Chapter 237: The Narrow-Eyed Villain of the Demon Academy
Out of the blue, Samuel told me to learn magic.
I didn't see the need to learn magic, so I was puzzled.
I didn't know why Samuel was suddenly telling me to learn magic.
I asked Samuel why I needed to learn magic, and Samuel sighed and opened his mouth.
"You rely too much on your physical talents."
"Is there something wrong with that?"
"Of course there is. It must have been easy for you so far. You just went with the flow, relying on your instincts, doing whatever you knew would make you stronger."
He wasn't wrong, but it didn't answer all my questions.
He still hadn't told me why I needed to learn magic.Samuel shook his head.
"How can you improve if you only learn what's easy? You've been able to become stronger because of your talent, not your effort. That's why you need to learn magic."
"What do you mean?"
"I'm telling you to practice breaking out of your 'mold.'"
What mold?
There was something vague about Samuel's explanation.
I couldn't understand what he was saying and tilted my head. Samuel snapped his fingers and showed me something.
Woong-.
Samuel's magic took the form of a rectangular prism with a small dot inside.
"Watch closely. That's you," Samuel said, pointing to the dot.
Tsk, fine. Let's see.
I grumbled inwardly and looked at the magic Samuel had manifested.
And I shrugged at the sight.
Only then did I realize what Samuel was trying to say.
Samuel wasn't just telling me to learn magic; he was giving me direction.
"...Is that why you told me to learn magic from you?"
"Yes, learning magic can only help you."n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om
I nodded as I listened to Samuel, and Kyle frowned and asked me,
"What are you two talking about?"
"Well, look closely at the magic that Samuel has manifested."
Woong-.
At my words, Kyle turned his head and looked at the dot inside the rectangular prism.
The dot grew bigger and bigger, increasing in volume, and soon it became trapped inside the box.
The dot couldn't get out of the rectangular prism and was completely stuck.
"The dot represents my 'talent.' The box represents my 'limit.'"
"So you're saying that no matter how extraordinary your talent is and how high your limit is, you'll eventually stagnate."
"That's right."
Perhaps because he was exceptionally intelligent when he was a spy, Kyle quickly understood what I was saying.
The point that Samuel made was something I had been thinking about for a while.
I knew I was getting stronger, but I never felt like I was breaking through to the next 'level'.
This was probably due to some boundary between the 'demigod' realm and a normal physical body.
So, it could be a stepping stone for me to make a leap forward now that I have Crete's body and a tremendous amount of mana.
So I opened my mouth and said to Samuel, "Then I'll learn from you."
"Good decision."
"Yes, Adel, learn hard."
Kyle subtly tried to slip away.
I grabbed Kyle by the back of the neck and growled with a smile.
"Where do you think you're going? You have to learn too, Kyle."
"N-no, I don't want to learn..."
"No buts."
If we're friends, shouldn't we share each other's pain?
What is friendship if not that?
I gave Kyle a smile brighter than any other light.
Seeing me like that, Kyle had no choice but to close his eyes tightly, holding back his tears.
"Get up, if the story is over. If you draw your sword, you have to cut something right away to satisfy your instincts."
And so we finished our meal and followed Samuel somewhere.
* * *
The place we headed to was one of the rooms in the Temple of Gluttony, where Samuel said we would be training.
I followed Samuel's lead and looked around the room.
'This is certainly the perfect place to train.'
It was quite a large room.
Samuel led us into the room and told us to wait a moment before disappearing somewhere.
Kyle took the opportunity to make a suspicious move.
I stared at Kyle and turned my head towards Miriam.
Miriam was also tilting her head, looking at Kyle who was moving suspiciously.
Wait, isn't she blind?
Before I could even ask that question, Miriam stopped Kyle, who was trying to escape, and opened her mouth.
"Where are you going?"
"J-just going to the bathroom."
"What a poor excuse."
"Shut up! How can I be calm when a monster strong enough to fight you is going to train us?"
"Well, I understand, but I wonder if you can protect your sister with such a weak mind."
Flinch-.
Those words made Kyle freeze.
Kyle was speechless for a moment, whether he was angry or provoked by my words.
Then, as if he realized I was staring at him, he sighed.
Then Kyle, resigned to his fate, accepted the situation.
"Ha, fine. Let's do this."
"Good attitude."
I smiled contentedly at Kyle.
Kyle seemed embarrassed and rubbed his nose.
Sniff, sniff.
Miriam walked up to Kyle and began to massage his shoulders.
"You're so manly, so cool."
"...S-stop it!"
Kyle was startled and shook his shoulders.
I clicked my tongue as I watched him.
That Kyle, he really had no resistance to a woman like Miriam.
Unlike Samuel.
As I was thinking this, I saw Samuel returning to the room, so I turned my gaze away.
Samuel was carrying an armful of books taller than himself.
I gaped at the sight. What's that?
Thud-.
Samuel put the books down in front of us and opened his mouth.
"Read all of these books today. They're basic magic books. You guys lack the basics, so you'll need to read at least this much."
"...But I have the basics?"
Kyle tried to protest, but it didn't work on Samuel.
"You look like a mage somewhere between a beginner and an intermediate level by human standards. Can you really say that your basics are perfect? Besides, now you have to learn not only human magic, but also demon magic."
"...."
Kyle couldn't refute Samuel's logic and closed his mouth.
Kyle looked at the books with eyes that were about to cry.
I understood how Kyle felt, so I patted him on the back.
Yeah, how long will it take to read all that? Will we even be able to read it all?
As much of a writer as I was, and as much as I read, I wasn't sure if I could read all those books in a short amount of time.
But Samuel was adamant.
"You especially need to read those basic magic books. I don't know if they taught you that in Sytan, but they didn't."
What did they teach us in Sytan?
They certainly taught us useful magic.
But it was simply magic "to kill humans," and we didn't delve into magic in earnest.
In other words, we were only taught practical magic.
"I'm not saying Instructor Robolt's teaching methods were wrong. We would have died without the magic Instructor Robolt taught us. But to say that he taught magic as an 'academic discipline' would be a stretch."
"...So you're saying we should learn magic as an academic discipline."
"That's right."
It's like private education.
No.
Robolt is private education, and Samuel is more like compulsory education.
Still, I decided not to argue with Samuel.
As Samuel had said, learning magic might be the key to reaching the 'demigod realm', so I decided it was right to learn magic.
Okay, let's do this.
I clenched my fists with determination, and Samuel just smirked at me.
"Just read. I'll give anyone caught dozing off a taste of my thorns."
A taste of his thorns?
What, is he going to whip us with them?
"I'll go get some snacks!"
"No, please refrain from that."
Miriam said she wanted to do something, but I immediately shook my head.
We'd had enough of Miriam's cooking last time.
It was better to do nothing.
"B-but I want to eat..."
However, Kyle, who didn't know about Miriam's cooking skills, immediately accepted.
Oh, you poor thing.
Just you wait.
Kyle had been a bit rebellious lately, so I thought it wouldn't be bad to see him suffer after eating Miriam's cooking.
"Then read."
And so we began to read.
One hour.
Two hours.
Three hours.
One book.
Two books.
Three books...
Before I knew it, I started to feel sleepy.
Kyle, who was next to me, was concentrating well. It seemed that his spy training had helped him.
But I couldn't fight the drowsiness and closed my eyes.
Thump-.
Suddenly, a thorn shot out and pricked my thigh.
The sharp pain brought me to my senses.
So this is what he meant by a taste of his thorns.
"Focus."
"Yes, sir."
I started reading again.
I was so engrossed in the book.
Thump-.
Samuel's thorn pricked me again.
I didn't know why Samuel had pricked me with a thorn, so I asked, "I wasn't dozing off."
"Really? Your eyes were so small, I couldn't tell they were open."
"...."
What am I supposed to do with this guy?
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