Heroine-Saving System: Reborn In A Third-Rate Manga As The Protagonist-Chapter 97: HeroGod’s Gifts

She scurried over to where Koya was, he was lying on the ground with a crater on the wall and she winced.

"Does it hurt?" She asked as she fell onto her knees next to him.

Koya coughed a bit and sighed.

"Yes it does... that wasn’t part of the rules at all." He replied as he tried to get into a sitting position, he would have dodged it but he was mid-air and already in another motion, the construct came in too fast as well.

"Well, I uh..." She stuttered. Saki didn’t want to say that she had overreacted because she saw that he was about to touch her breasts. "It was reflex."

Her hand slowly touched his head and she smiled.

"But you did very well... surviving that onslaught of attacks isn’t something just any student can do. I’m proud of you." She lifted his head and buried it within her breasts, they had both gotten used to it by now and the healing energy left her body, flowing into his. "I hope you understand what mana constructs are now."

She didn’t let him answer though as she patted his head despite the fact that his face was between her breasts.

"You’re cute, like a baby." She smiled and he tried to force his head back however she didn’t let him. "You’re not done healing yet... hold on."

She pushed his face deeper inside and stifled a moan in her throat however she blinked as she came back to normal.

’It’s happening again.’ She let go of Koya and averted her face that had turned red. ’This stupid drug is having an effect...’

Koya blinked at her.

"Uhm Professor... do you have tho-?"

He didn’t know what to say at all but he couldn’t deny he liked it, upon hearing him talk, she choked on her saliva.

"N-no way... I’m just 27, I’m not really fit for a child or something like that. J-just stop talking about that and forget what just happened." Saki stood up and returned to her professor demeanor, trying to forget the embarrassing scene of just now. "Now, do you get the basics of Mana Constructs?"

"Yes I do." Koya said, he would be a fool if he didn’t get it after being attacked by it dozens of times. "Mana Constructs are made by compressing mana in the surroundings or from your reserves together into a shape, most of the mana constructs you fired at me were compressed from the mana in the air."

"Nice work." Saki clapped her hands. "I’m glad you picked it up that quickly... Mana in the air can be drawn and manipulated into constructs, it’s a good skill however it has its limits especially at the beginning level. Depending on the kind of constructs you want to form, you’ll waste time shaping the mana. For now, you should try creating some constructs that look like large needles, these are much easier to shape."

"Okay." Koya took a step back and looked at her, drawing mana from the air... however instead of pulling it into his body, he left it just outside hovering around him. ’Shaping pure mana by itself is pretty easy...’

He had spent the five days after losing to the Alpha Salamander training his fire into spear shapes and shaping elemental mana was considerably harder than shaping raw mana... fire wanted to move while mana just sat there waiting to be told what to be.

In under a minute, four blue spear constructs had formed around him, each one pointed directly at Saki.

"Amazing. You mastered this as quickly as I expected..." She bit her lip. He was doing better than her early days and she wasn’t sure how to feel about that then she made some space between them.

"This is the technique you’ll need to focus on and once you’ve reached a good mastery of Constructs, I’ll teach you the next one. For now, why don’t you try to hit me with your constructs?"

Koya didn’t hesitate... He flicked his hand forward and the four constructs shot toward her at speed, closing the distance quickly however just as they were about to connect, a thin wall of mana appeared between them.

’That won’t work.’ He thought, it was too thin to act as some sort of defense.

The spears hit it and dissolved instantly, every single one of them, like they had never existed.

’The hell?’ Koya blinked and Saki smiled as she dispelled the barrier.

"Here’s something you’ll want to remember." She held up one finger. "The thinner a mana construct is, the more defensive it becomes... a thick construct has mass and impact force but it’s rigid and slow to form while a paper-thin construct has almost no mass at all but the density of the mana per surface area becomes so concentrated that it acts like an absolute barrier. If you form it fast enough and thin enough, your opponent won’t even see it coming. It’s useful for ambushes, counters and buying yourself a single second when you have nothing else." She lowered her hand. "Alright, let’s continu-"

RING!

She pulled out her phone, looked at the name on the screen and her pupils shrank.

"Uh I..." She quickly tapped her bunny dress and converted it back into her regular professor outfit in a single Creation Magic blink. "I have to go, it’s important stuff... You’re free to practice alone for the next few hours, that’s how long I paid for the training room."

She created a fresh Class 5 uniform from nothing and set it on the bench beside him. "You can keep using that tracksuit for now... here’s a new uniform for after. Please master the technique Koya-kun."

With that, Saki was gone, the door swinging shut behind her and Koya sat alone in the training room listening to the silence settle.

’What was that all about?’ He wondered.

All the color had drained from her face the moment she saw that name... Whatever it was, if she hadn’t said it, it wasn’t his business. ’Focus, I have to learn mana constructs.’

He could use them to cover his flanks in a fight... attack at the front and cover his back simultaneously.

His spells had hard limits on what directions they could cover at once and constructs didn’t share that problem if he got the control right.

’I need to rank up too, but I can’t force that.’ He thought.

Four-liner black to Blue or Red happened naturally... He could probably find a trigger item through the System but that would cost more FP than he wanted to spend right now.

’I need to prepare to meet the Dealer.’

Mid-terms were in just two weeks and there was plenty of time to set everything up if he moved now... The plan itself was simple.

Individual Points in ALI bought everything... they bought invisibility, untraceability, anonymity baked directly into the network itself, hell you could buy yourself a ticket to ace the results however that would cost a lot.

While purchasing the manga for this world he had also received the creator’s merch bundle alongside his Shion shirt, and inside that bundle were the actual question slips for the mid-terms and the exam papers, printed and packaged like collectibles so he would use them. He somehow still had the merch even upon reincarnating in this world.

The Professors hadn’t announced it yet but in the original plot, the day before the exams began the teaching staff would reveal that anyone finishing below the cut-off mark would be expelled on the spot with no second chances or appeals.

That announcement would turn ordinary desperation into full panic and full panic opened wallets faster than anything else in the world.

He would post the mid-term questions on an untraceable site with bundles, pricing tiers, anonymous automated IP transactions redirecting everything clean into his account... The plot had already deviated so there was a real chance the questions wouldn’t match exactly but that didn’t matter.

Desperate students would buy regardless and he would earn either way so it was a perfect business.

’I also just need a lot of Individual Points in general.’ He thought.

What was coming later in the story made his current situation look like a warm-up... He needed a lot of IP before the main exams started.

Koya was settling back into his stance to start the next set of constructs when a tab blinked to life in front of his face.

「HeroGod is face-timing you. Will you pick up?」

「Y / N」

He tapped Y.

The screen unfolded, revealing the blonde-haired elf woman on the other side with a smile already settled on her face like it had never left and an enormous and obviously very expensive throne room visible behind her.

"Hey Mateo~ Nice weather we’re having right?"

"Hey Helen. It’s not that nice over here..." He groaned as he sat down on the training room floor.

He paid more attention to her curving horns while she raised an eyebrow at him.

"You look like you came out of a war or some shit like that, even your clothes are torn." She noticed. "Were you attacked?"

"Not exactly, I was training with my Professor. She’s gone now." He said and Helen got a thoughtful look.

"I see... is she hot?" Helen asked and Koya chuckled.

"She is, but she’s not your style. Is that the only reason you called?" Koya asked and the Elf perked up immediately.

"Not exactly, I’ve sorted out items here and want to send them over to you." She shifted the screen back to show a long royal table behind her loaded with five items in a neat row. "You said you got a dragon egg right?"

"Yes." He summoned it from his storage ring and held it up to the screen.

It was noticeably bigger than the last time he had properly looked at it and white spots had started forming across the shell in uneven patches.

The System had confirmed it was healthy and ahead of schedule. "This is it. It’s called a Black Dragon here."

"Aww~" Helen said and then tilted her screen sideways to reveal another table in the background... there were rows and rows of dragon eggs on it and each one at least three times the size of his, some of them were even cracked with golden light bleeding through the shells.

Koya’s eye twitched.

"What a bully." He said flatly and the Elf giggled.

"Anyway, these are all C-rank items as I can only transfer five because of worldly limits." She pouted. "Unfortunately there are no skills that can sever the limits between worlds without destroying them... so let’s begin."

「Connection has been formed between worlds」

She touched a piece of red amber sitting at the front of the table, warm light pulsing inside it like a slow heartbeat.

"Transfer." She said and blue light flooded the item.

「You have received C-rank Item: DragonHart Amber」

「A small crystallized flame from HeroGod’s world that radiates a constant low heat with draconic mana woven into it. When placed next to a dragon egg it accelerates the incubation process significantly... the ember slowly dissolves into the egg over time, infusing the hatchling with a trace of foreign draconic energy before birth.」

「It has been stored in System Inventory」

’I had an inventory? Why didn’t you say so?’ He let out.

「You never asked」

’Fuck you.’ He thought. Though the Dragon Amberhart was an amazing item...

Helen looked at the screen with a smile.

"If you add that to the little dragon it’ll grow to become very strong hehe." She said. "You also don’t need any supplements, that little flame contains all the elements including a teensy tiny bit of divinity. If I had added any more it would have tipped into A-rank."

She said and Koya’s lips parted slightly.

"Do you usually do this for your eggs?"

"Not exactly... I just picked up some random rock in the divine domain and had my dragon mount breathe a bit of its flames into it. No biggie."

Koya was briefly speechless... She had casually assembled something extraordinary out of materials she found lying around a divine domain and considered it barely worth mentioning.

"Alright next... I personally had one of my wives make this for you. I know you’re not much of a bowsman, however learning different things won’t kill you." She said as the next item crossed over.

「You have received C-rank Item: Bonewhisper Arrow Quiver」

「A quiver filled with 10 arrows with no head... they pass through armor and clothing entirely and embed in bone, releasing a paralyzing signal directly into the nervous system. Whoever is hit loses motor function in whatever limb is struck for five minutes.」

「It has been stored in System Inventory」

"Thank you." Koya said and she placed her hand on the next item which was a thin blade that caught the light differently from every angle.

"The next one is a sword. Your Order sword looks really cool so another one of my wives who is a swordmaster herself made a replica of it... except with a very unique ability I’m sure you’ll love."

「You have received C-rank Item: Hollowblade」

「A thin sword with no cutting edge... it cuts mana instead of flesh. This sword is useless against non-Awakened but against an awakened it severs active spell constructs and disrupts mana flow in whatever body part it grazes. If it contacts a vital mana point directly, it can completely kill an Awakened.」

「It has been stored in System Inventory」

"Just make sure not to use it on yourself..." She added, and then reached into her neckline and produced a coin from between her breasts, holding it up to the screen between two fingers. 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

"And as for this next item, I found it in between my breasts so meh. I don’t really need it."

"Why would you give me something you found between your breasts?" Koya blinked.

"I was having a hard time finding C-rank items and I just added the Fate Manipulation attribute to it." She said it was a perfectly normal thing to do on a Monday afternoon. "Besides you look at my breasts all the time... won’t you like to indirectly touch them?"

「You have received C-rank Item: Liar’s Coin」

「A coin that when flipped always lands on whatever side the flipper wants. In situations decided by chance or ceremony it grants absolute control over the outcome.」

「It has been stored in System Inventory」

"It’s a good item." He sighed and she giggled, placing her hand on the last item... it was a bracelet woven from thread so fine it was almost invisible, catching the light only when it moved.

"This is something to help you avoid dying quickly. I would have given you a direct resurrection item however the lowest one is S-rank." She said. "So manage with this."

「You have received C-rank Item: Lifethread Bracelet」

「A bracelet woven from thread used in HeroGod’s world for resurrection rituals. It does not resurrect but when the user drops to near-death HP it automatically stabilizes them at the last possible moment, preventing death for ten minutes while they recover. It has one use per day.」

「It has been stored in System Inventory」

"Please Mateo... Be safe. I’ll check in later." With that, the call ended and the screen folded away. Koya sat in the quiet training room for a moment looking at the space where Helen’s face had been.

He stood up and stretched, joints popping one by one.

"What a bountiful afternoon... now let’s train more and go meet the contact." He muttered, rolling his neck, and turned back to the empty space in front of him where the constructs were waiting to be shaped.

...

Ogata Fumio arranged the last of the books onto the shelf with a sigh that had been building since noon.

"These fucking kids..." He muttered.

The Library was closing and the last students were filing out through the main entrance, a few of them leaving books on the wrong shelves without a second thought, one of them abandoning a cup of warm tea on a reading table like this was a café and he was the staff.

Ogata looked at the cup then looked away before the thought that followed it went anywhere useful.

He had a problem with these students...

If it was the previous generation of ALI students he would have had a full client queue by now.

Hacking into the ALI grade database to push failing marks above the cut-off... he had thirty clients a semester, sometimes sixty and they always paid promptly and never asked questions.

Selling confidential student files to rival Great Clans who wanted leverage on each other’s children... Forging academic credentials for expelled students whose families wanted them back in circulation without the embarrassment of the expulsion on record... Erasing disciplinary incidents for noble children before those incidents could follow them into adult life and become someone else’s ammunition... Leaking Professor evaluation reports to students before the formal review window so they could drop the dangerous classes and flatter the right people.

He was the one that did all of that however these days, there was nothing.

The current students either didn’t know he existed or didn’t need him and he genuinely wasn’t sure which of those was the greater insult.

A book slipped off the shelf and dropped to the floor.

Ogata leaned down but a hand was already there, picking it up cleanly and holding it out to him and that made his eyes widen a bit.

He recognized the face immediately.

This generation of ALI students, useless as they mostly were, had made sure everyone on campus knew this particular face... He was Amagi Koya of Class 5 looking at him with a small easy smile.

"Mister Ogata Fumio correct?" Koya said as he shelved the book back in its place without checking the spine. "I want you to do a job for me."