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The reason why I am to some extent well-informed about the situation is because I’m related to someone from my father’s side of the family who is involved in the management of the academy.
Even among the graduates of the general department who have been reduced to infertility, in some extremely rare cases, there are also those who regain their reproductive capability.
But it’s an academy that in some cases also serves as a comfort facility for some of the academy’s alumni and officials.
Of course, as if it’s only par for the course, they continue to receive sperm every day from the currently enrolled students as well as the employed men from the general department.
Women who stay away from the dungeon and are lucky enough to get pregnant are employed by the academy for the rest of their lives as is, being kept until they die.
In case they do not recover, they will end up dying young without even waiting for their thirtieth birthday.
It seems that my father is very attached to my mother, who was a『Lost』 student of the supreme department and became a teacher at the academy after graduation.
I never got to see her face, and she never got to acknowledge me, but she took care of a lot of things for my upbringing.
I have no way of knowing whether my father’s feelings toward my mother are out of love or possessiveness.
Perhaps my mother has been under patronage of my father ever since the time she was enrolled in the academy.
At least on the level where he could be sure that the seed of the born daughter was his.
The inside of the academy is a separate world isolated from the outside world, but the world of the supreme department is also a microcosm of the outside world.
The comfort personnel who are presumably to be『Lost』, as they don’t receive support from the academy since the beginning, are mostly female students.
The students who barely get a seat in the supreme department are uncovered by the support of the academy.
The criteria are not clearly set, but in short it’s『family status』 and『donation』.
The reason why I, who was at the bottom of the ranks of the supreme department, have been able to avoid『Death (Lost)』 like this is thank to that personage.
Of course, that personage was promised support of the highest level from the academy.
But that was an unjustified『violation of the rules』, a『cheat』.
That personage cast away the granted privileges as unnecessary.
Without taking advantage of the environment he was granted with, he conquered the dungeon with his own efforts and built a『Faction』 that included me, a mere classmate, instead of the hangers-on who humbled themselves to him.
There’s no way I don’t harbor any respect and admiration toward him.
I wish those riffraff who irrationally ridicule him as declining would just all『Die (Lost)』.
Those who think as such are not limited to me alone.
No, it’s just a process where the lowly hangers-on are being weeded out while the genuine ones are selected.
However, as expected even that personage must have his heartache aggravated by the blatant flip-flopping.
If it’s to ease that personage’s heartache, I don’t mind offering this body as much as he likes.
If I can become that personage’s possession, I’m willing to even『Die (Lost)』.
Well, he’s so stoic that there has never been any case of good mood brewing, though.
For a while, that personage also kept his legs away from the training room, which was his daily routine.
So, when I caught that personage’s figure after a while, I harbored some expectation that perhaps we could do some bench lifts together.
Nothing could be better if we could sweat out together with some barbell squats or Romanian deadlifts.
However, when I thought that personage had a posing contest with a male student from the general department I had never seen before, for some reason the two ended up hitting it off with each other.
Being let to be a part of the conversation too, which I’d been too embarrassed to ever have a proper one with that personage thus far, I did feel really moved inside, but what in the world was that, I wonder.
◇ ◇ ◇
――『Yomotsu Hirasaka』, a branch realm attached to the labyrinth of Perforation Realm, 『YGGDRASILL』――
――The『fifth』 stratum, 『uncharted』 domain――
「Kuoooon!」
Just as in my recollection, one fool of armored rhinoceros charges at me.
But a heavy, huge object charging at you is enough of a threat in itself.
If I bend my knees and jump up high, I will be out of the collision course.
However, the battering horn (ram) at the top of its head is targeting this side’s position, so if it is meant to avoid the attack, it’s without a doubt a bad move.
It’s a basic rule even in fighting games, but thoughtless jump is not something you should do.
In the air, in the state where your feet are off the ground, you can only fall toward your place of destination, unable to change direction.
But it’s a different story if there is a foothold even in the air.
I kick the foothold from above downward.
An acceleration that is different from falling.
Going over the head that sports up the battering horn, I throw a『Heavy Pressure (Stressor)』 punch at the middle of its vulnerable back.
「You see, I think it’s best not to use too much of gore-depicting subjugation methods, like tearing it to pieces of front and back for example.」
Mai shows a fed up-looking face, but I wonder if cutting it in half with a beam is not the same.
「Like a corpse with its intensities splattered about, won’t it make Mikan-chan-senpai’s legs turn to jelly again?」
「You have a point.」
In terms of securing materials too, the ones with their original form retained may be better.
Besides, if you store it into the Item Box before it dissolves, it seems that you won’t earn any EXP.
「
 Say, you’ve been flying around like an American comic hero for a while now, is that a new skill?」
「Yeah, I was inspired by the three dimensional maneuver, you see. So I gave it a tray out of Respect.」
By the way, Shizuka’s reception was not good.
One girl with a stiff body she is.
On the contrary, Miharu and Natsumi became like funyaa.
「Double jump, isn’t it? 
 I’ve seen it in games before.」
「So amazing! I’d like to try it too.」
Shizuka’s dull eyes and Saki’s sparkling ones are contrastive.
「Before your right foot touches the ground.」
「You step forth your left foot, isn’t it? I can see it.」
「The ninja theory of running on water surface, huh. Even though it’s impossible even with water, just how much air kicking power is necessary to do it with air resistance?」
No, there is actually a video of a man running on the water surface on YouTube.
The theory of flying in the air with air resistance has also been earnestly calculated by someone with some mysterious zeal, and a double jump should have been possible if you do air kicking at Mach 5.
Ah, by any chance, if I’m in Raijin-style high-speed maneuver, I might be able to run through the sky.
「For real?! No no no, that’s stepping too far away from humanity, isn’t it?」
「This is indeed another approach, but
」
I move the buoyant thing on top of my palm.
It’s a fluffy, or perhaps fuzzy, mysterious object that looks like a low-resistance material.
It’s about a tissue box in terms of size.
「
 Isn’t that, the cloud from that time?」
「The source of the sparkle boom, isn’t it? Of the self-alleged Thunder Magic.」
「Exactly.」
The Raijin skills are renowned for their low fuel efficiency, but thundercloud doesn’t seem to consume any more GP than just to summon it.
And then, the effect time is plainly permanent.
Or rather, it’s more like I don’t even know how to make it disappear.
It just moves according to my will and all, and it can also serve as a foothold in the air.
「Actually, I can also fly.」
I split it in two and buoyantly clad it in my tactical boots.
And then, just like gliding on a skate, I fly In-The-Sky as is.
It’s just, this method doesn’t offer much in terms of speed.
As expected, I should have Cloud-san act as a foothold and perform maneuver technique with the use of my own flesh.