Chapter 14: Scrap Utilization
The man pressed the small black bottle into Hodell's hand and added one final sentence in a flat voice.
"Remember this. The next time we make contact, I will have new instructions. Things have not been peaceful in the School lately. Mind your own business and do not cause trouble."
Then he turned away and resumed trimming the shrubs as if the conversation had never happened.
…
On the walk back to the dormitory, sunlight filtered through the leaves in bright, warm bands.
Yet for some reason, Hodell felt colder with every step.
The system prompt appeared quietly before his eyes.
[You have completed the E Level mission [Theft in the Shadows].]
[You gained 20,000 EXP.]
He lowered his gaze to the bottle in his hand.
Having read the original novel, he was not particularly worried about poison anymore. Between the panel and his current sensory ability, his hands were almost becoming those of some ridiculous old miracle doctor from legend. A touch was enough to tell him far more than most people could find out from careful testing.
[Unknown Medicine: Temporarily enhances the effect of abilities. Addictive. Enhancement duration unknown. Enhancement magnitude unknown.]
Hodell's eyes cooled.
So that is the next step.
The Erhai School truly never let its malice rest.
They wanted him to complete a few obedient tasks first, to build pressure and normalize the pattern. Then, once the next mission came, they could gradually tighten the rope. At that stage, this addictive drug would become the hook.
A reward on the surface.
A leash underneath.
He gave a quiet internal laugh.
Even without the panel, he would not have swallowed something handed to him by those people so casually.
Now, with the panel, the matter became even simpler.
If necessary, he could always pretend he had taken it.
Just as that thought crossed his mind, someone approached from the opposite direction.
The green haired girl.
Celia.
She was holding several books against her chest. When her eyes passed over him, they lingered for a fraction too long. There was something in that gaze.
Not fear.
Not dislike.
Scrutiny.
Hodell's heartbeat slowed.
What did she notice?
Or was it only a coincidence?
He kept walking, but by the time they were nearly about to pass each other, he had already made his decision.
Leaving vague suspicion alone was how future trouble was born.
Better to drag it into the light now and shape it himself.
He stopped.
Turned.
"Student," he said calmly, "could you wait a moment?"
Celia paused as requested and looked back at him. Her emerald eyes held a clear question.
Hodell met her gaze directly.
"I noticed you seemed to have some doubts about me. If some of my actions have caused a misunderstanding, I think it would be better to clarify things now."
His tone carried exactly the right amount of sincerity. No defensiveness, no visible guilt. Just the mild awkwardness of a student who did not want to be misunderstood.
Celia studied him quietly.
A few seconds passed before she finally spoke.
"In the magic class… the way you applied energy was very unusual."
She chose her words carefully.
"If I think back on it now, that was not a standard mana guidance method. It looked more like… pure manipulation of the energy's essence."
So it is not about the Starshimmer Flower.
Relief loosened something in Hodell's chest.
Since he had already taken the initiative, however, simply retreating now would be suspicious in itself.
He thought quickly and smiled.
"It is not very convenient to talk here. Would you mind walking to Mirror Lake?"
Celia hesitated for a moment, then nodded.
Mirror Lake sat in a quieter corner of the academy. In the afternoon, very few students passed through. The surface of the water truly resembled polished glass, reflecting the iridescent sky overhead. When the breeze passed, it broke that reflection into soft ripples of shifting color.
Somewhere far above, a single bird crossed the sky and briefly cut through the lake's mirrored world.
They stopped by the lakeshore.
The air between them grew strangely still.
Then Hodell spoke.
"Celia… have you ever experienced loneliness?"
She blinked.
"…What?"
The question had clearly thrown her off balance.
Hodell kept his gaze on the lake.
"Since I arrived in this world, loneliness has been with me the whole time."
His voice was quiet, almost reflective.
"There are things that seem difficult, mysterious, or even impossible to others, but to me they feel as ordinary as breathing. I know very clearly that I am only a passerby in this world. I will see many things. I will leave traces in many places. But I will never truly fit into it."
Celia's expression became more confused with every sentence.
Hodell continued before she could interrupt.
"I am an anomaly in this world. I can watch the tide rise and fall, but I can never really become part of the shore."
Now she looked openly bewildered.
She understood every individual word.
But once he arranged them together, they turned into something completely incomprehensible.
What is he even saying?
Hodell turned slightly and looked at her.
"It is normal that you do not understand."
Then he lowered his gaze to the lake again.
"Look at the water. Most people only see reflection and movement. I can see the mathematics of every ripple, the refraction angle of every beam of light, the relationship between force and response. To me, these things are simply there."
Celia stared at him for a long moment before asking, with complete seriousness,
"Student Ryan… have your studies been putting too much pressure on you lately?"
Hodell almost laughed.
So this planet also has the euphemistic version of asking someone whether they have lost their mind.
He shook his head calmly.
Then, without another word, he bent down and picked up a smooth stone from the shore.
"Can you perform enchantment?" he asked.
Celia answered instinctively. "Yes."
"If you wanted to enchant a stone like this, how long would it take before it displayed a clear effect?"
She thought about it.
"That depends on the effect, but even for something simple, it would still require very precise energy imprinting and stable mana maintenance. I cannot do that level yet."
"What about a truly outstanding mage?"
"At least a few minutes."
Hodell smiled faintly.
Then he tossed the stone.
It arced cleanly out over the lake.
There was no visible mana fluctuation around it.
No chant.
No obvious magic.
And yet, just before it touched the water—
Boom.
A dull underwater explosion erupted at the center of the lake. Water burst upward in a short plume, violently shattering the stillness.
Celia's pupils contracted at once.
With her knowledge, she could not explain it.
There had been no visible casting.
No obvious enchantment period.
No stable ritual structure.
Yet the stone had exploded like a delayed spell core.
Hodell himself was briefly startled.
The panel had already described the effect of [Scrap Utilization], but even he had not expected a simple stone to display something this close to a grenade.
Fortunately, Celia's attention was locked entirely on the lake.
She noticed nothing unusual in his own momentary reaction.
So he continued, smoothly folding the accident into performance.
"Sometimes," he said quietly, "I have to hide my talent. Right now, I am still too weak. Mediocrity is necessary camouflage."
He picked up a second stone and threw it out.
This time, there was no explosion.
The stone dropped precisely into the expanding ripples left behind by the first blast. For a brief instant, a strange interference pattern appeared as the old turbulence and new circles met. Then the water gradually smoothed itself into a single elegant set of widening rings, catching the iridescent light like liquid glass.
"Look."
His voice softened.
"To you, that is a stone. To me, it is a variable."
He watched the ripples spread.
"What I throw is not a stone, but a thought. The world only responds by giving me ripples."
Celia stared blankly at the lake that had returned to calm.
Then she looked back at him.
The suspicion she had carried before was gone.
What replaced it was a kind of stunned cognitive vertigo.
So he really is a genius?
Hodell saw every shift of expression on her face.
The breeze moved the hair at his forehead and cooled the hidden amusement in his eyes.
Just as he was considering how to bring the conversation to a clean end, a steady, slightly stern voice called from behind them.
"There was some kind of unusual noise here just now. Are you two students all right?"
Both of them turned.
A middle aged man in academy uniform was walking toward them along the path. A Security Department insignia gleamed on his chest. His features were ordinary, but his eyes were as sharp as hooked blades, and every step he took was measured.
His gaze swept across Hodell and Celia, then settled on the lingering traces of disturbance on the lake.
Hodell felt a brief flicker of awkwardness.
He really had underestimated [Scrap Utilization].
With a polite, apologetic expression, he answered first.
"Instructor, we are fine. I had a small magical accident just now, and the sound was probably louder than I expected. I am sorry for the disturbance."
The security instructor studied his face for a beat too long.
Then he smiled.
The smile was easygoing on the surface, but something about it remained cold.
"It is fine as long as nothing happened. The academy has been emphasizing safety control recently. We have to pay attention to any abnormalities."
Then his tone shifted into something almost casual.
"You are Student Ryan, correct? A new freshman from Muai County, if I remember correctly."
"Correct, Instructor."
Hodell kept his posture respectful while every instinct in him sharpened.
"Muai County," the man said leisurely, pacing toward the lakeshore. "Not a bad place. Produces quite a few capable people."
He seemed to be admiring the water.
"How have you been adjusting to the academy? Keeping up with your classes? Especially the practical ones. The ones related to magical botany, for example."
There it is.
Hodell kept his expression perfectly even.
"Thank you for your concern, Instructor. The academy's environment and resources are excellent. I have benefited a great deal. As for magical botany, my understanding is still very shallow. At present, I am mostly working through foundational theory and hoping to reach the practical level in the future."
"Oh? Only theory?"
The instructor finally looked at him directly.
"I have heard that some students with real talent tend to become particularly curious about certain rare plants. Especially the glowing varieties. For instance, some recent little troubles in the greenhouse…"
Celia went still beside him.
Even she could hear the change in tone now.
Hodell could not answer too quickly. If he responded without even a trace of thought, it would look prepared. So he allowed a small amount of confusion to show.
"What plants…? You mean something like Glass Moss? That is fascinating, yes. Did something happen in the greenhouse?"
The instructor watched his face closely, but whatever flaw he had hoped to find did not appear.
He smiled again.
"It is nothing serious. Only a few internal management issues."
Then he continued smoothly.
"By the way, between the night before last and yesterday morning, some areas of the academy underwent routine maintenance, and the energy field in certain sections was slightly unstable. During that time, did you notice anything unusual in your dormitory or the library? Or did you happen to go anywhere special and see anyone out of the ordinary?"
So they have the time window.
Hodell let his features settle into a thoughtful, almost blank recollection.
"Between the night before last and yesterday morning…"
He frowned very slightly.
"I should have been in my dormitory resting. The energy field was unstable? I did not notice anything. Maybe I just slept too deeply."
Then, with the right amount of puzzled concern, he asked in return,
"Instructor… did something serious happen?"
The man ignored the question.
Instead, he pressed a little harder.
"Are you certain you were in the dormitory the entire time? You did not step out at all? Not even to use the washroom? You were not woken by any unusual sound?"
The moment those words ended, Hodell felt the air around him distort almost imperceptibly.
The light shifted.
The instructor's figure seemed to blur beneath a thin translucent veil.
An alien impulse rose in his mind, subtle and invasive.
Then the system reacted.
[You have fallen under an Illusion effect.]
[Checking…]
[Your Intelligence exceeds 60.]
[Check passed.]
[You are immune to this Illusion.]
The false sensation shattered instantly.
The darkness cracked apart and fell away.
In that split second, Hodell traced the direction of the mental force and made his choice.
He deliberately let a very slight glaze come over his eyes. The tension in his posture loosened, and his expression relaxed by a carefully measured degree.
Then he answered in a frank, slightly dazed tone.
"I am sure… I was in the dormitory the whole time. I sleep very deeply. I almost never get up in the middle of the night. I do not think… I do not think I heard anything unusual."
It was a lie.
But it was one delivered after a staged successful suggestion, not with the defensive posture of someone resisting.
That difference mattered.
The sharpness in the instructor's eyes finally softened for real.
The easy smile returned.
"Very well. Thank you for your cooperation, Student Ryan. This was only a routine inquiry. There is no need to feel pressured."
He patted Hodell lightly on the shoulder. Whatever invisible weight had been pressing into Hodell's mind withdrew completely.
"The academy takes student safety seriously. If you notice anything unusual in the future, report it promptly."
"I understand."
The man gave the lake one last glance, nodded politely to Celia, and finally turned away.
Only after his figure had completely disappeared down the path did Hodell allow himself to breathe properly again.
His back was damp with cold sweat.
A wave of relief hit him so strongly it was almost dizzying.
Without [Scholar], without the absurd Intelligence it had given him, he doubted his current Intelligence would even have crossed thirty.
He cursed the Erhai School a hundred times in his heart.
Beside him, Celia let out a soft breath.
She had not seen the mental struggle hidden beneath the surface, but she had felt enough of the atmosphere to know that the exchange had not been ordinary.
She looked at Hodell, concern and uncertainty mixing in her expression.
"Are you all right? That instructor… his questions seemed strangely targeted at you."
Hodell turned back toward her and showed a helpless, faintly bitter smile.
"I am not sure either. Maybe I stand out because I am a new student. Or perhaps the noise from that stone just now really was too much."
Celia shook her head slightly, but her eyes drifted back to the lake.
Her intuition told her it was not that simple.
Still, she did not want to keep pressing him based only on a vague feeling. Genius already attracted enough unnecessary attention. Perhaps what she was seeing was merely the price of that.
After a short silence, Hodell looked toward the sky and broke it first.
"It is getting late. Shall we head back?"
"Okay."
The two of them left Mirror Lake side by side and followed the shaded road back toward the dormitory district. The setting sun stretched their shadows long across the gravel path until the silhouettes briefly overlapped.
By the lake, flocks of birds settled their wings and the water breathed outward in soft circles.
…
That night, Hodell lay on his bed and stared at the newest skill on his panel with an expression too complicated to name.
[Acting Skill]
.....
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