First of All, I’m Drinking - Chapter 78

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Episode 78

 

I returned to the classroom.

 

Max and Veronica, who had been carried to the infirmary, had returned.

 

Meanwhile, Lessor, whose entire face was caved in, was newly transported to the infirmary.

 

“Impressive.”

 

Max approached me with an amused expression.

 

“I distinctly remember giving you advice. I told you to never get involved with that guy.”

 

“What can I do when he picks a fight first?”

 

“This won’t end with simply assaulting a classmate. A commoner hit a noble. Of course the school will protect you as much as possible, but Lessor might use his family’s backing to impose private sanctions on you.”

 

“Can’t be helped, I suppose.”

 

What kind of private sanctions would those be?

 

Would they attack me with knights while I’m quietly walking down the street?

 

“I’m planning to stay holed up in the dormitory for a while to prevent such incidents.”

 

Max quietly sighed and patted my shoulder.

 

“Right. If anything happens, tell me. I’ll take measures as class president.”

 

What truly reassuring words.

 

He’s grown well.

 

To think that little troublemaker from his childhood has grown this much.

 

“…”

 

Veronica, who had likewise returned from the infirmary, crossed her arms and looked at me briefly before turning her head away.

 

Her expression was like she was looking at a madman beyond imagination.

 

After finishing our meal, we moved to the training ground once again for afternoon classes.

 

It was smaller in scale than the training ground where we had held the class competition in the morning.

 

During the move.

 

I could feel the changed gazes of the children looking at me.

 

Since Lessor’s presence was quite strong within the class, there were looks of admiration for my skills in easily subduing him.

 

At the same time, I could collectively feel worried gazes wondering if I might face retaliation.

 

What was certain was that they weren’t negative emotions.

 

Except for a few students.

 

“Tch, a mere commoner.”

 

One student glared at me, clicked his tongue, and passed by.

 

It was the guy who had been talking behind my back with Lessor earlier.

 

About two students belonging to his group also shot me displeased looks as they passed.

 

‘That kind of atmosphere would be typical throughout the entire school.’

 

Class B was able to suppress such noble supremacists thanks to Max, who was royalty, mediating.

 

The ratio of commoner students also seemed higher compared to other classes.

 

“Don’t mind them.”

 

Fail said as he walked alongside me.

 

“I’m a noble too, but I don’t really like those types. If you’ve enrolled in Millennium Academy, ability should come first unconditionally.”

 

“That’s right, Asel.”

 

Cathy also added a word from beside us.

 

“Actually, Lessor has picked fights with me too. I was too scared to say anything… but you seem really amazing.”

 

Cathy and the other commoner students seemed to regard me as quite an impressive guy.

 

“I just couldn’t control my temper and charged at him, that’s all.”

 

I said while waving my hand dismissively.

 

The feeling wasn’t bad though.

 

“We’ll begin the afternoon class.”

 

In front of the students lined up neatly in rows and columns.

 

Amelia opened her mouth.

 

“What we’ll learn in this class is aura attribute conversion. Student Hiscliffe already demonstrated it during the class competition.”

 

The greatest purpose of utilizing aura is to strengthen the body.

 

However, once you surpass a certain level, you can physically manifest the aura itself to cut down enemies.

 

The sword energy of Sword Experts.

 

And master-class knights projecting and firing sword energy.

 

While these possess very powerful lethality in themselves.

 

Basic forms of aura have no effects beyond enhancing physical force, such as increasing destructive power or cutting ability.

 

Therefore, in reality, knights generally lack the flexibility to handle ever-changing situations compared to mages.

 

“The technique developed to break through that limitation is attribute conversion.”

 

Fire, water, wind, earth.

 

Including the four major elements.

 

Even applied attributes like lightning or chill.

 

If you can transform aura and convert it to attributes suitable for the situation.

 

An invincible superhuman combining the advantages of knights and mages would be born.

 

“While limited to combat domains and unable to replace magic’s convenience in daily life, the fact that knights can utilize a mage’s strategic flexibility makes this a very valuable technique.”

 

Then one student raised their hand and asked a question.

 

“Professor, most students are 4-star or below and can’t use sword energy, so is there meaning in learning attribute conversion already?”

 

Amelia snapped her fingers.

 

“Good question. Attribute conversion is a technique with great utility even for 3-star and above who can manifest aura around their bodies. Think about it. A knight charging while wrapped in aura versus a knight charging while wrapped in flames. Which would you be more afraid to face?”

 

That was certainly true.

 

For example, aura converted to fire attribute becomes entirely new energy possessing both flame and aura properties.

 

You can burn enemies to nothing with flames.

 

You can also cut enemies apart with aura.

 

Enthusiasm blazed in the students’ expressions.

 

If they could fully master that technique, they could raise their combat power by at least one level from now.

 

“Now then, how can we learn attribute conversion most quickly and effectively?”

 

When Amelia gestured, the training ground was divided into sections.

 

Rumble rumble rumble-

 

In some sections flames blazed, in others strong winds whirled.

 

Over ten different natural phenomena were occurring independently in each section.

 

‘They’re not real.’

 

The natural phenomena were all fakes created by illusion magic.

 

Still, if you entered them, you would feel the pain completely.

 

The students looked at Amelia with expressions of disbelief.

 

Amelia just smiled wickedly as if there was no chance.

 

“As expected, experiencing it firsthand with your body would be best.”

 

* * *

 

Whoosh!

 

“Kyaaaah!”

 

Fail, engulfed in flames in the fire zone, screamed.

 

He was enduring with aura wrapped around his entire body, preventing the flames from penetrating his body.

 

“Hngh!”

 

Cathy was struggling not to be blown away by the wind in the gale zone.

 

Crack-!

 

“Haaaah!”

 

Max gritted his teeth as he took the surging lightning throughout his body in the thunder zone.

 

Whoooosh-

 

I too faced the blizzard blowing from the Zone of Chill while wrapped in aura.

 

This insane training had been continuing for two days already.

 

Amelia walked around the training ground with her hands behind her back, occasionally offering advice.

 

“Don’t stay in one place too long and try entering other zones too. This is a process of discovering which attribute your aura is closest to.”

 

The purpose of the training was as follows.

 

Enter each zone while cloaked in aura and endure for as long as possible.

 

In that process, the attribute that allows you to endure most easily and for the longest time is the attribute that matches your aura.

 

Currently, the students fighting against pain in each zone were only those who had not yet discovered their aura attribute.

 

Of course, that number made up most of the class.

 

There were also students who had found their matching attribute early and were excluded from training.

 

Swoosh-!

 

“Whew.”

 

An elegant stream of water swirled from Veronica’s fingertips.

 

A blue curtain of water enveloped Veronica’s entire body.

 

Shwaaak-!

 

Lessor, wrapped in bright light, charged at Veronica.

 

Dazzling radiance gathered at Lessor’s fingertips.

 

I watched their duel from within the blizzard.

 

‘He seems even more energetic after returning from the infirmary.’

 

Light has no physical force, but it’s faster than anything else.

 

However, the aura Lessor had converted to light possessed physical force as well.

 

It only had the form of light; its essence was still aura.

 

Of course, that reduced its speed accordingly.

 

Still, it was far too fast for students to handle.

 

“Take this!”

 

Lessor thrust his sword at Veronica with a fiercely contorted face.

 

Whoong-

 

The curtain of water surrounding her wrapped around the sword and absorbed the impact.

 

Lessor’s sword couldn’t reach Veronica and only weakly cut through the water.

 

“Tsk.”

 

Lessor clicked his tongue in frustration at his blocked attack.

 

“Both of you are excellent.”

 

Amelia clapped her hands and praised them both.

 

“To discover your matching attribute in just two days and even succeed in manifesting it. It’s not perfect yet, but you’ll gradually improve.”

 

Lessor raised his hand.

 

“I have a question, Professor.”

 

“Go ahead.”

 

“I converted my aura to light attribute, and many people in my family have traditionally wielded light attribute aura. But I don’t think I’ve ever seen dark attribute aura in my life. Is there a reason for this?”

 

“Dark attribute aura…”

 

Everyone seemed interested in Lessor’s question.

 

The students who had come out of the zones to rest waited for Amelia’s answer to continue.

 

Veronica also stared intently at Amelia, concentrating.

 

“The reason there are no people who wield dark attribute aura is simple. The concept of darkness itself is incompatible with aura.”

 

“Darkness is incompatible with aura?”

 

“That’s right. Aura is fundamentally a property that radiates and emanates outward. But darkness is the absence of light, or a phenomenon that occurs by absorbing light. Therefore, it has the property of drawing in and absorbing.”

 

“So conversion is difficult because the properties themselves are different.”

 

“Simply saying it’s difficult isn’t accurate. Precisely speaking, it’s theoretically close to impossible.”

 

Another student raised their hand and asked Amelia.

 

“Then historically, there hasn’t been a single dark attribute knight?”

 

“As far as I know, that’s correct. But according to rumors, there are people who have seen dark attribute aura with their own eyes.”

 

“Who is that?”

 

Amelia gathered her breath and continued speaking.

 

“The 1st place among the Top 10 Strongest of the Continent. Known as the Mediator. I don’t know much about him either, but there are rumors that the Mediator wields dark attribute aura. It’s not certain, so just take it as entertainment.”

 

I flinched while listening quietly in the snowstorm.

 

The Mediator?

 

Upon hearing that name, I couldn’t help but recall my first encounter with Deront.

 

-As soon as I crossed the wall and came out to the snowy plains… someone attacked me.

 

The being who had introduced himself as the Mediator.

 

A human whose entire body was black like a shadow, without any color.

 

A powerhouse strong enough to defeat Deront, a high-ranking demon, in a single exchange despite having lost his power.

 

-Actually, it wasn’t even a single exchange. My attack couldn’t reach him. It was one strike. I’ve never seen such a strong being in my life. I even thought he might be stronger than the Demon Lords.

 

Even then, listening to Deront’s words, I had guessed he was probably one of this world’s top-tier beings.

 

That Mediator was the 1st place among the Top 10 Strongest of the Continent.

 

‘The Mediator, and dark attribute aura.’

 

I felt that wouldn’t be all there was to it.

 

If the Mediator’s abilities were only aura and martial arts, there’s no way he’d rank higher than the Western Alliance leader who’s a 9-star swordsman.

 

He has something more.

 

Definitely.

 

I have to go to the Void Snowfield someday anyway.

 

If he still hasn’t moved his residence.

 

If the opportunity arises, I might be able to meet him directly.

 

I just hope he’s not related to the Demon Cult.

 

“That concludes today’s class.”

 

The class ended, but I had two new concerns.

 

One was about the Mediator.

 

The other was.

 

‘What exactly is the aura attribute that suits me?’

 

I brushed off the snow that had piled up on my shoulders and walked out of the Zone of Chill.

 

For the first time since I began learning swordsmanship of the Intermediate Realm.

 

I felt a frustrating sense of not being able to see the path ahead.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————