Monday
It was a shitty morning when I woke up, I was kind of groggy until I came to my senses.
-A good bath wouldn't hurt me-
*Chwaaa
The cold water calmed me.
I looked at my body in the mirror. It was more defined, my shoulders and thighs were hard as rocks. It was a robust and healthy body I never thought I'd have.
«Nameless, could you go to the classroom to inform me about what's going on inside?»
"Sure, no problem."
At that moment, Nameless began to disappear, leaving small traces of darkness.
After drying myself off, I left the bathroom and saw my stats along with my talents.
═══
=Stats=
Name: Alan Harwey
Age: 17
[Strength 45.91 (D)]
[Stamina 46.35 (D)]
[Speed 49.17 (D)]
[Mana 49.09 (D)]
═══
=Talents=
[Blacksmithing/low-lower] [Sword/low-Higher] [Magic/low-Higher]
═══
-Mmm, looks like I got a little boost yesterday-
As expected, I grew a lot. Of course, all that hellish work paid off in the end.
*Wiip
*Wiip
I turned on my video transmitter before going to class and was immediately greeted by anonymous messages.
[Retarded]
[Fucking coward, prepare for us to break your bones.]
[Prepare for the biggest hell of your…]
-God, those guys from that time, do they really not get tired?-
It seems I was the target of the bullying. I didn't know who they were, but I'll get even soon enough.
Unfortunately, something of that level won't damage my mind. I've already suffered a lot in my 12 years. Basically, to me, they were just kids being kids. When are those guys going to grow up?
After blocking the two idiots who texted me, I left.
But there were words written on the nameplate outside my door.
Retarded, loser, weakling... there was one more, but the handwriting was too bad for me to recognize.
They seemed to have been carved with magic to avoid being detected by cameras. For now, there was really nothing I could do about it.
Since classes would start in ten minutes, I had to hurry to get there early.
***
At the entrance to the class
Nameless, I wait for you
«Is there someone waiting for me?»
"If a guy named Yushiro is waiting for you, he really wants to hit you hard"
-Okay, thanks for the info-
I took a spicy sandwich out of my backpack. I always like it, but for others, it's like hell.
After that, I opened the door.
-Oh, are you here, loser?-
Immediately, a boy who appears to be Yushiro, the boy who spoke to me, Nameless, tried to hit me on the head, but I avoided him and gave him the sandwich.
-Aaaahhh!! It burns! It burns!-
-It's made with a super-spicy chili straight from the heart of Mexico... Bye, have a good time!-
The boy quickly left due to the immense pain the sandwich caused him, while everyone in the class laughed at him behind his back.
After that, I sat down in my usual seat. At that moment, my eyes met Hanami's, but her normal hostility lowered slightly and then increased before she turned away.
How bipolar the dwarf is.
-Guys, the test results are for the dungeon anomaly analysis-
At that moment, Damian, who had a crystal sphere infusing mana into it, projected a blue hologram.
While all the students were complaining, a big smile spread across my face.
[Number 1: Alan Harwey]
[Number 2: Alice Aisha Lawrence]
«Come on, damn it!! Come on!! I finally have first place, even if it's only in theory!»
At that moment, I felt someone's hand on my shoulder and a penetrating gaze on my very being.
It was Miguel, inspecting me from head to toe.
-Hey, what's going on?-
-I'm just... checking to see if you cheated, and if so, why didn't you help me?-
-Um, one, I studied a lot until my brain exploded from so much knowledge, two, I couldn't help you no matter how much I wanted to since you were so far away from me-
-But at least you could have given me a hand!!-
Miguel began to shake me while Nameless laughed at this scene.
*Clap
The sound of a pen falling resonated. Miguel stopped shaking me and glanced behind me.
The pen halves were rolling on the table. Next to them was the pen's alleged owner, Alice, who looked at me, stunned by the exam results. Her mouth was half-open as if she were in shock.
-Oh, right-
This girl never strayed from first place, theoretically, since the beginning of the year, of course, until I got this position. It's a shame that throne was originally mine; she only warmed it up to me.
***
Classes and exams in Wellston were always taught in English, but thanks to a barrier surrounding the island, the language barrier doesn't exist. Of course, for the "unawakened" it was an advantage, but for the "awakened" it wasn't, since they could speak normally with others and understand the language they didn't know perfectly.
Alice is a studious girl who works hard every day.
As the princess of a country and the daughter of a nationally ranked hunter, she strove to maintain a minimum level of elegance and dignity. She wanted to become a great hunter both in combat and in theory, one that her country would be proud to boast about.
Naturally, the citizens of the United Kingdom were fanatical when it came to Alice, saying:
"It's time for a new national hunter to be born."
National-ranked hunters refer to the only 10 strongest individuals in the world. Currently, three of these were from the United States, three from Japan, two from Latin America, and only one from the United Kingdom, King Leonard Draegasis Lawrence himself.
Unfortunately, the missing position belonged to the "God of Blacksmithing", a man from London who occupied the number 3 position, but after his death due to a "calamity", the entire United Kingdom fell into despair.
But the citizens of England kept their eyes open for any news about Alice, whom they hoped would become the symbol of their nation. As the daughter of a nationally ranked hunter, they expected many things from her.
To meet their expectations, Alice slept no more than two hours a day. But the "record" she maintained throughout this effort was broken today.
Alice wasn't sad at all, she was just worried and sorry. Of course, the result of a single written exam was unlikely to spread throughout England, but "dungeon anomaly analysis" was a difficult subject, even for her. The gap between her and first place seemed like it wouldn't change for a while.
At that moment, Alice felt a gaze watching her. It was from an ordinary-looking man. She didn't know his name, but she noticed the other students' gazes falling on that boy.
Alice quickly realized that this boy was Alan Harwey. The man turned around with a proud face to face the front of the class, but Alice would remember his face.
Alice began to covet the notebook in her hands as if it were a treasure chest.
***
There was a slight commotion over the fact that I got first place in the written exam "Dungeon Anomaly Analysis" or simply theory was a subject well known for being one of the most difficult in the entire academy to the point that everyone cries just by saying its name, Alice didn't say much, but the teacher praised me even though the teacher on Monday is different this time
-I also looked at student Alan Harwey's answer sheet. His knowledge and insight were impressive, to say the least. I hope other students can learn from his passion for studying; theory is very important-
-Hmm, you know what you're talking about, professor. Thank you very much for your praise. I promise to do my best in the future-
I murmured with pride in my voice.
I felt like every compliment he gave me made me stronger, and I felt like my popularity would increase at any moment, and that would include having girls around me.
*
I'm in my room, and I've finally developed two specialties!
Unlike the talents we have from birth, mastery is only achieved through practice, and these can grow.
═══
=Specialty=
[Cooking]
Rank: Advanced
Efficiency: 1.11%
You can cook faster and move any cooking tool easily, in addition to learning recipes more quickly.
═══
[Acrobat]
Rank: Basic
Efficiency: 2.34%
Your movements will be more agile, and you will have greater balance and coordination.
═══
-Finally... so many cooking classes with Miss Victoria were worth it-
"Yeah... it was about time, since I was getting desperate because there weren't any new specialties"
*wiip
Suddenly, a message rang on my video recorder, and when I saw the announcement, it seemed strange.
[Has anyone seen Vlad from the magic science class? I haven't been able to contact him since yesterday.]
"Mmm, how strange"
-Yeah, you can't even say it... these kinds of messages have been happening lately-
Some students have started mysteriously disappearing, and everyone is doing their best to find them.
-I just hope this all blows over-
***
Inside a dark alley on the island
A tall boy with messy brown hair was whistling
-Sylvee~ Where are you?-
On the other side, a girl was in a fetal position praying to the heavens that he wouldn't find her.
Recently, the girl received an invitation from the president of the study club.
Suddenly, she saw how the club president himself killed a boy in cold blood with a macabre smile, but unfortunately, she found him and tried to kill her.
-Come on, Sylvee, let's talk, shall we?-
The man's voice was getting louder and louder.
But suddenly,
*Wiip
His video transmitter had just vibrated.
She was startled for a moment; the boy's footsteps stopped for a moment.
-I found you~-
A soft voice whispered in her ear, all the girl could do was scream, only for the young man to silence her using his Charm.
-Look at me, little one-
The girl looked into the young man's kind eyes, and her fear began to fade as her cheeks turned red as tomatoes, and she fell into a trance.
-Yes... Mr. Jeremy-
The one called Jeremy smiled, only to then stuff the girl into a sack with spatial dimension, only to then check his video transmitter.
[Has anyone seen Vlad from the magical science class? I haven't been able to reach him since yesterday.]
-Wow, I think I need to find a scapegoat, and I know which one to choose-
***
*Chu-Chu
Class 1-A was near a cliff until a huge train that was bigger than a house appeared from the sky.
It was a well-made piece of engineering, emanating a lot of mana as fuel while levitating and flying as if it were an airplane.
We all entered the train.
The interior was very elegant, with marble floors, fresh air, a room temperature, and plenty of empty grayish seats that looked like they were from the finest hotels.
The professor boarded the train, and we all instinctively sat down. When he arrived, the train began to rise and fly off into the vast blue ocean.
-Attention! The training we'll be doing will be very different from our previous training-
Professor Nishizono said with authority.
-Class B is already on the artificial island and all of you will participate with them in this monster extermination training, for that the academy creates several artificial settings: mountains, hills, limestone caves, volcanic caves, etc. Each environment has its magical beasts and naturally, there will also be artificial dungeons created with magical technology-
*Chu-Chu
The train stopped moving, indicating that we had reached our destination.
When we all got off, we met up with Class B, who seemed a little nervous about training.
Behind them, I noticed a very dark, and at the same time, somewhat sinister, cave.
The floor was hard and was an exact replica of an island.
"As expected of the best academy in the world, the mana in the environment is very noticeable and it shows that it was made with great care"
Nameless said as he floated around, curiously examining the artificial island.
«Hey, stop playing and check out the enormous cave»
"Yeah… I'm coming"
Nameless spoke idly as she floated into the enormous cave.
-Attention, it's time for the groups to form. Enter with your usual teams-
The students formed a team of eight for the artificial dungeon.
I could see several students trying to interact with Hajime or Hanami over the hotel incident, but that didn't interest me at all.
I looked for Shiva, who was nervously looking at the cave entrance. The fact that this girl was getting nervous showed how threatening the entrance seemed.
-I'm shaking-
-You're not the only one. My hair stood on end-
Adrian and Miguel spoke, as I could see they were feeling chills at the sight of the dark cave. To be honest, that cave gives me the creeps.
-Next, you will announce your team's partner. The student with the highest score will be chosen to be the team leader-
The teacher snapped his fingers, causing a hologram of the team roster to appear.
I searched for the name of the team that will be paired with us and found it.
[Team 10: Class 1-A Mirai Shiva, Class 1-B Jack]
-Hello, haha-
Jack approached us with a hearty laugh. He had a generic, normal appearance with deep brown eyes and a high nose.
-You must be Mirai Shiva! It's a pleasure to meet you. I've heard a lot about you-
-Yes, nice to meet you-
Jack extended his hand. I wondered if this girl would shake someone's hand on their first meeting, but my question was answered in the next moment when she quickly took his hand.
-Next to me are Ian, Yuki, and Daniel-
-This is Adrián, Miguel, and Alessandro Harwey-
-...!-
He said, "Alessandro Harwey? How dare you misuse my name? I'm Alan Harwey... Alan Harwey!!
It didn't matter much that he insulted me; Shiva was talking affectionately to Jack while we all listened.
Hey... this guy is your typical bootlicker. Just to get a job in his guild, you have to do that. Please have some dignity, man.
-My main weapon is a spear-
-Mine's a martial artist-
-Mine's the Bow-
Ian, Yuki, and Daniel introduced themselves, and Miguel, Adrian, and I did the same.
-I'm also a spearman, but I can also use a sword-
-I use a gun and my fists, along with a little magic-
-I use a sword and magic. Pretty rare, right?-
-Oh, it's the guys from the hotel incident. I've heard about you-
-It's strange to see them in person-
The eyes of the three people lit up with interest but it didn't feel pleasant to be the target of interest, their eyes seemed to say "At least I'm better than him" since they must think that Hajime and Hanami did the rest.
As expected of the lower ranks... no one suspects us
-I see that you are still training, do you think you are not good enough?-
I turned to the source of the voice. As expected, Jack was smiling slyly, so I deduced that he was the one who had spoken those words.
We all remained silent. Miguel tried to speak, but I stopped him because I want to face problems head-on.
It was disappointing, but I already knew the rumors about me in class weren't at the level of a joke.
They say I use my position as a student at the academy to threaten or harass girls. They also said I went to Japan every weekend to enjoy women and drink alcohol.
He was practically a bad person to everyone.
And surely after today these rumors will spread to other classes. I could only clench my fists in helplessness at how easily they can destroy a boy's dreams, but in the end, I will destroy that rumor.
-Oh, at least I still have my dignity and pride, not like that boy who was just trying to get a certain girl's attention-
I spoke with pure honesty and a calm tone.
Jack gritted his teeth and pointed at me. From his expression, I could see that my words had affected him.
-You're a…!-
-Everyone, get ready-
Before that could escalate further, the teacher spoke loudly, interrupting a possible fight. Too bad, against that boy I would simply humiliate him since I am an expert in anti-personnel combat.
The team assignments were over, and the students quickly began to move, following Professor Nishizono's instructions.
-Get in one by one, starting with Team 1-
-Let's go!-
Hajime shouted bravely and took the lead.
-Miss Shiva, I heard you're one of the best supporters among the first years-
Jack began to slyly flatter her while trying to distract himself from my words, but I could see his eyebrows moving in anger, still remembering the comment.
-Haha, really? I've heard a lot about you, Jack. I think the instructors balanced the teams poorly-
-No, that's how teams are when there's an exceptional person... I'm sure you know the rest. It's easy to see that Miss Shiva has some baggage to carry-
Shiva and Jack were chatting. I have to admit, Jack does a good job as a bootlicker, keeping Shiva happy. He's very good at using his tongue, something unbecoming of someone who's supposedly my age.
-Team 10, train-
The instructor signaled our team's turn. After getting ready, we entered the cave.