NOVEL NEXT WORLD Chapter 1012
<1012 – Eastern Experience Record (11)>
Professor Red Mountain prepared thoroughly before the next practical lecture, recalling the incident where Oknodie had cleared out the herb garden.
“Last time, I was outsmarted with that attendance-checking magic, and all the herbs got raided, but this time, there’s no chance.”
“How unfair… I’ve truly never eaten anything that tasteless!”
“Ha. You’re now even dodging the truth-detecting magic? Scary kid. Now hurry and go inside. Of course, there will be a tutor watching, so don’t even think about pulling any tricks.”
To avoid getting outsmarted by the Oknodie’s crafty ways, Professor Red Mountain’s preparations were only torturing the innocent Cooking Oknodie.
Lecture time barged in on Cooking Oknodie’s meticulously planned leisurely lunch hour!
It was already annoying to attend a lecture they never signed up for, but to be interrogated by the professor for a mistake they didn’t even commit was adding to the stress of intense surveillance.
Cooking Oknodie was born with a gentle and submissive nature.
Even they were starting to contemplate just failing the class and getting kicked out, showing how extreme Professor Red Mountain’s obsessiveness was.
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Dimensional Gate Transfer
Legendary Spirit Herb Cultivation Site of the Eastern Empire
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The Jaku growled fiercely at Cooking Oknodie.
“You.”
“W-why do you have such a scary look on your face… it’s really terrifying…”
What is this cute being?
The Jaku looked cute, but they were forewarned by the professor that once it started talking, a demon would jump out, leaving them feeling cognitive dissonance.
Can there really be such a cute demon in the world?
Is it a succubus or something?
To have such strong powers yet try to mask it with cuteness is quite a cunning move.
The Jaku tightened their mental defenses, trying to shake off the distraction.
“Pretending to be cute won’t work.”
“Hehe. Am I cute…?”
“…It won’t work!”
“Eek! Don’t be angry… really, you’re too scary…”
Seeing Cooking Oknodie huddling down and cradling their head made the Jaku feel guilty.
At this point, they wondered if the professor had misunderstood something, while on the other hand, they thought this high-level acting might be the reason for the demon reputation.
Caught between conflicting emotions, the Jaku made an effort to focus on their duties.
“I’ll let you know the precautions set by Professor Red Mountain. Don’t eat the Spirit Herbs during this practical lecture.”
“Got it…”
“Don’t twist the flow of the Spirit Vein, ruining the energetic flow of the Eastern Empire, the natural terrain, the monster habitats, and the safety of the residents.”
“I won’t do anything scary…”
“Don’t domesticate or command the minions or powerful entities, and don’t recklessly smuggle animals and monsters that haven’t been inspected for contagious diseases or disasters. That’s an outright violation of Gift Academy regulations. Make sure the misfortune doesn’t spread to the Western World.”
“I have enough pets already…”
Cooking Oknodie’s remark about a mini Kraken startled the Jaku.
What’s the first organization that comes to mind when you think of Oknodie?
Of course, it’s the Organization that Plays with Oknodie.
This child.
Did they just treat the members like pets?
Thinking about the dark side of the Dark Princess hidden behind the cute appearance and silly voice, their mind snapped back to attention.
“Okay. If you’ve understood the precautions regarding Spirit Herbs and Spirit Veins, then I’ll inform you about the precautions regarding students next.”
“Eh?”
“First, don’t steal the plants or fruits from the Spirit Herb cultivation site that students have collected. It disrupts the proper grading.”
“I wouldn’t do something like that…!”
“There’s a record of what you did last year. There’s no point in playing it cool this time.”
“Th-that’s too much…”
What kind of student life did Oknodie have to just dump all the cleanup onto others!
While Cooking Oknodie could hardly hold back their tears, the Jaku felt like they were going crazy.
Even with proof of their crimes right in their hands, they shamelessly relied on their cuteness and started pretending to cry.
What kind of audacity does a person have to pull off something like this?
The students who lost their herbs must feel so sorry.
“Next is the prohibition against attacking instructors…”
“Then there’s the one about stealing Dimensional Gate coordinates…”
“Then next, there’s the one about throwing bombs to call raid monsters into the area under the pretense of an emergency to shorten lecture time…”
Cooking Oknodie finally burst into tears.
Meanwhile, it was a separate story how shocked the instructor would be upon realizing that Spirit Herbs had been stolen, and how fearful their gaze would be toward Cooking Oknodie.
Experiencing the fear of being involved in a crime that uses borrowed identity in real life, Cooking Oknodie prayed to escape the academy. They didn’t even know when the Oknodie who’d help would return.
*
While a vacant house was being cleaned out in real time, the Alliance of Necromancers, completely unaware of it, led the Ten Swords Examination boldly towards the Magical Territory.
“With the Heavenly Sovereign’s blessing upon the Eastern Empire, we will crush the signboard of the treacherous Sonbaek Sword Examination that dares to raise the forces of Weird Creatures. We will eradicate the lineage of the Son family, restoring the broken order of this land and reclaiming the tomorrow of the Ten Swords Examination!”
“If we neglect this matter, all examinations will lose the Heavenly Sovereign’s trust and have to relinquish their interests.”
“Without fail, we will close the Sonbaek Sword Examination’s doors and wipe out those nefarious minions of evil!”
The Ten Swords Examination merely recited the justification like a parrot.
The naive swordsmen believe that, but the key officials of each family knew the truth.
This fight was a militarized struggle just to share the profits of the Magical Territory.
The fact that they faced such a difficult fight requiring all the forces except for the Sonbaek Sword Examination was also known.
However, there was one thing even these shrewd people did not know.
“No matter how open the Magical Territory is, I wouldn’t have released Weird Creatures that even the Grand Wizards couldn’t control.”
“If slaves were wiped out on our lands, it would be a problem for keeping energy production consistent.”
“There must surely be advanced control methods related to Weird Creatures somewhere. As a master who has fought countless Weird Creatures, our head knows that well, so let’s just follow.”
Their expectations regarding the weaknesses of the Weird Creatures.
Being aware of all that, the head was already a step ahead.
And then the dark shadow wizards who control or use the head as a minion.
“Wait, what the hell is that?”
“What… what in the world is that Weird Creature?”
“Why can’t we see the control methods? It’s almost like we didn’t set up any control measures at all?”
None of them knew the control methods for the powerful Weird Creatures of the Magical Territory.
Honestly, that was expected.
Oknodie had never made such things in the first place.
What would they find by looking for something that didn’t exist?
Only despair would come out.
Beep. Beep. Beep.
When the color of the object’s head changes to blue, it attacks static beings, and when it changes to red, it attacks moving beings—a signaling Weird Creature.
Ding. Ding. Ding.
Every time a high-grade mark appears in a gacha slot, a randomly appearing “Gacha Tax Collector” Weird Creature robs points or extracts blood equal to points.
Weird Creatures unique to Oknodie, working with unfamiliar mechanics, wiped the unprepared warriors of the Eastern Empire.
“Stop!”
“Use power to eliminate the Weird Creature’s energy!”
Warriors tried to confront them with strength, but even just to subdue one creature, they fell one after another.
Despite even the sorcerers unleashing elite forces in shock over the immense loss rate, the Weird Creatures fired indiscriminately at any being violating their rules.
Boom!
Finally, after an arduous battle, one Weird Creature fell.
People sighed in relief at that moment.
The corpse of a strong Weird Creature served as crafting material for weapons, armor, and magical tools to hunt more Weird Creatures.
However, in Shinkyung City, one should not expect to acquire spoils.
All Weird Creatures.
Especially the corpses of the deceased Weird Creatures had their owners.
“Eh?”
“The corpse is floating!”
The corpse floated into the air, caught by something descending from the sky, rapidly ascending into the sky.
People who had been so furious, unleashing their anger, came to a halt as they saw the untouched tentacles, staring up at the sky in disbelief.
There was the Dark Tentacle Bird, spreading many tentacles to feast on the corpses.
– No matter what, that thing cannot be subjugated.
– Neither should we exert our power on the land it watches over.
– It considers us mere prey.
The sorcerers filled with overwhelming fear grasped the traits of the Dark Tentacle Bird that only reacted to Dark Mana.
– Amhyeol has already surpassed our level.
– It wields an incomprehensible advanced level of control magic that we can’t even fathom.
– Unless it suddenly went mad and created a Magical Territory it can’t control, Amhyeol has become a master at a level we can’t even gauge.
People overwhelmed with extreme fear and despair.
Entities reading the emotions they let out scattered like wild.
“Healthy prey has arrived.”
“Shall I help you?”
“Just emotions will suffice as payment.”
Shapes of black-skinned little girls smiled at the Ten Swords Examination, the head, and the wizards.