An Unexpected Encounter

The next day, I woke up, and my normal routine unfolded. I went to the gym, attended my martial arts classes, which I'd been really undisciplined about recently, and chastised myself for it. I got home and delved into my research.

Things finally got eventful when I reached my cram school. Eager to maintain my early run, I arrived early once again. Not shocked to see that only a few people had arrived, including the girl I thought was staring at me.

I walked past her and positioned myself at the back seat, my usual routine, and rested my head on the desk. This was the first time since my regression that I'd been bored.

I jolted myself back to life as I realized I had things to do concerning the system. It was about two and a half weeks until my university exam, and although I was confident in my abilities, I thought of purchasing a skill that could aid me and make things much easier.

"System, open my status window," I thought.

<Understood. >

[Status Window]

Name: Damon Darhk

Age: 18 years

Occupation: Student

Current Status: Healthy/Unemployed

HP: 100/100 (Fully recovered)

SP: 150

Stamina: 100 (Recharged)

Skills: Foresight (D+ Rank)

{Additional Information}

The MC prepares himself for his upcoming university exams.

[End Of Information]

150 SP seemed like quite a lot to me. I'd been neglecting upgrading my abilities too much, so I decided to spend 100 SP on picking a skill and the remaining 50 SP on upgrading my abilities.

I pondered whether or not I should've upgraded my abilities right then and there. When I first did an information transfer, the effect it had on me wasn't so pretty.

I'd just upgrade my abilities when I get home; that seemed like the more logical option.

Now to pick out a skill.

"System, open the SP shop," thought command was a broken ability, to be honest.

<Understood. >

I went through most of the D rank skills, and they weren't really of much use to me. They cost around 20 - 50 SP each, so I guess I shouldn't have expected much. After scrolling some more, I decided to go to the C rank skill section.

The C rank section was a huge upgrade from the D rank section, and they cost around 500 SP upward. As I scrolled through the large number of skills that were there, I nearly lost hope at finding a skill and thought I'd have to go back to the D section.

Until something caught my eye. At the very bottom was a section with the heading *Bonus*.

I opened it and found that it only contained one skill called Render.

"What could that even mean?" I wondered. I clicked on it to read information on it and was blown away by what I saw. Render was a one-time use skill that would allow me to gain full knowledge of everything I underwent in my first life.

Names of people, dates, notable events—I would know everything. It was a broken skill. And most importantly, my exam questions. This was me basically cheating the system in the most cheeky way possible, and it only cost 150 SP.

I was disappointed at the fact that I would have to lay off on my physical attribute upgrades, but it would be very much worth it.

*Notice*

<Would you like to purchase this skill?>

[Yes] [No]

'Yes'

<Purchase complete.>

*Activate secret skill Render?*

[Yes] [No]

'Not yet,' I thought, closing the system panel. I couldn't contain my excitement and was beaming with anxiety.

My monetary happiness came to an end when the teacher finally came in, and class commenced.

"Today class, we will be having a pop quiz," said the tutor, and there was a loud uproar of disapproval from the entire class—the entire class excluding me.

"Everyone put your books and bags away. Damon, would you like to help me pass the question sheets around the class?" she asked with a motive to try and spite me.

"No, thank you," I said in the most polite manner, not even making eye contact with her but staring out the window, and it infuriated her.

"Damon! I said—" but she was cut off mid-sentence by the girl who I thought was staring at me.

"I'll do it, ma'am, if that's no problem," she said, raising her hand.

Defeated and dejected, the teacher succumbed. "Fine then, have it your way. Take the sheets from my desk and pass them around the class."

"Yes, ma'am," she said and got up, hurriedly doing as she was asked.

When she got to my seat, she didn't drop my sheet but stood for a while staring.

"Uhm, can I have my sheet?" I said, not losing eye contact, and that seemed to jolt her back to life.

"Oh, I'm sorry," she said as her face turned bright red, and she hurried back to her seat.

"You have one hour to finish this test, and when you're done, drop your sheet at my desk and leave; your time starts now." And with that, I got to solving.

I was by no means a genius in my past life, and my IQ was somewhat average, but my knowledge made it far too easy for me to solve, and in a couple of minutes, I was done.

I got up and walked to the teacher's desk with my bag hanging over my shoulder and sheet in the other.

As I walked, the class became filled with loud murmurs as I approached the teacher at her desk.

"Quiet!" She shouted, and with that, the murmurs died down.

I dropped my paper at her desk and locked eyes with her for a moment. She was clearly shocked at how fast I'd submitted, and I just stared back coldly.

Taking my eyes away, I left the class and was out in the corridor. 'Well, that was faster than I expected; I'll just wash my face and then head home,' I thought.

And with that, I went to the restroom. As I poured the warm water over my face and looked in the mirror, I couldn't help but admire how far I'd come.

My facial features had begun to start getting chiseled into perfection, and I was really impressed by how far I'd come.

After admiring myself a bit more, I wiped my face with a paper towel before coming back out to the corridor once more.

As I began to leave, I noticed the girl who I thought was staring at me on the corridor as well. 'She's done? Well, I didn't think she was that smart; guess I'll just ignore her,' I thought as I began walking in her direction.

As I walked past her, I was taken aback and stunned when I felt a soft arm grab my wrist. I looked behind to see her, staring at me.

I turned and faced her, my large height causing her to look up at me.

With a flustered face and shyly, she said, "Damon, can I please speak to you?"