Villain With The Strongest System

Chapter 137: Erin's Growth

While Rocky's feat of soloing the entire swordsmanship class on his first day back to classes became the talk of the town, it overshadowed the exceptional performances of his friends Erin and Buhara in the midterms.

However, although Rocky stole their limelight, the progress that those two had achieved in his absence could definitely not be overlooked.

The growth Erin experienced in the past six months as a support and curse type mage was especially worth noting, as he was developing to become a support type mage that could be labeled a rare generational talent.

The two specialized subjects that Erin chose at the start of the semester were 'Support Magic' and 'Curses and Runic Inscriptions' and after 6 months, he had become the best student in his batch in both these subjects.

In the support magic casting class, Erin began as an average student. His early performances were competent but unremarkable, blending into the middle tier of his peers.

Yet, this mediocrity was not a true measure of his potential and as the semester progressed and Erin began working on his physical shape and limitations, while also spending more and more time within the library doing self research, Erin's understanding and skill developed at a startling pace.

His true moment of distinction came during a high-stakes class exercise that simulated a battlefield environment.

Tasked with defending his team against a barrage of incoming AOE elemental attacks, Erin managed to multicast and conjured a series of barriers.

Not only did these barriers protect his allies, but they also cleverly repelled and redirected the attacks against their originators.

This ingenious application of support magic earned him an ovation from his teammates and a nod of rare approval from his instructor, who marked his performance as beyond exemplary.

Within the tower of ascension, competent support magician's were as rare as a phoenix's feather and were highly sought after by every major organization.

While most traditional support fighters could only perform basic strength reinforcement and healing spells, Erin trained himself to be more valuable than that.

Instead of a purely defensive and support type mage, he learnt the art of counterattacking too, trying to become a support mage that could hold his own on a battlefield.

Meanwhile, Erin's natural prowess with curses made him shine brightly in the Curses and Runic Inscription class as well, where he was quickly recognized as a prodigy.

The intricate art of crafting runes that could bind, weaken, or control enemies was second nature to him, as he could perform masterful inscriptions into both weapons and terrain, becoming proficient in both trap magic and enforcement magic.

While his classmates struggled to imbue their runes with a sufficient level of potency, Erin excelled without apparent effort.

One particular session where his exceptional talent was highlighted was when the class was challenged to create a curse that could silently incapacitate an opponent upon stepping on it and while most students achieved a mild disorientation effect at best, Erin's rune induced a profound yet controlled paralysis, demonstrating a mastery that surpassed even the advanced expectations of the course.

By completely incapacitating a floor 35 beast with his rune, Erin displayed skill far beyond what was expected of a mage having only learnt curse magic for six months, earning him the respect and admiration of many.

Master Dorian, the head of the department and a notoriously tough critic, was particularly impressed as he took an interest in Erin's ability to infuse supportive magic concepts into his curse work, enhancing their effectiveness and versatility.

This unique approach allowed Erin not only to enhance but also to improve the runic structures he was drawing, as he performed his runic inscriptions with a free approach that was not exactly text-book like.

By the end of midterms Erin had managed to become a recognised figure amongst his batch to the point where he was no longer called 'Rocky's lackey' or 'The blonde guy who is the large orcs Pet' but was rather known as 'Prince Of Curses' and was extremely feared amongst peers, as rumors began to spread regarding his clan's voice curse magic, which Erin had been practicing for years now.

Ever since the teacher picked up the topic of the curse magic practiced by the Church Of Vanity and explained how terrifying it was in application, students began to become more and more wary of Erin who only ever spoke sweet words.

At first everyone believed it to be a part of his personality, however, once they realized that Erin was only improving the potency of his curse, they were all shaken to their core.

There was no doubt in anyone's mind that the moment Erin finally cursed someone, belittling them, he could potentially unleash curse magic so powerful that it could even command a floor 40 or higher climber's heart to stop in an instant.

According to Erin, he had been practicing restraint of words for over 6 years now, with the last time he cursed someone being 2 years ago.

Under such circumstances, the power of his curses could not even be estimated as nobody dared to look at him as a weak and easy to bully individual, once the news of his abilities became public.

Feared and Revered, Erin's perception in the eyes of the public changed from that of a lackey and lap dog of Rocky to someone that was a genuine genius of their batch and someone that was worthy of being a member of the Champion Of Gemini's party.

No longer mocked for his lady-like looks or hit on by men with slightly weird fetishes, Erin had managed to shed his old persona completely, however, his transformation although remarkable was still slightly lackluster when compared to Buhara.

As the number one student in the midterms having killed a total of 7440 monsters over the course of 7 days, Buhara was a brute with the class mage, as he was beginning to evolve into a fighter that no-one expected him to be.