1 100 Deaths should be an achievement.

I remembered it just like it was yesterday... maybe not quite as it was 100 days ago or technically half a minute ago if someone can't see time cycling a hundred times.

Anyway, I'm off track again, I am Shinji Backpfeifengesicht, a pretty long last name that translates to 'A face in need of a fist', who is 12 years old and attending Gold Coffin Academy where 'your sacrifice is a worthy death.' or so their motto says... I always wondered why the name sounded so threatening till I actually got inside the school thanks to my parent's money, my intellect in the field of science, and a little bit of luck to barely get into the Gala Empire's number 1 academy.

Although my parents tried persuading me not to come in because of the reputation that the academy has amassed. This reputation is that those at the bottom, including me who barely got in, will most likely die in the first year.

I know what you are thinking, why would a school do this? such a reputation would bring them down rock bottom! well, let me tell you the answer, the reality I live in has Qi in it. Does it ring any bells? correct, Young Masters.

Not only that but there is also Mana and Advanced Technology, side note here is that Gala Empire is an Empire that rules a galaxy so you should know how prestigious Gold Coffin Academy how outstanding it is to be able to hold that position even with its reputation.

Because I was quite stubborn and had the spirit of youth in me, I disregarded the reputation and came to the school. I only realized my mistake when I gained memories of my past life on Earth. Although my past life is quite ordinary, the knowledge of anime, manga/manhua/manhwa, novels, and fan-fics gave me more than enough information that I f*cked up real badly. If It weren't for my memories, I would have been ignorant of the danger and died, but I still died anyway with my knowledge.

I was already in front of the school and light-years away from my home planet so all I could do was try not to offend anybody, don't talk to any girl that screams trouble, and find a way to get power to defend myself. As I have said, I only got into this place because of my knowledge of science and engineering with my level of magic being only above average.

I tried, I really did but who would have thought that Backpfeifengesicht would actually mean something. I was singled out by a guy in my class who was greatly adept in magic, Mac Rider. Blonde hair, red eyes, and a delinquent look. I thought of him as not a young master type but rather that one bully you find in magic novels that bully that main character for his talent, though the actual reason for firing mana-enforced punches at me is that I had a punchable face. Average talent was actually the lowest when it comes to the academy.

Speaking of talent, the ranks of talent, that affect the quality of becoming stronger, is known by the number of stars you see when you use a device that measures talent. This talent measuring device works for all fields such as Qi, Mana, Soul, and Mind where the star's color is different depending on what field your talent is found on.

The talent that tagged me as average was 3 stars. 2 stars are enough to let normal citizens live their life while using their field of power for convenience only while 1 star should just abandon the field of expertise they flunked at.

4 stars are those above-average which basically lets you live your school life in Golden Coffin Academy without trouble as long as you don't offend anyone with status or higher power than you. 5 stars are talented and would have a bright future ahead of them, maybe becoming a Rank 6 or 7 on graduation.

Strength is measured in Ranks where 1 signifies that you are trash if you haven't even advanced to the 2nd rank upon adulthood. Rank 2 signifies the common people. Rank 3 is for those who work on labor or work as F-Class Adventurers. Yes, there are guilds.

Rank 4 is for those who work as the city guards or are E-Class Adventurers. Rank 5 means you have the strength of the kingdom's guards or a D-Class Adventurer. A kingdom and an empire are different where the royalty of the kingdom is just another council member of the empire.

Rank 6 means you have the strength of the empire's guards or a C-Class Adventurer. Rank 7 is rare and could be found in the royal empire's guards or a B-Class Adventurer. Rank 8 is powerful enough to destroy ships with a single spell or fist and I have heard of the empire having 2 of them while the rest of them are from large backgrounds or work as A-Class Adventurers.

Rank 9 is even known to the common people, though I am a son of a marquess of a low-class kingdom so I get to hear some rumors.

Yes. I, a son of a marquess, was reduced to a bullied target. who said that the rich have it great? only the richest of the rich with the highest background get bragging rights!

Speaking about being bullied, I was already targeted by someone so it didn't matter if I tried avoiding bullying. I had to fight back since...it hurts to get hit. I don't even know why main characters who could fight back let themselves get bullied, in a world that revolved around fighting.

Mac is a Rank 3 with a talent of 4 stars while I am a Rank 2 with a talent of 3 stars. Although our gaps in talent and strength are only apart by 1 level, his can help him get stronger twice the speed of mine with half the effort. This also applies to his strength too, there is no way I could defeat someone 4 times stronger than myself without underhanded tricks.

"Oi, you, the dummy, over there. come here with me. I need to train the spell we learned in class" shouted Mac.

This is the 101st time I heard that same line come out of that retarded guy's mouth. I honestly didn't even imagine that I would get killed by him. By now I should have answered the lingering question of why can I restart the day by dying... I don't know. Maybe it's a gift given to me cause I reincarnated or maybe some immortal passed by and took pity on me but I really don't know.

The first time I lived through the day, I avoided Mac but he kept chasing me around. Once he caught up he threw a mana-enforced punch at me and beat me up. I tried calling for the teachers but they said that any fights could occur with the limit of the attacks being rank 3, any higher than that needs permission and supervision of the staff in the school and that killing would be heavily punished.

I was unhappy since I didn't even accept such a battle but the attitudes of the teachers have already confirmed that theory that not only is the background of Mac Rider high but also that the reputation of Gold Coffin Academy is harsh on the bottom rung is actually true. I also thought that I was still safe from actually dying because of the 'heavy punishment'.

I was right to assume that the 'heavy punishment' would stop people from killing but I didn't take to account that Mac is a young master in mage clothes. Mac thought I would cower in fear after knowing no one would help me but that rather gave me no choice to fight back using underhanded tricks.

After I landed a painful hit on him, he became enraged saying that his dignity... yadda yadda yadda. He then did the illegal and a torrent of [Rank 3 firestorm] at me, which is a very lethal spell in the Rank 3 category.

The teachers were surprised, when I noticed their expression I thought that they would stop the spell but I didn't take into account how close I was to the spell. There is no way I could have cast a [Rank 2 mana shield] anyway because of the close distance. That was my first death.

It was quite understandable since I never fought in my territory and was spoiled as a kid. I only got here because of my great interest in science and engineering. This is the only time when scholarship grants aren't useful.

I really regretted doing that, I wasted my life because of a wrong mentality of thinking in the fight, I was quite depressed since I thought I would start an adventure...I was too childish. I was scared. I greatly feared death.

I questioned myself why didn't I act as cautious as I should have been after all I already died cause of a truck. Maybe I was too excited about the possibilities of a fantasy world.

But... I saw the school right in front of me. I was at the entrance. I immediately thought of the ability I once saw in an anime but quickly shot it down as I couldn't confirm how many times I could die. I tried not to waste my third life cause there are always 3 lives in a game.

That time I didn't run away but rather led him to some teachers and landed a hard hit on him in the middle of the beatdown. I set up the [Mana Shield] before he could [Firestorm] on me. Although the teachers watched, they could stand Mac trying to kill me so they shooed Mac away as he vowed that I would pay for his humiliation.

I was then sent to the nurse's office because of my injuries. A [Rank 2 Mana Shield] could only do so much against a [Rank 3 Firestorm] after all but it's not like a [Rank 3 Lesser Heal] won't do the trick so I was kicked out of the nurse's office as fast as I came in.

It is also neat to know that low-ranking healing for magic spells makes one a bit tired so I was given a free supplement and energy drink as I went out. the drink is very nutritious using fruits found in monsters.

I thought about opening a bar of the rarest drinks but I had to put that idea on the back of my head as Mac was only the beginning of a hundred deaths.

I was very innocent and didn't know the underlying meaning I gave to the people around me as the day went on. There are different fields you can study in the academy, Magic, Engineering, Science, Monster Biology, Monster Anatomy, History, Martial Arts, Cultivation, Mechs, Magic Engineering, Qi Formations, Enchanting, Forging, Combat, etc. Students can attend any subject they want.

I was quite confused about why students and teachers were staring at me as I went to as many subjects as I can. I just chalked it up to my reputation of offending Mac but I later realized it was something else when a guy confronted me.

"Isn't that the only student with an average talent? how was he able to knock Mac out?" a student spoke. "It's just because of his underhanded tricks." replied another.

I forgot to say that I was fighting Mac as I was recounting my previous deaths. I made Mac slip with a [Rank 1 Water] to the feet and a [Rank 2 Reinforce] cast on my knee against his jewels. another [Reinfoce] on my fist against his air pipe did the trick of disorienting him and another fist to the liver area to knock him out with the excruciating pain. Thank you Yout*be videos.

The teachers took him to the nurse but I went ahead faster to grab my favorite nutrition drink. You don't know how much I love this drink for being with me even though all my deaths, it is so delicious.

Back to that student who confronted me, he was a buff guy with brown skin and dark brown hair, and an angry look. My innocent self thought the guy was a follower of Mac and asked who he was and why is he blocking my path. The guy of course flaunted his status as coming from a family of the empire's knights and said his name was Quad Rupees.

He explained that I was just showing off by trying to learn many different subjects but I immediately explained that I was rather curious about the subjects and it wasn't my intent to show off. I also tried explaining if I really can't learn all of these subjects then I should be left alone for destroying my future.

The student was rather convinced but it seems the true lackey of Mac came just in time to f*ck things up. Gerwulf Hunt coaxed Quad saying that no normal person would throw away their future and I'm just giving excuses. Quad was conflicted but Gerwulf told Quad not to interfere with our fight.

There were few rules in an unofficial fight after all so Quad could have defended me if Gerwulf were to attack me. It seems that Quad is actually a good guy who misinterpreted my antics. I looked around for a teacher, there are quite a lot of them in school so it didn't take long for me to spot one of them watching our squabble with interest.

Gerwulf smirks as he immediately strengthened his legs with Qi. He got to me in just a few seconds, I was surprised that he was a Qi practitioner but it wasn't totally out of my expectations as I immediately cast a [Mana Shield] but he broke it with just a few punches and a palm came crashing down on my heart, heavily injuring me. The teacher broke up the fight but I was horrified to find my [Mana Heart] shattered that easily.

I fainted after that because of excessive pain. I then woke up to find that I would be expelled from the academy as I don't have my [Mana Heart] anymore. As I left the academy distraught and too afraid to kill myself to restart the day, I became horrified to find Gerwulf coming back to finish the job, he didn't get any punishment? I couldn't do anything, my throat got crushed. That signified my second death.

When I realized I could go back to the same day again, I was a bit unsure of how many times I could do it but I tried using it to my advantage. I improved my fighting by trying to defeat through pure combat, that was a dumb idea cause I died.

I needed a bit of assistance from magic since my strength doesn't improve through training. I tried doing push-ups every death but I don't see improvements even after 1 and a half months' worth of training.

What did improve in fact was my ability in combat, speed in casting spells, pain tolerance, knowledge of different spells, combat techniques, and more things from several subjects. Of course only the basics of each one. I also awakened my [Qi Core] the only downsides being that it was Rank 1 and I had to awaken it every time I die. It is honestly quite easy to awaken once you can 'feel' the Qi.

With the assistance of Rank 1 [Qi Core], Rank 2 [Mana Heart], some Rank 2 spells, a pile of Rank 1 spells, courtesy of the school's library, and basic combat techniques, I barely defeated Gerwulf. I had to go to the nurse's office and stayed there a bit longer because of the fatigue. Although I was very tired physically, my mental health is greatly strained. I had died 50 times just to win.

Now you may be wondering, what If I didn't try 'showing off' and asked Quad to protect me? Well if Quad were to protect me I would still die since I can't hide behind Quad forever. He isn't even my friend! Of course, I did befriend him eventually since I would need such an ally.

Did you know he has a Rank 4 [Qi Core] and a 4-star talent? His hard work made him even stronger than both Gerwulf and Mac who have the same talent like him.

Lastly, there was one last factor I had to abolish. with Mac and Gerwulf down and the day ending, I slept on my bed peacefully... until I vomited and died.

I went around 50 deaths, paying attention to who could have poisoned me. I was stumped to find that even if I had avoided Mac and Gerwulf by skipping magic theory class I would have still died from poisoning.

And then it hit me, why would someone vomit up and die? So here we are, me and my favorite drink on our way to the lab to test what the hell is this delicious drink hiding.

Another fun fact is that after stressing myself out trying to find out who poisoned me, my mind gave out and I passed out just to wake up with a Rank 1 [Psyche]... which is given to those who suffered great emotional stress in the mind while gathering your thought to a single point.

There is also a much more humane way of awakening a Psyche and that is to consume a Rank 3 [Mind-Cleansing Pill] while meditating and gathering your thoughts into a single point.

I think the single point that I was focusing on was 'avoid poisoning'. I then gained to power to identify poison but this power may grow up to be able to be immune to poison or even control it.

I went and brought a book about fruits gained from monsters and examined the contents of the drink using the lab materials. I also compared my first drink, after defeating Mac, and the second drink, after defeating Gerwulf.

The first drink was spoiled and became poison, the poison also becomes sweeter and tastier than the original drink itself! I was a fool to trust something so delicious! huhu, give me back my lives...

My 'first' day in Gold Coffin Academy ended with 100 deaths. should that be an achievement? I really should find something fun to do tomorrow. I don't want my daily life to be fight young master, die, get stronger, defeat young master, then fight his father, and die again. Ahh~, this bed is quite soft. I know I'll wake up to another day of nightmares but I really wanna enjoy this new life I've gained.