Chapter 127

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Episode 29 - Preparations [2]

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The next morning, I took a bath, heated up the food I had prepared yesterday, and went to the classroom.

Classroom B-1, as always, was full of cadets, just like the hallways and the other classrooms.

The first class was with Professor Franklin, who put us through different types of training: some duels, martial arts, and so on.

The next class after Professor Franklin’s was Professor Ashly’s magic class.

The class was not about theory, demonstrations, examples, or lessons on different types of magic.

This time, it was about checking the total amount of mana and each student’s stage.

And, as I had expected, Lumina and I were the only ones who had reached the peak stage of the 4 Stars.

The rest of the main characters were below the intermediate stage.

Well, except for Charlotte and Clana. Both girls were at the advanced stage, not too far from the peak stage.

Perhaps, if the Fifth Star did not require preparation, I would have reached the Five Stars stage a long time ago, and Lumina would have as well.

After Professor Ashly’s class came Professor Melissa’s Summoning class.

It was not a boring class at all, mostly about Summons, along with some other interesting topics and things like that.

Finally, break time arrived.

As soon as I entered the cafeteria, I grabbed some trays and picked up a few sandwiches. Then I went to the vending machine and got my favorite coffee.

After that, I headed to our usual table and sat down.

Shortly afterward, Rinna, Diana, Veronica, Julian, and Charlotte arrived.

I have to say, Charlotte still has not spoken to me since the day we came out of the Memory Gate.

Whenever I talked to Charlotte, she would simply stare at me without saying anything. I did not understand why, but there was not much I could do about it either.

So I simply ignored her.

While I was eating some sandwiches, Rinna said:

"We have less than a month left before the semester ends. What about you guys?"

She asked everyone. Julian, while swallowing his lasagna, said:

"Well, I guess I’ll go back home. I want to visit my little sister."

Then it was Diana’s turn.

"Here. Staying."

Rinna raised an eyebrow, somewhat surprised by Diana’s words.

"You’re not going back home or going somewhere else?"

Diana shook her head.

"No, I don’t want to."

"Mhm, well, I could come visit you during the break."

Diana nodded twice. Then Rinna turned to Veronica and asked:

"And the first-year representative, where will she go?"

Veronica, while drinking some kind of fruit shake, tilted her head as if thinking about it.

"Well, I don’t really have a place to go, so I guess I’ll stay at the Academy."

Rinna slightly widened her eyes, looked at me for a second, and then at Veronica.

"You’re not going to keep chasing Adel around? I mean, aside from me, you’re always with him, aren’t you?"

Veronica opened her eyes slightly, then glanced at me from the corner of her eye and said:

"Ehm, about that... my older brother told me not to follow him around."

Rinna’s mouth formed an "O" as she understood Veronica’s words. Of course, everyone here was probably aware that Veronica always irritated me.

Julian burst out laughing without saying anything. Then Rinna turned to Charlotte and asked:

"And you, Charlotte, where are you going?"

Charlotte blinked twice before saying:

"Nowhere. I’m staying at the Academy too. My house is very boring, so I don’t want to go."

I think that is actually just an excuse to train her swordsmanship.

Director Bernice especially advised Charlotte not to use her swordsmanship in front of her family.

No entendía exactamente por qué. As far as I know, their family relationship isn’t bad; in fact, it’s quite pleasant.

And although the patriarch of the Starlight household is unknown in the game, from what I know, I don’t think they have a bad relationship.

In any case, Rinna didn’t ask why. Then she looked at me and said:

"And you, Adel, where are you going?"

I swallowed the sandwich in my mouth and said:

"Nowhere in particular. I’ll just use the vacation to look for some ingredients for my 5-Star advancement."

Rinna and the others couldn’t help but widen their eyes, though they also understood my words.

"Right, that’s true. You only need the preparations, correct?"

Julian said, and I simply nodded.

Rinna asked:

"What physique are you aiming for?"

Her words made everyone look at me. I could tell them I was aiming for the Divine Body, but saying it... I didn’t know what kind of reaction it would trigger.

Although I wouldn’t mind saying it, I still replied:

"Transcendent and, if possible, Divine."

"But obtaining the Divine Body hasn’t been seen in over a thousand years."

I shrugged and said:

"Then Transcendent."

A series of sighs spread across the entire table.

I shook my head after clearly hearing those sighs.

Anyway, my journey to the ancient Imperial Capital, buried beneath the current Imperial Capital, to search for the Essence of the Divine, in addition to traveling to where a Mana Channel was located far from here...

It would take quite a long time.

Shortly after finishing the meal, the break period ended.

I returned to the classroom, and the rest of the day continued as usual.

***

After classes ended, I quickly headed toward Parliament D-1.

The small city inside the Academy.

Over the past few days, multiple robberies had occurred throughout the city.

The Academy guards began searching for the thief, offering a reward of one hundred gold coins.

I found out about it while walking alongside Rinna.

That was when I remembered something important from the game.

Although not every Main Story Chapter had a hidden piece, the Auction did have one.

And it was truly necessary for a certain moment during the Auction.

So my goal was to obtain the hidden piece along with a Containment Circle.

Both items would be very important. Even though they would only give me a three-minute advantage, it would be enough to make things a little easier.

In any case, that thief possessed the hidden piece. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

This was a mini event in the game called <Search for the Thief>. It had different rewards, and normally, most players didn’t even know whether they had obtained the hidden piece.

The hidden piece was among the items you could obtain once you caught the thief and found his base somewhere within Parliament D-1.

’It would be great to have a Tracking Trait.’

I could bring Lumina and ask her to help me, but...

’It’s hard to talk to her.’

The good thing is that I always met with her every Sunday in Professor Ashly’s office.

Since we are both Professor Ashly’s assistants, Professor Ashly usually calls us every Sunday to help her with different things.

And honestly, the number of times I’ve talked to Lumina during all this time since becoming Professor Ashly’s assistant...

I could count them on my fingers.

Anyway, I was alone in the search for the thief.

My senses wouldn’t be useful this time, since the thief in the game is usually random.

Sometimes it’s a child, a teenager, an adult, a woman, a little girl, etc.

So my plan was the following.

’Wait for the thief to commit the next robbery, and then everything else will be easy with my senses.’

I just needed the thief to appear. I vaguely hoped it would happen today.

Maybe with a bit of luck, but in any case, for now I would just have to wander around the city and keep my ears alert.

Once inside the city, I walked through the streets for an hour.

From time to time, I heard a few rumors.

Over the past few days, the same thief had been slowly stealing increasingly valuable items.

The first theft involved jewelry belonging to some first-year noble cadets or noblewomen who had access to the Academy.

Then, the next items the thief stole were even more valuable.

And so, day after day, the value of the things the thief stole kept increasing.

The latest robbery was at a magic item shop.

The thief stole the most expensive magic item in that store.

From what I heard in some rumors, its value was around one hundred million gold coins.

’Wow, one hundred million gold coins is no small amount.’

So I made a few adjustments to my plans to catch the thief.

’If the thief is stealing more valuable things every few days, then that means the next target would be something more expensive than that magic item, right?’

But the problem was the following.

There are many things worth more than that magic item.

But if we’re talking about famous stores with more expensive items, there would only be two.

One of them would be the elixir shop.

Elixirs are among the most expensive consumable items.

And, as far as I know, the most expensive elixir they have is an Advanced-Grade one.

With an approximate value of five hundred thousand gold coins.

The other item would be in the city’s blacksmith shop.

There is a staff for mages made from extremely rare and difficult-to-obtain materials.

With a price equal to or slightly higher than the Advanced-Grade elixir.

Both items have practically the same price.

’Unless there’s something even more expensive than those two, but I don’t have any information about whether such an item exists.’

In that case, I should focus on those two places for the time being.

’Phew, then let’s move.’

I quickly headed toward the elixir shop.