บท 65: Chapter 65
[ Kaliweir: Strength: 2.6, Agility: 2.8, Vitality: 3.1, Spiritual Force: 4.1 ]
[ Raynor: Strength: 1.8, Agility: 1.9, Vitality: 2.5, Spiritual Force: 3.7 ]
[ Lisse: Strength: 1.9, Agility: 2.5, Vitality: 2.4, Spiritual Force: 4.3 ]
[ Neela: Strength: 2.7, Agility: 3.4, Vitality: 2.9, Spiritual Force: 4.6 ]
His powerful spiritual force was enhancing all aspects of himself. In front of his enhanced senses, they were like open books to him. An Acolyte could hide nothing from him.
With one glance, he could see through their current strength level. Which was not bad.
Neela was actually the strongest after him.
[ Bicky: Strength: 2.4, Agility: 2.9, Vitality: 2.8, Spiritual Force: 5.4 ]
[ Bessita: Strength: 2.3, Agility: 2.1, Vitality: 2.4, Spiritual Force: 3.6 ]
Both Bessita and Bicky weren't doing too badly themselves. Bessita is just a freshly advanced Rank 2 acolyte, and Bicky had advanced a while ago.
Well, in comparison to him, they were nothing. But he was basically cheating.
[ Harry Potter, Rank 2 Acolyte, Strength: 7.6, Agility: 6.7, Vitality: 7.1, Spiritual Force: 6.4 (223), Magic Power: 229, Status: Healthy. ]
Even without him, they should be strong enough to complete a patrol mission. With him, it was overkill. But what was going on was a mission, in exchange for the connections Neela could bring him.
Obviously, Kaliweir decided to be the leader of the mission and gave Harry challenging looks as they accepted the mission at the counter, and he started to announce the plan.
Too tired for such a childish comparison, Harry just listened, unbothered by it.
Their mission was to patrol the south-western area of the Abyssal Bone Forest around the academy. Recently, there has been an increase in the population of red-eyed roosts for an unknown reason.
Well-known reason for most members of the academy. Harry already knew about it.
War.
Why was there a war coming?
Did they discover some rare resources or treasures under the control of the Abyssal Bone Forest Academy?
No. There is nothing like that at all.
Their honored principal, Siley, just has a bad and provocative mouth.
He recently insulted the principal of Sage Gotham's Hut, the other academy that was close to theirs.
In the background, Sage Gotham's Hut and Whitewoods Castle, whose principal also hates Siley, have allied themselves.
This was simply the first wave, making the surroundings of the Abyssal Bone Forest Academy more deadly for their acolytes.
While a war was deadly for weaklings, for someone strong and smart enough, it could be very profitable.
And it is true that for average Acolytes, even a simple patrolling mission has become quite dangerous. But for Harry, it was a walk in the park.
Instead, he used the chance to collect more creative materials and plants he found in the area that he could use for his own experiments.
When Harry went on missions himself, he usually didn't pick a patrolling mission. They just took too long because they were required to spend a certain amount of time patrolling.
His favorite mission category was gathering or hunting missions. With his point-me spell, they were so easy to complete, and he could take multiple of them at once and complete them in the same day.
While one hunting or gathering mission paid less than one patrol mission, they were far more efficient and faster.
A few days later, they were still patrolling their assigned area.
Harry had been bored since the first day. He occupied himself by creating new spell models based on his knowledge of different worlds.
However, after crafting the millionth variation of a fireball spell—drawing from magical theory from the Wizarding World or the Ancient Language of Alagaësia—it ceased to provide any new insights.
To gather more data for his database, he needed to perform experiments, which was not possible in the middle of a mission.
His AI chip continuously ran millions of simulations, generating different spell models based on various pieces of knowledge and adding new simulations based on these new models to the queue. It was an infinite cycle of combining different magic systems.
However, there was a limit to how much new knowledge this process could yield.
"With this last one, we should have killed enough of these red-eyed ravens." Kaliweir said as he collected the claws of another one of these ravens, "Should we turn in the mission?"
"Obviously! The forest is just too dangerous! It's been days since anyone of us could sleep properly—well, besides Harry. I have no idea how you can sleep so carefree, but be awake the moment anything dangerous is so close." Neela exclaimed.
All the other Acoyltes nodded, even Bessita and Bicky, who were the whole time protected by him when there had been any danger.
"Yes, let's return!" Harry agreed, ignoring the implied question.
But the trip home wouldn't be that simple.
These red-eyed ravens had become rather aggressive, and larger flocks began to attack them. Harry made sure that his fellow Acolytes would experience the danger of the situation while at the same time interfering secretly so they wouldn't be in real danger.
Of course, he often'saved' Neela or Lilise from some Ravens once he let them come close. Building up a bit of goodwill was always useful.
The true danger for the regular acolytes started later.
They run into a hallucination trap caused by a mushroom breed that wasn't native to the area. These mushrooms were human-sized and purple-colored, reminding him of a human in pain, called spider-faced mushrooms.
Obviously, he wasn't affected by them. While the hallucigenic gases emanated by these mushrooms would still affect him, he had always placed Wards on himself to prevent poisons and gases from affecting him.
But it was interesting to watch the other Acolytes react to dangers that weren't really there. He, of course, was recording and analyzing the effect and realized that they were all seeing the same thing.
It seems that the gas was a bit more mystical than scientific.
When the situation seemed too desperate for the hallucinating Acolytes, Kaliweir spoke up, "We have no other choice! This is beyond our level; let's split up and run. Hopefully we will meet in the academy."
Kaliweir used some kind of black powder to empower himself and perform a beast-like transformation. His stats have risen a lot, and he disappeared into the forest with speed beyond that of a regular knight while sparring a last glance at Harry.
Harry had to grin. "He is right. It's best if we all split up and use our own way."
Each of the acolytes had their own method for escaping. Harry made sure that each Bessita and Bicky had some Potions he had created with them.
Harry already told the two of them that they should escape on their own if things went bad.
They would only hinder him.
And so they did.
Raynor, Neela, and Lilisse did the very same.
Even Harry pretended to escape, not using his real speed. There was no danger after all.
He stopped on a forest clearing as he felt someone was following him.
"Kaliweir, what are you doing here?" Harry wondered.
"Just using a perfect opportunity to remove an eyesore. Nobody will think it strange if you disappear." Kaliweir grinned as he still in his beast form appeared in the clearing and suddenly moved to attack using claws that his hands turned into to try to rip his heart out.
A regular knight would have actually died while facing such strength. But Harry had the strength of a Peak Grand Knight. He caught the incoming claw in a firm grip, breaking Kaliweir's hand from the pressure.
"I was wondering what you were planning by marking me." Harry said, his voice now cold. Kaliweir had marked Harry with some kind of powder while he had watched during the night.
"You knew?" the opposing acolyte gritted out in pain.
"Yep, originally I was planning to capture you once I knew what you were planning. But a petty wimp like you deserves death." Harry said as his eyes glowed dangerously green.
There had been something he needed to confirm for a while now.
A black ball of flame flew from the palm of his hand, hitting Kaliweir directly in the chest.
It was just a small ball, barely palm-sized. But as soon as it hit the acolyte, he was completely engulfed by black flames, and he began to scream in agony.
The smell of burning flesh entered Harry's nose as he stoically watched Kaliweir burn. It smelled like pork.
Nothing remained of Kaliweir. Even the ashes had disappeared.
Kaliweir never stood a chance.
And suddenly, Harry threw up.
He had killed someone in cold blood.
Yes, he had killed a lot before. The Skagosi, Bandits, Alchemists, Wildlings, Beasts, Monsters, Undead, and so on...
Never before had he actually felt death. Gamer's Mind had taken care of the backlash for him.
He no longer had it. Harry Potter was still a human, not a cold machine.
A human is stuck in a very cold and cruel world. He needed to kill the modern human in him and adjust to this world.
That is the reason Kaliweir needed to die.
Originally, he planned to capture him and use him for research once he was out of the academy. Keeping an acolyte transfigured in his inventory for a few years was easy, but he just needed to adjust to killing.
Objectively, he knew he had killed before. It wasn't the same.
Kaliweir had been useful, at least for once.
———
"It's no use. He must have run into some kind of danger while under the hallucination." Neela said they hadn't found Kaliweir for a while.
"She is right." Bicky nodded. "It's getting too dangerous out here. Let's report to the academy. Maybe they will send someone out to look for him."
Which was highly unlikely, but Raynor nodded while glancing at Harry with suspicion, "Seems to be for the best."
Harry realized that Raynor seemed to be aware of what Kaliweir had been planning. Well, if he were smart, he would remain silent.
After taking care of Kaliweir and calming down, Harry searched for the others and freed them from the effects of the hallucination. They were in quiet, compromising positions and could have died if they didn't get help from Harry.
Once they returned to the academy, they instantly headed to the mission area to hand in their completed mission. Of course, they also reported the death of Kaliweir and the escalating danger around the academy.
That something was wrong had already been noticed by the academy. They were not the only ones that had run into trouble; many Acolytes seemed to have failed their mission and sustained heavy injuries.
A new emergency mission has been posted:
Discover the origin of the abnormalities and dangers around the academy.
Reward: 500 magic crystals, high-grade information on three topics of your choice, or an improved spell model.
Note: This mission is categorized as extremely dangerous. Exercise caution when accepting!
While the reward was quite high for one mission, Harry had no idea how he should reasonably complete that mission, even though he knew what the cause of it was.
It probably weren't the Acolytes that were placing the Dangers in the Abyssal Bone Forest Academy. Capturing an official magus would just blow his cover. There was no reasonable explanation he could give.
This would just mean he had to leave the academy for 500 magic crystals and some information that he most likely wouldn't even get.
It wasn't worth it. Especially since he still could get more in the academy. It was time to crack the minds of the rich acolytes and see whether they really possessed advanced meditation techniques.
And there was something else he had to take care of too: "You didn't tell me your room number yet~" Neela whispered as she snuck close to him, her bouncy breast hugging his arm.
"I have no problem showing you my room and agreeing on a deal. I actually have a good offer for you. But I have no interest in sleeping around—I am greedy, and I don't share." Harry replied, looking directly into her eyes.
He was mentally too old to be affected by a tease, and lust had built up a healthy resistance in him.
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