Magic Academy's Villain Bodyguard: I Must Tame All The Princesses-Chapter 31: Absorbing Rewards

Azariah walked out of the Zenith State Building with a smile on his face.

’What a steal.’

Not only was he able to keep his foundation, but he also gained a Novice Archment from the rewards of the Linkgate.

The party had furiously declined to give him the rewards, but thankfully, Azariah had stopped them within the boundaries of the building.

Within minutes, he was able to get the authorities involved, and from the contract, they had to pay him a share of the rewards.

For such Advanced-rank Synapths, they had no use for a Novice Archment, and compared to the other rewards, they threw it to him.

Azariah didn’t mind, though. He didn’t have a Static Archment yet, so it was a plus.

Archments were basically skills. They could be elemental, like an ice bullet, or non-elemental, like a speed boost.

It could literally be anything, and their effectiveness and strength depended on their rank.

Archments were of two types: Static Archments and Progressive Archments.

A Static Archment, like the one he had just received, had a fixed rank—Novice, Advanced, etc.

However, Progressive Archments were based on a Synapth’s rank. If the Synapth was Novice, they’d function as a Novice Archment.

Their strength and functions literally depended on the respective Synapth’s rank and how far they could go.

Progressive Archments were very, very rare, and most high-rankers were willing to give up entire fortunes to obtain them.

In a sense, even his Pixelation could be said to be a Progressive Archment. It didn’t have a specific element, after all.

And it was growing simultaneously with his body and rank.

Regardless, Azariah was very happy even with a Static Archment. He didn’t know what it was yet.

Currently, his focus was on getting out of the city and back to the academy. Now that he was out in the public, he wasn’t under any protection.

’That party must be dying to get their hands on me.’

So he had to be quick and leave. Fortunately, he was able to find a cab quickly enough that took him straight to the gates of his destination.

Vroom.

Coming to the gates, Azariah stepped out and paid the driver.

It was only after stepping out that he realized it was mid-day, just like the time he had entered the Zenith State Building.

As if no time had passed. But he knew that the whole dungeon dilemma had lasted a whole day, so today was probably Sunday.

Walking to the guards, Azariah registered himself back into the academy and got his stuff scanned for any potential bombs or prohibited items.

The guards didn’t concern themselves with his Foundation or Archment. They simply scanned it and returned his stuff to him.

’If only they would be this diligent a week later.’

In a way, the best solution would be to just increase security at the gates and hold off the Rosalith.

But the main problem was that they didn’t know from where they would enter.

It was honestly a question if they had even entered that day. If Azariah had to give his honest thoughts on the matter, then...

He’d have to say they were already inside the academy.

Returning to his dormitory, Azariah quickly took a shower and settled into normal clothes.

He wanted to pay a visit to Alyssia to let her know he was back, but apparently, she wasn’t in her room.

’I can just meet her later.’

Taking the two main items out of the bag, Azariah focused on the Archment first.

It was a scroll, just like the foundation, the only difference being that the seals and borders of an Archment were blue.

Unlike the crimson red of a Foundation.

Absorbing an Archment wasn’t a difficult task; it was relatively much easier compared to a foundation.

Closing his eyes, Azariah simply tried to grab the Archment hard, and it disappeared from his palm into a cloud of smoke.

Instantly, he felt something invading his body, and his face scrunched up in pain. It was like hot metal running through his veins.

However, it didn’t last long—only a couple of seconds.

And he was done.

Azariah quickly checked his Terminal.

Name: Azariah PercivalAge: 21Node Capacity: 4400/4400

Artificial Integrations:﹂ Umbrakinesis ❉ Intermediate

Administrative Attainment:﹂ Pixelation

Archments:﹂ Deep Root ❉ Novice

Opening the skill, he found its description.

Deep Root﹂ For two seconds, harden your body to root yourself into the ground and withstand attacks up to Advanced-Rank attacks.

Azariah’s brows raised. He was impressed by the skill.

For a Novice rank like him, being able to withstand the attacks of an Advanced rank was generational.

It didn’t mean that he wouldn’t feel pain or take damage, though. It only enabled him to harden his body so that he wouldn’t be sent flying by a punch.

For a Novice ability, it was quite good.

He could see why the party gave it to him. Big guys like Dyke and Matthew had no use for such an ability. They were already mountains.

’I’ll try it later in training.’

But now, onwards to the main thing for which he had even gone out of the academy.

He turned to the Foundation scroll. Now this one was a long process. It wasn’t just an ordinary foundation, after all.

And to think he had just recently survived death through that potion bottle.

’Am I becoming a masochist of sorts?’

Regardless, you had to go through something to gain it.

Taking the scroll in his hand, Azariah closed his eyes and prepared to bear through the pain as it disappeared into a puff of smoke as well.

Instantly, his eyes and veins bulged as he dropped to the floor in pain. He bit his tongue hard to keep the screams in.

"Unff... unff..." Muffled voices escaped from his mouth as his whole body turned an absolute red, but he did not give in.

His heart felt like it was about to explode from the sudden surge of mana, but Azariah held it in.

Weapon Foundations, when they can’t accustom to your body, try to expand it and create space. 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

That was what was happening with Azariah right now. It was expanding his mana veins and nodes to make space for itself.

It was much more dangerous than the usual process of absorption, but Azariah had gone into it with a mindset.

If he was able to survive this, he’d be much more powerful as well.

Cough! Cough!

He coughed up blood once more, but he held it in with everything he had. It was a miracle that he was holding on even after taking that potion.

If it were the Azariah from day one, he would have already died. No matter the mindset, his body would have exploded.

But now...

Now his muscles and veins were ready to take the pressure. All the days of waking up early and training day and night had paid off.

Ungh! Oonf!

More blood came from his mouth as he bit on his tongue too hard, but he did not let his screams leave the room.

The pain continued for almost two whole hours until he finally felt it subside, and once more...

He fainted.

__________

So, I just wanted to clear this up as I’ve been receiving many questions about this topic but,

Azariah doesn’t know every literal aspect about the game despite being the creator. If he did, then the novel would just be boring.

And there’s a literal reason behind this rather than just to not making it boring as well.

See, for example, when you make a game, you are kind of constructing it through the eyes of your main character.

If something let’s say was to happen to the MC’s mother and he never finds about it in the game then that doesn’t mean the creators know about the reason behind it as well.

The whole reason was just never added into the game such that it was never found out.

The incident after clearing the hidden dungeon, the answers from where Rosalith would inflict were never explained in the game. And that means they were never created because there’s no use making something that isn’t to be shown at all.

It’s like making a milkshake then never drinking it or showing it, just storing it in a cupboard.

I hope everyone gets my point. Thank you! I love you all for the support you give this novel and I appreciate everyone!

Please feel free to ask such questions and thoughts and I’ll try my best to answer when free!