I Became the Genius of the Gigant Academy - Chapter 28:

Stepping off the gigant, Abel paced, looking at the words on the wall, and thought to himself.

‘This is how it works in the real world.’ 

Abel thought he had gotten used to life here, but there were times when he was surprised. A world where magic has replaced science. In some ways, technological developments were surprisingly slow and inconvenient, but in other ways, things that were impossible on Earth seemed normal here. Abel walked to the door and swiped his access pass into the doorway.

Woong-!

Then, with a faint reverberation, the door opened by itself. Count Klein, Abel’s patron, stepped through the open doorway with her striking red hair.

“Long time no see.”

Scarlett smiled and greeted him first. Abel immediately returned the greeting politely.

“Yes. It’s been a long time, Count.”

“Yes. May I come in?”

“Of course.”

At Abel’s nod of approval, Scarlett strode inside. Scarlett’s attire was quite different from the last time he’d seen her at the manor, she was both a noblewoman leading a family and a professor at the academy and if her appearance before had leaned toward the former, it was now clearly the latter.

Her hair was pulled up in a bun, and her outfit emphasized practicality. After taking a long look around the interior of the training center, Scarlett shifted her gaze back to Abel and asked,

“Do you like the private training center?”

“Yes. I do.”

“That’s good, then,”

Abel realized something new from Scarlett’s words. Count Klein must have had something to do with awarding the private training room to him. Abel’s achievement was undoubtedly impressive, but even considering that the private training room was more than he could have hoped for, it made sense if Scarlett had something to do with it. Quickly collecting his thoughts, Abel immediately bowed and said.

“Thank you.”

“You’re still quick to notice things, but don’t bother thanking me. You’ve done a great job.”

Scarlet smiled and replied in a light tone, this time walking over to where Lupus was.

“The aircraft is pretty standard, but it’s well balanced. The workshop must have done a good job. What about the armaments? It must be tricky to handle.”

“I still need a lot of practice, but I’m getting the sense that it’s an excellent piece of armor.”

“Hmmm. You’re already getting the hang of using two weapons simultaneously. It’s worth it as a reward.”

“Thank you.”

Abel replied, not particularly surprised. Scarlett is his sponsor and a professor at the Academy, which means she’s both interested in him and in a position to know what’s happening within the Academy.

‘That’s part of the reason I approached her first.’

Fom Abel’s point of view, the more interest she takes in him, the better. She wasn’t particularly benevolent, but she’s the kind of person who rewards talent. Scarlett asked a few more questions before getting down to business.

“I’d like to see you maneuver the Gigant once.”

“Alright. I’ll show you right away.”

“I look forward to it.”

Abel walked straight to Lupus’s cockpit, and Scarlett moved to a suitable corner.

Abel then went through the same process as before to activate Lupus.

‘I’ve withstood at least two attacks from a Milles-class Gigant with all my strength.’ 

In addition, it could withstand much more minor attacks that were not powerful.  Considering that the mana required to operate the armament could have been better, it was an excellent performance.

‘Although it’s lacking compared to other armaments.’  

If it’s to be ranked based on the essential performance of the Scarlet trio sets, the Crown of the Sage, Blessing of Wind, and Shield of the Protector. The Crown of the Sage is a unique performance that is difficult to replace with other armaments, and Blessing of Wind is also relatively high among maneuver-related armaments. On the other hand, it was challenging to say that the essential performance of the guardian’s shield was top-notch.  But that wasn’t a big deal.

‘But it’s easy to upgrade.’  

The reason why the Scarlet trio set is highly valuable is because there are many ways to upgrade it.  Abel had already planned to upgrade the Guardian’s shield.

‘First, I’ll have to test the performance properly in the next class.’

As Abel moved his gigant around to examine the Guardian’s Shield, he saw Scarlett send him a signal. It was a request for him to get off the Gigant and have a conversation with her. It was a short time, but the performance check was over, so Abel didn’t hesitate to get off Lupus.

Cung-!

Infamous Scans

With a vibration, Lupus lay back down on the ground, and Abel slipped out of the cockpit and approached Scarlett. Scarlett, standing with her back against the wall, strengthened herself and said to Abel.

“That was impressive.”

It wasn’t a direct compliment, but there was a satisfied smile on Scarlett’s face. She seemed satisfied that her investment was a solid blue-chip stock. Abel responded in a way that Scarlett loved.

“I’ll show you something more impressive next time.”

“Good. I’m even more excited to hear that.”

As expected, Scarlet nodded pleasantly, then spoke again.

“First, I came by today just to catch up with you. I’ve been busy with the start of the new semester.”

It was understandable. Scarlett is in charge of the fourth-year cadets, and while any grade is busy at the beginning of a new semester, the fourth year is especially so. Most of their classes are very focused on practicals.

Scarlett is in a position close to an ’emeritus professor,’ so she only teaches a few classes. However, considering her duties as the family head, it wouldn’t be a comfortable schedule.

“You’ve got a lot on your plate,”

Abel said sincerely. Scarlet waved her hands at Abel’s sincere words and spoke.

“That’s alright. That’s what we do every year. What about the practice?”

“The practice? That’s still two weeks away…….”

“No, not that, I’m talking about the one for the special classes.”

“Oh, right.”

The practice, which is part of the regular class, is still two weeks away. But the special class, the battle against the Blade Tail, was only two days away, and that was why Abel had been meeting with the special class cadets whenever he had the time to. Everyone expects a good result, and that ‘everyone’ included Scarlett.

“There will be a lot of other professors in that class. Special classes usually get a lot more attention.”

“Is that sot?”

“Yes, and that includes me,” Scarlett said mischievously.

“So, like before, I’ll expect you to go above and beyond what’s expected of you. Oh, and of course,”

Scarlett said, holding up one finger.

“I don’t intend to blindly put pressure on you. You’ll be more enthusiastic if there’s a reward.”

“There is no need to do…….. “

“As a reward, I’ll give you my family’s secret book. Something related to magic.”

Wooooo-! 

Looking at the surroundings through Lupus, the training grounds, which seemed so vast, felt small. Abel turned his head slightly to see Scarlett standing in the corner, and when she saw that Abel had finished his maneuver, she waved at him lightly. Signaling him to continue

‘You want me to keep moving,’ 

Abel, who understood the signal, slowly started walking.

Thump, thump, thump, thump-! 

The Lupus’s movement, controlled under Abel, was quite natural. It was only walking, but Scarlet could see through Abel’s skill even with that alone.

“Amazing.”

Scarlet let out a small exclamation. Controlling a Gigant is entirely different from moving the body directly. No matter how great one’s abilities are, if one has a talent for the Gigant, one can only perform at their full potential. In that sense, Abel’s talent with the gigant was ‘real.’

“People without talent can’t even ride the gigant properly even after practicing for a year…….”

Scarlett stroked her chin and muttered. In the past, in the early days of Gigant’s development, Gigant was reserved for knights. This was because it was assumed that those who were naturally good at fighting would also be good at Gigant battles.

However, as time passed and research progressed, it became clear that it wasn’t the case. The two talents are completely separate. Of course, to be a proper gigant rider, both talents must be at a certain level.

Scarlett’s eyes twinkled as she watched Abel walk around the training grounds. And at that moment, Abel was lost in his own thoughts.

‘It’s true. My movements are much smoother now that I’ve had the Heart of the gigant implanted.’ 

Abel’s movements have become more natural, and this is due to the improvement of his skill, and of course, the effects of the Heart of the Gigant cannot be ignored.

The Heart of the Gigant affected his Gigant in many ways. There were abilities that needed to be activated separately, such as Active Skills, but even in basic operations like this one, the impact could be felt deeply.

And Abel could feel it. He knew that now, he could be faster, more powerful, and fight longer. It was only natural that a satisfied smile formed on Abel’s lips,

‘At this rate, I should be able to achieve the same results as I did in our last lesson with just one armor.’ 

A part of him wanted to move more vigorously to see the effect, but he remembered he was not alone. Just then, Scarlett, watching him from the corner of her eye, waved her arm and gave the following command. She raised her arm and bent it slightly, pointing to her back. Abel could immediately understand the meaning.

‘You want me to use my back weapon.’

Abel stopped walking and channeled magic into the core.

Imagery is essential when activating a weapon. You have to visualize the weapon you will use as you move your energy. If you don’t, it might not deploy at all, or worse, the wrong weapon might protrude, or the movement might go awry altogether.

But Abel didn’t have to worry about that. Since he had already activated two weapons simultaneously, the mana he had channeled quickly spread through the machine and converged into one point.

Tsk-tsk-tsk

The armor on his back reacted. A sturdy covering opened, revealing a blue gem nestled inside. The changes didn’t end there.

Woo-woo!

A blue light radiated out from the surroundings along with an unusual magical response. The light seemed to spread to the surroundings and then completely enveloped Lupus. Abel looked at the light around him and remembered its name.

‘Guardian’s shield.’ 

That was the name of the third armament. If the first armament, Blessing of the Winds, is concerned with mobility, and the second, Sage’s Crown, with the senses. The Guardian’s Shield, as its name implies, focused on defense. Though he had yet to test it himself, Abel had a rough idea of its performance.

“…It looks like…”

Abel shifted his stance immediately. Any other reward would have been fine, but Count Klein’s magic scroll was a different story. Abel spoke, his voice filled with enthusiasm.

“Whatever you imagine, I will show you and more.”

[To be continued.]