Chapter 302: The Heroine’s Level

Chapter 302

The Heroine’s Level

“But it might just be me overthinking things, that’s why I think it’s better if we keep our distance. Even if it disappoints you because you initially wanted us to be close but to prevent the problem, please don’t expect us to be friends anymore.”

“Sigh...” Professor Lucien listened to the clever girl in front of him before waving his hand.

“Go on, I understand. I won’t ask you to be friends with her again.”

“Thank you, Professor. I’ll take my leave now.” Ellie smiled one last time and turned to leave. However, before she could take a step, Professor Lucien called her back.

“Student Ellie...I don’t know if it’s just my imagination, but I feel like you’re making the right decision. Don’t give her too many opportunities, no matter how much she helps you. And...don’t let her get too close to Medik.” Hearing that, Ellie burst out laughing.

Professor Lucien, oh Professor Lucien, did he think she didn’t know why he was warning her like this? Wasn’t it because the handsome young professor was afraid that if she got too close to the new student, her professor might end up favoring the new student instead?

Of course, Ellie didn’t know what Professor Lucien had seen or heard to feel this way about his own student, but she believed they thought the same...

After parting with Student Ellie, Lucien finally got the answer he wanted. Previously, he had wondered why he was so biased against the female student, but because he wasn’t a woman, it was hard for him to explain things to himself. So, he asked Ellie directly and got his answer.

“Professor...you’re back?” The little girl, who looked sweet and charming, put down her book and ran to him cheerfully. She seemed to be really tired of studying with texts.

“I gave you this book 4 days ago. Let’s test your knowledge now.” Lucien didn’t pay much attention to her demeanor. He simply walked to his professor’s chair, leaving the new student, Grace, pouting alone.

Grace puffed her cheeks in frustration. She never imagined that after graduating for so long, she would have to go through this again. Certainly, the time she disliked the most was during her school years, whether it was high school or university. Those periods always caused her countless problems.

Luckily, in high school, she managed to cling to a smart student. Many times, when called to answer questions, that friend would always help her. Or when she broke the rules, she only needed to ask for help and have that friend step in, and the teacher would often reduce her punishment by half. In university, she stuck with groups of smart students. Although her exam scores were terrible, she often managed to pass due to the additional points gained from group reports. When doing research, she asked them for help until the report was finished.

Once she graduated and entered the workforce, life became easier. Grace knew she excelled at tasks that didn’t require exams or doing things alone. Whenever there was a difficult task, she simply asked others for help. She didn’t need to work hard by herself. Living a life surrounded by loving people made her very happy. But who would have thought that after attending that ill-fated event for just one day, her life would turn upside down like this?

“Professor, the book you gave me is really hard to understand. I’ve never had any foundational knowledge of using magic power before, so...”

“Student Ellie was able to memorize and understand these basics within one day. No...I gave her 10 books at once, and 3 days later, she returned them and could understand everything.” Professor Lucien stated this fact to prevent Grace from arguing further. Ellie had also started with 0 knowledge of magic power, so this shouldn’t be an excuse.

Grace felt a bit annoyed by this. Even though the novel stated that the heroine, “Grace Fronda,” had mysterious and extremely rare magic powers, it didn’t provide any details about it. She had to learn even the general knowledge herself.

Of course, the benefit of being the heroine was that every level up came with acquiring "skills." For instance, when she first followed the storyline, the experience points made her advance to a level 2 heroine. As a result, she could use the skills “Dimensional Space” and “Soul Seizure” without doing anything. She only needed to think about using these skills.

The Dimensional Space skill had subsequent levels. It required experience points to upgrade further, and these points were earned by following the storyline. For example, when she came to the Ares Kingdom and participated in the awakening ritual, that alone gave her enough experience points to reach level 1. Another skill was gained after she traveled to the second-year students’ camp and participated in the battle against the demonic toxin human. Since that person was an enemy of Duchess Ellie, participating in that event immediately earned her substantial experience points, which led to acquiring the “Soul Seizure” skill.

The demonic toxin infiltrated the soul. When Grace pulled the enemy’s soul into her dimensional space, it effectively eliminated the demonic toxin as well.

Since Grace only relied on experience points to develop herself, she had no interest in learning more. After all...even if she had no knowledge, she could still use her skills, couldn’t she?

Grace planned to spend a lot of time with the heroes, making them value her a little more. This alone should have earned her plenty of experience points. Unfortunately, things didn’t go as expected. Instead of increasing her relationship level, her experience points, which had been steadily rising, had come to a halt.

Several days had passed, and she couldn’t even see an opportunity to advance to level 3 heroine!

Grace looked at Professor Lucien, who was trying to force her to read these stupid books like everyone else. Although she was somewhat displeased, she ultimately submitted to him.

“Professor...I promise I’ll try harder from now on,” she pleaded. If it were another professor, they might have softened. Unfortunately for Grace, the person in front of her was not easily swayed.

“I’ll extend the time until you fully understand all the books I’ve given you. You don’t need to leave the room until then. And...If you still can’t understand everything, I’ll inform the institute that you should repeat the first year since you lack any foundation. I’m sure the director will understand,” Lucien said those threatening words nonchalantly, but his words made Grace’s eyes widen in shock.

If she were made to repeat the first year, how would she continue her tasks? If that happened, her heroine level wouldn’t increase, and it would become a problem for her future. Without leveling up, she wouldn’t be able to do anything!

“P-Professor, please don’t be cruel to me. I promise I’ll try harder,” she said earnestly. Lucien simply looked at her, as if he knew that after this, what the outcome would be...

“If you truly try, there’s nothing to worry about. Now...I have other work to do, so focus on your studies.” Lucien left Grace in the room. Once he was gone, Grace nearly threw the books away, restrained only by the eyes of those around her.

“Everyone...I’m sorry for the inconvenience,” Grace apologized sincerely.

Many students were displeased with her for making Professor Lucien upset, which affected them as well. Professor Lucien rarely visited the Light Element Building, but every time he did, he left some valuable knowledge behind. However, ever since the new student arrived, Professor Lucien barely stayed long. Every time he came, he would ask a question and leave in frustration. As a result, the students eager to learn from Professor Lucien didn’t get anything from him.

Of course, many students felt very irritated with her, but some also sympathized with Grace. When she realized her mistake and apologized, even though she was the daughter of a great noble from the Rhea Kingdom, she wasn’t arrogant at all. This earned her more favor from some people.

"In that case, you should now study seriously. Following Professor Lucien isn’t easy. He likes people who are serious about learning."

"Understood. I’ll try harder," Grace responded well to everyone, and her cute demeanor made the others sigh and return to their own studies.

Grace smiled broadly at everyone, but as soon as the door closed, her expression changed almost immediately!

"Why did the author choose someone like this as a co-protagonist? Even though he’s good-looking, strong, and powerful, isn’t he too much of a bookworm? And...if I can’t get past him, I won’t be able to move on to the next event, right? How is this different from a dating sim game!"

"If I can’t pass the first stage, I won’t be allowed to leave the Light Element Building. That will waste time meeting other heroes and the so-called gold leg friend to cling to. She isn’t even gentle. I thought she’d be a bookworm with no social experience, but it turns out...she’s a pretty tough friend of the heroine."

"If this continues, my power won’t increase, and how will I join the next battle? Ah...wait. If I remember correctly, there will soon be an event to attend an inter-kingdom banquet, right? It’s where other kingdoms gather to celebrate the victory of the recent war. But...when is that? Damn it! Why am I stuck reading these books? Why isn’t there an audiobook of the novel? How will I follow the entire storyline to gain experience points this way?"

"Tch! But even if I can’t remember everything, I still recall that during the banquet, there will be someone poisoned by the demonic toxin. If I can deal with that person, I’ll gain a lot of experience points like before and become important enough for the kingdom that the Emperor will have to make me Prince Jason’s fiancée, another hero of the story, right?"

Grace thought about it, smiling happily. The boring book in her hand was thrown aside again. If the author saw her actions, combining with her lack to detail when reading the novel, they might clutch their chest and wish for a heart attack to end it all!

As the creator of the entire story, suddenly having an uncontrollable character emerge and change the plot, so this uncontrollable character was greatly hated by the author, and thus, finding a suitable new character became necessary. They needed to handle the “mistake” of the story first, and then find a way to bring “Nara” back, letting her become the true heroine as she should be.

Well...Nara was a stand-in for the author. As the heroine...the author, who was engulfed in a harsh reality, created a stand-in for themselves. In this book, it should move forward as they wished, achieving everything successfully. Unlike in real life, which was a complete failure, right?

But who would have thought that unexpected events would occur, even with the characters they wrote not behaving as intended? Who could accept that? If the character representing them was being hurt this way!

Not even their fantasy world was spared? So...if success couldn’t be achieved in real life, then in this fantasy world, no matter what it took, this author would make their “stand-in” return and become the number one!!

Unfortunately, the work already created was much harder to fix. Otherwise, the author would have used an eraser to get rid of the “troublemaker” right from the start. They wouldn’t need to use their power to send other characters in to fix the situation this much.

Well, even though Grace’s nature was weak in reading and didn’t like learning, she once defeated the “troublemaker.” So this time, they had to let the plot follow that path.

Under the pressure Grace felt to find opportunities to join the story to gain experience points, the other uncontrollable character started executing their plan.

All members of the Setter family were called back to the city of Set. Even Ellie had to request permission from Professor Nico to go there. This large-scale operation caused the entire institute and kingdom to keep a close watch. Even the director, who had been training in seclusion, was asked to come out because this would be a significant first step for humanity!!

“Your Majesty, the Setter family has called a gathering.”

“Mmm, are they ready to challenge?”

“Yes, Your Majesty. They have been preparing for a long time, and now they seem to be ready.”

“Good. Keep a close watch. This movement by the Setter family will surely bring change to the kingdom, regardless of their success.”

The Emperor clenched his fist tightly. Even he didn’t know how to feel about this. If the Setter family could win and reach the 7th floor as the first family, what would the stability of the throne be like? Even today, other kingdoms already knew the Ares Kingdom as the kingdom of Setter. Would they not be even more overlooked in the future?

However, if the Setter family could advance to the 7th floor, it would greatly benefit the kingdom. Conversely, their defeat would bring even more significant changes.

Firstly, the defeat of the Setter family would considerably weaken their power base. Such a challenge carried inherent risks, and many times, those who wanted to challenge didn’t dare to give their all due to the potential loss. This kind of loss could equate to the downfall of the entire family.

If the Setter family faced such a threat, the strength of the Ares Kingdom would also diminish. Without the Setter family instilling fear, and without their valuable goods being sold in the market, wouldn’t the Ares Kingdom be looked down upon by others?

It seemed like a storm was beginning to brew around them. Everyone was eagerly awaiting the outcome of this challenge...