Chapter 23 – Laid back Academy life (Aria’s POV)
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Mission Completed:
Clear Criteria:
Complete any new research in the next five years.
Rewards will be based on your contribution towards society.
Minimum reward:
5 EXP
Failure Penalty:
EXP gain debuff for a year.
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Reward:
Your contribution was greater than anticipated.
The maximum amount of EXP has been granted.
Rest will be delivered in an alternate form.
+ 100 EXP
+ Skill proficiency boost (3 months)
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Oh my, that is a rather juicy reward. I didn’t expect any system, other than Letty’s, to be so generous.
I straight up jumped a level to reach level 3.
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Congratulations on reaching level 2.
Congratulations on reaching level 3.
You have received the class-specific skill – Eyes of Gregor - lvl 1
You have 2 unspent Stat Points.
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Yay! I got my first class related skill. Let’s see what it does.
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Eyes of Gregor - lvl 1
An inferior version of the eyes of Gregor, the forgotten God of creativity.
You can see the physical and magical attributes of anything that doesn’t possess life essence.
The higher the level, the more information that can be extracted.
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Well, it definitely sounds cool! Let’s see how it works.
I looked at a pen and thought about using the skill. Suddenly, I could see some text written over the pen. It said,
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Dimensions - 13.2 cm x 1.1 cm x 1.1 cm
Weight - 50 g
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Hmm, kinda underwhelming, but interesting. It shows me the maximum length in each direction and weight.
Then I looked at the mana-comm,
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Dimensions - 11.7 cm x 6.3 cm x 1.9 cm
Weight - 235 g
Mana stone detected.
Mana capacity - 492 units
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Oh, so it shows some details about the mana stone as well. I guess the capacity is the amount of mana the stone has before it dies. We couldn't read precise data before, we just sort of intuitively knew that it was going to die. This will be helpful to actually see the data.
And it’s only level 1, so maybe after improving, it could turn out to be an invaluable skill.
“So this is where our star of the show is hiding”
I turned around to be greeted by Mr. Lewis.
“Give me a break, people have been swarming me. I don’t know how to handle all of this. I need to put on this bulky mage robe to have lunch in peace at the cafeteria”
“If being the heir of House Ernius wasn’t enough, you also happen to be the genius inventor of the Mana-comm device. Can you blame them for wanting to befriend you?”
“Hah, you are making it worse, just leave me be. Do me a favor and ask some girl to move some of my clothes in the office, I don’t want to go out. You already agreed on letting us use this as our lab, so I’m going to use that corner as my temporary room from here on out”. I pointed to an empty corner with a couch.
“While I don’t have any problem with that, here’s a simpler solution. Why don’t you just cover your hair, maybe dye it or something, then move to a normal room, meant for B or C grade talents? Sure, you’d have to share a room with someone, but isn’t that better than this couch?”
Yes, that makes sense. I could easily disguise myself if I would only put aside my pride in being an A-grade and apply for a regular room.
Those rooms were much smaller and looked like a typical dorm room.
The onlookers would think of me as a newcomer, and all I’d need to do is convince my roommate to keep it a secret.
No one would believe that I would give up my extravagant room for a normal room.
“Yes! That solves it. Thank you, Mr. Lewis. I already have a candidate in mind. I’ll ask her right now”, I genuinely thanked him.
“Oh, it’s fine. And how many times have I asked you to call me Uncle Lewis? Can’t you grant this old man’s only wish?”
“Sorry, but Dad specifically asked me to keep my distance from you. He says you are nosy. Now, me being a filial kid that I am, can’t disobey my father, can I? So, Mr. Lewis will do”
“Can’t defend myself against that one”
***
I asked the only person that came to mind, Sophia. She was surprised and looked anxious when I suddenly knocked on her door. Is she still shy around me?
I discussed the whole ordeal with her, and she readily agreed. I paid her roommate a couple of gold coins, and she happily vacated the room in a day. Then, I applied for the same room, and now, I can finally take a breather.
To no one’s surprise, the room was much smaller and cozier than my last one. It gave off the proper dorm vibe that I had experienced in my past life, perhaps a little too much so that I didn’t notice a certain strangeness.
The thing that pushed the line were the bunk beds, I never expected to see that design in this life. It was the exact same design that you’d see in movies. The ones with a wooden frame, with drawers on the sides, and curtains providing a little privacy.
It might just be a coincidence, but it’s a hard pill to swallow because the design style is vastly different from the current architecture in the academy. I wouldn't have thought too much of it if the surrounding furniture matched, but it looked so odd that I can't help but blame a reincarnator.
It might be possible that a reincarnator introduced this very specific design in the past. There is no way to know for sure, and I can't verify that I am the only reincarnator after all.
Considering the fact that I haven't seen a lot of Earth-like changes so far, the possibility is quite low. But you never know.
“Do you not like the bed? I know it might be difficult for you to adapt, but it will grow on you. It’s not so bad”, Sophia said, cutting off my inner thoughts.
She always does this thing where she tries to cheer me up, when I don’t need it. What a sweet kid.
“Hehe, thanks for trying to cheer me up. But it’s nothing like that. I don’t have any problem with the bed. In fact, I find it quite cozy”
I say that, but I would have to change the beddings to the high quality ones. As they are right now, I'm afraid I won't be able to sleep well on them.
“Hmm, doesn't make any sense”, she continued with some inaudible mumbling.
“Excuse me?”
“No, it’s nothing, but you are just so different from everybody else. Only the commoners find these rooms nice. All of the nobles, including me, hated it at first. During my entrance ceremony, many nobles protested, but they were silenced by the headmaster. Remember his speech about the founder and his beliefs? No one could object after hearing that the rules were established by the founder himself”
The founder in question is the infamous ruler, King Jerome I. He led the rebellion against the tyrant dictator and brought his tyranny to an end, about 120 years ago. He is unanimously accepted as the greatest king this land has ever seen and is deeply respected.
“I never attended the entrance ceremony. I remember missing the ceremony when I lost track of time because I spent the whole day in the library. I never thought much of it”, I lied, remembering the time when I got lost in some hallways and ended up at the mage training grounds, and it looked so cool that I put the entrance ceremony aside and spent the time admiring the crazy magic the students were practicing.
“Really, so how come you never questioned the rules of this academy before? The founder believed that every person is equal. He hated the current state of society, but he couldn’t change anything overnight. So he established this academy and made it so that every person learns to fend for themselves and be treated equally”, she explained with a sour face.
Well, that certainly sounds like the ideals of a person from Earth.
“Between you and me, everyone knows that the rules don’t make much sense. Because the nobles tend to receive higher grades of Talent than the commoners, except for a few lucky ones. But no one dares object to the founder’s words, as they will be deemed as a heretic”, she continued.
That makes sense as well. Maybe I didn’t feel anything was wrong because I share the same views of equality as the founder.
He could be a reincarnator.
Maybe this was his way of bringing the noble children down to earth by making them share the same space as the commoners.
After all, titles can be given and taken away. But a talented individual is sure to succeed, no matter his birthrights.
Plus, with the quality of education provided here, no one has a choice but to attend this school.
Not bad, King Jerome.
Maybe the bunk beds were designed by him, not that I can ask anyone.
Or maybe, it was just a coincidence, and I'm being paranoid.
Subconsciously, my mind might be looking for someone in a similar situation as me. Maybe some part of my brain wants someone out there to be in the same boat as me.
What's wrong with me? I've been here before.
Stop thinking! I died, and now this is my life. I'm Aria, Raechel is dead. She's just a memory now.
And I accepted this reality long ago.
***
I unwillingly dyed my hair brown, and changed my hairstyle. I loved my blonde hair, but I didn’t have any other choice.
As a result, I was successful in maintaining my disguise. Only a few people were still able to recognize me. Beatrice, being one of them, luckily didn’t spill my beans.
Much to my surprise, she kept it a secret. I really don’t understand what is it that she wants? She never outright opposed me, she never tried to harm me, I gave some fake information via the mole. Which could have been advantageous, if she wanted to harm me or blackmail me.
In fact, I received some anonymous gifts at my doorsteps. And it’s not very hard to guess who the sender was.
But at the end, she is supposed to be the villainess in the novel. Maybe she wants to build my trust by acting nice. It’s better if we don’t interact, maybe I’ll help the protagonist if she decides to do something evil, but I won’t intervene too much.
After all, I’ve literally brought a telephone to a fantasy world. It’s got to produce some huge consequences.
The story starts on the day of Beatrice’s graduation, so I still have a year or two. If any problem arises, I’ll work something out.
Letty has been getting along great with Mom lately, a little too much it seems.
Whenever I talk to Mom over a call, she always praises Letty. Even my shy Letty has been praising the greatness of my mother over our calls every night.
It’s good that she is getting along well with everyone, but I’m feeling guilty for having these jealous thoughts about my own mother.
I know that I asked her to take care of her, but why does she have to brag so much about my Letty? What does she mean when she says she always wanted a daughter like her? I won’t let you have Letty.
Unfortunately for her, I'm the only one she got. How dare she say that she wanted another daughter when I'm clearly the best daughter ever.
Once I get back, I’ll spoil Letty so much that she’ll forget about you, Mom. Just you wait.
Sophia heard my calls with Letty every night. There isn’t much of a choice since we live in the same small room.
She often asked me about Letty, and I happily described my precious friend. I asked her if she wanted to talk to her, but she refused.
She’s still shy, I guess.
***
I plan to take it easy for the next few years until graduation. I could just work hard to bring all sorts of technology to this world. But I’d rather focus on Mana-comm and its distribution all over the world. Some people are trying to recreate the device based on the finished model. But it’s not possible because only the magic circuits are visible, and the rest of the enchantment can’t be traced so easily.
I plan to make enough money to clear my debts with the kingdom and my dad. Then, I’ll publicize the method of production and watch other great minds expand upon the ideas and implement the same network all over the world.
For academy, I plan to help out the professor with some interesting research, increase my skill proficiency, and enjoy the rest of the time in peace.
I’ll also keep an eye out for quests, they should come up at the appropriate time. After the monstrous reward from the last quest, the system’s not gonna give me an easy score again.
Another thing to note is that any possible reincarnator will probably know that I’m a reincarnator, upon the widespread use of mana-comm. So, I’ve definitely blown off my cover with this stunt.
But more than likely, the reincarnator won’t try to harm me. They won't be hostile to their fellow Earthling if they're from Earth, right?
If anything, they’d try to befriend me.