Chapter 312
Woooong!
The moment holiness touched its body, the kitten shivered slightly as if savoring the sensation.
Its once white fur gained a glossy sheen, and soon, light began to radiate from it.
"This is an important moment of awakening for this child as well."
Farahan said, shaking his pince-nez.
"Yes, the moment it finally realizes that it is a 'Divine Beast'."
Simon said, frowning slightly. He felt as though all the holiness was suddenly being drawn, straight toward the kitten. And then—
Fwaaaaaaah!
The kitten floated gently into the air, wrapped in a dazzling halo of light.
'As I thought!'
Simon's eyes sparkled with anticipation. Soon, the kitten's form seemed to distort and change shape—
Pop!
The light vanished, and it dropped back to the ground in its original form.
"…Huh?"
Simon blinked in confusion.
Nothing had changed.
Whutey hopped in place a few times, then came to Simon and rubbed its face against him, meowing away.
'How did you do that? That was fun! Do it again!'
It was almost as if Whitey was saying exactly that.
"P-Professor."
Simon said, lifting his head to look at Farahan.
"The Divine Beast isn't changing. Did I do something wrong?"
But instead of concern, a broad smile formed on Farahan's lips.
"Even better!"
"…What?"
Farahan spoke, unable to hide his excitement.
"This cat doesn't seem to be just any ordinary Divine Beast! In this old man's opinion, there's a possibility it could transform into an object, or perhaps an unknown entity."
"…An object? Even though it's an animal?"
Farahan nodded.
"Have you heard of 'Akan', the greatest Arch Paladin on the continent? He transformed his Drake into the form of an airship that flies through the skies. Such object transformations require profound enlightenment, even for the Divine Beast itself. The reason this cat failed to transform is probably because it's still too young and inexperienced."
Simon also tried with Blacky right next to him, but it failed as well. The halo of light appeared, only to fade and drop it back to the ground.
"Mm, not easy. Akallion managed it on the first try."
So Simon, without stopping, infused holiness into Akallion's body. Then, the small teddy bear–like Akallion grew several times larger, transforming into a muscular bear.
—Meow!
The kittens that had been about to bully Akallion jumped in fright at its larger form and quickly fled. Soon, they hid behind Simon's legs, trembling.
The now-bigger Akallion snorted proudly. The tables had turned.
'Even seeing a Divine Beast initiate transformation once is impressive.'
Farahan thought, watching Simon with a satisfied smile.
"Though today was a failure, these Divine Beasts' potential has grown, so don't think too impatiently. Before long, they'll be able to transform."
"Thank you, Professor!"
Simon bowed his head.
"Then I'll need to adjust our lessons. From now on, we'll increase the proportion of Divine Beastology, and the kittens will train as well. They'll need to keep attempting transformations to develop self-awareness as Divine Beasts."
Simon nodded.
"Yes! I'll trust you, Professor."
"Then today, we'll very briefly go over some basic attack techniques using Akallion—"
Farahan stopped mid-sentence as his eyes fell on the watch on Simon's wrist.
"I'd like to teach you, but time won't allow it."
"…Huh?"
Simon quickly checked the time and looked surprised.
He hadn't realized how time had passed. Two whole hours had vanished.
'…Ugh! I wanted to learn Divine Beast techniques before leaving!'
It was disappointing, but he needed to prepare for today's Toxicology class in the morning. It was the assessment season, and every lesson was important.
"Go on now."
Farahan said, pulling the kittens into his arms in advance.
Simon summoned Akallion back into the holiness subspace.
"Please take care of the kittens! I'll tell Kami as well!"
"Understood."
Simon stirred up Darkness and began running toward the school.
The kittens meowed, trying to run into Simon's arms, but Farahan held them back.
"These little ones seem to have already chosen their master."
He said with a pleased smile, even as the annoyed kittens bit his fingers.
* * *
'W-wow, I came so fast.'
If he had timed it, he thought he might have broken his personal best. Simon arrived at the Toxicology building's lecture room with a few minutes to spare before class began.
'Is Dick not here yet?'
As he looked around to find Dick's seat, the room felt unusually noisy.
"Waaah!"
"So cute!"
There was always at least one student in class who brought something odd just to get attention.
This time, the item was a novelty rabbit-ear hat, the kind that covered the entire face. They were trying it on and laughing uproariously for reasons only they knew.
"Don't you think Kami would look perfect in this?"
"Oh my god! This is totally made for Kami!"
Suddenly, the students swarmed toward Kamibarez, trying to put the hat on her.
"W-What?"
Surrounded so suddenly, Kamibarez blushed in surprise. But upon seeing the rabbit ears, her wings fluttered as if she was interested.
"Just once! Please, just once—put it on!"
When the students pleaded, Kamibarez gave in and tried it on.
"L-Like this…?"
When Kamibarez tilted her head with the rabbit-ear hat on, a chorus of shrieks erupted from all directions.
"Kami is so cuteee!"
The girls wailed, hugging her and making a fuss, while the boys drooled with goofy uncle smiles.
"Hey! Stop bothering Kami!"
Hearing the commotion, Maelyn came rushing in, her sky-blue hair flying. The girls nearby looked guilty and quickly defended themselves.
"W-We weren't bothering her!"
"Shut up."
Maelyn growled.
"You knew she'd be uncomfortable, but you still surrounded her like this."
"…Maelyn?"
But the moment Maelyn saw Kamibarez wearing the rabbit-ear hat, she clutched her chest and collapsed into a chair as if her strength had left her.
"M-Maelyn! What's wrong?"
"..."
Sh-she couldn't breathe.
This was truly, lethally, unbearably cute.
"Mhm."
At that moment, class rep Jaime let out a sly laugh and opened her mouth.
"Wouldn't Maelyn look great in it too?"
"That's right, that's right!"
Suddenly having the arrow aimed her way, Maelyn shouted in fluster.
"Hey! Why me all of a sudden?!"
"Oh come on, you thought you'd just watch and be done? Everyone here has tried it on at least once."
Still seated, Maelyn scooted back awkwardly.
"N-None of my business! And I didn't even see you guys wear it!"
"Eeeeh~"
Not missing the chance, Dick butted in, waggling his eyebrows mischievously.
"You're gonna skip your turn? That's cowardly! Where's your chivalry, huh?"
"Shut up, commoner!"
Even Kamibarez took off the rabbit-ear hat and handed it to Maelyn with both hands.
"I want to see Maelyn with rabbit ears too!"
"…Ugh."
Blushing, Maelyn finally took the hat with trembling hands.
Holding it like she stood at a great crossroads in her life, she hesitated, when a certain male student approached the crowd.
"S-Simon!"
When Simon casually waved, Maelyn's face turned bright red to the limit, and she yelled.
"Y-You! Go away!"
"Huh? Why?"
Jaime leaned in with a wicked smile.
"You were just about to put it on, right? Embarrassed for Simon to see?"
"Hey!!"
Maelyn shot a glare that meant "shut your mouth", but Jaime ignored it lightly and turned around.
"Then, to be fair, Simon goes next. Okay?"
Simon smiled gently.
"Sure, why not."
"Waaaaaaaah!"
Now there was no way out, she had to put it on.
With her ears red all the way to the lobes, Maelyn just trembled while holding the hat, until Cindy Vivace frowned and waved her hand.
"Stop playing coy and put it on already. We need to see Simon with rabbit ears."
Cindy and a few other girls were already waiting for the next turn.
As Maelyn, her face twisted in humiliation, let out a low "Khhhk" and started putting the rabbit-ear hat on her head—
"Ah!"
"The professor's coming!"
At those words, the students scattered at incredible speed to their seats. Cindy clicked her tongue.
"Tch, she got away with it."
"Cindy, you're dead for real!"
"Holding grudges is so unattractive~"
As the students sat down, the Toxicology professor, Belya Tun Sokum Marlat, entered with a hole-riddled coat draped over her shoulders.
"Everyone been doing well?"
The students greeted her cheerfully.
She tossed her coat aside and said,
"So, what fun were you having this time? I could hear you laughing all the way from the hallway."
The students gave awkward smiles and avoided answering.
Soon, the assistant instructors entered as well and stood in a line behind her.
"Alright, alright. Playing properly when it's time to play is important too! Now, shall we talk seriously about your performance evaluation?"
Performance evaluation.
At those words, the students' faces hardened.
'…It'll be poison-eating, for sure.'
'Maybe the person who takes the strongest poison gets an A+.'
Most of them were thinking along those lines.
Belya took a document from an assistant.
"The previous Toxicology professor barely gave you any evaluations in the first semester. From now on, high-weight evaluations will be coming in hard, so be prepared. Today is the first one."
She bared her jagged triangular teeth in a grin.
"Venomous monster hunting. Thirty percent of your grade!"
Thirty percent!
The students' eyes widened.
"If you think it's just ordinary monster hunting, you're mistaken. We're going after monsters so troublesome that each fiefdom has practically given up on hunting them."
Venomous monsters are known to carry a danger rating about one tier higher than their normal strength would suggest.
Naturally, that's due to the danger of their venom. Even if a hunter succeeds in killing the monster, if they get coated in its venom, their life is at risk, death is common.
"And the monsters you'll be hunting are chosen specifically because the poison resistance and antibodies you've built in class won't work on them. In other words, if you get poisoned, you're as close to death as an ordinary person."
As expected, nothing comes easy. Simon thought so and nodded.
"There are two grading criteria."
Belya held up two fingers.
"First, whether you succeed in the hunt. Second, the completion of your antidote. You'll have to collect the monster's venom, then formulate an antidote on-site, take it yourself, and then successfully finish the hunt."
Clack.
An assistant opened a case, revealing colorful materials in bottles.
"We've prepared basic antidote kits. Of course, they won't be enough. You'll need to procure additional antidote ingredients locally."
Hunting venomous monsters immune to existing antibodies, and preparing the antidote right there on-site.
It was a challenge fitting for something worth thirty percent of the grade.
"Come on now, don't get cold feet."
Seeing the students' tense faces, Belya waved her hand.
"If you just do as you've been taught so far, you'll pass without much trouble. The test starts two hours from now. You'll teleport straight to the site using a magic circle. You have eight hours to catch the venomous monster and brew the antidote, and you pass. That's all."
Right then, a hand shot up.
"Jaime Victoria, Professor! How many people are going? …At least four, right?"
The other students quickly nodded in agreement.
"Four? You cheeky little thing, trying to breeze through the evaluation!"
Belya grinned.
"For this one, you're going in pairs only!"