The Author's POV

—Clank!

I slid the doors that led to the balcony.

"...how annoying"

After the match with Haris, I left immediatly. With everyone distracted by Kevin's match, I took the opportunity to slip out and go back to my dorm.

Like that, I avoided most reporters.

Furthermore, apart from electives, there were no other lectures today. Therefore, I was naturally free.

Regarding Kevin's match, he naturally won. I wasn't sure about how many times he go challenged, but it was probably more than five.

"Haaa...what should I do now?"

A lot of my plans had changed because of what had happened in the most recent days. My plans of laying low were pretty much scrapped.

"hmm..."

Were they?

Now that I thought about it, although I could no longer remain as hidden as before, nothing prevented me from building my forces secretly.

I guess you could say that I was now operating in both the light and the dark.

In a way this was good.

A lot of my plans would speed up as a result of this. I did not need to be as cautious as before and could be more brazen about it.

'...Should I create an alias?'

By creating an alias I could still operate more secretly. On one hand, I would be this 'talented' individual that studies in the Lock.

On the other hand, I would use my other alias to operate my mercenary group and company.

That would be ideal.

...but who knows. I needed more time to think about this.

After what had happened a couple of days ago, I found my confidence shatter into pieces.

Anytime I came up with a plan, I felt paranoid.

What if this happened? What if that happened? What if a meteorite suddenly fell from the sky and destroyed my company?

With my recent successes piling up, I had become arrogant and complacent. I needed to stop thinking that I had everything in my control.

Nothing was ever in my control.

Just like Everblood, there were things that I couldn't account for. I needed to knock this into my skull.

I was so sure that everything was going according to my plans before...and guess what, Everblood showed up.

Someone who I didn't properly account for.

"...there's that fucker too"

There was also Matthew...

I'd never have expected him to go public with the incident.

If I could have, I would've immediately have told Irene the truth. The truth about the fact that he was a villain.

Sadly, I couldn't.

With Matthew knowing that I had a way to cure the Mindbreaker curse, I knew that I couldn't touch him at the moment.

If such news were to be revealed to the world, not only would I become the number one target of the demons, I would also be targeted by other people who were desperate for the cure.

Fortunately, since I could reveal that he was contracted to a demon, he also couldn't reveal what he knew.

We were currently at a stalemate.

"...Damn it, I need to be stronger"

I clenched my teeth hard and glared at the scenery outside of the balcony.

I had to get stronger quicker.

"I can't let this go on..."

Taking out the diary that contained all of the information about the novel, I quickly flipped through its pages.

—Flip! —Flip!

"Where is it..."

Since I knew I had to get stronger, I naturally had to see what I could do to make myself stronger. The book in my hand had the answer.

"This should be the page"

Stopping at a certain page, I frowned.

—Flip!

Licking the tip of my finger, I flipped to the next page. My eyes constantly moved from the left to the right.

I needed to look for anything in the novel that could be useful for me in the future.

An ideal item would be one that would help me pass lie detectors.

Those were a problem...if not for Irene being able to detect lies, none of this would've happened.

Fortunately, there was an item that could help me with regards to that.

—Plap!

"Haa..."

A couple of minutes after, I closed the book and exhaled.

I knew what I had to do now.

After taking a proper look at the book, I had a general idea of my next course of action. Even though it would cause some trouble to some people in the future, I no longer cared as much.

Right now all I wanted to do was get stronger.

—Ding!

At that moment, my phone suddenly rang.

[They agreed to listen to you]

It was Amanda. Her message was vague yet I instantly understood what she meant.

[Demon hunter? They agreed?]

[Yes]

[When?]

I needed to know the time. Since this was a formal meeting, I needed to prepare in full. Just one mistake and the deal could fall through.

[Next week, a day after the banquet]

[I understand, I'll get everything ready by then]

[Okay]

After that, Amanda no longer messaged me. Since I knew her personality, I wasn't bothered.

"Alright, this is good"

Securing this deal would take a load off of my back.

Not only would I secure a long-term money system, but create a connection with the demon hunter guild as well.

Naturally, the reason why I stood out so much today was because of this. The more talented I appeared the greater the appeal of the project.

They weren't just investing in the magic card system, but in me too.

...this was what I wanted.

"I guess that's sorted for now… Also, there's that too…"

Looking towards my wrist, I stared at the bracelet in my hand.

I still had not checked the extra items I got from Immorra. With everything that had happened recently, I didn't have enough time to properly check my spoils.

Perhaps there was something interesting mixed in there.

"Before that...guess it's time to annoy Melissa"

I took out my phone and quickly typed a message.

[Yo, Melissa, about the potion...when?]

My arm still hurt after all.

...

At the same time, inside a white laboratory space.

—Clank! —Clank!

The heavy sound of machinery moving items to and fro resounded across the white laboratory space. Large metallic arms moved around the asphalt pavement carrying different-sized boxes. Inside of them were spare robotic parts or different colored potions.

—Booom!

Suddenly a large explosion rang inside of the lab. Inside of a white confined room that could be seen through a rectangular glass, fire spread everywhere as it enveloped the whole room.

Not long after, the fire died down and a red card held by two pincers was revealed. A cold and mechanical voice rang.

[Experiment log #598 - Mana lingering in room : 49%]

Standing opposite to the glass, a beautiful girl inwardly muttered.

"Another failure"

After countless trials, Melissa still couldn't quite synchronize the mana inputted in the card with the right pysons. Despite the fact that the current magic circle installed in the card was a simple [Fireball], occasionally a couple of other psyons that were not flame psyons would enter the system resulting in a large loss of efficiency.

"...just what am I missing?"

Compared to when she had just started there were a lot of improvements...however, this was not enough.

In order for the card to be commercially viable, Melissa needed to have only a 30% efficiency loss. Any more than that and there was no point in using the card.

At the moment her efficiency loss was 49%

Still a far cry from her goal.

"Melissa, you've got a message"

Suddenly, a crisp voice called out for her from the other side of the room. A cheerful girl walked in Melissa's direction.

"Rosie? Who would message me at the moment?"

With her right hand on her white lab coat, Melissa took the phone. Instantly her brows knit.

[Yo, Melissa, about the potion...when?]

"This bastard..."

Melissa's clenched the side of the phone.

She was already busy enough with the magic card concept and now he wanted him to make him an advanced potion.

Fuck that.

"Rosie, order an advanced potion off the market"

Turning to her assistant she quickly ordered. She couldn't be bothered to make a potion herself, so might as well just order one from the market and pretend that it was from her.

"An advanced potion?"

"Yes"

"What about the quality?"

"Make it the lowest..no scratch that, make it the highest quality you can find"

Melissa was originally tempted to just give Ren the lowest quality potion. However, she suddenly realized that it would be unrealistic.

How could she, Melissa Hall, make such a low-quality potion!

Impossible!

Her pride wouldn't allow her to do that!

"It's around 40,000,000 U, that okay?"

"40 million?"

"Yeah"

"...yeah"

Secretly gritting her teeth, Melissa nodded.

'Calm down Melissa, you can secretly strangle him in your sleep'

Once she developed the magic card system money will start coming in. Compared to what she usually spent on experiments each day, 40 million could be considered spare change for the likes of her.

—Ding!

[Helloooo? Anybody there? I can tell that you've seen the message. I can't believe you're ghosting me. What a rude-]

Before she could finish reading the message, Mellisa's veins were already bulging from her forehead.

"I swear to god..."

Trying her best to suppress her rage, she typed.

[I humbly apologize for the inconvenience. This slave will quickly get your potion done in record time just for you. Not like she's busy with real life which is something someone else doesn't seem to have. Perhaps you'd want a massage right after I deliver the potion?]

[That would actually be quite nice not gonna lie]

Moments after she sent her reply, she got a reply. Staring at the reply, Melissa smiled.

The smile was so terrifying that Rosie, who was not so far from her had to take a couple of steps back.

All she saw was death.

"Ren Dover!"

...

Northern District.

Inside a medium-sized mansion, a childish voice rang out.

"Wa! where is pwudding?"

"Calm down Nola, Pudding will come back soon, she's probably taking a stroll around the compounds"

Taking Nola in her arms, Samantha Dover quickly tried to calm Nola down. She was used to such scenes.

Occasionally Pudding would sneak out from the house for prolonged periods of time causing Nola to be upset.

Samantha did text Ren about this problem to which he replied, 'it's fine, she will return soon. She does this from time to time'

...and it was true.

Not long after, pudding would quickly return to the house. Naturally, from there Samantha no longer worried about her disappearance.

The only problem was Nola.

"While we wait for pudding why don't you play with mama for now?"

"Nwo! Pudding is better"

"Oh my"

...

Inside of a secluded space, the figure of a beautiful woman could be seen sitting with her legs crossed.

After moving away from Ren's house, Angelica managed to find a rather safe and secluded location where she start her breakthrough.

Even though her breakthrough wouldn't cause a large commotion, she naturally wanted to be on the safer safe. Thus why she chose a secluded space.

"Haa...after this I should be able to breakthrough"

Angelica exhaled and looked at her hand. A black fruit that pulsated a red hue appeared.

Staring at the fruit, her face was solemn.

This was it.

With the aid of the fruit, she will finally break through to Viscount rank. A long-cherished dream of hers.

From this moment forward she will be known as 'Viscount Von Doix'

—Gulp!

Swallowing a mouthful of saliva, Angelica brought the fruit closer to her face.

"Here goes nothing"

—Crunch!

Angelica took a bite of the fruit.