Just Aranea

The guides gave them 15 minutes to recover.

If you still felt ill after the 15 minutes, you had no choice but to force yourself after them.

The 200 accepted students were split into 10 groups of 20.

Group 1 was the top 20 students, that was the group Aranea was in.

They were walking towards the outskirts of the Academy, the location closest to the Abyss.

Walking through Academy grounds, the location felt barebones; like a husk.

The location had no depth to it.

There are a few buildings here and there, some training facilities; some outdoor fields and arenas, a forest, an artificial mountain and a massive lake.

That was it.

And, throughout the walk, Savana kept her eyes on Aranea, unwilling to move them for even a second.

Aranea could feel her eyes oozing on the back of her head.

'...Savana Price. Her personality was unique in the game.'

---

The guide left them without a word; no instructions or orders.

The place they were in looked closer to a military camp than a school. The only thing that slightly resembled a school were the dorms.

It mostly just had many pieces of training equipment specific for people with capabilities beyond the human limit. The air was dusty, the ground was plain dirt; grains of ash occasionally sprinkled down from the dreary clouds above.

The place was unfit for human life.

...And it looked like they weren't the first to arrive.

Crackle-

BANG!

Shards of ice abruptly spewed through the air; crackles of lightning flickered off the edge of the <Ice Wall> Aranea put up.

Drip-

The heat from the electricity rapidly melted the ice; bellows of steam rushed up into the air.

Fwish...

Waving the steam away with a weak wind Skill, Aranea allowed her ice Skill to fall apart.

The faces of Savana and the others who were all walking behind her like baby chicks were a sight to see. An attack from a fellow student was the last thing they expected.

Step...

The perpetrators revealed themselves quite quickly.

Medium-length green hair that was styled to fit his well-proportioned, handsome, looks; but his face didn't show off those handsome looks at the moment.

He had two others following behind him but it was clear that he was the main one who targeted them.

Or more specifically.

Her.

The slight anger in the hearts of the 19 other commoners fizzled away like butter in a hot pan. This wasn't someone they could feel anger against.

Even Savana Price recognised him.

No, anyone would.

That hair belonged only to a single family in the entire Imperial Alliance; only the Elves and Spirits had people with similar hair colour.

It was the colour of the Sildoret Imperial Family.

This man was:

"Charles Von Sildoret." Aranea bluntly stated the man's name with no fear in her eyes or voice.

'Why is he already attacking me?'

Staring Aranea with his green eyes, "Aranea Von L-"

He was about to say her full name but stopped himself.

"No, just Aranea."

"I'm 'just' Aranea, what was the purpose of that attack?"

Smirking a smile unbefitting of an Imperial, "Do not play the victim."

Shaking her head, "Unfortunately, I do not know what you are talking about."

Squirm~

The veins on his neck wriggled as the decade-long anger threatened to burst out of his chest, "11 years ago."

A specific piece of information from the game suddenly came flooding back. She just realised why the man was already against her.

That boy from her 5th birthday party; "Your childhood friend?"

Mana surged to the tips of his fingers, her voice contained no hints of an apology or even regret. It was like this woman thought her actions to be insignificant.

"Hoo... -as expected of you."

Struggling to maintain his composure, Charles Von Sildoret turned back.

He couldn't do this now.

The two followers of his kept quiet but they were prepared for a fight throughout the short conversation.

Seeing them finally walk away, Aranea inwardly sighed in relief.

Now wasn't a good time to mess up the First Act.

...Shuffle.

Shuffle-

'Ah.'

The people behind her.

They were still waiting for her to move; they were too scared to do so apparently...?

Well, whatever.

She could understand it.

---

It was awkward walking by the other members of the nobility.

A majority recognised her, and the majority avoided her like the plague.

It was good to mention that the dormitory had exactly 50 students; 30 nobles and 20 commoners.

The perfect number to form 10 small Squadrons. 3 nobles and 2 commoners in each one.

The actual announcement of the Squadrons was this evening; it was meant to be a surprise but as a player of the game, Aranea was already spoilt.

And now, she stood in front of the door to her shared dorm in the female section.

They would buddy up with another person.

Twisting the doorknob, Click!, Aranea opened the doors to her accommodation.

There were two beds, one on the left and one on the right. Both had a bedside table and then a desk at the end of their bed.

In the centre of the room, a foldable partition separated the two sides.

The one on the right looked to already be in use, some clothes were neatly folded on her bed and her suitcase was wide open.

Aranea could hear water running and the sound of them chatting to someone on the other end of the door to their washroom.

Ignoring them momentarily, Aranea shut the door behind her loud enough for the person to hear and approached her closed suitcase on the left bed.

Using Mana to pull it down, she quickly unlocked it and opened the thing up.

Everything looked untouched.

But there were slight changes in the Mana Array she embedded into the suitcase. It was opened and checked by the staff; just in case.

Moving her hand to the roof of the suitcase, the part where you couldn't store anything-

Zing~

A Mana fluctuation rippled as her Mana collided with it.

'Good, they didn't find it.'

Moving her hand back, Aranea shut her suitcase-

Thud!

-and the door to the washroom opened at the same time.

"That was nice~"

Drying her hair, her luscious, silver hair glistened with droplets of water, highlights of blue singed its ends; a few drops of water clung to her flushed cheeks, and her slender, beautiful figure burst through the white robe covering her body.

Rubbing her face with a gel-like applicant, the girl couldn't see clearly at that moment.

"My bad for not saying hi sooner." Letting out a relaxed breath, the girl walked over to her side of the bed and plopped down into the bedding.

She sat on the visible section, the partitions weren't enough to cover the whole bed.

And Aranea stayed kneeling on the floor beside her suitcase.

The twisting, pulsating, swirls of darkness which made up Aranea's eyes gazed at the girl; the thoughts in her mind were undecipherable.

Her hair clung to the ground but the film of Mana persistently covering her body prevented it from dirtying.

This scene continued for a few seconds.

The girl in question awkwardly waited for some sort of response, "What's wrong?"

Taking a deep breath:

"Nothing."

The girl finally cleared the gel from her face; her skin radiated with warmth from the treatment.

Those crimson, blood-like eyes pierced through the room.

And there they landed on Aranea.

Silvia Le Imulla.

The unplayable Main Character.

This was her first meeting with Aranea.

[...black and white hair; Abomination. Swirling, ink-like eyes; Devil.]

Aranea could practically hear the thoughts whizzing through Silvia's head.

[Dangerous.]

That was probably her conclusion.

"Are you Aranea? I saw you came second, nice meeting you."

"Silvia Le Imulla, correct?"

"You know me?"

Aranea shook her head, "I can feel it."

It was bullshit but bullshit works when you've played the game many times.

Standing up, Aranea had to turn her head up to look at Silvia's face even though the girl was sitting on her bed, "You feel much stronger than those things outside, it's not even fair comparing you to them."

"Thank you for the compliment, but Miss Aranea, I don't think it's kind to call people 'things'." Silvia's pure voice reprimanded Aranea.

"My bad, won't happen next time."

"If you say so." Silvia unconvincingly said those words, she didn't believe Aranea would change her ways anytime soon.

Mostly because she had heard the rumours surrounding this girl.

Silvia wasn't one to believe in such outrageous things but all the external factors pointed at the truth of the matter.

Still, she held the benefit of the doubt for now.

Parting her hair to the side, resting it on her shoulder, "So why did you apply for this Academy?"

Patting her skirt, Aranea sat on her bed.

"I have my reasons, just as you do too."

"If you don't want to tell me you can just say so, you know?"

Silvia dryly glanced to the side, trying to hold a conversation with Aranea was quite dull.

But then, Aranea smiled slightly.

Silvia caught it in her peripheral vision; it was something she didn't expect at all.

"Are you sure you want to know?"

Those words didn't feel kind; they felt like a type of...

Warning.

[Increase danger level.]

"Why'd you say it like that?"

"I just asked if you wanted to know, that's all."

"You didn't have to say it like that."

Aranea's smile lifted on one corner of her mouth, revealing her teeth, "Say it like what?"

"Fine then, tell me."

Aranea's smile disappeared.

And bluntly:

"No."

"I don't want to tell you anymore."

Silvia squinted her eyes, let out a small sigh, relaxed her eyes, and continued sorting her suitcase and hair.

She didn't want to continue holding this antagonising conversation, it would do them no good getting on bad terms with each other for something so small.

Aranea smiled inwardly.

Silvia was just as she remembered her.

Her personality had two flips to it.

A fun personality.

And a not-so-fun personality.

It wasn't a dissociative identity disorder type of situation, it's just her personality was as unique as Savana's.

---

Time rapidly passed by till the evening.

Aranea spent her time flopped on her bed with her black, military uniform on.

The uniform was enchanted with basic defence Magic, it was good enough that you wouldn't worry about attacks from the weakest Corrupted.

She spent her time like that until Silvia awoke her from her 'slumber'.

Someone was calling for them to assemble in the field within 5 minutes. Anyone late would be punished.

"Don't be late Aranea."

"I won't."

Silvia made her way over first, leaving Aranea in the room alone.

Using this brief moment, Aranea reached for her suitcase and opened it up.

Her hands broke past the Mana blocking the hidden compartment and pulled something out from within.

Glancing at the collection, Aranea's face grew dull.

'...need more.'

Crunch-!

---

"I'm your Mentor; my name is Mentor; when I call for you, you shout 'Yes, Mentor!', understood!?!"

"Yes, Mentor!"

Their voices synced to the skies together.

Standing in his buzz-cut and black, military uniform, the scar-faced Mentor looked his soldiers up and down.

"Henceforth you shall be split into 10 Squadrons!"

"Yes, Mentor!"

Walking up and down the lines, his Mana whipped out to fix anyone with improper military posture.

"Two of you nobles will be sent over to the Symbollia Alliance's Military Academy!"

"Yes, Mentor!"

"Any complaints?!"

"No, Mentor!"

"Good!"

Smacking a ruler made of Mana in his palms, his eagle eyes observantly surveyed the crowd wearing the same black uniform over and over again; they could fake their voices but they couldn't hide the dissatisfaction on their faces...

"Oh...? None of you have complaints?!"

"Yes, Mentor!"

Smirking, Mentor inwardly approved of this batch. They were telling the truth, and no one had any complaints.

"Get a move on then! Your unique medallion which contains your Signature will lead you to one of the 10 lines over there. Go over and stand on it." He pointed at the other end of the field where exactly 10 columns of white lines were painted into the ground.

Everyone pushed their energy into the medallion, and lo and behold, a faint trace of Mana became visible in their eyes, leading them to their position.

Following this signature, the crowd quickly made it to their spot.

It took a minute but they finally sorted themselves out.

Glancing at the two other people in her Squadron, Aranea confirmed that the Main Scenario was still on track.

She hadn't changed the future just yet.

In front of Aranea was the familiar blueish-silver hair.

Behind Aranea was the familiar scarlet hair.

Silvia, Aranea and Savana.

Those were the three in Squadron 1.

"You three, Squadron 1."

"Yes, Mentor!"

They saluted him.

"Your 2 other members will meet you on the frontlines, they will be from the Symbollia Alliance."

"Yes, Mentor!"

Of the three of them, only Savana was confused as to why they would be merging with two people from another Alliance.

Aranea knew.

And so did Silvia.

In fact, Silvia knew the people who would be coming quite well; she was chatting with one of them during her bath today.

"Squadrons 2 through 10!"

"Yes, Mentor!"

"You must fix your teamwork within the next 5 days!"

"Yes, Mentor!"

"If you fail the test in 5 days, you will be thrown out, understood?!"

"Yes, Mentor!"

Nodding at them, Mentor turned back to Squadron 1.

"You three may train individually until you are dispatched in 7 days, with that, everyone is dismissed!"

Mentor disappeared from his spot, leaving everyone behind.

That was a habit the teachers in this school had; disappearing.

'It's starting soon. The First Act will begin before they even have a chance to prepare.'

Aranea had too much to think about.

[Throes of Fortune]

Main Scenario, First Act.

-The Drowned-

It was too harsh.

To the point where it caused the game's sales to drop.

Now that this was reality...

'...fucking shit game.'

...even Aranea with her current stats was getting worried.