The Academy Geniuses I Raised and Dressed

We headed straight toward the glowing loot.

My Craftsman ability activated, and the status windows popped up over each item.

A magic-tier piece of leather armor.

Its defense was twenty points higher than my level 7 Iron-Scale Armor.

On top of that, it boosted HP and Agility.

This is perfect for Lumina, no question.

Next, I checked the rare items.

Both were materials.

Both were rare materials obtainable from the Ashen Butcher.

Not bad—actually, pretty lucky.

They were both highly useful.

“What’s this red one?”

While I was checking stats, Meiling picked up a necklace with an amber-colored orb.

“Yein… is that…?” Lumina glanced between the necklace in Meiling’s hand and me.

“What? You two know what it is?”

“That’s a unique item,” I said.

“Unique item? What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It’s not just about boosting stats. Unique items add new abilities—or change something entirely.”

I scanned the necklace’s status.

“For example, that one lets you detect enemies more easily—and even see ones that are invisible.”

“You’re joking, right?” Meiling’s tone was skeptical, “How can you just look at it and know what it does?”

“I can. If you don’t believe me, put it on and see for yourself.”

She made a thoughtful “hmm” sound, then clasped it around her neck. A moment later, she let out a quiet gasp.

“It’s real. I can’t explain it exactly, but my senses are sharper—I can feel monsters outside the corridor. How did you know? Ah, you must’ve seen it before.”

Sure, in the game.

“I’ve got good eyes.”

“Yeah, right. What are you, some Hunter Market appraiser?”

“Want me to rattle off the stats on your wand?”

When I listed its exact attributes, Meiling’s jaw dropped.

“Well? Still think I’m lying?”

“…Hmph.” She turned away, sulking.

“So, is it rare?” she asked.

“Yeah. Unique items are harder to find than even rare-tier demonic relics.” I studied the necklace.

“But whether it’s better than a rare item depends on the situation.”

“Why wouldn’t it be? If it’s rarer, it should be better.”

“You do know hunters have a limit on how many accessories and gear they can equip, right?”

“Of course. Magical items work by resonating with a hunter’s own mana, so equipping too many—or more than one per slot—stops them from functioning.”

Exactly. That was the in-world reason you couldn’t load all ten fingers with rings or stack necklaces.

One piece each for head, body, arms, and legs—four total.

Two rings or bracelets, one on each hand—two total.

One necklace.

And two tools—usually weapon and shield.

Nine pieces in total.

“So sometimes, a rare item with the exact stat boost you want is more valuable than a unique item. Equipping a unique means giving up those stats. Depending on its effect, it could be better—or worse—than a rare.” I nodded at the necklace. “In this case, it’s better if you keep it.”

“…Why?”

“With it, you’ll notice enemies sooner and dodge a bit more often. That means fewer surprise hits from pill bugs like earlier.”

Her brows twitched upward.

“So you’re saying I’m not paying attention?”

“Exactly.”

“You little—!!”

Meiling’s furious screech echoed through the room.

“Let’s give Meiling the necklace, and we’ll split the rare materials and magic relic between us,” I said to Lumina, ignoring her.

“I’ll take the materials. You should equip the magic item—it boosts HP and Agility.”

“Really? Okay!” Lumina beamed.

“…But that means I’ll have to take off the armguards you made for me…”

That reminded me of when she’d wanted to keep the Red-Iron Dagger.

“You can keep your current gear too. No need to return anything.”

With Eleanor’s workshop now mine, I didn’t need low-level materials back.

“Y-you noticed?” she asked, blushing.

“A little.”

“…Hehe.” She grinned sheepishly.

“Wait—made?” Meiling’s eyes widened.

Right, I hadn’t told her about my ability yet.

“I’ll explain after we leave the dungeon—over food.”

We hadn’t eaten dinner, coming here straight from class.

“Food? What kind?”

“I’ll take you somewhere good. Look forward to it.” I grinned.

About thirty minutes later…

Our squad sat around a table inside a restaurant.

“Y-Yein… are you sure this was the right choice?” Lumina whispered beside me.

“What’s wrong with blood sausage soup?” I replied calmly.

We were in a 24-hour sundae-guk place—blood sausage soup, strong broth, and a faintly funky scent lingering in the air. Middle-aged men sat scattered around, drinking soju with their steaming bowls.

“I just think… even a fast-food place might’ve been better,” she said, glancing nervously at Meiling.

Meiling was leaning on one hand, gazing out the window with a blank expression.

“In terms of speed, this is fast food.”

“That’s not what I—”

Married woman pushed a cart up to our table, cutting her off.

She set down three steaming bowls of soup, three bowls of rice, a platter of assorted blood sausage and boiled pork, and several side dishes until the table was full.

“Enjoy, kids,” she said warmly.

Before she’d even finished speaking, Meiling scooped up some broth with her spoon, tasted it, then grabbed the jar of salted shrimp.

A heaping spoonful of shrimp, another of perilla powder—both dumped straight into her soup. She stirred, then moved some blood sausage into her rice bowl lid, mixed the rice into the soup, blew on it, and shoveled a spoonful into her mouth.

“….”

Lumina stared blankly at the series of movements.

“What?”

Meiling, midway through scooping her second bite of rice into the soup, caught her staring and scowled.

“N-Nothing! I’m just hungry, haha.”

Flustered, Lumina quickly fumbled with the lid of her rice bowl.

“Not bad, right?” I asked Meiling.

“It’s alright.”

She gave a half-hearted reply before focusing entirely on eating.

It was nothing like the refined image of her cutting meat in the hotel restaurant.

From the game, I already knew blood sausage soup and sundae were among Meiling’s favorites.

And, honestly, I’d been craving it too.

I was grateful that, even in a world once brought to the brink of destruction by monsters, humble sundae-guk restaurants like this had survived.

The fact that Meiling liked sundae didn’t seem odd in the world of Latesai, either—especially given its setting. The concept of nations had disappeared long ago, with all countries destroyed and only a handful of cities surviving. Refugees had mixed together, and by the third generation, those old boundaries had all but vanished.

On top of that, Awakened often experienced changes in their hair or eye color, even their appearance. My own silver hair was proof of that.

So nationality or race had little meaning here.

After ordering a second bowl of rice each and cleaning every last dish on the table, we were finally satisfied.

The meal went down easily after a day of battling in the dungeon.

“So,” Meiling said, folding her arms, “you’re telling me the gear those two were wearing, and the ring you gave me—you made all of it?”

Her sharp gaze landed on me.

“Yeah. I made them.”

“I don’t believe it. You’re saying you can actually make rare items?”

“Believe it or not, that’s up to you.”

“Hmph. Not answering clearly just proves you’re lying. There are only a handful of people in Seoul who can make rare items.”

As expected, she didn’t believe me.

That was fine.

Anything I told Meiling today would inevitably make its way back to Kai, so I intentionally left my words vague—turning it into uncertain information rather than openly stating I’d used my ability.

But I hadn’t lied. That was important if I wanted to make her a genuine teammate.

Meiling despised pretense and lies to the point where she would cut someone out of her life entirely if they lied to her.

Since I’d only just forced her into this squad, telling a lie now and getting caught would ruin everything.

“Then why do you know so much about dungeons and monsters?”

Her eyes stayed locked on mine.

“What, am I not allowed to?”

“It’s strange. You’ve been at the academy less than a month, yet you already know all about the Seawater cave’s second floor and its boss. It’s like you’ve been there countless times before.”

Lumina looked between us with a worried expression.

I’d told her before that I got my information from a fictional hunter named H.

“You really want to know why I have that information?”

“That’s why I’m asking.”

“I see. Well, I’m not telling you.”

“What?” Meiling’s brow furrowed.

“I’ll share dungeon info because we’re squadmates, but how I learned it—that’s personal. I only tell friends personal things.”

At the word “friends,” I noticed the corner of Lumina’s lips curl upward.

“….”

Meiling’s expression darkened slightly.

“So, if you want to know more about me, you’ll have to get close to me first.”

“Are you insane? Me? Get close to someone like you?”

Her voice rose a pitch, barbed and sharp.

“If you don’t want to, fine. Saves me the trouble of explaining.”

“Urgh…”

Her irritation and anger slipped out in a low growl.

After downing a glass of water to calm herself, she glared at me again.

“Fine. Then as a squadmate, let me ask this—why are you two unaffected by my Black Domain? This relates to future fights, so I think I’m allowed to know.”

“Took you long enough to ask.”

“I tried before, but you changed the subject to my fighting style!”

“Did I?”

The sound of grinding teeth answered me.

“Just answer.”

“It’s simple. I wear this.”

I tugged at my collar and reached inside, pulling out the necklace I’d been wearing since before the dungeon.

“A unique item…!” Meiling’s eyes widened.

I’d made it using materials I’d brought back from Eleanor’s workshop under the pretense of a wager.

Lumina also wore one, a gift from me—hence why she’d recognized a unique item earlier.

It gave no stat boosts, but provided complete immunity to status effects.

Usually, such gear was for clearing special dungeons, but it had other uses.

Meiling’s Black Domain was powerful, but its drawback was that it harmed allies as well—a weakness she wouldn’t overcome until much later.

I couldn’t wait that long. I needed a working squad now, so I’d found my own solution.

“This blocks your Black Domain, so we don’t have to worry about dying from it.”

“Who says I’m worried about you?!” she snapped, her cheeks flushing.

After that, we took a taxi back to the academy, stopping at the split between the men’s and women’s dorms.

“Unless something comes up, we’ll do self-training like today on weekdays without classes, except Wednesdays and Fridays when we have practice. If you can’t make it, let me know ahead of time.”

“Okay. Got it, Yein.”

“….”

“Meiling, why aren’t you answering?”

“Don’t worry! I’ll handle it without you nagging me!” She gave a loud huff and stormed toward the women’s dorm.

“Ah, Meiling! See you tomorrow, Yein!” Lumina called, chasing after her.

“Yeah. See you tomorrow.” I waved.

Back in her still-unfamiliar dorm room, Meiling clenched her fists and smacked her pillow.

Ugh! He’s so infuriating! What is with that guy?!

Yein had been getting under her skin all day.

He was the only person at the academy who dared look down on her and boss her around like some know-it-all.

Yet every instruction, every piece of advice had been exactly right—leaving her with no way to argue back.

“‘Get close to me if you want to know’? As if! I wouldn’t be friends with someone like you if the world flipped upside down—”

Her rant trailed off.

Did I even have anyone I was close to?

A voice in her head, identical to her own, answered.

No. No one.

Her shoulders slumped, strength draining from her body.

She flopped back onto the bed, face blank.

After a moment, the voice spoke again.

Annoying as he is, he doesn’t fake-smile or give empty compliments like the others.

Most people treated her with forced cheer and flattery.

But she always knew their real intent—those smiles and compliments weren’t for her.

They were aimed at the person above her head: Chen Kai, president of Forward Magic Engineer Industries.

Bzzzt!

“!!”

Meiling shot upright, startled.

Checking her smartwatch, tension spread across her face.

She swallowed, put in her wireless earbuds, and answered.

“Hello?”

[It’s me.]

The cold, hard voice filled her ears.

(End of Chapter)