The Return Of The Exiled Villain

A few days later...

”...Hmm, I guess it’s time to use these things,” Gray muttered, staring at the two scrolls laid out neatly on his bed.

A Talent Restoration Scroll that could actually restore his Spatial Talent.

A peak-grade Instant Mastery scroll that could make him almost master his movement technique.

Two tiny pieces of parchment... worth more than a small kingdom.

”I still can’t believe I actually found a damn dragon,” he said with a small grin, shaking his head.

Without wasting another second, he picked up the first scroll, the Talent Restoration one, and tore it cleanly in half.

Ripp!

[Ding!]

[A Talent Restoration Scroll has been used!]

[The Akashic Records are opening their library!]

Three glowing panels appeared in front of him, followed by a massive, golden roulette that spun slowly in the air.

Gray’s eyes twitched.

”...What the hell is this?”

[Roulette of Luck!]

[Because the user’s UNIQUE Talent has been stolen, it cannot be retrieved. Instead, the system presents a roulette containing UNIQUE Talents of equal level.]

[Click to roll it!]

”...You’ve got to be kidding me,” he groaned.

If he’d known this would happen, he would’ve waited, and maybe killed Leon first just to make sure he didn’t regret it later.

To make matters worse, every name on the roulette was completely blurred out.

”Damn it...”

With a resigned sigh, Gray closed his eyes and tapped the wheel.

[Ding! Rolling~]

The soft ticking of the spinning roulette filled the quiet room.

It spun faster, and faster, until finally...

[Ding!]

The sound stopped.

And Gray finally opened one eye, then the other.

[Congratulations on getting the Unique Talent—”Nullification”!]

[Unique Talent: Nullification

Details: The user can nullify any kind of attack. It doesn’t matter how strong it actually is, as long as the user has physical contact, it can nullify anything.

*Note: This talent consumes Soul Power.

Current Soul Power: 200]

Gray instantly froze at the panel.

”T-this...”

[How fucking lucky can you be?!]

Jasmine’s voice practically screamed in his head.

”JACKPOT!”

Gray couldn’t stop the grin spreading across his face as he shouted in pure excitement.

Then, he snatched the Instant Mastery Scroll, tore it apart, and watched as it dissolved into countless golden wisps of light that faded into his body.

[Which skill do you choose?]

A panel appeared in front of him, displaying all of his skills, and without wasting any time, Gray obviously clicked [Nine Illusionary Dream Steps].

[Ding! The skill has reached the 9th and last step!]

”...Is this it?” Gray tilted his head in surprise.

He didn’t feel anything, and he honestly thought that maybe his body would change or anything like that.

Or even get a rush of memor—

”ARGHHHHHHHH!”

A blinding pain exploded through his entire body.

Blood burst from his eyes, nose, and ears all at once. His pupils rolled back, turning white, while foam gathered at the corners of his mouth.

”KAAGHH—!”

His body convulsed violently as he grabbed the bedsheets, biting down on them until his teeth nearly tore through the fabric.

Every muscle twisted, bones groaning under unbearable pressure...

CRACK!

”MHHHHHMMMMM!!!”

His legs snapped and twisted unnaturally, the sickening sound echoing through the room.

The agony spread upward, crawling through his torso, clawing at his spine until he thought his mind would shatter from it.

”FUUUUUUUCKKKK!”

.....

The pain didn’t end quickly.

It lasted fifteen full hours.

By the time it finally faded, Gray had missed every class and even skipped a meeting with Lyra.

”Haagh... huff, f-fucking hell...”

Gray leaned back against the edge of his bed, his body drenched in sweat and blood.

A foul, rotten stench filled the air coming from the pool of black liquid that had leaked out of his frail body.

”Gah...”

He forced himself to move, his body trembling as he stumbled toward the bathroom.

Without a thought, he stepped into the wooden bathtub and twisted the valve open, letting the water rush in.

But looking at the disgusting liquids on the floor, Gray almost vomited as his stomach twisted miserably.

”Ugh... disgusting.”

Holding his nose, he cast a quick cleaning spell.

The black mess vanished in an instant, but the smell seemed to linger in his head.

He grimaced and turned back to the tub. Even though he’d already used magic to clean himself, it just didn’t feel right.

He needed the bath.

Scrub, scrub!

He scrubbed his body roughly, almost angrily, until his skin turned faintly red.

He was so focused on washing the filth away that he didn’t even notice the glowing system window hovering quietly in front of him.

Only when he finally leaned back against the tub, letting out a sigh of relief, did he look up and notice it.

[The Passive Skill ”Blessing of Beauty” has reached level 3!]

[The Authority 『Beauty』has reached level 3!]

”...Huh? Why the fuck...?”

[That black liquid you saw was the impurity of your mana pores.]

Jasmine’s calm voice explained in his mind.

[It’s basically all the foul energy that’s been clogging your body. Now that it’s purged, your mana flow and skin quality improved, now you’ve got refined muscles, clearer complexion, faster energy circulation, things like that.]

”...So basically, I went through fifteen hours of hell to get prettier?”

[Pretty and stronger, dear~]

Jasmine teased.

Gray nodded absent-mindedly, and as if remembering something, he quickly opened the details of his unique skill.

[✧ Unique Skill: Swap ✧]

Level: 3

Type: Spatial / Utility

Cooldown: 24 seconds

Effect: Instantly switch positions with any object or living being within a 150-meter radius.

Additional Traits: Swap ignores most barriers and terrain obstacles.

— The user can mark something to swap with, and set a timer to automatically swap.

— The user can create a Swap Point that the user can swap with, even if the user is more than 20000 meters away from it. The cooldown of this effect is one week.

— Cooldown and range increase with skill level.

——+——+——+——

”That is... very fucking useful.”

Gray’s eyes gleamed as he stared at the glowing panel, unable to hide the grin forming on his face.

He quickly grabbed a spare toothbrush from the sink and marked it with his new ability.

”During the midterms starting tomorrow... if anything goes wrong, I’ll have a perfect escape plan,” he muttered, exhaling in relief as he sank back into the tub.

He soaked for another thirty minutes, letting the warm water ease the lingering ache in his muscles, before finally stepping out, drying off, and heading straight for the training grounds.

He couldn’t wait any longer.

”Mhm... let’s see how this feels.”

Gray rolled his shoulders and stretched his legs, the cool air brushing against his skin.

He closed his eyes for a moment, syncing his breathing, feeling every pulse of mana flowing through his body; everything felt strangely connected.

”Nine Illusionary Dream Steps...”

[✧ Dream Mist ✧]

The world blurred.

In a single step, Gray vanished.

He didn’t make a single ounce of sound.

A faint shimmer of mist lingered where he once stood, and two kilometers away, his figure reappeared, the air rippling around him like disturbed water.

”...This is only the first step?”

His eyes widened in amazement.

However, he then frowned as the giant amount of mana he had spent just to utilize the first step... it was exactly seventy-two percent!

Almost his whole mana reserves!

”...You’ve gotta be kidding me.”

He clicked his tongue, shaking his head with a small laugh.

”Yeah... definitely not something to spam. I’ll save it for killing blows or escape.”

However, before going away, he decided to go on a small sprint.

Fwoosh...!

He dashed forward, creating a blur that tore through the field like a gust of wind.

Dust scattered behind him in long streaks as he sprinted across the training ground, leaving faint afterimages with every step.

”...This is fucking amazing...”

Those were the only words that he had muttered.

Before, Divika had mentioned that the first step would increase his speed fivefold, and the higher the steps he mastered, the faster he would be... and right now, he found out that his speed had increased by...

One hundred and twenty times!

He was in a whole different realm when it came to speed!

”With this, I’m fully prepared for the midterms!”

He clenched his fist tightly.

”But before that...”

He looked at the sky, and then faintly remembered Lyra’s figure. His heartbeat increased slighly, causing him to click his tongue.

But even if he hated this feeling... his body suddenly moved on its own as he rushed towards Lyra’s dormitory.

He wanted to spend time with her because he was unable to do it fifteen hours ago.

Of course, he got there in a matter of seconds since his speed was that high now.

”Ah...”

He hesitated slighly before gently knocking on the door.

Gray didn’t know if Lyra would actually open since it was actually quite late, probably around ten or eleven pm.

Creack...

”Aughh... who is it?”

Mumbling in a drowsy voice, Lyra gently opened the door while rubbing her eyes. She was wearing a cute pajama with countless bear figures splattered across it.

Seeing her tired yet beautiful face, a smile appeared on Gray’s lips.

Thud!

He hugged her tenderly, pulling her body closer to him.

”G-Gray?”

”I love you, Lyra.”

”H-huh?”

Lyra’s face went completely red at his confession, not knowing what to do about it. Patting his back lightly, she bit her lower lip before also muttering back to him.

”I... love you too, Gray...”