Chapter 317 (Patreon)

[Name: Suri]

[Level: 30]

[Stats:]

Strength: 64

Agility: 74

Intelligence: 130

HP: 40/40

Mana: 625/625

[Skills:]

[Lightning Bolt]

[Mana Manipulation Master]

[Phantasm Creation]

[Elemental Phantasm Mastery: 20%]

[Phantasm World]

Suri wasted no time experimenting with her newly evolved class.

The strange sensation still lingered inside her body, like her mana had become softer yet deeper at the same time. More obedient. Before, creating illusions always felt like stretching thin threads carefully into shape. Now it felt disturbingly natural, as though the mana itself wanted to become whatever she imagined.

A faint ripple distorted the air above her palm.

Then a small rat appeared on the wooden floor.

It looked completely ordinary. Grey fur. Tiny claws. Long tail. Its whiskers twitched as it sniffed around the room beneath the pale moonlight leaking through the window. Even the way it moved felt alive, cautious and annoying like the gutter rats wandering the lower districts of the capital.

Suri stared at it proudly.

“Well,” she said slowly, “it definitely looks more real this time.”

The rat scratched itself lazily before wandering toward Kana.

Suri crouched beside her creation and poked its side with one finger.

“It’s real,” she muttered thoughtfully. “Well… mostly real. But it’s not breathing.”

Kana instantly stood from the table and walked over. Curiosity erased most of the exhaustion from her face as she knelt beside the creature carefully. Her fingers brushed lightly against its back. She froze for half a second. Even the fur felt warm.

Not illusionally warm. It was real warm.

Kana blinked once before touching it again more firmly.

“Even its skin feels real…”

There was genuine disbelief in her voice now.

Suri grinned from ear to ear,“Watch this.” The rat suddenly flickered.

Its grey fur transformed into brown. Then white. Then black. The changes happened unnaturally smoothly, like paint being poured directly over reality itself. For a moment, the creature’s body became translucent before stabilizing again into solid form.

“I can switch it between illusion and physical form,” Suri explained excitedly. “Though making it physically active drains more mana.”

Kana stared at the rat silently. A real illusion.

The thought itself sounded ridiculous. Yet the thing standing before them was impossible to deny.

Suri suddenly extended both hands dramatically. Mana surged through the room again.

This time the distortion expanded wider. Wooden legs formed first. Then a flat surface. Tiny details followed immediately after, scratches, cracks, uneven carvings along the edges. A full-sized table materialized beside them in only seconds.

It even smelled faintly of old wood polish.

Suri crossed her arms proudly.

“See?”

Kana approached cautiously and knocked against its surface.

Thud. Her crimson eyes widened slightly. Before she could comment, Suri suddenly smirked. That expression alone made Kana wary.

Too late. With both hands, Suri grabbed the illusionary table and hurled it toward the old table sitting near the center of the room.

The heavy object spun violently through the air.

Crash!

The impact exploded across the boarding room. Wood splintered everywhere. One leg of the original table snapped completely while shards scattered across the floorboards like thrown knives. The sound echoed through the hallway loud enough to shake the walls.

For one brief moment, silence followed.

Then chaos erupted outside.

“What happened!?”

“Who destroyed something!?”

Doors slammed open one after another throughout the hallway. Rapid footsteps approached their room immediately. Kana slowly turned toward Suri.

“Not a good place to experiment,” Kana said flatly.

Suri immediately forced a smile.

“I thought I could make it disappear before the impact.”

Kana glanced at the shattered remains of the table.

“And?”

Suri coughed awkwardly.

“I was slightly late. I need a bit of practice.”

Outside, students continued shouting in confusion while someone loudly demanded to know whether the building was under attack. Meanwhile, the illusionary rat casually climbed onto the broken table remains and sat proudly atop the wreckage as if it personally contributed to the destruction.

…

The next day, Kana and Suri skipped all of their classes.

Neither of them said it aloud, but after everything that had happened beneath the sea, sitting quietly inside a classroom listening to lectures felt strangely absurd. So instead, the two of them spent their afternoon where they usually hang out—Rin’s father’s popular drink shop.

The place was packed as always.

Warm lanternlight spilled across polished wooden tables while students, nobles and few commoners filled nearly every corner of the establishment. Voices overlapped endlessly. Someone near the entrance laughed loudly enough to shake the windows. A group of first years argued over bias class rankings while another crowd crowded around the counter waiting for the newest sweet drinks Suri had apparently approved personally.

Fresh bread. Roasted meat. Sweet syrup. Warm milk tea. Spices drifting lazily through the air.

Kana quietly sat beside Suri near the back of the establishment while Yuri, Joan, and Rin occupied the opposite side of the table.

For the first time in days, things almost felt normal again.

Kana held her drink carefully between both hands, though she barely tasted it. Every now and then her thoughts drifted back beneath the sea without warning.

The throne. The pressure. Then the world shattered apart like fragile glass. Her fingers tightened slightly around the cup. 

“You know,” Rin suddenly said while tilting her head thoughtfully, “I saw Boris earlier.”

Suri immediately glanced at her suspiciously.

Rin squinted her eyes at the two of them.

“The three of you…” she muttered slowly. “I can’t really explain it properly, but something feels different.”

Suri laughed at once, too quickly.

“We’re not different,” she said while waving her hand dismissively. “Your imagination is.”

Kana nearly coughed hearing that answer. Across the table, Yuri and Joan exchanged a look before leaning closer at almost the exact same time.

Then both of them spoke together.

“Rin is right.”

Suri’s confident smile twitched slightly.

Yuri suddenly snapped her fingers as if remembering something important.

“That’s it,” she said. “You three have the exact same expressions my parents had after surviving a dangerous dungeon raid a few months ago.”

Her eyes slowly widened.

Then she pointed accusingly toward them.

“Did you three almost—”

Suri instantly cut her off before she could finish.

“What do you mean?” Suri laughed loudly. “We have Kana.”

Kana turned slowly toward her. That statement somehow carried more burden than reassurance.

Yuri crossed her arms stubbornly. “Still,” she muttered, “something definitely happened.”

Joan nodded immediately beside her.

Even Rin remained unusually quiet while observing them carefully. Kana realized then that perhaps they were not hiding it as well as they thought.

Exhaustion could be ignored however almost experiencing death was not. Especially in front of people who knew you well.

Rin finally rested her chin against her palm and asked softly,

“Are you really that worried about going to the empire?”

The question settled heavily over the table.

For once, Suri didn’t joke immediately. She stared quietly at the colorful drink in her hands for several seconds while the noise of the crowded shop continued around them.

Then she nodded. “Right,” she muttered honestly.

She leaned back against her chair afterward and groaned dramatically.

“Damn right.”

Before, the empire only sounded dangerous because of politics, rival students, or the possibility of conflict between nations.

Now things were different.

Now they understood how enormous the world truly was.

There were creatures hidden beneath forgotten seas that could erase them effortlessly. Ancient beings older than kingdoms. Monsters that could kill them before their bodies even realized death had arrived.

…

Kana and Suri returned to the scholarly club as evening slowly settled over the academy.

The last traces of sunlight painted the tall academy towers in deep orange while long shadows stretched across the stone pathways. Students wandered between buildings in noisy groups, laughing after classes or hurrying toward dinner halls before the night bells rang. The academy felt alive again, peaceful even.

Kana almost envied that feeling.

Meanwhile, she and Suri headed toward the isolated building near the far side of the grounds, the place most students avoided instinctively.

The infamous scholarly club. The moment Patricia opened the heavy metal door for them, the familiar smell escaped immediately.

Burned herbs, hot metal, ink and dust.

And whatever horrifying substance the scholarly club accidentally created every other week.

Suri wrinkled her nose instantly.

“It still smells like someone boiled a dead monster in here.”

Patricia ignored the comment entirely.

Her appearance somehow looked even worse than before. Black dust covered half her cheeks, her hair pointed in several impossible directions, and one sleeve of her robe had clearly been burned recently. Yet despite looking like she had survived an explosion, her eyes lit up the moment she noticed the basket Kana carried.

Patricia froze then slowly crouched beside it.

Her eyes widened. “How did you get so many black pearls?”

Even her voice carried disbelief now.

Carefully, she picked one up between her fingers as though afraid it might vanish.

“My father told me divers can barely collect these during this season,” she muttered. “The waves should be far too dangerous…”

Kana forced a small smile.

“It’s a long story,” she answered. “But we got them ourselves.”

Patricia looked up immediately.

This time she truly studied the two of them.

Kana realized then that exhaustion was difficult to hide from someone observant. Especially Patricia, who noticed details most people ignored naturally. Suri leaned lazily against the wall while Kana stood silently beside the basket.

Patricia slowly returned the pearl into the basket. She noticed something about them had changed.

“Did something happen?”

For a moment, neither Kana nor Suri answered.

The silence itself became enough.

Patricia’s expression softened slightly, though she wisely chose not to ask further questions.

“However,” she continued after clearing her throat, “with this amount of materials, we should be able to continue production for quite some time.”

Her scholarly excitement returned immediately afterward. “If we work at our usual pace, we can probably create around three potions per week.”

She pointed deeper into the basement. Several exhausted scholarly club members could already be seen sleeping across tables, books, and unfinished experiments. One man was somehow asleep standing against a shelf.

Patricia sighed.

“We can’t repeat what happened last time. Everyone pushed themselves too hard helping with your request. Another week like that and half this club might collapse permanently.”

The frightening part was Patricia sounded completely serious. Patricia adjusted her glasses awkwardly before continuing.

“And… we’ll be selling the potions properly this time as well, Kana. So it will probably cost you quite a lot.”

Kana nodded without hesitation.

“I understand,” she said calmly. “Take your time making them. Coin isn’t a problem.”

Patricia’s grin widened so quickly it almost looked dangerous. For the scholarly club, that sentence probably sounded holier than prayer. After settling the details, Kana and Suri finally left the basement.

The academy hallways had grown much quieter now.

Moonlight spilled softly through the tall windows while distant footsteps echoed from lower floors. Somewhere outside, wind rustled through the academy gardens gently enough to almost feel peaceful.

Their footsteps tapped quietly against the stone floor as they walked back toward their boarding room.

Then suddenly, Suri stopped.

Kana paused as well and turned toward her. Suri looked strangely hesitant.

“This might be a bad time to ask,” Suri muttered slowly, “but I’ve been curious about something.”

Kana already felt uneasy before hearing the question.

Suri looked directly into her eyes.

“How were you able to talk to that dungeon boss?”

The hallway suddenly felt colder.

Kana remained silent for several seconds.

She still remembered it perfectly. The creature had spoken. And somehow… she simply understood. It was English after all.

Kana slowly lowered her gaze toward the moonlit floor.

Then finally answered in a quiet voice,

“I’d like to know as well.”

Post note:

Skills from the skill book will be kept.1st chap of the week.Hope you enjoy the chap! 🙂

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