Chapter 358

The practice went on quite normally without any incidents. It wasn’t really the kind of class where accidents would happen, so that made sense.

Ah, but that doesn’t mean nothing happened at all.

“Quickly, get them to the hospital! Before the golden time runs out!”

“Grrk… ggggh…!”

Two students were being carried away on a stretcher. They looked in pretty bad shape from the outside.

Foamy drool was oozing from their mouths, and their complexions had turned as pale as a ghost.

It was clear to anyone that they were in serious condition. Their lives could very well be in danger.

‘Just because I’m eating doesn’t mean everyone can.’

Let me say it upfront: it was my fault. To be more precise, the students had eaten some mushrooms.

They got bored and started munching on any mushrooms they came across, and other students saw them do it and followed suit.

They mistakenly thought that the mushrooms were safe because I had eaten them. The symptoms kicked in right away, and I rummaged through my pockets to find mushrooms.

It was absurd, but what could I do about what I had already eaten? Thankfully, I took immediate action, or it would have been a serious problem.

“Everyone listen up! This assistant is immune to most poisons, so the common toxins won’t affect me.”

“Immune to toxins?”

“Really?”

After the commotion died down, Dis kindly explained. Looks like he heard it from another professor or something.

Apart from not being immune to poisons, the rest of it was brushed over. It was true that poisons didn’t affect me.

In any case, once I said I was immune, the students, especially those from the Eastern Empire, paid quite a bit of attention to me.

The very term “immune to poisons” probably originated from the Eastern Empire, so it made sense they were interested.

‘Anyway, thank goodness. The mushrooms weren’t that toxic.’

If I did a good enough job with a few gastric cleanses and got enough rest, they’d recover quickly.

If they had eaten something like a Red Deers’ Horn Mushroom, those students would have faced a grim fate.

Even I could feel a slight numbness in my tongue if I ate a Red Deers’ Horn Mushroom, so it’s a serious matter.

“Unless you have professional knowledge, never eat mushrooms. It’s the same even if you have resistance to poison.”

“Then why does that assistant eat them?”

“Yeah. I’m curious too. Why did you eat the mushrooms?”

“Because my mouth was bored.”

The moment I said I ate it out of boredom, everyone dropped the topic. They seemed to abandon their thoughts about me.

From then on, during every break, I continued to search for bugs or mushrooms to pop into my mouth. Most of them were surely toxic.

Given the situation, I decided to swing towards eating things with poisons, and everyone started looking at me strangely.

That feeling was familiar, and I ignored it until one student cautiously approached and asked.

“Um… Assistant.”

“Yeah?”

“Excuse me, is there a reason for eating poisonous bugs or mushrooms to build up resistance to toxins?”

“No?”

Do they think I’m some poison dart frog? Even if my body is unique, it’s not that extreme.

The student nodded at my answer and returned to their spot. But they didn’t forget to glance back at me.

‘They look like they want to draw some of my blood.’

That’s probably just a misunderstanding. If they want, I might spare a little.

Of course, there wouldn’t be any poison in my blood. If there were, the system would have warned me.

-Brrr…

“Eh?”

While I leisurely relaxed, a thunderous sound reached my ears. I lifted my head upon hearing it.

Looking up at the sky, I only saw a brilliantly clear blue. This was not weather for a thunderstorm.

‘What is that?’

I wondered if I had misheard and glanced at others. Everyone was resting in their own ways.

It seemed I was the only one who heard it. I tilted my head in confusion.

‘Is Porori fighting somewhere?’

It wasn’t impossible. Porori was known to manage the forest quite strictly.

Besides, unless the students disturbed first, it wouldn’t drop lightning.

Most importantly, Kara was there. Kara would surely be cautious if she knew about Porori’s presence.

‘If nothing happens, it’s because they’re wise enough not to disturb Porori’s kin.’

Once, I had asked for permission from Porori and entered its territory. There were a lot of squirrels.

Cute and adorable little squirrels, full of sweetness and charm.

It’d be madness to want to harm those beings. Unless one is a predator, of course.

Porori too wouldn’t disrupt the balance of nature; they’d let the predator eat its kin.

They only take out those who lean closer to ‘pure evil.’ The ones that commit killing for fun.

“Everyone, break’s over! Let’s move out again!”

Before I knew it, the break was over. Once it was called, I stood up immediately.

-Rustle

“Hmm?”

Then, I couldn’t help but freeze on hearing a tiny sound. It was so small that only I could hear it.

The professor and other students were slowly getting ready to move, but I was just staring attentively at the bushes.

Was my behavior strange? Dis shouted at me.

“Sivar! We’re leaving, so focus!”

“··· ···”

Even with Dis’s shout, I continued to keep my gaze fixed on the bushes. I slowly crouched down and picked up a pebble from the ground.

Dis must have initially thought I was ignoring him, as he frowned. But seeing my actions, he looked puzzled.

The other students were the same. They glanced at the bushes I was staring at.

“What are you looking at?”

“What’s over there?”

“I don’t see anything.”

Right. They wouldn’t see anything. It was covered by the underbrush.

I ignored their murmurs and slowly pulled back my hand holding the pebble.

Finally, I stepped forward with my left foot and threw the stone towards the bushes with great force.

-Piiing!

It sounded like an arrow being released. With that sound, the stone flew ferociously towards the bushes.

If nothing was there, there wouldn’t be any noise. But as soon as the stone hit the bushes, another sound echoed.

-Bwaak!

“Growwwr!”

Something massive burst forth from within the bushes with a roar. It looked like a creature resembling a bear.

It was quite large, but strangely, it didn’t feel overwhelmingly gigantic.

Instead, it gave off a somewhat lean impression. It seemed it had lost out in the competition for food.

-Kwah!

The charging bear bit my arm. I felt quite a strong grip.

Despite that, the actual damage was minimal. Just a strong mark would be left behind.

“Sivar!”

“Assistant!”

As it bit into my arm, Dis and the students shouted urgently. They seemed ready to help if needed.

To be honest, I didn’t need any help. This bear was probably nearly out of strength from being starved for days.

It likely came to grab a human as a last resort. Typically, dangerous bears are either fat and full, or starving.

But does this bear know what it means to target me instead of someone else?

-Fuh!

With my arm still clenched in its mouth, I delivered a knee strike to the bear’s face. Then, my arm gradually broke free from its grip.

It seemed that one strike had left it dazed. I immediately grabbed the bear with both arms and threw it aside.

It wasn’t merely tossed by sheer strength; it was thrown with a full rotation, which added quite a bit of force.

-Kwaajik! Crash!

The bear’s gigantic body collided with a tree. The massive trees were crushed under the weight of the bear.

Combined with the knee strike I delivered earlier, it must have sustained considerable damage.

‘Gotta finish this quickly.’

There really wasn’t a need to drag this out. The class was still ongoing.

“Grrr…! Growwwr!”

The bear quickly regained its senses and charged at me again. Its vicious teeth were bared, clearly determined to eat me.

A creature that couldn’t discern its surroundings due to hunger. Its fate can go one of two ways.

It would either miraculously find a hearty meal.

-Grrraaaah!

Or it would stumble upon a rival predator and head off to the underworld.

I deftly sidestepped the charging bear and delivered a clean straight punch towards its neck.

The bear slid forward and collapsed. With its tongue hanging out, it was obvious that it was defeated.

With a broken neck, it was doomed to die. Most creatures have their neck as their weak point.

-Flop. Flop.

I moved the lifeless bear’s head around playfully. Its neck flopped limply.

It felt like I had not just broken but thoroughly shredded the bones. I think I overdid it a bit on the strength control.

Well, if I hadn’t controlled it at all, I would have punched through it instead of just breaking its neck. I finished it quickly, so it’s all good.

“Did you just… take down that bear with one punch?”

“How strong are you?”

“Did you see how he threw it earlier?”

While the students whispered among themselves about the state of the bear, most of them looked utterly astonished.

It’s true that a bear is a ferocious beast, but is it really that shocking? They could have fought and won too.

“Seokdae, could you win against that bear?”

“······ I could, sure. But I wouldn’t be able to throw it around or take it out in one hit like that.”

“What does that make the assistant…?”

“··· ···”

Ah, so that was it. I overheard the conversation between Eom Seokdae and the other students and pieced it together.

It is true that they could win against the bear. However, it would be at the cost of a fierce battle, unlike me who took it out in one go.

I unintentionally showed a slice of my prowess. Not a bad situation at all.

“Sivar, are you hurt? You got bitten on the arm earlier.”

“I’m fine. Look.”

I showed Dis my arm where the bear had bitten me. There were no marks left now.

He stared at me with a mysterious expression before shaking his head. His reaction seemed to say it was unlikely.

“This bear is now yours since you took it down. What do you plan to do with it?”

“Bear bile?”

“Bear bile, huh… that does sound good. I’ll call another professor soon…”

-Grroooaaah!

Just as Dis was talking, thunder rumbled through the air. This time, it was undoubtedly loud.

Dis and the other students looked around in surprise at the sound of thunder. I was doing the same.

“Thunder? The sky is perfectly clear…”

“··· ···”

Thunder rang out even though the sky was clear. This was an ominous sign. Even more so, the aura was steadily growing stronger.

I didn’t hesitate to run towards where the thunder’s energy was emanating. Dis called out to me from behind, but I ignored it.

-Kwah-BOOM!

Following the thunder, the sound of lightning crashing down echoed. The ground trembled slightly, indicating its immense power.

This was definitely something caused by Porori. If it were Kara, she wouldn’t make such a ruckus.

‘What’s going on? Why?’

Could it be that a demon has returned once again? That seems the most likely scenario.

Finally, when I reached the location of the other class, what I witnessed was…

“Le, Leo, brother!”

“Everyone, move back! It’s dangerous!”

A charred person and a group of astonished students stood before me.

“What on earth is going on! Just talk!”

“Kyaaahhh…!”

It was Kara and Porori, both silhouetted against a backdrop of crackling lightning, caught up in a stare-down.

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