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Instructor Nickbacca brushed the dust off his body and laughed proudly.

“Nikukukukukukuku! Did you see that just now!? What you witnessed was called Floating Body, a high-level technique where you lift your body at the instant of impact to minimize damage! Without knowing that, celebrity boy got all smug about it—how utterly ridiculous!”

The surrounding students let out sighs of relief.

“So that’s what it was…”

“I thought it was weird. A one-punch knockout would be impossible.”

“Yeah, yeah! Maybe if it were Monsoon from Class 1-20, but there’s no way some unemployed trash could pull that off!”

Come to think of it, Monsoon was nowhere to be seen—actually, none of the members of Class 1-20 seemed to be participating in this physical education class at all.

Putting that aside, I asked Instructor Nickbacca,

“But weren’t you unconscious?”

At that, the teacher’s face turned red like a boiling kettle.

“T–that was…! That was…! The ultra-high-level technique known as Playing Dead! More importantly, playtime is over! From now on, I’m getting serious, celebrity boy!”

“Huh? We’re still doing this?”

“Niku! Of course! I can’t just let this end with me taking hits—no, I still haven’t shown a proper example!

I let you hit me once, so now it’s my turn to land one hit!”

It was an argument worthy of a child.

Instructor Nickbacca stomped toward me, swinging his log-like arms.

“Uh, w-wait, Instructor—?”

“No questions! Here it comes—flyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!”

Panicking, I activated Dexterous Body.

I hastily reassigned the points I had placed into Strength over to Toughness.

His roaring, massive fist closed in on my face.

At the moment of impact, Monaka—who had returned to the spectators—covered her face with both hands and cried out, “Kya!?”

…GOCHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIN!!

A sound like smashing a stone wall echoed throughout the schoolyard.

Rather than being blown away, I did not move an inch from where I stood.

“It doesn’t hurt at all…?”

I muttered without thinking.

I barely maintained my composure, but inside I was filled with shock.

For just an instant, my body had hardened like rock and felt as heavy and immovable as a mountain.

Why, when I hadn’t used any magic?

The Toughness stat increased resistance to physical attacks the higher it went.

But no matter how high it became, it was not supposed to literally make the body harder or heavier.

In stark contrast to my calm expression, Instructor Nickbacca’s face and fist swelled red at the same time.

Then he collapsed backward as if he had taken a devastating counterpunch.

“Ugyahhhhh!? My bones!? My boooones!?”

Instructor Nickbacca flailed about with a thud and a crash, like a whale washed up on land.

The male students around me now stared at me in genuine terror.

“T–that’s impossible… impossible…! Not only was he fine after taking that punch, he beat him without even doing anything…!”

“N–no, this must be another one of Instructor Nickbacca’s advanced techniques…!?”

“How could it be!? Look at him—the trash guy… no, Leopin-kun’s face! He looks completely fine, like he just felt a gentle breeze!”

More than anything, I thought we should be worrying about Instructor Nickbacca.

Just then, someone cried out,

“A–are you all right!?”

Once again, Monaka burst out from among the female spectators.

I thought surely this time she would—yet she sprinted straight toward me again.

She rushed over at full speed, like a starving cat, and checked my body all over with her hands.

Since the Saint-in-training girls could not heal Instructor Nickbacca’s fractures, he was carried off to the infirmary on a stretcher.

Physical education ended right then, and it became after school.

The students all returned to the school building to change out of their gym clothes.

I was still in my uniform, so I left the academy grounds alone.

On the way back to my home in the forest, I changed my class to Woodman.

I redistributed the stats I had skewed during physical education into a balanced setup.

“All right, time to head back and get some work done.”

After returning to the forest, I used my stone axe and single-mindedly chopped down tree after tree.

As I worked, I kept recalling Instructor Nickbacca’s words.

“Right now, protective magic is cast around this academy! However, starting tomorrow, its effects will gradually weaken! Do you understand what that means!? From tomorrow onward, monsters will start entering the residential district where you live!”

If that was true, it meant there would be a chance of encountering monsters starting tomorrow.

The residential district where the other students lived had many people, making it harder for monsters to attack.

With night watches taken in shifts, they likely would not suffer surprise attacks.

But I was different.

I lived alone—and in the forest, no less—making me an easy target for monsters.

That was why I decided to focus on self-defense.

“This should be enough lumber.”

After that, I changed my class to Carpenter.

Using the lumber I had gathered—enough to build a house—I constructed a fence and gate around my home.

The wall towering all around my house looked quite dependable.

Then something unexpected happened.

The moment the house, gate, and fence were all in place, they began to glow as if they had become one.

Could this be a level-up…!? I wondered—when a window appeared before my eyes.

“Your home has evolved into a base!”