Déjà Vu

"The Demons attacks are quickly rising and more portals have opened up inside the humans walls…"

Thomas panically sat up in bed, touching his body all over and the back of his head. There was no sign of any injury or possible concussion.

"Was it all a dream?" Thomas yawned. "I could have sworn I died…" Thomas was still puzzled and got out of bed.

The controller by the nightstand was not working, so Thomas decided to go up and tap the TV by its side.

"The magic funneling the walls is rapidly declining and we fear that there will be another Shado…"

And the TV turned off after being tapped a few times.

"Stupid TV! Why do I even bother using one requiring electricity? Of course since I am an orphan and cannot afford one that runs on magical renewable energy!" Thomas cursed at his current predicament.

Thomas promptly hopped into the shower and got dressed. He thought about how this is one of those unfortunate yet important days.

"Wait…"

Thomas turned the shower crane off and rushed out to his bedroom.

"I have lived all these moments, and repeated all of these sentences…" Thomas dreaded his newfound and twisted reality.

He turned to his locket and picked it up.

"You displayed something, did you not? Awakened the what system? The… the… irk? Erk? Arc…?"

As soon as "Arc" was mentioned the locket began to shimmer a light glow. Thomas had a brisk shower and packed all of things into the same briefcase, much like before and rushed out, rapidly towards a small bookstore. Inside the bookstore, Thomas hurriedly searched for a dictionary.

"Arc… arc…" Thomas flicked the pages and searched for words starting with 'arc'.

Somehow he managed to skip a few pages and went ineffectively backwards.

"Arclight… archenemy…" Every word Thomas uttered appeared futile.

It was the moment Thomas always gave up, when he reached back to the "a letters" to read a final word.

"Arcane?" Thomas dumbfoundedly read out loud and sighed.

He closed the book and put it back on its shelf. Thomas turned around and before he was able to take a step, his locket fully glowed around his neck.

[Arcane System Initializing…]

A female voice resonated inside Thomas' head.

[Scanning… scanning complete!]

Then all of the sudden a panel appeared before Thomas' eyes.

[User: Thomas Rosemary]

[Appearance: Dark Hair, Light Purple Eyes, 5'9]

[Race: Human]

[Ability: None]

[Level: 1]

[Experience: 0/100]

[Vitality: 5]

[Strength: 5]

[Agility: 5]

[Intelligence: 5]

[Stamina: 5]

"Wow… what is all this?" Thomas was shocked.

However a large grin grew on Thomas' face. This appeared like some sort of game, and if he was correct, the experience indicated he could level up.

Thomas reached out his hand to attempt and touch the screen, but the screen flicked to his skills tab instead.

[Passive Skill: Redo]

[Passive Skill: Lower Analysis]

[Total Skill Points: 0]

[Other Skills: ??? Locked]

The entire endeavour was strange, yet exciting for Thomas. Skills? Level? Experience? All of these things were positive outcomes for him, hence Thomas had no magic ability whatsoever and a poor aptitude.

The system blinked with an exclamation mark by the right top corner. Thomas pressed it and the quest menu turned up.

[Main Quest: Reach Level 10]

[Daily Quest: Overcome Your Past]

[Reward: 5 Exp]

"Overcome my past?" Thomas shook his head, this was no time to figure out its meaning. He had to make way for the academy and start the first examination.

"Wait…" Thomas smirked and turned back to one of the shelves.

Thomas took a few books and quickly sat around a small round table to flick through their contents.

"A last minute of studying will not hurt anyone! Now if I remember correctly the questions were…" A cunning Thomas planned how to indirectly cheat on the first exam and improve his overall score.

After he was done, Thomas fully enjoyed the one hour walk before he reached the academy's grounds and outer gates. At its gates, Thomas once again proceeded right on through and heard the magical identification scan.

[Thomas Rosemary. Identification complete.]

The same inner AI voice resonated inside his head. Thomas approached the front desk and the lady handed him an enchanted clip and empty badge. Much like before, he attached it to his rugged and torn black jacket. As soon as the badge was attached, a number appeared.

"Applicant #128? I have a feeling this will be my lucky number this time around," Thomas uttered optimistically.

Thomas sat down and leaned back in his chair, aloofly waiting for the exam to commence. Once it began, Thomas grinned broadly. Every question appeared to be the same, and with the last minute of studying, Thomas had memorized every single answer.

He finished the exam early and was one of the first students to leave the area and head towards the large building where he previously had encountered and lost against the demon ogre.

"Wow… and I thought I was early!" A much familiar voice spoke out.

It was a red-haired guy with blazing red and a hint of yellow in his eyes. There was a definite and undeniable aura around him, one that was of a noble kind. He had a chiseled jawline and was in an absurdly good shape. Then to top it all off, he was for sure a lady killer with his good looks.

"The name is Alex by the way," He went in for a handshake.

Thomas accepted and reached out his hand slowly, then realized it was the first guy who made all the bets and laughed. Alex was also the one who laughed when he was down crawling on all four and first to realize Thomas was most likely dying.

"Thomas," he replied and they shook hands.

Alex looked behind Thomas' back.

"A wooden sword? That is highly unusual… are you one of those guys who are not really adept with using magic or something?"

His remarks hit the spot right on.

"I make up for it with my quick wits. After all, I finished the exam quite early, did I not?" Thomas broadly smiled.

Alex immediately tapped Thomas' back, "I like you! You are funny, hope we both pass the exam!" He humbly and casually spoke while putting his arm around him.

A few other applicants shortly joined them and the supervisor opened the door.

"Who would like to go first?" He asked all of the applicants standing before him.

"Do not mind me if I do," Alex smirked and headed right on in.

Thomas decided to stay back and wait his turn, right like the previous day. In the back, there was the same nervous kid, shivering to death, all because of his nerves. It was strange, even though Thomas felt the same way in the past, this time he was calm and collected and harbored no sympathy towards him.

"Thomas Rosemary," His name got called.

Thomas headed right on in and spotted the chained demon ogre, as expected. Alex immediately pointed towards Thomas.

"That is the guy I mentioned before, Thomas! He uses a wooden sword, this will for sure be interesting!" Alex bragged about him knowing Thomas and made it sound like everyone was in for a treat.

This made Thomas sigh. How a simple conversation could change a person's entire expression of someone could not help and cease to amaze him. Thomas unsheathed his wooden sword and signaled he was ready.

The demon ogre came rushing in, slowly once unchained. Now that Thomas was more calm, he could realize how clumsy and slow this ogre really was. His previous nervousness had accelerated things.

Pumping in adrenaline when Thomas had panicked before and made it seem like everything was going faster than it really was. No wonder he was mocked and called a wuss!

A voice beckoned inside Thomas' mind, "Should have aimed for the legs, good luck next year, sucker!"

"Do not need to remind me twice," Thomas gracefully walked towards the ogre attaining his cool posture.

The ogre swung his large bat and Thomas ducked and rushed in to grip his sword two-handedly and try to deal a massive blow to one of his legs.

[Weakness spotted:]

[Right leg appears injured and weakened from previous battle]

Thomas heard the female voice coming from the system loud and clear and swung his sword to strike the right leg. And the ogre fell right flat on its tracks, unable to get back up. The supervisor signaled the end of battle and Thomas joined the others up on the stage.

Alex high-fived him on the spot.

"Wow… impressive stuff! It was almost as if you knew the rest of us had weakened his legs! That was one of the fastest battles! Well after mine of course!" Alex laughed and somehow managed to praise both of them in a single sentence.

The nervous wreck kid was up last and everyone turned their heads.

"Let's bet whether he makes it or not!" Alex yelled.

"I bet he will piss his pants before the ogre even gets to him!" Another applicant shouted out next to them.

This scene made Thomas chuckle quietly all to himself. Somehow he had managed to both cheat the first and survive the second examination. It was then a new notification appeared.

[Daily Quest: Complete]

[You have gained 5 Exp]

[Experience: 5/100]

Thomas resumed his earlier smirk from today when he had discovered the system. He leaned back and watched the final kid struggle with Alex and the rest while thinking, "This is only the beginning!".