[Mr. Black! The vacation is about to begin! I’ve made a plan for what to do during the break—would you like to hear it? First, I’ll take classes I missed during the regular semester in the winter term, do some undergraduate research, help professors with their paper writing, and write a few myself. Then, I’ll go on a field practice with the Imperial Guard, carry out a mission for Vermont Security, and…!]
As I looked at Yuri’s letter, enthusiastically laying out her vacation plans, I couldn’t help but feel my lips curl upwards.
When vacation arrived, I was usually too busy enjoying myself to make any plans.
It wasn’t even that I had influenced her, but seeing her create such a systematic schedule on her own made me feel proud.
Maybe she got inspired by seeing other students make well-planned schedules?
It seems like there’s a saying that the environment is important.
Once again, I felt I made the right decision sending Yuri to a prestigious university.
‘But the Imperial Guard field practice…’
Upon reading the explanation that followed, it seemed that students in the Combat Magic Department had to visit the Imperial Guard for field practice.
I understood the intention.
It was probably meant to show the freshmen the vision of the department by meeting graduates who are active in the field.
But the problem was that the Imperial Guard was the practice site.
They were supposedly the Empire’s strongest forces, but in reality, they were just a flashy group.
During the palace terror incident, they were completely captured after barely holding off the 4th Legion for less than 30 minutes.
‘What kind of guards can’t last even 30 minutes against 10,000 legionaries?’
There was another very trivial reason for my hesitation.
The Imperial Guard should be filled with veterans who have a lot of real-world experience, but when I took a look at their faces, all I saw were young, good-looking men.
They looked so unreliable just by their appearance.
What could I possibly learn from these rookies?
Besides, they might not be able to resist their youthful impulses and start hitting on the students.
I’m strongly against this practice.
If it were up to me, I would use my patron status to cause trouble and change the practice site right away.
But causing trouble only works once or twice, and after so many incidents, doing it again would land me on the blacklist.
So the complaint terror strategy wouldn’t work…
“I’ll tell Yuri not to participate in the practice. Instead, I’ll make sure she gets more specialized training from Vermont Security.”
It looks like I have no choice but to issue a directive for Yuri to not attend.
Though it feels a bit too overbearing as a patron, it’s unavoidable.
I can’t send Yuri into a den of beasts who are distracted by sweat and women.
“This practice… should be skipped… I’ll make sure she spends her time more productively instead…”
I immediately picked up my pen and started writing a response.
I wondered if she would understand.
After putting the letter in an envelope, sealing it, I was about to stop myself when…
“Oh. That’s right. November is coming.”
Come to think of it, the vacation at the Imperial Magic Academy is almost here.
That means the academic conference is just around the corner, right?
And what about my research? How much progress have I made?
Nothing.
There had been no progress beyond choosing a topic.
A sense of urgency spread through my body, and I snapped to attention.
“This is not the time for this. Sylvia.”
“Yes, Lord.”
“Call Julia and Charlotte to the lab. We need to resume our research.”
“Yes. Understood, Lord.”
As soon as I called, Sylvia appeared from the shadows, sliding into view.
I had her call Charlotte and Julia, and I headed toward the lab.
What was the last step I had completed in my research?
Looking at the journal, the last recorded entry was discovering that I could control Neomium’s power.
‘I’ve made a lot of progress since then.’
At the time, I only thought I could control the output of the mosquito net.
But after the palace terror incident, my skill evolved, and its uses became endless.
What I had thought was just a mosquito net ability had now become powerful enough to exhaust someone, and more importantly, it could perfectly counter curses.
‘If the Empress finds out about this, she’ll be drooling…’
Suddenly, a chill ran down my spine, and goosebumps appeared.
The Imperial family had just been severely affected by a curse, and they must be investing huge sums to develop countermeasures against powerful mages.
If it were discovered that I was the one who released the curse that day, would I be forcibly abducted and placed in a lifetime position?
I’m terrified.
Anyway, thanks to my skill evolving, I was able to understand the source and operation of black magic, and now I could even demonstrate its uses at the upcoming conference.
I can now choose the activation point and range of black magic selectively, draining all the mana from a target.
If there’s a barrier, I can dismantle it instantly, even if I can’t detect it.
And if there’s corrupted mana inside someone’s body, I can locally remove it.
Of course, for someone like me, who can’t use mana, it’s peaceful whether mana enters or disappears.
But for mages who use mana daily like breathing, this would be a lethal ability.
Once I present this research, the demand for black magic will skyrocket.
‘I’m glad I secured the rights to the Neomium mine.’
One thing I’m extremely lucky about is that the only Neomium mine in the Empire is now in my hands.
So far, no one had gone digging for it, since it was seen as a useless stone collected by occult enthusiasts.
Because of that, I was able to secure the exclusive rights to the mine through the Empress.
If Neomium were carelessly distributed, there would be a flood of people trying to use it for black magic, eventually getting possessed by the Evil Gods and going mad.
Unless you’re like Irene or Aslan, who are half-crazy, there are very few people who can survive being exposed to the Evil Gods’ gaze.
As much as I want to sell Neomium for a huge profit when its price skyrockets after the research presentation.
I feel like I need to first figure out how to avoid falling into madness after being exposed to the Evil Gods’ gaze before I can start selling it properly.
“Are you starting the research again, Aslan!?”
“You said you needed me for the research! What should I do? Huh? Huh?”
At that moment, the lab door swung open with a loud noise.
What was once a silent lab was instantly filled with noise, and my focus was completely shattered.
I forgot what I had just been thinking.
“We have to produce some decent results soon since the conference is coming up.”
“By the way, now that Aslan’s abilities have upgraded, the research should be much easier!”
“Oh, right! So that black haze that soared into the sky, was that something you did, Mister?”
“What? Black haze?”
“Yes! It was huge, like a giant octopus appeared in the sky, it was all over the news!”
“…?”
[The Evil God ‘Kali’ pretends not to know and looks away.]
What is this about?
I was completely puzzled, but then, seeing Kali’s reaction, I quickly figured out who the culprit was.
It seemed that the “black light” repeatedly mentioned in the records was what Charlotte referred to as the haze.
But this time, the scale was so large that the “black light” itself seemed to have grown to the point of reaching the sky.
There must be a direct relationship between the “black light” and the Evil God…
I’ll need to research this further over time.
Actually, every time I use black magic, a part of the Evil God’s true form might faintly manifest in this world…
But that can’t be, right?
“So, what are we doing today? What should I do? What role do I take on?”
“Charlotte, I didn’t call you here as an official researcher, but I need your help for today’s experiment.”
“Ah…”
“But this is an extremely important experiment. There’s no one else who can do this role here except you.”
“Heh-heh! If I’m needed, I can’t not help you, Mister!”
Charlotte seemed a bit disappointed at first, but quickly cheered up and straightened her back.
Seeing her recover so quickly reminded me of myself, and Julia looked a bit shocked, staring blankly.
It was as if she was thinking, “Did I act like that whenever Aslan gave me a little compliment?”
Of course, when I said only Charlotte could do it, that wasn’t a lie.
Julia and I were responsible for the experiment and the documentation, so we were out.
Sylvia uses mana stored inside a sword, not in her body, so measuring that is difficult.
So, naturally, Charlotte was the only one left.
“If you use Neomium’s power, mana will drain from your body. But instead of leaking out slowly in proportion to the output, it suddenly bursts out once a specific output threshold is reached. I’m calling that the ‘escape output’.”
“So, in this experiment, we’re going to see how much the escape output is? Since it’ll be different for everyone, we also need to find out what factors affect the escape output… right?”
“Exactly, Julia.”
She got straight to the point.
If this experiment succeeds, we will be able to determine how much output is needed to drain all the mana from a person’s body just by examining their skin.
What once seemed like supernatural black magic will be incorporated into the realm of predictable, calculable science.
“So, Charlotte, would you like to lie down here? We’ll start measuring… now!”
“Slowly increase the output.”
I placed Charlotte on the experiment table, then set the activation point for my skill, ‘Black Magic,’ to her palm and slowly increased the output.
[Current Output: 8%]
When it was the ‘Touch of Death,’ I used to just guess the output.
But now, with the exact numbers right in front of me, it’s much easier to adjust.
As the output gradually increased, once it reached 25%, mana began to steadily drain from Charlotte’s body.
“Now.”
“I’ve recorded it. Charlotte, how do you feel?”
“It feels like mana’s being sucked out of me, but without even any thunder or lightning. It’s weird.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll recharge your mana soon…”
“Wait, wait, Aslan! Heh-heh. It’s rare to see Charlotte weakened by mana exhaustion, so if I’m going to torment her, I might as well do it now!”
“AAAH!?”
At that moment, Julia flashed a mischievous grin and lunged at Charlotte.
As Julia began tickling Charlotte’s sides and armpits, Charlotte burst into uncontrollable laughter.
It was a scene where Charlotte was helpless, being tickled by Julia.
It was so unfamiliar that I couldn’t even think of stopping it and just watched.
“Hahaha! Stop! Hee-hee!”
“I’m not stopping! This is a rare opportunity! When else can I tickle you like this, Charlotte!”
“Ah! Hahaha! Huh, huh…! Huh?”
“Huh?”
Then suddenly, Julia froze.
It wasn’t that Julia stopped herself.
It was that Charlotte, despite being drained of mana, had caught Julia’s wrist in a firm grip.
Wasn’t Charlotte supposed to be in a state of mana exhaustion, with all her mana drained?
In that short time, her mana had recharged a little, enough to overpower the weaker Julia.
“Heh-heh. What was that you just said, Julia?”
“Wait, wait. I think there’s a misunderstanding…”
The situation reversed instantly.
Julia’s face stiffened, and her complexion turned pale in a moment.
“AAAH!?!”
“ILLUWAIT!!!”
Once again, the lab was filled with screams.
It looks like finishing the experiment today is no longer an option.
