The Protagonist Already Knows

As I thought back on my fight with Grey, it was quite odd to realize...I actually am quite strong.

Of course, I was nowhere close to the main cast, who were not only at the brink of D- but also at the third stage of mana manipulation, being able to use mana-sight and mana spheres.

But...I kind of deserved my rank #99 now, didn’t I?

Once I broke through to E-, I’d be on par with most of my classmates stat-wise as well.

Finishing up the last of my food, I nodded at Grey and put away my tray.

The last few days had been a nice break, but unfortunately, it was back to training and studying.

Thus, I headed to the library, feeling the weight of all the various homework assignments and classwork Professor Sooyung had given me in my backpack.

...

...

...

As the sky slowly turned pitch-black, I yawned and finished my last assignment of the day, feeling the boredom start to kick in as I lost my focus with each passing minute.

There was still quite a bit to go, in between textbook readings and assignments, but I should finish by tomorrow.

Surprisingly, the workload wasn’t even that big. After all, in this world, teachers wanted students not only to focus on acquiring knowledge but also on physical training with their weapons.

Stretching my arms, I packed up and left before heading to the dining hall for some dinner.

However, as I opened the door, a familiar figure with golden pupils appeared in front of me.

"You’re gonna try out for first-year representative on Friday, right, Leon?"

"Do you think they might even let you compete in all the games?"

As Leon nodded his head, I moved to the side and watched them pass.

With Ren a valued member of the recent #2 guild, The Quorum, and Leon the sole heir to the #1 guild, Aureate, this first-year tournament was more than a simple political fight between academies.

It was a fight between the top-ranked guilds to see who had more influence in the future hero prospects of the world.

Thus, as Leon paused and gazed at me, I couldn’t help but complain in my head.

Everyone associated with Ren was most likely an enemy to Leon now.

"Showing up after skipping class for a week? Just drop out, dumbass."

His cocky tone echoed as his golden eyes looked down at me with disgust.

"*PFFT*"

As Leon muttered those words at me, his followers’ snickers sounding immediately after, I just passively glanced at his back as he walked away.

Perhaps during the past Exam, Leon and Ren had cooperated because they were in the same advisory, but now they were enemies.

The school’s two factions were officially forming.

...

...

...

"Spar with me. If you lose, drop out."

Thus, I wasn’t very surprised when I heard those words during our advisory practice time on Wednesday in the training hall.

He had been relatively tame and quiet until now, but with exchange students arriving soon and the inter-academy tournament, Leon had to expand his influence.

And this was his first move to weaken Ren and place himself in the spotlight.

In the novel, it had been Coal, whom Ren had already saved from Leon’s tactics once...but I guess I had taken his place.

During the virtual reality exam, I had spent a considerable amount of time with Ren, taking down a fortress with him and talking with him for quite a bit.

And, amongst Ren’s friends, I was undoubtedly the one with the least backing.

Additionally, everyone was already watching me due to my absence for a week straight.

Those were probably the reasons for the change.

Pointing the tip of his spear, which was at least six feet long, at me, Leon directly stood in front of the elevator, blocking me from heading to the AI dummy room.

As expected, everyone’s gazes shortly turned to us.

Noticing my silence, Leon continued.

"If you think you have the right to skip class, then you must, at the very least, be powerful enough, shouldn’t you?"

Projecting his voice so that the entire training hall, even the second and third floors, could hear, Leon continued.

"If not, then you should drop out. Millions of potential heroes struggle to get a spot in this academy. It shouldn’t be wasted on the likes of you."

"Instead of appreciating the opportunity to come here, you skipped class and lazed around, thinking you already made it."

Behind Leon, hidden in the crowd of students now watching us, I could already hear his cronies spreading rumors.

"I saw him going into a nightclub...last week instead of going to class."

"Apparently...someone saw him drunkenly stumbling into the dorms. I saw a picture...!"

"Instead of going to class, I heard he was buying girls in the nightclub and drinking all night and day."

"*TSK* Just because he already got in, he thinks he can do whatever he wants. Disgusting."

"Why haven’t the teachers punished him!?"

"We should report him! Someone like him doesn’t deserve to be here!"

The low-ranked students ate the story up, just wanting a common enemy to team up against to better their own reputations.

Whether it was envy from my rank #99 or the fact that I had placed decently well in our virtual reality exam, the crowded students immediately began looking at my back with disdain.

I just tilted my head and glanced at Leon, my motionless red pupils meeting his gold.

In moments like this, instead of taking the words around me as those from actual people, I detached myself from "Ash" and simply looked at them from the point of view of a reader.

Just plot devices and bunches of typed lines.

Thus, it was hard to take anything seriously.

These weren’t real people like me.

Just bunches of lines written by a random author.

Of course, this was now a real world I lived in, but it didn’t change the fact that, in the end, everyone here was controlled by some lines in a book.

They didn’t necessarily have free will: everything they did, their thoughts, and emotions were created and influenced by someone else.