A Third-Rate Villain’s Sweet Life Exploiting Academy Bugs – Chapter 63

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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Wjin
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Arena of Strife, the second day of the ranking matches.

The coliseum was packed with spectators once again.

Unlike yesterday, today’s match featured two S-rank students:

Raymond Rolleno, a vanguard who wielded a sword and shield,

and Kaelan Heath, a vanguard who dual-wielded swords.

With both belonging to the same rank and position, a high-level and thrilling duel was anticipated, drawing a large crowd.

However, contrary to everyone’s expectations, the match ended swiftly.

-Thwack!

“Ugh!!”

Raymond was on the receiving end of a one-sided beating.

It wasn’t that he had no opportunities to counter, but…

-Clang! Clang! Clang!

“Th-that spot…!”

-Thwack!

“Oof!”

The difference in their speed was stark.

‘Wh-what’s with his speed? Was… was he always this fast…?’

Kaelan’s swordsmanship was like a dance, a relentless flurry of blows.

As Raymond squeezed his eyes shut and then opened them, the dual swords were pointed at his throat.

Kaelan looked down at him like an insect and said,

“You done?”

“I… I surrender.”

Raymond Rolleno, unable to even mount a proper defense, admitted defeat.

-The winner, Kaelan Heath…

It was a complete and utter domination.

-Woooooo!!

The crowd erupted in cheers.

-Wow, he’s merciless.

-Maybe because of his slip-up on the first day?

-He seems even stronger than Melissa, the top student.

-Isn’t it the opposite? Raymond was underwhelming. That B-rank guy, Lev, is the one who deserves to be reevaluated.

Ignoring the enthusiastic cheers, Kaelan headed for the student waiting room.

-Do you have a guild in mind? Our guild…!

-What was different about this duel compared to your first one?

“Leave me alone.”

-Just one week, just one week of trial membership in our guild…

-Hey there, junior! You were pretty good. How about…

“I said leave me alone.”

Kaelan’s smile was menacing.

-…

His sharp words, shocking coming from a student, caused the students who had been swarming him to disperse awkwardly.

-Thud.

Kaelan entered the waiting room, alone,

and threw his dual swords to the ground.

-Crash!

-Shatter!

The impulsive throw shattered the glass mirror.

“Damn it! Damn it all!”

Raymond, who had never even spoken to him before, had dared to challenge him, even though they were both S-rank.

Even this was a humiliation for the prideful Kaelan.

His plan was to crush Lev in the first duel, to make sure he never dared to challenge him again.

His goal was to demonstrate their difference in skill, to deter anyone from requesting a spar.

“Do they think I’m weak?”

Lev Denec had ruined everything.

“That bastard! That incompetent loser who should have been expelled!”

Kaelan’s anger stemmed from more than just that.

He was dissatisfied with his performance in today’s match.

He had aimed for a one-sided massacre, a relentless assault with no room for counterattacks, but

he had almost been caught off guard twice by Raymond’s shield-based surprise attacks.

Under normal circumstances, he could have defeated Raymond with his eyes closed.

So why was his body not responding as he intended?

He felt even worse than yesterday.

‘It’s… I can’t focus… because of that bastard…’

Kaelan couldn’t help but blame Lev Denec.

‘He was originally a magic user, wasn’t he?’

Kaelan believed that when it came to magic and mana, Lev Denec was leagues below him.

He was certain he had held back last time.

‘I need to put him in his place soon.’

Kaelan was also skilled in both swordsmanship and magic.

That thought brought him a sense of relief.

-Thud.

Another male student entered the waiting room.

It was Dylan, with brown hair, glasses, and an S-rank. He was a member of the same Royal Class circle as Kaelan, a vanguard who used a spear.

“This is my waiting room.”

Kaelan asked, his voice laced with irritation, and Dylan replied casually,

“I was assigned to this waiting room as well.”

Dylan’s words were reasonable, but to Kaelan, it sounded like insubordination.

“Congratulations on your second win.”

“…?”

“I said, congratulations on your second win.”

“Ah, yeah.”

Was it because of his newfound insecurity?

Even those congratulatory words felt like a mockery, a bitter taste in his mouth.

-Rise.

Kaelan got up from his seat.

“Where are you going?”

“…To get away from you.”

He was heading to the training room to regain his composure.

He had an aversion to the words “effort” and “practice” and usually avoided training.

But he didn’t want to go to the Royal Class circle room in his current state of mind.

He felt like he couldn’t face Selena and the others with his pride wounded.

As Kaelan reached for the door handle, Dylan handed him the two swords he had thrown earlier.

“Kaelan, do you know Edwin?”

“…?”

“Edwin Gwendeth.”

The only students who held Kaelan’s interest were S-rank.

There weren’t many of them, and since he had to invite them to the Royal Class, he knew their names.

But Edwin?

That was the name of the pathetic kid whom Aveline and Melissa had been training.

‘Damn it, my head is already pounding.’

Kaelan scowled at Dylan.

“Spit it out.”

Dylan’s next words were unexpected.

“He challenged you to a duel, for the last day of the ranking matches.”

“What?”

“Go check for yourself.”

“He challenged… me… to a duel?

“Yeah, I heard he’s C-rank.”

Dylan’s words held a hint of amusement, perhaps sensing Kaelan’s sensitivity.

“What a joke.”

First, a B-rank, and now a C-rank. What a nuisance.

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Restoration Ward.

-…

An awkward silence hung in the air as both Aria and Yeriel glanced at me nervously.

I sighed softly.

“Sorry, but I’d like to be alone for a while.”

“…!”

“Le… Lev?”

My words seemed to have caught them off guard.

“First, Aria, I can tell you’re fighting sleep. You stayed up all night taking care of me, didn’t you?”

“…”

Aria, unable to lie, remained silent.

She had been working tirelessly during the ranking match week, and she had also spent the entire night tending to me, purifying my corruption, and nursing me back to health.

Her body must have been exhausted.

“And Yeriel, you went through a lot yesterday. You should rest.”

Yeriel was also a patient.

Even now, her hands trembled from the trauma of the previous day.

She stared at me with pleading eyes, as if trying to convey something, then

“O-okay…! I understand…!”

she finally relented.

.

.

.

“Whew…”

What was this feeling?

The story was deviating further and further from the original fanfic.

But at least these two were fundamentally kind souls, never throwing tantrums, both in the game and in the fanfic, making it easy to manage the situation.

“…”

Alone at last, I felt a sense of liberation as I opened my status window.

“Status!”

-Ding!

‘No tricks this time.’

The ‘Supporting Character’ trait had vanished without a trace.

That annoying trait, which had restricted my actions under the guise of ‘world stability’.

Well, I had also lost the benefit of gaining Supporting Character points, limiting my growth options,

but freedom was priceless.

And as a veteran min-maxer, I had used up all my remaining Supporting Character Points while traveling with Cynatis.

I had 235 points left,

200 of which I used to level up the ‘Demon Eye’ skill,

20 on Luck,

and the rest I had hastily allocated to Magic Power.

‘Stats.’

-Ding!

Even as the first semester drew to a close, my stats were far from impressive.

The only reason I had been able to defeat high-ranking named monsters and bosses with such paltry stats was by

exploiting every bug, ally, black magic, and the Ash Grey Scatter Shot to the fullest.

But what choice did I have?

The game’s difficulty was absurd.

I’d continue to find the easiest ways to win.

‘Next…’

I needed to check the rewards for defeating that Fallen Angel who had imprisoned Yeriel.

He wasn’t a boss, just a named monster, so unfortunately, there were no guaranteed rewards.

As I focused on the rewards,

-Cha-ching!

A delightful sound rang out.

“Hmm…”

Ignoring the ‘Error Correcting’ message for now,

the ‘Supporting Character Points’ from the ‘B-rank Named Monster Defeat Reward’ had been replaced with ‘Skill Points,’ or SP.

That’s how it was in the original game, so it wasn’t an issue.

The second skill, ‘Soul Well,’ was a skill possessed by higher-ranking humanoid demons.

“A solid, dependable skill. Nice.”

I had to go through hell and back to obtain this skill in the game…

Anyway, it essentially provided an extra life, so its usefulness was unquestionable.

Choosing ‘Soul Well’ seemed like the obvious answer, but…

that ‘Error Correcting’ message was bugging me.

And then it happened.

-Ding!

It didn’t take long for that familiar sound to chime again.

-Ding!

-Ding!

-Ding!

“Huh…?”

“!!!”

This… was a bug.

‘Fallen Angelization’ was now a selectable skill.

Another transformation skill, in addition to Demonization?

In the original game, you could only obtain one transformation skill.

But thanks to the ‘Gamer’ trait, the error had been corrected, and it seemed I could now choose between the two.

‘What to do…’

Having both Demonization and Fallen Angelization would make it even harder to clear my name…

-Sparkle~~

But the gold-bordered ‘Extreme’ difficulty skill beckoned, tempting me with its power.

-Gulp.

Removing the one-skill-per-character limit was something that could only be done on illegal private servers.

It was a complete disregard for the canon, but…

I couldn’t resist this…

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