One hour of Close-quarter combat was bound to be exhausting if the students were subjected to constant sparring and little rest. That was exactly what happened to class ‘Alpha’.

Arthur’s teaching method was extreme and bordered on insanity; He would order them to spar against each other non-stop. Even when someone got hit and fell, he would force them to stand up and continue.

Disheartened and disgruntled, the students’ impression of the new teacher was negative. They all had complaints but they didn’t dare voice them outloud. They had relatives and acquaintances in the academy, whom they hoped would get Khalil fired.

Reyna was such an individual as she couldn’t accept the humiliation she had gone through. Either in terms of physical or magical prowess, there was bound to be a significant gap between students and teachers, especially for First-year Students.

However, as part of the Imperial Family, Reyna was born with a powerful physical strength, which was further nourished by expensive alchemical concoctions. Basically, she was amongst the strongest of First Years.

Seeing that her attack dealt no damage whatsoever to the smug-looking teacher, her anger and frustration went beyond the limits.

Still, she didn’t lash out again and obediently sparred with her partner until the end of the hour.

Once that was over, she hastily went to the Administrative Bureau and barged into her aunt’s office.

Feylord and Frey followed after her, but upon seeing her livid face, they kept their silence lest they unwittingly suffer the girl’s wrath.

“Aunty!”

With fake tears trickling down her cheeks, Reyna dashed to her father’s older sister and hugged her.

“What’s wrong, Reyna?”

The person in question was Jennifer Vos Azakin, the Emperor’s older sister and a distinguished teacher in the Nemia Academy.

She had distanced herself from incessant political struggles in the North and focused on her ambition, which was to become an Archmagus.

Unlike her lovely-looking niece, Jennifer was a serious-looking woman with a triangular face, a pair of beady black eyes, and a constant frown.

After she appeased the crying Reyna, she learnt about what happened with the new teacher.

“There was conclusive evidence about Professor James’ sexual harassement, therefore, there is nothing I can do about that.” Solemnly stated Jennifer as her frown deepened. Although she doted on Reyna, she valued her job and the rules even more, and was against favouritsm and discrimination.

“As for the new teacher, that’s also something outside of my authority. He was personally recruited by the Principal. Many teachers voiced their complaints due to his mysterious background and unverified qualifications, but I have complete trust in Lady Sonia.”

“B-but… he looks like one of those poor desert people! And he made us spar all hour long. He’s unfit to teach the Imperial Family!”

Jennifer’s eyes narrowed as she loudly banged her metal ruler on the desk and rebuked, “Reyna, do not forget that you are a student in here. You have no privileges or advantages. I advise you to keep yourself in check or else I’ll personally send you back home. Understood?”

Seeing her aunt getting angry, Reyna meekly nodded her head then sulkingly left the office.

As expected, once Reyna left the office, she threw a tantrum and kept stomping the ground like an angered gorilla.

“M-my lady…”

Feylord stopped her and after a slight hesitation, he proposed,

“Maybe it’s wiser to get on his good side first?”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

Reyna looked at the handsome blond-haired youth with curiosity.

“He’s obviously uninterested in favouring you, but we can change his mind. For example…” The young noble lowered his voice and continued, “As an ‘apology’, we can bribe him. Then, we can try to find his weakness or push a crime into him.”

“Oh…”

A grin appeared on Reyna’s face, making her pretty face seem distorted and slightly evil.

“That’s a very good idea, Feylord. Alright! Start doing that!”

Reyna’s mood changed in a matter of seconds as she hummed while heading toward the new period.

Feylord exchanged glances with Frey, but the latter seemed to be in a bad mood as he had a proposal of his own.

Knowledge about the secret organizations such as the Unholy Blasphemers, the Sun Alchemists, and the Brutal Prince Order was generally hearsay or passed down in Black Markets.

Still, Arthur was bathing in delight as he spent the entirety of the day in the library.

“It’s a treasure trove.” He muttered as he opened another book.

He was hoping to find a bit of information about the Circle of Damnation, but the books were mostly about Magic, Spells, Alchemy, and other studies relevant to the students.

However, the Nemia Academy’s library was second only to the one in Elven City on the Eastern Continent.

There were tens of thousands of books, which was nothing but a pleasurable experience for the parasite. Admittedly, he had no particular interest in studying Magic, but there neglected books about subjects he found intriguing.

For example, the infrastructure of the Nemia Academy, the geography of the Nether Storm Archipelago, ancient myths about the Hollow Creek and other notable places.

There was even basic information about the parasite race, but all of it was something Arthur already knew.

Unfortunately, his badge didn’t allow access to the vaulted floors of the library. Sonia either purposely barred his entry or it was a place accessible for a handful of high-ranking people in the academy.

Either way, Arthur wasn’t that dejected as he immediately started formulating a plan to get inside.

From a glance, he saw the layers of barriers around the vaulted floors; there were all kinds of unfamiliar runes and symbols, and even tall metallic golems standing immovably at both sides of the stairs.

As the close-quarter combat teacher, Arthur only taught Class ‘Alpha’ of the First Years and class ‘Sigma’ of the Third Years.

He was obligated to teach a total of 8 hours a week, which gave him a lot of free time.

‘While the Sun Alchemists are an unorthodox and unofficial organization, it’s still considered peaceful. It’s more like a school of many Alchemy enthusiasts and though their experiments are dangerous, they don’t delve into rituals. Moreover, their beliefs oppose that of human sacrifice. I don’t think they’re the right people to approach. Which leaves me with the Unholy Blasphemers and the Brutal Prince Order.’

Arthur deliberated on his choices while using [Mist of Decay] to glide in the air and speed toward the Eastern region of the Nemia Academy.

It was the same place he had briefly fought the Dean. During his short stay there, he had seen a few beats roaming the area, but they were all afraid of Melissa and didn’t deign to attack.

Even if they were weak compared to him, Arthur wasn’t going to let go of this golden opportunity. Instead of lazing around in his room, it was more productive to hunt potential hosts and continue strengthening himself and obtain skills.

Like all parasites, he needed to constantly improve and make sure he could survive and protect himself. After all, when he fought Melissa, the two were more or less equal.

Even if he went all-out, he wasn’t that confident in defeating her. For him, escaping was easier, but there were times when an enemy had to be killed, therefore, he had to take precautions and improve himself, even if improving simply meant killing monsters and practically robbing their stats and skills.

‘I’ve tailed Nader for a bit but he’s always alone. Either he’s being overly-cautious or he suspects something after I gave him that note. Verno is a more plausible target. It would be easy to infiltrate his surroundings.’

Soon, Arthur encountered his first target; a large black tiger with blue stripes.

The beast growled menacingly before leaping at the parasite, but it bumped into a yellow-ish barrier mid-air.

Arthur controlled the Sanguis Barrier, making it charge forward and bump into the tiger again.

Surprisingly, the beast didn’t suffer any substantial damage. It growled louder then rushed again, but Arthur was prepared as mist spread from his body and shrouded his figure.

A second letter, his silhouette shot from the mist and swung a scythe at the flank of the target, piercing its skin and blowing it a couple of meters.

Arthur quickly switched weapons and made use of the high sword mastery he obtained from Evelyn’s dead colleague.

With precise and agile movements, he landed on the tiger and thrust his sword into its skull, killing it on the spot.

In terms of prowess, the tiger was weaker than the strange construct he had faced in Hollow Creek, but Arthur didn’t care that much.

This beautiful forest, filled with luminous blue trees, was infested with all kinds of dangerous beasts.

For two hours, he continued searching for beasts and killing them one by one.

Excluding the black tigers, there were bloated red boars and strange and unpleasantly loud baboons, all of which were disposed of with relative ease.

Against non-sentient beasts, the parasite had an absolute advantage. By switching hosts or shrouding himself in mist, fooling their senses was easy and enough to deal a fatal blow.

When an orange hue spread across the night sky, Arthur stopped his hunt. As he had no space left in his magical bag, he dumped the corpses on the coast while smiling in satisfaction.

In total, he killed 7 Black Tigers, 5 Blossom Baboons, and 13 Fierce Forest Boars.

*TITLE(S) : NONE

NAME : Arthur Bilgart

RACE : Blood Parasite

Lv: 21 (26%)

-

Strength : 507(431)

Intelligence : 298(220)

Agility : 473(388)

Wisdom: 209(166)

Vitality : 385(292)

Dexterity : 341(270)

-

*Skills

Resistances:

Magic Resistance(Passive Lv2🡢3)

Poison Resistance(Passive Lv5)

Cold Resistance(Passive Lv3)

Heat Resistance(Passive Lv3)

Disease Resistance(Passive Lv4)

Physical Damage Resistance(Passive Lv2🡢3)

-Others:

Physical Enhancement(Passive Lv9)

Full Moon(Passive-Active)

Mana Control(Passive Lv6)

Long Breath(Passive Lv4)[Fish-type host required]

Possession(Passive LvEX)

Woodworking(Passive Lv2)

First Attack(Passive Lv5)

Culinary Arts(Passive Lv3)

Survival Instinct(Passive)

Keen Eyes(Passive Lv3🡢4)

Swift Wings(Passive Lv3)[Bird-type Host required]

Rat Teeth(Passive)[Mammal-type host required]

Warmth(Passive)

Insectile Gluttony(Passive)

Sickening Life(Passive)

Universal Human Language(Passive)

Basic Arman Language(Passive)

Medical Field(Passive Lv4)

Farming(Passive Lv2)

Tenacity(Passive Lv2)

Magic Beast(Passive Lv4)

Gila Poison(Passive Lv5)

Reptilian Transparency(Passive Lv3)

Tongue Catch(Passive Lv1)

Sharpened Claws(Passive Lv6)

Flexibility(Passive Lv3)(NEW)

Bestial Regen(Passive Lv3)(NEW)

-Weapon Masteries

Knife Mastery(Passive Lv2)

Dual Dagger Mastery(Passive Lv2)

Sword Mastery(Passive Lv7)

Axe Mastery(Passive Lv3)

Spear Mastery(Passive Lv1)

Bow Mastery(Passive Lv1🡢3)

-Active abilities:

Vampire Bite(Active Lv10)

Sadistic Torture(Active Lv5)

Blood Succor(Active Lv7)

Corpse Dissection(Active Lv12)

Sanguis(blood) Barrier(Active Lv7)

Tusk Damage(Active Lv4)

Flight, No Fight(Active Lv4)

Exoskeleton Defense(Active Lv2)

The Mist of Decay(Active Lv5)

Wither Touch(Active Lv2)

Enhanced Spell(Active Lv2)

Internal Cry(Active)

Lunar Blade(Active Lv5)

Half a Moon(Active Lv4)

Sword Blast(Active Lv4)

Bestial Rage(Active Lv2)(Exclusive to animal-type hosts)

Spider Webs(Active Lv3)(Exclusive to Arachnid-type hosts)

Acid Spray(Active Lv4) (Exclusive to Bombardier Beetle)

Wither Blast(Active Lv1)

Magick Sense(Active Lv1)

Speed Jump(Active Lv6)(Exclusive to Blossom Baboon host)