A Partner for Life (Not)
The moment he lifted the cover, light came pouring out of the bathtub.
Brilliant effects washed over the entire bathroom for a long while.
He had to squint.
'This light... it worked.'
The effect that triggered when a specific condition was met. The [Purification] flash was the most iconic of them, a cascade of color that briefly turned the world white.
He could feel it. Success.
"......"
He waited. The light faded.
"There it is."
Something black and formless swirled inside that murkiness. He reached in without hesitation and closed his hand around it.
Strange texture. Submerged as it was, it felt like gripping a tuft of soft down.
He was still turning that odd sensation over in his fingers when the status window surfaced to describe the item in his palm.
Ding!
[Exclusive Weapon 'Black Mist (A+)' obtained.]
Black Mist. The very thing he had been after.
He lifted the soft bundle out of the water. Like reaching up to catch a cloud, completely weightless.
'Light.'
Nothing like a weapon at all. As it sat there, it was barely distinguishable from a clump of down.
But that was beside the point. Its true value came next.
He drew a thin knife from the inventory.
'Just a little...'
Slice.
He pressed the blade to his palm and drew it in one clean line. Dark red welled up from the parted skin.
He fed it to the Black Mist.
Twitch.
Reacting to his blood, the bundle stirred. It latched onto the wound and drank.
Gradually, black bled into red.
Five minutes or so passed.
A blue window surfaced before his eyes.
Ding!
[The weapon has recognized you as its owner!]
-Would you like to set 'Black Mist (A+)' as your exclusive weapon?
-[Yes / No]
He pressed Yes without hesitation.
The moment he did, the mist stopped drinking. A sensation followed, like the weapon settling itself snugly against his palm.
'Binding complete.'
He gripped the mist tight and murmured.
"Engage. Sword."
Twitch.
The mist responded immediately. The downy mass rolled and churned in his palm. Dark red strands tangled together, compressing, like something being wrung inward.
Creak, crack.
The softness vanished. Only a firm texture remained. What had been roughly the size of his torso narrowed into something thinner than his arm.
It had taken the shape of a sword.
"Hmm."
Shhring.
A dark-red blade.
He looked down at the mist.
Ding!
[Exclusive Weapon 'Black Mist' Skill 1 activated.]
[Skill Name: Thousand Shifts, Myriad Forms (千變萬化)]
-The weapon's shape changes freely.
-The shape it takes depends on the user's command.
-The shape is fixed until a new command is given. Even if it breaks or shatters, it will repair itself.
'Good...'
He smiled quietly.
The exclusive weapon, Black Mist (A+). Two skills housed within it, both born from the dragon, both carrying abilities no ordinary weapon had.
"Engage. Spear."
The first skill, Thousand Shifts, Myriad Forms. The shape changed according to his command. Within the allowable mass, it could produce anything he needed.
"Hmm."
He gave the mist a few swings. What had been a sword moments ago had already shifted into a spear.
"Engage. Shield."
A thick shield settled onto his arm. The weight, though, was unchanged. Not just light, but weightless. And the hardness hadn't suffered for it.
'The firmness seems about on par with a regular shield.'
Still this light. Even if it broke, it repaired itself. A genuinely broken item in every sense of the word.
'Must be the dragon fiber.'
Remarkable structure.
He cycled through a few more forms before the feel of it settled into something natural.
"Engage. Sword. And... engage. Thorns."
He held the sword still. At the command, dozens of thorns burst from the flat of the blade.
Shwick!
A combo he'd often run in the original. Seemed to translate cleanly enough in practice. Plunge the sword into a monster, detonate the thorns from the inside, and most mobs went down in a single hit.
"Engage. Gauntlets."
Twitch.
The mist wrapped smoothly around both hands and settled into the shape of gloves. Leather texture. Dark red. Soft against the skin, nothing grating about it.
That confirmed it. He could use it exactly the same way as in the original. Wear it as gauntlets day-to-day, switch to a weapon form when it mattered.
'That said... what should the base form be?'
He thought it over.
Changeable as it was, a default form still had to be decided. He couldn't master the sword and the spear and the bow all at once. There had to be a primary form to anchor everything else. Improvise from there as the moment demanded, but...
"......Oh."
Right.
For the jester concept, only one choice made sense.
"Engage. Scythe."
A large scythe settled across his shoulder. Not the farming kind. The kind that death carries at its side.
That exact shape.
Satisfied, he smiled. The mask's grin curled right along with his.
'That'll do.'
He switched the mist back to gauntlets.
Skill 1's results were more than satisfying.
'Of course... the real value is Skill 2.'
The second skill. The reason he had gone to all this trouble to get his hands on this weapon in the first place. The ability that would serve as his ace card when raw power fell short. He would have liked to test it here, but the setting was all wrong.
'It's fairly selective about targets, and if it fires off properly, the whole dormitory could end up in pieces...'
No thank you.
He'd already racked up twenty demerit points from Javert. One more incident and his position would become genuinely uncomfortable.
'Save it for next time.'
Come to think of it, practical sessions started next week. There was an incident scheduled to happen then too, so he could test it there and kill two birds with one stone.
"Mm."
He started tidying up.
The bathtub still held liquid, its sanctity spent, murky and dim. He pulled out some empty bottles from his robe.
'This'll come in handy later.'
Useful even after all the holiness was drained out of it. The gift that kept on giving.
Ding!
[Item 'Contaminated Holy Water (C-)' obtained.]
Good. Good.
He packed everything into the inventory. For gaining just one exclusive weapon, the jump in power was staggering. So this was what it felt like to have an army at your back.
'Then... all that's left is waiting for the practicals.'
The upcoming academy event. And the incident that would come with it.
He went over the original game in his head as he dropped onto the bed.
'Going to be busy again, the day after tomorrow.'
He fell asleep under the weight of exhaustion.
***
Two days later.
He arrived at school, as always, by rickshaw. Lying on the bed inside it, he let the morning breeze drift over him.
"Huff, huff!"
"Faster!"
"Pick up the pace!"
"One! Two! One! Two!"
Out front, the Errand Boys were pulling the rickshaw with everything they had. Strangely fired up today, chanting cadences and pushing their speed higher and higher.
"......"
Honestly, a little baffling.
He had no idea why they were going at it like this.
'Well, I did tell them to...'
Originally it had been meant as punishment. It had rubbed him the wrong way that they'd been scheming behind his back, trying to edge him out. He'd wanted them to taste a little bitterness.
-Hyung, hyung-nim... thank you for yesterday!
-The exam, I mean. It was truly inspiring.
-We all want to sincerely apologize for overstepping!
There had been a catalyst, of course.
The Freshmen Welcome Exam, where he had dismantled Class C's top student. Where Class E, beaten down and mocked all morning, had finally gotten something to cheer about.
Against all expectation, it had earned him their goodwill.
"This is the training hyung-nim has given us!"
"Struggling with this little just means you're out of shape."
"Huff, huff... I could run all day."
"And I'm telling you, my magic actually improved after this drill!"
Either they were just that gullible, or the last exam had left that much of an impression. They'd been swept up in it hook, line, and sinker.
And that last comment.
Strength and endurance training. Why would magic improve from that.
"Ahaha! Watch this, my coin-bending magic!"
Creak, crunch.
One of them pulled a coin from his pocket and started folding it like origami. He bent the whole thing into a frog, forearm muscles bulging and flexing the entire time.
Truly, Magical☆Coin Burst.
"See! The coin has become a frog!"
That's not magic, you absolute disaster.
Sufficiently advanced muscles, indistinguishable from sorcery.
'Well... enthusiasm is a good thing, I suppose?'
They were enjoying it, so there was no point dampening it. Besides, he was in the position of leading Class E. If they were willing to rally behind him on their own, all the better.
Ding!
[Sub Quest]
-Title: Talent Collector
-Objective: Raise every Class E student to B-grade or higher.
-Failure penalty: None
-Reward: Character-exclusive item 'Scales of the Dark Tuner (S-)'
[Time limit: Before graduation]
'Shouldn't be too hard.'
Will was always the hardest part. If they were prepared to be put through the wringer of their own accord, he could develop them as much as they could bear. Every growth route in this world, every hidden encounter, every item, even the methods to break past the ceiling of natural talent, he knew them all.
Things only he knew. Things only he could give.
'Think of it as taking on a lot of students...'
He nodded.
Once the practicals were done, he'd need to sit down and have a proper conversation with them.
"We've arrived, hyung-nim!"
"Ah."
Building A. Right on time.
He nodded to the crew.
"You can head off now. No need to come back, either. Good work."
"Yes, hyung-nim! See you tomorrow!"
A thunderous chorus, and then they scattered in a hurry.
He watched the rickshaw disappear into the distance, then started walking.
'The practicals, then.'
First semester practicals. Students formed groups and worked through a given problem together. Group formation was voluntary, and that, too, counted toward the evaluation.
Of course, a high score was the last thing on his mind.
'The incident that happens during the practicals.'
Someone would be tampering with the exam. His goal was to catch them in the act and pull the whole thing out by the root.
That meant the group members he chose had to be picked carefully.
'First, someone who absolutely has to be in the group.'
Ranne Kihano.
There were events that only triggered with her involved. For that alone, Ranne had to be brought in, no exceptions. The reason he was at Building A at all.
'Ranne.'
The space used by Class A students.
He walked through the corridors, looking.
"Oh... Sir Viktor? What brings you to Building A?"
"Ranne!"
And there she was.
Dazzling golden hair, and beneath it, violet eyes blinking in his direction.
He walked straight toward her without slowing.
"Si, Sir Viktor...?"
She tilted her head, somewhere between curious and uncertain.
He didn't stop. He went down on one knee.
The question mark above her head grew larger.
"......?"
"Ranne."
He took her hand quietly. His gaze lifted to meet hers, slow and steady. Warmth passed between them through her slender fingers.
He spoke, voice pulled from somewhere low and certain.
"I have come to admire you. There is no one else but you."
To the girl before him.
"Will you not become my partner?"
From the very bottom of his heart.
Please.
Please be my group partner!!!!
My whole plan falls apart without you!!!!!!
"Ranne, I am begging you."
"......"
She had gone completely still, staring down at him.
Then those violet eyes began to waver.
A small, breathless sound escaped her. The composure she always carried, the confidence that never left her, was nowhere to be found.
"......Huh?"
The knight girl's cheeks blazed red.
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