A Background Character’s Path to Power Chapter 35 35: All This Just for a Pill, Seriously?

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[HIDDEN SCENARIO COMPLETED]

"The rchant Queen's First Counterattack"

▸ Achievents:

- Provided crucial evidence to dismantle the fraudulent engagent

- Earned future rchant queen's trust

Reward Granted: Golden Opportunity Lens

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I skimd through the ssage.

Nothing new, let skip to the reward.

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[Golden Opportunity Lens]

Effects:

- Detects counterfeit items/currency (red glow)

- Highlights risky contract clauses (amber glow)

- Rates investnt potential (S-F floating grade)

Limitations:

- 3 uses/day

- 30m range

- Requires eye contact

"I can turn golden chances into solid profits!"

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Nice, self-explanatory one.

Hmm?

A sudden weight materialized in my palm.

I looked down to find an ornate monocle resting on my fingers, its silver fra warm to the touch. The lens shimred with an inner light, refracting rainbow patterns across my desk when tilted.

"Now this is fancy," I murmured, holding it up to examine the craftsmanship.

Delicate filigree vines wound around the fra, with a small ruby embedded at the hinge point - the kind of accessory that would turn heads in the academy's halls.

Standing before my wardrobe mirror, I fitted it over my right eye.

The effect was imdiate - my reflection sharpened, every detail of my academy uniform suddenly crisp and vivid. The navy-black jacket hugged my shoulders perfectly, the silver buttons gleaming like actual sterling.

I look like one of those annoyingly competent butlers from noble manor stories, I thought, tilting my head. Or worse - a 'cold CEO' male lead from modern romance novels.

Chuckling at the absurdity, I focused the lens on myself, curious what analysis it might provide.

Instead of letter ranks the description said, the lens fogged montarily before displaying a single, pulsing question mark.

....

"..."

Just what does that an? I asked myself, squinting my eyes at the sign as if it would change it from a 'death stare'.

After several failed attempts, I removed the monocle with a sigh. "Whatever. At least I know how it works now."

I placed it carefully in my inner jacket pocket - close enough for quick access, but discreet enough to avoid questions. The last thing I needed was soone noticing this conspicuous artifact.

Changing into ho clothes, I moved to prepare a bath. The bathtub stood empty as always - no servants ca to these student quarters. At least not to mine. I wasn't rich enough to hire one. Nor I would, since I prefer privacy and have my own dignity.

I pressed the button engraved on the wall. The tub's silver pipes humd to life as steaming water began pouring from the ornate faucet.

Academy bath technology - one of the few modern comforts in this otherwise dieval world. The water shimred with faint blue energy, maintained at perfect temperature by enchantnts.

While it was being filled, my mind wandered to lunch with Aeron's group. Their overpacked al had been... excessive.

Livia and Emilia, clearly alard by Sunday's incident (probably the one when Aeron 'confessed' his 'vow' with Viviene), had prepared enough for three grown n.

Aeron's attempt to heroically finish everything had been both impressive and mildly horrifying - I'd excused myself just in ti to avoid joining his inevitable stomach pains.

A smirk tugged at my lips rembering his bloated, miserable expression.

He deserved it, haha.

Monday's reunion had gone smoothly enough as well.

The girls had alternated between fussing over Aeron and shooting him accusatory looks, while I'd quietly observed.

To his credit, he hadn't sold out as the instigator. I was the one who told Lenora to ask him to do all that after all.

Well, not that they'd have believed him - in their eyes, their precious "Kind and Gentle Aeron" beca the playboy that mont. Well, even though they knew why he did it, they are just using it as an opportunity.

His 'love life' is really a disaster, haha.

Stepping into the warm water, I let the day's tensions lt away.

The bath was more necessity than luxury - in a world without modern hygiene, skipping even one day could make you the least popular person in any room.

Drying off, I checked the wall clock.

Dinner hour had begun, but my stomach still protested at the thought of food.

Still full, huh.

Then, it was better to wait - who knew what state taking the pill would leave in later.

I stretched my arms overhead, feeling joints pop satisfyingly.

For exactly seven minutes, I studied the clearflow pill manual, my fingers occasionally tracing the energy pathways illustrated across human figures. The text was dense with alchemical jargon, but the core principles beca clear enough. Closing the book, I committed three key points to mory:

- The importance of precise timing with sundown's energy shift

- The need for complete muscular relaxation

- The danger of wrong consumption

Satisfied, I turned to my studies for thirty disciplined minutes - reviewing botanical sketches and annotating marginalia in my notebook.

Moving to the bathing chamber, I adjusted the controls to fill the tub with water slightly hotter than Virion's instructions specified.

The steaming liquid gushed forth, carrying the faint mineral scent of the academy's underground springs. By the ti the primordial beast arrived, it would cool to the ideal temperature.

Ti passed.

About 7 or 9 minutes later.

"Bath's ready, boy."

I froze aas Virion's voice slithered directly into my mind.

My head snapped toward the bathroom door.

Did I miss him? Or did he use teleportation or sothing?

The possibilities chilled more than the thought of an uninvited primordial beast in my washroom. Steeling myself, I retrieved the carefully wrapped Clearflow pill from its hiding place and entered the bathroom.

The scene that greeted defied expectation: Virion hovered above my now-transford bathtub, his serpentine form coiled in midair. The water had turned a luminous jade green, swirling with herbs I definitely didn't own - silvery moonbloom petals and spiked silverthorn leaves dancing in the currents and a few other herbs I didn't know of.

"Tea first," the beast declared without preamble. A delicate porcelain cup materialized on the bath's rim, steaming with the promised moonbloom infusion.

"Seven minute brew as Luna said." his erald eyes glead, " You've precisely three minutes left to drink it."

Co on.

Is all of this really necessary just for one pill? I thought inwardly but recalling it was myself who wanted the best, I shut up and took the tea.

"Take of your clothes off first," Virion commanded, his tail flicking toward the transford bathwater.

I arched an eyebrow but complied without comnt, stripping down to my boxers.

The primordial beast's gaze held no human prurience - only the clinical assessnt of a surgeon preparing a operating theater.

"Hmm, not fit as Zephyr but still good."

"..."

Never mind.

The moonbloom tea's warmth spread through my chest as I drained the cup, its floral notes giving way to a tallic aftertaste. A tingling sensation followed, like carbonation fizzing along my veins - subtle but unmistakable. My fingers twitched involuntarily as the sensation reached my extremities.

Then my feet left the ground.

...

Wait?!

"What the—?"