A brave man may not live, but he cannot die

Chapter 179 The Pizza Girl's Arcane Festival Night (Part 2)

At three o'clock in the afternoon, Quinn woke up in his bed in the college dormitory.

This was his first afternoon nap since arriving in this other world.

Looking at the peaceful sky outside the window, he sat on the bed in a daze.

I can't believe I'm taking a nap. This is a habit I never had back on Earth.

His life was always filled with a sense of urgency: working, earning money, taking exams, reading when he had free time, thinking about how to gain a woman's trust after he had money, taking care of the elderly at their bedside, and even during his idle university years, taking a nap was something he would never do.

Work, pay off debts, come into this world, rack his brains to survive, think about how to become strong. Memorize in the library, pretend to audit every class he can, use meditation to replace sleep. Quinn threw off the covers, got out of bed and walked to the mirror to examine himself.

The man in the mirror was nearly thirty, with slightly rough skin, a mature facial structure, and dark eyes that gave him a profound, night-like depth. But strangely...
The precocious temperament that had accompanied him since adolescence seemed to have diminished, and he appeared slightly more cheerful and much younger.

Illusion?
"Since there's nothing to do, you might as well take a nap and enjoy life, huh?"

Looking at himself in the mirror, Quinn muttered a self-criticism, put on his trench coat, took out the items that were originally in his suitcase, and reflected on his battle with Ekko before the time rewind.

Arcane Scroll, Mista's Pistol, Heaven's Gate, Wand, Tree Branch.
The low-sequence thief lacked offensive means, and the hero's abilities had many limitations. I bought the arcane scrolls to make up for this shortcoming, since Mista was no longer enough. But in hindsight, I realized I had oversimplified things.

He could win against Quinn of the same sequence even without these things, but against Ike, he had a hard time dealing with the extraordinary abilities of a Sequence Six, even when the opponent was somewhat complacent and deliberately fought him slowly.

Quinn looked at these material possessions. Mista was already quite useless. Quinn could kill the people that this pistol could kill without it, but the people Quinn couldn't handle, the pistol couldn't handle either. The gun's mysterious specifications were roughly equivalent to Sequence Nine, and it even had the risk of exploding when encountering targets with too high mysterious specifications.

Let's find an opportunity to return it to Aqua, and see if we can get something even better from him.

Arcane scrolls have a similar problem. These four scrolls were the best he could buy from Broom Alley: [Lightning Strike], [Body Destruction], [Parts to Pieces], and [Bloodline Ignition]. Their power was considerable, but using arcane scrolls was different from directly casting arcane spells. Arcane scrolls lacked a locking process and could only rely on the scroll itself to lock on first, resulting in a significant delay in casting.

If Quinn is not very agile, it's fine, but if he encounters mid-to-high-ranking combat classes, his arcane spells are likely to miss if he doesn't use a root spell, just like Ekko dodged them.

The higher the rank of the arcane scroll, the longer it takes to activate, and its rarity and price increase exponentially. Crafting arcane scrolls is one of the very few skills Grindelwald is not proficient in. On the contrary, the Clock Tower, with its ancient arcane heritage, has many workshops that produce scrolls. Scrolls that are useful in battle often sell for exorbitant prices, far beyond Quinn's means.

Quinn's understanding of arcane magic is now completely different. Since offensive arcane magic doesn't work, what about defensive and amplifying arcane magic?

If you place it facing yourself, it won't be empty, right?
Quinn possesses two extraordinary traits, one of which is the 'Hero' trait, which surpasses ordinary combat classes. With arcane amplification, it's not impossible for him to fight across a larger combat order.
However, there are not many arcane sorcerers who study these two types of arcane arts, and even fewer who can make scrolls. Since they are not available for sale on the market, Quinn decided to ask Amamiya Nene.

Arcane katanas with wands are also not very reliable. Although arcane magic has its advantages, it is ultimately not as reliable as a real weapon.

Quinn couldn't help but miss the katana he had obtained from the abyss. Its weight, length, and even its design were exactly what he wanted, and it even came with a 'triple thrust' skill.

But it was just a branch.

Apart from the clang it made in the bathroom that day, Quinn never saw it turn back into a katana again.

The one-armed old man Gu from the Demar tavern did say he would forge him a sword on the condition that the two of them fight only with katanas, but so much time has passed and he still hasn't returned, so it's hard to say whether he's reliable or not.

I'll focus on studying the Abyss Relics in the library from now on, and try to find a way to activate the Dark Evil God, Chrysanthemum Ichimonji Norimune.

After carefully storing away all his belongings, Quinn kept only his wand and a scroll of the [Lightning Strike Spell] on his person. These were ultimately just external possessions. No matter how well he prepared, encountering a transcendent being a whole order higher than himself would still be a near-death experience. The most reliable way to become stronger was always to advance upwards.

Quinn left the room with a serene gaze; it was time to prepare the Sequence Seven Thief Potion.

I will be staying in this other world for a long time, but this time my goal is no longer to fight a hero.
You have to be at least a high-ranking member to even think about turning against the Demon King.

Well, but before that...
Quinn walked to the cupboard. His afternoon nap in the dorm hadn't been wasted; the dough had risen to a fluffy state. While it would have been even better if refrigerated overnight to restaurant standards, the little girl wasn't exactly a perfectionist when it came to taste.

He kneaded the dough into thin pancakes, with a prepared yellow paste placed beside him. The entire dormitory was filled with an unpleasant odor—from a fruit ingredient in the paste.

Durians exist in this other world—he already knew this from auditing alchemy classes; they can be used to make arcane potions. After searching the market for a long time, he finally found this unpopular fruit, which came from the South Pacific islands. Apart from a very small number of people from the East, no one would buy this stuff. Quinn spent money to try a few, and then brought back the one with the strongest flavor and the stinkiest taste for fifteen pence.

After thoroughly mixing durian pulp, cheese, and yogurt, Quinn spread the mixture on the dough, then rolled up the outside of the dough with yogurt as a filling. He then packed up the pre-made pizza and prepared to take it to Lin's house to bake.

Stepping outside and into the spiral staircase, Quinn pondered for a moment before deciding to go to the office to see if Amamiya Nene was there. If Pepe had the memory of her past life because of her fellow countrywoman, could Amamiya Nene, also the daughter of someone from the same hometown, have the same memory?

After exiting the stairwell, you'll pass by the divination department's classroom. As you pass Quinn, you can hear faint conversations coming from inside the classroom. Looking through the window, you can see Adolf conducting an experiment, with Seven standing beside him.

"Stop researching your damn poison gas arcane magic. If that stuff were really that easy to make, the Clock Tower would have engraved it into scrolls as a weapon of war a long time ago."

It was Seven who spoke, his voice lowered: "The academy forbids research into arcane magic that causes widespread destruction. Don't get expelled! Want to go to the Arcane Festival together? With the sixth-years. Senior Judith just broke up with her boyfriend; I'll take advantage of her weakness tonight and win her over."

Adolf glanced at him but didn't stop what he was doing.

"Chasing after a senior is the same as studying arcane arts."

"Same?"

"Just because others don't research it doesn't mean I can't. The same goes for your senior; just because others don't pursue her doesn't mean you can."

"Grass--"

Hearing the door open, Seven, who had been on guard, hurriedly patted Adolf's lame leg to warn him that someone was coming. The two hastily hid the bottles and jars full of various medicines behind their backs, giving Quinn guilty smiles.

"Mr. Quinn, you're at work today too?"

Quinn, who resold large quantities of Starflowers from the academy, naturally wouldn't say anything about such behavior. He pretended not to see anything and asked, "Is this your first time in Axwell this year? Aren't you going to the city to check out the Arcane Festival?"

"Let's go tonight."

Adolf nodded in agreement.

"After the office exploded yesterday, there were no lasting effects, right?" Quinn was referring to the incident where four exceptionally gifted students detonated the office while checking homework.

"No no."

How did you sleep last night?

The two wanted him to leave quickly, fearing his research would be discovered and he'd be punished. "I didn't sleep, I'm meditating tonight, haha."

Quinn nodded slightly. It seemed that academies in different spatial dimensions were also affected by the time reversal.

"Has Professor Cavendish returned from his vacation?"

“She’s back.” This time, it was Adolf who answered: “When I went to the office to get the materials, she was taking a nap in her chair.”

Quinn was surprised to find Amamiya Nene there, so he decided to go straight to her office. He pointed at the two of them helplessly and said, "I won't ask what kind of experiment you did. You're not allowed to steal materials from her office in the future. Wangcai will bite you."

After leaving the classroom, I knocked on the office door, and after a moment a voice came from inside saying, "Come in."

Quinn frowned.

Although it sounds similar, this is not Nene Amamiya's voice.

After opening the door, Quinn froze on the spot.

A black-haired woman who looked seven-tenths like Amamiya Nene was sitting on a sofa, looking at him with her eyes crinkling.

"Mr. Quinn, we meet again. Although I don't feel anything special, the fact that you're here at this time means..."

"Has this already happened once today?"

(End of this chapter)