VIP Chapter 361: Exploitation
“You… you…”
Liya was so angry she was speechless, her open mouth hanging in the air.
“However, I do have a… objective that can allow Teacher Liya to receive a reward right now.”
“What?”
Liya thought, he does have an ulterior motive.
Because this is Will—
He pointed to the inner lining pocket of her robe, where her notebook was large enough that its outline was visible from the outside.
“It’s what you are currently doing.”
“What I… am doing?”
After a few moments, Liya seemed to subconsciously obey Will’s words. He pointed, and she naturally pulled out the notebook.
“That’s right. You’re going to clear the 70th floor of The End of Ice Abyss and defeat that Empress Snow Woman, aren’t you?”
“I thought it was something else, isn’t this a mission you wrote?”
“Yes. You see, completing Will’s mission naturally earns Will’s ‘Quest Reward’—it’s only logical, isn’t it? However, simply defeating her is a bit boring. Listen carefully, the mission I’m giving you is—”
Will paused.
“You, alone, in front of me, defeat that Snow Woman.”
Liya even doubted her own ears. Had she misheard Will?
“…Alone?!”
Although the frostbite on Liya’s hands had been healed, she could still recall the pain.
If she hadn’t truly faced the Snow Woman before, she might have thought there was a sliver of a chance.
But…
She currently lacked “confidence.”
Especially after failing to breach the Snow Woman’s castle’s ice wall time and time again, she had begun to doubt her own abilities.
“I’ve inquired,” Will said, adopting a demeanor of understanding her completely. “The Rocking Cage, as an Adventuring Team, provided no help whatsoever. Your few attempts were also unrelated to their support; you could even say they held you back.”
“…”
Liya remained silent.
“In any case, your contract with the Rocking Cage seems to end in three days—by then, those people might not even have recovered. They’ll definitely run away with their tails between their legs.”
Will shared a similar “appreciation” for Adventuring Teams as Liya, her tone conveying his contempt and dissatisfaction with the current Adventuring Team.
“Yes. If anything, they might leave tonight. I’m an external member anyway, they wouldn’t tell me anything.”
What Will said was indeed true, and she also felt that group was useless. It’s just that… even with teammates, she still couldn’t defeat the Snow Woman.
“So, Teacher Liya. Will you accept the new mission I’ve laid out for you?”
But perhaps…
Liya raised her head. Will sat on the chair, slightly hunched forward, hands clasped under his chin, as if “commanding” her.
“What? Do you… want a little more?”
Will smiled, dipping a fingertip into the blood-red potion he considered a “cure” for Liya, and then licked it.
She clenched her fists.
She still had some backbone, though not the backbone to resist—
“Completing, completing the mission is fine! But… but the premise is… you have to heal the stagnation in my Magic circuit!”
“Uh-huh. Starting to negotiate?”
Will tapped the table with a finger wearing a ring. Although there was no sound, it made Liya tremble.
With just that one action, she could feel the mouthpart of the bug in her neck twitch, almost ready to bite.
“You… you want the horse to run but not let it eat grass—isn’t that too much? You… you completely want to see me be abused, don’t you! I’ll… I’ll get scratched and frostbitten by ice arrows again…”
She tried to adopt a “teacher’s” demeanor to reason with him.
“Mmm…”
Will seemed not to dislike Liya’s “teacherly” lecture, even savoring it with some happiness.
“There is some truth to that. How about this, I can give you a bottle of high-concentration Blood Mint Essential Oil. However… this mission isn’t something that can be accomplished overnight. Your performance during this process must also satisfy me.”
“High-concentration… Blood Mint Essential Oil? That thing is just a material?”
“Yes,” Will answered straightforwardly. “But it’s very difficult to refine, so I can only give you one bottle.”
Listening to him, Liya felt that…
Will was hiding something from her.
If Will were solely trying to “control” her and toy with her by giving her an impossible mission, why would he make concessions?
Moreover, he seemed to be concealing the true nature of the “potion.”
Unless…
“Will, do you… really need a specific Loot after defeating the Snow Woman?”
“What? Am I being too obvious about my motive?”
“Intuition. Although you mentioned a similar Snow Woman in the ‘Quest System,’ you told me yourself that you wanted a new beginning. You’ve never been driven by emotion or nostalgia.”
Liya paused, observing Will’s expression. He didn’t interrupt her.
“The fact that you are alive also proves you are not someone who follows fate. So defeating the Snow Woman must be your current objective.”
“…”
Will was silent for a moment.
“You’re actually using me, aren’t you? Because there’s absolutely no way you can defeat the Snow Woman alone, and to rely on me, you have to exploit my love for you and control…”
Liya felt a sense of relief that even after Will had changed from his former self, she could still find some way to understand him.
“What if I said, yes?” Will interrupted her and then narrowed his eyes, smiling. “Don’t overthink it. Teacher Liya always trusts her guesses implicitly, but they are often not the correct answer.”
The more he acted like this, the more Liya felt he was hiding something.
Indeed, being used made her a little unhappy.
She still wished that his gaze towards her was pure.
However…
After “losing” him once, after he returned as if for “revenge,” after “surrendering” to him, she was indeed suppressed.
“Forget it. Tell me. What do I need to do?”
Liya ended the previous topic, looked up directly, puffed out her chest with innocence, and spoke without any prevarication.
“I thought you… were going to be a little more stubborn?”
Will’s question made her gaze shift to the side, and she twirled the golden ponytail on her right with her finger.
“…No need to be stubborn anymore.”
After this usual small gesture, she immediately looked back.
She placed her right hand, which had been wrapped in bandages but healed by Will, on her chest, and replied earnestly:
“I’ll own up to my actions and speak my mind. Since I’ve already surrendered, I won’t be stubborn or go back on my word.”
Will looked at her passionate and determined eyes. She had truly faced her decision and expressed her thoughts.
Even though her eyes no longer held that sickly pink “love,” she had still achieved this.
“Hmm, that’s a very ‘Post-Teacher Liya’ response.”
“What’s this new term?” Liya frowned. “So what do I need to do now? To deal with the ice wall, will you start training me in some method of magic concentration?”
Will shook his head and spread his hands.
“To be honest, I don’t know.”
“…Eh?”
“After all, I’m just a recently graduated student. My previous knowledge of Ancient Magic came from Teacher Liya. Regarding the Snow Woman’s ice wall, I used to think that only the Candle of First Creation could defeat it…”
“And now?”
“Teacher Liya, you should know better. The Candle of First Creation is far too overpowered for a BOSS on the 70th floor of a Dungeon—and you cannot master the ultimate flame magic either.”
Liya nodded.
“And, as you know very well…” Will chuckled self-deprecatingly. “I am now standing in my future after death, no longer an omniscient and omnipotent God.”
