The Genius Tamer of the Academy

Chapter 194

When the pale cloud finally dispersed, Adela and Solia simultaneously looked up.

Everyone present shared a common skepticism about Basilus’ polymorph magic, mentally preparing for the worst possible outcome.

Would Han Siha appear with three eyes?

How were they supposed to keep a straight face?

But then—

“….”

Fwoosh—

The Han Siha that emerged was far from what they had imagined.

“He looks… normal?”

Actually, that wasn’t the issue.

Adela, who had been slowly inspecting Han Siha from head to toe, stopped in her tracks.

“Uh…”

A face that resembled Han Siha but felt subtly different.

For some reason, it was strangely familiar, drawing her gaze back repeatedly.

The overall vibe was similar, but there was something undeniably…

“More mature.”

Adela unconsciously nudged Solia in the side.

Solia gulped, startled.

“Y-yeah, you’re right.”

Han Siha, exuding a more composed demeanor, gave off a slightly different impression.

Instead of his usual playful grin, a gentle smile curled up at the corners of his mouth as he looked their way.

As his deep, dark eyes stared straight at her, Solia glanced away, murmuring softly enough for only Adela beside her to hear.

“I think… this look suits him.”

“It definitely does.”

His hair color and eye color were different, but the essence of his presence remained.

That smile was still undeniably Han Siha.

Han Siha was… still Han Siha.

Staring at the unfamiliar yet familiar face, Yoon Haul stood there, speechless.

She hadn’t uttered a single word.

Han Siha, noticing Yoon Haul’s stunned reaction, furrowed his brow.

Yoon Haul was usually the first to react, but seeing her so hesitant was unsettling.

Han Siha anxiously asked again.

“What’s with the reaction…?”

“….”

“Why are you so quiet?”

He needed to see for himself.

Han Siha urgently called for a mirror, still bewildered by Yoon Haul’s silence.

But Yoon Haul remained frozen, mouth agape.

It wasn’t just because of the unfamiliarity.

Nor was it solely due to how different he looked from the Han Siha she knew.

The reason her reaction lagged behind—

Was simply because…

Because…

“Wow… you’re really handsome….”

He was just too damn handsome.

* * *

“Solia with blonde hair, huh? It suits you.”

“W-wait a second. I’m getting confused about who’s who. Let’s take a moment.”

“Hey, guys, gather around! We should introduce ourselves with our new looks.”

Chaos.

Natalie’s workshop was in complete disarray.

Han Siha, Solia, Yoon Haul, and Adela—who would be infiltrating directly into the merchant guild—now had completely different faces thanks to Basilus’ polymorph magic. The rest of us were struggling to memorize their new appearances.

Regardless, satisfaction levels were high.

Adela, tossing her long hair back, glanced at her reflection in the mirror and shrugged.

“Not bad.”

“You’re practically a different person.”

“What?”

Adela frowned at Han Siha’s sly remark.

“And what about you?”

“Me? This is my original face.”

“…What are you talking about?”

Adela muttered under her breath, baffled by Han Siha’s cryptic bravado.

Despite her words, it was hard to act the same way around him.

‘He looks so… unfamiliar….’

Adela kept sneaking glances at Han Siha rather than openly complaining.

And when Han Siha turned to look, she pretended it was nothing, coughing awkwardly.

It seemed it would take some time to get used to this.

As she averted her gaze, Lee Han clapped his hands, gathering everyone’s attention.

“Alright, everyone, stop staring at the mirrors. Ah, Han Siha!”

“Yeah?”

“Here, take this.”

Lee Han called Han Siha forward and handed him a glowing blue cube.

It was the final preparation before heading to the Odryse Mountains.

With Seymour’s help and Natalie’s research, they had finally figured out how to weaken the cube.

As Lee Han’s gaze met hers, Natalie’s eyes sparkled as she began to explain how they’d managed to weaken the cube.

“We tweaked the circuit to alter the mana output slightly. By increasing the resistance, the maximum output is reduced. While we can’t completely neutralize the circuit, the power should now be down to about half of what it was before!”

“That’s impressive.”

Han Siha nodded, holding the blue cube.

It was an emotion-infused cube.

One of the crucial assets that would later react to the final boss Abaddon’s desires, becoming his greatest strength.

Though they couldn’t completely disable it, finding a way to weaken it was already a significant achievement.

Of course, calling it impressive wasn’t entirely accurate.

‘Even if the mana inside the cube is halved, it’s still significant.’

Halving the power of a nuclear bomb doesn’t make it safe.

Given the immense original output, they couldn’t settle for this level.

Nevertheless, they had done well.

Han Siha nodded in satisfaction and spoke.

“With the plan in place, we’re ready to head straight to the Odryse Mountains.”

The decoding artifact was complete, the cube had been weakened, and the polymorph magic had been successfully implemented.

Basilus, who was maintaining the polymorph spell on all four of us simultaneously, seemed intensely focused but was doing well.

Everything was proceeding according to plan.

So,

There was no more time to hesitate.

Tomorrow morning.

“Let’s head to Odryse.”

* * *

Moving all seven members of the expedition together at once would draw too much attention.

To minimize risk until we reached the Odryse Mountains, we decided to stagger our departures.

The four of us, who were going to infiltrate the merchant guild directly, would take the morning train to Odryse.

At the Ardel Academy train station, Adela, who had arrived early, waved enthusiastically in our direction.

Adela with long hair…

It still felt strange.

I chuckled and walked over to where Adela was standing.

“Where’s Yoon Haul?”

“Oh, there she is.”

Yoon Haul, now sporting black hair, had a completely different vibe.

Her long hair was now dyed a vibrant red, styled messily, like an adventurous free spirit. It was so different from her usual mysterious appearance that I was momentarily taken aback.

She looked so lively, unlike the Yoon Haul I was used to seeing.

Even though those round, sparkling eyes were still the same.

Basilus, not yet hidden by [Shadowification], curiously sniffed the air as he bounded over.

“How do I look? Basilus recommended it!”

Recommended by Basilus, huh?

“Grr?”

Basilus tilted his head, looking puzzled, as if he had no idea what she was talking about.

I sighed and took Yoon Haul’s luggage from her.

“More like it’s just what you wanted, right?”

“…You caught me. I just wanted to blame Basilus for it.”

Yoon Haul mumbled, stretching her arms.

Getting up this early was unusual for her.

“Gosh. I can’t wait to get there and take a nap….”

“I was wondering when you’d start complaining.”

“I’m dying….”

It wasn’t like Yoon Haul, who would usually spend her break holed up somewhere, to travel all the way to the Odryse Mountains from Ardel’s capital early in the morning.

It wouldn’t have surprised me if the sun rose in the west tomorrow.

I was still smiling at the thought when Adela checked the train tickets and asked,

“We’re about to leave, right?”

According to the time on the tickets, we didn’t have much longer.

The idea of heading to Odryse, which might very well be their stronghold, weighed heavily, but I took a deep breath and tried to stay composed.

But then—

“Where’s Solia?”

Solia had been missing since earlier.

When I asked, Adela frowned and answered.

“Yeah, why is she so late?”

Solia wasn’t the type to break her promises; if anything, she would have arrived early.

We were supposed to take the same train, so she should have been at the station by now.

I was starting to feel uneasy.

“Could something have happened? Hold on. I’ll go check.”

“Now? We’ve got less than ten minutes.”

“We can’t just leave without her. I’ll be back soon. Wait for me.”

“O-okay…”

Adela nodded at my words.

Solia was the one who needed to cast [Shadowification] on Basilus.

Solia was a critical part of our infiltration team, so we couldn’t just leave without her, even if she was a bit late.

We didn’t have much time left.

I hurried through the crowd, quickening my pace.

No, I started to run.

“Huff… huff.”

Panting, I scanned the area.

I couldn’t spot the face I was searching for. It would be troublesome if I lost her in the crowd. I dashed around frantically, searching for Solia among the throng of people.

If she had arrived at the station by now, I should be able to find her.

Feeling anxious, I yelled loudly.

“Solia!”

Where is she? This isn’t like her at all….

“Solia!”

As I desperately called out, suddenly—

“Han Siha!”

Huh?

The voice echoed like a hallucination, and I instinctively turned my head.

I almost didn’t recognize her through Basilus’ polymorph, but the voice unmistakably belonged to Solia.

I squeezed through the crowd and rushed towards her.

“Han Siha! Han Siha!”

Solia was sprinting towards me, frantically calling my name.

She looked flushed from running, and her face grew closer with every step.

I instinctively reached out to help Solia, who was struggling with her heavy bags.

“Whoa there.”

Thud.

I had been worried, and sure enough, she stumbled forward after losing her grip on her luggage.

“Are you okay?”

Solia’s face was filled with urgency for some reason.

Although she was a bit late, we still had enough time to catch the train if we hurried.

“Let’s take it slow. No need to rush.”

I helped Solia back to her feet.

But Solia, panting heavily, shook her head.

“Han Siha, take this!”

“What?”

Solia rummaged through her bags and pulled something out.

A black cloak made of lustrous wool.

Holding it tightly in both hands, she hurriedly threw it over to me and spoke frantically.

Her rapid-fire words hit my ears like a torrent.

“If you wear this instead of using Shadowification, you’ll be fine! It’s a high-grade invisibility cloak that lasts at least twelve hours, and I’ve packed enough in the bag for a few days. I almost didn’t make it in time because I was busy getting all these!”

Huh?

“I couldn’t get one for Kloshti, so try to put it on Basilus when you can. And… I’ll… also….”

Solia, stumbling over her words, kept speaking in a rush.

I grabbed her arm, trying to calm her down.

“Slowly, take a breath and explain. What’s going on?”

“Something came up in the Arkenent Territory.”

“In the Arkenent Territory?”

It was an invisibility cloak Solia had prepared in case she had to be absent.

Solia, looking terribly apologetic, struggled to explain.

“There are reports of cursed land swallowing people. My father urgently needs my help. It seems I have to go and use my purification powers.”

An unusual phenomenon occurring near the obsidian mining area.

Apparently, a recently desolated farmland had turned into cursed ground, attacking people.

It seemed like an event caused by amplified dark energy released during the obsidian mining.

Solia was the only one who could quell such a calamity.

I couldn’t tell her not to go.

The Arkenent Territory needed Solia right now.

I nodded slowly.

“You have to go.”

Her face was full of guilt.

I understood her concern, but it was fine.

There were enough invisibility cloaks, and Solia’s temporary absence wouldn’t be a huge setback.

We weren’t planning a full-scale battle—just a brief infiltration.

“It’s okay.”

“I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

Until we figured out the location of the cube and their base, we weren’t planning any direct actions. As long as she returned before then, it would be fine.

However—

I was worried about her going alone.

Purifying cursed land.

No one could compare to Solia in that regard.

It might be second nature to her, but I couldn’t help feeling concerned.

Seeing my worried gaze, Solia spoke, still looking remorseful.

“…I’ll be back really soon.”

“Alright.”

My eyes fell on the artifact hanging around Solia’s neck.

A radiant necklace that sparkled in the sunlight.

Every time I saw it, I couldn’t help but think how much it resembled Solia.

Pure, beautiful, and clear—just like her.

I stared at it for a moment and then chuckled.

“It’s pretty.”

Then, patting Solia on the shoulder, I said.

“Make sure you keep it on.”