I'm A Great Villain So The Author Hates Me

Chapter 43 - First Dungeon (22)

POV: Solomon Nova

"Suspicious, suspicious. He's really too suspicious. But then, he's also not suspicious enough? Should I just capture him and torture him to find out what he knows? Muuuuuu, but if I do that and find out nothing, Professor Lee will beat me up and tell my aunt, and she'll just beat me to death. I'm already in enough trouble for the last exam incident." Solomon mused out loud before taking a big bite of the delicious food he had gotten.

He was sitting on a rocky outcropping in the distance, observing his surroundings with his 360 view. Crystal-like eyes flashed as he poured mana into them, switching focus from the tower to a certain black-haired, golden-eyed individual who was running around sneakily. As he stared absentmindedly, the figure disappeared from his vision momentarily, and he had to pour in more mana to make out the still figure that blended into the shadows and began moving in the opposite direction.

"What a versatile skill set. It makes me almost jealous. If only he used them better, but I guess for an E-rank, he's not bad? And he's a great cook." He couldn't help but praise the boy.

Rank 1000. Asani Martin. An interesting person. But also very boring.

If he said he was weak, then it would be accurate. After all, it was clear in his rank and the skills he had shown so far. But...he couldn't say that he wasn't strong either. He had gone back to look at the spider's nest and saw a scene of devastation. A lot of the damage was done by Julius's flames, but a good amount had been done by him, as evidenced by the traces of dark shadowy mana visible to his eyes.

The thing that intrigued him the most was the versatile blend of unusual abilities not commonly found in a single person.

As someone who was the heir to the premier magic clan filled with the most talented magic users, who was the nephew of the Rainbow Mage, the greatest mage alive who could use all forms of magic perfectly the moment she saw it once, very few things could surprise him regarding mana. In his mind, when it came to utilizing mana, among the humans, Caerus was the undisputed number one, and he would eventually be number two. Nobody else could compare. Everyone else looked as if they were toddlers pretending to be engineers. Their manipulation of mana was clumsy and inefficient at best, wasteful and time-consuming at worst.

However, for the first time in his life, he had seen something that both intrigued him and made his senses blare in warning.

It had happened when their eyes had met, and he had tried to scan Asani at the academy.

[Scan has partially failed due to the individual having a higher affinity with mana while utilizing a similar skill.]

Again.

[Scan has partially failed due to the individual having a higher affinity with mana while utilizing a similar skill.]

No matter how he tried, he kept receiving the same results.

It was the first time in his life that he had ever seen such a message, and he had scanned Caerus(with permission) numerous times.

With the response being the same, no matter how much mana he poured into Scan, he had received the same result. When he looked at the partial status sheet that was revealed, the issue wasn't clarified at all.

[??? Craftsman]

[Eye of ???]

[???? By Mana]

Incomplete information, even though he was 100% positive that he was the stronger individual.

It had gotten him thinking about this puzzle he wanted to unravel.

The ability to make objects with the Craftsman gift was a signature of the Meraki clan. While the specifics weren't shown, it could be assumed he focused on weapons like the knife he had thrown or the bullets he used. It was common and boring except for the creation speed.