I Became the Genius of the Gigant Academy - Chapter 32:

Abel turned to Daniel and Hannah, who had agreed to return with him.

“I’ll see you at the training center in a bit.”

“Alright.”

“I’m going first.”

Daniel and Hannah nodded and left immediately, and Abel walked over to Scarlett. Scarlett, who had been waiting, pointed to one side.

“Shall we sit over there and talk?”

“Alright.”

She pointed to a bench not far away. Abel walked with her, and Scarlett spoke when they reached the bench.

“Sit down.”

“Sure.

Scarlett and Abel sat slightly apart, and once again, Scarlett spoke first.

“You’ve done much better than I expected, considering you’ve only just been trained. You seem to have quite a good commanding side.”

“That’s because we all worked together to devise a plan.”

“A plan, yes. I was referring to your calm, timely command on the battlefield.”

“…Thank you.”

At a loss for words, Abel thanked her modestly. Scarlett smirked at Abel’s reaction.

“It’s certainly a good thing to have a clear idea of your strengths, but you don’t have to focus on just one thing, do you?”

“Is that so?”

“Yeah. Because it’s much more valuable to understand the situation well and have good leadership than simply fighting.”

Abel was aware of that. He’s working on that, too, and he recognizes that ‘one-tool characters have clear limits to their playability.’ Gigants are powerful. But let’s not forget that their enemies are just as powerful.

A Gigant Rider’s enemies are also other Gigant Riders or gigants which is why the role of a leader, or commander, is so important. However, unlike brute force, strategy and command cannot increase. Therefore, he was approaching it as carefully as possible.

‘My level is still only slightly above average,’ 

Abel thought so far, and he neatly summarized everything he wanted to say and put it into words.

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

“Good.”

Scarlett nodded in satisfaction as if she knew Abel wasn’t just saying that without thinking. Then she brought up another topic altogether.

“The other professors who came as observers seemed quite impressed, especially with your assessment today.”

“My assessment?

“Yeah, there were a lot of people who thought highly of you, but there were also many people who didn’t like you.”

“I suppose that’s to be expected, given my low status, lack of clarity, and the attention I attracted from the beginning.”

“I see, and if you were a descendant of a prestigious family, you’d have gotten a lot more favorable attention, and many professors are sensitive to such things.”

Scarlett said, turning to Abel after talking so much.

“You could probably be adopted into a prestigious family by now. Those with discerning eyes would have fully realized your worth.”

Abel was silent for a moment at that. Things were indeed different now than when he first met Scarlett. Abel had already passed the Academy’s entrance exams, completing the bare minimum of proof. In addition to that, there are senior admissions, his battle at the Wall of Glory, and his grades and combat skills so far. He has everything a prestigious family could ask for.

“I’m happy the way I am,” Abel said, shaking his head at Scarlett’s words.

“Why?”

“Because there will be more restrictions.”

“Restrictions?”

“Yes. If I go in as an adoptee, I’ll have much more support and be ignored less.”

Even if Abel was adopted, if he gets a surname first, he won’t be ignored as much. But if that’s what Abel wanted in the first place, he would have planned for it.

“However?”

“The problem is, nothing in life is free.”

“Free… Well, that’s true.”

“There’s going to be a lot of work to do for the family’s name, and even aside from that, it’s a loss for me to be adopted.”

“A loss?”

Abel spoke confidently as if stating the obvious.

“Yes. My value will increase as time goes on.”

At that, Scarlett looked puzzled momentarily and then burst into laughter.

“So,since your value is underestimated right now, it’s a loss for you to go into adoption?”

“Yes.”

Infamous Scans

“Then it’s also a loss for you to have me as a patron?”

“No way.”

Abel shook his head emphatically.

“I don’t do things at a loss, and I’m sure Count Klein will treat me according to my value.”

“Hmm. Well.”

Scarlett looked at Abel with a smirk, then shook her head and pulled something out.

“Now that you mention it, it makes me feel a little shabby. But since I brought it, will you accept it?”

With that, Scarlett handed him a book. Abel’s eyes instinctively went to the title.

[Optirum Breathing Method]

After reading the title, Abel asked in a curious voice,

“Is this……?”

“It’s not my family’s secret magic book so you may be disappointed, but it’s just as good.”

Scarlett said with a smile.

After placing the book in Abel’s hands, Scarlet continued.

“It was brought into our family by accident during the Great War.”

“Can you give me something so precious?”

“Knights of my family are trained with different techniques at a young age. I would give it out when I saw someone worthy, but… it took me longer than I thought.”

Abel fiddled with the old book. The Optirum breathing method was a technique he had never seen before in his thousands of hours of gaming, maybe tens of thousands. But Scarlett’s story made him realize this would not be an ordinary practice. This could be a hidden piece, too. After briefly organizing his thoughts, Abel spoke with sincerity.

“Thank you very much. I’ll do my best to learn it.”

“Then, I’ll be glad I gave it to you. If you get stuck, you can ask me. I’ve read it a few times for research.”

“Okay.”

Scarlet nodded in satisfaction, then stood up.

“I’ve kept you for too long. You must be tired, so go get some rest.”

“Okay.”

“I’ll see you later, then.

Scarlett gave a short goodbye and walked away, leaving Abel to watch her back before he eventually left slowly.

»————- ★ ————-«

Upon returning to his dormitory, Abel went straight to the training grounds, where he had a sword duel with Daniel and then met up with Ioline, who gave him some tips on magic. Then, after a late dinner, he returned to his dormitory, his entire body filled with fatigue.

“Whoa.”

Abel let out a long breath and flopped down on his bed. He was confident in his stamina, but he couldn’t help but feel tired on a day like today. He’d been training for hours after a battle that felt like a real battle.

‘I just want to sleep.’

Abel stared blankly at the ceiling, then slowly raised his upper body. No one would blame him if he fell asleep right away, but Abel himself wouldn’t allow it. He had other things to do than to sleep.

“Let’s see…”

Once fully awake, Abel sat at his desk and took out a piece of paper and a pen. He began to scribble down what he had gained today.

[Enchantment materials, influence, physical ability, strike]

He crossed out each one and wrote down the relevant information. Enhancement Materials and Influence were quest rewards. The physical abilities and strikes were crest and blade tails.

“Hmmm.”

First, there was little to worry about with the Enhancement Materials and Influence. Influence means the influence that Abel himself exerts. It’s similar to the ‘Drowsy’ stats commonly used in games, where the higher it is, the more influence you have over your surroundings. Conversely, if it was low, he was more likely to be ignored, even if he was to rise to a higher position in the future.

‘In a way, it’s  kind of like a charisma stat.’

The ‘Enhancement Materials’ is unknown because the reward has not yet been given,but it’s probably related to gigant or armor. It’s more likely to be a weapon, as the Gigant Enhancement Material was difficult to obtain.

‘I’m not sure which path it will take yet.’

Intangible rewards such as skills tend to be given right away, but tangible rewards like this are given in different ways. Like Demetri’s flame, he got earlier.

‘Well, maybe it will be given through sponsorship or performance rewards.’

This wasn’t something to ponder right now, so Abel moved on to the last item.

‘Sentence react…’

Abel looked down at his chest, where the mysterious symbol had been engraved when he first encountered the blade tail, and the system had labeled it a sentence react, which meant the system knew exactly what it was.

‘The problem is, it’s a system that’s never been in a game.’ 

He’d been encountered with a lot of things that haven’t come out in games before, but this was more disturbing because it was on his body. Abel narrowed his brow and shifted his gaze slightly to the side.

‘Blade Tail and Strike.’ 

Strike was originally a unique ability of the Blade Tail, and Abel had gained that unique ability by defeating the Blade Tail.

‘And I think my physical abilities have increased.’

Abel felt a little lighter than before when he was sparring with Daniel. However, there was no change in his stats in the status window.

“Hmm.”

It suddenly occurred to him that maybe this physical ability is independent of his stats. It’s still just a guess, though. However, there was something else that bothered him more this time

‘Why did the system only react when I fought the Blade Tail?’

This wasn’t the first time Abel had fought a fragment of a gigant. At the Wall of Glory, he’d taken down and killed numerous fragments of a gigant, but at that time, this message didn’t appear at all.

‘Why?’

Is it simply because of the difference in level? But then again, the fragments he’d taken down at the Wall of Glory had seemed pretty high level, too.

”This is giving me a headache.”

It’s not something Abel was going to let it slide. At least, there were a few clues. Even at that, he couldn’t just go out hunting for the fragment of a gigant. Abel glanced at the calendar on his desk and muttered to himself.

“At least, the first practice is the closest.”

That was the only ‘outdoor’ practice at the beginning of the semester, and it was just two weeks away. Of course, even that seemed a long way off to Abel.

‘It can’t be helped,’ 

Abel shook his head, calming his impatience. As frustrating as it was, getting even a small clue was something to be happy about. The strike skill he acquired this time around is quite useful in combat. Abel scribbled down a few more notes on a piece of paper and tucked it away in his desk drawer. He then took out a book he kept in his desk drawer. It was the Optirum Method of Breathing.

“Alright”

Abel smiled as if he had never been frowning. Proper breathing was what he always wanted. He had had the opportunity to learn it several times before, but he deliberately gave up because it is challenging to change breathing techniques once mastered. He was thinking of learning how to breathe at least A grade or higher.

”Please be grade A. Please.”

Muttering to himself, Abel slowly opened the book, and when he saw the first page. A message flashed before his eyes.

[You have recognized the conditional Class S breathing method.]

[Would you like to learn the Optirum breathing method?]

Abel’s eyes widened as he read the message.

[To be continued.]