LGHTNOVELBOOK 9 - Reading the Room
The class, which had been temporarily suspended due to the unprecedented situation of a human-form summoned creature, resumed.
Of course, Liza returned to the classroom quite a while after the two of us left her office. I assume she probably organized the data and reported it to the chairperson. Perhaps she quickly took measures to prevent any confusion in Summoner.
‘She clearly distinguishes between public and private matters. That’s not bad.’
Most people who can’t distinguish between the two are fools. Idiots who fearlessly charge forward without recognizing their own death place.
The Martial Alliance Leader was exactly like that. Despite knowing that I had shown him mercy by associating with him, he started the Great War Between Good and Evil using the excuse of vicious demonic arts and evil cultivation techniques.
I looked at the woman whose evaluation had risen in my mind.
Liza was almost right in front of me. About one zhang… or around 3 meters away? Unlike being hated by everyone, Ephre was listening to the lecture from the front row. It seems she does try to listen to classes in her own way.
“Shit, maybe I should have sat in the back as usual?”
Apparently not.
Like commonly perceived troublemakers, was she disruptively attending class from the back row or creating a sense of discord, clouding the entire class atmosphere? The thought that she was truly beyond salvation crossed my mind.
Feeling regretful, I said:
“If your skills are insufficient, you should increase the amount of learning and take more time to practice. It’s difficult to achieve something even with tireless dedication. Thus, all worldly matters have become the exclusive property of madmen. Only those who frequently stay up all night leave their mark.”
Ephre listened to those words with slightly furrowed eyes and then retorted:
“Isn’t that saying that if you work your ass off to achieve great things, you just end up feeding others and dying early? That’s definitely something only people with flowers for brains would do. Ugh.”
It was an extremely small voice.
Not to avoid disrupting the class, but to maintain her image of being perfect, beautiful, and elegant in speech and behavior…
I thought it seemed unnecessarily troublesome, especially if she was the only one who saw herself that way, but I didn’t bother to point it out. I don’t have a hobby of tongue-lashing those who aren’t mentally sound.
“These are words I couldn’t imagine coming from a woman’s mouth. Among all the people I’ve seen, I’ve never encountered a child as vulgar, violent, arrogant, disrespectful, and insidious as you. Perhaps even examining ancient and modern times, there’s only one like you. Congratulations. With your three-inch tongue, you’ve become the greatest of all time.”
“Uh… thanks?”
“My goodness.”
It seemed Ephre had a talent for only hearing what she wanted to hear and seeing only the world she wanted to see. She was truly unparalleled. Like a crazy woman.
At that moment, my drowsy eyes met the gaze of the woman on the podium.
—Could you please be quiet during class? I guess being a summoned creature, you don’t know this, but these are the rules here, rules.
—This lord, having newly created the sheep heart technique of the shamanic tongue-tappers as an exclusive technique, can divide my thoughts in two, and thus while imparting teachings, I’m also fully watching and listening to your antics.
—What nonsense are you really talking about?
—I’m serious. Your ignorance in not believing me is truly lamentable.
Of course, none of this was actually spoken aloud.
However, as the embodiment of the Divine Sect and one who had been on the brink of the Boundary of Life and Death, it wasn’t difficult to infer another’s inner thoughts. Isn’t that right? After all, I’ve been dealing with people day and night.
‘The phrasing feels odd.’
…Let me correct myself. After all, I’ve single-handedly faced tens, hundreds, thousands of enemies blocking my path as if it were only natural.
♦♦♦
‘Pervert.’
Liza inwardly shouted, as she looked at the summoned creature… this Cheon Sang-geuk or whatever.
Look at those vulgar eyes. Even now, he was scanning her legs and entire body. And after being caught, he shamelessly just stared at her eyes. As if that’s how one should naturally deal with people.
From any perspective, he lacks awareness as a summoned creature.
Even the imposing appearance, the distinctive presence of a great being, the faint radiance emitting out…
None of these can be found even at the tip of his nose.
Like soup, like bread.
Since the summoner herself is wicked, stupid, and even shameless, it seems the summoned creature has appeared similarly. They’re all equally annoying to look at (it’s not particularly because of the conversation they had dozens of minutes ago. Anyone would see that she’s still in her prime, right? You think I don’t understand the meaning in those demeaning gazes? Don’t be ridiculous. That impudent girl who doesn’t even know the taste of a man).
Of course, Liza herself was also a maiden who had never even held a man’s hand in her entire life, but that wasn’t such an important fact right now.
What was important was the situation where both the man and woman, no, the summoner and summoned creature, were making a fool of her.
[Continuous observation required]
The report she submitted before returning to the classroom could ultimately be defined by that one phrase. As the impudent Ephre said, unless Summoner is stupid, there couldn’t be unauthorized entry… or rather, a form of illegal immigration.
Additionally, isn’t he quite different from ordinary people, or rather, other students?
I’m not talking about his attire, but including his thoughts, words, and all his behaviors. The way he acts as if he’s dropped from a completely different world is one of the typical characteristics of summoned creatures.
Especially those who have manifested in the material world after a very long time, they’re usually similar to him.
‘Though the degree of difference is too extreme.’
She shifted her gaze to escape the stressful situation.
Unlike those two, a child who is always polite, kind, and sets an example for others.
She looked at Sofia with warm eyes (probably no one would guess that Liza’s emotion was ‘healing (small)’ just from this gaze).
“?”
The child who should always be smiling and listening to her class was looking somewhere with a clearly displeased face.
That gaze followed exactly her direction and stopped a little ahead. It was the back of the head of the summoned creature called Cheon Sang-geuk. After staring so intensely that it seemed she might pierce through him, she suddenly turned and now looked at Ephre.
If eyes could kill, Ephre’s head would be pierced through from back to front. It was like witnessing a beam filled with terrifying heat being emitted.
Blink, blink. Liza, who closed and opened her eyes, soon understood on her own. Predictably, Ephre must have upset Sofia. And the summoned creature called Cheon Sang-geuk must have scanned her with vulgar eyes.
‘Men, always the same.’
Even while assuming his identity was a summoned creature, Liza unnecessarily categorized him as a ‘man.’ That way, that instinct-based behavior—those gazes that scanned her legs, body, and face—would make her appear as a woman advantageous for reproductive competition…
♦♦♦
The boring and annoying class ended. Ephre, feeling a throbbing in her head, slowly pondered the contents from just now.
The more psychological bond is built with a summoned creature, the stronger the power the summoned creature can exercise in the material world.
Of course, the principle hasn’t been properly identified yet, and since it’s not a significant difference, it’s not the mainstream opinion in academic circles.
Magic through summoned creatures contracted via soul bonding… in other words, [Summoning Magic], is all influenced by the identity of the summoned creature.
For instance, if what’s summoned is an elemental spirit, it would manifest the power of that element.
In this case, the potency varies depending on how powerful the spirit was in the dimension where it resided. There are spirits whose ‘class’ is fixed, and there are cases where the class rises indefinitely depending on the caster and the individual. It has been observed.
Isn’t that Sofia bitch’s case exactly like that?
A long-eared cat with two tails.
[Maubasuta]
This summoned creature, with the grandiose alias ‘The Judge,’ is a being recorded not only in Summoner but also in historical books from various regions. And it was that two-faced bitch who summoned it, for the first time in about 100 years.
“…So that’s it for today’s class. Let’s see each other next time.”
Liza, who shot a glance at Cheon Sang-geuk, turned her body abruptly. Whether it was her mood, the clicking sound of her heels seemed particularly loud. As if she was deliberately making that sound. The curves of her legs were clearly revealed beneath her tight H-shaped skirt.
Ugh. Why is that old woman acting like that again?
Ephre barely held back what almost became a retching sensation and glanced behind. That girl sitting as if it’s natural in the center position vertically and horizontally, as if she’s the protagonist of this class…
Sofia was surrounded by her attendants. Seeing Balangke approaching timidly, she smiled brightly and exchanged cheerful words. Only then did Balangke’s face gradually brighten.
Then suddenly.
Sofia’s gaze moved past the children and towards her.
Their gazes clashed in midair.
‘What are you looking at, you fucking bitch? Your eyeballs. Before I dig them all out.’
Ephre mouthed these words, and that rude girl seemed to understand well. Her face immediately contorted. That was fortunate.
“Hmm-hmm-“
Ephre stood up, humming a tune.
With the summoned creature Cheon Sang-geuk, soon that position would become her position. Furthermore, not just Summoner, but the Empire and the continent would flatter at her feet.