Three months had passed since the meeting between Van and Headmistress Valentina.
During these three months, Van and Arthur lived their normal lives as Academy students — waking up early, exercising, attending classes, going home, training, and resting.
The conflict between them and the [Academy Committee] had also slightly eased, but it was clear that the [Academy Committee] was still wary of the two. Over these months, Van and Arthur very rarely encountered members of the [Academy Committee], as if the committee was intentionally avoiding them.
However, Van was certain that the [Academy Committee] was still secretly watching over them.
Van and Arthur's notoriety had also continued to grow — not in a positive way, but negatively. This was because Arthur, feeling bored, went around challenging upperclassmen to sword duels.
At first, Arthur managed to defeat seniors from the second to fifth years, but he began to show signs of difficulty when facing sixth- and seventh-year seniors.
Eventually, seniors from the second through seventh years gathered together to surround Arthur while he was walking in the garden.
At that time, Arthur was surrounded and in a disadvantageous situation, even at risk of sustaining serious injuries.
Fortunately, Van arrived and easily defeated the seniors.
In truth, Van only intended to grab Arthur and escape so the incident wouldn't escalate. However, the [System] gave him a mission to teach those seniors who had surrounded Arthur a lesson, and at the same time instill deep fear in the onlookers.
Van wanted to reject the mission, not wanting to cause trouble for himself later, but the [System] was very generous this time — offering a reward of 100 stat points and 40,000 [Mana].
In the end, Van was forced to activate [101 Shadows] and summoned [Itsumade] and [Houki].
The appearance of these two [Shadows] was witnessed by both the seniors surrounding Arthur and the students who had come to watch.
They saw a giant green bird with a serpent's body, wide wings, and a human-like face with a beak, as well as a giant boar with two tusks.
The arrival of these two monsters immediately devastated the Academy's garden. Furthermore, the monsters easily defeated the seniors.
The students who witnessed the slaughter trembled in terror — some even wet their pants and fainted.
Fortunately, the incident lasted only a few minutes. After Van left with Arthur unconscious on his shoulder, the [Academy Committee] finally appeared and helped contain the chaos.
To this day, that event was still etched deeply in the minds of every Academy student — especially the seniors who had been defeated by the two [Shadows]. They would often wake in the middle of the night from nightmares about the incident.
Since then, Van and Arthur's notoriety skyrocketed. All the students were terrified whenever they encountered the two of them — some would even immediately run away upon seeing them.
- - - - -
At this moment, Van was sitting in his room, arguing with his useless [System].
"Am I wrong? You are useless!"
[YOU DAMNED SHORTY! WHAT DO YOU MEAN CALLING ME USELESS?!]
"Isn't it true? Other [Systems] can make their users strong in just weeks or months. But what about you?"
[YOU UNGRATEFUL DWARF! WHO DO YOU THINK GAVE YOU FREE STAT POINTS AND [MANA]?!]
"You gave me so little — like a drop of water in the ocean! All the stats and [Mana] I have are from my own hard work!"
[EVEN IF IT'S LITTLE, IT WAS VERY HELPFUL TO YOU, DAMN IT!]
"Helpful how? Compared to the monsters in this world, I'm nothing but an ant! You're a dumb, slowpoke [System]!"
[WHO ARE YOU CALLING DUMB AND SLOW?!]
"Am I wrong? Your IQ is on par with that dumb kid Oliver. And besides, you showed up late, didn't you?"
[YO-YOU BASTARD! DON'T LOOK DOWN ON ME! FINE!]
[DING! MISSION DETECTED]
[ACHIEVE RANK #1 IN THE MIDTERM EXAMS]
[TIME LIMIT: 2 WEEKS]
[REWARD: 250 ATTRIBUTE POINTS]
[PENALTY: THE FALLEN WORLD]
- - - - -
[DING! MISSION DETECTED]
[DEFEAT THE [ACADEMY COMMITTEE] IN 1V1 DUELS]
[TIME LIMIT: 2 WEEKS]
[REWARD: 100,000 MANA]
[PENALTY: THE FALLEN WORLD]
- - - - -
Seeing the two missions provided by the [System], Van smiled inwardly.
'This trick always works,' Van thought happily.
Whenever he needed stat points or [Mana], he just had to provoke this [System].
"Because of these two missions, I just remembered that the [Summer Festival] is coming soon," Van muttered calmly.
On Earth, exams were held four times a year, but in this world only three times a year.
At the Academy, these exams were the [Summer Festival], [Autumn Exploration], and [Winter Night].
These exams weren't just about paper tests, but consisted of various interesting assessments.
For example, during the [Summer Festival], Academy students would compete in events where the Masters would evaluate them based on their performances in those competitions.
And as the name implies, [Summer Festival] also meant a festival — with food, drinks, games, and so on. Only during the [Summer Festival] would the usually closed-off Academy finally open its gates to visitors.
"I wonder how the evaluations will go at the [Summer Festival]," Van mused.
[YOU MUST WORK HARD, MASTER! IF YOU FAIL TO COMPLETE THE MISSION, YOU'LL BE TRAPPED IN THE VERY DANGEROUS [THE FALLEN WORLD]]
"What is [The Fallen World]?" Van asked, since this was the first time he was facing something not from his novel.
[IT'S HARD TO EXPLAIN, BUT IT'S A VERY DANGEROUS WORLD]
"Alright. By the way, show me my [Status]." Van said.
[STATUS]
[Name: Van Black]
[Level: 25]
[Race: Human]
[ATTRIBUTE: Shadow, Void]
[STRENGTH: 915]
[AGILITY: 915]
[DEFENSE: 750]
[MENTAL: 1,100]
[MANA: 150,000 / 150,000]
[STAT POINTS: 0]
[Skills:
- Villain Aura (Passive)
- 101 Shadows (Active)
- World Treasure (Active)
- Void Eye (Active)
- Super Human (Active)]
[Villain Aura: Master is a villain. Master will always come across as evil. Can trigger emotional reactions from other characters toward Master. Master's growth will always progress rapidly.]
[101 Shadows: The ability to summon 101 Shadows through the user's shadow.]
[World Treasure: The ability to acquire all treasures.]
[Void Eye: Eyes from the Aurelius bloodline. Eyes that can cause an object to lose access to [Mana]. The power can develop depending on the user.]
[Super Human: Uses mana to enhance body performance. Consumes 10 mana/sec.]
Looking at his [Status], Van nodded in slight satisfaction, especially at his stats and [Mana].
'All my daily missions paid off. After doing them for 7 years, I've accumulated nearly 2,600 stat points. (7 × 365 = 2,555),' Van thought contentedly, then glanced at his completed daily missions.
[DING! Daily Mission Completed]
[Push up (1,000 / 1,000)]
[Sit up (1,000 / 1,000)]
[Pull up (1,000 / 1,000)]
[Squat (1,000 / 1,000)]
[Plank (100 / 100)]
[Run (100 / 100)]
[Time: 6 hours]
[Reward: 1 attribute point]
[Penalty: The Fallen World]
For him, these daily missions weren't really missions anymore — they had become a mandatory routine. After all, who would refuse free attribute points that could be earned so easily?
The more Van looked at his [Status], the more satisfied he felt. In the past, he struggled to do even a few push-ups, but now he could do them all day long.
*KNOCK
*KNOCK
"Master, are you ready? We need to leave before we're late."