On My First Day Undercover, the Organization Collapsed - Chapter 293

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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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The Organization Collapsed on My First Day of Infiltration Episode 293

Special Mana Inscription (1)

The exchange tournament and practical training had ended.

After a brief rest, students were given a new objective.

It was the final evaluation.

“The final evaluation will be the same as the midterm evaluation, right?”

“Probably? Just doing what we learned in class?”

“I need to get good grades. Starting from second year, they decide the semester valedictorian.”

There was one fact they hadn’t realized because Ziel had worked them to death since their first year when he taught general education classes.

Due to the academic system’s nature, first years originally didn’t compete much or get compared to each other.

The first years that Allix was currently teaching were like that.

They just took the midterm evaluation casually and didn’t even select a year valedictorian.

But from second year onwards, it was different.

Midterm evaluation.

Final evaluation.

Year valedictorian selection.

And even grade notifications.

Being under Ziel’s harsh training, these were things they never even thought about originally.

“The final evaluation is just something we take.”

“Who’ll be the year valedictorian? Yurio? Delev? Celia?”

“Quantus was saying it’s definitely him.”

“He’d say everything is definitely him.”

So the second years didn’t show much interest whether there was a final evaluation or not.

They’d just do as they always did.

What worried them more was the suddenly increased class intensity after the midterm evaluation.

“Teacher, is the final evaluation similar to the midterm evaluation?”

To Karen’s question in the midst of this, Ziel answered like this.

“No. It’s not the same as the midterm evaluation. We’ll have a different test for discrimination.”

Only then did everyone hurriedly pay attention.

It’s different from the midterm evaluation?

‘What kind of test is it?’

‘Maybe sparring? No, we did something similar in the midterm evaluation.’

Ziel brought up something absurd.

“You’ll explore undiscovered ruins.”

“…What?!”

“You’ve built physical strength, trained your reflexes, and learned survival through practical training. It’s the best place to utilize and evaluate all of that.”

Ruins!

And undiscovered ruins at that!

“Ruuuuuins!”

There was one student who was particularly excited.

That’s right.

It was Quantus, who had gained a new hobby of ruins exploration during vacation.

“Being valedictorian is my destiny!”

“Ugh, so noisy. My ears are falling off!”

“Uhahahaha!”

Toward Quantus who was particularly happy, Ziel quietly instructed.

“Sit down, Student Quantus Hopel.”

“Yes! Uhahahaha!”

Ziel’s explanation continued.

“You’ll form teams and explore the ruins. That’s how I’ll evaluate you.”

“Y-you’re conducting the final evaluation like that?”

“There’s never been such a precedent until now.”

“Ah.”

The students quickly gave up on arguing.

Could there be anything more foolish than arguing with Teacher Ziel about something being unprecedented?

“I also got approval from Department Head Berhal Abue.”

The rest of the story didn’t really register in their ears.

But questions remained.

Delev raised his hand high.

“Teacher, you said ‘undiscovered’ ruins… how do we go to undiscovered ruins?”

“I discovered them.”

“What?”

During his assassin days.

Ziel had accidentally discovered ruins while carrying out a mission.

And those ruins still hadn’t been discovered by other people.

That’s why he referred to them as ‘undiscovered.’

“I know of some ruins. Officially, they’re undiscovered.”

“Th-then they’re really undiscovered…”

“But I’m the first discoverer.”

At those words, there was one student who looked particularly dejected.

“Quantus, why are you hunching your shoulders?”

“I thought they were undiscovered… I wanted to discover them first…”

Quantus, who had taken up ruins exploration as a hobby, had one dream.

To be the first to discover ruins and name them after himself!

It was something not permitted under the Empire’s artifact laws, but since it was a dream he hadn’t told anyone yet, Quantus would only realize the reality later.

Anyway, Ziel was now trying to reveal ruins that only he knew about so far.

For the ‘grand’ purpose of a final evaluation.

Of course, he would remove any unnecessary threats in advance.

“There’s one more announcement.”

Setting aside the final evaluation story, Ziel brought up an important notice.

“From now on, based on your class participation and performance, I’ll award ‘praise coins’ at a slightly lower standard than praise cards.”

Praise coins?

“Coins that can be exchanged for 1 praise card when you collect 5 of them.”

“Oh!”

“Wow!”

Forgetting their worries about the final evaluation, the students cheered.

Praise cards.

They weren’t easy to obtain as it was.

But now they’d be awarded at a lower standard!

Students who still hadn’t been to the 【Unlimited Dining Table】 began burning with fighting spirit again.

“I’m definitely going to the restaurant before the semester ends!”

“Me too!”

Ziel also explained the specific criteria.

“Depending on that day’s class participation, I plan to award coins to at least 10 people, at most 20 people.”

“That many!”

A lower standard than praise cards!

The students’ reaction was very positive.

Gilbert, who made eye contact, was nodding with satisfaction and pride.

Ziel was satisfied too.

‘Motivation is indeed important.’

People must always have goals to strive for.

The students were like that, and so was Ziel.

“That’s all. I’ll wrap up today’s class.”

Now it was time to go meet Zephyros.

Zephyros had returned to his main job after a long time.

To be precise, he was able to briefly escape from kitchen assistant duties after two weeks.

“Boss. Thank you.”

The first words Zephyros offered were thanks.

Ziel tilted his head.

“Why are you thanking me?”

“I gained great enlightenment. I realized that insights about magic don’t need to be sought far away – I could understand them just by looking around a little.”

“Is that so.”

“Yes. Cooking is quite interesting. Even when cooking with the same ingredients, the taste changes completely depending not only on the method but also on the timing of adding sauce or seasoning. It’s almost identical to magic research!”

Ziel tilted his head at his excited chatter.

‘I thought he’d gained a different kind of enlightenment.’

What Ziel had expected was improved physical strength.

And more delicious cooking.

But instead, he gained enlightenment in a completely different area.

It was an unexpected result and one he hadn’t hoped for, but it didn’t matter either way.

“I’ll continue working hard from now on!”

Zephyros was sincere.

During the two weeks, he had learned much by encountering the new field of cooking.

“Um, but when can I start my research again…?”

“You’re still far from ready. Continue building your physical strength.”

“Yes!”

He wanted to do research quickly, but now he felt he could understand the Boss’s words.

‘To stay by the side of someone who provides such enlightenment for a long time, physical strength would indeed be important.’

He had finally grasped the greater purpose!

Of course, Ziel had no such grand purpose from the beginning.

He just built up his strength because it was weak.

He needed physical strength to be able to assign him various tasks in the future.

That was all.

He simply didn’t prevent freedom of interpretation.

“Your room looks quite complicated.”

Meanwhile, Ziel looked around Zephyros’s room and made that assessment. Zephyros was about to get indignant, but was surprised by Ziel’s additional words.

“But I can see a certain order within it.”

“O-order?”

“Right. After placing three medicine bottles, you always leave a gap, and you never place any items touching each other. I can see the rules.”

“…!”

Zephyros was moved.

Habits formed from long hours of magic research!

Ziel was recognizing habits that even he wasn’t fully aware of.

“You’ve also matched the colors.”

“H-how did you notice that too?”

“I just see it.”

The sharp observational skills of Ziel, who had been a legendary assassin!

“It feels like entering a well-organized room.”

That’s how it appeared to Ziel’s eyes.

He preferred simplicity and liked having few possessions, but that was just Ziel’s personal taste.

Zephyros was moved once again.

“Meeting someone like you, Boss, is the greatest fortune of my life.”

“I know.”

Ziel finally got to the main point.

“I came to ask about ‘Research on the Variability of Physical Output and Biomechanical Correlations According to Physical Mana Inscription.'”

This was precisely the research Ziel had easily won the rights to in their bet.

Ziel continued after stating the long title smoothly and without hesitation.

“Looking at the research materials, there are no results from human experiments.”

“Well… I was on Osu Island.”

Even though people occasionally came, he couldn’t conduct human experiments on them, so it was natural.

“But looking at the research materials, it seems like human experiments wouldn’t be problematic. Is that right?”

“Yes. That’s what I think for now. If you look at page 5, I’ve summarized the effects on the human body, and it should be solvable by adjusting the depth of inscription and the degree of material input.”

“Mm.”

“Are you planning to try it?”

“That’s why I asked.”

Mana inscription.

Thinking it would help the students’ development, Ziel decided to apply it in a limited and experimental manner.

“Looking at the expected effects, it says enhancement of physical abilities and increased efficiency of mana usage.”

“Yes. Based on Walker Rank knights, we can expect an increase of at least 10% and at most 20%. The higher the level, the greater the increase rate, but the danger also rises.”

There’s no such thing as a free lunch in this world.

It would be impossible to become permanently stronger just by carving some mana inscriptions.

“After one activation of the inscription, it maintains for about 10 minutes, but it also comes with an efficiency drop equivalent to the increase.”

“That’s right. But isn’t it still excellent? If you activate it in a moment of crisis…”

“You have to survive to win. If you die after winning, it’s meaningless.”

Ziel valued efficiency more than anyone.

He couldn’t carve mana inscriptions on students when he didn’t know when they’d be used and they would inevitably bring danger when used.

Because this wasn’t a beautiful world where only one-on-one sparring existed.

Instead, Ziel thought of a different method.

“I looked at the mana alignment formula in the research.”

“Oh. It’s quite complex, isn’t it?”

“Not really. Looking at it, I realized that besides simply enhancing mana, other things are possible too.”

“…Excuse me?”

Zephyros furrowed his brow.

“Are you saying you’d do something other than mana enhancement?”

“Right. For example, instead of infiltrating mana through inscription, it’s a method of infiltrating something else into the mana.”

“Uh… why would you need to do that?”

Zephyros was honestly a bit disappointed.

Throughout all his research, he thought it was a tremendous effect that one could become stronger with just one inscription, even if it came with side effects and temporary effects.

But the Boss showed no interest in that and instead applied the research…

‘Wait, applied?’

Zephyros carefully retraced what the Boss had said.

“Boss, did you perhaps already know the mana alignment formula I wrote?”

“I know less about magic than you do.”

“That… would be natural, but how did you think of infiltrating something else into mana after looking at that mana alignment formula?”

A formula is a kind of promise.

If you don’t know the principles and laws, you can’t know what the promise contains.

From an ignorant person’s perspective, it’s nothing more than an incomprehensible arrangement of characters!

“I understood it by comparing it with other formulas.”

“…Excuse me?”

“There were some formulas that weren’t difficult. Based on those, I understood the other formulas too. It took some time though.”

“…”

Zephyros was left speechless.

The question he barely managed to ask was this.

“Have you learned magic before?”

“I don’t know how to use magic. But I understand the basic principles.”

To assassinate mages, he had to know about mages.

It was naturally not an answer that could make Zephyros understand.

“How on earth….”

Instead of answering that question, Ziel asked something he was curious about.

“I’ll inscribe it in a way that’s more helpful to the students.”

That method was like this.

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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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