Ch.16Chapter 16. First Week at the Academy (3)

# In my opinion, the biggest advantage of Class S is simply having fewer students, which allows professors to focus more on each individual student compared to when they teach other classes.

Honestly, besides that, I thought that despite all the talk about special curriculum and whatnot, classes were probably all the same anyway.

I’d never formally attended “lectures” or “classes” in Arcaria before, but I realized it during our first class, “Fundamentals of Magic.”

It was okay that they were using the exact same magic textbook I had given up studying on my own as the semester’s material.

After all, learning from a professional professor could produce completely different results with the same book compared to self-study or learning from people around me.

But that was my excessive expectation.

The elderly professor teaching “Fundamentals of Magic,” whose name I didn’t catch properly, continued his passionate explanations, but none of it entered my ears or made any sense.

I thought Addy, who used to explain things in ways I could understand, was actually better at explaining.

“Sigh.”

Starting with the first lecture “Fundamentals of Magic” that I had high hopes for, most of the other lectures gave me a similar feeling.

They seemed impressive on the surface, but besides having fewer students, there didn’t seem to be any particular merit.

‘At least I’ve definitely learned everyone’s names.’

Class S, the top-tier class that only 7 students out of over a hundred freshmen could enter.

Honestly, at first I thought all freshmen would be about the same level, but after experiencing a series of events, my thinking changed a bit.

The students’ levels were quite high, beyond my expectations.

As if they hadn’t passed the entrance exam as top students for nothing, each student in our class clearly had their own weapon.

Elaine was from the Sinclair Family, so there was no need to even mention her. Cain Hover, though arrogant and unpleasant, was definitely skilled at handling fire magic for his age.

I learned a bit later that Cynthia’s family, the Surplus Family, was famous for archery.

After learning that, I somewhat understood how Cynthia had so sharply captured the moment when the fire bird disappeared that day.

One of the most important abilities for an archer is dynamic vision—the ability to instantly capture targets.

The other three students also had their own unique characteristics.

First, there was the red-haired girl who openly tried to be friendly with Cain Hover, Agnes Kessler.

Actually, she didn’t just approach Cain; seeing how she approached Elaine with a bright smile too, she seemed to just want to befriend students from prestigious families.

But Elaine was unusually stiff with others, unlike how she was with me, so naturally Agnes stuck close to Cain Hover and only hung around with him.

Though I didn’t particularly like her behavior, I had to acknowledge Agnes’s sharp swordsmanship.

Her rapier, which somehow resembled her, was her main weapon, and the quick strike-and-retreat movements she showed during sword training class were enough to prove why Agnes belonged in Class S.

Next was Marie Silla.

Marie, who used a spear as her main weapon—perhaps somewhat unsuitable for a woman—naturally blended in with Cain and Agnes’s group.

Her spear technique, also demonstrated during sword training class, definitely had its own strengths.

Though her power might be lacking, the fluidity in her movements clearly showed that she had trained extensively.

And the last one…

“Um, ah, uh. Hello.”

“Hmm. You’re early today?”

“Ah, yes. I stayed up all night researching so…”

“…What?”

“Ah! Was that unnecessary information… Sorry. I’ll go up first!”

The one who said that and hurriedly ran up the stairs was Emily Franz, the last member of Class S.

Emily, whose blue hair gave off a refreshing feeling as it fluttered while she disappeared in an instant, was one of only two orthodox mages in our class, along with Cain.

Though she seemed a bit peculiar.

‘Staying up all night… Does that mean she came straight to the academy after researching?’

She had already disappeared too quickly for me to ask, but somehow it seemed likely.

Emily was the only student in Class S who walked alone, while everyone else had already formed groups.

After the first day of school, the scene in the freshman Class S was mostly the same.

If I was grouped with Elaine and Cynthia, then on the opposite side, Cain, Agnes, and Marie were always grouped together.

And Emily was either alone in some corner, separated from everyone, or intensely reading something at her seat.

“But what research would a freshman be doing…?”

There was no one to answer my muttering.

‘…Should I be doing research too?’

I stared blankly in the direction where Emily had disappeared.

Now wasn’t the time to worry about others.

My biggest concern these days was figuring out how to obtain “skills.”

I had cleared the main quest of entering the academy and received the reward of choosing a class, so I excitedly selected “mage” as my class.

So a new category called “skills” appeared in my status window, and I was fully expecting that I could finally perform magic with teleportation and create such an impressive image, but…

[Skills]

You haven’t learned any skills yet.

For several days now, the explanation in the skill window hadn’t changed at all.

Learning magic through self-study clearly wasn’t enough to create skills.

Hoping it wasn’t the case but just to make sure, I carefully went through basic magic from the beginning again, but still no skills appeared and nothing changed in my status window.

So what on earth was the method to obtain “skills”?

“Sigh.”

I couldn’t help but sigh out of frustration.

Indeed, nothing in life is easy. Or rather, nothing related to the status window or system messages is easy.

The requests that came to the Black Shadow Corps were often quite straightforward.

“Ryu?”

At the very moment my complaints about the status window were about to rise, someone called me from behind.

This time it was Cynthia.

As if everyone had agreed to come to school early today, Cain Hover was also slowly walking behind Cynthia.

“What’s this, did everyone agree to come to school early today?”

“…What are you talking about? Don’t you know?”

“Huh?”

I could see confusion in Cynthia’s eyes.

Her eyes, which were examining my expression closely with a sharp gaze. She really was perceptive.

“You really don’t know?”

“Huh? Know what?”

“Hmm.”

“Why, what is it?”

Cynthia was still staring at me suspiciously and tilting her head, but this time I really didn’t know.

If last time was 100% fake acting, this time was 100% truth, so I felt wronged.

Cynthia stared at me for a while, then eventually removed the doubt from her eyes and spoke again.

“The announcement was posted this morning.”

“Announcement…? Where?”

“You… Don’t tell me you don’t even have a communication orb?”

“Oh? I don’t think I have anything like that.”

I did have an emergency communication orb that I always carried for contacting Addy, but I didn’t have any other communication orbs.

Hearing my response, Cynthia let out a small sigh and lowered her head, then took out a small marble from her pocket.

I ignored Cynthia’s muttering about “how can he not even have this” as she took out the communication orb.

When Cynthia infused mana into the marble she had taken out, letters composed of mana began to appear, similar to the “status window” that only I could see.

“Look at this. It was posted this morning.”

“Hmm?”

<Announcement>

-The Crescen Academy headquarters announces that the ‘Inter-Year Competition,’ previously scheduled for May, has been moved up to take place in two weeks.

…

After the first sentence, there were various other details written, but they were just additional information like schedules and contact information, with the main point being just that first sentence.

I didn’t know what it was, but they had decided to hold the ‘Inter-Year Competition’ early.

“Inter-Year Competition?”

“Yes. Inter-Year Competition.”

“Oh. So they have something like that too.”

“Wow. You don’t even know about the Inter-Year Competition?”

*Nod*

Is there any reason I should?

“Um… It’s literally a competition where representatives from each year compete against each other… How should I explain this.”

While Cynthia was struggling to explain the ‘Inter-Year Competition,’ another voice cut in from behind.

“In short, it means the second and third-year students are going to crush you, commoner.”

“…What?”

The owner of the voice filled with hostility was Cain Hover, who had been slowly following us from behind.

This guy was openly expressing his hostility rather than hiding it, even after getting beaten by me.

“Hmph. No freshman will want to team up with you. At best, you might get that hypocritical egalitarian standing next to you.”

“…What did you just say?”

Cynthia clicked her tongue and expressed her anger at Cain’s words, but my attention was momentarily elsewhere.

<Main Quest (2) ‘Stand Out’>

Objective: Win first place in the Inter-Year Competition

Description: Win first place in the Inter-Year Competition, a long-standing tradition of Crescen Academy.

Reward: Skill grant based on profession, 5 Stat Points

Penalty: Game over and reset

Once again, a system message suddenly appeared before my eyes.

‘Ohhhhh.’

I had been enjoying this and waiting for when the next one would appear—a new main quest.

And this time, rather than the content of the quest, the reward caught my eye.

‘So that’s it!’

I wanted to shout with joy, but I barely held back.

Yes, somehow no matter what I did, skills weren’t appearing.

Thinking about it, this makes sense.

Since I was able to select a profession as a quest reward, I would also obtain skills as quest rewards.

In a way, it’s a very simple and straightforward fact, but I hadn’t had quests for over ten years and wasn’t particularly interested in the status window, so I hadn’t thought about it this way.

I had become too accustomed to a self-sufficient life.

“Egalitarian. That’s what I said. Is there a problem?”

“…Hah, forget it. I don’t want to waste time talking to someone like you.”

‘Hmm?’

While I was internally shedding tears of joy looking at the quest content and rewards, the atmosphere between Cynthia and Cain was becoming ominous.

“Hey, friends?”

Both Cynthia and Cain looked at me at the same time.

“…Hmph.”

And Cain snorted first, nudged Cynthia, and headed to the classroom.

“What an unpleasant jerk.”

Cynthia followed behind him with a deeply furrowed brow.

“Um… Anyone want to explain the Inter-Year Competition to me?”

Once again, there was no one to answer my muttering.