The Academy’s Ankle Reaper

I wasn’t feeling great about working needlessly at night again.

The doctor who came for the check-up wasn’t the same one I saw on the first day.

It was Professor Nico Praha.

“Professor, you said you absolutely wouldn’t come back. What’s up?”

“…Well, as a sponsor, I have to pay attention. I’m confident in my skills, so don’t worry.”

It seems like he’s pretty good at treating poison gas exposure, just like when he extracted the demon’s magic energy.

Thinking back to when he stubbornly refused to treat Amy but ended up being convinced, this was quite a change.

The fear of losing funding is real.

However, it’s a waste of time to stay in the hospital any longer; I’m planning to be discharged quickly, so treatment doesn’t really matter.

“That might be true, but I’ll be discharged tomorrow. Can’t you see I’m perfectly fine?”

“No way. After inhaling poison gas for several minutes, you can’t possibly be okay.”

When I said I was leaving, Professor Praha looked flustered and tried to stop me.

It was totally thanks to the Master that I endured after inhaling gas that paralyzes the body.

Sure, my body was poisoned by the gas, but the aura filling my body resisted it to the point of only showing minor tingles and making movement difficult.

I was definitely poisoned, so something could go wrong.

It might be right to stay until I’m deemed okay.

“…So, if I get tested and prove I’m fine, will you let me go?”

“When you look fine on the surface is when you need to be the most careful. But… this is a good thing. You’re getting a precise examination, so let’s see what’s going on.”

Professor Praha’s glasses gleamed.

He had definitely suggested doing a detailed examination when the drug’s effect faded last time…

I missed the timing after the duel fiasco, but I’m glad it’s happening now.

There was definitely something I needed to clarify before the test.

“I’m going to have the precise examination, but I won’t be doing this other test.”

“This… alright, let’s go with that. This one won’t have any effect anyway.”

The test I refused was one to check for traces of the Master.

You can’t identify someone who has reached the realm of Master just by their appearance.

It’s tough to determine even through a general physical examination.

A Master is a superhuman among superhumans, but since even high-grade experts are also superhuman, there’s not much difference in looks based on tests.

To those experts, a Master might look like a completely different being, but when tested, the physical appearance wouldn’t differ dramatically from high-grade experts, so they’d just be dumbfounded.

There was only one test that could distinguish between a Master and an expert, and that was to examine the astral body… in other words, the soul.

A Master’s soul would show up much darker than an ordinary person.

If this got out, one of Shadow’s identities would be revealed, so I needed to be particularly cautious.

After receiving confirmation, I headed to the examination room filled with large machines while wearing a hospital gown.

————————————-

The examination was conducted in multiple stages.

First, they checked parts of my body affected by the gas exposure, then it was a full body scan.

Next, they administered some key-growth medicine whose effects were no longer visible, and then they measured body changes.

It didn’t take too long.

Once again, the key-growth medicine didn’t produce any changes.

“Everything seems fine.”

“Right?”

Professor Praha brought over the data and looked troubled.

If there was a clear cause to the noticeable distress, he could solve it, but since there was nothing apparent, he was really scratching his head.

“Um… this is strange. Clearly, there was some stimulation in each area… Let’s do the next test.”

They applied gel to my lower abdomen and heart, attaching several pads.

This was a test to check the overall flow of mana.

“Uh, sponsor…? Your body is strange??”

“Is there some kind of problem?”

Professor Praha looked startled at the test results.

“Why is there something like this inside your body?”

“Uh, what is this?”

The test results she was looking at showed about ten circles, large and small, all in a variety of colors.

Professor Praha pointed to the largest circle with her finger.

“This is Dragon’s Essence. And there’s a lot more besides…”

When she said it was Dragon’s Essence, I could guess where it was from.

It must have been the Transformation Elixir I mistakenly drank, thinking it was the Elixir of Growth in the Snow Country.

That was definitely an elixir that let me learn Polymorph, one of the powers of Dragons… so it was highly likely Dragon’s Essence was included.

Whatever else was in there was pretty obvious without even looking.

“I’ve eaten a lot of good things since childhood, so that must be it. Could that really be a problem?”

The stuff I picked up from Titan as being good for growth when I was little must be the cause.

I thought they’d all melted into my body and become one, but it seemed they didn’t seamlessly blend even though they were all pocketed.

“It’s hard to explain exactly what the problem is, but this could be one of the causes.”

Looking at all those essences coiled up in my belly, Professor Praha had a serious expression.

“Those essences sleeping in your belly could be interfering with the efficacy of the drug, preventing a proper result.”

“Is… is there any way to deal with that?”

I was shocked.

‘I’ve eaten all those things thinking they were good for me!!’

Among them, there were plenty of elixirs that could elevate one’s standing.

I had used some special cultivation methods to digest everything I’ve eaten without getting stuck and live to this day, but could that really turn into a problem?

Those medicines that hadn’t helped my growth at all might now hinder me?

I felt like my entire life was being negated.

“…Well, I need to research a bit more, but there’s a way that comes to mind right away.”

After a lot of thinking, Professor Praha suggested one method.

“We should create a medication powerful enough not to be interfered with by these essences.”

“Is there really something that can rival Dragon’s Essence?”

“…If it’s another dragon… it might be possible.”

You mean hunt a dragon?

I braced myself.

Dragons are… practically an endangered species.

A powerful race, dragons live long and don’t die easily.

But it’s also hard for them to reproduce, so their numbers don’t increase much.

They enjoy transforming into completely different species with the powers of Polymorph and playing power games amidst other races, or finding a place to settle down and being worshiped like gods.

I hadn’t really collided with dragons yet, but I was painfully aware of how powerful that race was.

For humans, Masters are strong, but against a race like dragons that vastly surpass humans, it’s tough to gain an absolute upper hand.

Speaking of which, there is one particularly famous dragon that comes to mind.

‘Saint McKinto…’

One of the highest authorities in the church who has reached adulthood as a dragon species.

If it’s Red Dragon Saint McKinto, who breathes out holy power, he should know where the other dragons are located.

But would he actually tell me?

I’m asking him to reveal the essence of his kind…?

“Hey, why are you listening so seriously??”

“I’ve never killed a dragon, but I’ve been pondering over how to approach it.”

I was thinking very seriously, but Professor Praha looked baffled.

“That was just talk..! It’s hard to find a dragon in this day and age… I’ll look for another way, so forget what I just said.”

That was just the most foolish idea that popped into my mind; I told her to wait while I thought of another way.

In fact, it hasn’t been confirmed that’s the cause.

“The important thing is to clearly determine whether Dragon’s Essence really interferes and if it does, whether there’s a way to escape that effect.”

At least if it’s because of the essences filling my body, that’s a relief.

‘If the reason I haven’t changed is that I’m a Master, that would be much worse.’

Still, the one variable that Professor Praha is unaware of is the fact that I’m a Master.

A Master’s body maintains homeostasis.

This means it has a tendency to keep itself in a near-optimal state as much as possible.

So that’s why our Commander, who is the same age as my peers but who is still in his 20s while having five children, looks exactly the same.

And I haven’t really felt any change for years, having looked the same since before I became a Master.

‘There’s no way that’s the issue.’

If the level of the Master is what’s causing problems, that would seriously complicate matters.

—————————————-

Atlas has been discharged.

It was a relief that he was discharged quickly, but his condition seemed a bit strange.

“Atlas, what are you so deep in thought about?”

“Should I hunt a dragon…?”

“Have you finally gone mad?”

The recently discharged Atlas was saying strange things, likely due to the aftereffects of the gas.

What does he mean by hunting a dragon?

But his companion seemed to take this quite seriously.

– A dragon…? No way… is he planning to kill McKinto? What happened to the Emperor that he, the shadow of the Empire, is targeting a saint…?

I sensed something suspicious… after the Royal Knight Commander returned, Atlas hinted he would be taking down McKinto, which suggested something happened to the Emperor…

‘He’s getting ahead again. I said I’d only be offering advice moving forward.’

I stopped my thoughts from spiraling into a lengthy conspiracy.

At the point where Atlas’s misunderstanding cleared up, his companion decided not to issue commands to me.

He just said to offer advice and let me decide.

-…That’s right. Just let it go in one ear and out the other.

Even though he said he’s moving ahead, Atlas’s gaze looking somewhere far away felt a bit frightening.