24 Disrupting The Meeting Of Another Male Lead (4)
Ding!—
A quest has been granted by the Authority of the Constellation—"Goddess of Earth"!
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[Ding!~ Quest Generated— A Troublesome "Event"!]
— Change the novel's plot! In this particular "event", one of the future male leads of the novel would appear and get the attention of the Protagonist—"Stacy Greenwood"! Disrupt their meeting and absorb the "airborn" luck surrounding their encounter!
— Rewards: Automatic Advancement to the 3rd Circle, Elemental Mutation (Ice Element), and one Perfect-Grade Magic Stone!
— Additional: Depending on the quantity of luck absorbed, the user may unlock the ability to transmute "Nether."
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Observing the panel before him, Matthew's gaze sharpened, particularly fixating on one of the rewards—a perfect-grade Magic Stone.
As common knowledge dictates, Magic Stones are classified into four grades: low, middle, high, and perfect.
The perfect grade has a value equal to an astounding 100 high-grade Magic Stones, making it an extremely rare find.
While this may be basic information for most, Matthew knew, even without reading much of the novel, that in the early chapters, it was stated that a perfect-grade magic stone could forge a "Extremely High-Tier Curse."
Matthew was fascinated by the idea of creating a "Curse," a type of "Black Magic," because he was immune to all of these spells. Typically, curses come with "debuffs" and "buffs" akin to those found in conventional games.
A "Love" curse, for example, might ensnare the target in an endless circle of love for the caster, while a "Bad Luck" curse might shroud the recipient in misfortune, perhaps even to the detriment of the caster's own life.
As Matthew was immune to these negative consequences, Curse Magic seemed like a powerful tool at his disposal.
Additionally, he can begin studying "Curse Magic" now that he has the opportunity to obtain a Perfect Magic Stone, which will be very beneficial.
"...All that's left is to complete this quest and acquire a 'Curse Magic' Grimoire..." Matthew muttered to himself.
Stepping off the balcony, he headed for the massive crowd, which was talking much more than it usually did.
In an instant, Matthew's attention was drawn to the stage, where an unfamiliar figure stood.
This man possessed a commanding presence, with dark brown hair impeccably styled, and he was wearing a luxurious suit that exuded an air of mature charm, accentuated by the sleek glasses perched upon his nose.
"In actuality, while mana is immensely advantageous to all, not everyone is able to utilize it."
"And as a result, I made his magic tool blueprint for people who find it difficult to control or use mana."
As Matthew listened to the man speak, his expression changed as his "All-Rounder" class skill kicked in.
He kept listening to the man speak and could not help but frown even more.
What the man was talking about was a jewelry-type Magic Tool that can be used to cast spells by embedding gems inscribed with specific magic on rings or necklaces, requiring just a small amount of magic input.
In summary, the presentation stated that since it was in the form of inscribed specific magic, even those with little magic could use high-level magic, and it could save much more magic usage than widely used magic tools.
For everyone who heard it, it was a perfect blueprint that could be used to further enhance the empire's power, but for Matthew himself, it was full of flaws.
And knowing that this "handsome man" might be one of the male leads, he couldn't help but smile widely.
"...Any questions?" The man confidently spoke, his voice echoing through the whole ballroom.
By now, Matthew already knew that this "special event" was nothing more than the introduction of a revolutionary idea that had the potential to alter the entire empire's perspective.
However, it was indeed a bit too extravagant for a simple 'blueprint'.
But seeing the confident expression of the man on the stage...
Matthew couldn't help but think about how his expression would change after his "dedicated project" was destroyed by a mere academy student.
"By engraving magical symbols on gems, the magic tool can be crafted, allowing for the convenient activation of magic by infusing a bit of the wearer's mana… Did I understand correctly?" Matthew's voice rang out, gathering the attention of everyone.
The man on the stage, nodded his head upon hearing Matthew's words, "That is indeed correct."
"It's indeed a good project that could change the views of the empire... however, it still has three major flaws." Matthew shook his head with a wry smile as he spoke leisurely.
...BAAM!
After his words rang out, a huge pressure was directly put on Matthew's body, but thankfully, Lilian had appeared before Matthew and protected him, which he was already expecting...
After all, Lilian is still his "teacher" and his life is practically in her hands during this trip, so she cannot let anything happen to him.
'...She's protecting me now... but she did not protect me when Stella attacked me...' Matthew sneered inwardly.
"Ronald, what do you think you're doing!?" Lilian's voice rose, and Ronald, the man on the stage, was directly suppressed.
"I-I... c-can't l-let a mere student like him destroy my life-long project!" He said through his gritted teeth.
Seeing his expression, Matthew's smile grew wider.
"Then, let me explain the flaws of your "life-long project."" Matthew jumped to the stage, where he looked down on Ronald.
"First, it's obviously the cost. If one can't use the 'gemification' magic, they'll have to pay a hefty price to obtain the gems. Eventually, even if it hits the market, it will inevitably be sold at a much higher price than the usual magic tools."
Rage...!
A vein popped on Ronald's forehead as Matthew spoke with a faint smile, however, before Ronald could say anything about it, Matthew continued on.
"Secondly, its actually a pretty basic thing. Even if there are high-quality gems, how will you find a magician who can 'perfectly' engrave magic on them? Wouldn't that mean more money spent? Or simply, would you, Ronald or whatever your name is, personally spend your 'precious time' carving magic into those gems?" Matthew teased.
"..."
Ronald's aura immediately calmed down, and instead, his face gradually turned red from the embarrassment of forgetting such a simple thing.
After all, directly engraving magic symbols on an item is a whole different story.
Regardless of the difficulty level, if there's a failure in the engraving process, the expensive gem will be lost, and you'll need much more money.
"...That does make sense..."
"Even if we all are nobles and can buy them, if there's a mistake on the magic craving... wouldn't we spend more money in a reckless manner?"
"Right, and what about the commoners that dream to use magic? They wouldn't be able to afford such expensive gems and ask magicians to engrave spells on them."
The crowed started whispering to each other, and all of them were agreeing with Matthew's words.
And all of this attention was great for Matthew, because his "attributes" were slowly increasing due to his trait [Real Genius].
With a sigh, Matthew spoke about the third and last major flaw.
"Lastly, it's another basic thing... sigh... Only one magic spell can be carved into each gem, and as a result, encountering a monster with the same attributes as the craved magic will cause quite a few problems, possibly even death."
"You should study more, Ronald." Matthew crouched and looked at Ronald with a wryly smile.
"Even a 'mere' academy student could find three major flaws in your 'life-long' project...!" Matthew chuckled.
"Y-you.... YOUUUU!!" Ronald's face erupted with anger, but since he was still being suppressed by Lilian, he couldn't move his body.
Looking at the crowd, Matthew found Stacy, who was looking at him intently.
Wink...!
He jumped away from the stage and once again walked towards the balcony, and as he did so, he could hear the faint murmurs praising him.
'Honeslty, those were quite the basic mistakes...but why did no one notice them? Is Ronald a pretty prestigius person or something?' Matthew wondered.
'...Whatever, Ronald's project probably was going to be manufactured with the help of Stacy or something like that...'
Ding!—
The Quest—"A Troublesome Event" has been completed!
Do you wish to receive the rewards?
'No.'
Matthew couldn't simply receive the rewards right now, it was going to be strange if he directly increased his mana by a ton.
But, one of the things he was pretty curious about... was if he was really going to receive the ability to use 'Nether'.
He's pretty sure he destroyed Ronald, or whatever his name is, but was that enough to be granted the additional reward?
"Whatever... I'll worry about that later... Now, I just want to take a good nap~" He smiled, walking back to his room.
He was going to take a nap, despite the fact that it was morning...
