Ch.99. The Young Man Who Has Everything

The Academy prepares dormitories for all new students and allows them to stay a few days before the entrance exam.

Most people who came to take the entrance exam were already living in the dormitories.

The reason I’m suddenly mentioning this…

‘Where is my room?’

When I tried to return, I realized I didn’t know where… well, where the original Ludion had been staying. There must be an assigned building and room, but since I possessed him during the entrance exam, I had no way of knowing where he had stayed before.

Fortunately, I had something like a door key in my pocket, so I made it to the first-year boys’ dormitory area, but I couldn’t figure out which building to enter.

Let me think. The total number of first-year students is about 100. The male-to-female ratio is typically 6:4, so without any unusual changes, there were about 60 male freshmen this time.

Six two-story buildings, each with twelve single rooms. Randomly guessing wasn’t worth trying.

Of course, I could go into each room and try my key in empty ones until I found mine.

But that would take a long time, and more importantly, if I got caught, I’d definitely be labeled as some kind of weirdo.

I need to use my brain. I may not be the smartest, but I have plenty of gaming knowledge, so that should help.

First, I considered the fact that Ludion never appeared in the protagonist’s perspective. I recalled episodes centered around the dormitories and eliminated them one by one.

Obviously, I excluded the building used by the protagonist. And the two buildings that were somehow explored—I couldn’t be completely certain, but probability-wise, they were out.

Then there were the dormitory students encountered during the inter-dormitory competition. I don’t think Ludion’s face was among them.

After excluding another building… only two remained.

Building 4 and Building 6.

And I really hope it’s not Building 6.

That building is going to collapse near the end of the first semester. It’s not terrorism or anything—there’s just a crazy guy there whose experiment explodes. I remember that much.

Since Building 6 was quite isolated, other buildings weren’t damaged, and because the explosion happened during class time, there were no casualties. In the game, it just triggered a side quest about cleaning up the building debris, but reality is different from a documentary.

I don’t want the building I’m staying in to collapse. Regardless of how well they handle the aftermath, I’d prefer my resting place to remain peaceful.

But… having come this far, the outcome seems predetermined.

I entered the soon-to-collapse Building 6 and tried my key in a door where I couldn’t sense anyone inside.

By the time I reached a corner room on the second floor, I had some hope. Maybe it wasn’t here after all.

Click-

“Ah, I shouldn’t have gotten my hopes up.”

This is it.

Though I had hoped otherwise, I wasn’t too disappointed since I’d anticipated this possibility from the moment Building 6 became a candidate.

Bubble bubble-

Can’t be helped. Actually, it’s not a big deal as long as I don’t keep important items in my room around that time.

Creak!

Squeak.

As I opened the door to enter…

Hisssss!

What’s with these strange sounds I keep hearing?

Just as I was about to enter my room, I turned my head toward the sound.

I could see unknown smoke leaking through the door crack of the room next to mine.

“…This is crazy.”

It seems the culprit of the explosion incident is in the room right next to mine.

I expected to stay in this building, but I never even thought about this possibility.

‘Is this actually good?’

If I play my cards right, I might be able to prevent the dormitory from collapsing.

Of course, I’ll have to meet the person inside to know for sure.

For now, I ignored it and entered my room.

The original Ludion who arrived before the entrance exam wasn’t much of a neat freak, it seemed. All sorts of luggage and bedding were scattered messily.

I searched around to see if I could learn anything about who he was, but there wasn’t much to find.

If anything, I discovered that his weapon of choice was a short sword, which seemed mismatched with his large build.

A well-maintained short sword that appeared to have been frequently used was in his bag. From its elegant sheath, it looked to be at least a rare-grade weapon.

A short sword… perfect for an unconventional playstyle. Good for holding a shield in the other hand too.

And being rare-grade, it’s pretty decent for starting equipment, so I decided to use it for a while.

“Sigh. Let’s lie down for now.”

I spent quite some time rummaging through things and organizing luggage right after coming in.

I tossed the short sword I was holding next to the bag and lay down on the bed.

“Ahh, this feels good.”

The unexpectedly nice texture and softness made me sound like an old man, but there was no one to hear me…

Squeak-

Bubble bubble-

Ah, the soundproofing here is terrible. I should lower my voice.

Though I could finally rest, I couldn’t just lie around wasting time.

There was a mountain of things I needed to figure out.

Honestly, quite a few things came to mind, and even if just a few of them worked, it would be a tremendous gain.

I thought of the most systematic and useful function.

‘Inventory.’

[This function is currently locked.]

[Unlock condition: Clear 5 Rifts with at least 40% contribution rate (0/5)]

Wow, crazy. I’m really fortunate to be joining the Student Council.

The easiest and fastest way to access Rifts at the Academy was to join the Student Council, and I was already as good as in!

It was truly fortunate that I didn’t hide my strength.

Of course, achieving a dominant 40% contribution rate among the elites in the Student Council wouldn’t be easy and would make me stand out too much. But that wasn’t enough reason to give up on the inventory.

For a while, I’ll need to prioritize Student Council activities. It’s actually good timing since training would be a waste of time with this body that can’t grow in stats.

I tried various other things, but nothing else yielded results.

User social systems like friends, parties, and guilds, as well as functional systems like pathfinding or warping, didn’t seem to exist.

Only the Favorability System showed any response…

[You cannot check this yourself.]

It responded, but nothing came up, so it was meaningless. If not me, then who checks it?

I don’t know. Anyway, it’s not an important system, so I won’t worry about it anymore.

‘Have I checked everything now?’

Other things would need to be tested in specific situations. For example, healing-related functions when injured, or bugs that existed in the game.

I didn’t particularly want to injure myself, and the bugs I could try immediately weren’t worth the effort.

So my only gain for now was the inventory.

Even though it was still locked… that was enough.

Quick-swap using the inventory is my specialty. Just getting it back would be like regaining half of my combat power.

Even without that, the huge advantage of not having to carry heavy bags or dangling pouches during combat was significant.

Of course, I might be disappointed if the unlocked version doesn’t have the performance I want, but it’s hard to imagine that only the inventory would have realistic limitations in a world where dodging and parrying work.

Fatigue suddenly hit me hard, so I dismissed all the system windows floating before my eyes and buried my face in the pillow.

“I need to rest for now.”

In this place without internet or even a phone, resting just means taking a nap.

There is a messenger system usable within the Academy, but I didn’t have any friends to chat with at the moment.

Though my body was fine, I must have been mentally exhausted because I fell asleep as soon as I closed my eyes.

A short while later. I woke up to the sound of something boiling and burning from the next room.

Looking at the clock, it was 5 AM, and judging by the lack of movement, it didn’t seem like someone was pulling an all-nighter—more like they’d put something on the fire and gone to sleep. Talk about a serious lack of safety awareness.

It’s amazing the building hasn’t collapsed before the end of the first semester, considering how they live.

With these random thoughts, I got up and stretched. The fantasy body definitely felt different—none of the typical morning stiffness. I didn’t even feel like sleeping more despite the early hour.

So I decided to just get up early and prepare to go out. After a quick wash, I stood in front of the mirror and faced myself.

It’s really hard to get used to, but this is me now.

I’ve already accepted it, so time will make it familiar.

By the way, it’s strange that Ludion never appeared in the original work—his character design is so well done.

If Celia had brilliantly shining golden hair, this one had a more sophisticated golden hair with a slightly darker aura.

Combined with half-lifeless black eyes on a handsome face, it created quite a decadent charm… like someone who would smoke cigarettes while wearing luxury brands. Though I have neither money nor smoke.

Anyway, just that would be enough to pass as a main character without feeling out of place, but it didn’t stop there—he also had an impressively tall height and sturdy build… he really has it all…

Before I knew it, I was fully prepared to go out.

Finally, I took out the short sword I had set aside yesterday and fastened it to my waist.

Unlike the entrance exam where personal items were prohibited, from today on everyone would be carrying their own weapons as actual Academy students.

Because of this, some people show off expensive weapons like high schoolers bragging about expensive padded jackets, but in this place where equipment is considered part of one’s skill, it’s not frowned upon.

It was almost 6 AM. If I went out now, I would definitely run into her, but I didn’t want to spend an entire hour staring blankly in my room with nothing to do.

After getting so entangled yesterday, it would be strange to suddenly avoid her.

With that thought, I went outside and headed to the auditorium where the entrance ceremony would be held.

At the auditorium, several teaching assistants were busily moving around finalizing preparations for the entrance ceremony. Amidst all the busy people, only one person was leisurely standing and watching the scene.

“Ludion! You’re early?”

The Imperial Princess is truly different. Normally, a new student seeing such a scene would either feel awkward and leave, or try to help, but she’s just watching like an inspector.

I can only feel sorry for the teaching assistants who can’t say anything to her.

Of course, I had no intention of helping either, so I stood next to Celia and watched.

It might seem quite distasteful, but standing next to Celia meant no one would come directly to complain. The Celia guard effect is real.

Before long, the auditorium filled with new students, and the entrance ceremony, prepared with the sweat of the teaching assistants, began.