Chapter 1348: 106. Make Full Use of Everything

"I... I'm going to be squeezed dry..."

"Hang in there a little longer, I'm almost done."

"I... I really can't take it anymore..."

"Come on!"

"Spare me, I've already completely..."

"A man can't say he can't do it. Hold yourself up a little longer for me."

"I... I'm really going to..."

"So what exactly are you two doing?"

When Ariel woke up after a nap and returned to that indoor wilderness, what she saw was precisely such a scene straight out of hell.

Her respected "teacher" was holding a little notebook, writing and drawing in it while wearing an incomparably wicked expression, clearly having already forgotten his persona as a cold and aloof master.

Meanwhile, Habakaya on the other side had lifeless eyes and twitching limbs. His face, which had lost much of its swelling, was filled entirely with despair and pain, as though he had been thoroughly played with and broken.

"Save... save me..."

His dull, lightless pupils shifted slightly. When Habakaya saw the demon girl not far away who had beaten his face into that of a pig, not only did he not flee, he instead shakily stretched out the hand that had already been healed... His voice was hoarse and despairing:

"Please... save me..."

This utterly unreasonable behavior startled even Ariel.

"You didn't do something strange to him, did you?" Ariel scrutinized Muen warily, secretly wondering whether, after not seeing him for a single night, this guy had awakened some bizarre new preference.

But being able to lay hands on someone who looked like Habakaya... Had his level of perversion increased too?

"Could you please stop casually slandering your respected teacher?"

Muen slapped the little notebook in his hand. Thinking that even his most, most beloved student was looking at him through tinted glasses like this, he immediately let out an incomparably heartbroken sigh: "What do you think I've been working so hard for? This is all for the sake of our follow-up plan. I'm doing everything I can to squeeze the relevant intelligence out of his head!"

"Are you sure the only thing being squeezed out is intelligence? Why do I feel like, looking at him like this, it isn't just intelligence that's been squeezed out, but something else too?" Ariel looked suspicious.

It was only asking for some intelligence. Would that really reduce someone to this state?

"Ordinary questioning naturally wouldn't, but who told this brat to be dishonest? He actually tried to fool me with some fake information."

Muen shrugged: "Since he said his memory wasn't very good, I could only use a little Great Memory Restoration Technique to help him recover it. Of course, don't worry. As the current leader of the Enhancement School, for the sake of the school's image, I was already extremely gentle."

"Oh?" Ariel glanced from the corner of her eye at the miserable Habakaya, the corner of her mouth twitching: "Really?"

"Would I lie to you? We had a wonderful exchange last night. Basically, he was the one doing all the moving. Thanks to his cooperation, I've already more or less figured out most of what I wanted to know."

"For example, how exactly to save the Enhancement School."

At this point, Muen became somewhat excited as well.

Although, as far as he was concerned, the entire Origin Tower was one enormous pit.

But among the many smaller pits inside that enormous pit, the crumbling Enhancement School, which would completely disappear into history three days from now, was definitely one of the most shamelessly awful pits of them all.

There was no other reason. Saving some organization in three days was something he had only ever seen in a certain kind of magical-girl anime where cute girls would suddenly start singing, dancing, and rapping at the slightest disagreement.

Trying to pull off an extreme comeback after things had already deteriorated to this point in reality was no less difficult than making Ariel put on an adorable little dress and learn how to become a soft, cute, charming idol.

Fortunately, judging by Ariel's current trend of becoming softer and softer, that wasn't entirely impossible either... Therefore, saving the Enhancement School in three days wasn't a zero-probability event.

"After Student Habakaya's detailed and profound explanation, combined with my genius-level comprehension and analysis, there are roughly two conditions for a school to continue existing in the Origin Tower." Muen raised two fingers and proudly waved them in front of Ariel.

"What two?" Ariel disdainfully slapped them away.

"First, naturally, is a classroom."

"A classroom?"

"That's right. As everyone knows, the essence of magic is the collision of knowledge and magical power, while the advancement of knowledge itself depends on constant accumulation and transmission."

Muen planted his mithril staff into the ground, then lightly flicked it with his finger. The staff kept trembling, but thanks to having been planted deeply enough, it didn't fall over.

"In the Origin Tower, a so-called school is the symbol of a particular category of magic. And how do you determine whether that category of magic has any need to exist? Naturally, you look at whether anyone is willing to learn it, pass it on, and become the foundation that allows it to stand without falling."

"I see. So that's why the Origin Tower allows someone at the Sublimation Rank to establish a classroom. This 'classroom' system, centered around experienced magic masters who teach knowledge, conduct magical research, and cultivate new talent, is actually the foundation of the entire Origin Tower."

Ariel stroked her smooth chin and quickly understood what Muen meant.

Then her expression immediately became strange.

"But looking at it that way, aren't we even more hopeless? Didn't we just say last night that all the idiots in the Origin Tower believe Enhancement Magic is a severed road? So who would possibly come here to learn it?"

"That... is indeed a problem, but it isn't as difficult to deal with as you imagine."

Muen said: "Because we don't need to be like the Elemental School, recruiting huge numbers of disciples and establishing all kinds of classrooms. Like I just said, classrooms are the foundation, which means their requirements are also very basic. As long as we have the ability to establish a classroom, that alone is enough to make the Origin Tower reassess our value."

"In other words, we need to recruit new students, but not many?"

"Smart! As expected of my most outstanding student!"

"Then won't I work?" Ariel pointed at herself: "I'm a student right now too. Twenty-four-karat pure and genuine."

"Although that image really is quite wonderful, unfortunately... no."

Muen shook his head: "Establishing a classroom with students really is a very basic requirement, because it doesn't specify the size of the classroom or the number of students. But even so, there is still one necessary condition."

"And that is... the classroom must contain fresh blood!"

The teaching and learning of magic was an extremely long process.

Within the world of magic, there were even masters who maintained master-disciple relationships for a hundred years.

It could be said that once you entered the classroom of a particular school, no matter how you developed in the future or what kind of great figure you became, you would always carry the label of that classroom and of being a certain master's student.

Therefore, if the only thing that mattered was whether there were students... then some especially long-lived old mages could recruit a single student into a classroom and keep it alive for a hundred years.

No matter how wealthy and powerful the Origin Tower was, even it couldn't withstand people exploiting the rules like that.

"Don't forget our cover story. I'm Master Enmu, who's spent decades traveling outside, while you are the outstanding student Master Enmu personally raised!"

Muen said: "In other words, no matter how you look at it, you can't possibly count as fresh blood."

"So... isn't there a problem with our cover story?"

Ariel suddenly leaned closer, her small hand inconspicuously twisting the flesh at Muen's waist: "If you'd come here first and then I disguised myself as a newcomer and joined afterward, wouldn't that have solved everything?"

"Hiss... I only just found out about this myself."

Muen bared his teeth from the pain and inwardly cursed a certain damned white-haired bastard again.

If that fellow hadn't screwed him over this badly, then leaving everything else aside, as long as she'd at least given him complete information, they wouldn't be suffering like this now.

Before, he could still think that perhaps she had some deeper plan... But now, Muen only wanted to say that old bastard had definitely done it on purpose!

For all he knew, that voyeuristic bastard might still be behind the light screen right now, watching him make a fool of himself!

Damnable old loli!

"So after going around in a circle, we're back to the original problem?"

Ariel released her hand and sighed helplessly: "As the 'useless school' everyone in the entire Origin Tower knows about, we have to find new students and establish a classroom within three days?"

"More precisely, all we're missing is a new student. After all, the role of teacher is already being handled by me, the outstanding magic master Enmu."

"Is there any difference? The difficult part is, in a situation like this, who would willingly choose to join a school that's going to be abolished in only three days?"

"It is pretty difficult."

Muen held his mithril staff, yet the corner of his mouth curved into a mysterious smile:

"But I don't think it's completely impossible."

"Oh?"

Ariel's sword-like brows lifted, a hint of curiosity appearing on her little face: "Respected Teacher Enmu... do you mean you have a way?"

"A way, more or less. And it involves the second thing I was just about to mention... a school's strength."

Muen turned his head, his gaze suddenly falling once again on Habakaya nearby.

Habakaya, who had just breathed a sigh of relief because his presence had faded and both danger and suffering seemed to be gradually moving away from him, immediately shuddered again.

After that "enthusiastic" exchange, he had already gained a certain degree of understanding of the fellow before him, who was solemn one moment and frivolous the next, yet whose way of doing things was even more demonic than a demon's.

That expression on his face... bad. Very, very bad.

"N-No... wait... Although coming to the Enhancement School to arrest people really was somewhat wrong of me, I've already been punished. How can you keep grabbing just me and using me over and over... Mmph mmph mmph!"

With a flick of his finger, Muen silenced Habakaya.

Why did he keep exploiting just him?

Because he was useful.

Just look at him. Not long ago, Ariel had already beaten him half to death, then Muen had given him an enthusiastic session of the Great Memory Restoration Technique, yet after all that, he could still jump around alive and well? He could even beg for mercy this energetically?

Reliable, durable talent like this was already difficult to find. And yet Muen had run into one the moment he arrived. How could he possibly not make good use of him?

As long as you can endure hardship, there will always be endless hardship for you to endure. Wasn't that one of the most fundamental rules of this world?

"Mr. Scarlet Flash Habakaya, don't get so worked up. You need to understand my painstaking intentions. As an outstanding magic master and future model teacher of the Origin Tower, I'm not deliberately making things difficult for you. I'm tempering your character. Believe me, as long as you manage to endure this trial, your future prospects will be limitless!"

Muen vigorously patted Habakaya on the shoulder, helping him envision the incomparably glorious future awaiting him once he overcame this hardship!

"Huh?"

Under Habakaya's terrified and despairing gaze, Muen suddenly froze. The smile at the corner of his mouth gradually faded as he rubbed his chin and muttered to himself with a strange expression:

"Why do the things I'm saying sound a little familiar?"