A Third-Rate Villain’s Sweet Life Exploiting Academy Bugs – Chapter 59

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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Wjin
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Kaelan was arrogant, but he wasn’t stupid.

Simply showing off a blue fireball wouldn’t guarantee he’d copy it.

I needed to cloud his judgment.

Like the saying, “Sacrifice flesh to gain bone,”

I would allow him to strike me, but my true target was his head.

I had to make him so disoriented, so muddled,

that he would mistake blue fire magic for Wind Archery.

And it worked perfectly.

-Thud!!!

My training crossbow connected with the side of his head, sending him sprawling to the ground.

-Woooooooooooo!!!

The cheers intensified.

It wasn’t just Kaelan who was hyped up.

But I had to stay calm.

I backed away, observing him as he struggled to get up.

He staggered to his feet,

his movements jerky and unnatural, like a zombie.

It wasn’t entirely an act.

He had lost control.

It was as if he was provoking me, daring me to unleash my ultimate move.

I knew I couldn’t give him any more time to think.

‘Take this.’

-Flare!

I channeled Parasitic Fireball into the crossbow, and blue flames engulfed the muzzle.

It looked convincing enough.

Blue flames were uncommon.

All that was left was for him to mistake it for Wind Archery.

‘In a life-or-death situation, what I see once becomes mine.’

This motto was the foundation of Kaelan’s existence.

It all began when he was a child, roaming the streets, struggling to survive.

As he fought to stay alive, to quell his gnawing hunger,

a mysterious power was bestowed upon him.

He stole the power of the strongest beggar.

-Haha… what is this?

His life afterward was simple, albeit violent.

Take, plunder, and acquire.

He clawed his way up, eventually becoming the adopted son of one of the empire’s four great families.

His adopted brother, his younger sister who excelled in magic, the arrogant old men who paraded their connections to his adoptive father… they were all nothing but tools to him.

It was a familiar, natural sensation.

He was destined to become stronger.

How could he possibly weaken when he could simply take what he desired?

But lately… there was nothing left to take.

He no longer felt the primal urge to survive, the thrill of a life-or-death struggle.

Until now.

He felt it now,

triggered by this random B-rank nobody.

A desire to steal, a power worth taking.

He hadn’t felt this burning ambition in a long time.

His head pounded,

but even with his blurred vision, his instincts were razor sharp.

-Shhhhoooooom!!!

Once again, he would claim his opponent’s skill as his own.

When he opened his eyes, he had already succeeded.

“This… is too easy.”

Stealing his opponent’s power was easier than eating a piece of cake.

And then…

-Thud!

“Ugh… Damn it, what was that?”

His senses felt… dulled.

Kaelan, with his heightened senses, couldn’t ignore the change.

He dismissed it as a temporary lapse in his condition.

“I… can’t wait… to see what kind of… power this is…”

That blue Wind Archery that had even caught Selena’s attention.

It had saved him the trouble of having to steal it from her.

It was now his.

‘Hmm~, what should I do…?’

He contemplated ways to humiliate Lev Denec when a brilliant idea struck him.

There was a 2nd Circle magic spell that created elemental arrows.

He didn’t need to steal Lev’s crossbow.

Just like a Swordmaster could infuse their blade with both aura and magic,

he would imbue a Fire Arrow with… Wind Archery, a skill exclusive to elves.

An act that defied logic, a feat only Kaelan could achieve.

He would show the world, the entire audience, the insurmountable difference between their classes.

“You’re actually useful for something, Lev Denec?”

He laughed maniacally at Lev Denec’s bewildered expression.

The triumphant laughter of a guaranteed victor.

He nocked an imaginary arrow and cast Fire Arrow.

-Wooo!

The crowd roared, anticipating something spectacular.

He easily conjured a bow shape, his mastery of magic undisputed.

-Flare!

Next… instinctively, he attempted to imbue it with the skill he had stolen from Lev Denec.

-Flare…!

A small, blue fireball materialized above his hand.

“What the…?”

It was clearly a 1st Circle spell, Fireball.

He tried again.

-Flare!

“…?!”

Only a blue fireball materialized,

as if mocking him.

“Is this… a joke…?”

His pounding headache subsided, replaced by a wave of cold dread.

“!!”

-Ouch, hot!

He refocused, and there was Lev, calmly extinguishing the flames on his crossbow with a basic ice spell.

The sight was… disorienting.

“This… damn it…”

Kaelan’s blood began to boil.

“That bastard…!”

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Kaelan had taken the bait.

‘Farewell, self-insert.’

It was too late for the system to correct this ‘error’ now.

I had already manipulated the initial skill acquisition process to ensure this outcome.

‘I wish that author could see this.’

He had said I was bound by the ‘Gamer’ trait,

and games had Terms of Service.

Attempting to overturn this was a clear violation of those terms.

He could mess with the story, but he couldn’t alter the game’s mechanics, which governed my abilities.

Checkmate.

As I watched Kaelan struggle with the blue fireball,

‘Hell yes.’

I immediately deleted [Parasitism – Fireball] from my skill window.

This was the privilege of a true gamer.

I activated ‘Demon Eye’ and checked his status.

-Ding!

“Well, well, well.”

There were some unexpected changes in Kaelan’s status.

The Parasitic Worms had already infected his Specialization.

The detailed information for his unique traits was unavailable, but

at this rate, they were probably being affected as well.

Based on my Fireball, the infection wouldn’t have progressed this rapidly in a day or two.

There had been no skill level decrease, so no Parasitic Worms had spawned, and

the rate of decline would only accelerate after a certain number of parasites had reproduced.

But Kaelan was different.

His cheat-like traits, [Unstoppable Growth], [Resilience], and [Aura], which allowed him to manipulate his stats,

and [Carnage], a berserker-type trait that amplified his overall abilities based on his excitement level,

…had seemingly affected the [Parasitism – Fireball].

His self-insert abilities were causing his own downfall.

‘I’ll be watching.’

All I had to do now was sit back and enjoy the show.

-Kaelan!!!

-What are you doing!!!

The crowd was starting to boo,

seeing Kaelan waste his time with Fireball instead of using his swordsmanship.

“You bastard…!!!”

Kaelan, enraged, charged towards me with his twin swords.

-Dash!

He was still fast, but he had lost his composure.

-Dodge.

Evading these attacks was child’s play.

“What the hell are you trying to pull?”

“Hm?”

Kaelan’s swords trembled with rage.

“You think… you can beat me with this pathetic trick…?”

I effortlessly dodged his clumsy attacks, moving like a phantom.

As he started chanting, preparing to use magic,

I said,

“You’re right. You can’t beat me.”

“What…?”

He froze, momentarily stunned.

And then, I turned towards Bella and declared,

“I forfeit.”

.

.

.

“The winner, Kaelan Heath…”

What followed was a display of Kaelan’s unhinged behavior.

His usual smugness and arrogance had vanished.

As he roared and lunged at me, Bella restrained him.

“The match is over. Do you want to be disqualified?”

The reason for my forfeit was simple.

The real show was about to begin.

The man in the VIP seats…

Regillus.

He was the leader of [Crow Fey], the guild where the main villains gathered.

According to the novel, Crow Fey would scout Kaelan, impressed by his high score, for the duration of the break.

It was likely the author’s attempt to appease his guilty conscience for neglecting Edwin’s storyline, a temporary exile for Kaelan.

But thanks to Crow Fey, Kaelan would return even stronger.

And since Crow Fey would eventually become a villain guild, I needed to neutralize them early on.

I wanted to trigger a butterfly effect.

‘Go ahead, Kaelan. Troll them for me.’

It was time to unleash… Kaelan, the ultimate chaos agent, on Crow Fey.

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