Realization

(Day 11)

When I woke up early in the morning, the realization hit me hard.

Yesterday I was so exhausted and delighted that I was still alive somehow, but now, when I feel relieved, I realize that...

"I'm so fucking weak."

"I'm getting delusional and cocky just because I won Esther with my cheat."

"Thus, yesterday I died like a dog."

"Although I have knowledge and some cheat... that's all I have."

"I can fight to some extent... but it won't help me reach the end of the game."

Some will say that information is power. But when you deal with absolute strength, information is pretty useless.

In fact, courage and talent are useless too.

And yesterday was the perfect example.

"I'm terribly weak."

"With this kind of strength, I could not even protect myself."

"Not to mention the main cast."

I stood up right away and ran directly to the gym.

'Stop thinking useless things!'

'I need to get on the grind again and again.'

Because after all, hard work will pay off.

* *

Huff. 

Huff.

Huff.

'Bruh, I know that I'm weak.'

'But nobody said that I'm this weak!!'

"FREAK!"

My max push-up is only around 20 reps!

'Haruki can easily push up 900 to 1000 times in a row?! Is that even humanly impossible?'

And I haven't mentioned pull-ups.

...

Let's just skip that for now.

I have worked out for nearly a week now.

But, yeah, at least I have this notification.

[Charisma: 5.7 → 6.05 (Unranked).]

'It made my day for real.'

I looked at the square mirror in the gym. I definitely felt a big difference between 1 point and 6 points [Charisma].

My face is much more clean and thin now.

'And oh my god, look at my body.'

Although there was no clear sign of muscle or something like that, it still looked somewhat muscular.

'I need to build my strength along with my stamina as well.'

'Now I will run on the treadmill until class time.'

While running, I should also examine my stat from the previous day. It will be more time-efficiency and overall I just need to double check my current power.

Huff.

After checking for a while, I noticed something stood out. But I don't know how I missed it the day before.

It's about my potential [Swordsmanship]

[Swordsmanship] (F-) → [Eintausend Style] (0.3%)

-Stab: Drei

-Slash: Drei]

This is one of the most powerful- heck nah, it must be the most broken sword style in the game. The user can unleash a thousand slashes in a second.

'Should I check it out?'

"Hell yeah. But why is it only at 0.3%?"

I stood in front of a wheat dummy.

"Recall!"

I tried recalling how it looked like in the game and tried imitating every single detail that I could remember.

How to stand the right way, breathe properly, and handle the sword,...

After making some minor tweaks, I began calling out my skill names. Because it looked cool.

"Eintausend Style."

I began to take the sword out of the handle.

"Slash."

"Drei."

Three straight lines appeared on the dummy and then...

SCHWING!

The dummy has been in three whole pieces.

"Damn... so I can only swing three times in a second-"

Suddenly my body began collapsing. I fell on my knees.

'Even three swings are too much for my physical body right now.'

This is gonna be my trump card for real.

It's still kinda risky to use that.

But for normal use, I think I could use the inferior version of that skill.

'How about two slashes?? It sounds promising as well.'

* *

Today is the academy's official class, and also the first day of the first semester.

'The first day of the Spiral Academy will always be on the 28th of August since it's also the day that the game comes out.'

'Developers really like to put easter eggs here and there.'

In contrast to the beginning of the game, whose class will be very theory-based, all classes from there will be very focused on practical tests.

'The first classes only have theory so the class will end quite earlier than usual.'

Having washed and cleaned my room already, I walked to my class.

Class A-1.

A huge sign written A-1 poking out of the wall.

'I think I got pretty lucky honestly, because once I am placed in a class, I will be randomly picked for any class from 1 to 3.'

'Although being placed in class A-2 or class A-3 will not harm me.'

But still, being in the same class with the main characters will have more benefits for some extras like me. And, yeah, definitely will have some drawbacks too.

But in my case, the merits of being with them overshadow the demerits of those.

Opening the door, I set my eyes looking at every corner or little detail in the class.

'It's looking pretty good compared to the original game.'

Although there were not a lot of people this early, some of them pointed their fingers directly at me and 'secretly' talked with their friends.

Sigh.

'Certainly, they are gossiping about my appearance.'

I thought in a few days I would hear a lot of malicious gossip about me.

But hey, there is nothing I could do to deal with it besides being prettier and I gotta do it quickly.

I chose the most normal seat in the class- no I mean it looks more like a lecture hall personally.

After the bell rang, a lot of cadets hurriedly ran into the class.

"SAFEEE."

A loud voice echoed through the hall, the owners of that voice were none other than Haruki and Ryan.

'Those bastards.'

Normally, Haruki's friend group will come independently.

However, because it was the first day of the first semester, Haruki had decided to gather everyone to talk.

And after that, behind the door, every female character came into the class.

First is the coolest and prettiest girl in the academy, Katia, the princess of Russia.

Afterward, Esther, the most haughty and undeniably smartest girl in the academy, came in while still smiling at Haruki.

Last but not least, everyone's favorite, the most gentle and kind girl in the whole academy, the princess of England.

The moment they came to the class, every immature boy could not take their eyes off of them.

And I'm not an exception.

"We nearly got late because of you, Haruki." - Esther grumbled.

"Sorry..." - Haruki cried weakly.

Charlotte smiled shyly.

"You must get pretty excited for the first day. Hehe." 

Ryan added.

"Haha. It's pretty understandable, I mean who could not?"

"Guys, let's just take a seat, shall we?" - Katia said sleepily.

'Katia when she is sleepy is somewhat out of her cold personality, but she's still really strict.'

"Hello cadets, the classroom is beginning already."

"Take a seat, please."

That was our homeroom teacher, Takagi Kenzo.

He came to the class with his signature teacher's clothes. Today he even wore his glasses on.

In the class- lecture hall, I sat alone at a table because one student sitting next to me was absent.

I took this opportunity to use those 2 rings.

And I also practice [Mana Maintaining] to get [Magic Creation] while listening to his announcement.

"Today is the first day of our long journey together."

"I am Takagi Kenzo, a professional hero."

Even though he looked a bit too polite, he still had his determination and confidence in his eyes.

"I will guide you all to the right way to become a true professional hero." 

"Although I know you guys are talented and have a really strong foundation because it's class A after all."

"Please remember that you guys are still weak and incapable of fighting with villains and monsters."

"If you don't have the strength to fight, you won't be able to save anyone."

Everybody became more serious and worried.

But then, Takagi smiled gently at everyone.

"Despite that, I believe that with proper training and experience, all of you will become exceptional heroes."

"Now, I have a lot of work to do with the principal."

"See you all again, cadets."

One by one, some female extras crazily fell in love with his sweet personality while I was working my ass off.

'I'm not jealous at all.'

Thanks to my prior knowledge, controlling mana became much easier.

After a while, I have obtained a new skill.

[Acquired skill "Magic Creation" (Lv.1).]

'That's a delightful addition to my arsenal. With this skill, I could shape my Mana into any form easier.'

For example, I could make a [Ice Spear] like the Skeleton King that kills me.

Then I realized that I still haven't decided on a specific build. I'm just an all-rounder who is bad at everything.

Sigh.

And then the bell rang again, 

Going to the school canteen, I chose the cheapest food because I had little money right now.

When I finished buying the dried bread, abruptly I heard somebody say behind my back.

"Why did you buy the cheapest food, are you that poor?" - Esther looked at me and asked.

'Yep, I don't even have to turn back to know who that is.'

Sigh.

'Is she in period or something? Gimme a break' 

"Yes."

"??" She seems speechless hearing what I just said.

Sigh.

"Yes, I'm poor, so what?"

Esther was so embarrassed that her face turned red, and then she cursed me. 

"You peasants are shameless."

"I know that already. You are just wasting your time for trash."

Esther was so angry that she just kicked me childishly.

But the kick is not so-so.

The force of the kick was so powerful that I flew behind and my back made a huge contact with the concrete floor.

Fortunately, I had the trait [Hardened Body] otherwise I would have been injured badly.

Especially since it's just the first day at the academy.

Sigh.

'Maybe my appearance is a trouble magnet after all.'

"Esther-san!?"

Haruki saw the situation and ran hurriedly to our place.

"Why did you do that to him, Esther?" - Charlotte added with a worried tone in her voice.

She looked at my body and asked,

"Ryoshu, are you okay?"

Haruki also grabbed Esther's forearm to not escalate the situation and at the same time he apologized to me,

"I'm sorry, Amemura-san! She is a bit hot-headed! I will buy you something next time!!"

I didn't say anything and just left the cafeteria.

"Haha. It serves you right!"

"Esther-san, don't say that." - Haruki cried.

Esther was gloating when she saw me running away.

But after 10 seconds, I came back with a plastic bag to throw the bread in there and dump it right in the trash.

Somehow Esther got even angrier, but thanks to Charlotte and Haruki, she finally stopped herself.

But she still sent her deadly glare at me.

'Oy, oy, you are clearly in the wrong when you kicked me for no reason at all.'

Sigh.

Let's just go back to the class, as I still have my final lesson today.

A good one indeed.