One Day or Day One?

Though he had time before class started, Mark decided to leave the Dining Hall. He couldn't stand the stares.

Now that his hunger was quelled, he decided to slowly walk through the luxurious campus and soak in the sights.

He appreciated the Academy's attention to detail and lush design, especially when it came to including nature—trees lined the roads, and there was even a lovely park where a few smaller paths cut through.

As he walked through the park, he took a seat on one of the benches, listening to the chirping of birds that filled the early morning air.

It was a good place to reflect alone. That breakfast conversation brought up a few worries.

First off was the school's suspicion of him.

With the Bolstered Core stolen, Mark and Ranni were the only students around the scene of the crime, and as such, they were suspects in the investigation.

Typically the Academy could easily solve such a case with the trackers in the school-issued watches. That could be the reason for their suspicion of him.

'I admit, the whole thing does look extremely suspicious.'

But they didn't solve it. William must have had some form of disruption to nearby magic technology, otherwise this investigation wouldn't be so speculatory.

'Shit. Now that I think about it, if they realize that I took the Kriophorus to Straw Ridge, this whole debacle will look even worse for me…'

Mark was the only one near the scene of the crime, ran off, told no one, and went straight to the Underground afterward.

If they were to convict him on the grounds of theft, he would easily be expelled. Especially with the fact that Mark was part of the lowest caste of the aristocratic hierarchy—a church adoptee—they would have no qualms.

Mark didn't know the past of Mark di Abbott. If the characters had half a functioning brain cell, they'd easily find out something wrong with his whole backstory through the hiring of an information broker.

And with Ranni's resources—along with the novel's inclination towards the cliche—Mark found it likely that she had him investigated personally.

'Grocery list for the future: Underground information broker and a really fucking good lawyer.'

That lawyer part was much more immediate. Luckily for Mark, despite this world being aristocratic, they had more modern, Earth-like systems. This world was one big fucked up amalgamation of fantasy and the modern-day, but at least that worked in his favor.

In the original novel, William got into some unsavory legal trouble after he murdered several 'arrogant young masters.' The lawyer he hired was extremely talented—with godlike powers—for it took a single snap of the finger, and all William's troubles vanished.

'But to hire that lawyer, I need money. A lot of it. Fuck… William never had to make money! He was just born into it!'

The best ways for Mark to make money seemed to be through Wilderness excursions, along with joining a guild. Illegal activities were also not left off the table.

But those had even more requirements he had to hit. And those requirements had their own requirements, so on and so forth.

The main requirement was power. He had to grow his power to meet his needs. And the best way to grow his power would require him to be in this school.

That just led him back to square one. At the realization, Mark knew he had to take a major step forward. He had to do more.

'No. That does not mean core and legs. I'm drawing the line in the sand…'

Besides those troubles, he was also worried about his interaction with Ranni Luikots.

Ranni looking into his past—or being tangled up in his legal troubles—spelled nothing good for Mark. He couldn't piss off one of the strongest entities in the entirety of the Human realm—he was already on thin ice.

But perhaps he could turn that interaction into something favorable. His Charisma seemed to work wonders; Mark managed to get her to believe that he had, in fact, ran back to his dorm to take a dump, even with the insurmountable evidence stacked against him.

The worst part about interacting with Ranni was that she was an entirely different character. Mark would be less worried had he known more about her personally; from his first impression, she was antithetical to the Luikots female lead from the original novel.

'Status.'

┌─────═━┈┈━═─────┐

Name: Mark di Abbott

Age: 18

Race: Human

Class: Shredder of Weave

Title: End's Apostle

[Level: 6] Novice

◄ Strength: 2 - ◇─◇─◇─◇─◇ ►

◄ Vigor: 0 - ◆─◆─◆─◇─◇ ►

◄ Insight: 1 - ◇─◇─◇─◇─◇ ► +1

◄ Dexterity: 1 - ◆─◇─◇─◇─◇ ► +1

◄ Intelligence: 0 - ◇─◇─◇─◇─◇►

◄ Arcane: 0 - ◇─◇─◇─◇─◇ ►

◄ Faith: 0 - ◇─◇─◇─◇─◇ ►

◄ Charisma: 2 - ◆─◆─◆─◆─◇ ► +5

◄ Luck: 0 - ◆─◆─◆─◇─◇ ► +1

➥Unallocated Shards: 25

◃───***Skills***───▹

Skill: Hidden Hand → Grade: F

◃───***Arts***───▹

◃───***Affinities***───▹

◃───***Items***───▹

└─────═━┈┈━═─────┘

Mark couldn't recall if Charisma was this easy to level, but it was a very welcome sight.

'Maybe the system just didn't find William all that likable… heh.'

Speaking of systems, he still had 25 Shards ready to be used. But for the sake of efficiency, Mark was going to hold off to the very end before using it.

Speaking more of systems, Mark was hoping for a quest of some kind. Even though End controlled his system, those power boosts would be extremely helpful right about now.

'But enough talk (have at you!), time for class.'

***

With his school supplies in a satchel, Mark arrived at Class 1-A's lecture hall half an hour before class.

There were only a few other extras who slowly trickled in, but Mark had been the first to arrive. He took his seat in the very back row, though still next to the middle aisle.

'No, not for cool edgy reasons. There's a real upside to sitting here.'

For one, the main cast would sit closer to the front. He didn't want to give them any attention too early, especially without gauging their personalities.

Mark had free reign to look at anyone he wanted. Meanwhile, others would be likely to keep their heads forward rather than fully turning around to give an obvious look at him.

'Right?'

…

As the clock struck closer and closer to 9 a.m., the students of Class 1-A filled the lecture hall rows. There were more seats than students, so a few remained empty in some places.

That included the three extras to Mark's left who all seemed to be friends, ensuring that a seat was between them and the lowest ranked in class.

But that also included Ranni, who sat directly across the aisle on Mark's right. She was given two seats of space. A flower not to be touched, but solely admired.

When he watched as she slowly made her way next to him, he ensured that he averted his gaze—though he rolled his eyes internally; it was as if this world couldn't help but be a novel.

As he gazed down upon the rest of the class, he could easily pick out the other members of the alternate main cast. The sloppy and unrealistic nature of novels was left untouched despite the character changes; colored hair and flowery personalities stood out among the hordes of nobodies.

The Cristalls—Duke-level descendants of the Traveler's apostle—both had dark blue and turquoise hair respectively, sitting next to each other near the front. Both were loud and rowdy.

Lucas Raymond—the only Prince-level aristocrat and direct descendant of the Father—had shining golden hair and an almost larger-than-life aura, easily seen by Mark from a distance. He was using his time to connect with the students around him, all of whom wore smiles of their own.

As for Valeria Sarr and Ronald Montour, they similarly possessed recognizable features

The clock struck 9:01 and the final piece of Class 1-A appeared from the doorway, walking over to the podium.

Everett wore a white dress shirt, a black pencil skirt, and a jet-black gem below her collar. The outfit—while modest and formal—nicely contrasted with her voluptuous figure.

"Quiet," the stern Professor ordered. "We have a lot of things to cover. First is roll call."