How to Survive as the Second Son of a Mage Family - Chapter 198

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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How to Survive as the Second Son of a Magic Family (198)

“Got it.”

The students nodded with determined expressions.

Leo manipulated the Mimesis control panel and displayed a window showing the number of available fields in front of the students.

“It’s uncertain which field we’ll get. Both our team and Team 3 can only establish field strategies after the exam starts, so in the first 5 minutes after the start, while Ascanien is looking at the field and setting up strategy, we need to charge forward and seize the advantage.”

Then one student raised their hand and asked.

“But what about Julia and Elias? They can strategize too. They say Narke’s ability is hit-or-miss, so only Lucas can be reached remotely on that team.”

Unable to reveal the peculiar fact that the ability only worked on Lucas without seeing his face, Narke had conveyed this information to the students here while leaving some ambiguity.

Leo shook his head.

“Julia and Elias are certainly opponents we can’t ignore, but if this were a normal game it would be different, but when a team’s control tower collapses, the situation changes. Playing a game on flat ground versus playing on collapsing terrain is naturally worlds apart. Even if they try to act in the chaos, the situation will already be turning in our favor.”

If Lucas falls, everything falls.

Though the others are excellent, since they built their strategy centered around Lucas, once it collapses it will take time to recover, so they won’t be able to respond immediately.

This was what he meant.

One student tilted their head as if they didn’t understand.

“Is Ascanien really that important? Team 3 can’t all be depending on him. To keep talking only about him like this…”

Narke fell into thought, then stared into space and muttered.

“You don’t seem to understand. We have to go this far.”

“…Really…?”

“Among all the strategies that the 24 people who made it to the third round can devise, the strategy Lucas creates has the highest completion and also the highest destructive power. I think the success rate is considerable too. Leo agrees, right?”

Leo, perhaps not wanting to reveal that he was close with Lucas, nodded roughly.

“And you know that even if Lucas doesn’t strategize, it’s no problem for us at all~”

Narke smiled, raising an eyebrow as if asking if everyone didn’t know this. Except for the student who asked the question, all three students sitting around Narke nodded with serious expressions.

Even if Julia and Elias, or someone else from Team 3 strategizes, it will inevitably reach Lucas’s ears. To prevent this, they’d have to completely exclude Lucas from team activities, but that’s impossible.

So what happens after that?

The strategy Lucas perceives gets transmitted directly to Narke.

In other words, no matter who strategizes, Team 3 cannot escape from Team 1’s palm.

“Everyone. Just like the seniors from the First Education Institute said, some of Team 3 will look for us, and the rest will search for victims. Let’s clarify one more thing here.”

The students’ gazes turned to Leo.

Leo, with his hands on the table, continued slowly.

“We won’t encounter anyone from Team 3 in this field.”

“…”

To say they won’t encounter each other when they’re dropped in the same field.

The students gulped.

Only Ulrike, who was first in Class 1, let out a laugh.

“Ah, interesting. If Team 3 comes looking for us, we’ll read that and move to another location first.”

“Right. The more we face off, the longer the processing time becomes and the more unnecessary damage we’ll take to our forces. Moreover, since the exam’s theme is victim rescue activities, we need to finish even one second faster. So, we…”

Leo stared at the muted First Education Institute training video and spoke in an emotionless voice.

“We can’t tolerate Team 3 holding us back for even one minute. We’ll let Team 3 fumble around while our team focuses on finding victims.”

Silence flowed.

The one who always competes for first place in the department is different, the students thought as they looked at Leo with satisfied eyes. Of course, since only skilled individuals had already gathered here, their thoughts weren’t different from Leo’s.

Then, Ulrike said with a smile.

“Wow, you were on the same team as Julia until this morning and you’re being really ruthless. Come to think of it, class president, you don’t really like Lucas either. Is that why?”

“…”

“I thought you two had gotten closer during the potion competition, but I guess I was mistaken.”

At those words, Leo swallowed as if holding something back and shook his head.

“…No time for small talk. Anyone have questions?”

“Lucas must be strategizing right now considering Narke’s ability too. They know about it, right?”

At Ulrike’s words, Leo shook his head with an expressionless face.

“It’s meaningless. From the moment they enter the field, their minds will be working, and thoughts can’t be blocked.”

“That’s right~”

Narke agreed.

There’s no way around this.

The more humans try not to think about something, the more they can’t escape from that thought, and above all, this isn’t a situation where they can avoid thinking.

Then we can consider this.

‘What if Lucas, considering my ability, voluntarily steps down from the strategist position?’

Wouldn’t Lucas think this far ahead?

However, we didn’t set up just one strategy of only marking Lucas. We also have countermeasures for numerous variables.

Even in this case where Lucas steps back, our response doesn’t change much, and the reason is this.

Even when following others’ strategies, Lucas is someone who always finds more successful methods in the same situations. As always, even while following his teammates’ strategies, he will continuously judge and think considering the surrounding environment.

‘Just like in the second round.’

I can’t forget that moment when he instantly switched the team leader position while just listening to Julia’s instructions.

In Team 3’s most troublesome and most critical moments – whether cornered or when confrontations drag on – his strategy will emerge.

Whether he participates in strategy formulation from the start, from critical moments, or even if he deliberately doesn’t voice his brilliant ideas and tries to erase his thoughts while being conscious of me, we will capture that fleeting moment when it crosses his mind and take Lucas’s ideas as our own.

That is our answer to Lucas’s ability.

‘Sorry, but… a match is a match.’

Narke thought this and used her power.

[…Then a giant wave came rushing and swept away the boy. And after that, there was nothing. What? Don’t tell me he was swept away? …The boy disappeared, and the sand beach was peaceful. Really…]

What a random thought.

Of course it wasn’t read clearly, but what he was thinking came through vaguely.

‘As expected, he’s already avoiding thoughts considering that I’ll read them.’

But there are limits.

Right now he seems to have intentionally opened a novel or something, but when the exam starts, it becomes unavoidable.

Of course, whether Lucas will helplessly fall to us like this, or…

‘Whether he’ll come up with another unexpected idea.’

That’s really curious.

Even using foresight, right now only scenes of our team winning are drawn.

Leo tapped the bulletin board to focus attention.

“Alright. Let’s summarize one last time. We’ll reverse Ascanien’s strategy to minimize direct contact with Team 3. Since we can learn strategies from a distance without clashing, we’ll break through and finish everything in a short time. Let’s just remember this.”

“Ah, it feels a bit sneaky though. We’re basically stealing their strategy and going for a 15-minute clear.”

Ulrike said with a laugh.

During the second round when she was team leader of Elias’s team, she was pushed around, but since then, as if she had awakened, her playful side began to increase like during the potion competition.

Leo shook his head and gave Ulrike a look for her light and sarcastic tone.

“It’s a legitimate strategy. Reading the enemy’s moves but letting them act anyway isn’t conscience – it’s arrogance and a mistake.”

“Right, exactly.”

The students nodded at Leo’s words.

Ulrike already seemed to find it amusing as she smiled and propped her arm on the chair.

“Wow, game over. Lucas and I got along well during the potion experiment competition.”

“Don’t be swayed by emotions.”

“That’s obvious. How could I let emotions get in the way of this fun opportunity to read the enemy’s thoughts and use them myself.”

Anyway, since Ulrike herself had consistently been first in Class 1, she knew well what shouldn’t be done during exams.

Just then, the lights in the situation room went out one by one. Only the sunlight coming through the windows that formed one wall illuminated this place, preventing complete darkness.

Beeeep—

[5 minutes until exam start. Students, please move to the waiting room immediately.]

The students’ eyes met each other. Tension hung thick in the air, but clear confidence and certainty in their abilities flowed in their gazes.

Soon faint smiles appeared on their faces.

Narke smiled and stood up.

“It’s time. Let’s go.”

* * *

“It seems Student Narke’s ability works better on Student Lucas.”

The professor from the First Education Institute, who had been watching the situation room’s video feed from the examiner waiting room, smiled and looked to the side.

“Professor. What do you think? There’s no breakthrough, is there?”

“There isn’t. Oh my, this is…”

“It seems even you who set the questions are at a loss, Professor.”

“That’s right.”

At those words, hollow laughter burst out from the professors of the First Education Institute and 2nd Education Institute who were watching the situation room cameras.

The Professor from 1st Education Institute, who was the main question setter, nodded and stroked his chin.

“It’s exactly as Team 1 analyzed. Whatever Team 3 says, or wherever they lead without words, all of that will be transmitted to Student Lucas’s brain in the form of thoughts. It’s like revealing everything to the enemy without any secrets, so it’s a completely disadvantageous situation for Team 3.”

“Why would you do such a thing…”

“It’s not like we did it knowing that Student Narke’s ability would work better on Student Lucas.”

The professor smiled and looked at the surrounding professors.

“Still, it worked out well. Even if it can’t be a perfect countermeasure, it became an opportunity to assess how good of an alternative the Team 3 children can come up with in a crisis situation.”

An alternative.

The professors who were listening with their arms crossed nodded.

It would be fortunate if they could find even an alternative.

It can’t be helped if Team 3 loses this game.

No, since the starting points are different, losing is natural.

What’s important is, even if they lose, how much they tried their best to overcome the situation in the process.

‘The Team 3 students shouldn’t get too frustrated from the start.’

The professors thought this way as they watched the scene of the students moving.

At the same time, Team 3 waiting room.

[3 minutes until the exam starts.]

“Aaaahhh!”

“What are we going to dooooo…”

Upon arriving at the waiting room, our team students began to cry out in despair.

Still, we didn’t waste the given strategy planning time.

We shared each other’s unique abilities and attack and defense methods, and extracted and compiled information about Team 1 members from students who had become our team—who were on different teams until yesterday.

Of course, I was just listening and reading a book. Just like now.

Those guys did everything properly and are acting like this.

“Lucas! Why are you so carefree!”

Oswald grabbed my shoulder as I was reading and whined.

“Should I cry too?”

“No… Narke reads all our thoughts! Especially you, they said your thoughts are read in real time! Are you going to read books even there?!”

“You’re going to burst my eardrums, Oswald.”

“No, sorry. But whether you use the strategies that come to your mind or not, if they’re possibilities you think of, they’ll all be useful, and they’ll have the opportunity to exploit all of that from their side. All those dozens of innovative possibilities you showed during the second exam will disappear! Anyway, we’re doomed from the start before we even get there?!”

“There’s Julia and Elias.”

At my indifferent answer, Oswald shook his head with a desperate face.

“But, Lucas. Listen. If it’s strategies that Julia and Elias would think of, you would have already thought of them too, right?”

“What?”

Elias let out a hollow laugh and turned around.

Oswald didn’t care about Elias or anyone else and looked only at me, spitting out words like a machine gun.

“Even if that’s not the case, all the strategies we share with you will go into Narke’s brain, right? Then not only will all our cards be exposed, but we’ll get interference every moment? You would have already figured this out!”

“Thanks for the generous evaluation.”

“No! This isn’t it!”

“Right. You’re correct. We’re really screwed. We’re finished. This is what you wanted to hear.”

“Aaaahhh…”

Oswald now let go of me and went to the wall, started banging his head and muttering something.

“What do we do? What do we do? Is this really the end?”

Auguste and Florian seemed slightly worried, but they were still maintaining their composure better than Oswald.

Elias put his arm around my shoulder and laughed.

“Haha, Luca is so carefree~”

“I should be carefree. Until 30 seconds before the start.”

“Hmm, you’re going to devise a strategy against Narke starting 30 seconds before? Not setting it up now and waiting, but really starting to think 30 seconds before?”

“Right. I’ve just left it completely empty for now.”

“Wow, I’m looking forward to it~”

“Indeed.”

Cheringen, who had been listening to our conversation, answered with a gentle smile.

He could have been angry at my complacency and indifference, but he just watched with amusement as if it was interesting.

Like Elias, he completely trusted me.

[1 minute until the exam starts.]

“Aaaahhh!”

[59, 58…]

Whirring—

The door that had been blocking us from the exam hall opened.

Dazzling light poured into the dark waiting room where only red guide lights had been blinking.

[55, 54, 53…]

We entered the pure white exam hall with no end in sight.

Then, I slightly raised my eyebrows at a thought that suddenly occurred to me.

“Hmm.”

“Huh…?”

Oswald reacted with an ashen face.

I turned my head toward my teammates and said.

“I thought of it a bit early.”

[45, 44, 43…]

Oswald, who had been staring at me blankly, opened his eyes wide. Auguste and Florian had the same reaction.

“What?! You thought of it? What?!”

“But there’s some risk. Will you promise me?”

“What is it. I’ll promise.”

Elias opened his mouth on his own.

Fortunately, the other teammates didn’t seem to think differently from him.

“Right! We need to block that cheat ability, so how could there be no risk?! It’s fine even if there is, so just tell us what it is!”

Oswald shouted as if he’d give up his liver.

However, it was too early to voice that risk and make my thoughts concrete.

[23, 22, 21…]

I looked at my teammates and said simply.

“I’ll trust you. Trust me.”

* * *

[3, 2, 1. Begin.]

Whoooosh—

Narke opened his eyes in the fierce wind.

He could see Team 1 students covering their eyes and looking around like him.

There was sky above, and red brick structures blocked the sky. Below, the city center could be seen.

“It’s the clock tower. Narke.”

At Leo’s instruction, Narke nodded.

From this moment, it was time to unleash the power he had been saving to use his ability for about 15 minutes.

Narke, who had been holding his head and closing his eyes for a while, suddenly opened his eyes wide.

“…Hmm?”

Leo and the other Team 1 students turned their heads toward him.

Leo examined Narke’s face and asked.

“Why? Is there a problem?”

Narke didn’t answer. Instead, he opened his mouth wide with a face that couldn’t believe what he had read.

“Uhhhhhh?!”

“Why. What is it?”

“What? What, why….”

At the strange reaction, confusion appeared on the faces of Team 1’s students.

“Why is everything so chaotic? It feels exactly like standing blindfolded in the middle of an intersection… And what’s with the coffin?”

“Huh? Don’t use metaphors, tell us properly!”

Ulrike spoke with a voice full of confusion, as if she didn’t understand anything at all.

There was no answer. Narke remained frozen, staring blankly into midair, then slowly turned her head toward Leo.

“…’From the moment you enter the field, your mind will start racing, but thoughts aren’t something you can just stop.’ That’s what Leo said earlier.”

“Right.”

“That’s correct. You can’t stop thoughts. But… what if there’s a way to enter the field while delaying situational judgment and disrupting the senses?”

“Where would such a thing exist?! It would just be more effective to go in with our eyes closed like Narke suggested earlier….”

Ulrike stopped speaking mid-sentence.

The smiles disappeared from her and her teammates’ faces.

Leo’s face, which had been standing there bewildered, turned to shock.

* * *

‘This is a proper mummy experience.’

Now I just need to find a coffin and get in.

I focused on the surrounding mana and sounds while half-mockingly reflecting on my choice.

The same wind sound I heard when I met Strauchi. And faint mana as if untouched by human presence.

“It’s the Clock Tower.”

“That’s right, Luca. You do know that much~”

The voice that had been coming from behind moved to the front.

Elias seemed to be standing in front of me.

“Even knowing, you’re slow. You probably figured it out a beat later than the rest of us.”

“Right! We’ve been looking around below for about 5 seconds, but you only just realized~ By the way….”

Something like a finger lightly touched my nose bridge then pulled away. I felt the texture of gauze against my skin.

“I’m curious about Team 1’s reaction~”

I answered with a smile instead of words.

At this point, should I try following Leo’s way of thinking a bit?

Let me think as if I were Leo.

He would have focused on the test’s intent and format.

Coordinating with teammates who are practically strangers and rescuing multiple victims—in this test more than others, the most effective victory point is time spent.

The less time invested, the more it proves the team’s unity and skill, and the more faithfully it follows the test theme of victim rescue activities.

So Leo would have tried to use all the information and strategies our team came up with in reverse, attempting to quickly find only the victims without even touching our team and wrap everything up.

“So, what’s your strategy from now on, Luca?”

That’s not going to happen.

Do you think I’d let you blow your nose without getting your hands dirty?

If we’re going head-to-head, then we’re going head-to-head—I won’t let you take the easy route.

There’s only one method.

Turn the information coming to me into muddy water.

Make it impossible to read any useful information.

The fact that my movements won’t be free from now on and that those guys’ one hour of strategy planning has gone to waste can be settled as roughly equivalent costs.

What’s important is this.

Now, finally, the starting line is equal.

I slightly lifted the cloth covering my eyes, looked at Elias and his teammates’ faces, and raised the corners of my mouth.

“What else. I’ll have to defeat them one by one the orthodox way.”

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