the core back into the box.

‘Somehow, I got through the first conversation,’ Abel thought, as he leaned back. The reason he was nervous was simple. The person he had just met and the core in his hand was not an ordinary item and it was written in the message box.

‘Heart of a gigant.’ 

That was the exact name of the core, and what it contained was a gigant or something related to it.

‘Even in the game, that exact identity has never been revealed.’

The core’s existence had been revealed only a week before the game’s launch. Abel, who was excited by the new content he’d found after so many years, delved into its identity, but he never quite figured it out, and ended up possessing this body.

‘It’s absolutely not an ordinary item.’

It can’t be an ordinary item. In the game, the item called the heart of the gigant was literally a death trap. The slightest misstep in the first encounter would result in death or your consciousness being devoured. If you look even the slightest bit shallow, there was a hundred percent chance you’d be eaten whole.

If Abel thought he wasn’t good enough, he would have ignored it. The reason why he was so nervous during the conversation was because he knew better than anyone else. It’s a truly dooming object. Of course, there was another reason he kept his eye out for it.

‘But with this, my power will rise a few levels.’

As dangerous as it is, it’s also an object with great value. It’s like a ‘Gigant Encyclopedia’ that can raise Gigant’s power by several levels and is alive.

‘I think the imprinting ended smoothly.’ 

His tension was relieved. Abel stroked the box where Lupus was sleeping and closed his eyes.

»————- ★ ————-«

The school was cancelled for a week. The suspension period was longer than the original schedule. At first, the cadets, who liked simply taking a break, seemed to be getting bored.  That was understandable because there wasn’t much to enjoy in the academy.

The training ground was naturally crowded every day. This was because there is nothing other than moving the body to consume the overflowing energy. And it was the same with Abel.

Tadak!

Abel leaped forward quickly and swung his sword. It was truly brutal blow.

Kagak! 

His opponent’s slanted sword deflected Abel’s sword. Seeing that the attack had failed, Abel hurriedly tried to retreat.

Woosh! 

However, his opponent didn’t miss the chance and stabbed his sword at Abel’s shoulder. There was no time to deflect the attack with his sword, and it was too exquisite to dodge by moving his body.

‘Shadow step.’

Abel had no choice but to use the skill. Normally, that would have bought him enough time.

“It’s too obvious.”

But this time, it was different. Abel saw a flash of silver hair in the air. Then something leaped up in front of him. As if his opponent had read Abel’s movements, she immediately followed him and swung her sword. Abel desperately raised his sword.

Kang!

However, the sword he raised was hit by the sword swung upward by his opponent and was thrown away.  And then Abel felt something cool touch his neck. A wooden sword was pointed at his neck.

“Whoa. I lost again.”

Abel let out a deep sigh and declared defeat.

Only then did his opponent, Ioline, lower her wooden sword and spoke, “It wasn’t too bad, though.”

“Are you sure?”

Abel asked, and Ioline averted her gaze slightly.

“…I’ll tell you a few things to fix. First of all, you shouldn’t rely too much on your visions because right now, their timing is too honest.”

“Honest?”

Ioline nodded at Abel’s question.

“When you’re really cornered, you undoubtedly use your visions without fail. It’s a nice skill when dealing with an opponent for the first time, but it becomes a weakness after they’ve seen it a few times.”

Abel listened carefully, mesmerized by her words. Ioline made a few more points before ending the conversation.

“Well, you did a great job today.”

Infamous Scans

“Yes, thank you. Your class is scheduled today as well?”

“Yeah. I’ll see you after dinner.”

“Okay.”

With that, Ioline waved and walked out the training room door. Abel turned, walked to one side of the training room, and picked up his wooden sword. It hadn’t been long since he’d started taking sword lessons under the guise of dueling with Ioline. The reason for this, of course, was his conversation with Ioline.

“Abel.”

Turning his head at the unfamiliar voice, Abel saw a middle-aged man with a stern impression. Abel recognized his identity without difficulty and greeted him.

“Hello.”

“Do you know me?”

“Yes. Aren’t you, Professor Vern, in charge of the advanced swordsmanship class?”

“How do you know that?”

“Your reputation is so great.”

In fact, Abel had memorized all the names of important faculty members in the academy.

‘It’s not common to have a curvey look like that.’

Others did, but it was to some extent, but Vern especially looked like he had stepped out of a game illustration. Vern was about to say something to Abel’s words, but he closed his mouth.

“…I have a something to tell you about the past. Would you like to follow me?”

“Of course.”

Abel answered without hesitation. He had expected to be summoned sooner or later, but it was later than anticipated. Vern nodded slightly at Abel’s answer and walked ahead. Abel followed right after, as he thought to himself.

‘If it’s a separate call like this… I don’t think this will be too different from the flow I’ve known.’ 

Although he had already thought about it to some extent, Abel calmly organized the thoughts in his head. Because this one was pretty big.

»————- ★ ————-«

Not long after, they arrived at the most central building of the academy. The building standing tall in the center, overlooks the entire academy.

‘No, it must have been designed so that you can actually look down.’  

Considering the purpose of this place, it was inevitable. He thought to himself as he stepped into the building.

“Abel.” Vern called out to him.

Abel immediately snapped out of his thoughts and answered.

“Yes.”

“You will have a meeting with the principal from now on.”

“With the principal?”

Abel repeated, looking surprised, which was the most natural reaction.

“Yeah. I didn’t bring you here because you did a bad thing, so there’s no need to be nervous.”

Hearing that didn’t make the tension go away. Magnus was the Empire’s living legend before becoming the principal of Del Mordor Academy.

“Ah, I see.”

Abel feigned to be moderately nervous. Of course, in reality, he was not tense at all. However, he was not as stiff as a normal cadet. Still, he gave off a nervous look on the outside. There’s nothing good about getting attention in this way.

Vern saw Abel’s reaction and said nothing more. It was a kind gesture, giving him time to compose himself. Abel was able to comfortably climb the stairs and collect his thoughts. The stairs were quite high.

Normally, there would have been a magical elevator installed or something like that, but this was an exception. This was due to the first principal’s will,

‘A healthy body is a healthy mind.’ 

In other words, it means walking up the stairs on two feet instead of relying on machines. No wonder the thighs of those who frequently visited the principal’s office were thick for a reason. Abel wondered how many flights of stairs he had climbed so far.

“You’ve arrived.”

Vern said, stopping in front of an unusually large door.

“You can go inside.”

“Am I going in alone?”

“Yes.”

Abel nodded and cautiously approached the door. He wondered if he should knock for a moment, but before he could decide what to do, he heard a voice.

“Come in.”

Magnus’s gravelly voice came from inside, the one he couldn’t forget. Abel cautiously opened the door. A wide view of the spacious principal’s office came through the open doorway. Resisting the urge to look inside, Abel bowed his head first.

“You called for me?”

“Yes. Come in and sit.”

With that, Abel raised his bent upper body and walked inside. Magnus was seated at his large oval office desk. The way he spoke was light. But Magnus exuded a sense of intimidation.

There was a hint of authority in his voice that took Abel’s breath away. Perhaps it was because It was a different place and a different circumstance than when they met at the podium the other day. Magnus did not speak until Abel was seated.

“Do you know why I called you here today?”

“Isn’t it because of the incident that happened at the Wall of Glory?”

“Yes.” Magnus nodded coolly at Abel’s answer.

“You will be rewarded for that soon enough. Everyone saw your performance.”

“I was just doing my best.”

“Haha. That doesn’t change the fact that you deserve credit.”

With that, Magnus wiped the smile off his face. The sense of intimidation that had faded for a moment suddenly surged and pressed down on Abel. He looked straight at Abel and asked,

“Abel. What is your true identity?”

[To be continued.]