3 Bing!
And now, I was here, sitting in the back of the classroom while desperately trying to make sense of everything that had happened.
Even after falling asleep and waking up, I was still stuck in the same world as yesterday, with the memories of me saving the hero with a rock etched into my mind.
The panel which had shown me what I had to do disappeared as soon as I launched that rock at the monster, which was why I took it as a sign that I had completed the mission. And judging by the fact that the hero was sitting in the same room as I was, I was proven right.
Today was the official start of the semester at the academy, and right now I was currently sitting in the room with several of the main cast of the novel.
Not just the hero himself, but several of the students who would someday be a part of his party were also here. Which made it all the more clear that I was not supposed to be here. At all.
"Welcome, freshmen!"
Coming through the door to the classroom, a man wearing an elegant black uniform arrived, contrasting the white uniforms that all students were required to wear.
A man that I somewhat remembered from the novel, despite him not being part of the later volumes.
"My name is Samuel Froid, but please address me as either Instructor Froid or Mr. Froid. I will be..."
Samuel Froid, the homeroom teacher of the freshmen to which the hero and his friends belonged. The proud but gentle man who would help them grow stronger through not only care but also many tribulations.
As he entered the door, all the students straightened their backs a bit, paying their respect to the man they knew to be a five-star warrior.
In the novel, the author used a star system to represent the characters' strength, a very simple yet pretty elegant system. In essence, it worked like this:
Levels 0-10 would make one a zero-star.
Levels 10-20 would make one a one-star.
Levels 20-30 were the territory of two-star.
And so on.
What this means was that our teacher had a level higher than 50, but lower than 60.
Which, if I remembered correctly, made him one of the elites in this world. Or at least, that was the case in the early parts of the novel. In the later parts, the hero would find himself becoming the first nine-star in the world, but even that was not enough to bring down Beleth.
*Bing!*
A small sound suddenly echoed in my head, and my eyes were met with a sight that made my back grow cold. Another panel had suddenly showed up in front of me.
==========
[Act 1, chapter 2: The duty of a student!]
Continuous mission:
- As an honorable student of the Stellar Academy, you must show equally honorable grades! A failed grade is not allowed.
Penalty:
- Death
==========
'Huh?'
The cold sensation on my back only grew colder as I slowly understood the meaning behind the mission that I had been assigned.
'Not allowed to fail a grade?! But I don't know anything about anything!'
As my heart started racing, it was inevitable that I wasn't able to pay much attention to our teacher who was currently explaining to us what our lives at the academy would look like. A teacher who wasn't all too fond of a student daydreaming during his lecture.
"Alex Winter! Are you listening to me?!"
I was instantly brought back to reality as our teacher called me out. Although it was impressive that he had seemingly already learned the names of his students, I wasn't really in a position to praise him.
"Yes! I mean, yes sir!"
"Then, please repeat what I just said."
"That... would be troublesome, sir."
His dark eyes narrowed in response to my words, and he crossed his arms, which showed off the well-developed muscles he carried even under the uniform.
"Why is that, Alex?"
"Because... I didn't listen..."
"Haaa... Just pay attention. I can promise you that if you act like that, it won't take long until you will lose your place in the academy. So, anyway, what I was saying was that..."
With a huge sigh, the teacher was kind enough to let me off the hook, most likely because it was our first day here, as he continued to tell us about the academy.
And with that, I had managed to make a remarkable first expression on all my classmates, all because a certain author didn't know the meaning of a time and place for everything.
==========
Sitting outside in the courtyard on one of the many benches, my mood was still soured from what had happened before. However, seeing the grandeur of the academy did help a tiny bit.
Though it was in many ways similar to the university I had graduated from on Earth, it was a lot more magnificent. The campus in itself was gigantic, which made sense as it somehow managed to contain not only the three main buildings where the classes were taught, but also had room for a huge library, a large pond, cafes, and a very fancy-looking cafeteria.
The three main buildings were first of all the one I had just come out of, a three-story tall construction that almost looked like a small castle This was where all the theoretical courses were taught, which naturally included homeroom. This building was simply called the Central.
Then we had the martial arts building, which although it wasn't as tall, was large to house several arenas. Which I assumed it did. Unlike the Central, it had a more rough appearance, almost as if to symbolize the practices that went on inside it.
Lastly, we had the magical arts center. The whole building looked as if it was carved out of white marble, majestically reflecting the harsh rays of the sun to create quite a wondrous sight. This was also the place where I assumed I would spend most of my time due to the nature of my class.
All of the people in this world were born with a class, and although it was to some degree dependent on the heritage and genes of the individual, one could never know what they would end up with.
These classes could also, in rare cases, evolve as one grew stronger, something which would happen to George in the future when he would graduate from being a swordsman to becoming a fully-fledged hero of the light.
Now, my class, the Psion class, wasn't something I had ever read about in the novel. Or at least, it wasn't something that I had paid attention to. Thankfully, there was something inside me that made it so I knew what kind of class it was.
The Psion class was a magic-centric class that focused on using one's mind to create supernatural phenomena. Though telekinesis could be said the main feature of the class, it was only one of many skills that I would be able to learn.
*Bing!*
'No... not again...'
I was already familiar enough with that sound to know what was going to happen. And then, there it was. Yet another floating panel full of pain and misery.
==========
[Act 1, chapter 2: The duty of a student!]
New mission:
- Stop Mike Thorn from bullying your classmate, Robert Piper!
Penalty:
- Death
Timer: 0hr 12min 47s
[Map]
==========
'Why is the penalty always me dying?!'
In less than a second, I rose from my seat and clicked the little map button. In response to this, a map showed up in front of me, showing me where I was supposed to go. My destination was on the other side of campus from where I was, behind the martial arts center.
Running across campus, I tried desperately to remember who these people even were in the first place. Despite my supposedly having seen them already in class, it was still somewhat difficult.
'Mike... wasn't he that stuck-up noble who always tried to mess with George?'
Stopping my feet, as a result of my mind grabbing onto some very vital memories, I realized that I was just about to do something awfully stupid.
Though I still had no idea who this Robert was, I did manage to remember that Mike wasn't someone who I should mess with unless I wanted to make my school life excruciatingly difficult. Because I absolutely didn't want to become a victim of his.
Timer: 0hr 11min 32s
'What should I do?!'
"Alex? What are you doing?"
As I was grabbing my head in desperation, a somewhat deep voice reached out to me, surprising me as the owner of that voice somehow already knew my name.
Looking up from the ground, I was met with a sight that was so beautiful that it almost brought tears to my eyes. With his blonde hair and deep, blue eyes, it was impossible for me not to recognize the man who had come up to me.
The hero had arrived!
