I Became the Academy’s Genius Shikigami Summoner – Chapter 80.1

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟖𝟎

𝚊𝙬𝙚ʙ𝔰𝙩𝐨𝔯𝔦𝔢𝙨.𝚌𝔬𝚖

On the way back to Korea after finishing everything, I kept thinking about one question.

That question was none other than the growth of Yoo Ha-on.

「. . . . . .」

In fact, I had a vague sense of unease from before, but this incident gave it a definite form.

One hypothesis that had always made me feel anxious.

Could it be that I, in my current state, am hindering the growth of the protagonist, Yoo Ha-on?

「𝘿𝙚𝙛𝙞𝙣𝙞𝙩𝙚𝙡𝙮 𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙚.」

Up until now, I’ve been trying to solve the additional variables that came with the unknown barrier of Hell difficulty on my own.

That was how I tried to control the difficulty of the story and allow Yoo Ha-on to grow safely.

「𝘽𝙪𝙩 𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙖𝙗𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙣𝙤𝙬?」

The increase in difficulty is steeper than I thought.

Just take the enemies in this story, Harvey and his group. If I hadn’t intervened, would Yoo Ha-on and her party have been able to resolve the situation on their own?

「. . .𝙉𝙤, 𝙞𝙩’𝙨 𝙘𝙡𝙚𝙖𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙮 𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙𝙣’𝙩 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚.」

That means that the protagonist is already falling behind the inflation of difficulty.

「𝙄𝙩’𝙨 𝙖 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙢𝙤𝙣 𝙤𝙘𝙘𝙪𝙧𝙧𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙚 𝙞𝙣 𝙜𝙖𝙢𝙚𝙨, 𝙗𝙪𝙩 𝙞𝙩’𝙨 𝙪𝙨𝙪𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙮 𝙖 𝙘𝙖𝙨𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙨𝙪𝙗-𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙧𝙖𝙘𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙨, 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙩𝙖𝙜𝙤𝙣𝙞𝙨𝙩.」

What’s for sure is that it’s never a good sign.

In this industry, it’s common knowledge that once a gap opens up, it only widens, never narrows.

In that case, shouldn’t the previous crises have been resolved by Yoo Ha-on herself, not me, so that she could grow even faster than originally intended?

「. . .𝙄𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙨 𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙪𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙬𝙖𝙮, 𝙬𝙚’𝙡𝙡 𝙗𝙤𝙩𝙝 𝙗𝙚 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙧𝙤𝙪𝙗𝙡𝙚.」

Of course, my current achievements are great. Right now, I’m sure I could step in and help resolve any incident, no matter how serious.

However, I don’t know where my limits lie in this world.

It might not come for a long time, but it might be closer than I think.

「𝙏𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚’𝙨 𝙖 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙨𝙤𝙣 𝙬𝙝𝙮 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙩𝙖𝙜𝙤𝙣𝙞𝙨𝙩 𝙞𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙩𝙖𝙜𝙤𝙣𝙞𝙨𝙩.」

In the end, when a real crisis comes, the only one who can handle it is Yoo Ha-on. At least, that’s what I think.

「𝙄 𝙣𝙚𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙢𝙖𝙠𝙚 𝙔𝙤𝙤 𝙃𝙖-𝙤𝙣 𝙜𝙧𝙤𝙬 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙣 𝙢𝙤𝙧𝙚.」

Even though I gained the power to grow traits, compared to the Anti-Demon trait, which is considered one of the best cheat traits in the series, it’s a minus, not a plus.

That means I have to raise her up with the knowledge I have, even if it’s not ideal.

「𝘼𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙧𝙖𝙩𝙚, 𝙬𝙚 𝙙𝙚𝙛𝙞𝙣𝙞𝙩𝙚𝙡𝙮 𝙬𝙤𝙣’𝙩 𝙗𝙚 𝙖𝙗𝙡𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙠𝙚𝙚𝙥 𝙪𝙥 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙥𝙤𝙬𝙚𝙧 𝙞𝙣𝙛𝙡𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙤𝙛 𝙃𝙚𝙡𝙡 𝙙𝙞𝙛𝙛𝙞𝙘𝙪𝙡𝙩𝙮.」

In the midst of all this, a strange thought suddenly came to my mind.

At first, I thought it was just my mood, but thinking about it, it was definitely strange.

「𝙒𝙝𝙮 𝙙𝙞𝙙 𝙨𝙝𝙚 𝙡𝙤𝙨𝙚 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝘼𝙣𝙩𝙞-𝘿𝙚𝙢𝙤𝙣 𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙞𝙩 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙛𝙞𝙧𝙨𝙩 𝙥𝙡𝙖𝙘𝙚, 𝙗𝙪𝙩 𝙜𝙖𝙞𝙣 𝙖 𝙣𝙚𝙬 𝙖𝙗𝙞𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙮?」

The fact that the Anti-Demon trait disappeared makes sense.

After all, wasn’t it named none other than Hell Difficulty?

However, was it necessary to deliberately offset the penalty and give her in a different way?

I could understand it if it was out of some kind of mercy, but it’s a bit questionable to just accept it like that.

A lingering sense of discomfort, something that doesn’t quite fit.

「𝙒𝙝𝙮 𝙖 𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙞𝙩 𝙧𝙖𝙣𝙠-𝙪𝙥, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙬𝙝𝙮 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙥𝙖𝙧𝙩𝙞𝙘𝙪𝙡𝙖𝙧 𝙣𝙚𝙬 𝙖𝙗𝙞𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙮?」

In fact, in the exorcism series, there are countless traits that have a clear hierarchical relationship.

Like the Nature trait that Seo Ji-an has, or traits like Intuition-ESP, Growth Acceleration-Long-term Chronic.

So, if you raise the rank of those lower traits, does that mean you get the higher trait that I know of?

From there, I came up with a new idea.

「𝙈𝙖𝙮𝙗𝙚.」

The Anti-Demon trait that I thought was completely gone. Could it be that there’s still a way to obtain it?

What if there’s a lower version of the Anti-Demon trait?

And if it’s possible to eventually evolve that lower trait into the Anti-Demon trait by raising it?

「. . .𝙏𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙢𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙗𝙚 𝙟𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙖 𝙗𝙖𝙨𝙚𝙡𝙚𝙨𝙨 𝙝𝙮𝙥𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙨𝙞𝙨.」

Taking away the Anti-Demon trait wasn’t simply meant to increase the difficulty.

Rather, it might have been a way to give her an ability that would allow her to grow even further, in order to cope with the difficulty that would be unexpectedly high.

「𝙊𝙛 𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙨𝙚, 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙞𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙡 𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙡𝙙, 𝙗𝙪𝙩 𝙞𝙛 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙨𝙞𝙙𝙚𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙜𝙖𝙢𝙚 𝙗𝙖𝙡𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙚, 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙢𝙖𝙠𝙚𝙨 𝙨𝙚𝙣𝙨𝙚.」

It was a hypothesis worth testing, at the very least.

I organized the low-rank traits that seemed to be related to the Anti-Demon trait on the plane, and as soon as I arrived at the academy, I went to Yoo Ha-on and made my suggestion.

“Let’s train.”

“. . .The two of us?”

It was a sudden suggestion, but as expected, Yoo Ha-on didn’t refuse and accepted it. As expected of the epitome of diligence.

「𝙒𝙚𝙡𝙡, 𝙨𝙝𝙚 𝙞𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙩𝙖𝙜𝙤𝙣𝙞𝙨𝙩.」

So, I took full advantage of the fact that the next day was the weekend and started taking Yoo Ha-on to every nearby spiritual spot there was.

“Phew, ha. Do, do you often train like this?”

“. . .No, but I think it’ll help.”

Yoo Ha-on, who was less resistant to spirits and evil spirits than I thought, made a face, but this was all for the future of this world.

After spending the entire two-day weekend fulfilling the conditions, a new trait appeared in Yoo Ha-on’s status window.

【Spirit Control (C+)】

▶Grants bonus damage against spirit-type enemies.

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