One-way traffic

On the contrary, this will be his most inspiring setback ever.

Chapter 40: Read a book in less than 30 seconds

"…you."

The girl who called herself Beatrice stood there, staring wide-eyed.

She did indeed use magic on this human just now.

However, whether it works or not is another matter entirely.

Accelerator was simply standing there, doing nothing, not even raising a finger.

However, the Wind Spear, formed from pure magic, did indeed deviate.

It was like a golf ball that had been hit suddenly hitting an unseen wall, then bouncing off like bullets from a sniper rifle. Beatrice's magical gun hadn't hurt her opponent in the slightest.

If the opponent is willing, they can even adjust the direction of the attack and return the power of that shot to Beatrice.

But he didn't do that.

Or rather, there are some reasons that even he himself cannot understand.

"Boring."

The white-haired, red-eyed monster spoke coldly, taking his left hand out of his pocket and touching his neck.

That's where the Wind Spear was fired from.

There was no damage whatsoever.

"I've long lost interest in games that only little brats play, and I have no desire to continue playing with you anyway."

He turned around and, under Beatrice's gaze, slowly walked towards the door.

But this moment.

"Wait a moment."

"what?"

Accelerator stopped in his tracks because the little girl behind him suddenly said this.

Beatrice's hostility shifted slightly.

“Betty knows who you are. You are one of the three people who returned to the mansion with Emilia just a few hours ago.”

"So what? Or are you planning to invite me for tea at a time like this?"

The first ability user waved his hand.

"I have no interest in playing these silly games with kids. I'd better get into bed and drift off to sleep."

"What an rude guy... I was even thinking of helping you out!"

pat.

The other person suddenly stopped walking.

"Wait, what did you just say?"

Accelerator frowned and turned around.

Beatrice gazed at him calmly.

"The power you're using isn't magic or a blessing, is it?"

The actual situation was immediately apparent.

Even the strongest monster in Academy City was surprised. You see, even Reinhard back then couldn't immediately recognize that the power he was using wasn't magic or any kind of blessing.

"What do you want to say?"

Even so, Beatrice continued.

"You have great potential, you just lack knowledge."

"……what?"

"Although Betty doesn't know exactly how strong you are, she can still tell that you don't seem to have fully grasped the true meaning of magic."

"Tsk."

The first person clicked their tongue in displeasure.

Beatrice raised her hand, and she mobilized the surrounding magic to close the door behind Accelerator.

"Come inside."

The petite blonde girl slowly walked towards the inner side of the library. Accelerator raised his eyebrows slightly, but did not continue the awkward confrontation.

What's this kid up to?

It could be a trap or something, but even knowing that, Accelerator still chose to continue following.

He put his hands in his pockets and looked around.

The surroundings were just like the area near the door, filled with books, except that there was an even more spacious room directly in front of it.

There was a huge bed and a desk covered with notes.

Beatrice had already taken her seat at the desk.

“Betty can sense that your power is not gathering magic from within your body, but rather manipulating the direction of magic.”

That's a very insightful comment.

Accelerator then took a wooden chair from the side and sat down in front of the desk.

He looked at the things on the table.

There are all sorts of documents, manuscripts, and books with magic circles engraved on them.

just.

"I'm saying you...you can't possibly be illiterate, can you?"

No matter how hard Accelerator tried to read the text, he still couldn't understand a single word.

The reason is simple: he cannot possibly recognize the words in this world, nor can he possibly know anything about this world.

However, the first-ranked monster did not show any signs of dejection.

"Is this a library?"

"Betty believes this is a fact that even an idiot could see."

"Then stop being nosy and give me the books on language and writing."

Beatrice frowned, but did as he said.

She used magic to take a very basic book from a bookshelf and place it in front of Accelerator.

The first person picked up the book without hesitation and started flipping through it.

"Betty advises you to give up."

The blonde girl gave a mocking laugh.

“If you really came to a place like this without ever learning a single word, Betty doesn’t think you’d be able to understand any of this… In the end, it would be better if Betty sat here and taught you step by step; that way, you might understand a little bit more.”

"Let's get one."

Less than a minute.

The white-haired, red-eyed monster had already finished reading the entire book.

“…Huh?”

"Don't understand? Get me a book. Weren't you going to help me fill in the gaps in my knowledge here?"

Beatrice blinked, looking completely bewildered.

He has finished reading a book.

Less than thirty seconds.

"Are you an idiot? Do you think it's possible to finish reading a book by just flipping through the pages like that? Who are you trying to fool?!"

"Don't get too cocky, you brat."

but.

The strongest monster in Academy City would never do anything futile; that is, he would never engage in meaningless boasting.

With a ferocious grin, the monster began to draw on the white paper in front of it.

The key to learning a new language lies in repeated memorization and recitation.

It takes at least a few years to become proficient in a basic language. Even college students need to practice for a period of time before they can become proficient. It is absolutely impossible to become proficient simply by relying on what you learn in school.

but.

To the first monster, this theory was utterly ridiculous. It was such an impossible claim, a joke so ridiculous it was beyond ridiculous. He felt he would be laughed to death by anyone who thought this way, to the point of being unable to take care of himself. It was just too laughable.

He wrote an article with practiced ease.

It uses a language and script that belongs to this world.

It wasn't Japanese, nor English, nor Chinese or Russian; it was a completely new language belonging to this other world, entirely different to him.

It only takes less than thirty seconds to turn the page.

"You...have you learned it already?!"

Even Beatrice, who always maintained a cold expression, was stunned.

In her mind, no, perhaps there are very few people in the world who could do that.

But the white-haired, red-eyed monster in front of them had indeed done just that.

"This shouldn't be too difficult, right?"

Accelerator swung the ink-stained pen tip in his hand.

"So-called learning is nothing more than stuffing all the things you need to memorize into your head and then taking them out when you need to use them."

"Compared to mere textual theory, I can memorize millions of strings of human bioelectric virus data, including the structure of human memory—the whole process doesn't even take a minute."

"You don't actually think this kind of low-class trash literature can bring me down, do you?"

Accelerator is not simply the strongest esper in Academy City.

He is also the most brilliant student in Academy City.

His brain was specially enhanced to handle highly precise calculations, and he also possessed extremely excellent logical thinking skills, making it easy for him to understand or remember things.

Accelerator once managed to memorize millions of data points with his own eyes, and then used those data to eliminate the virus in Last Order's mind.

If that's the case, how could he possibly not remember the knowledge from a mere book?

That's a laughable joke.

This memory and computational power has even reached a level comparable to the supercomputer of Academy City—the designer of the tree diagram. Although it is still far behind in terms of practicality, it is already an unimaginable level in terms of this alone.

For him, simply grasping all the knowledge and content in a book wouldn't even take thirty seconds.

For the strongest of this monster level, it's a piece of cake.

RO script, HA script, and I script are all fundamental elements of the linguistics of this other world.

Accelerator mastered all of this wisdom in less than thirty seconds.

Beatrice blinked, and it wasn't until this moment that she fully came to her senses.

"...Could it really be like that?"

"what?"

The number one strongest monster raised its eyebrows in confusion.

"What do you want to say now?"

"No, it's nothing."

Accelerator would never know a thing.

At this moment, in Beatrice's mind, something unimaginable had already come to a conclusion.