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4.28% The Author's POV / Chapter 35: Elective [1]

Chapter 35: Elective [1]

It's been about two weeks since I had officially entered the academy, and I couldn't say I was particularly excited about classes.

Not only was it hard for me to train, due to the constant stares, but for the theoretical courses, I really couldn't understand a thing.

Although they were interesting, because of how advanced all the material was, I didn't even know how to solve the easiest questions.

What was the point of them being interesting when you knew nothing about them?

I didn't even have the basic foundational knowledge.

It was like presenting an integral calculation to a kid who had just learned how to perform additions.

It was totally ridiculous!

I just realized, at this rate, I might actually not make it past my first year!

Although the lock mainly focused on nurturing heroes. In order to pass the first year, you still needed to pass all your courses.

If I couldn't pass a course, my chances of graduating, let alone pass the first year were extremely slim.

This was a huge problem!

That was because the second year was the main year of the academy arc!

It was the year where, after the protagonists who have all settled down and adapted to school life, suddenly came face to face against villains!

It was the most impactful part of the academy arc which helped the protagonist and his friends grow in both strength and character.

Missing such an event would be detrimental to my growth, as not only did I lose access to the top-end facilities provided by the academy, but I would also lose my chance to gain experience fighting against villains.

"Alright guys that marks the end of the lesson, I hope you enjoy yourselves at the elective fair"

disrupting my thoughts was Donna's enchanting voice.

'So today is the day, huh...'

Today was the day the elective fair was held.

The elective fair was an academy-wide event where the third and second years tried to recruit new members to their elective.

Once an elective was chosen, you couldn't change it until the start of the new year.

There was a wide selection of electives available for each student to choose from.

There was a 'Specialised combat' course, a 'programming' course, a 'dungeon exploration' course, and many more activities to choose from.

This was also the time when first years would come to contact with the senior years.

Because the first, second, and third years were separated they didn't have many chances to interact with one other.

Electives were a great chance for the seniors to interact with their juniors.

Moreover, the more first years they manage to recruit to their elective course, the more budget they were granted by the academy.

So every year, the first years found themselves getting assaulted by all types of seniors looking to recruit new members.

Furthermore, there was another thing one needed to be careful of when taking into consideration what elective to join.

That was...they had to watch out for the 'hidden politics' in certain electives.

Factions existed inside of the academy.

A good example was the 'Blood supremacist' faction that Gilbert used to be a part of back when he was still a student.

Many electives were secretly a recruitment process for certain individuals to their factions.

Therefore, one should be careful when choosing an elective as choosing one faction means being an enemy to all other factions.

Fortunately for me, I was keeping a low profile.

Since I was fairly unnoticeable, I was almost certain that I wouldn't be dragged into this senseless conflict.

However, although I may not encounter any problems during the elective fair, that didn't mean others would have it as easy as me.

Take Kevin as an example.

Because he stood out too much, he would not only have to face the endless number of people requesting for him to join their elective, but he would also have to fend off against factions who were eager to have a talented person like him in their group.

I could already imagine how miserable his life would be for the next few days.

Actually, I didn't need to imagine, I already knew.

Moreover, since I already knew what would happen in the next few days, I also knew that this was the period where one of the main scenarios for the first-year academy arc began.

Seniors vs. Juniors.

The first major event that Kevin encounters since joining the lock.

An event which even if I didn't want to participate will be forced to join.

'Ah...why did I even...'

Just imagining myself encountering more arrogant characters was upsetting my stomach.

At least I still had Donna with me...

Watching her leave, I couldn't help but admire her beauty which was more mature compared to the main heroines who were still young.

"..."

As I was busy admiring her, she turned her head around and met my line of sight.

I couldn't remember much after that, as I felt my body suddenly become lethargic.

I couldn't even lift my finger.

-Bang!

It was only after I heard the sound of the door closing that I managed to recover from the abnormal state.

Breaking into a cold sweat, I tried my best to regain my composure but...

"Look at this donkey getting caught looking at professor Longbern"

"hahaha, how pathetic"

"I know she's beautiful but how is a bottom ranker like you worthy of her?"

Three individuals surrounded the area where I was sitting, causing me to frown.

"What's going on?"

Why were they suddenly picking on me?

Usually, they would just say some sarcastic remarks and leave, but now it felt like they were coming at me more aggressively than ever before. It was like they were purposely targeting me.

ah...

Right.

How could I forget?

Slightly turning my head to the left side of the classroom, I could see Arnold sitting with his arms crossed looking at the front of the classroom indifferently.

"What's going on? Cat got your tongue?"

Pushing my left shoulder, a rather lanky individual that seemed to be the leader of the group asked

"Why are you looking at professor Longbern with such disgusting eyes?"

I know the best way to deal with these kinds of people.

"..."

"Hey, you deaf or something? say something"

Since you couldn't fight in schools, I could just ignore him and get along with my day.

If you're caught fighting in school, depending on how serious the violation was, you could potentially be expelled from the academy.

Moreover, since my ranking was so low, I doubt they would bother keeping a troublemaking student like me.

"Oy! I'm talking to you moron!"

"..."

"Bro I don't think he's ignoring you, I think he's just too terrified to even speak"

"Yeah, what a moron"

"..."

Think whatever you want, just don't bother me!

Grumbling to myself, I stood up and packed my stuff up.

"You leaving?"

"..."

Putting my bag on my back, I stepped to the side and tried to walk away, but...

"Not so fast, who told you I'll let your run like that"

Looking at him with cold eyes, I coldly spoke

"Move"

Ubeknowst to me, after nearly dying inside of the dungeon, my demeanor had become slightly colder.

Slightly surprised by my response, the leader of the group laughed "Hehehe, who do you think you are to make me move?"

Sigh

Letting out a sigh, I tried to push my way through the trio but it was to no avail.

"You think you can pass without my permission?"

Seeing that the situation was becoming unfavorable for me, I dropped my bag back on my desk and sat down.

I really wished fighting was allowed, but since I couldn't afford to be expelled, I could only silently endure their harassment.

Taking out my phone, I loaded a game and started playing it.

Seeing me sit down, the trio initially smirked with a sense of superiority, but as soon as I started playing my game their smiles faded away, and their complexion turned grim.

"Y-ou"

Trembling, the leader pointed his finger at me, trying his best to suppress his rage.

Looking up at him, I tilted my head and asked

"Need something from me?"

"HOW DARE YOU MAKE FUN OF ME???"

Seemingly having lost all sense of reason, the leader of the group tried to assault me, but just as he was about to hit me, his two friends held him back.

"Stop Richard! you might get expelled for this!"

"Don't do this Richard!"

So his name was Richard...

Mhhh...

Never heard of him.

After being restrained by his friends, Richard managed to calm down before staring at me with hatred.

"You will pay for making fun of me!"

"Hold on a second"

Pinching the middle of my brows, I let out another exhausted sigh.

"Let me get this straight. You're mad at me because I ignored you?"

Taken aback for a second, Richard processed what I said before looking down at me with disgust

"You lowly ranker, you think you're worthy of my anger?"

"No, you clearly were angry. Even a stupid person could realize that"

"I'll kill you!"

"No Richard stop!"

"Ghhhhu, stop Richard"

Dumbfounded, I stared at Richard being restrained again.

Was this some sort of comedy skit?

Were all minor characters supposed to be dumb or something?

"Huff...Huff...I'll remember this!"

Glaring at me, Richard, who was seemingly out of breath, threatened me with a third-rate villain quote.

"Please don't"

"I'll kill you!"

"Richard don't!"

"Richard! please stop, I can't take it anymore!"

pffff

"Hahahahahah"

Before I knew it, I found myself laughing hysterically at their antics.

I was laughing so hard, that tears started gathering in the corner of my eyes.

I haven't laughed this hard since coming to this world.

It was somehow refreshing.

Suddenly being thrown into my own novel, although I tried my best not to show it, I had built up a lot of stress.

From the very beginning since arriving here, I had been constantly working towards my goal.

From getting the [Seed of limit], [Keiki style], entering the black market, and almost losing my life against a Baron ranked demon.

I had been constantly risking my life.

My sudden burst of laughter was not just laughter that stemmed from Richard's group stupidity, but it was also a laugh that swept some of my worries away.

Although my journey towards the top was going to become tougher from now on, I should enjoy every free moment that I could get.

Although this world was tough, it was still much better than my old world where I was silently waiting for death to come with every passing day.

There were times when one just needed to let go of their worries and just relax.

Looking at Richard who was being restrained by his two friends, the corners of my mouth involuntarily pulled upwards.

Seeing me laugh, as if a switch had been flipped, all three of them stopped at the same time.

"Is he laughing at us?"

"Is this lowly ranker looking down on us?"

"Is he treating us like some sort of clowns?"

"..."

Somehow I feel like I did something I shouldn't have.

It seems like my laughter had wounded their pride.

Feeling their intense glare, I pretty much knew that they were going to assault me.

It was fine before because Richard was being restrained, but now that all three of them wished to beat me up, a fight was inevitable.

"You think this is funny?"

"Do we look like a joke to you?"

Approaching me with intense hatred in their eyes, I could see from their eyes that they no longer cared about the repercussions.

All that was reflected in their eyes, was me.

But just as they were about to attack me, a stern voice interrupted them.

"Let's leave it at that shall we?"

Stopping right before me, the trio halted their movement and turned towards the voice that told them to stop.

"Who are you to medd-- ah, K-kevin"

Turning around and figuring out whose voice it was, the trio froze on the spot.

Being in a society where rank meant everything, they were overcome with fear and couldn't stop trembling as soon as they saw who was speaking to them.

Kevin Voss, the first-year number one ranked student.

"W-ee we-re must lettin-t him know h-is place"

As his voice trembled, Richard spoke to Kevin.

"And what did he do exactly?"

"Ehm..ehm.."

Overwhelmed by Kevin's charisma, Richard started fumbling on his words.

Placing his hand on Richard's shoulder, Kevin patted him a couple of times.

"Let's leave it here okay?"

Repeatedly nodding his head, Richard and his group immediately fled the scene.

Seeing this happening before me, I couldn't help but slightly admire Kevin who with just a few words made the trio run.

I have to say, there were definitely perks in standing out.

Like being able to swiftly deal with low-level characters with just a few words.

But in hindsight, facing low-level charters was much better than dealing with annoying high-level ones.

So I was still going to try my best to remain as hidden as possible.

"Thank you for your help"

Standing up, I put my bag on my back and expressed my gratitude to Kevin who simply nodded his head in acknowledgment.

Finally free, I quickly left the classroom and headed towards my dorm.


Chapter 36: Elective [2]

"Thank you for your help"

After expressing his gratitude, Ren directly left the classroom.

Staring at the departing figure of the student who he had just helped for a brief moment, Kevin turned around and returned to his seat.

Taking out his bag, Kevin packed up his stuff.

Just as he was about to finish packing up, a handsome individual whose looks rivaled that of a top celebrity calmly looked down on him.

"What did you do that for?"

"What do you mean?"

Tilting his head, Kevin questioningly looked at Jin.

"Why are you helping a pathetic loser like him?"

Frowning at Jin's choice of words, Kevin secretly shook his head and responded.

"Picking on someone weaker than you is more pathetic in my opinion"

"Hmph, you should already how the world works by now."

Snorting at Kevin's comment in disdain, Jin turned around and went towards Arnold who was sitting two rows ahead of Kevin.

"Don't waste your time on helping losers like him. It's beneath you"

"Just ignore him"

Just as Kevin was about to rebuke him, a beautiful voice entered his ears, prompting him to turn his head around.

With her short brown hair accompanied by her porcelain white skin, Emma stood there looking up at Kevin who was half a head taller than her.

"He's an idiot so ignore him"

"But..."

"Just leave it at that, he's just gonna ignore whatever you say anyway so there's no point in arguing with him..."

Turning around, Emma left towards the exit of the classroom.

"You coming?"

"Ah...yes"

Sighing, Kevin took his bag and followed Emma out of the classroom.

Since he was still not used to this place, Kevin had asked Emma to guide him during the elective fair.

Catching up to her, Kevin walked side by side with Emma.

Normally, a person would've been extremely happy to walk next to such a beautiful girl, but it was extremely uncomfortable to Kevin, who was not used to this much attention.

Since his parent's death, Kevin preferred staying out of people's sight, hence why he was not used to the stares.

But unbeknownst to him, they weren't just looking at Emma, but at him too.

His looks, which rivaled Jin's, perfectly matched Emma's breathtaking beauty making everyone who saw them walking together sigh in admiration.

"You'll get used to it"

"Huh?—excuse me?"

"I mean you'll get used to stares soon enough"

"Oh? ok...but why do I need to get used to the stares? Aren't they just staring at you?"

Shaking her head as if she was looking at an idiot, Emma picked up her pace.

"Sigh, whatever...do you have an elective you want to join in mind?"

"Not really, I was thinking of joining some sort of combat-related elective since from what I've seen there isn't anything in particular that attracts my attention"

Cocking her head to the side to better hear what Kevin was saying, Emma's auburn hair which was moderately short, lightly rested on top of her shoulders, muting the azure blue uniform.

Hearing Kevin's response, Emma couldn't help but roll her eyes as she pinched the middle of her brows.

"Is all you do training?"

"Not really, I just thought that any other elective would've been a waste of time"

"Well...I don't think it's my place to say what you should choose and what you shouldn't, but I do urge you to think about it more thoroughly."

"Will do."

Stopping, Emma's eyes narrowed. Turning around she looked back at Kevin with a serious expression and spoke

"No, I don't think you do..."

Noticing Emma's behavior and expression, Kevin's back unconsciously straightened as he listened attentively.

"Electives have a much deeper meaning than you think, especially for someone as talented as you"

"If you just randomly choose an elective and it happens to be under a faction, even if you don't plan on entering the faction, they will still consider you as a part of them. Especially since it's you...moreover, once you join a faction, you will officially be an enemy of all other factions that are against the faction which you are a part of"

"Keep in mind that once you entered a faction, even if you didn't mean to, if you wish to exit, you must prepare yourself to make an enemy of that faction"

Hearing's Emma explanation, Kevin became dumbfounded as cold sweat dripped from his back

"All of this just for joining an elective?"

Poking Kevin's chest with her finger, Emma looked at Kevin seriously.

"Yes, so don't just carelessly join an elective"

Repeatedly nodding his head, Kevin promised Emma to be careful when selecting an elective.

Seeing her turn around, although Kevin didn't show it, he was extremely thankful to Emma who chose to help him out of her own volition.

Kevin already knew that Emma had already chosen her elective, and was just doing him a favor.

Although they had only known each other for about three weeks, Kevin already considered Emma a good friend.

They first met when entering their boarding apartments.

It was also at the same time he met, Jin, Amanda, and Melissa.

Since they were in the same building, they had no choice but to interact with each other, and from there they had gotten along with each other well.

Well, there were a couple of ups and downs in the beginning as Jin displayed obvious hostility against Kevin.

Looking back at the previous events, Kevin had a hunch it had something to do with Melissa, as Jin's hostility would shoot up a notch whenever he interacted with her, but he didn't want to pry too deeply.

Thus as such, because of Jin, the atmosphere in the dorm was quite tense. But fortunately thanks to Emma who got along with everyone, the awkward atmosphere dissipated and everyone managed to get along with each other.

It could be said that Emma was the key that linked everyone in the dorm.

If it weren't for her, who knows if Kevin would've even bothered talking to Jin.

"Hey, Hey, you listening?"

Snapping him out of his thoughts was the figure of Emma who had stopped walking and was looking at him with an annoyed pout.

'Cute'

Kevin thought as he resisted the urge to smile at her expression.

"I feel like you're thinking of something that would make me extremely annoyed.."

"!"

Opening his eyes wide, Kevin turned his head to the side and pretended to have not heard anything.

"Ah! So you were!"

"Don't know what you're talking about"

Kevin's outward expression was calm and expressionless, but on the inside, Kevin felt a storm of thoughts and emotions

'How in the world is she able to read my mind? Is this what they call a women's intuition? Terrifying...'

Narrowing her eyes and scrutinizing Kevin who tried his best to maintain his poker face, Emma shook her head and opened a huge door that led to the outside.

"I'll let this one go...now follow me"

Led by Emma, Kevin exited the building and strolled around the academy campus.

"Wow, this is a lot busier than I expected"

An ocean of students was swarming the campus as they each made their way towards the elective fair.

Some were leisurely strolling around the campus with their friends, some were sitting in the patches of green around the campus, and others were frantically rushing towards the stalls in the elective fair.

If it weren't for the fact that for some odd reason some of the students were going out of their way to step away from their path, reaching the location where the elective fair was being held was not going to be as unobstructed as it was now.

"Where exactly are we going?"

"Section B"

Pausing slightly, Kevin's eyes widened a little bit.

"Section B? Isn't that the professor area?"

"It's precisely because it's the professor area that the elective fair is taking place there"

Dumbfounded by her response, Kevin looked at Emma in confusion.

"How does that make sense?"

Rolling her eyes, Emma continued walking forward ignoring Kevin who was dumbly staring at her.

Finally, after seeing that Kevin still had not understood, Emma sighed and spoke

"Didn't I mention before about the deeper meaning behind electives?"

Nodding his head, Kevin replied, "Right, but how does that relate to the fact that the fair is in section B?"

"Because professors are also part of a faction..."

Halting his steps, Kevin took a moment to process what Emma had said.

If what Emma had said was true, then choosing an elective was a far more serious matter than he had originally thought.

If even the professors were trying to influence the elective fair, then it meant that the 'hidden politics' in the academy were rooted deeper than he had previously thought.

"Although professors are technically no longer part of a faction, that still did not mean that they couldn't indirectly help the faction that they used to be a part of."

"Though they may no longer be a part of a faction, their loyalty is still there..."

"If they wanted to, they could force students to join their faction by abusing their authority and make their lives harder"

Seeing how Kevin's complexion was becoming grimmer by the second, Emma realized her mistake and tried to encourage him.

"Ah..but you don't need to worry about that."

"Although you're extremely sought after, they won't carelessly try to force you to join a faction as you are protected by the school."

"Moreover you have me, Amanda, Melissa, and that guy protecting you."

"No professor would dare to mess with you with our backing..."

Seeing how she was frantically coming up with excuses to make him feel better, Kevin felt warm in his heart.

Having spent most of his life in solitude, having friends that supported him and helped him in times of trouble was a new feeling for him.

He couldn't say he disliked it...

"Thank you..."

"For what?"

Taken aback by Kevin's strange attitude, Emma took a step back.

"You're not falling for me, right? I'm sorry but I don't plan on dating right now"

"..."

There goes all the goodwill he had for her...

"Hey what's with that disgusted face? I was just joking! but still, the fact you are looking at a beauty like me with that kind of face irritates me"

"Narcissistic aren't we?"

"No, I'm just acknowledging the truth"

Dumbfounded by her fast response, Kevin was momentarily left speechless as he did not know how to respond to her.

Ignoring Kevin who was too speechless to talk, Emma continued

"My beauty aside, you still have to be careful when interacting with the professors as although they can't touch you, they can still indirectly try to make your life harder if they hold a grudge against you"

"ghhh...why does everything have to be so annoying?"

"Actually, now that I think about it, a few professors already hold a grudge against you"

"What? how? What did I do?"

"What didn't you do? I mean you suddenly showed up out of nowhere and bulldozed your way to the first rank"

"You pretty much humiliated those that believed that bloodlines or backing was the most important factor in being the best"

"Your existence alone is an eyesore for them, of course, they built a grudge against you"

Letting out a pained groan, Kevin couldn't help but curse at his own stupidity.

The only reason why he tried his best for the test was that he had still not figured out that he was strong.

Having been living isolated from society since the death of his parents, he didn't know that with the skills that he had developed thanks to the cheat-like system, he could've been considered as one of the bests of his generation.

He had thought that since some of the rich second-generation kids had access to top-end facilities, they would've surely been stronger than him.

But he had severely underestimated how much of a cheat the system was.

Not only did it provide Kevin with the best training regime, but it also rewarded him with top-end skills, stats increase, and artifacts at the completion of each mission.

By the time that admissions for the lock were open, he had already grown to be a prodigy.

Had he known this fact, he wouldn't have tried as hard as he did during the examination.

I mean since coming to the lock, Kevin had been through many annoying situations where his rank 1 status had drawn too much unwanted attention.

If only he had known...

Seeing how distressed Kevin was, Emma who took pity on him, decided to change the topic to relieve his mind from the troublesome problems.

"The sky is nice and blue right?"

"...excuse me?"

"The clouds sure are fluffy..."

"Are you okay?"

"Never been better, how bout you?"

"What about me? I'm more worried about you who is being weird"

"Back to your normal self?"

Finally realizing Emma's intention, Kevin blushed in embarrassment as he thanked her.

"Ah...Thank you"

"No probs, just don't think about all that annoying stuff. At worst you'll just have some minor troubles, you may have not realized it yet, but that number 1 rank is as much of a burden as it is a shield"

"With it, you don't have to worry about people openly doing something to you, and in fact even if you haven't noticed it yet, you are constantly under the protection of the academy"

"The number 1 rank is not just a title, it's a representation of hope...a light that shines down this god-forsaken world, and guide us to true freedom..."

Looking at Kevin straight in his eyes, Emma lightly punched his shoulder as she flashed a stunning smile.

"So instead of worrying, be proud of what you've accomplished and destroy anything that dares obstruct your path to success"


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