Beast Slayer Online: Initialization
Copyright© 2026 by CaffeinatedTales
Chapter 183: When Pain Became Data
Felicia’s lips had already parted slightly by the time Lannor finished the first half of his sentence.
She knew his learning ability was terrifying.
But a rough-edged witcher who made his living hunting monsters had spent less than a week at the academy and was already ... already completing research assignments?
Felicia knew exactly how profound the Crystal Cultivation Research Team’s work was.
Had she not possessed genuine interest and enough persistence to endure the endless setbacks, she never would have qualified for the project in the first place.
She had studied at Aretuza for five full years.
Before entering the academy, she had already received a proper education as the daughter of a wealthy merchant.
Lannor might be handsome ... But when would a witcher ever have had the opportunity to receive that level of education?
So geniuses truly did not need to follow the same rules as ordinary people.
Felicia was intelligent enough to become an apprentice at Aretuza Academy. Yet when years of effort could be overtaken by someone in a single week, anyone would feel a stab of discouragement.
And that was only after hearing the first half.
When Lannor casually mentioned that he had completed additional research, even that discouragement vanished.
In a groundbreaking field where no one had ever walked before, simply identifying a problem was already a rare talent.
More often than not, Felicia only realized an experiment contained room for improvement after Tissaia assigned her a task and pointed her toward the flaw.
Lannor, meanwhile, had not only completed the assigned work ahead of schedule, he had independently discovered a weakness in the research and already begun addressing it.
How was one supposed to describe a gap like that?
Standing beside people like Tissaia and Lannor, Felicia felt less like a scholar and more like an illiterate peasant woman bent over a field.
Lannor had already left while she was still staring at the documents.
As compensation for all the errands she ran for him, he often gave her personal guidance whenever his own studies allowed it.
That sort of one-on-one tutoring normally required extra payment at Aretuza.
Felicia belonged firmly to the category of students who could never afford it.
To help cover her tuition, she worked part-time inside the academy cutting hair. By all accounts, she was rather good at it.
Once Lannor disappeared from sight, Felicia quickly gathered the papers and left the library.
She needed to deliver his findings to Tissaia.
Several apprentices who had been studying nearby followed her out, exchanging teasing remarks.
One after another, they joked that Felicia had finally gotten a taste of the rectoress’s lover.
Felicia said nothing.
Nor did she deny it.
In truth, rumors like that made life easier.
The academy was a miniature society.
Having influence was valuable anywhere.
Even if the gossip somehow reached Rectoress Margarita herself, Felicia would merely appear to be another victim of idle speculation. At worst, people would pity her rather than punish her.
The Crystal Cultivation Project was a secret.
Only instructors of sufficient standing within Aretuza even knew it existed.
Felicia’s place in the project had been earned through a mixture of effort and luck. If word spread, there would be no shortage of people eager to steal that credential.
With practiced ease, she slipped Lannor’s stack of handwritten papers into the deep opening of her dress.
The rough parchment brushed against the warm curves of her chest.
Maintaining a polite smile while deflecting her classmates’ probing questions, she continued toward Tissaia’s laboratory.
⸻ Outside Aretuza, in the town of Gors Velen, Lannor was passing the time at Fergus and Yuna’s forge.
The combination amused him every time he saw it.
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