Respec(t)
After calming down a bit at how easily I got into Evelyn's good graces… which in hindsight made sense since it was rare for her to meet someone she could empathize with, I decided to take a look in the store.
Clearly we had gone off the rails already. While I could be fairly certain that the Three Disasters would be mostly the same or similar, I couldn't be sure about everything else.
So, like a certain great detective fond of bats, it was prep time.
"Hey Siri, open Upgrades and then Shop."
The screens in my field of view changed and then shifted to a list of Magic, Arts, and Traits.
No Talents though. Apparently, Rob didn't want me breaking the story like that.
Even though he was clearly breaking the story on his own already.
But anyway, upgrades.
Magic and Arts didn't help me since I could pick those up on my own. What I needed most right now were Traits-
Wait.
First, check up on how much it costs to upgrade stats…
…Aaaand it's still 1000 SP a pop.
Seems like the cost didn't get reduced. Damn.
But okay. Confirmed that most needed upgrades are Traits. So…
===
[Shop]
<Traits >
Fire Affinity - 10000 SP
Water Affinity - 10000 SP
Earth Affinity - 10000 SP
Wind Affinity - 10000 SP
Strength Boost (Minor) - 10000 SP
Agility Boost (Minor) - 10000 SP
Vitality Boost (Minor) - 10000 SP
Endurance Boost (Minor) - 10000 SP
Sword Affinity (Minor) - 30000 SP
Spear Affinity (Minor) - 30000 SP
Bow Affinity (Minor) - 30000 SP
Fire Magic Affinity - 50000 SP
Water Magic Affinity - 50000 SP
...
===
Any traits dealing with magic was a moot point for me. It'd take a while, but I had a way to finagle around those restrictions.
Weapon affinities were useful, but I didn't plan on specializing in a weapon. Maybe if there was a 'Jack-of-all-trades' or something-
===
[Jack-of-all-trades]
Cost: 100000 SP
Effect: Gives expert proficiency in every weapon, ranging from common weapons such as swords to obscure weapons such as steel fans.
===
…Okay. Noted.
I'd need to do some weapon testing first to see if it was worth it, but that could be useful.
But what I needed right now, and what I needed for the future…
===
[Status Screen]
Name: Alex Smith
Age: 18
Strength: 6.2
Agility: 6.2
Vitality: 6.8
Endurance: 6.8
Mana: 10.1
Stamina: 10
Mana Pool: 10
<Magic >
Rank 1: Basic Elemental Magic
Rank 6: Divine Spirit
<Arts >
Mana Circle Overdrive: By shattering your mana circles and performing a forced fusion, can perform one Rank 6 spell at the cost of all stored mana and halving physical stats.
<Traits >
Stellar Mana Storm - All physical stats increase by 10% of your total mana state. Physical attacks may be imbued with magic. Stamina and mana pool are combined.
King of Drama - You have an instinct for dramatic flare! Your actions will often be timed for dramatic effect. You can speak any line without a hint of shame. Your emotions are inscrutable to others, but your actions will be seen in the best light.
Mana Boost (Minor) - Your mana stat will be increased by 10% of its total.
Vitality Boost (Minor) - Your vitality stat will be increased by 10% of its total.
Endurance Boost (Minor) - Your endurance stat will be increased by 10% of its total.
<Inventory >
Artio - A rank 5 artifact. Fashioned after the bear goddess of the same name, it allows summoning a rank 5 familiar with the appropriate mana cost.
Total SP: 660
===
I grit my teeth and spent points to restore my mana stat, and bought vitality and endurance boost.
Mana was a necessity. It'd be a bit suspicious to recover so quick, but I could pass it off as my Talent awakening.
"Talents" were seen as miracles in the first place, so it'd be reasonable.
Vitality and Endurance were essential stats if I wanted to pull off today's shenanigans again… and if I wanted to do some more exploits later.
A sturdy body and health was important to build a proper 'vessel' for add-ons, after all.
As for my stamina and mana pool… it was pretty pathetic.
Rank 1 spells took 1 point from mana pool…
Actually, let's just shorten it to MP.
Anyway, 1 spell took 1 MP. But it also drained my stamina the same amount.
I didn't completely drain my MP, to test it, but I could make an educated guess that reaching 0 would knock me out.
On the flipside, since it was tied to my stamina, which should be my body's natural energy level, it should be easy to train both?
…It was weird how there was a distinction there in mana pool and mana though. Since it was new, I'd have to keep track of it to see just what the difference was and how they mapped to each other.
But that was for later.
Right now, I was mentally exhausted from all that thinking, and also physically exhausted from the ordeal I just went through. So for now…
Rest.
===
Starlight Academy was the Eternal Empire's greatest Hero Academy and the gathering point for the world's greatest talents.
Students were admitted on four year cycles, with very few transfer students allowed in between those cycles.
It was the epitome of the elite.
500 of the best students and talents the world had to offer, confirmed by the objective test created by the world's greatest talent analyzer Sophia Lux, the <Light of Wisdom>.
As such, it had excellent accommodations.
The campus itself was designed in a circle around Sophia's Mage Tower, which served both as her private quarters as well as the source for all of Starlight Academy's defenses.
Roughly, the northeast quadrant was where the training facility and various associated buildings like simulation rooms, armories, and dorm rooms for the poorer students were.
The northwest quadrant was where dedicated magical facilities were located, such as the Infinite Library, storing various magical knowledge and artifacts.
The southwest quadrant was where administrative buildings were, such as the professor's offices, and quite a few ordinary classrooms for the specialized theory classes. This was also where the dorms for the richer students and the top 10 were located.
And then the southeast quadrant was where business facilities like cafes, restaurants, shops, and various other facilities along those lines were located.
Altogether a simple setting and layout.
The only problem was that it could be easy to get confused when you didn't have an aerial view or weren't used to it.
But anyway…
I was discharged from the infirmary after the nurse gave me a clear bill of health.
She was shocked beyond belief, but since nothing was wrong with me, she had to let me go.
…There was a bit of an interrogation with Headmistress Lux over a video call, but nothing too important.
By the time I was released though, it was already getting close to evening.
I sighed and pulled out my other 'phone,' the actual smart device that students used here at the academy. After turning it on, I opened up the banking app and checked my funds.
To keep things simple, I called the currency in 3D-ED 'credits.' Each credit roughly corresponded to a single U.S. dollar.
And as you might expect from the most prestigious academy in the world, Starlight Academy's tuition was expensive.
I didn't elaborate on it too much in the story since it was a non-issue for Roland. But for me…
70K credits for tuition plus the dorm room, 10K for textbooks and video lectures, 5K for this damned thing… Considering Alex only got a loan for 90K, that left me with 5K for the rest of this semester.
You could get food in the cafeteria by buying the meal plan, but that was 5K per semester for 21 meals a week…
…God, why did I make the setting so realistic? Did college leave that much of a trauma on me?
Well, either way, I didn't have a meal plan and wasn't planning on buying one since it'd make me broke.
I also didn't know if Alex had more funds coming for the next semester or if I'd have to scrounge up some cash in the winter break.
Another thing to add to the growing list of considerations.
But whatever.
I was hungry and wanted to eat some food to unwind before the BS that'd unfold tomorrow during the Villain Subjugation class.
Definitely was not looking forward to the one-on-one duels there.
I made my way towards the business quadrant, walking along the road and idly watching as the street lamps flicked on with the sinking sun.
Other students passed me by, probably heading back from their own dinner. But of course, no one paid any attention to me.
After all, as an 'extra,' you'd have to do a lot to stand out. Especially if you had typical hair and eye colors, unlike the standout colors that the main cast had.
It was pretty nice though. Kind of just like at home, walking along the crowded streets. Except, you know, without the risk of being mugged or robbed at gun point.
*rustle*
…Or maybe not?
Something moved in the corner of my eyes, hidden among the bushes.
…Yeah, no. I was done with shenanigans for the day.
Pointedly ignoring whatever it was, I continued on my way towards the business quadrant. As I did, I pulled out my academy phone again and opened up the directory.
Let's see.
There were some steakhouses, some 'Eastern' restaurants which were basically just Chinese restaurants with a few sushi places thrown in, pasta places…
All of them were pretty expensive from the menus I could pull up, but I'd hopefully be racking in the cash around mid-terms, so it should be fine as long as I didn't go overboard.
With that in mind, I picked out a random steakhouse and continued on my way.
As I did, I occasionally heard the sound of something following me, darting behind bushes, trees, and other things as I passed them.
Maybe if I just ignored it-
===
[Story subquest: The Curious Mage]
Objective: Satisfy the curiosity of Marisa Sagewind.
Success: ???
Failure: ???
Time limit: Until curfew.
===
Dammit.
Was it because I scored perfect in the theoretical portion of the entrance exams? The fact that I used a rank 6 spell? Or that I was taken out of the class practically bleeding from every orifice in my body?
Either way, I'd somehow drawn the attention of the woman at the top of our class.
…Who should be into Roland, actually.
Wait. She eventually got with Roland in my story because she was curious about how he applied healing magic to train faster.
Since she was a voracious learner despite her aloof appearance, she couldn't help but spend time with Roland to try and learn how he ticked.
…But now there was me.
A guy who clearly should be dead after pulling off that stunt, but one who was not only alive, but walking around merely hours after the fact.
…Let's just ignore her.
And also, let's make sure to start sailing that ship between Roland and Marisa before I get wrapped up in harem shenanigans or something.
Wait.
…Rob wanted to make revisions to make the story more 'interesting.'
That bastard wouldn't be trying to force harem shenanigans and multiple love interests because it was mainstream, would he?
"...This is why I hate idiots."
I sighed and sped up my pace.
A nice steak and a glass of good wine would help me forget all about this mess…
===
Marisa Sagewind.
She was the top student. The best of the best.
But she didn't care about that.
The only reason she bothered applying to Starlight Academy was because of its Infinite Library and because of Sophia Lux.
There was something she had to accomplish at all costs, and she believed that she could find a solution to it here.
Unfortunately, the library hadn't been anything special and Sophia Lux had left before she could ask her anything.
There had been an interesting swordsman with red hair earlier in the day who seemed to have something special hidden inside him. But since he wasn't aware of it, Marisa decided to wait until he awakened to it.
Instead, she focused on another target.
Alexander Smith.
A seemingly average individual.
Yet, one who was paired with both that interesting swordsman and the princess.
And also one who managed to cast a rank 6 spell while clearly lacking the necessary circles.
How?
And how was he alive?
Marisa's grandfather had left notes of forbidden techniques allowing mages to access spells above their rank. But it should only allow for one or two ranks above.
And from the information Marisa could gather, Alexander Smith was a Solmage. Thus, he only had a single circle.
Yet he managed to cast <Divine Spirit>, a rank 6 spell.
And he was still alive.
All the methods she knew of that allowed casting spells above one's rank involved completely shattering your mana circles and burning up your life to cast it.
But here he was, walking around like he was fine.
Odd.
Very odd.
And yet, also very normal.
An orphan who lost his family to a sudden gate appearance. A man who worked very hard to make up for a lack of talent. But nothing special.
But the fact that he was still alive objectively proved otherwise.
"...This is why I hate idiots."
Marisa froze.
…How?
She blinked and gave herself a once over.
Her form was invisible. And she was far enough that he shouldn't hear anything.
Before she could recover from his words, Alexander was already walking away. At a faster pace than before too, as if he was annoyed by her actions.
…Ah.
This was why Grandfather said she needed to make friends.
It seemed like she had ruined the first impression before she even had a chance to speak a word…
Lowering her head, Marisa let out a sigh and dejectedly started walking back towards her room.
===
> Subquest [The Curious Mage] cleared!
> Marisa Sagewind is dejected at you rejecting her advance and has decided to work harder to repair her image to you. +100 SP. Current SP: 760.
> You have obtained the trait <Acknowledged by the Future Sage>.
[Acknowledged by the Future Sage]
To genius-type talents, you emit a formidable and intimidating presence.
===
I paused in the middle of sipping my wine.
After carefully reading the messages, I let out a deep sigh.
…The butterfly effect, man. Hate it so much…
Shaking my head, I finished sipping my wine and continued eating my stupidly overpriced surf and turf meal.
…At least food would never betray me.