The berserk ogre vanished, along with its neatly cut limbs and the named-level mana stone that should have been exchanged for a rare enhancement stone. Witnessing this, Maelis''s face lit up with joy, while Han Se-ah''s expression turned to despair and bewilderment.


    Curious about their reactions, I and the viewers listened as she slowly began to explain.


    "No... When we talked earlier, we made a deal. I promised to help Maelis with her research topic, even if it meant raiding her lab. I thought we could get mana stones, bomb materials from the Magic Tower, and kill two birds with one stone."


    -This wicked woman is trying to suck the life out of a grad student who lost her thesis. How cruel


    -No wonder she was acting so subservient, she was bending over backwards planning to exploit her


    -lol How do you immediately think about exploiting someone the moment you meet them?


    -Looks like that whispering earlier was a backroom deal to hand over thesis rights in exchange for money lol


    -Only polite to those who pay... Sucking the blood of a grad student who lost their graduation... You''d eat a flea''s liver as a delicacy...


    So, Han Se-ah had been dreaming an empty dream.


    Apparently, in Han Se-ah''s mind, fake safe zones were spatial transfer magic. Didn''t the Magic Tower, which opened gates and charged fees, give out free gate passes as boss clear rewards?


    So when research on fake gate spatial transfer magic started, she thought she could quietly get a foot in the door and suck up gold coins sweetly. If not gold coins, then at least consumables like alchemical bombs or magic scrolls that could be thrown around freely.


    For Maelis, with one research project completely wiped out, her entire lab was in danger of disappearing. She was in a situation where she''d give up everything - liver, gall bladder, the lot - just for a research topic and evidence to prove it. So it seemed Han Se-ah had drawn up a grand plan where Maelis would take the research topic, and the hero party would share in some of the profits derived from this research.


    She was arguing that after going to the trouble of capturing that huge ogre and conducting the first experiment, wasn''t the hero party basically a sponsor for the lab?


    Well, Han Se-ah was the type to spout nonsense with a straight face in front of hundreds of thousands or millions of terrifying viewers, global viewers gathered from all corners of the world, from Korea to the four cardinal directions. No matter how sharp-looking Maelis might be, why would she act subservient?


    "Maybe the mana stone fell somewhere in the grass?"


    "I don''t sense any danger, and the mana doesn''t feel unstable, so we should look for it."


    We should come up with a new nickname for Han Se-ah, like "scammer" or "professor," for thinking of exploiting a grad student''s graduation thesis. While viewers argued and bickered over such reasons, Lukius quietly approached the grass.


    Wondering if the mana stone might be buried in the dirt, he moved around, rummaging through grass clumps and pushing aside piles of dirt that had been dug up during the experiment. As he searched for the mana stone, others, including McDonagh, subtly joined in.


    After all, we''d seen snowflakes shooting out of a sword, so it seemed a bit of a waste to just give up on a named-level mana stone after saying "experiment over!" It was an expensive mana stone from a named-level monster we''d only encountered after reaching the 55th floor, which could be used to distribute gold coins or enhance someone''s sword.


    "Huh? Wasn''t this supposed to be a fake safe zone?"


    "It was... What''s this?"


    "Oh, my goodness!"


    Secondly, Maelis knew how to throw her weight around, being a noble family''s third daughter. The justification she brought was nothing less than a research topic first discovered by the hero party, with one proof-of-concept experiment using a named-level mana stone.


    In other words, not cooperating with this meant picking a fight with the hero party. And our hero was known as a genius mage, had made all sorts of magical discoveries inside the tower, and was thus in the good graces of the Magic Tower elders - you know, those old geezers who caused a ruckus in the carriage.


    It was like bringing a professor''s acquaintance who was close to the graduate school board and raising hell, but in this medieval K-fantasy world, it was hard to find a stronger justification. Moreover, the research topic was "Turn fake safe zones into real ones!" That says it all.


    With nobles and royalty in an uproar over fake safe zones, is there anything more urgent?


    Are you a reactionary dreaming of overthrowing the kingdom? Or are you planning to target nobles through hit-and-runs?


    There''s research the hero party is interested in, but support is lacking because you''re busy with your own work?


    Which lab do you belong to, and which mage is in charge to be hindering Hanna''s research?


    Turning fake safe zones real is a noble act of purifying the tower, and you''re postponing this?


    Brother, could you accompany us for a moment? It''s nothing much, just to the basement...


    The moment Maelis, backed by the hero''s authority, showed even a hint of arrogance, she''d become an upstart mage trying to match nobles, waiting for royalty to be harmed, aiming to suck up additional benefits through this, and a heretic tarnishing the Goddess''s name.


    If you didn''t prostrate yourself in front of the rampaging Maelis, you''d be choosing between being hanged for treason or tortured for blasphemy. Of course, getting expelled after incurring the wrath of the Magic Tower''s higher-ups was a given.


    In a medieval fantasy world, incurring the wrath of the royal family, nobility, and temple all at once was basically asking for a slow death. Add the anger of the hero and the Magic Tower, and wow, you''d achieve a miraculous 1+4 exchange rate.


    "Wow, their cooperation is so snappy. Seeing how Maelis is acting, maybe she should be called ''Queen of Power Trips'' instead of ''Persistent Recorder''?"


    -This isn''t cooperation, it''s just straight-up threatening lol


    -No mana stones? Then go to the Magic Tower and get some (while pointing a sword)


    -Not just a robber with a knife, but a robber with a holy sword


    -How does she have connections to royalty lol A grad student makes a mistake and the president calls


    -She''s so determined to exploit that she crawled out of the tower and into the Magic Tower. How cruel, how cruel


    And so, experiments progressed at lightning speed thanks to the tearful efforts of mages who had bet their lives (literally). Once again, in just three days of rest and reorganization after completing exploration, mages produced results at an incredible pace.


    Franks and his lab staff, who''d been cursed at as sons of bitches and whatnot, didn''t want to be dragged to the temple basement and hung upside down to drink holy water through their nostrils. Other mages were desperate to glean even a tangential research topic by sucking up to Maelis, whose lab had been blown away.


    When the desire for life and the thirst for knowledge harmonize, is there a better way to whip humans into action?