Chapter 106

“Then? Where should we raid first, the Material Warehouse or the Admission Management Office?”

The ears of the cat perked up at the long-awaited reunion.

“Here, take this.”

As I pinched around my forehead, an intangible laurel crown appeared.

“Wha… Laurel? This is something you were supposed to handle! I don’t even know how to use it!”

Adella, who had absently accepted what I tossed, checked what was in her hands and jumped up in surprise.

“It’s more suitable for you than for me.”

[Warning: Circle magic cannot be used.]

[Warning: Action assist function will be disabled.]

[Warning: Scrolls cannot be used.]

[Notification: All growth stats will be temporarily reset.]

[Notification: All penalties will be temporarily deactivated.]

Then, numerous warnings and notifications that even the settings couldn’t block filled my vision.

-????

-What are you trying to break with a laurel?

-Adella can’t use magic.

-Adella is a fool.

-Adella is such a bonehead that her head is just for decoration.

-That’s too much, lol.

-In fact, Adella’s body is treated as ‘objects.’

-OMG.

-If you just face the Nightmare without any tricks, you’ll be wiped out even on normal difficulty.

With a feeling of being freed from the shackles that suppress my power, a new limitation was inscribed in my dantian.

As expected, there were no signs of mana manifesting, let alone aura.

“Adella, hit me as hard as you can.”

“What…? Have you gone crazy after taking a hit to the head earlier?”

Adella frowned in shock, but my head was still well attached to my neck.

“If that’s the case, at least slap me once. I’m feeling sleepy.”

“… You’re not joking, are you?”

“I’m always serious.”

“No retaliation later, okay? Are you really going to hit me?”

I deliberately offered my cheek to make it easier for her to hit me.

“Are you perhaps getting nervous?”

I smirked on purpose, and finally, a noteworthy expression appeared on her face.

She cracked her knuckles and started swinging her arms.

It didn’t sit well with me that the preparatory actions were unnecessarily excessive, but before long, her palm hit my cheek with a loud smack.

Bang-!

With the sound of an explosion, I felt my body float as if I were soaring.

“Noname! Are you okay?”

Adella hurried over to me as I rolled several times on the ground and crashed into a bush.

Perhaps because this was a game world, it didn’t hurt too badly. Instead, I felt quite uncomfortable.

All I could do was guess how much internal damage I had taken when I saw my HP drop significantly.

“I did hit you hard, but for it to send you flying like this…!”

“Don’t worry. It was just to confirm the effects of the laurel.”

The growth stats accumulated from the experience gained since Remy handed over the laurel had all been saved to the Cycle’s Laurel.

The source of information, of course, was Tree Wiki.

Normally, I had been protected in an invisible state, so I didn’t have to worry too much, but the laurel was the most important item to protect against when encountering a boss that would steal items.

It would take away all growth bonus stats, including health, attack power, defense, and mana, so I had no choice but to rely solely on level and equipment.

It was no surprise that receiving all of the laurel’s abilities allowed Adella to strike me with such force.

“But it’s not enough.”

I was far from ready to face the possessed Professor Cronicle.

Even if I piled all experience stacks onto Adella alone, I couldn’t guarantee victory.

“You never know until you try.”

“Huh?”

“Can you lend me your hand for a moment?”

“We don’t have time for this! The enemies are about to catch up with us!”

“Hurry.”

“Oh, fine…!”

Surprisingly, her hands were rough and calloused, covered in blisters.

Unlike the cat furry whom I had previously appointed as a manager, there was no jelly-like softness to her palm.

[Cast: Circuit Reconstruction]

[Synchronization: Noname – Adella]

“Do you have any foods you like or dislike?”

“Foods I like…? Not really? I kinda dislike carrots.”

“Got it.”

With that, all preparations were finalized.

“Now, let’s go face Bally Benavonis.”

***

Adella felt a wave of nausea.

Not in an emotional sense, but physically, as if her stomach was churning.

“Did I drink too much…? Of all times, why now…?”

For this nonsensical reason, she couldn’t abandon the mission, so Adella moved towards the Material Warehouse with Noname.

“Are you okay?”

“Ugh! Of course, I’m fine! What do you think of me, Adella? I’ll finish this mission quickly and then rest at home.”

They were running tightly against a dark stone wall.

How long had it been since then?

Adella, still fiddling with the invisible laurel crown, asked Noname.

“I feel uneasy. Are you sure I can use this? Isn’t there a plan?”

“A plan? Since when have you acted according to a plan?”

“That may be true…”

“Think casually. Just do as I instructed.”

“What did you instruct? I didn’t hear anything!”

“Then I’ll teach you from the beginning.”

Before entering the Material Warehouse, Noname stood facing Adella.

“The laurel and you are currently connected. Close your eyes and focus.”

“Like this? I can’t see or feel anything!”

“If this happens—”

In an instant, Noname swung his arm toward Adella’s cheek.

It was a split-second.

Before her eyelids could even rise, the attack came without warning, but Adella’s body reflexively darted to the side, narrowly avoiding the Strike from the Forest Guardian.

“Eek…! Th-that’s dangerous! What are you doing?!”

Adella protested vigorously as she pushed herself off the ground, shocked by the unannounced attack.

“What a waste… I mean, what do you taste like?”

“Taste? What do you… Ugh? Tuna?”

Adella’s eyes widened.

The salty taste of tuna exploded on her tongue.

Adella couldn’t comprehend the overwhelming pleasure that surged with every lick of her lips.

“If you hadn’t dodged and had taken it head-on, your mouth would have tasted like carrots.”

“What do you mean by that!”

The action assist of the laurel simply provided players with options.

Attack 1, Attack 2, Attack 3, Defense 1, Defense 2, Dodge.

The laurel allowed players to execute every possible scenario in perfect motion.

However, perfection in motion didn’t guarantee the best choice.

Fighting game characters perform all kinds of perfect moves, but some keep pressuring the opponent while others just take hits. The ‘selection’ of moves rested solely on the player’s decision.

“I’m telling you this for the fifth time, Adella. So stay calm at the end and trust your senses.”

“Senses…”

Adella swung her dagger through the air.

Whoosh—

With the laurel’s assist, the blade skillfully cleaved through the air.

A perfect trajectory she had dreamed of her whole life; if the academy’s examiners had been there, they would have been sliced in half.

“That was so easy…”

What had she practiced so hard for? She felt she was beginning to understand why everyone coveted the laurel.

But Adella had doubts when facing the unarmed Forest Guardian.

She realized as she struck her own body.

‘I’m incredibly weak…’

Her ability to fight confidently in the observatory was impossible without the laurel’s aid.

Yet before meeting the observatory’s manager, she had willingly handed over the laurel to herself, and with strange sensations, she managed to defeat him without much effort.

It was indeed a remarkable item, but she wondered if it truly suited someone like her who couldn’t cast spells, rather than the healer-class Forest Guardian.

Noname gently patted Adella’s disheveled hair.

“You can do this.”

When her warm voice struck her ears, Adella couldn’t shake off the throbbing in her chest.

Here it came again.

Was she still feeling the effects of alcohol?

Or was it a side effect of wearing the laurel?

Even when using the power of the laurel to defeat the observatory manager, or when she dealt a solid slap to Noname earlier, emotions surged from deep within her.

[Remember.]

With her heart racing and her chest tightening, she moved forward until she reached the Material Warehouse.

“I feel like there aren’t many guards after all… No, it seems there’s a lot inside.”

“Yeah. Due to the alarm system, we can’t sneak in anyway. We have to go in head-on.”

“But why do my mouth taste like cat treats and carrots? What’s the criteria for that?”

[Intruder! Capture them!]

No matter how multifunctional the laurel was, it didn’t have eyes, so how could it determine whether its judgments in different situations were correct or not?

Then, Noname took out a plastic stick from his pocket and popped it into his mouth. It was a product bought from a vending location that didn’t affect gameplay. The price was 0.00003 Bitcoin for one stick.

“My heart.”

[“User ‘Ishirin’ has donated 1,000 won!”]

-Teacher, you seem to have some grudges despite appearances!

If Adella defeated Bally Benavonis this round, Neme thought it would be time to transition from basic training to advanced training.