Surviving the Assassin Academy as a Genius Professor - Chapter 8

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 8
EP4 – World Forgery (1)

Outside the window, the night sky stretched endlessly.
Earth in this world bore rings like Saturn.
A faint ring that only appeared at night cut vertically across the heavens.

Behind the ring, stars scattered sparsely across the darkness.
This world held only thirty-three stars, and humanity worshipped them.
It was why the growth currency bore the name Fragment of Star.

‘Time to train.’

Today had been the longest day of my life.
I’d survived through sheer luck, but I couldn’t expect fortune to smile on me twice.
From this moment forward, I had to grow stronger.

‘My current status….’

───
▶ Dante Hiaka
– [Stat] : 1
– [Mana] : 100
– [Ability] : ×
───

Rock bottom, all the way.

And this was today’s harvest.
The thousand-fold reward meant I’d received several months’ to years’ worth of growth currency in a single blow.

‘How should I grow?’

It was the question I’d been wrestling with all morning.

‘Growth currency can be invested in Stats and the twelve core Abilities.’

There were twelve primary disciplines.

Curse, Throwing, Stealth, Trap-Poison, Combat, Sniping, Magic, Illusion, Summoning-Taming, Movement Technique, Alchemy, Totem.

If I invested all 1,000 Fragments of Star into a single discipline, I could master an ultimate-level technique at Level 9.
For instance, if I poured all 1,000 into Stealth, I could achieve a level of Stealth rivaling the world’s greatest shadow assassin, the one known as “Shadowless Saint’s Left Position.”

‘But there’s something to consider.’

Would raising a few points in this ability really let me evade assassination from the cadets?
Stealth alone won’t save me. Hiding is not enough to survive.
Same with Movement Technique. Running doesn’t guarantee survival.
By any reasonable logic, I should level up Combat….

‘But if I level up Combat, I can’t attend classes.’

When everyone else has faded and is flying about, what would I do—smash through walls?

‘And even if I master Combat at level 9, Stats and Proficiency will still be lacking. In terms of overall power, I’d remain weaker than the other students at Hiaka Academy….’

I can’t afford to think of this student as someone worth fighting.
It would diminish my authority.
Fighting suggests the opponent is someone to be overcome.
And what are humans, after all? A species that drowns in three minutes without water, yet somehow possesses the worst monstrous ingenuity—building wooden rafts to cross entire oceans.

‘The other professors weren’t assassinated one-on-one either.’

I cannot become the target of competition.

‘I must appear overwhelming. That’s the only way to survive.’

Zhuge Liang’s siege strategy—opening the city gates while playing his lute.
Three battalions of Hallucination Carriers.
Kim Jong-un, crying out for Seoul consumed in flames of fire.
……though that’s somewhat different.

Deception tactics.

That alone is the only solution to this Hell Difficulty.

Based on this conclusion, I made one choice.
Forbidden.

‘Forbidden refers to an ability category banned across all known continents.’

If caught, the entire world becomes your enemy.
But if my hollow facade is exposed, I’m going to be killed anyway, aren’t I?
What I wish to learn is one of the most dangerous forbidden abilities of all.

An ability created by Abrasax, the founding lord of the Black Organization and the greatest assassin in history, during the First Assassination War of ages past.

World Forgery.

It is a dream and a phantom. A bubble of an instant and a mirage.
Yet it can manifest across the entire world.

It is not merely the display of illusions. It is the ultimate Illusion art—creating ultra-high-dimensional phantoms that can be touched, emit scent, and even carry magical power. The weakness is that these phantoms possess low durability and virtually no offensive power. That is the inherent limitation of Illusion itself.
The weakness is that these phantoms possess low durability and virtually no offensive power. That is the inherent limitation of Illusion itself.

‘Growing stronger can come later.’

Hiaka Academy is ultimately a game where you grow in order to kill demons hiding among humans. The professor assassination is the final chapter of that.
But the main story still has some time left.

This buys me time to gather the next growth currency.

An intense sensation seeps through my body from around my heart.
Simultaneously, my Overall Combat Power surged explosively.

‘……but this is only the beginning.’

Illusion, by analogy, is like design or modeling.
It’s an ability that demands tremendous attention to detail.

『 World Forgery : Form Forgery [Sword] 』

A crude, shapeless blade materialized before me.

The more deeply one understood reality, the more detailed the sword would become.
The hilt, the length, the shape, the texture, the play of light—everything mattered. And since this was a game world, I had to account for magical power, killing intent, and overwhelming presence as well.
It would take years. Perhaps decades.
An ability of Level 9, after all.
But then again.

I shut my eyes tight, then opened them.
A sword was truly hovering in empty air before me.
A convincingly crafted one, too.

Indeed, knowledge and wisdom regarding all aspects of Illusion were seeping into my mind in real time.
I reached out and grasped the suspended sword.
It felt solid in my hand.
It had weight, texture.
When I held it against my skin, it felt as though it would tear through flesh and draw blood.
So I reversed my grip and drove the blade hard toward my own thigh.

Clang!

The blade tip shattered and crumbled.

‘This is the limit.’

Even at the highest levels of mastery, Illusion remains Illusion.
No matter how something is crafted, Durability will be low and Attack Power will be zero. I could manage to blind someone with a burst of light, of course, but physically, this is where the boundary lies.
Duration is limited as well. It lasts longer if I pour in more magical power, but.

‘Let me try a bit more.’

What was particularly troublesome was that creating a single sword consumed one-twentieth of my total magical power.
At this rate, I’d be exhausted after crafting twenty blades.
I had no choice but to invest the remaining Fragments of Star into my magical power.
All fifty of them.

Twenty points of magical power per Fragment—a total increase of one thousand.
I experimented with various applications using this new reserve.

『 World Forgery : Form Forgery [Blade of Light] 』
『 World Forgery: Form Forgery [Lightning Sword] 』

Weapons imbued with attributes were manifested as well.

『 World Forgery: Form Forgery [Fire] 』
『 World Forgery: Form Forgery [Water] 』

Complex substances and phenomena could be rendered into being.
The water even soaked through my clothes.
The fire grew hot as I approached it, yet when I touched it directly, it didn’t burn.

『 World Forgery: Form Forgery [Explosion] 』

Boom!
There was sound and impact, but no actual damage.
A limitation of interaction.

‘I must remember this. World Forgery is nothing more than an ability that mimics.’

Just as counterfeit money reveals itself to be fake upon close inspection.
Yet at first glance, it appears genuine.

『 World Forgery: Form Forgery [Bell] 』

Ding!
Even the sound was rendered.

『 World Forgery: Form Forgery [Great Bell] 』

Bong!
Even such a loud sound could be manifested.
Loud enough to make my ears ring.

— Professor?

The noise was so great that even Adel came looking.
I assured her it was nothing and sent her back.

『 World Forgery: Form Forgery [Fireball] 』
『 World Forgery: Form Forgery [Wall Summoning] 』
『 World Forgery: Form Forgery [Etheric Blade] 』

Even magic and abilities could be rendered into being.

『 World Forgery: Form Forgery [10,000 Hika Banknote] 』

Naturally, I could create counterfeit currency.
By real-world standards, equivalent to a million-won note.
Yet my intuition told me this was an imperfect counterfeit.
People could be fooled, but advanced detection equipment could not.

『 World Forgery: Form Forgery [Strawberry Cake] 』
『 World Forgery: Form Forgery [Chicken] 』
『 World Forgery: Form Forgery [Dante] 』

Food and people could be manifested as well.
With food, the taste and smell were present, yet there was a subtle lack of satiation, and emptiness rushed in the moment it vanished. With people, they could be made to move by inputting commands.

Me, dancing like a cat.
Hmm…

『 World Forgery: Activity Variable Input [Levitation] 』

I hover in the air.
I can even do things my real self cannot.
The durability remained low. It could withstand a handshake, but if I applied force to break a finger?
Crack!
The forged arm shatters.

『 World Forgery: Form Forgery [Demon King] 』

Meanwhile, hadn’t the game expanded in its DLC into a “Hero’s Tale”?
I even tried to create the final boss, the Demon King.

『 World Forgery: Failed 』

It didn’t work.
Is it because I’ve never seen one before?
No. That doesn’t seem to be it.
So I decided to run one more experiment.

『 World Forgery: Activity Variable Input [Smile] 』

The forged Dante didn’t smile.
So I looked in a mirror, smiled myself, and tried again.

『 World Forgery: Activity Variable Input [Smile] 』

The forged Dante broke into a grin—like a villain hatching something wicked.
That settled it.
The measure of forgery isn’t experience, but imagination.
What cannot be imagined cannot be forged.

‘I couldn’t smile because I couldn’t imagine myself smiling.’

Even when I did smile, it wasn’t a pleasant one.
The kind of smile a demon wears when harboring some dark scheme.

Good. I’ve gathered quite a bit of understanding by now.
And finally.

If I invested a little more Mana.
I could forge space itself.

『 World Forgery: Space Forgery [Flower Field] 』

Without context, without water or soil.
Flowers bloomed all at once, sudden and impossible.
Soon my entire room was swallowed in a riot of colors.
When I opened my palm, a single dandelion appeared.

‘If I push a little further from here, this should be possible too.’

『 World Forgery: Space Forgery [Liminal Death] 』

In an instant—the world plunged into darkness, centered on me.
Time, space, all things twisted within a distorted realm.
Here, even simulated sensations can be granted.

‘……So I can forge sensations themselves.’

For instance, suppose my wrist were severed.
Then my hand would fall to the floor. Still clutching a pitch-black flower.

Thud—

Of course it’s an illusion. My hand is perfectly intact, after all.
But one wouldn’t easily see through it.

‘The sensation in my hand is cut off. Even I feel as though it’s truly severed.’

I’d been working with Illusion for about thirty minutes when it happened.
A warm trickle ran from my nose, and when I touched it with my hand, blood came away. I hastily ceased World Forgery. The flower field and the severed wrist vanished, revealing the intact room beneath.

‘The room’s spinning.’

I’d poured out too much Mana in too short a time. I decided to end my training here.
After a hot shower, I lay down on the bed. My mind began to dissolve into darkness, consciousness slipping away.
An amusing thought crossed my fading awareness. After struggling like this today—what if I woke up and this was all just home? A dream?
That would be funny. That it was all a dream, after all…….

— Professor. It’s morning!

…Right.

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