【Quest Progress: 1050/2000】
【Quest progress detected to have exceeded half; advanced rewards unlocked】
【Quest 2: Successfully obtain 3,000 Emotion Points from Anna; Reward: Trait Draw (Random Grade) x1 from her body】
【Current Progress: 1050/3000】
“Still so much left...”
Looking at the girl who was unconsciously smiling in front of him, Lynn felt quite anxious.
Brother Lynn has already shown off all his secret tricks. Can't you be a bit more cooperative and burst out more Emotion Points, Haji-Anna?
“What's wrong? What's wrong? Why are you staring at me in a daze?”
Anna waved her hand in front of the dazed Lynn's eyes, teasing playfully, “Oh my, could it be that the famous playboy of the imperial capital, Student Lynn, wants to make a move on a weak, helpless girl like me?”
Lynn immediately seized the opportunity, responding shamelessly.
“Oh my, after seeing a thousand flowers, I've finally realized how precious the person right in front of me is. So, beautiful and generous Miss Sasha, please give me a chance~”
【Emotion Points +20】
You actually went along with it?
Fine, fine, fine. Just wait until I go back and highly 'praise' you to Veronica~
“No way, no way. I saw you from afar at the freshman banquet, looking very intimate with a pink-haired girl~ I don't want to be the third wheel who ruins a relationship~”
You two should just get married already and stop bringing disaster to my Veronica!
“No, no, no, Sasha. A man needs a pair of wings. If he only has one wing, he can't soar freely in the sky.” Lynn nodded with mock seriousness and concluded, “Therefore, you are all the wings that allow me to fly into the sky~”
“You really know how to push your luck!” She rolled her eyes in annoyance.
“With how wild your rumors are, calling you a twelve-winged archangel would be a compliment.”
“Is there a possibility... that I am actually a good boy who keeps himself pure?”
【Emotion Points +20】
【Progress: 1090/2500】
“...You?” Anna sneered, looking up at the upside-down magic crystal clock.
[10:37]
“It's getting late. Unlike a certain young master, it's about time for me to head back too~”
“The drinks tonight... were barely passable as fun, but...” The corner of her mouth curved slightly.
“If you want to chase a girl, you can't just let her pay for everything~ You should at least buy me a drink~”
“Look at what you're saying.” Lynn turned his pockets inside out quite openly, feeling righteously poor. “Please show some understanding for a freshman with only 50 academy points.”
Tsk, tsk, tsk. The second princess of the imperial family really doesn't know the cost of living~
Anna smiled and waved her hand, but just as she turned to leave, her wrist was gently pulled.
Hey, don't go, Boss!
My quest isn't finished yet!
Anna turned her head back in confusion, only to see the man with a grave expression, looking deeply troubled as if contemplating something.
As if he had suddenly remembered something, he slapped his palm. Then, he leaned in with a mysterious look.
“Don't leave yet. Let me show you something amazing~”
...
...
“So... the 'amazing thing' you mentioned is... this...?”
Anna pointed with a dark expression at the old loft in front of her.
The heavy plaque was covered in thick dust, the main door hung askew, and spiderwebs were everywhere. It was a hazardous building that looked like it was about to be demolished any second.
She marveled, “I didn't expect the Imperial Royal Academy to have such a shabby and dangerous building. It seems the Royal Ministry of Finance needs to conduct a thorough audit of the academy's funding.”
“So... care to explain, Student Lynn?”
“Ahem, you can't just judge it by its appearance.” Lynn coughed twice, completely unbothered, and then began to describe it vividly.
“Legend has it that when Master Kazer was designing the prank puppets, there were two failed prototypes. They...”
After a long, non-stop explanation, Anna summarized with a dark face.
“So you're saying that among the prank puppets, there are special models named 'King' and 'Queen'.”
“They are hidden in the corners of the campus as little surprises, and whoever finds them will get an unexpected mysterious reward?”
“And one of those special models is hidden inside here?”
Her face was full of suspicion. “You aren't duping me, are you? Didn't you say you didn't even know about this event just a moment ago?”
“...Don't look down on my intelligence network.”
I can't exactly tell her that I only dug this up from my memories after racking my brain for ages, can I? After all, in the event update of Dawn in his past life, this was the final hidden level. The final boss of this level was incredibly diabolical, packed with all sorts of devious little designs from the developers.
“You really are a bad boy, Student Lynn~ No matter how I look at it, this building is just... Huh?” Anna's playful tone suddenly froze.
The flow of mana in the air... seemed to follow a pattern?
“Heh~ It seems our slow Miss Sasha has finally noticed.”
Lynn pushed the main door open with force.
“Thud—”
A dull boom exploded as the wall violently deformed, causing the mottled patterns on the brick wall to peel off.
A massive stone sculpture of a lion with its eyes tightly shut suddenly emerged on the stone wall. At the same time, chaotic mana surged wildly along set tracks, outlining rapidly changing trajectories.
The lion statue extended its massive stone claws and declared in a majestic, heavy voice, “Outsider, complete the trial and tell me your answer!”
Sasha stood straight in place, her gorgeous Tyrant's Slit Pupils involuntarily contracting and spinning rapidly, reflecting the fast-changing magic runes.
I see...
This rapidly changing mana is actually operating according to a set model. Only by deciphering this model can one obtain the answer required by the lion statue.
This absurd complexity is at least a Tier 6 or higher grand spell, and might even be an advanced version that mixes multiple elements.
This is definitely not a trial prepared for freshmen!
But I can do it!
Anna had never been so excited by a challenge.
This test, right on the edge of her limits, completely ignited her fighting spirit.
The corners of her mouth curved up involuntarily. Every cell in her body roared with excitement as she calculated the model in her mind over and over, discarding and reconstructing it again and again.
Countless complex formulas were calculated in her mind.
“Hey, Sasha... Sasha?!”
The violent shaking of her shoulders brought Anna back to her senses. She anxiously bit her finger. “Almost there, almost there... Give me another half a ke, and I'll be able to...”
“Be able to do what? Hurry up and come in. I've been waiting for you this whole time.”
“Waiting for me?”
The massive lion statue opened its wide mouth, revealing a pitch-black passage.
It squinted its eyes and said impatiently, “Hurry up, little girl. Keeping my mouth open like this is very tiring.”
Anna raised her head blankly, only to see Lynn standing sideways, waving at her.
“The puzzle... is solved?”
“The puzzle? Oh... you mean that so-called trial, right?” Lynn patted his chest. “Of course. I am, after all, the super-genius of the Reinhardt family.”
Before he could even finish, Anna suddenly grabbed Lynn by his collar.
“Uh... Miss Sasha? Personally, I still prefer girls who are a bit more reserved...”
“Cut the crap. What is the answer?”
“?”
“What is the answer?”
“...42?”
Anna immediately released her grip and sat on the ground without any hesitation.
Her magic condensed into crushed ice, backward-engineering the operating model according to the answer Lynn provided.
A moment later, she stopped her spellcasting in a daze, murmuring,
“It's correct.”
“No kidding. How could it possibly be wrong?”
【Emotion Points +200】
Anna did not reply. She only looked at the smug youth in front of her with such scrutiny for the first time.
An unprecedented emotion fermented in her chest, and she bit her lower lip.
Was that... defeat?
A strange word that had never appeared in the genius second princess's life abruptly surfaced in her mind.
What followed was an intense sense of unwillingness and curiosity.
Those crimson pupils reflected the youth's back as he walked forward.
Lynn von Reinhardt.
I never would have thought... that you were a mage of this caliber.
Rate on N.U.
