The Genius Professor Wants An Easy Life - Chapter 87

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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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Chapter 87
I frowned deeply.
There was reason enough.
‘The Deleted Night Episodes are about to begin.’
That meant the academy was no longer a safe haven.
Every conceivable threat would come bearing down.
‘I can’t rely on luck anymore. I have to grow stronger.’
Of course, I’d already become considerably more powerful than before, having obtained the Spirit Frost Sword and the Chaos Force among other things.
But the strength I was talking about now wasn’t some convenient shortcut like that.
‘I need to reach 2nd Star Rank.’
2nd Star Rank.
The realm of the Beginner.
As the name suggested, it was a level where even students with no talent could easily advance—a rank that didn’t even earn proper recognition as a magus—yet it remained impossibly distant to me.
I could never reach 2nd Star Rank through ordinary means.
‘But this place is different.’
I turned my gaze.
A massive whirlwind enveloped the entire island.
Inside that vortex lay the ‘materials’ I needed to ascend to 2nd Star Rank—materials I had to obtain.
While I was at it, I’d awaken Katrine as well.
“Don’t worry. Trust me. Let’s go.”
Katrine clenched her teeth as she deliberated, then—to my surprise—nodded readily.
“Understood.”
“Hmm?”
Katrine quickly turned her head away, avoiding my gaze.
“You said to trust you. You must have a plan. Despite how you look, you always keep your word somehow.”
“I look trustworthy enough, don’t I?”
“That pompous act of yours just makes you look like a con artist, if anything. Anyway, let’s go!”
As I stepped toward the interior of the island, a curious phenomenon unfolded.
The closer we approached the whirlwind, the louder the noise became, yet I felt no pressure whatsoever.
“Why is it like this?”
“It hasn’t identified us as enemies yet. This isn’t a simple whirlwind. Wait.”
The moment I spoke those words—
—Welcome, guests!
—Qualifications confirmed! Qualifications verified! You may challenge the Ruin of the Swift Wind Sword!
“What qualifications?”
“Level. If your party’s combined level exceeds 2, this ruin becomes off-limits. Since we’re both below Level 1, we qualify to challenge it together.”
Katrine’s expression soured.
“Level 2 is incredibly low, though.”
“That’s precisely why this place is ranked absolute death-tier. Only greenhorns can challenge it.”
“Still, with you here, we should be fine. Honestly, Professor, you’re only Level 1 on paper, but you’re stronger than most high-level cultivators.”
“No. I won’t be using my strength this time.”
“What?”
I glanced toward the whirlwind.
“I’ll be focused on obtaining the ‘materials’ to advance my rank. It’s an extraordinarily complex task, so I’ll be defenseless. In the meantime, you’ll have to protect me.”
“You want me to overcome the ruin’s trials alone? While guarding you?”
“You understood correctly. That’s right.”
Katrine’s mouth fell open in disbelief.
“It’s fine. You can do it.”
“How can that possibly make sense! There’s no way I can!”
“I believe you can do it.”
Katrine clenched her teeth.
“Ugh, whatever! I’m only going along with what you said, so if anything goes wrong, it’s all your responsibility!”
—Challenge commencing!
—Entering the Ruin of the Swift Wind Sword!
Whoosh!
Light enveloped us both as we were transported to the heart of the vortex.
—Clear condition: Escape!
—Escape from within the vortex within five days!
—Failure to escape within five days will cause the vortex to transform into blades that will shred the challengers’ bodies!
—Upon successful clearing, the Eight Heroes’ Swift Wind Sword will descend personally and bestow his blessing!
Katrine pressed for an answer.
“Well, now that I’m here, tell me. What am I supposed to do?”
“I don’t know. From here on, you’ll have to figure it out yourself.”
“No!”
“I said I’d help you, but I never said I’d spoon-feed you everything.”
!!
Katrine’s mouth snapped shut.
She’d grasped her own mistake.
Her bearing right now didn’t befit the True Protagonist.
“There’s one thing I know: you can breach this impasse entirely on your own, without my help.”
……
I watched Katrine’s fists clench.
Her eyes held the look of someone sinking into deep thought.
I turned my gaze away, leaving her to it.
‘It’s a lie, of course.’
It was impossible for Katrine to solve the trials of the Ruin of the Swift Wind Sword.
A message had appeared to that effect.

– 0%
Not even 0.1%—a clean, flat zero.
But,

– 100%
I possessed a method to breach this Whirlwind.
Yet I shook my head.
‘I can’t step in this time. I have to let Katrine solve it on her own. So she can work a miracle.’
It wasn’t easy.
If she failed, I would die too.
Could I go on trusting her, even when our lives hung by a thread?
‘I have to. This isn’t just for Katrine—it’s for me.’
I gazed at the whirlwind churning around the island.
Naturally, it wasn’t a natural phenomenon.
Nor was it Magic.
It was the trace left by a Level 9 Calamity upon the world.
‘To reach 2nd Star Rank, I need more than Mana. I have to forge a Core.’
A vessel to hold the Mana.
‘Up to 1st Star Rank, no special Core formation is necessary. The Mana itself is barely a pea.’
But 2nd Star Rank was different.
The problem, as always, was my cursed Mana Insensitivity.
Even if I managed to form a Core with my insensitivity, all I’d create was a sieve full of holes.
‘I need another “material” to fill those gaps.’
But what material could possibly exist?
It would be easier to heal a Core shattered by Demonic Possession than to reinforce one riddled with holes—no ancient elixir in all the world could mend it.
‘That’s why I came to Whirlwind Island.’
I studied the whirlwind bearing down on the island.
That vortex was a kind of “vessel.”
A “vessel” born from Calamity.
‘I need to analyze the Calamity within that whirlwind, ritualize it through Magic, and use it to reinforce my Core.’
Even for me, success was uncertain—a task of staggering difficulty.
My pride couldn’t bear to help Katrine.
‘I get only one chance at Whirlwind Island. If I lose this chance, my path to 2nd Star Rank vanishes.’
Therefore, Katrine had to work her miracle alone, without my aid.
“I’m beginning.”
I closed my eyes.
The die was cast.
* * *
“Professor? Professor?”
I didn’t answer.
I wasn’t sure what he was doing, but whatever it was, it seemed vitally important.
One wrong touch could cause serious injury, so I couldn’t call out to him again.
“No, you’re seriously leaving this to me? What the hell?”
A low whistle escaped her lips.
She stared at the whirlwind’s terrible majesty, her face drawn with dismay.
‘How am I supposed to break through that and escape?’
With her pitiful Magic, it was utterly impossible.
“I have to do it with a sword?”
Katrine gazed uncertainly at the blade hanging at her waist.
It was a gift Alfonso had bought for her on the way here.
“I haven’t even decided to become a Knight yet.”
She was still wavering because of lingering doubts.
But now, at least, it seemed she had to make do with the sword somehow.
‘But what am I supposed to do with it? I don’t even know basic swordplay.’
If her Magic was 1st Star Rank, then swordplay was completely foreign to her.
‘If I swing like this, will it cut?’
Katrine tried slashing at the whirlwind’s winds with her blade, then flinched in horror.
Crackle-crackle-crack!!!
The blade shattered in an instant, as if she’d shoved a sword into the teeth of a gear.
‘I need a different approach.’
Katrine’s brow furrowed in concentration.
‘Damn it, I’m useless at coming up with brilliant ideas. What suits me is just doing what’s set out for me, stupidly and stubbornly.’
She exhaled a long breath and wrote “Whirlwind” in large letters on the ground. Beside it, she wrote “Wind”.
It was a mind map she often used when studying.
‘The whirlwind is wind. To overcome wind? I need the power of earth.’
The thinking of an aspiring mage.
Just then, a memory surfaced—something Alfonso had told her.
—I’ll make you a 3rd Sword Rank Knight within a week.
“!!”
The answer struck her like lightning.
‘I have to channel Earth Magic into my sword and cut through that whirlwind!’
Knights come in two kinds.
The Sword Knights, who wield only the blade in its purest form.
And the Dual Knights, the battle mages who blend Magic with swordplay.
Channeling the power of Magic into a blade was the realm of Level 3 Dual Knights.
‘But how do I channel Magic into my sword?’
Katrine blinked.
She had no knowledge of this.
‘No idea. Let’s just try.’
Act first, think later.
It was what Katrine did best.
Swoosh!
She began swinging the blade while channeling Earth Magic.
Without pause.
* * *
‘She’s at least heading in the right direction.’
I cracked one eye open and watched what Katrine was doing.
‘She’ll master channeling Magic into her blade within the week. She’s put in the effort for it.’
For a Dual Knight, what mattered most was, surprisingly, persistence and effort.
Perfecting both sword and Magic through dedicated practice was more important than being merely ‘good’ at each.
‘The problem is that won’t be enough.’
This is the Ruin of the Swift Wind Sword—one of the Eight Heroes themselves.
It couldn’t possibly be easy.
She would need to pull off an additional ‘miracle’.
‘And that’s not all.’
I swallowed hard.
While analyzing the whirlwind, I’d detected an unexpected problem.
‘…What is that phantom?’
Deep within the whirlwind.
A ghostly, translucent spirit appeared.
It was a spectral form—one I recognized.
‘It’s the Swift Wind Sword, one of the Eight Heroes! Why does he remain as a phantom?! Does his blessing descend by appearing as a specter?!’
That wasn’t the problem.
‘…Why does he keep staring at me?’
It wasn’t I who was facing the trials in the Ruin right now—it was Katrine.
Yet the phantom of the Swift Wind Sword paid her no mind and fixed his gaze solely on me, as if trying to burn a hole through my skull.
Cold sweat beaded across my skin.
‘Something feels wrong about this.’
A bad premonition coiled in my gut.
‘For now, I’ll shelve that thought. I can deal with it once we’ve overcome the trials.’
If Katrine couldn’t work a miracle, it was all over.
I glanced back at her status and froze.
An unforeseen problem had erupted.
“Ha ha, flailing about so earnestly. Like a little insect.”
“!!”
A mocking voice.
Katrine’s face drained of color the moment she saw who had appeared.
“W-why are you here?”
“Ah, I didn’t come because of you. You hold no interest for me, you see. My business is with him over there.”
Duke Alfonso materialized before us, a smile playing across his lips.
“On reflection, I thought it best to kill you while the opportunity presents itself. So here I am.”

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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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