[Lucas Rene Askanien]
Title: The Empire’s Biggest Fool
Health: -4.8 ( 0.2)
ntal Strength: -9 ( 1.0)
Magic Power: ?
Skill: 0.015
Impression: -10
Luck: -8.985 ( 1.0)
Traits: Dawn777, Divine Power
‘My ntal strength increased by 1?’
It had definitely been -10 before.
Luck, which had been -9.985, also showed improvent. Considering it had been increasing by 1/1000, this was significant progress.
Even health had increased by 0.2. The rise in health, despite not being in a situation conducive to physical improvent, suggested a link to ntal strength.
Did making one friend cause this change?
Aside from very early childhood, Leo was essentially my first friend, so it was a plausible theory.
‘…….’
It was hard to watch without feeling sorry.
‘Wait a mont.’
There was sothing else I needed to check.
Shifting my gaze, a new window appeared.
---
[Dawn777]
- Final outco ‘Chapter X. Death’ in 767 days, 23 hours, 18 minutes, and 01 second
- Change possibility: 5.3% ( 5%p)
---
5.3%.
Gaining one ally increased it by 5%p, which was quite satisfying.
It ant that Leo would be a significant help in my survival moving forward.
‘Hmm, I’m curious about Leo’s status.’
Co to think of it, I had been too focused on quickly checking favorability to have ti to look at status windows before.
I called up Leo’s status window as I looked into his eyes.
---
Leonard Wittelsbach
Favorability: 0
Title: ?
Health: 7.5
ntal Strength: 9
Magic Power: 7
Skill: 8.5
Impression: 10
Luck: 9.5
Traits: ?
---
‘…This is the first ti I’ve seen such crazy stats.’
It was astonishing that his favorability had risen from -9 to 0 in an instant, but that wasn’t the main issue. His overall stats were better than those of many professors whose status windows I had peeked at out of curiosity.
If I had to enter a novel, I should have beco a character like him.
“What are you doing?”
Leo waved a hand in front of my blank gaze.
“Nothing.”
I shook my head to clear the slight sense of disillusionnt.
After that, I spent ti answering Leo’s trivial questions until the first class ended, and we left the infirmary together. There was no one around.
“Don’t acknowledge from here.”
“What?”
Leo asked, looking perplexed.
“If you suddenly start being nice to , people will think it’s weird. Co find only when there are no students around.”
Leo rubbed his chin, then nodded.
“That makes sense. Alright, then. Don’t worry about the dicine; I’ll have my family get it for you.”
“Thanks.”
It ended more smoothly than I expected.
Given his obsession with magic, I thought he might be clingy, but this was nice.
Let’s keep it simple.
‘Now, I need to improve my skills.’
I had to make up for the ten-year gap starting now.
The problem was that self-studying magic is difficult, and without a personal training room at the school, I had to use the common one... but that was already solved. I had arranged to spar with Leo.
The school provided top students like Leo with private training rooms.
No need to sign in on a ledger or worry about others intruding.
Of course, the training room wasn’t the only reason I asked Leo to spar.
I judged it worthwhile to learn from Leo’s textbook-like movents.
In fact, a skill score of 8.5 was on par with the professors here.
In general, normal people ranged between -1 to 3 in all categories, while the students here usually ranged from 3 to 5.
‘I’m curious to see how much I can improve.’
Thus, a week had passed since I started training with Leo.
The results were good. My control improved quickly, to the point that it was hard to believe I hadn’t used magic properly in ten years.
“Good! At this level, you’re no longer a threat to civilians by accident.”
After finishing training on the seventh day, Leo wiped his sweat and smiled with satisfaction.
Right. The problem with my magic had always been its excessive power, making it hard to control.
Leo’s comnt was chilling but true: it wasn’t a taphor or an exaggeration.
While I knew how to suppress my magic during class, maintaining a moderate level of magic for extended periods was still challenging.
I didn’t want to see my magic harming anyone, so I had agreed to Leo’s relentless calls for training over the past week.
‘I was a bit taken aback at first… but I need this level of power to deal with my brother.’
The fact that this was considered basic was a testant to my satisfying talent.
“Oh, by the way, the dicine you asked for will be delayed. It’ll take about four more days. I’ll bring it then.”
“Thanks.”
“See you tomorrow.”
Leo waved and disappeared.
‘Things are going smoothly.’
The interest that had briefly surged at the start of the sester subsided as I stopped using magic altogether, and there was no contact from my brother.
I called up my status window.
---
[Lucas Rene Askanien]
Title: The Empire’s Biggest Fool
Health: -3.8 ( 1.0)
ntal Strength**: -8.7 ( 0.3)
Magic Power**: ?
Skill: 0.515 ( 0.5)
Impression: -10
Luck: -7.485 ( 1.5)
Traits: Dawn 777, Divine Power
Considering the amount increased after a week of training, it wasn't bad.
After staying at the training ground for a bit more practice, I took out a pendant from under my shirt.
It was a teleportation artifact I had bought with all the cash I had. Since it wasn't good to be seen entering and leaving the training ground, I connected it to go directly from the dormitory.
I even registered it under Leo's na to cover my tracks in case anything happened.
'It's good to be thorough with preparations.'
I blew magic power into the pendant.
When I opened my eyes, the familiar scenery of my dorm room unfolded before .
Thunk—
"...!"
Sothing was off with the state of my core.
The core, usually connected tightly around the heart, was now floating and rattling for so reason.
'Could it be because of the dication?'
In the novel, Luca beca weaker as he got older, so it made sense.
I had expected my core not to be in good condition, but I didn't expect to see results after just a week.
'I need to start considering this.'
I opened the calendar.
For now, even though I had obtained the herbs, the current Leo wasn't the future Leo, so he couldn't convert them into a core enhancer.
Therefore, I needed to adjust the mixing ratios and other conditions based on my knowledge from the novel.
Even if I drank the enhancer consistently, a body whose core had been suppressed for ten years wouldn't improve dramatically overnight.
I couldn't wait around leisurely, expecting my brother to notice at any mont. I needed to use auxiliary tools to create a more stable condition.
I gazed at the glowing red pendant, lost in thought.
'It might be good to get another auxiliary tool like this.'
Once I enhance my core, I should look for other items as well.
There are tools that allow one to use certain magic freely without needing knowledge of that magic.
These magical tools are supposed to be registered with the imperial family and have a maximum quantity limit per person. However, fortunately, this doesn't apply to underage students.
If my brother moves faster than expected, these tools will be useful, so I need to prepare them just in case.
I took a transaction statent from the school's bank out of the drawer.
"Hmm."
There were numbers in the available withdrawal amount column that were hard to count at a glance.
Even if Father considered a discarded son, he still did what he could without much effort.
But…
Of course, I can't use this money.
If it was the money in my room's safe, that would be different, but I can't touch the money in the bank vault.
Luca, during his first year, spent less than a million won on food and tuition.
'Since he stayed in his room all the ti, it's understandable.'
The useful tools start at least at five hundred, and if I want to find sothing satisfactory, I need to prepare at least a thousand.
Withdrawing that much money would imdiately alert my brother, which is inevitable.
I thought about withdrawing a little each day, but for soone who hadn't spent even a hundred over a year, withdrawing a thousand in a short period would be suspicious.
So, there's only one option.
I'll earn it myself.
I spread the newspaper on the desk.
'It's not the ti for the protagonist to be active yet, but at this point, stories about him should start to erge.'
I flipped through the newspapers from last month to today's issue and stopped when I saw an article.
'Here it is.'
[Average of 6 cases per month → 15 cases... 150% increase in 'Beast Incidents' in administrative districts outside the capital]
An article about the recent increase in beast incidents.
In the original story, the protagonist hid his identity as a mber of the imperial family and went around killing beasts.
Since beast incidents have surged this year, the Imperial Magic Law Enforcent Agency has started attaching bounties to beasts and granting extermination rights to individual mages.
At first glance, it seed like a reasonable response, but...
It's not yet at the point where they need to outsource to the private sector.
Despite that, the reason the Enforcent Agency delegated the 'cleaner' role to individuals was that they couldn't afford to use their high-level personnel for such trivial tasks.
'That's why the protagonist steps up.'
Anyway, there are two points to note here.
'Bounties on beasts with individual mage extermination rights', 'Protagonist forged his identity'.
It's an optimal situation.
However, considering that most of the empire's citizens know my na, acting openly is foolish. It's practically suicide.
This brings us back to the fact that the agency is severely corrupt.
They offered decent money for each beast but set the budget for regional office operations ridiculously low.
After deducting facility maintenance costs, there's barely enough for activity allowances.
'The agency never intended to hire people properly.'
They foolishly thought that since it was a village issue, the residents would take care of it without spending money.
As expected, the process went as one might guess.
In the story, the protagonist passed with a forged ID in just 10 seconds. There was no process of keeping the ID or cross-checking nas with the mage registration list.
I vividly rember this because it was so absurd.
When I was a reader, both the protagonist and I were dumbfounded by the agency's incompetence, but now...
'It's a favorable situation.'
* * *
"Yes, relying on tools' power is good. What's your budget?"
When I explained my plan upon arriving at the training ground, Leo nodded and stroked his chin.
Leo, seemingly planning to make a list himself, took out paper and a pen from his bag and sat on the training ground floor.
"I haven't fixed it yet. I'm thinking flexibly based on earnings."
"Flexibly... huh?"
"The money is all in the bank, so it's hard to withdraw. So, I have an idea."
"What's not there?"
"I didn't say it's not there. Anyway, in short, there's no cash.... How long do I have to say this?"
I laughed, looking at Leo.
Leo, equally puzzled, smiled soullessly.
'I understand, but I haven't explained it properly yet.'
I took out a thick stack of papers from my bag and spoke seriously.
"Listen until the end. Of course, I have a plan."
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