This Extra Hates Bad Endings

Chapter 91: Gramps

"Do your best, Finster! Matt!"

Nagi yelled from the sidelines, waving her arms.

"My legs... feel like jelly..." I wheezed.

Huff. Huff. Huff. Huff.

Every breath of air I took felt like pure, concentrated poison.

My training uniform was completely damp, clinging heavily to my skin from the sheer amount of sweat I was pouring out.

God dammit. I really should have expected this. Nagi wasn’t joking last night on the clock tower when she said midterms and finals would be focused entirely on physical assessment. frёewebnoѵēl.com

But knowing it was coming didn’t make the actual torture any easier.

"Hey, move your ass, twinkle-toes!" Tasora teased, effortlessly jogging backward past me without breaking a single sweat.

That absolute sadist. She was doing this on purpose. I glare at her blurry silhouette, memorizing her layout so I can throw a rock at her later.

"Huff... huff... Matt, are you alright?" Finster panted, matching my agonizingly slow pace.

"Maybe... maybe we should complain to Professor Heather..."

I really, really wanted to agree with him. But at this point, even finding the energy to form words out loud was physically painful.

How did my life come to this in the first place? I was supposed to be recalebrating my status with the help of Verde.

_________________________________

7 Hours Before This Spartan Nightmare

The morning had started normally enough.

After checking off the final name on his holographic attendance sheet, Professor Heather gently lowered the tablet onto the wooden desk at the front of the classroom.

"Good. Everyone is finally present," he announced, his sharp gaze lingering squarely on me for a fraction of a second.

Oh, leave me alone. It’s not like I wished to be bedridden for over a week myself, I mumbled under my breath, slumping in my seat and squinting at the chalkboard.

"It has been quite a while since I last interacted with humanity," Verde’s voice suddenly echoed inside my skull.

"I wonder how much your species’ education systems have actually improved over the past millennia.

"Oh, Verde. Where the hell have you been hiding? I thought back."

I have been busy restructuring your status," she replied smoothly.

"Now that you have finally consumed the necessary nourishment from the Polaris bloodline, the oppressive weight of my curse has been significantly lessened. Speaking of which, can you summon your status window for me? It has been incredibly difficult trying to calculate your exact parameters lately."

_________________________________

〈 STATUS PANEL 〉

Name: Matthew Pier Salinin

Weaver: Conceptual Astute Weaver

Race: Human (Stabilized)

Core: Blue

Potential: SS

_________________________________

〈 STATS 〉

Strength: D+

Endurance: D+

Agility: E- to E+ ƒreeωebnovel.ƈom

Thrum Capacity: A

Thrum Recovery: D

Thrum Circuit: D+

Mind: C-

_________________________________

Authority: Verde’s Curse.

Origin: Verde

Status: Passive

Effect: Reduces Mind Stat by 4 stages unless the user consumes the required nourishment.

Required Nourishment:[Solaris’s Blood] [COMPLETE]

Next Required Nourishment:[Clemantis’s Blood]

_________________________________

"So, instead of a five-stage nerf, it’s only a four-stage nerf now?" I thought, staring blankly at the transparent screen in front of me.

"But what is with this ridiculous next requirement? Clematis’s Blood? As in one of the Grand Dukes of Salem and the literal Head of the Family you’re currently presiding over? What kind of sick joke is this?"

"Stop complaining to me. It is not I who decides these nourishment requirements, but the universal system itself," Verde snapped defensively in my mind.

Wait... what?

This was another piece of vital information that was never mentioned in the original novel. Most of the fandom back home pointed out that the tragic downfall of Finster began precisely because of this curse.

Naturally, I harbored a bit of deep-seated hatred toward her for it, but the truth was more complicated. Everything this girl does is engineered for the ultimate ’flourishment’ of her target.

Even though the original Finster was eventually branded as a wanted criminal for his actions, the undeniable fact that he became one of the strongest beings in this world started entirely because of Verde.

I also doubted she was lying to me about the system giving out the requirements. She had absolutely no reason to.

I need to tread carefully and trace my steps well with her.

"On the other hand, there is something bugging me, Verde," I said, idly fidgeting with my pen against the desk.

"What is it?"

She drifted out of my eye as an invisible green wisp, quietly configuring my system information interface in the air.

"As soon as I consumed Solaris’s frozen blood on the island, why did I feel so much stronger? But the moment I woke up in the hospital, that rush of power was completely gone."

"Oh, the easiest way to explain it is that you didn’t actually get stronger. Your existing reserves were simply unlocked," she lectured still fully imersed in my status window.

"If in the past you were accessing your conceptual ability with a teaspoon, my assimilation with you and your consumption of Solaris’s blood temporarily lifted that restriction, thus for a brief moment, you were feeding yourself with a ladle." Verde explained.

"I cannot explain it in much deeper detail than that because, as you know, we the primordial colors are beings of Fiction.Our whole existance is the complete oposite of the power of concepts which derives in Reality."

The green wisp moved rhythmically across the glowing text of my status window. Which reminded me of Zelda, A game I used to play in my free time.

"If you need assistance with managing your thrum or my blessing, I can easily guide you. Though, if you truly want to master that unknown concept of yours, you should probably just kidnap an Aberrant and let them teach you a thing or two about how their biology handles it" she added casually, her wisp pulling back and dissolving back into the edge of my pupil. The status window remained open in the air.

"You can close the status window now."

"Then after class, can you help me understand your authority, ’Flourish’?" I asked as I closed my status window.

"I’ll think about it." she said back in my mind.

"Now that we have finished with the theories and philosophies of the Combat Discipline, it is time to move to the practicals," Professor Heather’s booming voice shattered our mental conversation.

"Go change into your combat suits and proceed directly to Trackfield two."I stood up from my desk, but due to my wrecked vision making the classroom look like a smeared oil painting, I accidentally stumbled straight into someone along the aisle.

Thud.

"Hey, watch where you’re going!" a rough voice barked.

The impact threw me completely off balance, and I fell hard on my knees.

I looked up, squinting at the blurry, massive silhouette looming over me. Even through the haze, I could tell he was an exceptionally muscular guy with a thick, rugged jawline covered in coarse facial hair, despite only being a first-year student.

This bastard... It was obvious he was the one who bumbped on me.

Should I just crush him and turn him into a convenient protein shake right here?

Before my violent inner thoughts could win over my common sense, a slender figure stepped squarely between us.

It was Fanna.

"Enough, Gorlock," Fanna said, her voice dripping with hostility.

"He just came back from the hospital yesterday. Surely you aren’t so low that you’re picking a fight with an injured classmate, are you?"

Gorlock clicked his tongue loudly.

"Tch! Watch where you’re going next time, Salinin."

He stomped away, and Fanna turned around, extending a hand to me.

I reached up and took it, letting her pull me back to my feet.

"Thanks," I muttered, brushing the dust off my uniform.

"No problem. I’ll head out to the changing rooms first, then," she said softly.

I just nodded back, watching her form blend into the crowd."

Oh! So this is where you were, Matt!"I spun around at the sound of the cheerful voice, seeing Nagi jogging toward me.

"Jeez, I waited for you outside the hall, you know? We could have walked down to the track field together."

She stopped and shifted her gaze to the doorway behind me, where a pale silhouette with distinct white hair and pointed elven ears was walking away.

"Oh, were you with Fanna? Did something happen?"

"No, nothing. I just bumped into an idiot on my way out. It seems like after those days on the island, my eyesight is getting worse."

Nagi’s eyes widened.

"Then you should have told me sooner! Let’s go pick out a pair of cute eyeglasses together right after class!"

"Eyeglasses... huh," I mumbled, scratching my neck.

"It might be a bit troublesome to use those, especially with how much I have to move around when I’m fighting."

"Don’t worry about that. Eyeglasses nowadays are embedded with localized inertia-lock micro-runes," Nagi explained, waving her hand dismissively.

"The frames physically anchor themselves to your bone using a seal, meaning they won’t even budge even if you get hit by a shockwave. But if you really hate the look of glasses, I guess we could just get you some contact lenses instead."

.....

I looked down at her suspiciously.

"Be honest with me. You only suggested glasses because you want to see what kind of stupid look I’ll have with them on, didn’t you?"

She gasped dramatically.

"Aww, busted! Anyway, let’s get moving before Heather scolds us for being late. Do you want a walking cane to help you out, grandpa?"

"Oh, shut it."