Chapter 12. Dekan Decided to Make Some Equipment for Her

Cornelia didn’t really like the library. One could say she rarely came to this place. But if she wanted to avoid failing classes in the future, it seemed she would have to come study with me more often.

We sat on opposite sides of a small round table.

I had originally planned to finish reading my book before discussing the Shadow World strategy with Cornelia. But when I looked up, I noticed Cornelia was sitting silently across from me, eyes closed.

She had been reading for a while, but seemed to have gotten a headache and put the book back. Then she just sat there, quietly meditating.

I realized she was very good at calming her mind.

That was also her talent as a top fighter.

She simply didn’t like studying.

I tapped the table lightly.

Cornelia quickly opened her eyes and looked straight at me.

“Let me see your cards.”

Cornelia took a few magic cards from her pocket and handed them to me. Then she quietly watched me.

I rubbed the cards, frowning as I looked them over.

All of Cornelia’s were third-rank white common cards, with rather poor attributes.

Her favored weapon seemed to be a sword. Because all of these cards were identical mass-produced swords.

“Broken……” Cornelia said, a little embarrassed.

“I understand.” I nodded and handed the cards back to her.

I already guessed why she carried so many blank white swords.

If equipment summoned by an equipment card got destroyed, it couldn’t be used again until repaired by a repair specialist.

It seemed Cornelia’s brute strength often broke her weapons.

To her, weapons were basically consumables. And since her magic power wasn’t very abundant, and she might need to summon weapons multiple times in one battle, she carried no body-enhancement spell cards. Summon cards she needed even less.

Magic cards were divided into three types: summon cards, spell cards, and equipment cards.

Mana consumption went: summon cards > spell cards > equipment cards.

And battle roles were thus divided into: Summoner, Mage, Fighter.

Summoners focused on tactics, carrying as many summon cards as possible, and maybe some spell cards depending on the situation. They suited people with high spirit and stamina.

Mages usually carried a mix of all three card types, suited for those with high magic power and high spirit. They were naturally skilled with spells, and spell cards in their hands dealt the highest damage.

Fighters mainly carried equipment cards and a small number of spell cards, suited for those with high strength and stamina but lacking in spirit.

Cornelia was clearly a standard Fighter type.

“Can I see your four-stat test results?” I asked.

Cornelia took out a piece of paper, scribbled something, and handed it to me.

On it was written: Strength SSS, Magic C, Stamina S, Spirit D

This was her growth potential, tested at enrollment.

I remembered mine was: Strength E, Magic C, Stamina D, Spirit SS.

Actually, being graded A in any one attribute was already excellent.

S meant the realm of genius, above that was monster-level.

I had thought having SS-level Spirit growth already made me an outrageous type of candidate.

I hadn’t expected someone could even test out at SSS-level.

I thought about it. Cornelia’s combat power still had a lot of room to improve. If I made her some cards suited for her, it would help. Anyway, we would likely team up often, so before heading out I’d better strengthen her deck first.

“When, go Shadow World?” Cornelia, seeing me silent for so long, asked the question most important to her.

“Give me two weeks.” I answered.

I needed time to make some equipment for Cornelia, and also to wait for the cooldown on my Crown of Agony to finish.

After all, since we were going to the real Shadow World, it was safer for a fragile guy like me to have another life-saving method ready. During those two weeks, I could also finalize my electives.

Cornelia nodded at my words.

With the time agreed upon for our Shadow World challenge, she happily said goodbye to me and left the library.

......

Over the next two weeks, I attended my compulsory courses regularly every day.

Although they were basically a waste of time for me, the course load was light enough that I could tolerate it.

I treated it as a rest.

And since I sat in the back row reading books borrowed from the library, the teachers didn’t bother me. After all, not many in the classroom actually paid attention.

As long as one followed the rule of “do what you want without disturbing others,” the teachers would turn a blind eye.

After leaving Class A’s classroom, I would go sit in on electives that interested me.

But in the end, I only chose two.

Cornelia, on the other hand, chose no electives at all, and thus seemed especially free.

I noticed that if I went to the library, I would usually run into her.

She always sat at our usual little round table.

Although Cornelia didn’t like studying, she was a good student, working hard to finish her assignments.

It was just that when she did math problems, she occasionally ground her teeth.

She really didn’t know how to do them.

At those times, I kindly slid her a piece of paper with hints written on it.

Though I sat across from her reading, whenever I noticed her stuck, I would jot down formulas or problem-solving steps on blank paper to help her.

Every time she looked at my hints, she quickly found the solution.

She finally became certain—I was indeed good at studying.

In the end, Cornelia simply pulled her chair over beside me. Whenever she ran into trouble, she would look at me.

I could only sigh and pick up my pen, scribbling and explaining on her draft paper.

The math of this world mainly focused on arithmetic and algebra, about the difficulty of middle school math in my past life. For someone like me, a master of studying, it was far too easy.

Gradually, Cornelia even chose to write assignments for the other two compulsory liberal arts courses by my side. Because she discovered I really knew all of it.

I never gave her the answers outright, but I could always see where her knowledge gaps were and point her directly toward the right path.

If that was the case......

Maybe next semester she could consider choosing a few of the same electives as me?

The fear of failing classes that once haunted Cornelia was no longer her nightmare.

Her daily mood had lightened considerably.

......

Two weeks passed quickly.

If one were to ask what most drew the attention of the students in the third week of the semester, it would definitely be that Cornelia and I were going to challenge the Shadow World.

Even quite a few seniors and teachers began paying attention to our first battle.

Students of the three combat academies could challenge the Shadow World during class periods.

Since some Shadow Worlds took a very short time, while others took long, students might miss certain classes because of it.

But as long as they obtained prior approval from their homeroom teacher, it was fine.

Missed classes could be made up afterward.

In truth, very few students challenged the Shadow World right after enrollment.

Students usually only began attempting it in their second semester.

First-year students needed special permission from their homeroom teacher.

Cornelia and I went to Professor Anno’s office to express our intent.

Professor Anno hesitated a little, thought it over, but ultimately approved.

If it had been other students, he wouldn’t have allowed them to challenge the Shadow World this early. But if it was Dekan and Cornelia, there should be no problem.

Though he couldn’t help but worry about the safety of the other challengers who might get matched with them.

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