The Academy Geniuses I Raised and Dressed

“Yes, Father.”

[You went to a dungeon with Nam Yein today?]

“Yes. We just returned.”

[Report what happened.]

His voice was purely businesslike, as if she were speaking to a stranger rather than her father.

Meiling bit her lip, but soon began the “report” he wanted.

“We went to the Seawater cave for our self-training dungeon run. Nam Yein had me clear the first floor using my ability, then told me my Black Domain wouldn’t be enough against the stronger monsters on the second floor. He suggested a new way for me to fight.”

[A new way to fight?]

“He told me about something called a skill slot.”

[You didn’t know about that until now?]

“…No.”

[Pathetic.]

The cold tone made Meiling’s shoulders flinch.

[Continue.]

“…After that, Nam Yein, Lumina Cueva, and I fought several groups of monsters on the second floor, then went after a boss-level wolf monster.”

[What? The boss already, on the same day?]

Kai’s voice shifted.

“Yes.”

[And the result?]

“We followed Nam Yein’s strategy and took down the Ashen Butcher.”

[The three of you? Truly?]

“Yes.”

[Impressive. What abilities do the other two have?]

“Lumina Cueva’s is a complete invisibility that hides her entire presence. As for Nam Yein… he only kept using explosive items, so I couldn’t tell what his ability was.”

[As I thought. That Thorn Spikes isn’t his real ability.]

Kai had already pulled Nam Yein’s records from the academy long ago.

“After we killed the boss, we received demonic relics and materials as rewards… Nam Yein distributed them according to what each person needed.”

[He didn’t keep them for himself?]

“No. He tried to divide everything from the dungeon evenly.”

[Hmph. Teaching you how to fight and splitting the loot fairly—he’s really acting like a squadmate.]

At the word squadmate, Meiling’s heartbeat quickened just slightly.

“Oh, and he gave me a rare piece of equipment he’d brought with him.”

[A rare item? He had one of those?]

“Yes.”

[And he just gave it to you?]

“That’s right. He claimed he made it himself, but I believe that was a lie to hide the source.”

[Of course it was. A mere hunter trainee couldn’t make rare gear. But to simply hand over such an item…]

A thoughtful grunt carried through her earbud.

[No… that was likely a cover to disguise his true intentions. No one gives without expecting something in return. Don’t think for a second it was purely to help you grow. Humans only give when they benefit themselves.]

“…Yes, Father.”

[Don’t let your guard down. If anything suspicious happens or you find a lead, report it immediately.]

“Yes. Ah—one more thing…”

[What is it?]

“They both had items that blocked the harmful effects of my Black Domain. They called them unique items.”

[Unique items!? So in addition to rare items, he also had uniques?]

“Yes. It was an item that glowed red.”

[The name?]

“I… didn’t get it.”

[Fool. That should’ve been the first thing you asked.]

“…I’m sorry.”

[Next time you see them, find out.]

The call ended there.

No “Are you hurt?”

No “Was it difficult?”

“Of course not.”

Meiling let out a hollow laugh, then schooled her face into a blank expression as she changed clothes. Life in the uncomfortable dorms would continue, so she might as well adapt quickly.

Four days after forming our squad, I was once again in a dungeon with Lumina and Meiling.

This time it was the open-type dungeon Ruby Mountain, home to fire-element monsters.

The landscape was a strange beauty—red crystals grew thick like bushes, and the trees had no leaves, only ever-burning flames licking their branches.

“Haaah!”

Lumina darted in, her movements sharp, slicing clean through the torsos of red lizards whose tails burned with fire.

Blue light flashed, and frost formed around the wounds she left.

Each time she swung her daggers, the monsters dissolved into particles. The lizard numbers were dropping so fast it was deeply satisfying.

Dual-wielding suits her perfectly.

I looked at the matching daggers in her hands—crafted from the rare materials we’d taken from the last boss.

With frost damage included, the max output easily exceeded 300.

Considering her previous level 10 magic-grade bone daggers had a max of 88, her damage had nearly quadrupled.

Now, the second-floor fodder monsters in the dungeon fell to a single slash from her.

This is the joy of hack-and-slash.

That thrill of replacing a single piece of gear and suddenly mowing down enemies that had once been a challenge—this was one of the genre’s purest pleasures.

The problem was… in this life, stuck in the body of a background character with awful stat aptitudes, I couldn’t enjoy that thrill myself.

“How is it, Lumina? Are the blades cutting well?” I called.

“Yeah! They’re amazing! Thanks, Yein!”

Her cheerful voice rang out before she cut down another cluster of lizards.

Satisfied she was happy with them, I turned to check on Meiling.

“Ahahahahaha!!”

She was laughing high and loud as she swung her staff, hurling a basketball-sized sphere of condensed mana.

It flew into a group of monsters and detonated, shaking the ground.

Those caught in the blast turned to dust-like motes and vanished.

The skill she was using now was [Mana Bomb], a skill gem we’d found on our second self-training run.

Its damage multiplier was 130% higher than Mana Bolt.

With Meiling’s S-rank Energy aptitude for magic attack, plus the power boost from her staff, her damage even outstripped Lumina’s.

The only issue was the long 10-second cooldown—so I’d crafted her a full cloth armor set, including shoes and gloves, with cooldown reduction and casting speed boosts.

The result: Mana Bomb’s cooldown dropped by 30% to seven seconds, and Mana Bolt’s cooldown was almost imperceptible.

With a Mana Bomb every seven seconds and Mana Bolts peppered in between like a grenade launcher, Meiling was a machine for clearing mobs.

As for me… like I said, I couldn’t enjoy the same rapid growth.

Switching my bombs from lowest-tier to low-tier materials had increased their damage, but compared to the girls’ output, it wasn’t even a fraction.

Still, I’d grown in another way.

The process of repeatedly crafting rare and unique items had raised my Craftsman level from 3 to 5.

[Craftsman]

At level 4, I’d gained the ability to craft all item types—gear, accessories, weapons—up to level 20, not just consumables.

At level 5, I unlocked a new effect: increasing the level of obtained materials.

The higher the material level, the higher the resulting item’s level—and the more crafting experience I earned.

Through Eleanor’s workshop, I could get some materials, but there were still certain ones that could only be obtained through hunting.

That was why the effect of raising the level of acquired materials was a huge help to me.

In short, Lumina and Meiling had grown greatly as combatants, while my role as their support base had become even stronger.

As a result, I no longer needed to deal damage myself.

The two of them hunted on their own, bringing back experience and materials.

All I did was occasionally throw status-inflicting items or give instructions.

And there was another area where progress had been made.

“Oh.”

Right after all the monsters in the room were taken down, Meiling’s mouth formed a round shape.

“I leveled up.”

“Wow! Congratulations!”

Lumina ran over with a delighted smile and grabbed Meiling’s hand.

“It’s not like this is something to make a fuss about. I’ve leveled up plenty of times before.”

“So you’re level 15 now?”

When I walked over and asked, Meiling gave me a sullen look.

“What, are you trying to brag that your level’s higher than mine?”

“That thought never even crossed my mind.”

“Mm… I wonder.” Meiling crossed her arms, “Just wait. I’m only three levels behind you now, so I’ll catch up in no time.”

“I’ll look forward to it.”

“Ugh… I really don’t like that smug attitude.”

Meiling frowned, glaring at me.

After that, we easily took down the boss and left the dungeon.

Unfortunately, unlike when we defeated the Ashen Butcher, no rare materials or unique items dropped.

It was just a few magic-grade demonic relics and materials of the same tier.

Still, the fact that the materials were of higher level than usual was proof that my Craftsman skill’s effect was active.

After leaving the checkpoint, we took a taxi to our now-regular destination—the soondae soup restaurant.

“By the way, next week’s self-practice is canceled.”

“What? Why?” Meiling asked, her face full of dissatisfaction, “I’ve been enjoying killing monsters every day, so why suddenly cancel it?”

“Well, the week after next is exams.”

“Oh! Right!”

Lumina looked surprised, as if she had just remembered.

“You haven’t forgotten the condition for me teaming up with you, have you?”

I glanced at Meiling.

“Hmph! The Gwangcheon exam isn’t going to be that hard anyway. We’d be better off going to dungeons to grow.”

“Is that confidence I hear?”

“Of course.”

“Really?”

“How many times are you going to ask? I said I’m confident!”

“Then how about a bet?”

“What?”

“If your score in this exam is lower than mine, you’ll follow every order I give from now on without complaint.”

“…Hmph.”

Meiling turned her head away from me.

“It’s obvious I’ll win, so why bother with such a boring bet…”

“Scared?”

“Fine! Let’s bet!!”

The magic word had worked perfectly.

“M-Meiling, we’re in a restaurant, so maybe don’t be so loud…”

Lumina glanced around, trying to calm her down, but Meiling shouted again as if she hadn’t heard.

“If you lose, I’m going to make you bow your head before me and lick the bottom of my shoes, so be ready!”

“Alright, customers, calm down now. Here’s your soondae soup. Careful, it’s hot.”

When the restaurant lady pushed over the cart, Meiling finally calmed down and sat back down.

She really did like soondae.

The day after my bet with Meiling was set.

Lumina was in Meiling’s room early in the morning.

“Uh, um… Meiling, why did you call me here?” She asked nervously.

“Lumina Cueva.”

“U-Uh.”

Hearing her full name suddenly made Lumina even more tense.

“Whatever happens here today, you must never tell anyone. Especially not Nam Yein…”

Meiling raised the side of her hand and made a cutting motion across her neck.

Seeing that, Lumina’s eyes widened and she swallowed hard.

“The reason I called you is…”

“Y-Yeah?”

“Teach me some Demonology.”

“…Huh?”

“W-What else can I do? I haven’t been coming to the Academy, so I missed the lectures.”

Meiling’s face flushed as she spoke.

“So? What’s your answer?”

Her sharp gaze pierced into Lumina’s face.

“That’s not hard, but… Yein knows Demonology way better than I do, so maybe you should ask—”

“Don’t talk nonsense!”

“Eek!”

When Meiling slammed her desk, Lumina yelped.

“What kind of idiot general would ask the enemy for supplies?!”

“Alright, I’m sorry.”

“Hmph. Foolish.”

Calling the person she had asked to be her teacher “foolish” was the height of arrogance.

“Then wait a moment. I’ll go grab my tablet and notes.”

Still, Lumina didn’t get angry.

“Hurry back.”

“Mm!”

Lumina answered brightly and left the room.

“Hehe.”

Running down the hallway, she let out a laugh.

Studying together during exam season… this is something friends would do.

Lumina had always longed for such moments.

Even when standing right next to people, she was so lacking in presence that no one would notice her. That only made her hunger for friendship stronger.

This is all thanks to Yein. Ever since he spoke to me, everything has been changing.

Lumina felt as if the moment Yein talked to her, she had become a living human being.

And that wasn’t all.

He had made her a precious rare item as if it were nothing and had guided her to grow quickly.

The more she spent time with him, the more she felt she was gaining confidence—something she had once believed was far beyond her reach.

At this point, Lumina trusted him so much that if he told her to throw herself off a cliff into molten lava, she might just do it.

I’m so grateful I don’t even know how to repay him.

That was her dilemma—she couldn’t think of a fitting way to repay him.

Incidentally, the very Yein she felt so grateful toward had, at that moment, left school alone and boarded a bus.

Getting off at the Hunter Market stop, he crossed the street without hesitation and headed for the workshop district.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Hammering sounds reached his ears as he stopped in front of a workshop’s main gate.

Just as he had walked there without hesitation, he flung the door wide open.

Inside, a girl stopped hammering and looked up.

“Ugh.”

The moment she saw his face, Eleanor’s expression instantly turned sour.

“What… what is it? It’s so early in the morning…”

“I came to get the sales proceeds and the materials.”

He spoke like a debt collector here to collect payment.

(End of Chapter)