Volume I - Chapter 9: Characters in the Game

~bzzt! ~bzzt! ~bzzt!

My eyes slowly opened.

Yawning, I got up from my bed and then, out of habit, walked over to where my computer was supposed to be. However, my eyes widened as I realized that I was in a different place from my 'room'. Immediately afterward, I started to remember what had happened.

Ah... That's right, I was dead.

When I fell asleep last night, I had a feeling that I would wake up in my old room as if nothing had happened, that everything was just a dream. So I prepared myself for that, but I'm still here.

I'm still Aiden Tenebra and... I have to go to the academy, or rather to classes.

I checked the clock on the wall and sighed when I saw that it was still early in the morning. I headed to the kitchen, simply cracked myself some eggs, fried them, and started eating.

As I was eating, I was thinking.

What should I do now? How should I take my next step?

I opened my status window and looked at the statistics full of F's.

What is the best thing I can do to improve these stats?

I thought of the main character, who, with the help of that damn old man, probably already has all his stats at D- level. Of course, he's also gained a few skills... And if he's got two or three masteries, he's in for a treat.

I thought and thought and thought. Of course, the best way to get my stats up steadily was to exercise, but I'm not the kind of guy who can swing a sword for eight hours a day. Although... when it comes to magic, maybe I can because it's quite fun, but I don't really like physical things.

So what am I supposed to do?

I thought of all the main and side missions at the Academy, I tried to remember the rewards for each one, and I thought about which ones I could use and which ones I was capable of doing in my current state.

Honestly, I had a jumbled list in my mind. I knew more or less what I could do and I was excited about it, but there was a big problem: I was really, really weak, both physically and mentally.

If I walk into a dungeon, there's a good chance I won't be able to deal with even a simple goblin at best.

Well, you shouldn't expect too much from someone who spent his former life away from danger. There is a huge difference between fighting creatures in the game and seeing them in real life. If I don't freeze the moment I see the goblin, that in itself is an achievement for me.

As I took the last bite in my mouth, lost in thought, a 'beep' sound came from my phone. So I checked the notification and then smiled involuntarily.

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Clara: Are you awake?

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She didn't write good morning or anything like that...

I think she's a little scared of me. Well, I can't say anything about that. If my brother, who ignored me for years, had told me that he would change in a day, I would be a little scared of him too.

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You: Yes, I'm awake. Good morning, Clara.

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Clara didn't write me back for a while. I think she was trying to make sure she wasn't dreaming.

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Clara: Good morning... Your class is about to start, hurry up!

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So she went offline without writing anything else. She must be having problems with how to treat me, so all I can do for now is give her time.

After I finished eating, I walked to my wardrobe.

There was the CDA's elegantly designed uniform, made exclusively for freshmen studying a different course of study. I was going to wear this uniform not as an outsider playing this game, but as a student of this academy, and I was so excited that it took me a minute to get completely ready.

I looked at myself in the mirror in my red tie uniform with blue patterns on white fabric. I might not be very handsome, but I didn't have a bad appearance, I was ordinary.

After examining myself in the mirror for a long time, when the time came, I went to the dormitory corridors and then outside without waiting long.

There were a lot of students rushing to get to class. Unlike yesterday, the eighth floor was very active. Of course, it was also a bit chaotic outside. Everyone was in a hurry as the first classes of the day would start soon.

I paid special attention to everyone's faces as I walked among the students. I could remember the faces of some of the extras I had occasionally encountered in the play, and I even grinned when I saw a student who, at some point in the future, was going to disrespect one of the professors by lunging at him. Everything I saw reminded me again and again that this was Lunerra.

I kept walking toward the main building, wondering what we were going to cover in class, but then I paused.

Ah... I'm really stupid. I walk and walk to the main building, but what class am I in?

There are twenty-five classes of twenty-five students each in this year's first-year classes and I have no idea which class I belong to.

As I continued walking toward the main building, I pulled out my phone and checked the apps. There was no one but Clara on the messaging app. It looked like Aiden had cleaned his email before he committed suicide.

With a bitter smile, I continued to rummage through my phone, hoping to find something, and then... something suddenly hit me and I fell to the ground.

My phone flew out of my hand and was thrown about two meters away from me, it didn't hurt much, but there was a slight pain in my chest.

What I found in front of me was a man with long chestnut hair, slumped on the floor just like me. He had a slightly thin but well-built body, he obviously exercised regularly and he was definitely taller than me.

The boy opened his ocean-blue eyes and looked at me, and my eyes widened when I saw them.

I knew this student, even if I had a little trouble recognizing him because his appearance had gone from animated to real in an instant. The person in front of me was named Julian. Besides... he was not someone I wanted to deal with right now.

"Ah... I'm sorry, I wasn't paying attention."

I apologized quickly, but I didn't break my posture in front of him. I didn't look like I was apologizing out of fear, but out of respect, which was my intention. Because if I showed this boy that I was scared, then there was a chance that I would become one of his targets.

After I apologized to him in a simple way, I smiled slightly and looked at my phone, which had flown away.

Ah... Great, the screen is cracked.

"Damn it, be a little more careful! My uniform is ruined!"

Julian stormed to his feet and looked at me with hostility.

I hope I'm not on his blacklist... Seriously, I can't deal with this guy, I'm too lazy.

"I apologize again. As I said, it's my fault for getting distracted by my phone. How about I buy you some lunch as an apology?"

That's the only way I can avoid being this guy's target. And... Even if I don't want to deal with him now, that doesn't mean I won't want to deal with him in the future. Julian is an important character, so it's in my best interest to get close to him when the time comes.

Julian paused for a moment at my offer to him. He must have been surprised that I was someone who went against his mental model of a 'weak' person. He recovered quickly, though.

"Okay...? Then I can forgive you."

Julian stood up quickly and looked at the stain on his uniform, then his brow furrowed in anger. Not at me, but at himself. Because what had happened to him was in a way his own fault for not paying attention to his surroundings.

It didn't last long though, his eyes turned back to me and he paused.

"Uh... You... Is your name Aiden?"

I raised my eyebrows in curiosity when I heard my name. I wasn't expecting this, how did he know my name?

"Yeah...? Do I know you?"

Julian... Could he know the former owner of this body?

"No, we don't know each other. I recognize your face and name from the board because we were in the same class."

Okay...

Well, I really didn't expect that, because being in the same class as him means that I'm in the same class as the main character.

And I'm pretty sure there was no Aiden in his class before.

Maybe it's because the old Aiden committed suicide before the first day of the academy, but I remember well that during the first class of the game, there were twenty-five people in the class, so that's not the case.

So you're a being that was specifically created for me to come into this world huh, Aiden... You weren't a part of this world from the beginning like me, I'd be lying if I said I didn't feel bad for you.

"I see... I was pretty sick yesterday so I couldn't come to class, but I'm fine now."

So I'm in class 1-C... Good, at least now I know which class I'm going to. And being in the same class as the main character can help me to participate directly in the main tasks of the story. In this way, I can observe which ending he is heading toward.

Actually, that's pretty good.

"Anyway... You'd better remember your promise to buy me a meal."

So Julian left me here and made his way toward the main building. I let out a short sigh and followed him at a distance.

After about ten minutes of walking, when I finally arrived in front of classroom 1-C, I took a deep breath and walked in as calmly as I could.

The classroom was a lecture hall, just like the one I had presented my theory the other day, but a slightly smaller version. The layout of which students sat where, even the location of the trash can was just as I remembered it. It made my blood boil to see it like this, but I didn't care too much and looked toward the left corner of the classroom.

I swallowed involuntarily when I saw the boy in the center-left row, quietly watching the class from the window.

With his silvery hair and emerald-like green eyes, his charm statistic was at least a C+. He was built like Julian, but thinner for some reason.

The main character I played in The Lands of Lunerra, Adrian Caleo, was breathtakingly noble, even though he looked quite expressionless.