Back in the dormitory, I quickly racked my brain.

First, failing doesn’t mean death.

It means this proposal is one that’s okay to fail.

But considering the unlucky title of Route 2, it’s likely similar to the failure route of the proposal in Chapter 1, “Even a Blind Hen Sometimes Finds Grain,” so there’s no need to go down a negative path.

“And it would be a shame to miss the reward.”

I summoned the proposal window again.

It says to bring my Health stat to 0 within a week.

Since they’ve dangled the reward so openly, it’s clear they mean a pure 0 score, not one boosted by potions or artifacts.

‘How should I go about this?’

If I throw all my time into training blindly, it’s likely to just waste time.

I need to think and act strategically.

‘The timing of this proposal is odd.’

The proposal appeared right after Leo showed me the herbs.

So, the success of this proposal likely hinges on whether I can successfully turn poison into a booster.

Just as the Skill category encompasses many activities like studying, reading, and training, Health is the same.

If I could manipulate the stats through rewards, I wouldn’t know, but the status window’s categories simply ‘represent’ my condition, not determine it.

Strengthening my core to achieve a 0 Health score doesn’t mean my physical strength also goes from negative to 0.

‘But, a more efficient core means a stronger foundation for longer workouts.’

That’s why I need the potion.

Even if I train at the current intensity every day, it would be challenging to achieve 0 within a week, let alone before midterms.

However, if I strengthen my core while training, it’s a different story. The maximum time I can train increases.

Thus, making the potion is just the start; my effort is also required to succeed in this proposal.

In that case, should I go hunting once more to get an elixir or place an order?

No.

I quickly shook my head.

If we assume that converting the effects of the poison into a positive booster works, it would take several days of hunting, unless I encounter another werewolf, to get an elixir of the same efficacy.

Whether I spend time hunting for an elixir or making a booster, the outcome is the same…

‘It’s better to try something that offers more long-term benefits now.’

The next morning, after visiting my homeroom professor’s office, I arrived at the classroom.

“I read your notes well, guys.”

I smiled as I handed back the notebooks. The students looked down at them with pale faces.

“……”

“You don’t have to return them…”

“Yeah, Lucas. You can borrow them longer. We know you’re not extorting the notes.”

“What are you talking about? Midterms are only a month away, you need to study too. Be ready to take notes.”

I gestured towards the notebooks and then packed my bag and stood up.

“Class will start soon. Work hard.”

“Huh?”

The students’ eyes were filled with questions.

Who leaves the classroom while saying class is about to start? One student cautiously voiced his doubt.

“Where are you going…?”

“I think I caught a cold after yesterday morning. I got permission from the professors, so don’t worry.”

“What? Then who’s taking notes?”

I shook my head and smiled at the student’s question.

“Why would I come here on a day I’m skipping class?”

“……”

“Do well today. See you at six.”

I patted the students’ shoulders and left the classroom with a smile.

* * *

There was no cold or anything like that.

As soon as I arrived at my room, I quickly laid out my experiment tools.

As I unpacked everything on the desk, I paused when I came across a small animal.

‘…?’

What’s this?

The animal that the exchange student mentioned keeping was curled up here, sleeping.

‘I heard it was left at the administration office.’

Narce and the other exchange students for this semester left their luggage at school and departed for the imperial palace today. They said they left the animal’s cage at the administration office since they couldn’t take it to the palace.

I grabbed the animal and headed to the first-floor dormitory administration office. Sure enough, the animal’s cage was there.

After returning the animal, I quickly dumped my brother’s medicine box on the desk and counted the vials.

The medicine my brother gave me was for a year, calculated generously as 60 vials for 5 weeks a month.

For now, I should use it conservatively, since I don’t know what might happen.

I’ll limit myself to 30 vials and keep the remaining 30 for unforeseen circumstances.

‘Using about 10 vials for the experiment should be enough.’

I opened one vial and diluted the poison.

‘The problem is how to verify the efficacy.’

I thought about capturing a beast, but… it didn’t seem fair to put them through that.

With no better option, I had to test it on myself.

Today’s experiment focused on temperature and ingredient ratio.

I might fail at this stage, but I’ll start with these two variables.

There are many possibilities, but I have no choice but to confront them directly.

Leo is not his future self, so there’s nothing specific I can gain from asking for his help.

He might be more skilled than I am, given his upbringing, but I can’t drag him out of class.

With that, I began the experiment.

* * *

Knock knock—

“Lucas, we brought the notebooks.”

After six in the evening, I heard the students’ voices outside.

These guys are doing something they don’t normally do.

I didn’t expect them to come on their own, but it seems they understood my words well yesterday.

“Lucas?”

“Leave them in front.”

I shouted in the loudest voice I could muster and got up from the sofa.

Then, realizing I had overestimated my strength, I lay back down.

‘Damn it…’

The cold was self-inflicted.

Even with just a few drops per attempt, the effect was clear.

No, it wasn’t an effect but rather a detrimental impact. Drinking poison after a long time left me unable to muster any strength.

Checking the status window, my Health stat had dropped by 1 point. It would return in a week, but still.

I extended my hand.

It was shaking wildly as if someone was holding and shaking it.

‘So this is what happens if you stop and then drink it again.’

You experience all sorts of things in life.

That’s why I wanted to test it over a long period.

So, did I fail?

I took a deep breath to calm the trembling.

Then, I reached out and grabbed the vial on the table, pouring its contents into my mouth. My chest instantly felt cold, and that sensation spread throughout my body.

‘Status window.’

Lucas Rene Askanian

Title: Hunter of ???

Health: +3.3 (+7.0) [+6.3]

Mental Power: -6.6 (+1.0)

Magic Power: ?

Skill: +1.07 (+0.05) [+4.07]

Impression: -10

Luck: -5.385 (+1.0)

Traits: Dawn 777, Divine Power

I succeeded. In just one day.

“Ha, haha… ha…”

I laughed crazily, exhaling deeply.

I don’t know if you can call it luck. It was the result of going through more than half of my pre-arranged plans.

Still, I’m satisfied with succeeding by just adjusting the temperature and ratio.

I sprang up from my feeble state.

The fatigue remained, but I could stand up as vitality returned to my core.

‘Let’s test magic first.’

Thanks to the potion and artifact, I had a core of 6.3, which was hard to believe. I needed to see the result directly to feel it.

I lightly rubbed my fingers to conjure a flame.

Crackle―!

‘Oh.’

I marveled at the red magic that flared up before my eyes.

Without directly drawing power from my core, the magic released smoothly with just a simple mental image and motion.

It wasn’t just that the flow of magic had become smoother.

The color was subtly different. Although it was still the usual red magic, each strand had a unique hue. The magic Leo saw as a child was probably closer to this than what I normally used.

The variety of colors is a hallmark that distinguishes a talented mage from a mediocre one. It means I can naturally wield various types of magical energies.

Even though my Magic Power stat hadn’t increased, seeing such a change just from a healthier core felt novel.

‘Should I check the Divine Power too?’

I naturally etched the Divine Power formula in my mind and rubbed my hands together with the same intensity as before.

The air shimmered smoothly like the surface of water, and a pure white light scattered as if sunlight hit it. Even with a slight activation, the curtain on the other side of the room fluttered.

‘This is even more potent than the magic.’

The activation range was different.

This must be the kind of magic Pleroma uses.

‘I always thought it was funny to call this power bestowed by God…’

Anyway, Divine Power here is considered sacred, and I can manifest the most perfect proof of faith with my hands. I’m genuinely curious if anyone would still claim I’m not Pleroma after seeing this.

Regardless, the preparations were complete.

Now, I need to see how much more of the potion I can take.

Ideally, I’d pour it all in until I reach a score of 10, but even good things can be burdensome if consumed all at once.

I replicated the previous concoction method to create more of the potion.

Sure enough, after my Health stat increased by 0.2 points, I began to feel a dull pain in my core. I immediately stopped and tidied up.

‘With the artifact, my maximum is 6.5 points.’

I’ll need to top up slightly whenever the potion’s effect wears off.

Now, I can use magic all day without easily getting tired. I took out my pendant.

Just as I was about to infuse it with magic, an unfamiliar sound reached my ears.

“Peep…”

I stopped and looked around.

“Peep!”

‘Hmm?’

It was unmistakably an animal’s cry.

I turned around immediately.

The grayish-brown creature I had taken to the administration office stared at me with a strangely haggard look.

Seeing it with open eyes for the first time, it looked more like a hamster than a mouse. Though, even that wasn’t certain.

One thing was clear, though.

It looked like it could gnaw through wood if it slipped under the furniture.

‘Why is it here when I left it at the administration office?’

After a tense staring contest with the animal, I quietly surveyed the surroundings.

Is there something to cover it with?

Nothing.

Deciding on a course of action, I quickly wiggled my fingers.

Ping―!

The animal floated into the air. Thankfully, its small size made it easy to manipulate with magic.

I tucked my pendant back inside my clothes and brought the animal closer. First, I’d release this creature outside, then head for training. I carefully dispelled the magic and grabbed the animal with one hand.

“Peep!”

“Yeah, I’ll let you go now.”

“Wait!”

I opened the door, tossed the notebooks left outside into my room, and turned to close the door when a chill ran down my spine.

“……”

Who said that last part?

I looked around.

I have this floor to myself. No one wanted a room on Luca’s floor.

Although, there’s a rooftop right above, and students often pass by using the stairs on either side.

Someone might have yelled from the lower floor or outside, and the sound carried up. Being evening, sounds could carry better from below.

Satisfied with this logical answer, I resumed walking.

“Hey, wait! Hold on a sec!”

“……”

I glanced at my hand with a cold stare.

A rational suspicion crossed my mind, making me doubt if I’d gone completely mad in this crazy world.

“Are you planning to throw me out? Listen to me first!”

“What…”

Feeling dizzy, I loosened my grip, and the animal clung desperately to my hand.

“Peep!”

Let’s calm down for a moment.

There’s no one around, yet I hear a human voice.

Coincidentally, the animal is saying things a person might say.

There are stories about Divine Power bestowing animals with human-like traits here, but nothing like this has ever actually happened.

Maybe Luca was so lonely he wished animals could talk, and now he’s hallucinating.

“I’m really talking to you! Please listen before you throw me out.”

I looked up at the ceiling and rubbed my face with my free hand.

After taking a deep breath, I seriously considered where my sanity had gone wrong.

As usual, I concluded it was more likely that the world was crazy rather than me.

‘Status window, please.’

I looked into the animal’s round eyes and called for the status window.

‘Status window.’

As if it would appear.

I sighed at my own foolishness and looked away.

Just then, something flashed before my eyes.

Pai

Favorability: +10

Title: —

Health: +1

Mental Power: 0

Magic Power: +1

Skill: +1

Impression: +3

Luck: +1

Trait: Divine Power

* * *

Seeing such a human-like status window, I couldn’t ignore it.

More importantly, for some reason, the favorability was +10. This was the second positive score, after Narce.

I needed to understand why.

I calmly returned to my room to have a conversation.

To cut to the chase, the animal did talk.

Talking to it, I realized its mental age wasn’t very high. Probably equivalent to a human five or six-year-old.

It knew that the students tried to feed it to me, that I didn’t eat it, and that I safely handed it over to its owner.

The maximum favorability was likely because of these reasons.

‘For an animal, is the evaluation lenient?’

Not only was it high, but it had already hit the maximum, which was surprising.

Of course, favorability might have increased more because we could communicate.

It said it couldn’t talk to most humans because the Divine Power wasn’t compatible, and I was only the second human it could communicate with.

The reason for escaping the administration office was that it needed to drink holy water as an energy source for Divine Power, but the staff gave it regular water instead of the holy water Narce left.

While infusing Divine Power into its body, I asked,

“Feeling better now?”

“Yes! Thank you.”

The animal flopped onto its back on the desk.

“But what… what kind of animal are you?”

“Kind?”

“I mean, what species are you?”

After thinking for a long time, it answered,

“I don’t know! I’m just me.”

“Alright, I see.”

What did I expect… It’s probably something similar to a hamster.

Giving up on understanding, I took it back to the administration office.

* * *

“Phew…”

I put away my wand and stood up.

Looking outside, dawn was breaking.

I left Pai at the administration office and practiced magic in the training ground until midnight, then focused on physical training.

Thus…

Ding―!

Chapter 3. Constant Dripping Wears Away the Stone (1)

Quest 2: Achieve ‘Health’ Score 0 (1/1) (9 hours 17 minutes 33 seconds)

Route 1 — Chapter 3 Special Reward

Route 2 — Chapter 4. One Swallow Does Not Make a Summer

Congratulations!

Quest 2: Achieve ‘Health’ Score 0 succeeded!

Route 1 — Chapter 3 Special Reward confirmed.

A week had passed.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep