Chapter 129: New Weapon (1)
The midterm exams that both students and teachers put their heart and soul into have come to an end.
The students looked relieved and anticipated the upcoming vacation. The teachers only had grading left, so they were already making plans for what to do during the break.
“I’m really looking forward to this department exchange event.”
“It’s a shame that Teacher Claudie isn’t the representative, but Teacher Ethan is no joke either.”
“I only heard stories, but apparently the students really stood out during the demonstration class. The parents praised them a lot too?”
“They said it felt like they were the main characters. It was the first time at the academy.”
“I wish Teacher Ethan would open about ten classes. We’d all attend.”
“If Teacher Ethan heard you say that, he’d try to kill you.”
All the students were feeling refreshed and anticipating the department exchange event to wrap up the semester.
However, there were still some who couldn’t accept Ron and Mason.
“I’m not going to this department exchange event. Students who can’t even get good grades as representatives......”
They were even considering boycotting the event in a small way.
“Huh? The grades are out already?”
“Who got first place in Understanding the Sword Path class?”
“Um...?”
“Mason is first? And Ron is second?”
“Crazy.”
The two students were ranked first and second respectively.
And below them at fifth place was Yuna Garnet.
“Wow... with grades like this, even those who criticized can’t say anything.”
“At this level, they could represent for this semester at least?”
“Impressive. Mason is in the top ranks for other classes besides Teacher Ethan’s too? What did Teacher Ethan even do?”
If they clearly demonstrated their abilities at the department exchange event, there would be no more backlash against making Mason and Ron the representatives.
***
Principal’s Office.
“Roanna can’t participate?”
“I’m sorry, Principal. Given Roanna’s poor physical condition, I thought it would be better for her to rest rather than force her to participate and risk making it worse.”
“Hmm, what a pity. Then, are the other two in good health?”
“Yes, they’re fine. And as Roanna’s replacement, I’ve brought in a skilled student I had my eye on.”
“Very well. Be sure to inform Teacher Ethan as well. We need his permission for the department exchange event to proceed.”
“Understood.”
As he spoke, Duty gritted his teeth inwardly.
Teacher Ethan would definitely give permission.
He might even dance with joy. Their most powerful asset, Roanna, couldn’t participate in the department exchange event – what reason would he have to refuse?
‘Dammit, if the Sky Swordmage shows up, Roanna’s evaluation would soar even higher.’
In that case, victory in the department exchange event would be completely theirs.
‘But it’s okay. It’s not over yet. Even without Roanna, two from the golden age remain.’
Though not as strong as Roanna, those two were also exceptional, worthy of being called the golden age.
“We’ll win no matter what.”
In a way, it was better this way. He knew there were teachers whispering behind his back.
There were even rumors among students that Roanna’s talent was exceptional, but Duty was just riding on her coattails.
This was a good opportunity to prove them wrong. To show that the Magic Department could win the department exchange event even without Roanna.
That the prime contributor in making the Magic Department number one was none other than Duty himself.
***
“Excellent. As expected, the level at Ivecar is high.”
Ethan had finished grading the last parchment, completing the midterm exam grading.
Certainly, the students of Ivecar had outstanding basic abilities and a thirst for improvement.
‘Even students whose names I’m seeing for the first time had their own concerns and grew through taking the exam.’
‘A good number of likes were spent subscribing to Hood the Archer.’
In the process, Ethan saw subscribers on the community talking about him.
-It seems many subscribers are imitating [Only subscribed to the right gods].
-Thanks to that, there are more quality subscription reviews which is nice. I learned about a lot of new gods too.
-Then we don’t necessarily need [Only subscribed to the right gods]’s subscription reviews.
-Others seem to write pretty good subscription reviews too, so we can use those as a reference!
‘The atmosphere has changed a bit.’
At one point, everyone sought out Ethan.
By simply following Ethan’s subscription reviews, one could subscribe to great gods without fail.
Additionally, they could also cherry-pick the advantages of the gods they had already subscribed to and learn from them.
However, recently, several subscribers had started writing high-quality subscription reviews.
By benchmarking Ethan’s subscription reviews, they managed to produce quite good reviews of their own, so subscribers no longer had to solely rely on Ethan’s reviews.
And the same was true for the gods.
‘That became the norm.’
In fact, when Ethan thought about it, he hadn’t written particularly impressive subscription reviews. That’s why he had verified the power of his reviews multiple times.
‘I just worked diligently enough. It’s more surprising that I became so popular.’
Even Ethan’s once flashy mailbox had gone quiet at some point.
From the beginning, Ethan had expected this to happen.
‘There was nothing that remarkable about it.’
So he had prepared a way to overcome this situation.
He thought this method would give him an advantage over the existing subscription reviews when negotiating with the gods.
‘The timing is perfect.’
Ethan had put considerable effort into making the subscription review video for Hood the Archer this time.
The experience of making videos while writing subscription reviews had become Ethan’s asset.
With his improved video production skills, he was able to produce a high-quality video.
‘In a slightly different way.’
Previously, he had literally written subscription reviews summarizing the abilities of the subscribed gods.
But now, other subscribers could easily follow suit.
So Ethan added editing to the videos instead.
‘It’s no longer just about writing good subscription reviews. If the subscription review led subscribers to subscribe, then the video should keep them hooked.’
While everyone was still focused on just subscription reviews.
Ethan had thought one step further from the beginning – video editing.
‘The gods’ videos are inadequate. Hood the Archer’s video had pretty good content, but in terms of the video aspect, it was just average.’
Not a single god Ethan had subscribed to had made a proper video.
Most of the deities simply showed their abilities as is.
There were detailed explanations, but they were long-winded and hard to understand.
Ethan’s subscription reviews were well-received because they summarized and briefly explained the video contents of such gods.
‘They just upload raw, unedited videos.’
Most of them upload their videos raw, with no editing involved. That’s why Ethan had immediately bought the skip function as soon as he had the money.
In short, Ethan’s subscription reviews were essentially edited videos.
‘What if I upload these edited videos not as subscription reviews, but just as videos?’
Through making multiple subscription review videos, Ethan had gained a sense of editing and thought about how to have a greater impact on the gods.
‘What subscribers want is simple. As a subscriber myself, I can better understand.’
If he made videos tightly focused on just those elements?
‘Word will spread again. That [Only subscribed to the right gods] directly edited videos that were posted on the gods’ channels. Just by watching those videos, people will understand everything.’
Ethan grinned.
“I should give it a try. See how sharp this new weapon is.”
Author's Thoughts
Want to read ahead of the scheduled release? You can check the Novel page on the website (or press the next chapter button) and buy an advanced chapter with only 20 Honeys! (100 Honeys is only 5$! So you can basically read 5 advanced chapters ahead of schedule!)