[9 April 2023, 07:50 AM]

[House]

The Sacred Relic delivered their promise. The interview yesterday was already aired on TV, and all the hoaxes about me kidnapping Chloe were immediately shot down, replaced by the news about the New Mercenary Group, the Annihilator.

I was able to rest easy for now and enjoy the food that Chloe cooked for me.

“Thanks for the food. It was delicious.”

“Yes, I’m glad that you liked it.”

The weather was good today. It was a perfect day to attend the class. It was Thursday, and there was a history class today; that was why I was looking forward to it.

Hearing the history of this world that I created would be interesting. I knew some crucial points in the past, such as the first Calamity, but other than that, I knew almost nothing.

“Then, I will go to the Academy. I might be back around 6 PM after hitting the training facility. So feel free to eat lunch without me.”

“I know. I plan to have lunch in the cooking class; you don’t have to worry about me.” Chloe answered as she tidied the dishes on the table and brought them to the sink. “You better go now, or you will be late for class, Vincent. The Academy is a bit far from here.”

Was it because I was used to being alone that I found the company of another person to be comforting? Even going to the Academy didn’t seem to be troublesome when I knew that someone was waiting for me in the house.

I smiled a little while looking at Chloe, who washed the dishes and said, “Then I am off.”

“Un.”

***

[08:30 AM]

[Academy]

As soon as I arrived at the Academy, I instantly regretted what flashed in my mind earlier.

The Academy wasn’t on the level of troublesome; it was higher than that._-.

My reputation seemed to hit rock bottom after the Sparring Tournament because I attacked Zaiden to the point he had a hard time breathing. Not only that, I skipped two days after that. The students even gossiped when they saw me entering the school gate.

“Hey, he still has the nerve to show himself?” Whispered one of the male students to his friend.

“I don’t know, man. Not only did he fight brutally in the spar, he almost killed Zaiden on top of that.” Answered his friend.

“That’s right. If it’s me, then I will not show myself in front of others again.”

Two girls also gossiped on the side. They glanced at me a little before turning their heads away and whispering to each other.

“The delinquent is here!”

“Right! Don’t you think that he’s so cool? He’s even stronger than that, Zaiden!”

“I agree! When I looked at him earlier, I wanted to be pinned under those sharp eyes of his! He’s really different from the kind of Zaiden, like… He’s like a wild man!”

“I know it! I thought so.”

When I heard them, I stopped in my tracks and looked at them in disbelief. Our eyes met each other before they both turned away and shrieked.

“Kyaa! He’s looking at us!”

“I-I can’t! I almost fainted!”

I see. Now I understand. While my reputation hit rock bottom among the boys, the girls’ opinions of me changed after they saw my strength.

In a similar fashion to Earth, where girls loved someone rich, the girls in this world loved a boy who had strength. Coupled with my handsome look, the girls became fans immediately, while the boys were jealous of me.

‘That’s so easy to understand.’

Maybe the Academy wouldn’t be so bad if the students acted like that from now on. At least I would be able to keep attending for two more months.

I smiled a little and was about to walk again, but someone’s shout stopped me.

“Ah! There he is!”

I looked over my shoulder and saw Mirana and the other girls walking in the direction of the boy’s dorm with Zaiden. It was their usual group of six.

“Vincent!” Shouted Zaiden as he waved his hand.

“Yo!” I raised my right hand and greeted them back.

They approached me and began to ask questions.

“Where have you been for the last two days, Vincent? I asked the dorm manager, and he said that you didn’t even enter the dorm after the Sparring Tournament.” Asked Zaiden worriedly.

“Are you okay? You are not being bullied after hitting Zaiden, aren’t you?” Asked Lily with a playful smile.

“I heard from Master that you got caught up in trouble. If you need help, you can always ask me, Vincent.” Said Ao.

“A-Are you okay?” Shina asked as she looked at me worriedly.

Lisa didn’t ask anything, but she also looked worried as her hand moved restlessly.

“I am fine. I was preparing to move out of the dorm; that’s why I was absent for two days. Also, I am not in trouble at all.”

“You moved out?” Lisa exclaimed, surprised.

“Yes, I have got enough money to buy my own house, so I moved out to live with someone.”

Technically, I was not lying. Only… Ao would be troublesome. She had visited my house before, and now she looked at me suspiciously.

“I thought you had no money to even attend a decent training facility? Or did I hear it wrong at that time?” Asked Ao as she crossed her arms. The thing that she hated the most was a liar.

However, I shouldn’t hide the fact that I moved out of the dorm. They had found that I was not in the dorm the last two days, and I probably wouldn’t even stay in the dorm again starting today after I took the laptop and my clothes.

So it was important to tell them that I had moved to a new house.

“My friend… She’s a bit rich, so she lent me some money to buy a house. It’s just a small house on the outskirts of Los Angeles.”

The only thing I needed to do was to keep them from discovering my real house, and it would be easy.

“I see.” Muttered Ao.

The atmosphere became a bit awkward. It was because I didn’t tell them that I had bought a new house beforehand. But, as usual, Zaiden could handle such an awkward atmosphere as if he was born to deal with it.

“That’s great, isn’t it? Congratulations, Vincent.”

“Thanks, anyway, shouldn’t we go to class now? It will be bad if we are late.” I pointed at the main building with my thumb.

“You’re right. Let’s just go to class! We can talk about his new house later at the cafeteria. I will be chewed by my teacher if I am late again!” Mirana agreed to my suggestion as she began to run toward the main building.

“Well, it can’t be helped. I will ask you for the details later, Vincent. Also, visit Master later; he has something to say to you.” She then turned to Shina. “Let’s go, Shina.” Said Ao before she walked away with Shina.

Shina bowed her head to us before she walked away, following Ao, leaving the four of us standing in the middle of the road.

Smith had something to say to me? I should pay him a visit then. If he even asked Ao to convey it to me, then it was probably something important.

I could also ask why he said to Ao that I was in trouble. I never remember myself being involved in any trouble. Or did he know about the visit from Memento Mori’s member, Chun Dong?

Well, I will know when I visit him later.

I then turned to the three of them, more specifically Lily, who was swaying around beside Zaiden with a smile. She was still too mysterious for me; I couldn’t really comprehend her actions at all.

At times, she was wary of me. And at other times, she acted like a normal girl. I needed to investigate her as soon as possible. To do that, I needed a lot of money.

She noticed that I was staring at her and asked. “Is there something on my face? You are staring at me quite passionately.”

“Nothing. I was just wondering why you didn’t go to the class with Ao or Mirana. You are in a different class from us.” I pointed at Zaiden and Lisa, who were my classmates.

“Ah! You didn’t know Lily’s class, huh?” Asked Zaiden.

“Come to think of it, I never told him.” Said Lily as she giggled, as if amused that I didn’t know her class. “My class is located right beside yours, so we are headed in the same direction.”

“I see. Then let’s go.” I walked away without waiting for them.

The three of them followed shortly, and we then walked together side by side. The three of them were talking as I only listened to them while occasionally answering the questions thrown at me.

There was one thing that I noticed when I was with Zaiden. The stares from the other students were not as annoying as before.

‘What a good shield you are.’

While thinking that, I was able to reach the classroom safely.

***

[9:30 AM]

[Classroom]

The class started a bit late because the teachers apparently had a morning meeting today. But now the class was starting with the teacher explaining the history of this world energetically.

“As you’ve known, 78 years ago, in 1945, the dungeons started to appear in the world, stopping the World War Two that was still ongoing at that time.”

The students were seriously listening to the lecture, including me. I was not doing Mana Breathing this time to hear the lectures. This invited some curious glances that I occasionally felt from the other students. Even Zaiden seemed surprised that I was not sleeping, but I couldn’t care less as I was interested in the teacher’s explanation.

The teacher who gave the lecture right now was someone from India named Ali, invited directly by Jack to teach history. He was an expert in history, and his explanation was easy to understand. He appeared happy when all the students, including me, listened to his explanation.

“The incident was called the Outbreak and was soon followed by another important historical point a month later. That important historical point was the appearance of the Awakeners. They are humans who have Awokened Mana and Talents. Awakeners could do something that was not humanly possible, and they helped the military to clear the dungeons one by one.”

I already knew about that. I wrote that when Zaiden first entered the dungeon in my novel.

“Not long after that, around three years after the first Outbreak, the situation had calmed down considerably. The Awakeners and the military managed to clear most of the dungeons and push the monsters to the desert. Until now, the deserts around the world, such as in the Middle-East and the African continent, were still filled with monsters and became danger zones.”

The monsters could live as long as there was Mana and food. They didn’t need water, and the Awakeners’ last resort, since they were not strong enough at that time, was to push the monster to uninhabitable zones. The desert became the best choice because almost no humans lived in the desert area.

‘Because of that, the monsters that were in Africa and the Middle East now became too strong and too many for humans to reclaim the land. Hence, it turned into a barren land filled with strong monsters.’

“The second Outbreak happened not long after the situation calmed down. In 1950, the biggest and deepest dungeon appeared in Africa, which became the home of monsters. Does anyone know the name of that deepest dungeon and the boss that appeared in the deepest part of that dungeon?”

Ali asked the students as he looked around to see if there were any students who raised their hands. As expected from someone who loved books, Lisa was the only student who raised their hand.

“Yes, Lisa. You may answer.”

“The dungeon is called the Abyss, and the boss is the Demon King, a special monster that someone with a Hero Trait can only defeat.”

“That’s correct.” Ali nodded his head, satisfied with the answer. “Let’s continue.”

He began to explain what happened next, about how the first Hero killed the Demon King with his companion. Then he suddenly jumped to the third Outbreak, the reappearance of the Abyss and the Demon King.

The second Hero managed to slay the revived Demon King while sacrificing himself in the process. I never described how the second Hero died. Heck, I never mentioned him at all in the novel, so I was curious about him.

The lectures continued until how the Awakeners started to create guilds. Countries also made their own Awakeners organization.

Most countries used the name Awakener Association because it was simple, but some countries used different names. For example, Awakened Knight in the UK; Murim Alliance in Korea; Cultivator Clan in China.

I found out a lot from this lecture. However, some parts of the history were still missing, including why the second Hero sacrificed himself and how the news about his sacrifice reached the surface. It seems I needed to investigate them myself.

Without me realizing it, the class had gone by more than an hour, and it had almost ended.

“Before the class ends, is there any question?” Ali observed the students, but none of them raised their hands. “Good. I see that there is no question for today’s lecture as it is a common history that everyone knows.” He was satisfied that no one asked a question about his lecture.

“I guess we can end the class now. Have a nice day, and don’t forget to review what you learned today.”

He tidied the books that he brought to the class before walking out. The next class was math; I hated it. Math sucks.

‘I guess I will do Mana Breathing again today.’

I put my head on the table and did Mana Breathing. With my sharp hearing, I could hear Lisa muttering from her seat.

“Huh? I guess he will sleep again.”