I Became the Academy’s Genius Shikigami Summoner – Chapter 250

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟐𝟓𝟎

Horn of Sancheon, a secret technique passed down by the great Yokai Sancheon.

The past world that can be reached through it is clearly different from mere illusions or apparitions.

Normally, if a world was duplicated, everything in it would be an illusion, like puppets without a will of their own. However, Sancheon’s secret technique is not like that.

「𝙄𝙩’𝙨 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙖 𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙛𝙚𝙘𝙩 𝙘𝙤𝙥𝙮, 𝙖𝙨 𝙞𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙧𝙚 𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙡𝙙 𝙝𝙖𝙨 𝙗𝙚𝙚𝙣 𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙮 𝙨𝙘𝙖𝙣𝙣𝙚𝙙 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙖 𝙘𝙤𝙥𝙮 𝙝𝙖𝙨 𝙗𝙚𝙚𝙣 𝙢𝙖𝙙𝙚.」

That is, the beings within it also have copied souls and wills, and they can all think and act on their own, regardless of Sancheon’s will.

It is said that even knowledge or abilities that Sancheon is unaware of can be fully reproduced if the original owner possessed them.

「𝙄𝙩 𝙩𝙧𝙪𝙡𝙮 𝙙𝙚𝙨𝙚𝙧𝙫𝙚𝙨 𝙩𝙤 𝙗𝙚 𝙘𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙚𝙙 𝙖 𝙨𝙚𝙘𝙧𝙚𝙩 𝙩𝙚𝙘𝙝𝙣𝙞𝙦𝙪𝙚.」

And that was Ho-chung’s final arrangement for the humans of future generations.

Originally, Yoo Ha-on would have become Ho-chung’s disciple there, trained in various powerful spells, and been fully prepared to face Polar Night in the final battle.

However, the situation is a little different now.

It’s tough enough to deal with the next great Yokai that will appear.

“The time limit is one year. The power of the secret technique won’t last longer than that. Even if you fill the entire time, only a week will have passed outside, so don’t worry about that.”

That was the final gamble that would change everything.

Originally, Yoo Ha-on only received a month of teachings from her colleagues and Ho-chung because the decisive battle was approaching, but I plan to use the entire year to increase my overall strength as much as possible.

The past world within the secret technique was an era of war where both Taoists and Yokai possessed extremely high levels.

It was also a time when all kinds of natural energies were abundant, so there is no more suitable place to cultivate strength.

“How many people can I bring with me?”

“I heard that the limit is eight. If you plan to fill the entire year, it would be better to have around seven people. Keep in mind that if you die in the copied world, you won’t be safe in reality either.”

“Yes. I will definitely find the answer and return.”

And so, Echinacea Lianqi entrusted everything to me.

I took care to leave Hwa Baek behind so that we could have time to reunite, and soon I was forced to fall into deep contemplation.

「𝙎𝙞𝙭 𝙥𝙚𝙤𝙥𝙡𝙚. . .」

This very moment is a turning point.

If possible, I had to accurately select only those who could become the greatest strength with one year of growth.

「𝙔𝙤𝙤 𝙃𝙖-𝙤𝙣, 𝙬𝙝𝙤 𝙝𝙖𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙇𝙞𝙢𝙞𝙩 𝘽𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙠𝙩𝙝𝙧𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝 𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙞𝙩, 𝙞𝙨 𝙣𝙖𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙮 𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙛𝙞𝙧𝙢𝙚𝙙.」

Cheong Juhwa, who has an EX-rank ability score, cannot be left out either.

That leaves four more spots.

「𝙄𝙩’𝙨 𝙦𝙪𝙞𝙩𝙚 𝙙𝙞𝙛𝙛𝙞𝙘𝙪𝙡𝙩.」

If I organize the candidate group, first there are Seo-ah, Baek Eun-seo, and Johan, who were the main characters in the original work.

Or, as separate candidates, Seo Ji-an, Arietta, and Hwang Ji-hak would also be good choices.

I racked my brains and pondered, and soon I organized my thoughts and made up my mind.

「𝙇𝙚𝙩’𝙨 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙜𝙚𝙩 𝙘𝙖𝙪𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙪𝙥 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙞𝙣𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙢𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙤𝙧 𝙛𝙖𝙘𝙩𝙨 𝙬𝙚 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙨𝙤 𝙛𝙖𝙧.」

In the end, what’s important is my intuition and judgment.

I had to choose those who would definitely be helpful with my will.

「𝙄’𝙢 𝙨𝙤𝙧𝙧𝙮 𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙤𝙧𝙞𝙜𝙞𝙣𝙖𝙡 𝙢𝙖𝙞𝙣 𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙧𝙖𝙘𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙨, 𝙗𝙪𝙩. . .」

To be honest, other than Yoo Ha-on and Cheong Juhwa, I don’t feel any absolute merit in the others.

If there is a compelling choice, it’s only Han Seo-ah, who has the Long-term Chronic trait and the Companion trait, which can help my growth.

Objectively speaking, Baek Eun-seo and Johan don’t have that much value.

「𝙏𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙣𝙖𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙮 𝙣𝙖𝙧𝙧𝙤𝙬𝙨 𝙙𝙤𝙬𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙘𝙝𝙤𝙞𝙘𝙚𝙨.」

Seo Ji-an and Arietta are among the most talented people I’ve ever met.

Moreover, the abilities they possess are unique and can be helpful in different situations.

That made five, so excluding myself, there was only one last spot left.

And in fact, the answer was simple.

There was only one person whose talent was not inferior to all of the aforementioned people.

「𝙎𝙤𝙥𝙝𝙞𝙖 𝘾𝙝𝙖𝙧𝙡𝙤𝙩𝙩𝙚.」

To be honest, she’s unusual.

While the other five people received help from me in some form, she showed tremendous growth without any involvement from me.

I was confident that such a Sophia would be helpful in the upcoming battles.

「𝘾𝙝𝙚𝙤𝙣𝙜 𝙎𝙤-𝙝𝙖 𝙞𝙨 𝙖 𝙨𝙞𝙢𝙞𝙡𝙖𝙧 𝙘𝙖𝙨𝙚, 𝙗𝙪𝙩. . .」

Unlike the others, she has already reached a high level, so it will be difficult for her to achieve great growth even if she is given a year.

Furthermore, she is currently leading the Cheong family and working hard, so it would be very difficult to take even a week of her time.

「𝙄𝙩’𝙨 𝙘𝙚𝙧𝙩𝙖𝙞𝙣. 𝙏𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙞𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙤𝙥𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙖𝙡 𝙨𝙚𝙡𝙚𝙘𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣.」

At least, that’s what I thought.

Then, all that remained was persuasion.

🔷🔷🔷🔷🔷🔷

“. . .Yes. I’ll go with you.”

“It’s absurd, but it seems to be true.”

It wasn’t difficult to persuade Seo Ji-an and Arietta.

Since they shared the same goal as me from the beginning, both of them agreed to come without much resistance.

And Sophia didn’t show any signs of refusal either.

Rather, she nodded with an interested expression as soon as she heard the story, which was a relief to me.

However, the problem was Yoo Ha-on and her group.

「𝙒𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙮 𝙗𝙚 𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙫𝙞𝙣𝙘𝙚𝙙 𝙗𝙮 𝙢𝙮 𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙙𝙨?」

Unlike in the original story, I decided not to take half of them.

Since that place was by no means a safe space, I didn’t think the remaining colleagues would easily accept Yoo Ha-on and Han Seo-ah leaving.

Furthermore, the two of them would likely have a hard time making a decision since they would be worried about their remaining colleagues.

However, when I actually faced them, the situation turned out to be somewhat different from my expectations.

“Go ahead. You’re not the type to talk nonsense. My family has also received great help recently.”

Johan, who had received my favor first, supported me, and Baek Eun-seo also showed a somewhat doubtful expression but didn’t show much resistance.

“Like I said last time, Ha-on, do as you wish. We all gathered here because of you. We’ll follow your decision.”

It seemed that Yoo Ha-on had established herself as a reliable leader for her colleagues after overcoming the hardships together.

Yoo Ha-on, after giving it plenty of thought, gave me her answer along with Seo-ah.

“I’ll go with you. If I can be of any help.”

Having obtained the consent of all the members, I decided to activate the secret technique the next morning after everyone had made sufficient preparations.

Once everyone was gathered, I raised my trembling hand, took out the Horn of Sancheon, and activated the secret technique.

“Everyone, get ready.”

“. . . . . . .”

Whooooosh.

Whoooosh!

A tremendous light flashed and my vision flickered, and a strong ringing pierced my ears.

Like that, after about ten seconds, we found ourselves in a strange space that we had never seen before.

No, to be exact, I was the only one there.

「𝙒𝙝𝙖𝙩’𝙨 𝙜𝙤𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙤𝙣?」

I calmly looked around and soon confirmed that my thoughts were not wrong.

And I instantly figured out what had happened.

「𝘿𝙖𝙢𝙣 𝙞𝙩.」

Due to the influence of the Hell difficulty, it was clear that my colleagues, who should have moved together, had been scattered separately.

「𝙏𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙞𝙨 𝙙𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙚𝙧𝙤𝙪𝙨.」

Some might say that it’s just a world within a secret technique, but from what I know, the space here is incredibly vast.

Of course, it’s not the entire world, but that’s because it transferred the entire range of the world that the great Yokai Sancheon recognized.

Furthermore, in this distant past era, it would be difficult to find any proper means of transportation, so meeting each other would become a difficult task in itself.

「𝘼𝙣𝙙 𝙖𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙥𝙤𝙞𝙣𝙩 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙚. . .」

It was an era when great Yokai with all sorts of transcendental powers were running rampant everywhere.

Even if we were together, it would be impossible to guarantee our safety, let alone alone.

From the start, we were faced with a great obstacle.

And as soon as that thought ended, I realized that I had already stepped into that danger zone myself.

“──?”

I didn’t notice because I was flustered, but someone was looking at me from the top of the strange rock mountain where I was standing.

The girl sitting on the stone altar spoke to me, but I couldn’t understand her.

I focused my spiritual power and used the Translation spell, and only then did I begin to vaguely understand the girl’s words.

“Who are you, Oppa?”

“. . .I’m lost. Where is this?”

“The altar of the White Rock God. You should leave before the god gets angry.”

Even though she takes the form of a girl, I shouldn’t be relieved. In this era, Yokai that can take on human form are a dime a dozen.

However, after hearing her next words, it seemed that the girl’s identity was far from that.

“Why are you here?”

“I was chosen as the god’s offering for this festival. So I’m waiting for the god to come.”

I could roughly understand how the situation was unfolding.

This place was the territory of a Yokai called the White Rock God, and it seemed that the nearby humans selected an offering to sacrifice to her in order to appease him.

「. . .𝙏𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙞𝙨 𝙙𝙞𝙛𝙛𝙞𝙘𝙪𝙡𝙩 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙧𝙩.」

To be honest, this was not the time to relax. I couldn’t sense any particular energy nearby, so it didn’t seem to be around, but I didn’t know if this White Rock God was a Yokai I could handle.

If he possessed the power of an S-rank upper-level Yokai or a great Yokai like Bi-gang, even I would only be able to protect my own life.

「𝙊𝙛 𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙨𝙚, 𝙨𝙪𝙘𝙝 𝙗𝙚𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙨 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙢𝙤𝙣, 𝙗𝙪𝙩. . .」

It was a chaotic era where Yokai and Taoists clashed constantly, so I couldn’t rest easy.

「𝙄 𝙣𝙚𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙡𝙚𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙥𝙡𝙖𝙘𝙚 𝙧𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙣𝙤𝙬.」

That was the right judgment.

Such things happened all the time in this era anyway, and if I got involved with the girl carelessly, the consequences could spread to the villagers.

However, even though I understood that intellectually, I couldn’t help but feel uneasy in a corner of my heart.

It was a moment when I truly understood why the main characters in movies and novels sometimes made unreasonable judgments.

「𝙀𝙫𝙚𝙣 𝙞𝙛 𝙞𝙩’𝙨 𝙨𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙄’𝙫𝙚 𝙣𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙢𝙚𝙩, 𝙞𝙨 𝙞𝙩 𝙧𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙢𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙧𝙪𝙣 𝙖𝙬𝙖𝙮, 𝙡𝙚𝙖𝙫𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙜𝙞𝙧𝙡 𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙔𝙤𝙠𝙖𝙞 𝙗𝙚𝙘𝙖𝙪𝙨𝙚 𝙄’𝙢 𝙨𝙘𝙖𝙧𝙚𝙙?」

As an exorcist, it didn’t feel right to do that.

Furthermore, I couldn’t help but recall the purpose of my coming to this past era.

The intention was to increase the overall strength of the allied forces, but of course that included me as well.

I came to this place in search of greater power.

If it were an opponent I couldn’t fight, it wouldn’t be right, but it didn’t make sense to turn tail before even confirming their identity.

“Tell me about him. Any characteristics, appearance, anything.”

At my words, the girl’s expression turned incomprehensible.

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