I Studied Mainly Textbooks! Chapter 23

People change only when they have the will to. An addition of shock therapy would be the icing on the cake. Until now, Abel was not desperate at all, and perhaps due to that, he did not find the answer.

Right now, he felt as though he was put on the waiting list when he applied for college.

He thought, and thought, and thought again. Only then did he start seeing the solution.

'The book of Thrandriel!'

Before the apocalypse, there was the concept of zero in this world, as well as many other races, such as the eternal elves. Although it was 20 thousand years ago, they had knowledge that was far more advanced than the current era. Someone must have made the system known as magic.

Perhaps due to that, ancient magic, especially ancient 'white' magic, contained all sorts of spells, and the spells in the second volume of the book of Thrandriel was like that as well.

'Soul separation.'

Separate the human mind from the body! The separated soul(?) does not receive physical damage, and since the soul had no ma.s.s, it would be able to observe the situation from the air.

When he first came to this spell, he thought this was as uselessly complex as it could get. In the first place, why was there a need to separate the human mind from the body?

If there was a use, then it might be used for peeking on the girl's bath. However, who would've known this was a great solution.

Abel's thought process was like this: First, make a room of spirit and time. Then, he would separate his soul and put it inside the room. The body would stay outside and supply mana to the room.

'This does feel rather off. Separating the mind from the body…….'

Abel was suspicious as to whether this would work at all. He took out the Casio and started typing.

Ancient magic all had very complex calculations. Judging from this, mathematics and magic must have been much more advanced before the apocalypse.

However, with our darling 'Casio', no complex calculations blocked his way. Abel briefly thought about how horrible it would be if he didn't have the calculator in his possession when he fell here.

Abel applied the results into his magic.

When he did, he felt as though his body was becoming incredibly light and he started floating.
This was the 'soul separation' spell. However, at the same time, his 'real' collapsed onto the ground.

Thud!

'Urgh, next time, I will do it on the bed.'
Abel looked at his own collapsed body in his levitated state.

The room of spirit and time was already open. He had already put inside the various magic texts as well.

He had no ma.s.s, and so wasn't affected by gravity. He willed his soul to go inside the room.

Fwoosh.

'It worked!'

The power of intelligence was amazing. Abel now possessed nigh-infinite time to himself. He would be able to learn all sorts of magic. The surrounding time had almost stopped, so he would become invincible as long as his mind held out.

Yes, he should be able to endure. After all, he was tamed by the amazing(?) education system of Korea from a young age.

Not to mention all sorts of cram schools starting elementary school, there was the inevitable (forced) evening studies at high school. Not only that, when he got into college and thought it was all past him, he then had to get all sorts of stuff to raise his specs.

He even got a Korean cuisine license that had absolutely no use in employment. He got it just in case it helped, but rather than licenses like those, connections were the best.

Then came the nightmare of examinee lifestyle. He forged on eating cheap street food and living in a tight s.p.a.ce for years. Gaining insight into magic… well, wasn't that a piece of cake.

Like that, Abel's lonely magic training begun.

"So you cut off all of his tendons?"
Ian had come to himself and was laying back against his bed. He asked to Abel who had come to visit.

Ian was on the window-side bed in a 6-man room, and next to the bed were fruits that Abel and the others had brought.

"I could only think of that."
Replied Abel while chewing on a piece of apple.

"Then, you should have done that before I became like this."

"Urgh, sorry. I'll blow him into the air or something next time."

"Haha, I'm just joking. What happened to him then?"

"Well, first, they'll wait until he wakes up and interrogate him immediately."

Goel's limbs had all been crippled. Although healing magic connected the tendons back somewhat, their function was only dropped to a 1/10 of before. He shouldn't even be able to walk properly now.

Rumble.
Ian's stomach rumbled. It seemed he became hungry since he only had something to drink since he woke up.

"You hungry? Samgyetang's the best for restoring the body… This bro will cook one for you for this special occasion!"
Shouted Abel as though he was being very generous. From his boastful att.i.tude, it seemed that he was sorry for Ian, who became like that while trying to protect him.

"Samgyetang? What's that? Is it similar to samgyupsal?(Pork belly) Then it must be awesome. Does it take a long time to cook?"
Ian had already had a taste of Abel's cooking. He was curious about this thing called Samgyetang, and kept asking ABel.

"Wait a moment. It'll take an hour. Reina and I'll go out to get the ingredients. Loki, you should look after Ian."

Nod, nod.

Loki nodded in response. At the same time, his eyes said 'I want some too' in a very glistening manner.

"Fine. I'll make some for you too. Reina, let's go."

Like that, Abel and Reina left, and Ian and Loki were left by themselves in the ward.

"Loki… 'they' don't know I've become like this, right?"

Nod, nod.

"That's good. Keep it a secret for me. If this gets found out… the academy will be turned upside down. I barely got allowed entrance here… I'll be summoned immediately if they found out."

Ian and Loki shared an inexplicable conversation.

Abel and Reina were on their way back from shopping ingredients. When they arrived at the academy gates, they saw a very familiar face.

"Father!"
Reina shouted in joy after seeing Perelman.

"Haha, my sweetie. It's so good to see you here! … You were here too, Abel."

"What happened for you to be here?"
Abel was suspicious at the same time he felt rather joyous. Perelman should be busy with administrative work, so he shouldn't be here just to see his daughter….

"I'm here to keep tabs on you, Abel."

"Huh? I've been really quiet, you know? I didn't get found out yet…."

"Haha, I'm just joking. I'm here to see a friend."
Robot now became able to joke around in front of Abel.

Abel and Reina started walking the same way, since their destinations seemed to be rather close to each others'. Talking about various things, they arrived at the ward.

"You don't have to follow us anymore."

"Hm? I didn't follow you here. I was also scheduled to meet up here."

Abel had misunderstood that Perelman was taking him and Reina here.

When they went inside the ward, Abel saw another familiar face. It was Lucas.

"Lucas!"
Perelman didn't show his expression on his face normally, but he made a very joyous expression as soon as he met Lucas. They looked quite close.

"Anhel! How long has it been! It's been almost five years. You didn't run into trouble on your way here, did you?"
Lucas's expression also turned bright after seeing Perelman.

'……!'

Wait, Anhel!? He finally remembered his first meeting with Perelman. He introduced himself as 'Anhel Perelman'. After that time, he called him Perelman since everyone else called him that.

'Then, the person behind the incident 30 years ago is Perelman?'

So that was why he was here! Abel finally realized the reason why he was here.

"Rather than that, you came just at the perfect time. Goel just woke up. You should be able to discern what's true or not. Follow me."
Lucas led the way.

As he did so, Abel asked.
"Can we go there also? We were there at the scene, so we want to know what he has to say."

"Okay, then."

The place Goel was at was an intensive care ward in the infirmary. He had wooden supports for both of his arms and legs.

"Brrrrrr."
Goel's figure was a horrible sight to see.
It seemed as though his jawbones were malfunctioning and his saliva was drooling everywhere. Also, his out-of-focus eyes looked as though he had a screw loose in his head.

"I've tried using recovery magic, but he's still like this. I think his brain is already broken. There's no trace of magic, so I'm suspecting drugs…. What do you think of it?"

"It's very similar to what I experienced. We also tried to get information out of Tamof's dead brain, but his brain had already been broken. It seems that the brain was shocked first before the curse was cast. It is to prevent any leak in information. I'm very sure that there's someone behind this."

What the two were talking about was very frightening. No matter how many lunatics there were in this world, wasn't this the academy? What kind of psycho would do this kind of thing?

However, we won't fall for the same trick twice."
Perelman took out a scroll from his chest pocket. It seemed to be made out of a rather thick sheepskin, and from the blue color, it seemed to have some mana inside it.

"This is a magic scroll containing the 8-circle magic 'absolue recovery'."
The be-all and end-all of recovery healing magic, 'absolute recovery'. Magic scrolls were very tricky to make.
Not only that, if this was an 8-circle magic, then the only one who could make this thing in the entire continent was Duke Tardema.

Riiiip.
When Perelman ripped the scroll, the mana inside the scroll and the mana in the surroundings created a mana vortex.
After a while, the violent mana gathered into one spot.

Fwoosh.
And then, it pa.s.sed through Goel's skull and directly into his brain.

"Aaargh!"
Goel groaned in pain due to the sudden influx of mana.

And when his body stopped trembling, Lucas spoke.

"Goel, do you get who I am?"

"P… professor… Lucas…?"
Goel heavily spoke. It seemed his mind had returned.

"Yes, do you know who cast the curse on you?"

"……."
Goel's mouth was tightly shut as though it was difficult to say. Seeing that, Lucas started scolding him.

"If you don't speak. You will take responsibility for all of this. Can you take it?"

"…It was Cain……."
They got together for the same purpose, but he was used like a p.a.w.n. Things like conscience didn't exist at all.

"Cain? Do you mean Cain from the magic department? Cain Junerheart?"
Lucas seemed very surprised by the answer. He thought that there was some external black organization, but he had found out that it was actually a student.

'Cain? That d.a.m.n psychopathic b.a.s.t.a.r.d!'

Abel also felt anger rising to his face after hearing Goel's words.

He did notice that Cain was a socially maladjusted lunatic, but he didn't know it would be so bad.

Did he resent Abel to the point of sending a fellow student half to death?

'He's pure evil.'

He was sure that Cain was a 'terror prospect' who would cause much evil to the society when he grew up. It seemed he needed some 'true education'.