Episode 30: Where the Forbidden Items Gather (2)
A single, slender crescent moon dimly illuminates the sky.
It was an unusually dark night, with even the crescent moon constantly obscured by thick clouds.
And these dark nights are the perfect time for thieves to be active.
Black figures gathered in front of a large statue near the old school building.
He wore all black clothes and pulled a mask over his face.
Of course, I was included among them.
I immediately recognized the masked man with a slender body as Dang Gyu-yeong.
Anyway, other people don’t even know your original face.
The two boys appeared to be twins, and despite wearing masks, their builds and behaviors were almost identical.
A female student is busy tapping away at her tablet,
A boy with a very short wand on his arm,
The male student who was showing off his frivolity with his whole body was Shin Byeong-cheol upon closer inspection.
They seem to be able to tell who is who even though they are wearing masks, as they exchange glances and nod their heads.
On the other hand, since this was my first time meeting them, one of the twins felt puzzled and asked.
“Sister, there’s something strange about it. What is it?”
“He is the one who will help you with this matter. Be careful not to make any mistakes.”
“Umm… … .”
The twins didn’t look completely convinced, but nodded anyway.
In this case, the fewer people who know about the existence and capabilities of [Cube of Life], the better.
If someone makes a mistake, the items stored inside could be put in danger.
So, for now, my fake identity is that of an unknown powerful person invited by Dang Gyu-yeong.
“Oh, it’s nice to meet you. I’ll be counting on you to take care of me tonight.”
Shin Byeong-cheol winked with one eye while bowing.
It seems that they figured out who I was based on the circumstances surrounding my return and the part of my face that was revealed through the mask.
This guy is quite perceptive and also owes me money, so he won’t say anything.
Dang Gyu-yeong asked the female student holding the tablet.
“How many minutes are left?”
When asked a question, the speed at which he tapped away at his tablet increased.
There are numbers densely displayed on the tablet as if he is calculating something, and his gaze is focused on the sky, or more precisely, the moon.
“Three minutes left.”
“Okay, let’s get ready.”
Everyone checks their equipment or raises their mana one last time.
I secretly exchanged glances with Dang Gyu-yeong.
The shadows flicker and draw the letters.
‘Just do as I explain.’
We had received a separate operational briefing in advance.
Even if they take care of all the necessary actions themselves, you should at least figure out how to get in and how to get out so that you don’t make mistakes.
Now that I’ve gotten them all figured out, my role tonight is to just follow along quietly and not cause any trouble.
Isn’t this the fun of buses?
As the three minutes mentioned by the tablet girl approached,
The gathered clouds completely obscured the moon.
‘inrush.’
[Shadow Anga]
The shadow that emanated from Dang Gyu-yeong formed a dome shape, and everyone gathered within the range at the same time.
The shadows soon clung to the group’s bodies, adding to the sense of secrecy.
Even when looking at each other up close, you can only vaguely see each other’s silhouettes, so it would be even more difficult to recognize each other from a distance.
The Thieves’ Club soon began to run with Dang Gyu-yeong in the lead.
Several people are running, but there is not a single sound of footsteps or the rustling of clothes.
I ran along with him and observed Dang Gyu-yeong’s legs.
To be exact, Dang Gyu-young’s footwork.
‘B-rank army.’
[Thief’s Step], the main movement skill of the Rogue class.
Your footsteps become faster and stealthy, with additional bonuses when moving through the dark.
If you have the skills to become the club president in your third year, you can easily achieve a B rank.
[Use ‘Copy-Skill’.]
[Register the target’s skill ‘Thief’s Step (B)’ in the slot.]
▷Copy-Skill [2/2]
1. Hummingbird (E)
2. Thief’s Step (B)
Now that I’ve finished making the cube, I won’t be using [Magic Engineering] for a while.
As I moved using [Thief’s Step], several people in the group’s eyes focused on me.
By their standards, my footsteps must have been quite loud, but it was amazing how in just a few steps I turned into a perfect thieving gait.
But as I ran forward without looking back, they also seemed to think they couldn’t look away and turned their gaze away.
As the old school building approached, students wearing the captain’s armbands began to appear here and there.
They are patrolling at a certain distance from each other.
If you try to cover the inside and outside of a huge old school with only the leadership team, there will inevitably be gaps.
According to our informant from the Thieves’ Club, this place we are rushing to is a relatively vulnerable area.
Because the percentage of first-year students on patrol is high.
“Huh~ Heuhuhuh~”
Han So-mi hums a tune and walks around as if she were out for a night walk.
Even if we pass by, they don’t notice at all.
There was one more first-year student on patrol.
A striking golden sword with a noble appearance.
It was the Golden Lotus Grand Prince, Geumjohan.
Unfortunately, Geumjo Han’s route and the path we are taking overlap.
But no one slowed down.
Dang Gyu-yeong, the leader, is gaining momentum,
[Shadow Butterfly Flight]
A butterfly made of shadows flew.
A butterfly fluttering in the air landed gently on Geumjohan’s shoulder.
“!!”
Before Geumjohan could even draw his sword, a shadow exploded out of the butterfly.
He was swallowed up by the shadows and tied up tightly like a cocoon.
One of the twins put his hand on his body.
“Ugh—uh—”
“Let’s get along well. If we rebel, we’ll both get tired.”
The other twin kneaded the air like it was clay.
After a while, a clone that looked exactly like Geumjohan was created and started walking along the patrol route.
It looks considerably more sinister than the original, but by the time it gets revealed, it’ll be over.
And the person who was arrested was pushed into a corner while still being restrained.
The clones were left to walk around on their own, and the group all clung to the outer wall of the old school building.
As the wand boy recited the spell, the circular staircase began to build up, reaching the third floor window.
Walk up quickly and reach the window, where the wand boy dismantles the magic circles attached to the window.
“Nimi, you messed up the alarm spell once.”
Judging from the fact that they are giving high praise, it seems like the leadership has done a good job.
But it eventually broke through.
Shin Byeong-cheol neatly tore down the window from which all the magic circles had disappeared, and we stepped inside.
The location of the temporary storage facility is D practice room on the 3rd floor of the old school building.
This is Practice Room A.
D Lab is said to have several more layers of barriers and magic, making it impossible to enter through the windows.
So the plan was to break into Lab A and then move through the hallway to the destination.
“Trespassing—!”
Just as the patrolman who was patrolling the hallway spotted us and could shout, “Intruder!”, Dang Gyu-yeong blocked the sound waves and the twins pounced.
If they fought one-on-one, the vanguard would have naturally won, but in a surprise attack and with the enemy outnumbered, he was subdued before he could fully demonstrate his skills.
While the twins created a clone of the leader they had subdued, the tablet girl quickly tapped away at her tablet.
The gaze is fixed on the crystal balls illuminating the hallway.
“Okay.”
That ‘done’ probably means that all the correction balls have been disabled.
The magic traps are removed by the wand boy, and the normal traps are removed by Shin Byeong-cheol, and they advance without stopping.
‘They say even a centipede can roll.’
Shin Byeong-cheol’s skill and speed in dismantling traps are not inferior to those of second or third year students.
So, I was included in this party that was full of only the elite.
I’ve slightly raised the rating of Shin Byeong-cheol in my heart.
A B-class talent limited to trap dismantling.
But that doesn’t mean I have any intention of raising one.
Compared to calligraphers, they’re just fireflies.
“… … .”
Now just turn the corner and you’ll find Lab D, a temporary storage facility.
However, Dang Gyu-yeong, who held out a small mirror and looked around the corner, let out a curse.
“Ma’am, he’s a bit tough.”
“Who is it?”
I received the mirror from Dang Gyu-young and looked at it.
A male student stands guard in front of the temporary storage facility.
Leader’s armband. Third grade tie pin.
And in his hand he held a thick axe with a reddish tint.
I don’t know who that senior is, but that item looks familiar.
Hell Axe, an A-rank axe.
If the third-year leadership team went all the way to Hell, it would be difficult for Dang Gyu-young to deal with them.
I was planning on just standing back and watching, but I guess I have no choice but to lend a helping hand.
“[Reception Dream]. Do you know how to use it?”
“? How do you know that?”
Dang Gyu-young is startled.
How would I know? I know because I raised it.
“Later. Do you know how to write?”
“It’s not cooked yet. It’s only a C.”
“That’s good.”
“?”
[Use ‘amplify’.]
[The level of ‘Reception Dream’ increases. (C->A)]
[Duration 00:01:59]
[Reuse Wait Time 00:49:59]
If it’s an A rank, it might be worth a try.
Dang Gyu-young’s eyes grew wide again.
“What, what did you do?”
“There’s no time. Let’s do it quickly.”
“… … .”
He agrees with the statement that there is no time and keeps his mouth shut for now, but he repeatedly promises to ask later.
Dang Gyu-yeong put his hands together.
One by one, two butterflies gathered in the shadow of my hand.
In an instant, Dang Gyu-yeong freed a swarm of black butterflies that had grown to dozens.
[The Dream of the Shadow Butterfly]
“!”
The third grade leadership team responded immediately.
As I swung the Hellbu madly, a third of the flying butterflies were split in half and scattered.
A butterfly touched his body and exploded.
A bursting shadow surrounds him,
“hmm!”
In one fell swoop, the spirit is released and they scatter.
It is a type of body armor worn by unmanned personnel.
But as the butterflies continued to stick to me, two or three at a time, and I was able to gather more than I could release,
Eventually, he was buried in a giant shadow.
Dang Gyu-yeong spoke to me, exhausted.
“You, you talk to me later.”
“Yeah.”
After briefly supporting the staggering Dang Gyu-yeong, he quickly regained his energy and took the lead.
The door to the temporary storage room was wide open, but the thieves entered, carefully examining even the smallest devices nearby.
If you accidentally touch just one alarm magic, you’re done.
Only after we had completely secured our safety did we begin to fill our inventories with the banned items.
“Let’s hurry up and pack everything we need and leave.”
“Yes, sis.”
Dang Gyu-yeong and I also exchanged glances.
When I open the [Cube of Life], I pick out only the valuable items and put them in.
‘I think I’ll go shopping soon.’
I started rummaging through the mountain of forbidden items.
We’ll have to look into it to see exactly what it is, but the types of banned items are pretty much set.
The biggest criterion for creating a ban list at Yongsal Academy is ‘side effects.’
What great side effects come with the enormous power gained?
For example, in the case of [Magongseo], you can become strong rapidly in a short period of time, but the more you learn, the more likely it is that your mind will be tainted by demonic energy and you will become an evil person.
The [Dark Ice Crystal] I got from the train also increases my mana amount drastically in one breath, but if I can’t withstand the cold, I’ll be frozen to my bones as soon as I take it.
If something causes damage to the body or mind like this, it is usually designated as a banned item.
The more extensive and permanent the damage, the higher it tends to be on the list.
You can see that most things here have a penalty attached to them, big or small.
Among them, what I want to obtain is a forbidden item with an ‘elemental penalty’ like Dark Ice Crystal.
This is because most elemental penalties can be nullified with S-rank [Elemental Resistance].
‘One thing first.’
[Simryok]*2
Two lumpy beads that look like lightning bolts forcibly stuck together.
Since the situation is not conducive to using it right away, I kept it in the Cube of Life.
I kept digging through the mountain of items, but unfortunately, I couldn’t find any more elemental penalty items.
Since time is limited to dig deeper, it is better to look elsewhere.
‘Skill book.’
That was also the main reason I came here.
If there were a lot of forbidden items gathered, there would likely be one or two skill books with elemental penalties.
But it didn’t seem like it would be easy to find this either.
The skill book at the very top is a dud.
[Skill Book – Asura Blood Magic]
The more you practice this, the more the blood demon will seep into your bone marrow and you will eventually go crazy.
100% future villain reservation.
I don’t know what kind of big idiot brought this in.
It must have been incredibly difficult to obtain.
[Skill Book – Necrograsp]
A close combat skill for necromancers that causes everything it catches to rot.
The major drawback is that the caster’s hands also gradually decay with each use.
‘Elemental penalty, elemental penalty… … .’
After flipping through the skill books over and over again, thinking about the elemental penalties in my head, I finally found one that was good.
no.
It wasn’t just okay; it was damn good.
[Skill Book – Inferno Fist]
The supporters ate it all
