Chapter 444

“Congratulations on winning the Fields Prize, NoName Magician. You will receive a prize of 30,000 Canadian dollars; what do you plan to use this prize for?”

“I heard that a friend is holding a small fan art contest, so I plan to use all of it as a prize.”

“Wow… That’s the most innovative use of a prize I’ve ever heard! Wait, did you say you’re putting up the entire $30,000? Then the scale of the contest is going to be huge…”

“No, it won’t be much if we divide it among people.”

Even without a prize, there were plenty of people willing to draw fan art.

The prize that Adella initially thought of was closer to a modest amount that didn’t even meet minimum wage.

However, thanks to NaeMe’s generous contribution, the fan art contest exceeded a scale that fans could enjoy together.

[NoName Fan Cafe]

[Announcement: NoName 2053 Fan Art Contest (01/27 ~ 02/09)]

Hello, I’m Adella, the assistant manager of NoName.

In response to the many inquiries about her current status, NaeMe is living a normal life and focusing on her studies.

She stated that even if it takes a long time, she intends to properly reflect on herself, so she has no plans to return yet.

Thus, during her period of self-restraint, we are holding a fan art contest to liven up the fan cafe!

The winning works will be appreciated together with NaeMe (voice appearance) on the results announcement day, so we encourage lots of participation.

Please refer to the next announcement post for detailed information on how to participate, rules, and precautions.

*Contest Name: NoName Fan Art Contest

*Contest Theme: We are looking for talented hands to draw fan art of broadcaster NoName or streamer NoName!

*Contest Period: January 27, 2053, until February 9, 2053, 23:59 (UTC+9)

*Results Announcement: February 16, 2053

「Grand Prize (1): 6,000,000 Won

Best Prize (3): 3,000,000 Won each

Excellence Prize (5): 1,000,000 Won each

Encouragement Prize (20): 500,000 Won each」

As the prize money increased, so did the managers’ responsibilities.

Adella carefully drafted the fan art rules while seeking advice from managers of other broadcasts.

Sexually suggestive fan art was warned of legal repercussions, and excessive deification was also prohibited.

She made sure to ask that fan art aiming for awards include production processes and time-lapse videos.

In truth, Adella was the one wishing for NaeMe to return to Korea more than anyone.

Before March, Adella had to return to Korea to attend school.

If NaeMe decided to stay in America after the semester ended, Adella would have to give up either her school life or NaeMe.

“I don’t want that. I can’t give up either.”

Adella’s eyes burned with passion.

And then, on the first day of the long-awaited contest.

Over 1,800 drawings were uploaded to the NoName fan cafe.

Since it was the first time, the managers conducted intense investigations primarily on posts that received reports.

[Fan Art Contest]

[One Night with NoName and Adella][13]

“These perverts go overboard even after being warned not to beforehand!”

Adella exclaimed in anger as she clicked on a post with a provocative title.

Upon revealing the fan art, Adella’s jaw dropped.

On a regal bed that one might see in a European royal palace, two mature women lay, half-covered by a blanket.

The sweet moonlight seeped into the room, gently illuminating the bedroom.

The blonde woman had elegantly flowing golden hair.

The translucent white dress that wrapped around her created a provocative silhouette following her body’s curves.

In contrast, the cat-eared woman across from her wore a black dress, bringing their faces together, almost touching.

The colors of their skin shimmered softly through the translucent fabric.

“No, no, no. It’s a no-go as soon as any underwear is even slightly visible!”

Despite saying this, Adella’s hand had already saved the high-quality fan art to her gallery.

Adella hurriedly deleted the post and permanently banned the author from the fan cafe.

At that moment, she resolved to give them a special reward.

* * *

“Hey, Fields Prize winner! How’s your life at the Academy? Is it tough?”

Evan, a fellow student she had become close to in the magical combat practical class, greeted her warmly.

Even in winter, his hair was completely soaked with sweat.

Not to mention his puffed-up face.

And the combat class hadn’t even started yet.

“You look way more tired. Did you just finish a supplementary class?”

“Yeah. I just had an intense workout with the teaching assistants.”

“Then why take this class and put yourself through all this trouble?”

Evan wasn’t even a formally trained student of magical combat.

He barely knew how to use magic and was relying on his aura-based physique to get by.

As a result, he had been at the bottom of the class of 15 students over the past month.

Ah, four people dropped the class midway, so now there are 11 students.

“It’s not the strong who survive, but the ones who survive who are strong. I’ve already outlasted four!”

The sturdy punching bag said confidently.

“That’s impressive, I’ll give you that.”

“Hahaha! I finally added a tie last week, so it’s time for my first win. Who’s my combat partner today?”

“It’s me.”

“Ugh, guess today’s out of the question. Just take it easy, alright?”

“That’s up to you.”

We chatted leisurely as we entered the Philips Academy Colosseum hall.

On the first day, classes were held on the outdoor lawn, but from the second day onwards, we used the formal training hall like this.

When I faced Evan, instead of going all out, I controlled my strength with the mindset of teaching him a thing or two.

The reason he applied for magical combat was to gain rich experience as an offensive tackler.

I wasn’t quite sure how American football related to magical combat, but it was good to see he was improving day by day.

Breeeek-!

Using what we learned in class, we exchanged a few convincing blows for several minutes.

Evan relentlessly hammered my barrier with his bulky arm muscles.

Whoosh—

A fist the size of my face whisked past in front of me.

It felt strangely slower than usual.

As I searched for the reason, I realized that I was unusually tense in my shoulders today.

When the aura keeps swirling around like that, its range of motion tightens and the punching power diminishes.

“Evan, you need to keep the rotation going; starting tense in your shoulders slows down your punches. Just tight at the moment of impact.”

The aura revolves around the vertical axis of the body like a hurricane.

The aura, drawn from my toes to my torso, gathers in my arms and hands, amplifying the striking mass.

The moment my fist connected with Evan’s barrier, a high concentration of aura surged out violently, creating an escape path.

Kawagahng-!

My body, weighing six times my weight, flew and crashed into the wall cushion set up in the Colosseum hall.

“Combat concluded! If the next group is ready, come out quickly!”

While other students fought desperately, we had to write our combat journals while reviewing the recorded footage.

In this class, writing feedback was far more important than fighting.

After finishing my self-feedback, I had time left to help Evan with his.

“Evan, take me to the main building again today.”

“Going to Open World Engineering?”

“Yeah.”

“There are plenty of bikes at our school now; why not go alone?”

“My legs are too short to reach the pedals.”

“Pff!”

“Are you laughing?”

I grabbed the back of his neck and shook him back and forth.

“Ahhhh! Waaahhhh!”

“Didn’t you once say it was an honor to drive me around? You better keep that honor until the end.”

“Because of you, I can’t even take a shower here and have to go home sweaty every time. Fine, I’ll drive you.”

“Thanks. I’ll use a cleaning magic for you later.”

“No way, that just makes it worse. Seriously, you’re a monster.”

Evan grumbled as he got in the elevator and went down to the Colosseum’s basement.

Before long, a red Honda sports car emerged from the parking lot and stopped in front of me.

“Close the lid; it’s cold.”

“I’ll warn you—I’m only putting up with you because you’re cute.”

“If you don’t, what will you do?”

“There’s really nothing I can do if I don’t.”

“Ew, what’s that?”

It was surprising that this seemingly fine guy also had a cheerleader girlfriend.

Thanks to my reliable shuttle, I could head straight to class without facing the cold wind.

There were still about 20 to 30 minutes until class started.

The students who arrived early like me were all absorbed in coding.

It had already been a month since we received the daunting task of creating an open-world game.

Thanks to the game engine provided by Resonance being user-friendly, I almost pulled all-nighters for several days.

Game development can be broadly categorized into planning, art, and programming.

The avatar modeling from the previous assignment went by easily.

Since I remembered the appearances of all my former lives, I was able to cut down on planning time.

However, game planning remained a tough challenge.

I still hadn’t defined the core concept and fun aspects of the game.

Most students seemed to be leaning towards 3D puzzle or shooting games with storytelling elements.

It’s the kind of game that yields good results for the effort put in, commonly referred to as cost-effective.

“But I don’t want to remove the combat elements…”

Instead, I would have to create a battle AI one by one, just as I had trained the Berstaphen AI before.

Right, trying to manage everything in two months is greedy.

Let’s create just one enemy with functioning combat mechanics.

Ding—

In the midst of this, I received a message from Adella.

[Adella: The fan art contest is over!]

Oh, has the date come that quickly?

I should pass on my thanks to Adella for her efforts.

[Adella: Honestly, don’t you think this is award-worthy? LOL]

[Adella: (Sad that NoName has stopped growing at 140 cm.jpg)]

[NoName: Want to die?]