087 Dekan Suffered a Scolding from the Shadow World
When Dekan woke up again, though the snow was still falling outside the window, the sky was no longer as gloomy.
“Great, we can play in the snow later.”
Dekan took out a “Vacation Plan List” from the bedside.
There were still many unfinished items on it.
Happy times were too short; they should leave no regrets!
Dekan quickly met up with Cornelia and Teacher Cat, and then they enjoyed breakfast together.
“When Lilith and the others come, the board game ‘Leap Beyond the Boundary Mountains’ that I made yesterday can be played.”
Since he had a lot of free time during the day yesterday and there were many paper materials in the library and study room, Dekan made a set of board games.
Cornelia and Teacher Cat were also quite looking forward to it.
Of course, it would probably be more fun if there were more people.
Dekan decided to prepare various entertainment devices after returning to school, and next time, he would let Teacher Cat also bring them into the Shadow World.
The Shadow World should be pleasant and leisurely like this.
However, after waiting for a long time, Dekan and Cornelia had already built a big snowman in the courtyard, but Lilith and the others still hadn’t come downstairs.
“It’s already ten o’clock.”
Cornelia rubbed her hands, exhaling a breath of mist.
She looked at the snowman shaped like Captain De’Erkan, wanting to punch it, but also feeling somewhat reluctant.
The snowman seemed cute in her eyes.
However, Teacher Cat couldn’t control its claws, jumped onto the snowman’s head, and scratched its face.
Dekan quickly stepped forward and grabbed Teacher Cat by the back of its neck.
After some hesitation, Dekan still threw it into Cornelia’s arms.
If it weren’t for the warmth this cat provided, Dekan would have thrown it onto the snow.
“Hey, I reminded them not to leave the bedroom easily yesterday, otherwise it would be dangerous. They might not know that the Mansion is safe now.”
Dekan suddenly remembered what he said the previous day.
“Then let’s go and call them.”
Thus, Dekan and Cornelia returned to the Mansion, went upstairs, and lightly knocked on the door of Room 202.
“The vampire has been taken care of, so the Mansion is very safe now!”
Cornelia said outside the door.
“……”
There was no sound.
Then she knocked a little harder.
This time, there was a bit of noise from inside the room.
It was the sound of the quilt being moved.
But the people in the room seemed a bit flustered.
Then there were some light steps.
Lilith ran over and opened the door.
She wore a high-necked dress to cover her neck, her eyes looked tired, and there was a trace of shyness.
She looked fine in condition, but she might need to drink a little more water since she had just gotten up in the morning.
Lilith: “Sorry for keeping you waiting.”
Cornelia: “No problem.”
Lilith: “Please wait for us for a moment!”
Cornelia: “Okay, then we’ll go downstairs first. This Mansion is completely safe now.”
Dekan stood by listening to the conversation, silent, pretending to know nothing.
Guys, you played until pretty late last night, didn’t you?
Fortunately, we didn’t stay in Room 203, otherwise we would have been unable to sleep due to the noise.
He thought privately.
But Cornelia really didn’t know anything, so her conversation with Lilith seemed very natural.
However, Lilith, upon seeing Dekan and Cornelia’s expressionless faces, had myriad thoughts.
These two smart people definitely know everything but are deliberately pretending not to notice.
…
When Lilith and her guards went downstairs, they saw no one in the living room.
They heard intermittent sounds coming from outside the Mansion.
There was no doubt it was Dekan and Cornelia.
Having a leisurely time in the Shadow World was a rare thing.
But in such a terrifying place, it’s hard to truly relax.
After all, it’s easy to suffer psychological trauma.
They went out of the Mansion.
All they saw were Dekan and Cornelia sitting on a sled, with a few summoned beasts in front pulling the sled madly.
“Whoosh, take off!”
“Faster, faster!”
“Meow meow meow, slow down! Don’t fall off the cliff, meow!”
The laughter of the two individuals and the cat was particularly clear outside the Mansion.
Lilith and her guard looked at each other and saw question marks in each other’s eyes.
“Are we still asleep?”
“……Seems like it’s really true.”
Just as they doubted life itself, Dekan and Cornelia both waved to them.
“Come on!”
“Later, we can also go skiing! Dekan has already prepared the skis!”
Lilith pinched her cheeks.
She had seen people handle the Shadow World easily.
But treating the Shadow World like an amusement park? She was seeing it for the first time.
In the end, at Dekan and Cornelia’s enthusiastic invitation, they also joined the tour group.
Still, it took them quite some time to erase this strong sense of unreality.
Thus, they happily spent the last day in the Shadow World.
After resting peacefully for three nights, at six in the morning, they gathered in the living room to say goodbye.
Since the initial time in this Shadow World was 6:30 am on the first day and they couldn’t exit early, needing to survive for 72 hours, they had to wait until 6:30 am on the fourth day to be transported out by the Shadow World.
“Lilith, if there’s a chance to visit your country in the future, we can play together again.”
Cornelia said her farewell quite reluctantly to Lilith and the others.
Since she wasn’t good at talking in school, she was only familiar with Dekan and Chloix.
It was hard to make new friends easily, and saying goodbye was always tough.
“Okay, take care!”
Lilith also felt quite nostalgic.
Because their ages were similar to Dekan and Cornelia, they quickly got along well after discovering they had friendly personalities.
Lilith lost the haughty attitude she had when she first entered the Shadow World. In her eyes, Cornelia, who was smart, powerful, and full of warmth, was the perfect young lady she aspired to be.
She decided to look up to Cornelia.
“By the way, Dekan, Cornelia, next year’s Kingdom Union Heroes Festival will be held on our side. If you come, I’ll definitely entertain you well!”
It was currently the end of the year.
The Heroes Festival is a grand festival held every five years by the Kingdom Union, and the next one happened to be during the summer break after Dekan’s and Cornelia’s first year.
At that time, the member states of the Kingdom Union would make some big moves.
Besides most kings personally arriving, some influential people, even the strongest ones, would attend several key events.
“Ah, we will definitely come, so we’ll be counting on you!”
Dekan thought for a moment and quickly replied.
After a few more exchanges with Lilith and the others, the Shadow World finally entered the settlement time.
Dekan, Cornelia, and Teacher Cat were transported to a small borderline space between the Shadow World and the real world.
“Dekan, have we planned our summer vacation activities yet?”
Though it was still more than half a year away from summer, Cornelia felt that it would be very expensive to travel abroad during the Heroes Festival.
After all, there’s no rewinding time in the real world like in the Shadow World.
Uh, not necessarily.
Dekan seemed to have read Cornelia’s thoughts and smiled, asking:
“Hey, did you forget what my identity is?”
Cornelia lightly hit her palm: “Right, yes!”
As a Premier Card Maker, Dekan was definitely going to be invited to some key events.
Bringing a couple of friends along wouldn’t be an issue!
This kind of government-sponsored trip was too good to miss.
Of course, there’s also the possibility that his Premier Card Maker review hasn’t been passed at that time.
However, if the Card Maker Union really dare to mess with Dekan, he’ll attend the event as a Resurrection Sect believer then.
Hope the Card Maker Association understands the gravity of the situation.
As they chatted again with full anticipation, the Shadow World finally began the settlement.
[Shadow World: Wild Mountain Blizzard Delusion Cleared]
[Commencing Calculation]
[Since the team members belong to different alliances, individual calculations will be used]
[Challenger Dekan Achieved the Following Accomplishments]
[Despicable Fraud E – You deceived the Shadow World with despicable, shameless, and vile means. The Shadow World will adjust its mechanisms due to your actions.]
[Blood Feast A – Successfully achieved extra objectives during this opposing type of Shadow World, summoning Count Augustine.]
[Internecine King A – Successfully tricked the werewolf who is aligned with the Rebellious Challenger.]
[Tears of Elegance E – You will never let any piano go untouched.]
…
[Vampire Hunter SS – Caused the once-dreadful Count Augustine to die in extreme despair.]
[Achievement summary ends, evaluation generated]
[You are a benevolent witch that tortured werewolves and vampires, fulfilling a witch’s primeval wish. Nevertheless, whatever it may be, your actions are increasingly deviating from human nature.]
[Personal Overall Evaluation: SS]
Dekan frowned.
He felt that this evaluation from the Shadow World was biased.
Is the Shadow World scolding him?
Especially the first achievement, no pretense there.
And that decisive operation that secured victory got only an E-level evaluation?
While Dekan was quite upset, Cornelia’s achievements began to update.
[Challenger Cornelia Achieved the Following Accomplishments]
[Great Detective SSS – On the first day, you uncovered the identity of the witch but chose to cooperate tacitly, and perfectly coordinated; on the second day, you uncovered the identity of the werewolf and defeated it personally.]
[Ancient Mansion Desecrator C – As a detective, you shouldn’t cause such damage to the mansion.]
“You two, when did you exchange information…?”
Teacher Cat couldn’t help but ask, looking at Cornelia’s achievements.
It had been hiding in Dekan’s shadow since it arrived in the Shadow World.
On the first day, it had never heard Dekan tell Cornelia his identity directly.
It assumed Cornelia only learned the truth when Dekan revealed himself on the second day.
Cornelia: “Just stare into his eyes for a few seconds, and you’ll quickly know what Dekan is thinking.”
Teacher Cat: “???”
…
[Vampire’s Nightmare SS – Inflicted cruel and unbearable torment on Count Augustine.]
[You are a miraculous detective, and any mystery seems frail and vulnerable under the power of your intelligence.]
[Achievement summary ends, evaluation generated]
[Personal Overall Evaluation: SSS]
After the evaluation appeared.
Cornelia looked at Dekan in surprise.
She didn’t understand why her evaluation was higher than Dekan’s.
“Hmm, so this is how it is.”
Dekan helplessly shook his head.
“What’s going on?”
Cornelia asked.
“We both contributed a fixed amount that can’t change. The Shadow World dislikes me, but they can’t cut our rewards, so they attributed the main credit to you.”
“Then, should I give you some of the rewards?”
“No need, no need. It doesn’t matter who gets it. Your strength increase is my strength increase.”
Dekan carefully considered it and thought maybe this distribution method was a good thing.
If the Shadow World assessed that our contributions are each half, possibly neither of us would receive an Epic-level reward.
But if the main credit is concentrated on Cornelia, at least we’ll get a very good reward.
“Uh huh.”
Cornelia nodded.
We are related like body and brain.
Strengthening either is strengthening together.
As the two were chatting, the Shadow World’s announcement also ceased.
Teacher Cat shouted, “Why didn’t I get an evaluation, meow?”
“…What did you accomplish the entire time in the Shadow World?”
“…”
Teacher Cat was silent.
It seems it played around the entire time without doing anything.
Even adding buffs to Dekan and Cornelia would have been good.
Completely slacking off.
Being a freeloader that doesn’t even get an evaluation from the Shadow World, Teacher Cat’s case is quite rare.
“Well, well, getting a bit of a bonus isn’t bad either meow.”
Teacher Cat had a great time over these three days.
Traveling has profits too, which is already pretty good.
[Reward Settlement: Rank Promotion (Dekan Level 3 -> Level 3, Cornelia Level 3 -> Level 4)]
[Dekan obtains [Witch’s Boon] (Rare Rank 4 Spell Card)]
[Cornelia obtains [Blood Detective Notebook] (Epic Rank 4 Equipment Card)]
“Seriously, not even a material!”
Dekan looked at the purple luminous card floating into his hand and had an expression of helplessness.
[Witch’s Boon]
[Category: Spell Card]
[Grade: Purple Rare]
[Class: 4]
[Effect: Can dispel barriers of rank 6 or lower; cooldown time 720 hours.]
[Note: With this card, you are also an excellent witch.]
At first, Dekan was somewhat unhappy with the grade of the prize, but his mood eased after seeing its effects.
In theory, a card that can dispel a rank 6 barrier should at least be rank 6.
But this card can break through rank 6 barriers with just rank 4.
Though the cooldown period is much longer than regular dispelling cards, it still has surprising effects.
For example, a rank 4 challenger taking this card into a rank 4 Shadow World may be able to open up map restrictions that are otherwise impossible according to the rules.
These natural cards produced by the Shadow World are composed of otherworldly magic principles and materials that may not be found in the real world.
Almost impossible to break or counterfeit.
It’s sure to sell for a good price.
But for the moment, Dekan could still keep it.
Next time in the Shadow World, he could let Cornelia temporarily take the [Witch’s Boon], so her lock-picking ability would make a significant improvement.
When Chloix could join the team, Dekan would sell this card.
Even if it didn’t get a full set of rank 6 Epic materials, it would certainly offset a significant part of the cost.
Dekan curiously glanced at the Epic equipment card that Cornelia held.
“Your Epic equipment card must be pretty strong, but why is it a book…?”
Cornelia had summoned out the book, and it looked like a little notebook approximately the size of an A5.
This [Blood Detective Notebook] didn’t seem as terrifying as its name suggested.
Its ancient and exquisite brown cover was carved with a few patterns, and even had an artistic aesthetic like luxury goods.
However, if you carefully examined the book’s back edge, you’d notice the crimson marks, revealing how many pages were soaked with strange blood.
Generally speaking, only priests and auxiliary magicians might use books as weapons, using them instead of magic staves.
This is a very niche school of equipment for magic users.
Moreover, this obviously strange book is clearly suitable only for someone like Dekan of this type.
Dekan curiously appraised it.
[Blood Detective Notebook]
[Category: Equipment Card]
[Grade: Orange Epic]
[Class: 4]
[Effect: A single equipment card can be placed in this book. This book will then have the effect of that equipment card. The equipment has high durability, and each kill made with the book will permanently increase its attack power.]
[Note: This is a weapon that should not exist in this world.]
“Wow, no wonder this is an SSS evaluation’s reward!”
Even the master card maker Dekan couldn’t help but praise this weapon.
“How do you use it?”
Cornelia flipped through the Bloody Detective Notebook but completely failed to understand its contents.
She was about to throw it away.
“Use it like a hammer. We call these weapons ‘bricks’.”
Dekan explained.
“Oh oh!”
Cornelia instantly understood how to use the book.
She picked up the detective’s notebook and swung it around.
Light and easy to handle!
If she hit with the spine, it would definitely crush the enemy’s head!
She immediately fell in love with this book.
“Never thought I would one day find a book that I like so much.”
“A good book can indeed change one’s life. As the saying goes, there’s a reason for that.”
“…”
Teacher Cat was silent.
In its mind, books shouldn’t be used like this.
Even if Dekan used an evil book to curse others, it would seem more sensible than the way Cornelia was using this book…
“This makes you look more like a detective.”
Dekan gazed at Cornelia’s seldom-seen smile and praised her.
“Right!”
Cornelia hugged the detective notebook to her chest and was very satisfied showing her appearance to Dekan.
Dekan admired it and gave her a thumb up.
“Elegant and poised!”
Cornelia obtained a weapon very suitable for a young lady, and Dekan was quite happy for her.
“Let’s go back to school, meow! Celebration feast!”
Teacher Cat bounced around between the two, unable to wait to get its share.
At the thought of facing reality, Dekan couldn’t help but sigh.
The most melancholy time of the week is always on Sunday afternoon.
And for Dekan and Cornelia, the most melancholy time is even more when they leave the Shadow World.
“Let’s come and play again next month.”
“Huh, ever since I’ve been in contact with the Shadow World, every day has something to look forward to.”
“You two… Can you consider the feelings of normal students a bit…”
Chatting idly, the two and the cat stepped into the Void Gate, and returned to Hewenlit Academy.
