I Became the Academy’s Hidden Skill Master – Chapter 54

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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Mod7
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The Manaplate Armor was classified as humanity’s first artifact-grade creation—an incredible achievement.

It was a work that recreated absurdly powerful capabilities with the “ancient” modifier, showing that we could replicate such feats.

It was something that would let commoners protect themselves, no longer trembling before magical beasts.

However, this creation came very late.

While technical limitations played a part, the biggest issue was Ki Ju-seon’s perfectionism.

The existence of Manaplate Armor needed to be hidden, as it could potentially undermine noble authority and be misused in wars.

Ki Ju-seon conducted this research entirely alone.

This naturally led to his personal views heavily influencing the project.

His pursuit of “perfection” to avoid anyone’s opposition significantly delayed the release.

‘Make it acceptable to nobles, increase accessibility for commoners, lower the difficulty of operation.’

Trying to accomplish all of this alone inevitably caused exponential delays.

In such circumstances, if someone appeared who shared his dream and became a research partner…

They could naturally reduce Ki Ju-seon’s subjective influence.

That’s why I could approach him by mentioning our shared dream, and as a result…

“So you’re saying we shouldn’t make the whole thing at once, but piece by piece?”

“Yes, that’s right. Instead of using one core to connect everything, we use six cores total—for the head, body, arms, and legs.”

“That would make it too expensive. Even with one core the budget was challenging, with six…”

“Completing the prototype is what matters first.”

The delays came from trying to create a mass-production model from the start.

Ki Ju-seon’s perfectionism had blocked the simpler solution of releasing a high-end model first and improving it through research.

He wanted it priced so that everyone could easily use it—affordable enough for most households to own one.

Ki Ju-seon hoped his Manaplate Armor would be as common as household magic appliances.

“I think we should start with the arm section first.”

I folded the oversized plans sprawled across the huge desk, leaving only the arm section visible.

Even just for the arm, there were cooling functions, heating functions, magic barriers, auto-repair, and shield deployment linking with the core in emergencies.

It was like a child’s ideal elementary school drawing—with escalators in the hallways, a PC room on the first floor, manga room on the second, study room on the third.

The design had every possible feature crammed in haphazardly.

It was just dressed up in complex terminology with fancy drawings and neat handwriting.

In reality, it was the worst possible design.

“Uh… hmm… well, I somewhat agree. Yes, I suppose that could work… but now that we’ve met, shouldn’t we redraw the plans and discuss this? After all, this has a lot of my personal bias…”

“No, the design is perfect. We should just trim what needs to be removed and start building immediately.”

“…Haha.”

Ki Ju-seon could only laugh weakly at my words, unable to give a proper response.

I could understand why.

He must have been afraid of seeing something he’d only imagined actually coming into the world.

‘Though that’s not the only reason.’

Ki Ju-seon was like an isolated island, thoroughly cutting himself off.

This meant he had few connections with other professors.

‘The theory might be perfect, but the technology to realize it doesn’t exist.’

The second reason it took Ki Ju-seon so long to create the Manaplate Armor…

Was that he had to learn blacksmithing by himself.

Teaching himself forging and mana forging, then trying blacksmithing with only theoretical knowledge?

It was like a child who knew nothing suddenly trying to build an airplane, starting by gathering nuts and bolts.

That’s why he had worked Kim Seok-cheol so hard when he got him.

A first-year who could use mana forging could help realize his Manaplate Armor if properly trained.

The current research students were all stuck in theoretical discussions about core-body synchronization and output adjustment—implementation was impossible in their current state.

“I understand your concerns. But isn’t research about continuously building and testing?”

It might have seemed presumptuous, but endlessly circling around theory would get us nowhere.

“What if we worked with Professor Baktor? I have a Forenta sapling, pure steel, and Pertonba’s drive core.”

The core reason for attending Baktor’s blacksmithing lectures…

Was that currently, only Baktor could actually create the Manaplate Armor.

With his innate talent as a dwarf hybrid, he could bring theory into reality.

And if we prepared the materials in advance…

“Hmm… well… but still…”

Ki Ju-seon had no more escape routes.

His usually manic demeanor was gone as he calmly looked back and forth between the plans and me.

A first-year student appearing out of nowhere, speaking of the Manaplate Armor dream and immediately pushing for its realization.

I could see him weighing whether to trust such a student’s words or hold off longer.

This was when I played my trump card.

“A student died during today’s dungeon practice.”

“…What?”

His eyes questioned why I was only mentioning this now, while his voice showed surprise that no one had come to tell the laboratory.

I pressed on without missing the opening.

“Students die too. How many more commoners must be dying then? I… I came to you for this reason, Professor. I believe we can’t let these things keep happening.”

People die eventually.

It’s natural that we can’t choose when we die, and sometimes it can’t be helped.

But couldn’t we at least prevent deaths by monsters?

I stared straight at Ki Ju-seon with this resolve.

“…”

I didn’t know Ki Ju-seon’s detailed circumstances.

I only knew he was creating the Manaplate Armor for public good.

‘That’s enough.’

Indeed, Ki Ju-seon fell silent for a while after hearing my words, seemingly deep in thought.

“…I’ll contact you separately tomorrow.”

Please leave now.

I nodded at his quiet words and left the laboratory.

‘He’ll need some time.’

While I hadn’t received immediate approval, I wasn’t disappointed.

I had felt the trembling excitement in his final words.

‘Time to practice Infinite Track.’

I’d laid the bait—now I just had to wait for a bite.

I turned and headed toward Acasa’s training ground.

With every minute precious, I couldn’t afford to rest easy.

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“Malena, what should I do?”

In the laboratory after Lee Seok-hyun left…

Ki Ju-seon finally sat up a picture frame that had been lying flat on his desk.

The frame held the image of a radiant woman he had sworn not to look at until completing the Manaplate Armor.

A brilliant smile that seemed to hold the sun itself, and gloriously shining golden hair.

Wearing a white dress that embodied spring, clutching a straw hat tightly.

Malena Melr—Ki Ju-seon’s first and last love.

“You always gave me answers at times like this, Malena.”

It was a familiar story.

A commoner and noble who stayed together despite their class differences, continuously maintaining their connection.

The two who promised marriage after overcoming hardships and adversity, ultimately…

‘Failed to defeat a monster that appeared before them, leading to her death.’

A tragedy that was both an accident and an inevitability.

If a proper noble man aspiring to be a knight had been there instead of a powerless commoner…

Malena would not have died and would still be living with her sun-filled smile.

“Give me courage.”

His obsession with the Manaplate Armor wasn’t for some grand cause.

It was Ki Ju-seon’s atonement to Malena.

A promise not to let history repeat itself.

If there had been Manaplate Armor when it happened again, if such items had been quickly commercialized in an era where people could protect themselves…

Malena wouldn’t have died, and he could have lived happily protecting her.

The torn past became shackles binding the future.

Simultaneously, fear pressed down on Ki Ju-seon.

The time of dreaming happy futures while maintaining possibility without actually trying had passed.

When the moment to truly realize the dream came, he realized how far-fetched his thoughts had been.

Earlier, Seok-hyun had offered to let him create the armor under his name, but that was unacceptable for a professor.

Wanting to see results while avoiding responsibility by hiding behind a student?

He would rather die than live that way.

-Why do you keep hunching over like that? Doesn’t it hurt? Stand tall! Like a sunflower!

Like a sunflower.

Ki Ju-seon kept recalling Malena’s words, turning them over in his mind.

Tick tock.

The second hand seemed to urge his decision.

Tap tap tap.

He kept tapping the Manaplate Armor arm section plans on his desk.

Tapping and tapping again.

Like hammering.

As if forging and creating the Manaplate Armor itself.

The tapping continued until a research student arrived to report the student’s death.

Malena’s frame would no longer lie flat.

The future was beginning to change.

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