The manager Oknodie and three members of the Plant Club fell into a very nasty trap.
“It’s true that the spell is hard, but if we just spend enough time on it, we can solve it, right?!”
“Manager! We’ll combine our strength! Let’s not give up! To be honest, you brought us here, so what do you expect us to do if we just give up?!”
“Oknodie must also be stuck due to the surprise attack from other third years.”
The club members still hadn’t grasped the situation.
Oknodie reminded them of a very sad fact.
“What if the Mandragora wakes up while we’re dispelling the spells?”
“Ah.”
“Th-that’s…”
“We can just put it back to sleep!”
“You know that once a status ailment is dispelled, its resistance goes up for a certain period, right?”
Well, they could put it back to sleep once.
But what about twice? Three times?
The effort required to inflict status ailments would increase exponentially, and the duration would decrease.
It meant that they couldn’t put the Mandragora to sleep conveniently forever.
“How about we just dunk it in?”
“Then would Oknodie let us off the hook?”
“…”
“I can’t allow that before Oknodie! I’m the one who caught the Mandragora, how can I kill it?”
“But we can’t die either! I’m scared of what Oknodie might do to us if we’re found out while trapped like this, Manager!”
To dispel the spells surrounding the personal chamber would require long hours, and in doing so, if the Mandragora wakes up, they might die from the genuine anger of a truly awake Mandragora’s scream.
If they put more effort into putting the Mandragora to sleep, they wouldn’t have enough time to dispel the spells.
There was even another grim prospect that emerged.
Wiggle.
“Why the heck is it trying to wake up already?!”
The manager had directly piled on those status ailments, and yet the creature was already attempting to awaken.
Oknodie could guess the reason right away.
“This is insane… It’s got a high resistance to status ailments.”
Observational Eye. Pierce Eye.
The superior technique of the Spectral Eye used to spy on the true form hidden beneath a living being’s natural mana showed its cruel specs.
━━━
Fire Resistance 45
Paralysis Resistance 275
Sleep Resistance 280
Freeze Resistance 177
Confusion Resistance 95
Weakness Resistance 111
━━━
Specs that shouldn’t naturally exist.
This was clear evidence of rigorous training.
*
With fake screams to distract them, Alice was pretending the countdown was fake, trapping the enemies in the room.
She felt a sense of pride.
“Every time the Goo tries to walk out of the private room, I’ve done my duty as a guardian casting status ailments!”
No matter how much the Goo wanted to frolic outside, the academy was too dangerous for it.
A passing upperclassman might grab it and chew it by the hair, or a professor might shove it into the lab saying it looked interesting.
Thus, every time the Goo attempted to escape through a door or window, she blocked its attempts with statuses like [Paralysis], [Sleep], [Freeze], and so on.
“Thanks to all of that, it’s developed a strange habit of trying to dig through walls with its roots to escape… But I guess it’s a good thing that its physical power has strengthened as a result?”
The walls also had a spell that automatically restored them over time, so leaving it alone was fine.
Realizing that fact late, the Goo would try to escape through the window or door again, and each time Oknodie’s lecture time came around, she put it to sleep again with a status ailment.
While its resistance grew, Alice’s skill at inflicting statuses similarly increased.
Both the attacker and the defender grew equally, so ultimately the Goo’s escape attempts were bound to fail.
In the end, it seemed like the only remaining option was to knock Oknodie out and escape, so the Goo diligently practiced the martial arts techniques it learned from Hestia.
“Although its effort is commendable, at that speed of growth, there’s no way it will escape in its lifetime.”
The Goo’s efforts were completely meaningless in regards to its original goal of escape.
However, they yielded exceptionally impressive results in overcoming the surprise attack by the Plant Club.
“GOOOO!”
As the Goo finally broke free from the status ailments, it began to rampage, prompting the Plant Club to shift their strategy to defense spells until it exhausted itself, rather than risk hurting the Mandragora further and incurring Oknodie’s wrath.
However, with the training’s results proving too effective, the vine shield, bark shield, and Wood Skin spells were all successively shattered against the Goo’s roots.
“It seems that since the opponent is strong, the results of functional training are being achieved even more significantly.”
As its combat abilities visibly shot up while facing a real opponent rather than just practicing against dirt or walls, the Goo Mandragora became even more excited, stretching its roots out.
[Rapid Stab]
[Single Point Stab]
Of course, using the techniques it learned immediately, it began to strike joyfully, and perhaps gaining insight, it started testing new techniques.
[Toss]
[Choke]
“AAAAAH, We’re all gonna die like this!”
“I can’t take it anymore, Manager!!”
“Whether Oknodie’s angry or not, we have to beat it into submission before it can rampage, or we’ll die first!!”
Unable to hold back, the members took out seeds once again and rapidly grew plant monsters.
[Rapid Growth – Parasitic Flower]
[Life Drain]
[Curse of Forced Weakness]
[Rapid Growth – Thorn Flower]
[Digging In]
[Thorn Explosion]
[Rapid Growth – Pathetic Flower]
[Kick]
[Trample]
But the Goo Mandragora was no longer the weak, helpless Goo of earlier.
[Life Pillage]
[Wood Skin]
[Thorn Erection]
“Wh-what the?!”
“Thorns?!”
“Bloop!?!”
The Goo began to reverse-pillage the energy of the parasitic flower that had dug into its roots and defended itself using the Wood Skin magic that the Plant Club members had cast.
The Pathetic Flower, which had been stomping on it the hardest, even grew thorns and gave a sharp reprimand!
“This is insane. Even though the Mandragora is a highly rare monster with excellent learning abilities, it shouldn’t have been this capable…?!”
While Oknodie was thrown into confusion, Alice, who had received early education from the Foundation, had an inkling.
“Jonnas once said that children inherit traits and functions from their parents or guardians.”
The one acting as the parent and protector of the Goo Mandragora was none other than Oknodie.
A chief scholarship student of the Wahyhiemhai Foundation, fiercely competing for the world’s top talent at the Gift Academy, proudly claiming first place in Class 981.
Unsurpassed both in talent and ability!
Moreover, it was showing more growth than the contemporary hero Ishtar, the singular deity chosen by the [Sofemia of the Sun], rather than some run-of-the-mill hero from the 24 divine classes throwing the lot at them.
By taking after such a protective figure, it’s no wonder this unusual and remarkable Goo came into existence, just like one wouldn’t find a turtle beneath its mother’s wing!
“That’s why Jonnas’s teaching was all the more special. It resulted in the birth of this rare masterpiece known as Oknodie.”
Seeing the stark difference between herself and Oknodie, both having the same guardian, made her feel a sense of resignation.
At least the Goo Mandragora didn’t seem like it was going to fall into sadness like she did.
“We have no mana to use since all the natural mana is deployed in the defenses…”
“Ugh, after recycling the magic I had on my ears into internal mana and using it in battle, it’s reached a point where my mana can’t regenerate anymore…”
“Why the heck doesn’t that crazy Mandragora run out of mana…?”
Having been drinking a special nurturing solution every day for months and growing splendidly, the Goo Mandragora boasted more mana than the third years and gained an advantage in a prolonged battle.
“Ugh!”
“Ugh!”
“Ah!”
Unlike the members who were stubbornly resisting and getting beaten up even worse, Oknodie, who had given up early, raised both hands in surrender and maintained a posture of punishment.
“O manager, you have no shame!”
“Is your dignity more important than getting bruised?”
“…”
Ultimately, realizing that the manager was wise, the other members also raised their hands, lost their will to resist.
“Goooooo!”
The Goo Mandragora let out a triumphant roar.
Looking at the rigidity and gloss of its roots increasing, Alice thought that this victory had enhanced the Goo Mandragora’s combat potential.
That was quite a remarkable growth.
“Goo, I’m here!”
As the barrier was released with a bang of the door, the Goo, filled with confidence to tackle Oknodie, dashed forward!
[Headbutt]
[Omnidirectional Stab]
[Thorn Erection]
“Goooooo!”
In response to the charge of the Goo Mandragora, Oknodie tilted his head and reached out.
“Yap.”
[Spiderweb Binding]
[Toss]
Weaving mana into strands, he spread a web and tightly wrapped the Goo in one hand, swinging it hither and thither, crashing it into walls and ceilings repeatedly.
After being slammed into the wall roughly ten times per second, the Goo’s eyes rolled back and it fainted.
Its rampage ended in just 3 seconds…
“Why has the Goo become so violent? Where did it learn such bad techniques… Ahh.”
Oknodie discovered the upperclassmen kneeling with their hands raised in a corner.
“Our little Goo learned from the upperclassmen, didn’t it?”
The members of the Plant Club realized that what was scarier than a pet plant was the owner and broke into a cold sweat.
