“Don't cry just yet, Alice-chan.”
Greg looked at her, on the verge of crying tears of joy, and timely interrupted her brewing emotional outburst:
“The real surprise is still to come.”
He pulled a small cloth bag from his coat, and under Alice's curious gaze, drew out a thread that shimmered with a faint golden luster in the dim light.
The thread was as thin as a hair, yet it possessed a metallic sheen, a soft halo of light playing along its length.
It looked light and fragile, but when Greg gave it a firm tug, it didn't budge at all, displaying an incredible toughness that completely belied its appearance.
“Is this...?” Alice's eyes instantly lit up.
As a researcher, she possessed an instinctive sensitivity and curiosity toward new materials.
“Golden Glow Spider Thread.”
Greg held the thread out to her.
“This is a highly precious material I discovered. Its durability far exceeds steel, yet it weighs less than a tenth of a steel wire of the same thickness. And most importantly—”
He paused, watching Alice's widening eyes, and said slowly, “It has an exceptional affinity and conductivity for mana. In other words, it's also an ideal material for crafting high-tier magic conduits.”
Alice carefully took the strand of Golden Glow Spider Thread, her fingertips gently tracing its surface.
Her breathing grew slightly shallow, her ice-purple eyes flashing with the fanatical light unique to a researcher who had just uncovered a legendary treasure.
“T-This material... I've never seen anything like it before...”
Her voice trembled slightly with excitement.
“Its structure, its luster, its texture... This is absolutely a brand-new, undocumented material!”
“Exactly.”
Greg pulled another folded blueprint from his coat and spread it out on the workbench.
Pointing to a core component on the blueprint, he said, “So, if we can successfully use this material to craft a revolutionary, ultra-efficient magic conduit—”
He looked up, meeting Alice's gaze, his lips curving into an ambitious smile. “Then our names might very well go down in the history of this world.”
A brief silence fell over the laboratory.
Alice looked down at the Golden Glow Spider Thread in her hands, then up at the blueprint, and finally at Greg's supremely confident face.
Her mind began to race—the properties of this material, what kind of magic conduits could be crafted with it, how to maximize its advantages within the current theoretical framework...
Countless ideas burst in her mind like fireworks.
“But... is this really okay?”
She suddenly looked up at Greg.
“Since you discovered this material all on your own... is it really okay for us to share in your achievement like this?”
Hearing this, Greg remained silent for two seconds before speaking in a tone of noble self-sacrifice:
“Of course. After all, if it were just me, I wouldn't be able to produce any actual experimental results. Rather than letting the value of this material go to waste, it's better to share it here, maximize its potential, and make a contribution to the world!”
He spoke with righteous passion, as if making a monumental sacrifice.
In reality, he knew perfectly well that he wasn't losing anything on this deal; in fact, he was making a killing.
According to the original game plot, Alice would have eventually discovered the properties and uses of this material on her own during her later research anyway.
All he was doing now was moving up the timeline of this discovery and acting generous, allowing him to rightfully claim the primary credit.
It was a textbook case of getting something for nothing.
“I never expected... that you were such a wonderful student...”
Alice's voice choked up slightly. The way she looked at Greg was filled with guilt and regret for her past prejudices.
She even felt that she must have been completely blind in the past to treat such a noble, high-minded student as a mere nuisance.
Standing to the side, Victoria watched this scene, a thoughtful glint passing through her gray eyes.
She felt as if something was slightly off, though she couldn't put her finger on exactly what it was.
She had a strong suspicion that this guy was plotting some kind of scheme again.
“Yes!”
Alice nodded vigorously, her ice-purple eyes burning with a fiery determination.
“Then starting today, the three of us will work hard on this research together!”
Greg raised a hand. “I refuse.”
Alice: “...Eh?”
Greg: “Actually, I suffer from a disease where I'll die if I work. To prevent my condition from worsening, I'm leaving my share of the work to you, Alice. Good luck!”
Alice's eyes widened, unable to process this sudden twist for a moment. “B-But...!”
She had never expected that Greg, who had been giving such an impassioned speech just a moment ago, would suddenly drop the ball like this.
In truth, Greg wasn't just trying to slack off—though that was certainly part of it. The main reason was that he really couldn't help with this kind of work.
While he knew what materials were needed to craft certain items in the game, he had no idea about the exact measurements, how to process the materials, or the complex crafting techniques and procedures involved.
Rather than being a hindrance and wasting precious materials, it was far better to exclude himself from the actual work right from the start.
This was the most sensible approach.
Just as Alice was left completely at a loss, Victoria stepped forward.
With her hands on her hips, she stared directly at Greg with her gray eyes, her tone laced with irritation. “Greg, how can you be so selfish!”
Greg clicked his tongue.
“I knew you'd stick your nose into this.”
Ever since he found out Victoria had become his fellow disciple, he had anticipated that ordering Alice around wouldn't be as easy anymore.
But he hadn't expected Victoria to step up and oppose him so resolutely.
He turned to face Victoria, crossing his arms. “Fine. Name your terms. What will it take to let me slack off?”
Victoria: “Only if you let me in on it too.”
Victoria's reason for wanting to slack off was very simple.
Although she had crammed the necessary knowledge using the reward money from selling the gloves and scored well on her exams,
this experience had also made her acutely aware of a harsh reality: conducting experiments was incredibly expensive.
The materials, the tools, the costs of trial and error—every single aspect was a heavy burden on her wallet.
She had no desire to feel her heart bleed over the cost of materials every time she ran an experiment.
So, if there was a chance to slack off, she didn't want to work either.
“...”
The laboratory fell silent for a couple of seconds.
Greg blinked in surprise, and then, at the exact same moment, both he and Victoria wore identical, wicked smiles.
The smiles looked like a secret code, or perhaps a confirmation of some mutual understanding.
Greg then turned his head back to Alice, who was still frozen in place.
“You heard her, right? The work for both of us is in your hands, Alice-chan. You should know, if you won't do it, there are plenty of other mentors who would love to take your place~”
“H-How could you...”
As if all the strength had been drained from her petite body, Alice slumped straight onto the floor.
Her oversized professor's robe pooled around her on the floor, making her look like an abandoned purple plush doll.
Her ice-purple eyes lost their focus as she muttered, “One person... doing three people's worth of work... I... I might actually die...”
In her mind, she couldn't help but recall the sheer terror of being dominated by Greg over the past year.
“Don't worry. I'm not a monster, so I won't make things that hard on you.”
Just as Greg finished speaking, a knock suddenly sounded from the door.
Greg turned and walked toward the door.
“Looks like the helper I asked for has arrived.”
He walked over, grabbed the doorknob, gave it a light twist, and opened the old wooden door.
Standing in the light of the hallway outside was a young girl wearing a neat white lab coat.
Her wavy brown hair was tied back in a neat ponytail, with a few playful strands framing her fair cheeks.
The moment she saw Greg open the door, her bright eyes curved into crescent moons, and a brilliant smile bloomed on her face.
Then, before anyone could react, she lunged forward like a joyful little bird and threw herself directly onto Greg.
“Big Brother! I've come to help you, hehe~”
Rate on N.U.
