Avoid Yandere Constellation

A quest message appears after a long time. I ignore the The blond noble in front of me and shift my gaze.

[Quest – Win the Duel]

[Content – You will be rewarded if you defeat Edward von Gerald, the so-called ‘Rogue’]

[Reward – 1,000 Points]

Hmm. Not bad. I was going to teach that guy a lesson even without the quest. After all, he dared to mess with Lise and the other girls.

‘And 1,000 points, huh.’

I currently have 9,500 points in my possession. I was originally planning to use the cash shop to grow further.

‘I think it’s time to unlock some other game settings abilities.’

The remaining setting ability is none other than Inventory. You might wonder what use it would be to me, considering I have the Space Ring, but my instincts are telling me that I’ll need that ability sooner or later.

But I have a good sense for these things, even if I’m not good at everything else. Even if I were to obtain 1,000 points right now, I wouldn’t use them to purchase that ability. Unlocking it requires a whopping 10,000 points.

‘It wouldn’t be a bad idea to save up more before buying it.’

As I was planning for the future in my mind, the blond noble seemed to misinterpret my expression and looked proud.

“You seem to be tense. You should’ve just stayed quiet like before. You used to be less emotional in front of me.”

“…”

I remained silent in response to his words. Did he think I was quiet because I had nothing to say? The blond noble spread his hands wide and smiled brightly, like a circus ringmaster.

“Thanks to you, I’ll be getting a good maid from the Society!”

“Are you done with your last words?”

At my question, the blond noble’s eyebrows furrowed. I continued, ignoring his reaction.

“If you’re done talking, I’m leaving.”

I kicked off leisurely. The blond noble was startled by my speed. The next moment—

-Smack!

I punched him in the face.

“Kyaaaak!”

It must have hurt a lot, as he held his face with both hands, even though he hadn’t enhanced his body. It was as if his nose had broken. I looked down at him as he lay on the ground.

“What are you doing? Let’s start the fight.”

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.

.

At that moment, Patrick was startled by the scene before him. It wasn’t just him; everyone who witnessed Kaine’s strength for the first time widened their eyes in surprise, as if they couldn’t believe it.

“Kim Soo-yong, He’s truly changed, just as you said.”

“I told you he was strong.”

It wasn’t that he didn’t believe Kim Soo-yong’s words. If Kim Soo-yong said he was strong, he must be. But knowing something in your head and seeing it in person are two different things.

‘He’s stronger than I expected.’

Until now, Patrick had witnessed the training of the knights and the strength of the Knight Commander. Therefore, before seeing Kaine’s strength in action, he thought it would be at most on the level of a student. Kim Soo-yong had said that Kaine would have been the top student if he hadn’t been in the same class as the top five most powerful students.

‘The top student is usually on the level of a student.’

Because of this, even though Kaine had been extremely weak a year ago, Patrick had the preconceived notion that he would still be on the level of a student, no matter how much stronger he had become.

But,

‘I was mistaken.’

The strength Kaine displayed at that moment, even without body enhancement, was stronger than most of the Royal Knights. Of course, this was assuming that the Royal Knights hadn’t enhanced their bodies either.

As Patrick was surprised by Kaine’s strength, the Royal Knights were also—

“Wow, did you see that noble’s move?”

“No, I missed it too.”

“Wasn’t he really weak a year ago?”

“Yeah, that’s what I thought too.”

They were just as surprised as Patrick, if not more. Unlike Patrick, they had trained with the knights every day.

They knew how hard one had to train to become that strong, sacrificing even sleep.

Regardless of the extent of Kaine’s power, one thing was certain: he must have gone through a lot of hardship to achieve that level of physical ability.

As the spectators in the stands were startled, Gerald slowly got up from the ground.

“Ugh! If I hadn’t let my guard down…”

Gerald denied reality as he held his nose, which was bleeding profusely. Kaine intentionally waited for him.

“What are you waiting for? Get up.”

That way, he could beat him up more. At Kaine’s relaxed voice, Gerald furrowed his eyes. Then—

-Whoosh!

He released a pure white energy, the kind often used by martial artists. At the same time—

-Whoosh!

He threw a punch. His fist rushed towards Kaine’s face. Kaine naturally deflected the punch, even though Gerald had enhanced his body.

‘Hmm? He’s stronger than I thought.’

However, the pain was greater than expected. Gerald, seeing Kaine’s reaction, began to mutter to himself.

“You’re stronger than I expected, but you’re still a half-wit. You couldn’t even control your aura a year ago, right?”

“…”

Kaine remained silent in response to his question. Gerald continued with a voice filled with animosity, as if he had hit Kaine’s weak spot.

“I admit that your physical abilities are high, but I won’t lose to someone who can’t even control their aura.”

He said this and relentlessly attacked Kaine. His punches were strong enough to knock out an ordinary person, and his kicks were powerful enough to instantly kill a lower-level monster. All of these dangerous attacks rushed towards Kaine.

-Thud! Thwack! Bang!

After about ten exchanges between Gerald and Kaine—

‘Hmm. What should I do?’

He was seriously considering his options. This was because—

‘No, he’s too weak.’

In fact, when he first saw Gerald’s enhanced body, he was surprised. He had heard that Gerald was a serious rogue.

He naturally assumed that Gerald would be no different from Kaine in his rogue days. However, it seemed that Gerald had something to rely on, as he was stronger than expected.

But that was it.

He was stronger than Kaine had initially thought, but his strength was nothing special for a graduate of the Royal Academy.

‘Or rather…’

A senior had once said that the second-year students were unusual.

‘Is this… normal?’

As he thought this and casually dodged all the attacks—

“There’s an opening!”

Gerald punched with a happy face, with no sign of technique. The fist was coming right at Kaine’s face.

-Thud!

Dust rose up, not from the punch itself, but from Kaine’s enhanced body.

-Whoosh!

The blue magical energy emanating from Kaine’s body was the cause. Was it because he couldn’t control his power yet?

-Crackle!

Despite not using the Effect Quality setting, an excessive amount of blue magical energy was being released from his body, as if trying to suppress the entire area.

-Gulp!

Someone in the stands swallowed hard, and a few others rubbed their forearms, feeling a chill.

‘Hmm. Good thing I used the game setting ability. I should stop using the Demonic magical energy for now.’

Just a moment ago, he had almost killed the guy because he couldn’t control his power. If he hadn’t used the Attribute Change ability, the blond noble would have died for sure, given the nature of Demonic magical energy.

Using it wouldn’t have been of much benefit, and he might not even be able to inflict pain on the blond noble.

After coming to this conclusion, Kaine slowly retracted his Demonic magical energy.

-Whoosh!

The blue magical energy slowly dissipated. Kaine then spoke.

“What are you waiting for? Come at me.”

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.

.

At that moment—

“What, what is this power?”

“I got goosebumps from Kaine’s power for a moment.”

“Is that the same guy we fought in the tournament finals last year?”

The three of them looked bewildered at Kaine’s strength. Then, Lise covered her mouth and laughed.

“Hahaha.”

“Lise, do you know something?”

At Skaya’s question, she nodded, as if she had known it all along.

Eileen and Skaya felt a sense of defeat and humiliation. Then, Eileen furrowed her brows and asked.

“Don’t just laugh, tell us. When did Kaine become so strong? He didn’t have this kind of aura just a couple of months ago.”

“Yes, as the one who knew it ‘first,’ I’ll explain.”

Lise emphasized the word ‘first’ and crossed her arms. Although it was a bit annoying, there was no point in arguing. Eileen and Skaya kept quiet and listened intently.

“The point when his power increased was the day after William attacked the cult branch.”

“Huh? Then, is that…”

“The day after Kaine was sick, right?”

Lise nodded.

“Yes, that’s right. In my opinion, the reason for the sudden increase in Kaine’s aura is probably related to his illness. There’s no other reason for such a rapid increase in power.”

Of course, at that time, the Young Master had suddenly recovered and even danced by himself.

‘No need to mention that.’

Looking back now, the reason he was so happy might have been because he realized that not only had his health improved, but his power had also increased. Otherwise, there would be no reason for him to dance around making strange noises.

As Lise was lost in her own thoughts, Skaya nodded in understanding.

“It does seem highly likely, as Lise said. Even with Kaine’s high physical abilities, if his aura increased to this extent, he would have a fever.”

“By the way, Lise.”

At Eileen’s call, Lise turned her head. Eileen asked with a puzzled expression.

“Then, why isn’t Kaine using that power now? With that kind of strength, he could easily knock out this punk who’s in denial and swinging his fists around without knowing anything.”

She was right.

If Kaine used that power now, it would be child’s play to knock out Gerald, who was blindly attacking without any awareness. However,

“It’s probably because he’s having trouble controlling his power. I’ve seen him train a few times, and since he gained power so suddenly, he’s having difficulty controlling it.”

“Ah, that makes sense.”

After hearing Lise’s explanation, Eileen, Skaya, and Jenny nodded in understanding. As Lise said, if he didn’t control his power properly, he might kill the punk with just one attack.

With this in mind, the three of them turned their attention back to Kaine. Then—

“Ugh! This is ridiculous!”

Gerald was shaking his fist with a flushed face. It wasn’t unreasonable for him to feel wronged.

Until a year ago, Kaine was at the level of an ordinary person. Yet, in less than a year, Kaine had become stronger than him, and by a significant margin.

‘That guy is toying with me!’

Although he had denied reality until a moment ago, he had to admit it now. Kaine was stronger than him.

At first, he thought the aura Kaine was emitting was an illusion, but when he saw Kaine effortlessly deflecting his attacks without even enhancing his body, he knew it wasn’t an illusion.

‘Tsk! I was saving this for later, but I guess I have to use it now.’

Gerald barely dodged Kaine’s punch, which was thrown with ease. Then, he backed away as far as he could.

“Phew…”

“What’s wrong? Why are you running away? I’m giving you a chance by holding back.”

“Fine. Let’s see how long you can keep talking like that.”

As he spoke, Gerald took out a small bottle from his pocket, similar to a holy water potion.

‘I’ve never used it until now, but I have no choice.’

There was no other way to defeat Kaine. Gerald opened the potion bottle without caring about the onlookers. When Kaine saw this,

“What, what’s that?”

He widened his eyes in disbelief.

Mikasa, who was acting as the referee, frowned slightly at Gerald’s attempt to use a doping potion in a sacred duel. Just as she was about to stop him—

“Knight Commander, let him drink it.”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“Even if he drinks that, he won’t win.”

“…”

There was a clear gap between Kaine and Gerald’s abilities. Even with the doping potion, it was highly unlikely that Gerald could defeat Kaine.

“I understand. Since David von Kaine has allowed it, the duel will continue.”

At Mikasa’s words, Gerald looked a little surprised, then raised one corner of his mouth. He hadn’t expected Kaine to side with him at this point.

‘You’ll regret giving me the chance to drink this.’

As Gerald rejoiced inwardly,

‘I can’t believe I’m seeing this potion again.’

Kaine stared at the potion in Gerald’s hand for a moment. It was the same potion that had injured Kim Soo-yong last year, distributed by the cult.

Now, Gerald was drinking that powerful doping potion.

‘As I thought, he’s the culprit from that incident!’

(LoL if someone doesn’t remember in reality this potion was created by Kaine while trying to raise money at the beginning of the story, it was a scam the potion is only holy water)