After I’d collected some more golden slime jelly—boosting me to Level 23—I headed to the second floor to see my master.
<There’s my little pupil! I knew you’d wanna try it out a little.>
“It really is easy to get LP by interacting with the fairer sex.”
<Want me to tell you an even more effective way to do it?>
“Absolutely.”
<Okay, but you’re going to have to entertain me first.>
She was being silly again, but I didn’t think she’d tell me if I didn’t come up with something, so I borrowed one of my father’s dirty jokes. “Some words of wisdom from my father, then: there are two types of people—those with hair on their asses and those without!”
<Ah ha ha ha ha ha! Your dad’s a genius! He’s totally right! I’m the latter, by the way—not a hair in sight! What about you, Noir?>
“No comment.”
<Oh, I see, so you’ve got a jungle down there, huh?>
“My butt is as smooth as a baby’s, thank you very much!”
<Pfft! Ah ha ha ha ha ha! What kind of man are you?!>
Ugh, she got me. I needed to work on my comeback reflexes. However, she agreed to teach me another way to get LP.
<There are a few really easy ways: like if you eat a delicious dish made from strange ingredients, or if you have kinky sex, or just go on a big shopping spree.>
“None of those seem particularly relevant to me.”
<People change, man. I was a simple country girl once.>
Her argument was unfortunately compelling. At any rate, I decided to tell her that I was taking the Hero Academy entrance exam, and found out to my surprise that my master was an alumna.
“We’re supposed to come back with raw materials from monsters, but maybe the golden slimes are the wrong move?”
<They were rare enough even back in my day. It’ll probably invite a lot of questions.>
Which meant I could score too high, or worse. I didn’t want to get the reputation for being some kind of overachiever, so I really didn’t have any choice but to find another, less obviously weird monster.
“Maybe I’ll swing by the third floor then.”
<Have fun! Come right back if it gets too dangerous.>
“See you, then.”
On the second floor, all the monsters were neatly contained in individual rooms. Because I couldn’t be sure there weren’t more traps like the one that had ensnared my master for the last two hundred years, I found the stairs and headed down. The third level didn’t look all that different, but I proceeded down the hall with caution.
Going left or right led me to the same big, open space. I could see another hall in the back, and a dark mass floating near it. It looked like some kind of monster clad in black rags…with an extremely creepy lack of legs. White bones flashed under tattered cloth. Pitch black voids gazed from where eyes should have been. A massive scythe hung in its skeletal hands. Even from across the vast room, I could tell it was a profoundly dangerous enemy.
Name: Dead Reaper
Level: 99
Skills: Execution Slash
Execution Slash: Damage dealt with Scythe inflicts Instant Death on target. Effect cannot be avoided unless target has specific protection against Instant Death.
Yikes. I didn’t stand a chance. I should have turned back, but I really needed to pass the entrance exam. I quickly gave up on editing Execution Slash, since it cost more LP than I’d ever had at one time to date. Instead, I created the skill Heavy and Bestowed it on the creature. All in all, the plan cost me 200 LP. I was instantly overcome with a dragging feeling of exhaustion.
I grit my teeth. “Grr, sometimes the only way out is through.”
I guess the skill must’ve worked, because the creature’s movements seemed sluggish, but then again, maybe it was always slow-moving. Could it have only cost 100 LP to Bestow Heavy because it was already highly compatible with the enemy’s makeup? No time for doubts. I fired off a stone bullet.
Pew! Ka-thunk!
I landed a direct hit on the scythe, which sent it spinning out of the reaper’s hands. Next, I produced another stone bullet, as hefty as I could afford. It moved a lot slower than the smaller projectile, but the enemy’s speed was significantly reduced, so I made that shot too—right into the middle of its black mass. Bones went flying and scattered across the floor.
Crap. I’m starting to feel dizzy. I must’ve used up most of my magic.
“Wait, it’s not dead yet?”
The creature’s skull chattered, and the bones swayed and clattered. I raised my sword, charged, and swung it down as hard as I could on the skull. I had to give my father some credit for how sharp he’d kept the blade—it deftly split the skull in two.
At that, I felt my body heat up again, but it didn’t feel like a normal level up. Nervously, I used Discerning Eye, only to find I’d gone up a whole ten levels! I was Level 33.
“Maybe half the skull would be fine for the test…” I still didn’t want to stand out.
Upon closer inspection, the white bones were dotted with creepy black spots, but I was too keyed up to pay them much mind. I shoved everything into my bag and headed back to the second level.
“Master, I, uh, defeated a dead reaper.”
<Wow, Noir, you go, boy! You hardly ever see those on this continent.>
I groaned. “You mean this would be weird to bring back too?”
<Pretty much, but they do show up in graveyards and stuff sometimes. It’d be way less weird than one of those golden slimes.>
At least I hadn’t completely wasted my time.
<Well, those reapers are basically cannon fodder, anyway. No big deal.>
“I guess they would be a cinch if you have protection against Instant Death.”
<So, how are you doing for time?>
“Oh, crap. I’ll see you again soon!”
<I’ll be waiting for you, my sweet Noir!>
I waved her off and left the small room. When I glanced back, her face was still as pale and unmoving as ever. The chains were the only things keeping her alive.
I wonder…if that’s painful. Maybe, someday, I can—
I put the thought out of my mind and headed back aboveground. Someday was someday. I had a test to pass.
“Noir, where were you?!” Emma cried when I caught up with her. “It’s nearly six!”
“Sorry, sorry, let’s hurry back.”
We dashed the rest of the way to the academy. Somehow, we managed to get our bags of materials turned in before we ran out of time. The results wouldn’t be announced until the following day, so I was about to go home when Lenore, our third team member, stopped me.
“You collected materials, right?” she said.
“What do you think?”
She sniffed. “I see. Well, no matter, I suppose I can carry our team all by myself.”
“Did you skip the day in kindergarten where you were supposed to learn the word ‘team’ or something?”
She glared daggers at me. The whole encounter reaffirmed my taste for modest women.
“I do have to wonder where you learned my name. Or who taught you to make such incredibly rude comments.”
“What comments?”
“L-Look,” she said. “You know exactly what I mean, when you said I-I…”
Oh, right, when she had food stuck in her teeth.
“Pretty sure you’re just as guilty of being rude,” I told her. “Why don’t we try being a little nicer next time?”
“Well excuse me!” she snapped. “I’ll make you regret it if you drag our score down!”
“I look forward to seeing you tomorrow, too.”
She was pretty upset, but I just waved and walked away. However, Emma was unusually worried on our way home.
“Are you sure it’s gonna be okay? Like, you don’t think she’s gonna do something weird because she’s mad, do you? Maybe I should go apologize on your behalf.”
“It’ll be fine. I know we’ll score well.”
I hoped so, at least, even if I couldn’t help worrying. With a skill like Execution Slash, that dead reaper had to be worth something. It had to.
I didn’t find out how right I was until the next day, when the president announced the scores.
“Third place, Team Genos with 5,890 points!”
All the groups below 10th place had three-digit scores, so that sounded about right. Although, I couldn’t help but notice that our team still hadn’t been called.
“Second place, Team Elizabeth with 11,550 points!”
Cheers burst from the crowd. The score was way higher this time. I mean, that number was just monstrous—how valuable were the materials they gathered?
“W-wait, what’s going on? Why hasn’t our team been called yet?” Lenore muttered.
“Y-yeah, you don’t think they forgot us, do you, Noir?” Emma asked.
Honestly, I was as shaken as Lenore and Emma. In fact, I was sweating bullets. This could be bad…monstrously, disastrously bad.
“And now for first place… This one’s for the history books: Team Lenore with 128,000 points!”
Eep. That score was so beyond anyone’s expectation that the announcement was met with dead silence.
“The number is no mistake,” the president continued. “They had the remains of a most dreadful creature, a dead reaper, among their materials, and were scored accordingly!”
So, it was my fault. Augh! I knew it. I thought you said those reapers were cannon fodder, Master!