Chapter 201 A dead man's chances
Since professor Thaddeus let those who passed his test go early, currently Rio, Rebecca and Amelia were going towards the canteen to get something to eat.
It's not that the professor went easy on us, it's just that he knew that while trying to endure the pressure at the end, everyone had spent all their energy, so he didn't want to push us too hard. And let us go so we can just get some rest and our mana back, before the next class starts.
"How did you do it?"
Rebecca said, while looking at the duo ignoring her and focusing on their food like some hungry wolves, who saw food for the first time in dead winter, had the urge to slap their heads and take their plates away.
"Do what?" Rio replied, as he swapped Amelia's hand away which was trying to sneak up to steal the sweets. Amelia looked at him with pleading eyes, to which he just smiled and ate that sweet in front of her. Instantly her eyes turned aggrieved and angry but she couldn't do anything. It was already too late.
"The test, how did you managed to withstand the pressure like it was nothing. Which technique did you use?" Rebecca said, while dragging her plate a little away from a certain foodie's range.
Rio knew someone was gonna ask this question, after all, no one had seen him use Rebound Art before today. He only got it during the dungeon attack, and after that he was gone from everyone's eyes, so none knew nothing.
"Ohh that, it's a new defensive technique I found somewhere, since I had one before."
"Where'd you get it?" Rebecca inquired further.
"A dungeon. Someone else had it, but He gave it to me as a gift." Rio said with a smile.
Hearing that Amelia shook her head, while Rebecca said "Meaning you just stole it, didn't you?"
"What stole it? We made a deal and he lost." Rio said, trying to defend himself. After all, Virgil Graves, the man who had Rebound Art in the novel, was after his life and Rio tried to make a deal to let him go if he parted ways with the technique.
Obviously, Virgil did what any villain would do in that situation - ignored the nice incentive that lets him live.
Stupid move.
So in the end, the technique still ended up in Rio's hands and Virgil's hands, well they were chopped off.
"Yeah yeah." Rebecca ignored the topic since she was just curious about it. She didn't want to probe for further details, so she started to focus on eating her food.
The academy canteen gave free food to every student, any time. Obviously if they pay for it with some Merit Points, the taste somehow increases a little. Same as the canteen of the dorms, if one doesn't like the dishes on the menu and wants to eat something else, they can order for themselves with Merit Points.
The next class was going to be about theory parts, which was divided in 2 parts, for the first part the instructor was going to teach everyone about the history of the world and every major catastrophe that has come till now. Second part was based on the current state of the world, and knowledge about the monsters, dungeons and towers.
The major incidents of the past were getting so much focus and attention, because no one knew when an event would reoccur or if a similar tricky dungeon would pop up again in some part of the world.
Like just after Emergence, people took the appearance of Towers lightly, and simply thought of them as empty buildings where they can trap the monsters at first, but then some centuries later, Towers which were already filled with different monsters and creatures appeared one by one, and the world paid its price for ignoring them.
Same was the case with different or difficult dungeons. Most people didn't like to talk about the failed raids of dungeons or towers, where many people died. Stronger awakeners would gather and solve that dungeon and normal people would forget about that incident all together. But no one knows, when a similar dungeon if that world will appear again, no one knows when monsters or creatures of that dungeon might appear on some floor of a tower.
This is why the World Association focuses on everything, good - bad, failed - successful, everything that the world has gone through till now, is important and a must to know by the new generation, so they can be better prepared for the unknown future.
Though many people still take it lightly even after so many years, but this knowledge is the only thing that plays a huge role in the survival of everyone when Phase 3 of Emergence starts - THE INVASION.
"Let's go, we'll be late for the class." Rebecca said, glancing at the time.
"Who do you think will come to teach us next?" Amelia asked, looking at Rio.
"What, why're you looking at me? How would I know that?" Rio said, as he went to pay for the bill.
(Girls really don't pay, no matter which world you go to huh.)
Amelia and Rebecca looked at him with the expression that said, 'Seriously'..
"Well, but if I had to guess it should be professor Quinlan Tempus. I'm not sure" Rio said, after thinking for a bit.
"Teacher Qin's gonna teach us." Rebecca said, excitedly after hearing Rio mention the name of her childhood history teacher.
"Well, he's been part of the World Association for a while, and he started teaching last year, so maybe he'll have a chance." Rio said, remembering the plot of the novel and his changes.
According to the original novel, the professor who was about to teach the class A-3, was a halfling called Caelum Arishem.
But that man was killed during the Warzy attack two years ago.
So there was no way he could come alive again to teach the protagonist. Other than him, there were only a few who were as knowledgeable and famous as him, so Rio could only take a guess in that regard.
He named Quinlan, simply because he and Caelum were related to each other.
When Quinlan Tempus first joined the Zenith Academy, he worked under Caelum as an assistant professor for two years. So there was a chance that heavens or fate or whatever, would put Quinlan in the empty position, so he can teach our dear protagonist everything the dead guy was supposed to teach.
Professor Caelum was a genius when it came to Dungeon Theory. And given a little bit more time he would've published his own research data book which was his life's work, after meeting and exchanging some points with the protagonist.
That book collected data from as early as the first dungeon outbreak to the current momentary peace. This book would then make records everywhere and inspire many other genius brains to come up with several other theories in the regards of dungeons and monsters origin. Thus giving mortals another edge and improvement in their fights against monsters.
Obviously once the professor got so famous, he also gave some credit to our protagonist who helped him with the last piece of the puzzle, making him a genius and a smart savior in the world's eyes.
But sadly, Caelum was killed before the plot started, and his research was lost after his death.
Now if there's someone who wants to keep the plot the same as in the novel, the only option would be to give all that research in the hands of another person, who would then pass it all to the protagonist.
Professor Caelum had no family or friends, and was a total weeb, who only focused on finishing his research. The man only joined the World Association, because the Association promised to fund his research. Thus the only time he got out of his room was for the class and then he was back as a shut in.
In this case, the only one he came in contact with was his assistant professors and the students. And between both of these choices, the assistant professor Quinlan is the one who is connected to the characters more.
[Thus the chances that he has the diary of his deceased mentor, and is just waiting to pass that on to the protagonist are much higher. Then to introducing a whole new character who wasn't even mentioned in the novel.]
'Yupp. I'm just worried that if Leon got his hands on that book, and Apollo decided to chime in as usual and finish the research. Then because _.
[Quinlan's a villain. He wouldn't share the results with anyone willingly. So somehow all the credit would end up on Leon's name.] System said, surprised by the sudden theory Rio thought of.
'Yes. There might be mentions of the dead professor here and there. But under the influence of Leon's halo and Apollo's minions, the credit would mostly be taken over by Leon.' Rio said and started thinking.
If Leon got that big of a reputation boost, then dealing with him was going to be much harder. Even for him.
[Why don't you release the research first. You know it already.]
'I can't. I only know the end result and the answer. If I want to convince the whole world of that theory I'd need his research which has examples, logs, details, suggestions and records of everything from the past.'
'What I have is like a simple formula. I know it is right, but I don't know how or why.'
[Well, you can't do anything. Let's just wait and see. We can plan accordingly after that.] System said, trying to make its host relax a little.
'Damn it. Damn those Warzy motherfuckers. Bastards ruined everything.'
"Brother, did you pay already? Or are you planning to stay there and wash the dishes instead?" Amelia said jokingly, after seeing Rio just standing still.
"I'm coming."
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