Dorms

Taking a break, Mika sat on a nearby bench with his head hanging backward.

He stared at the cloudless and blue sky.

"Lily Hayth…" Mika muttered.

[What will you do now?]

"…"

Slowly facing forward again, he stood up and walked away.

"I will do nothing. What do I gain from revealing that?" he remarked with a slight mix of spite in his voice.

The academy grounds were still empty due to most students still being in the academy's hallways.

"But I must say, it's kind of creepy how much information about Lily the reward contained. It feels like I had observed every single second of her life until now…"

As he said it, he noticed that the road he walked on led to something akin to a residential district.

Multiple small houses were lined up next to each other. Occasionally, a high building was between those houses.

Those buildings had all in common that they seemed relatively modern and even better maintained than some buildings and inns outside the academy.

"Welcome to the dorms. Are you perhaps a first-year student?"

Before Mika could enter the district, a middle-aged man sitting in a small cabin called out to him.

In response to his question, Mika slightly nodded his head.

Then, Mika proceeded to take out a document from his pocket, which he showed the man.

The document confirmed Mika's enrollment to the academy and it contained information concerning his placement in the dorms.

"Hmm… I see. Room 46…"

After reading the contents, he gave the document back.

"Your dorm room is located in building number B2. It's one of the big buildings."

"If there's a problem, then you can come to me. I'm the caretaker as well as the security guard here!" the man added with a proud smirk.

"Thanks…" Mika replied sheepishly with a small nod.

The area had only five buildings which matched the description of being huge. Furthermore, the buildings' numbers were displayed big enough to be seen from even afar.

Thus, it did not take Mika long to find building B2.

Following the map at the building's entrance, he went to his assigned room.

While he looked for his room, his gaze wandered around.

The interior design reminded him of the academy's hallways.

It had a dark tone, the walls were decorated with paintings, from above golden chandeliers illuminated the floors and a red carpet was laid out.

"…"

Mika stood still in front of a door.

It was the door to his room.

He blankly stared at it.

"This is the place where I'll have to stay for the next three years, huh…" he murmured melancholic.

It was the first time it doomed upon him that he was away from his home where his parents were.

He was not homesick.

He was just thinking about this truly being the start of his next chapter.

After taking a deep breath, he opened the door and was met with a rather simple room design.

It was a spacious room fitting for two people.

On each side of the room, there was a bed, a wardrobe, a desk, and a chair. They were all ordinarily designed, which contrasted the more elegant and sinister design of the floors.

[Seems like you will share the room with another person.]

"Yeah. I just hope that person is not someone like that Cail bastard."

In the corner of the room were a few boxes and amongst them, some were addressed to Mika.

"Seems like the staff from this morning managed to carry my stuff properly to my room."

Mika started to unpack his things forgetting the time.

After he was done, he noticed the sky being colored in the dawning sun.

He took a little breather until he heard someone opening the door.

"Oh~, are you perhaps my roommate? Nice to meet you! I'm Gerard Armwright!"

Entering the room was a boy with a silver uniform.

He had brown short and spiky hair as well as dark green eyes.

His body was stronger and bulkier than the average boy their age.

"I'm Mika Elbar. Nice to meet you, too."

The two shook their hands as they exchanged genuine smiles.

"Mika Elbar… Wait, are you that Mika Elbar?!" Gerard gasped surprised.

"That Mika…?"

"Everyone's talking about you! You're the student from the black class that paired up with someone from the white class!"

[This spread like a wildfire, huh?]

"Hehe…"

Mika just laughed it off with a forced smile.

However, compared to the students he saw in the hallways, Gerard did not look down on him nor did he pity him. Rather than that, his eyes sparkled in admiration.

"Can you tell me how you teamed up with an S-rank student and why did you do that? Are you maybe stronger than you look? If that's the case, how about we spar a little bit?" he overwhelmed Mika with his curiosity.

"Ehm…"

Then, Mika began to explain everything to him slowly while leaving out the part about why he decided to team up with Sylvia. After all, he was forbidden to tell anyone here about the system.

After that, the two talked about themselves and other trivial stuff until the sun went down completely.

From their conversation, he learned that Gerard also came from a small village and that he uses C-rank plant magic.

Mika was glad that he found someone he could casually talk to in the academy. He felt like he could get along with Gerard.

He was still on good terms with Lily, but compared to her Gerard was easier to approach due to him being in the silver class and not being as ambitious as Lily.

Deep in his heart, he hoped and begged that the system would not interfere with their friendship.

The next day.

The first lesson in the academy for the black class took place on the vast and spacious training grounds.

"Everyone, go ahead and start with some light stretches before we begin!"

In Loogam every subject of a class was instructed by the respective class teacher.

In the case of the black class, it was Ophelia Ross.

"Don't stretch so half-heartedly!"

She occasionally admonished the class during the warmups.

"If you think that magic is enough to become a great mage, then you're wrong!"

Even when they were running multiple laps, she looked unbothered whereas some students were about to meet their ancestors due to their exhaustion.

"To become a true elite, you need great magic and a strong body!"

Mika was one of the few, who could keep up with the warmups.

Usually, he would also be one of those, who were almost collapsing from this, but since his physical restrictions were lifted, his body felt lighter and he could finally move like he wanted.

However, this feeling of joy quickly vanished.

"You can't leave me alone for just a day, can you…?"

He suddenly sensed something familiar and yet annoying.

A new side quest popped up.

Side Quest: Recruit Cail Maystra into your team.

Rewards: Magic limiter will be lifted

Punishment: Unable to unseal the sword in the next quest.

Despite everyone still running or limping, Mika stopped his motion as he shockingly read the floating words again.

At first, he was sure that he would just ignore the quest since he would never want to team up with Cail, but that mindset changed when he got to know the reward.

It was his chance to finally lift his magic restrictions.

This was one of his dearest wishes due to the magic restriction being his greatest concern in encounters whenever he decided to not use that sword of his.

"Shit…"

He clenched his fists.

[What is your answer?]

"…"

He bit his lips.

"I… I will do this…"

However, Mika did not know yet that this decision would lead to a war amongst the first-years.