I know what I said about not fearing the protagonist despite being a minor villain but today, when I was going to possibly meet him, I couldn’t help and felt a little anxious.
Today was the first day of the academy.
A few days ago, I got an email from Global Academy asking me to submit my stats and combat experience to them.
Yes, that’s how they rank new cadets.
Needless to say, there were some fools who thought submitting wrong stats and getting high ranks would be a good idea.
But when the academy started taking tests, exams, and practical combat, they all suffered heavily due to being put at a disadvantage they themselves created.
And thanks to that, after the first six months, the rankings vastly changed.
So I diligently submitted my real stats, unlike Lucas in the novel.
Yeah, Lucas also tried to use that obviously foolish trick to get a high ranking in the novel.
Yeah, he suffered a lot too.
So at least I avoided that haha…
Now the problem with the protagonist remains. If I just try to stay away from him, I think I’ll be fine.
But I doubt it’s going to be that easy…
Not to mention Lucas already had a few interactions with some of the main cast prior to the start of the novel.𝗇𝑜𝐯𝑒𝔩𝗇𝓮xt.𝒸𝑜𝔪
And from what I saw in his memories and what was told in the novel, his ‘interactions’ with them weren’t pleasant.
Some of the main characters already despise Lucas for a few things he has done in the past.
Arghh, it’s going to be troublesome.
And I don’t know why but it feels like I had forgotten something. Something… very crucial.
Meh, if I forgot about it, then it must not have been important.
Anyway, it’s been 13 days since I suddenly woke up in this world after being shot to death by that crazy author.
And also, 13 days ago, I acquired a cheat item.
===Status===
Name→ Lucas Morningstar [Face Image]
Race→ Human
Strength→ 20
Defense→ 8
Speed→ 39
Stamina→ 32
Accuracy→ 76
Charm→ 439
Intelligence→ 187
Mana Capacity→ 500/500
Rank→ Iron 2
Potential→ Gold 3
Professions→ Spearman Lvl. 1 || Archer Lvl. 1
Techniques→ None
Affinity→ Fire » Lightning || Light
Spells→ Fireball ⟨Low⟩ || Zap Touch ⟨Low⟩
Blessing→ Mana Burst
Possessions→ Phoenix’s Embrace ⟨Semi-Divine⟩
===========
And when I acquired it, a new block showed up in my status screen, [Possessions].
When I clicked it, another screen showed up in my vision, displaying the information on the relic in my possession.
===
[Phoenix’s Embrace→ An armor that holds the blessing of the Knight Of The Starlight.
After the Knight’s death, a dwarven blacksmith extracted his blessing and used it to forge an almost indestructible armor.
This armor can reduce the attack thrown at its user to one-tenth of its original strength.
Once shed, it gives a massive boost and one extra life to its wearer. As long as the user doesn’t lose that extra life, it could be summoned again.]
===
The description matched the information I already knew from reading the novel and listening to the human-faced tree’s.
Although the Semi-Divine relics aren’t exactly cheat items, the way I acquired mine was nothing short of cheating.
When I returned to the apartment that day, I instantly hopped onto my bed. I was exhausted and I was sleepy.
So when I closed my eyes, I was a little scared that I would wake up back in the real world.
But the next day when I opened my eyes, I was still here in this world, and honestly, I felt relieved.
I know how selfish my feelings were, but I was happy that I won’t ever get to see my parents or my siblings or anyone I knew for that matter.
I was happy to escape that tedious life. And I wasn’t the least bit guilty about how I was feeling.
I mean, of course, I was a little sad to think that my sudden death would make everyone worry about me, but I also knew they would move on.
I wasn’t an important person in anyone’s life.
Even though my family loved me, there was a distance between us. The same goes for my friends.
I was not an important person to anyone. The kind of person who would make someone say, “I can’t live without you.”
I was certain that they would move on. So I did too.
Anyhow, nothing noteworthy happened during the last 13 days.
Oh, I tried to feel mana inside me and practiced some martial arts that I experienced in Lucas’ memories.
I didn’t use any spells, but moving mana throughout my body was a refreshing and quite addicting feeling.
I also used my smartphone to surf the internet and research some stuff about this world.
Although I had memories of Lucas, I still did it to confirm if the contents of the web novel matched this world.
Since I was a web novel addict in my past life and also an editor, I had read quite a few stories belonging to the ‘reincarnated inside the novel/game’ genre.
And almost all of them followed the same, repetitive route.
The main character would die and get reborn inside a novel.
But he would later discover that the world he was in differed from the novel/game he had read/played.
I didn’t want such a predicament to transpire. Thus, I thoroughly did my research.
I checked if the contents matched the novel, and thankfully they did.
A few minor details were missing or changed here and there, but the big stuff was still all the same.
In the meantime, I watched some movies, slept, ate food, slept, ate food…
Yeah, I just wasted my days, alright! Don’t judge me! I bet you all are doing the same!
Ahem, anyway, I found one interesting thing in Lucas’ wardrobe.
No, I’m not talking about his uselessly expensive clothing.
I’m talking about his expensive watch collection. This guy seriously had a watch fetish!
I mean, I can’t blame him since I liked to collect watches in my past life too. But damn! This guy had just too many luxury watches!
I surfed the price of some of the brands in his collection and found that a few of his watches cost more than this apartment!
Even after being disowned, this guy was loaded as fuck!
If I sell his clothing and watches, I wouldn’t have to worry about money for all my life! Okay, maybe I’m exaggerating but you get the point.
Another strange thing that I found about this world was a few car brands that I liked in my past life still exist here….
Which should be impossible since this world is at least seven centuries ahead in time than the Earth I am from.
I mean, the brands have different names and slightly different logos and they produce flying cars instead of regular ones, but their manufacturing designs are similar.
If that wasn’t enough, I found the music artists that I liked back in the real world kind of exist here too.
They look different and have made different songs till now, but their style is frighteningly similar?
It’s almost as if this world was built on a carbon copy of the Earth I am from…. Or vice versa…
What if… the Earth I am from was based on this world…?
Meh, maybe I’m just thinking too much.
Right?
Click–
Clicking open the door, I walked out of the bathroom while dressed in a bathrobe.
I quickly grabbed the first-year academy cadet uniform, which was delivered to me a few days ago and neatly sported it.
The uniform itself was nothing special— a pair of gray pants with a matching shirt under a jet-black blazer with red inner lining and a red tie.
After dressing up, I walked over to the mirror and admired my own beauty for a minute or two.
The uniform itself wasn’t special; what was special however was this face that I possessed.
My white hair was neatly slicked to the side and my red eyes looked like a pair of red jewels.
My perfectly small, triangular face gave me a ‘pretty boy’ appearance, and my pale snow-like skin did nothing but add more to my enchanting look.
“Ahh~ perfect! I’m so perfect~!”
In awe of my own appearance, I couldn’t help but hug myself.
How can anyone in this world be so beautiful?!
“Ahem!” But soon I cleared my throat and collected my thoughts.
“Haa, what am I doing?” I questioned myself out loud, trying not to feel embarrassed.
Looking into the mirror, I slightly brushed the pair of small circular golden earrings on my ears with my hands.
The golden earrings were much smaller in size than what I had imagined while reading their description in the webnovel.
They were circular in shape and were almost hugging my earlobes. They had spikes coming out of them which made them look as if they were a pair of sun.
Yes. I said spikes.
Yeah. Sleeping with them is a pain.
But it’s not like I could remove them while I sleep. They were infused with my ears.
I placed my hand on my chest over my clothes and felt the hard surface of the red ruby that was now fused with me too.
This armor can be summoned at will. I just need to wish for it, and it’ll form itself around my body.
What makes it special is its automatic feature.
Let’s say I was not fast enough to call it out in time then it would automatically come into existence and protect me.
Although I had yet to test it for myself, I knew exactly what it was capable of.
It can reduce the power of an attack thrown at its wearer by 90℅. That means the wearer will only get 10℅ of the actual damage from an attack.
It was a near-perfect defense. But the emphasis is on ‘near perfect.’
10% damage from high rankers of this world is enough to severely injure me, if not kill me in one go.
Only a good defense wasn’t enough. And especially since my defense was not absolute either.
“Haa, nothing I can do about it though.”
It is what it is. I was grateful that I got this armor because now I really had one less thing to worry about.
Tring, Tring–! Tring, Tring–!
What shook me out of my thoughts right then was the sound of the alarm coming from my smart bracelet.
The words [Time for the Academy] were displayed on the screen of my smart bracelet.
After looking at my reflection one last time, I picked up the apartment keys and left for the Global Academy.
I didn’t forget to take one last look at the interior of my apartment. After all, I will never be able to see this sight again.
Although I had only been here for 13 days, I felt a connection to this apartment.
“Arghh,” letting out a short sigh, I ironed my will. “Let’s go.”