Chapter 19
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Episode 4 - Weekend [4]
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It was Sunday morning, and Professor Ashly had called Lumina and me to her office during the weekend.
I was on my way to Professor Ashly's office.
When I finally arrived, I knocked on the door three times.
"Come in."
Professor Ashly's voice reached my ears. Then I took the doorknob, turned it, pushed the door open, and looked inside the office.
By the way, on Thursday after classes, Rinna helped me locate where Professor Ashly's office was.
So I was able to get there without much trouble.
As I entered, I looked around.
From the space surrounding me, it was not just an ordinary office; it also looked like a studio and a spacious room where magic could be practiced.
There was a small library, a study room, and a large display case where various things were stored.
Moreover, while observing the display case, I noticed that the elixir was there… well, there were actually two elixirs.
The original scenario setup was that Professor Ashly would hand the elixir to the player and to Lumina.
While I looked around, Professor Ashly, who was sitting in the study room, said:
"Cadet Adel, you've already arrived. Cadet Lumina will be here soon. In the meantime, come over here."
At her call, I walked over to where she was seated.
I took a seat in the chair beside her and looked at what was on the table.
There was a variety of books, scrolls, pencils, and inks, along with jars containing different kinds of powders and liquids, and others filled with strange things I could not identify.
While I observed all of that, Professor Ashly seemed to notice and asked:
"It's as if you're looking directly at the things in front of you… are you really blind?"
Without hesitation, I replied:
"Yes. I use my traits to guide myself and understand everything around me."
"You must have some unique traits, right?"
"Something like that."
Besides True Sight and Weakness Detection, which belong to the category of special traits, there are also abilities such as Mana Sense and the Senses of the Nine Heavens, which can be obtained through training.
However, True Sight and Weakness Detection are traits that cannot be acquired through normal means.
After some time, I finally asked the reason why she had called me.
Even though I already knew the reason, I still asked.
"About that, I have a proposal for you and Cadet Lumina."
"A proposal?"
She nodded.
"That's right. The proposal is for you to become my assistant. Simple, isn't it?"
Professor Ashly and Director Bernice have two types of personalities:
One cheerful and playful, and the other serious and cold.
At that moment, Professor Ashly was showing her cheerful and playful side.
"And what would I have to do as an assistant?"
The answer was obvious, but I still asked the question.
"You only need to help me with my research and with anything else I instruct you to do. Of course, you must come whenever I call for you, unless you are injured or have an important matter to attend to. In those cases, you may ignore my summons."
Nodding, I put on a thoughtful expression, as if I were seriously considering it.
Then I nodded and said:
"Sure, why not? However, as you may have noticed, Professor, I can't see, so for anything related to texts, I'll need someone to help me."
She understood my words and replied:
"If Cadet Lumina agrees, then she could help you with those things."
"That would be great. Then I accept."
Professor Ashly smiled, then took a scroll and placed it in front of me.
"This scroll is a contract to keep secret everything you hear or learn here. It's not that I don't trust you, but it's a precaution."
"I understand, that's fine."
Perhaps Professor Ashly still thinks that, no matter how small the chance may be, there is a possibility that one day I could become a villain.
After all, if it came to revealing her research, the fact that I have the Dark attribute would make it so that no one would believe me… or worse, they would condemn me for it.
And that would not benefit me.
Besides, it's not like I'm that kind of person.
"Use your blood as a seal to sign the contract."
Professor Ashly said. Then, I made a small cut on my thumb and pressed it against the scroll.
With Professor Ashly's help, I pressed it in the correct place.
And while I wiped the blood from my thumb, Professor Ashly's voice continued.
"Mhm, by the way, the color of your blood… I think I've seen it somewhere before…"
"..."
Most likely, it's because of the Supreme-Quality Elixir.
At her words, I hurriedly had to change the subject.
"So, what should I do now?"
Pulling her out of her thoughts, Professor Ashly opened her eyes and nodded.
"Oh, right, that's true, take this."
Professor Ashly grabbed what seemed to be a book, handed it to me, and said:
"This is a rather… strange book."
I turned toward the book; however, since I couldn't see, I looked at Professor Ashly in disbelief.
"But, I can't see."
Professor Ashly shook her head and explained.
"That won't be necessary, try to probe into the book."
I looked back at the book and thought.
'Probe into the book, does she mean using my traits?'
Using my senses, I tried to search for something unusual within the book, but there was nothing out of the ordinary.
It was an entirely ordinary book.
'No, wait…'
Immediately, something came to mind and I used Mana Sense.
And as expected, it was a Grimoire.
The reason for this was simple: the book in my hands had mana, something that made no sense, since mana only exists in living beings, not in inanimate or lifeless objects.
And since this is a book, they were given the name Grimoires, because Grimoires contain magical formulas, spells, etc.
Naturally, these things attract mana because a mage uses those words written in the Grimoire to use mana.
"It's a Grimoire, right?"
Professor Ashly nodded.
"Exactly."
Tilting my head in confusion, I asked.
"But… what's supposed to be so special about it? Aside from the different ancient magics and magical formulas, I don't feel anything special."
In response to my doubtful question, Professor Ashly simply answered.
"That's where the special part lies. When you open the Grimoire, it actually has nothing written inside it and yet it still attracts mana. Isn't that special enough?"
"..."
'What the hell…!?'
Perplexed, I looked at the book again using Mana Sense, and of course, I could see the mana and its different colors.
But aside from that, there was nothing else.
'An empty Grimoire that still attracts mana.'
Wasn't this what others would call "the mystery of the century" or simply "the mystery of the week"?
Anyway, I looked back at Professor Ashly.
"I can't see, but… it really doesn't have anything written inside."
"That's right. If you want, I can share my memories with you so you can 'see' and believe my words."
"There's no need, I believe you, Professor Ashly."
I flatly refused that. If she shared the memories of when she looked at and examined the Grimoire,
then I would have to share some random memory.
'If I do that, she might discover some of my secrets.'
For example, that I'm not from this world and that I'm one of the creators of this world.
If she realized it through my memories, I honestly don't know what she would do.
"All right."
After sighing, I decided to open the Grimoire and use my True Sight.
I suspected there might be something strange that I had overlooked.
When I opened the Grimoire using my True Sight, white lines suddenly began drawing something.
That something was letters that were clearly visible only to me.
'Wait… it actually worked.'
Even though letters suddenly appeared, when I read them, I couldn't understand anything.
And that was because I didn't know how to read.
'Damn it…'
***
An 18-year-old girl walked calmly. Beside her was a large flower garden and a fountain, and beyond the garden was a vast lake.
As she walked, Lumina briefly looked at the scenery.
And she couldn't help but think.
'I wish Adel could see this together with me.'
Lumina had tried to cure Adel's blindness, but it was impossible.
Adel had said that his eyes were special and were also connected to his Unique Trait, so unless he got rid of his Unique Trait, she would never be able to cure his blindness.
Lumina sighed as she remembered that moment, then headed straight toward Professor Ashly's office.
Adel was probably already there, talking with Professor Ashly.
'In my previous regression, I never understood how Adel managed to answer this theory and respond to Professor Ashly's questions.'
Even for Lumina, it had taken hundreds of lifetimes to find a way to answer the theory section of the written exam.
Since then, Lumina had always answered correctly and accepted Professor Ashly's offer to become her assistant.
After all, Professor Ashly would give her an elixir that would greatly help her become stronger quickly.
Naturally, Lumina couldn't refuse the offer, which was why she went directly to the office.
When she finally arrived, before knocking on the door, she placed her ear against it and listened to the conversation inside.
Adel and Professor Ashly were talking about the Grimoire she had found a long time ago.
Even throughout all her regressions, Lumina had never uncovered the Grimoire's secret.
Of course, not until Adel appeared.
Suddenly, a voice shouted from the other side of the door.
"W-what did you say!?"
"Ah, uh… that I know what the Grimoire 'says.' With the help of my Traits, the entire contents of the Grimoire were revealed to me."
"W-what does it say? Can you read it, please?"
"I'm sorry, Professor, I don't know how to read, but I can tell you what characters are written in the Grimoire."
It was quite an amusing conversation for Lumina.
She couldn't help but laugh. Finally, without knocking, she opened the door and entered.
"I'm here, Professor Ashly."
"Ah, uh, welcome, Cadet Lumina."
Lumina walked toward where Adel and Professor Ashly were sitting.
Lumina sat on the other side of Professor Ashly, while Adel was seated across from her.
Professor Ashly was in the center. Then Lumina looked at Professor Ashly, who was searching for paper and an ink pen.
Then she looked at Adel.
'Heh, a nervous Adel.'
Adel was somewhat nervous, since he regretted revealing that he could "see" the writing inside the Grimoire.