“Here are your dividends for the choices you made! Thank you for using our services! Please come again!”

“Hm. Not bad.”

Luca smirked as he looked at the cash cards paid out as dividends.

He had said it was just “not bad,” but judging by the color of the cash cards, it was far beyond “just okay”.

Opalescent cash exchange cards.

There were as many as five cards of the same color Ottbo had used when he first bought the auto-carriage.

There were a few other colored cards besides those, but compared to the opalescent ones, the rest weren’t even worth bothering about.

‘I probably won’t have to worry about running out of money anytime soon.’

A complete turnaround with a single shot.

For a moment, Luca felt he understood, just a little, why people get addicted to gambling.

“Oh my… You’ve really gathered a surplus fund…”

Bella admired the money he had earned.

“Didn’t you trust Ottbo?”

“Normally, people wouldn’t. He hasn’t even been driving for a whole month yet.”

Luca chuckled at Bella’s perfectly reasonable answer.

“That’s true.”

After all, Luca himself had secretly asked Whistle to protect Ottbo with the power of the clouds in case anything went wrong.

‘To think a guy like this disappeared without ever contributing to the main story. What a pity.’

Luca shook his head, then saw Ottbo coming over with the winner’s prizes.

“Luca! I did it!”

“Excellent work, Ottbo.”

“Hehe. Here are the winner’s prizes!”

With that, Ottbo handed Luca three bags, commonly known as “public seven bags” for their shape.

All of them were enchanted with subspace magic.

“This one has money, this one contains other prizes like an engine with ancient drive magic, and this one is the latest auto-carriage from a famous brand.”

“The rest make sense, but why give money in a subspace bag?”

“This is cash.”

Apparently, gold coins were troublesome to store.

That’s why cash exchange cards had been created, but they sometimes couldn’t be used. So many people still preferred actual cash.

“It’s quite a lot. I heard it’s 100,000 gold.”

“… Huh.”

1 gold is about 1 dollar.

So 100,000 gold is 100,000 dollars.

If you use the exchange rate when the original novel was serialized, that’s over 100 million won.

‘That’s truly impressive.’

The thought of a hundred million won, in cash, contained in that bag was astonishing.

And the fact that Ottbo had won first place in a league offering such a prize also amazed Luca.

“As expected, when it comes to drive magic, you have prodigious talent.”

“Hehe…”

“Well then, let’s go somewhere suitable and resurrect White Noise.”

At Luca’s words, Ravinia hurried over from where she’d been waiting in the back.

“There’s an Albino hideout nearby!”

The Albino organization had once been quite prominent in the south, though it had collapsed in a single blow.

Naturally, they had a base in Tka territory as well.

But what state it was in was questionable.

“Didn’t Tularik strip everything from them?”

“S-still, it should be fine for immediate use, shouldn’t it…?”

Seeing her speak hesitantly, Luca clicked his tongue.

“Then lead the way.”

* * *

“Ha. How wretched.”

“……”

Albino’s hideout was almost completely destroyed by the Tularik guards Tularik.

Not only had the building collapsed, but bloodstains that hadn’t quite disappeared could still be seen.

“At least they cleaned it up a little to keep the bugs away.”

Apparently, even the bodies had been removed for the sake of appearances by the authorities of Tka territory, but the place was far from spotless.

Looking at the ruined site, Ravinia wore a complicated expression.

“Let’s finish this quickly without wasting time.”

Luca had already taken out the engine enchanted with ancient drive magic.

He seemed unwilling to let them get lost in their emotions.

“So this is ancient drive magic…”

Ottbo examined the engine with curiosity.

It looked like a thick disc.

Luca asked Ottbo, who was inspecting the engine.

“What’s the difference from modern drive magic?”

“Hmm. Ancient drive magic combines two functions: it converts magic power into a special kind of energy and uses that energy to move things efficiently. But exactly what the converted energy is used for hasn’t been determined. So, our family’s ancestor removed the part that converted magic power into that special energy, and just maximized the part that moves things efficiently. That became the foundation for modern drive magic.”

“Huh. I see.”

Indeed, whenever they talked about drive magic, Ottbo became as knowledgeable as a professor.

Now he explained things simply enough that even Luca could roughly understand.

“Ottbo. Wouldn’t it be better if you just became a professor specializing in drive magic?”

“Haha… Even as a drive magic professor, you still have to be able to use regular magic to some extent.”

“Oh, really. That’s a shame.”

While Luca felt it was a pity, Ottbo looked at his own hands.

‘… I feel like I might be able to use regular magic now, though…’

When Lubak Castle had collapsed, Ottbo had used flight magic for Bella.

‘… I should try practicing magic again later.’

Resolving this silently, Ottbo fell behind as Luca looked to Ravinia.

“Ravinia. Take out White Noise.”

“… Yes.”

With a resolute face, Ravinia placed her hand to her chest.

Tsutsutsu!

A cocoon, transformed from White Noise, emerged from her chest.

Ravinia carefully set it atop the engine.

At that moment, White Noise shuddered and melted into the engine as if being absorbed.

“!”

Everyone was astonished for a moment, but the engine was then dyed completely white.

Crackle! Fizz! Crack!

A few seconds later, the engine shattered, and out came something that looked more like a tardigrade than the familiar larva.

“Uh, yikes…”

Ottbo groaned in horror.

The others felt the same; after all, it wasn’t a particularly cute form.

“White… Noise…?”

Ravinia stumbled in her words, seemingly startled.

At that moment, a voice came from White Noise.

― Thank you, everyone. Thanks to you, I have regained my true form, which had been corrupted by the devil.

“Huh. So that’s your true form.”

A distinctly mature woman’s voice.

The beautiful voice, so at odds with its grotesque appearance, made Luca let out a hollow laugh.

― Yes. Not just my form, but I have also regained my original power and name.

“Your original name?”

Luca looked puzzled at what it (she?) said.

― Yes. My original name is Waypoint. The waypoint that lets warriors travel to their final destination.

“Waypoint…?”

Luca repeated the name, then turned to look at Ravinia.

“Ravinia. Where did your surname ‘Way’ come from?”

“White Noise said we’re the path to salvation, so we should use Way as our surname…”

Ravinia looked dazed.

At that, “Waypoint” spoke up.

― White Noise ultimately originated from me. She spun words from the information I held. The surname “Way” would also be derived from me.

“Huh. That’s interesting. Then what is your true power?”

― It is essentially the same as that of “White Noise”, but the purpose and directionality are different.

Waypoint squirmed as she spoke.

― My power is not a refuge for the weak. When warriors lose their fighting ability in battle against devils yet still have the will left, I allow them to fight again, as many times as needed. That’s my true power.

“Isn’t that the same as before? With White Noise?”

It didn’t seem much different from when she was White Noise.

But Waypoint shook her head.

― It’s different. The biggest difference is that I respect each individual’s will and allow them to die honorably.

“Huh… So there’s no essential difference in ability?”

― There is one thing that can never be done when corrupted by the devil.

Waypoint raised a foreleg.

― When the lives and wills of warriors are gathered, I can pass them on to a synchronizer, allowing them to transcend. Only the greatest creation of mankind, the “Great Soul”, can use this miraculous power. I can use that power.

“… Ho.”

Transcendence.

It was to allow the powers of a god to be used by a human body.

All the Great Souls could use it.

‘Except for White Noise in the original story.’

To be precise, Ravinia Way had accomplished something similar, but failed and was killed by the protagonist.

The protagonist didn’t synchronize with White Noise and so never used transcendent power.

But now, listening to Waypoint, it seemed that the corrupted White Noise in the original work simply couldn’t use that transcendent power.

“Transcendence… what is it…?”

― Transcendence is…

“Ravinia Way. If we start explaining that, it’ll take too long. Ask about it later.”

Luca cut off Waypoint and looked at Ravinia.

“White Noise—no, Waypoint is revived, so let’s make things clear.”

“Clear…?”

“Yes.”

Luca met Ravinia’s gaze.

Twitch!

Ravinia seemed to blush and tried to avoid his eyes, but Luca held her chin and made her look at him.

“Eek!”

“This isn’t the time or place for joking around. Listen up.”

At Luca’s icy words, Ravinia pulled herself together and looked him in the eyes.

“Please, go ahead.”

“I have one goal. To destroy the organization called ‘Demonz’ that’s making a mess of this continent. And they use the power of devils.”

“The power of the devil…”

Ravinia’s gaze sharpened.

She also now knew that Waypoint had been corrupted by the power of the devil to become White Noise and that countless people had suffered because of it.

“Whether devils exist or not, misfortune exists in this world. The things you experienced weren’t the work of devils, but just one of the ten thousand misfortunes found in human society. But if we get rid of that, the number of people in pain will surely decrease.”

Luca’s eyes were calm, like a clear lake.

Her face was reflected in those eyes.

“To say you’ll save everyone you speak of is delusional. But to say you’ll reduce the number of suffering people by even one, that’s an attainable ideal. Are you willing to use your power for that?”

“An attainable… ideal…!”

As she echoed Luca’s words, her eyes shone like a lake reflecting the night sky.

“I will. I’ll follow the angel’s words!”

The moment she answered thus, the hint was completed.

[White Plague, Albino]

-(A special condition has been met; this process has been omitted.)

-(A special condition has been met; this process has been omitted.)

-(A special condition has been met; this process has been omitted.)

― Contact Ravinia Way. (○)

― Make Ravinia Way and Albino face their own wrongdoing. (A special condition has been met; this process has been omitted.)

― Let Ravinia Way and Albino escape the bonds of fate. (○)

― Additional Condition: Reconstruct White Noise using the engine embedded with ancient drive magic. (○)

* Hint Completion Reward: 〈White Plague, Albino〉 exclusive ability, 150 pt exclusive ability points, 9th-grade information scan voucher.

* Additional condition achievement reward: 9th-grade “Additional Hint” is provided.

[Exclusive Abilities]

― Complete a main hint to gain an exclusive ability.

― Cumulative exclusive ability points: 300pt

― Number of currently activatable exclusive abilities: 3

― Currently active exclusive abilities: Shadow Over the Academy, eccentric Alchemist Bern Doyner, white Plague Albino.

― Accumulating exclusive ability points increases the number of activatable exclusive abilities.

[Exclusive Ability: White Plague, Albino]

― When you have life force exceeding a certain level, physical regeneration ability is enhanced.

― When you have mental strength exceeding a certain level, physical regeneration ability is enhanced.

― You may use the special skill ‘Super Regeneration’.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep