Chapter 19: Skip (Physical) (2)


    Hero and Academy.


    Just from the name alone, you could tell that H&A was a game set in an Academy, resembling this world.


    So naturally, the entrance exam of the Academy served as the game’s tutorial when you started ying.


    Anyone who was an experienced gamer would quickly realize that something would go wrong during this ‘entrance exam.’


    Indeed, there was an event where followers of the evil Gods would attack the Academy during the entrance exam.


    That was essentially the tutorial’s plot.


    Running around and learning the basic controls—yers found the rogues to be rather convenient tutorial aids.


    It introduced not only thebat system but also set up the conflict between the good and evil Gods by having followers of the evil Gods as enemies.


    There was just one problem… The developers were probably a bit too enthusiastic.


    After defeating a bunch of minor enemies and heading toward the center of the attack, you could finally meet the tutorial boss.


    And that was Pietro, the Bishop of the Tainted Unity.


    The moment you encountered him, an unskippable cutscene would begin, exining the world’s lore through Pietro’s dialogue for an entire five minutes.


    And that wasn’t an exaggeration. I’ve timed it myself, and it was exactly 5 minutes and 12 seconds.


    The cutscene was high-quality, which was nice, but what was the point?


    You had to watch the same 5-minute scene again and again.


    Thanks to the developers’ skewed favoritism, Pietro had been topping the ‘Least Favorite NPC’ user polls for years.


    And that guy just died.


    As I was leaving the dungeon, a familiar and annoying monologue rang in my ears. So I instinctively stabbed him.


    And he went down.


    “Is he really dead?”


    I prodded Pietro with my foot, but there was no movement.


    There was no room for doubt since there was already a kill alert notification.


    As soon as I was certain that I’d sessfully ‘skipped’ the annoyance, euphoria began to rise from the depths of my chest.


    “I did it…!”


    It was as if a long-standing wish had finallye true.


    A grin formed on my face, and I couldn’t help but let out a pointless chuckle.


    Capturing the joy of the moment, I turned around and waved my hands.


    “Hehe… Ca! Did you just see that? Pietro, that verbose rogue, couldn’t even say a word before dropping dead!”


    “……”


    I was so exhrated that I even used gestures to brag about what had just happened.


    But for some reason, Ca mped her mouth shut with her hand and only nodded her head, shivering.


    “…Huh?”


    She looked as frightened as a rabbit, just like when I first met her.


    Wondering why she was acting that way, I tilted my head. Ca slowly approached me and started wiping my face with the cleaner side of her sleeve.


    Swish, swish.


    Our distance naturally narrowed.


    Only after seeing my reflection in Ca’s ruby-red eyes did I finally understand the situation.


    “Oh.”


    I looked like a cheerful young man with ck hair, smiling while drenched in blood. Yep, this was definitely that kind of situation.


    I casually nced around, and sure enough, even the surrounding guards had faces mixed with astonishment and difort.


    In other words, they were looking at me as if I were some kind of madman.


    To make it seem like I was harmless, I humbly let Ca attend to me and then opened my mouth with the softest voice I could muster.


    “Ahem. I was fortunate. Who would’ve thought the enemy the guards were struggling with would be right at the dungeon entrance?”


    “……”


    Ca nodded silently.


    “Ah, by the way, the reward for clearing the dungeon is this dagger. Want to try it outter? You were curious about divine blessings, right?”


    “……”


    Once again, Ca remained silent, studying my face before giving a nod.


    “What’s going on? You were covering your mouth before, and now this? Why the sudden change?”


    Upon gentle probing, Ca finally answered in a cautious tone.


    “W-Well, you said earlier that you were annoyed by the rogue’s excessive talking…”


    “So you were keeping quiet because of that? Don’t worry about it, since you’re not a rogue, Ca.”


    “Master…”


    Ca’s eyes shimmered with what appeared to be mild sentimentality.


    And I feel slightly guilty.


    I had set it up so intricately that even Ca herself would believe she was the daughter of a rogue.


    Butbeling Ca’s father as a rogue in the first ce was a false usation.


    Feeling a bit uneasy, I averted my eyes from Ca and looked at the reward from the dungeon that I still held in my hand.


    【Shining Lion Dagger】


    A pure white dagger engraved with a roaring lion figure in Pommel.


    The de, more bone-like than metallic, asionally emits a warm light.


    The dagger, surrounded by a sacred radiance, will be sharper than usual.


    ...And the radiance will shine brightest in the darkness.


    - > 10% chance to add light attribute damage when attacking.


    - > Increases critical damage by 30%.


    - > When facing a rogue, the probability of additional hits and critical hits is fixed at 100%.


    The chance for added light damage was low, and the increased critical damage was a basic feature of daggers.


    However, the real value of this dagger was its final option.


    It guaranteed additional and critical hits when facing a rogue.


    Effectively, against a rogue, it might as well be a poisoned stiletto.


    Whether I used it myself or gave it to a party member, it was a perfect secondary weapon.


    The issue was that this feature only worked against rogues, so it was ineffective against powerful monsters or disciples of the evil Gods that appeared inter stages.


    Also, because it was a bound item, if a mage or archer picked it up by mistake, it would be useless decoration. But…


    This was reality, not a game.


    Unlike in-game mages who couldn’t do melee attacks, I could easily swing a dagger due to the difference in skill levels.


    Or I could throw it using psychokic magic, a feature that wasn’t originally included in the system.


    Either way, it was far more versatile than in the simpler days of gaming.


    On top of that, while killing Pietro, I even got the blessing of the Sun God for his righteous radiance.


    ‘Status window.’


    【Blessing of the Sun God (C)】


    The brightest entity in the sky. The master of the sun shares its radiance with you.


    - > Increases the rate of health and mana recovery by 200% when exposed to sunlight.


    - > Increases light attribute damage by 10%.


    - > Increases favor with the Order of Radiance.


    The problem with blessing-type traits was that they were hard toe by, but if you had one, you could make it work for any job ss.


    Even better, the rank of the blessing could go up if you do things that please the deity who gave it.


    And I obtained it here?


    While I was chuckling at my status window, a serious voice soon interrupted me from beside me.


    “Ahem.”


    A well-armed guard unit appeared. Among them, a middle-aged man wearing more resplendent armor crossed where the barrier used to be.


    “I am Nilson Gardner, the captain of the Gef City Guard. May I have your name?”


    The man, Nilson, asked.


    “Ah, I’m Yandel. I was on my way to the Academy and noticed some rogues, so I decided to investigate, and here we are.”


    I replied.


    “Ahh, you’re a student at the Academy? You do look young, but you’d have to be trained at the Academy to clear a dungeon this fast. And who is thisdy next to you? A ve?”


    Nilson looked at Ca’s neck with a mix of curiosity and admiration. Not breaking a ve’s mana core or even arming her properly must have been surprising to him. I guess it helped that Ca’s beauty was above average.


    To avoid any rumors that I had purchased Ca at yesterday’s auction, I quickly came up with an answer,


    “Ah, no, I’m not a student yet. I’m on my way to take the entrance exam. This ve was given to me by my guardian to serve as my escort and attendant.”


    “A prospective student, huh? That’s astonishing. You’re already this skilled. I wonder how you’ll turn out after graduating from the academy. Ah, so your guardian gave you this ve as a gift.”


    “Ha ha… I am fortunate to have their favor.”


    I chuckled.


    Sensing that I must have significant backing to afford a ve like Ca, Nilson became even more polite. And it was the reaction I had hoped for.


    I learned through experience that having money was always good, but it was useless if you couldn’t protect it with force or authority. Without it, you were just easy prey.


    Pulling his eyes away from Ca, Nilson said,


    “So you’re Yandel? Although your methods were a bit rough, you’ve cleared the dungeon where the rogues were hiding. We won’t make an issue of your use of magic in the city.”


    “I am simply grateful for your understanding.”


    I replied.


    “Heh heh… Eradicating rogues is the duty of faithful citizens. You will also be rewarded ordingly. However, we have some questions for our investigation…”


    “If it’s within my capacity to answer, then it’s my duty as a good citizen of the empire to do so.”


    “Excellent.”


    Satisfied, Nilson nodded, and we left the underground. Ca looked at me with concern, but there was no issue. Even though I had skipped some steps in finding the rogues and destroyed the ground outright, I remembered all the tracking episodes. I would just have to go and give usible answers.


    Activate Bluff Skill… ON!