The next day, early morning, inside the Alchemy Workshop.
“Heh heh, hahaha.”
Holding a full two dozen cards, Lomio let out a laugh that was nothing like someone who’d stayed up all night—it was downright healthy.
“Invisibility, tools, plus this body that’s already advanced to Tier Two!”
Nan Wu San, what a night that was!
He spent all his savings, then went to the junkyard for more materials—Lomio really gave it his all, rubbing cards at the alchemy table the whole night!
Considering that most of his opponents in the class placement exam would be magical beasts, he only prepared a few [Silence Cards], since their effectiveness would be limited.
But as for the other functional cards, he made sure to have at least five of each!
As for the quality of this pile of cards—
Over 90% were [Exquisite] grade, able to activate in an instant!
That’s right—after one advancement, Lomio could already feel the difference in his body!
The thing assassins are best at—staying up all night—he’d truly mastered it physically now!
A whole night of card crafting?
No problem at all!
Back before the Card Era, assassins could soak in water, even in snow, for days and nights just for one chance to strike!
“Ahh… how satisfying…”
Lomio touched his stomach.
The soft belly he’d inherited from the original young master now showed hints of abs after leveling up.
This is the power of topping up cards!
“If the error rate’s under ninety percent, I can get Precision grade, and stringing them all together makes Exquisite grade…”
“So, by that logic, my success rate might be… just a tiny bit higher than most alchemists?”
Walking out of the workshop, Lomio stored the cards in his system and headed for the dormitory.
This was also one of the new features that came with his recent advancement.
After his alchemy officially reached Tier One, a new section had grown on the alchemy skill tree—a space with item slots.
Obviously, this corresponded to the in-game inventory.
Currently, Lomio didn’t have many slots; aside from those cards, it was just enough to store daggers, energy potions, and the like.
The weight saved naturally translated into greater agility.
“Is this really okay?”
Lomio felt this talent tree system wasn’t very serious.
At first, he’d just hoped for something like “Deep Blue, allocate points!” and that would’ve made him pretty exceptional, but now it had even unlocked an inventory and a quest bar.
He could only say—the style was starting to look more and more like a game cheat.
“When are you going to make me invincible? Just give me a Wind Spirit Moonshadow mode, and I’d be fine with that.”
The system, as always, remained silent.
Come to think of it, this thing didn’t seem to have that kind of feature; it was too lazy to even provide a manual, so all the functions had to be figured out by the user.
So far, the biggest piece of intel it had given Lomio was that there was some ridiculous “Charisma Aura” on him.
“It’s really hard to give you a good review like this.”
Despite the grumbling, Lomio hadn’t expected the system to babysit him or lay out everything perfectly.
After all… he had a much more reliable and realistic source of information.
Memory and allies.
Entering the dormitory, the clock struck six just as Lomio walked into the inner courtyard. Kafnir’s figure appeared before his eyes.
As always, tall and straight, remarkably handsome, an aura of royal majesty unique to his bloodline enveloped him.
No exaggeration—on looks alone, among all the young men this year, he was in a class of his own.
But in the face of the Charisma Aura…
Frankly, if Lomio hadn’t awakened the Assassin class and mastered [Invisibility], he’d probably be at the very top of the Academy’s must-conquer rankings by now!
Such is the privilege of a cannon-fodder villain’s bloodline!
But…
“Bro, what did you get up to last night?”
Sitting across from him, Lomio studied his dark circles, wanting to just blurt it out.
Well, well.
Those are some bloodshot eyes!
So you get nervous too, huh!
“Looks like you prepared quite thoroughly?” Lomio opted for a more tactful remark.
“I wouldn’t say thoroughly, just pieced together all the information I could access.”
Kalenina picked up her cup—the usual black tea replaced with black coffee. She took a sip, savoring the rich bitterness spreading across her tongue:
“As you said, this time the class assignments are completely random, no discernible pattern, but the main goal is the same.”
She really hadn’t slept last night.
The school might suddenly change the test format, she might have to face monsters next, and then there were classmates’ relationships—including with the Cromwell family…
All these things required advance preparation.
Fortunately, with Annie’s help, one night was just enough for Kalenina.
She twisted the school badge on her chest, revealing newly updated information from the academy. At the core of the projection, scattered chess pieces were displayed:
“Each chess piece here allows up to four people to pass the exam as a team. The key is how to find the pieces and escape successfully.”
“And, through certain channels, I’ve learned the scoring mechanism. Here’s the score list.”
Kalenina pushed the manual in front of Lomio. As a princess, she hadn’t felt this nervous about handing in an assignment in a long time:
“Please have a look.”
[King: 200 credits] [Queen: 100 credits] [Bishop: 75 credits]
…
“You really went all out.”
Lomio nodded slightly.
So, the exam’s about snatching high-value pieces and escaping?
Recalling the relevant plotline, Lomio had to admit his bro’s efficiency.
Even players who’d participated in the game rarely had such detailed credit info at the start of the exam.
To unlock this intelligence, you had to complete several hidden quests on the first day and raise the favorability of specific professors.
But this Kalenina?
Handled it in one night!
Now, Lomio was even more certain.
He was one of those unmentioned princes from the game plot!
Then again, since this was a yuri, female-dominant game, it was normal not to highlight outstanding men.
Now that he thought about it, if Lomio Arkady hadn’t been saddled with a bizarre Charisma Aura, he’d never have gotten involved with those women.
Just some stinky borderlander—what status did he have to dare such things?
Oh, right—he’s a male succubus, no wonder the plot wanted him dead.
Once again aware of how precarious his situation was, Lomio looked at Kalenina:
“I’m looking forward to your performance, Frost Mage.”
It wasn’t just chuunibyou.
That was the title inherited from the original game.
This title caused ripples in the coffee in Kalenina’s cup.
But remembering that her counterpart was her examiner, someone who’d surely seen through everything already, her mood quickly calmed:
“Yes, I won’t let my allies down.”
People of the Russell Royal Court didn’t determine their classes with Class Cards, but had a much more unique method of inheritance.
It was by resonating with a mysterious icy crystal known as the “Heart of Winter” that they awakened as mages.
But all of this was a royal secret.
To know even the deepest secrets of the Russell Royal Court… Just how much did Mother trust him?
“Aha, that’s the reaction! Definitely a royal!”
Lomio wouldn’t miss that kind of expression!
“A thigh to cling to!”
As a player, he understood the basic structure of this world all too well!
Though the Principality had the upper hand in alchemy, the Russell Empire had its reasons for enduring—
High yield, high-quality mages!
Take the in-game SSR must-have card, Kalenina—forged properly, she could singlehandedly go up against a thousand-strong army!
If she later fused with a key story item and awakened her second form, her combat power would be off the charts!
Even if, according to the setting, males had weaker mana affinity, Kafnir was from the same school as the SSR—his combat power definitely wasn’t much worse!
That’s right—this was why Lomio had stayed up all night crafting those support cards!
“This round, support and farm credits!”
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