Avelina, wilderness, live combat training ground, beneath a towering tree, Allen looked weak and incredulous as he stared at the boy before him.
In his eyes, that black-haired, brown-eyed boy was like a demon from hell, gazing coldly down at the chaos.
The area around them had long since been devastated by magic, leaving the ground littered with bodies.
Among those lying unconscious were Isabella, the little villain Charles, a burly guy carrying a giant sword and shield, and Allen’s childhood friend… Lilian.
“You… why?”
The boy glanced at Allen with icy indifference, then slowly walked over to Lilian, grabbing her by the hair.
“Waste like you should just spend your whole life in the Ordinary Class, obediently watching the ones you care about get humiliated.”
With that, he drew a small knife and traced it twice along Lily’s face, as if preparing to finish her off.
Seeing the despair and rage welling up in Allen’s eyes, the black-haired boy sneered.
Then, spinning the dagger in his hand and gripping it in a reverse hold, he drove it into Lily with full force.
Splurt!
Blood gushed out like a waterfall, dyeing Lin Yue’s hand red and splattering across Allen’s face.
“Ah… aaah! Stop it!”
The boy looked at the agonized expression before him, and his mind flashed back to three days ago, when the trial had just begun—the Allen in front of him, just as powerless as the Allen from three days earlier, still utterly helpless.
…
“Ugh!”
Three days earlier, Lin Yue had woken up at his own campsite in the wilderness, his body aching all over from magical exhaustion.
Was I just working out…?
The past two weeks had been excruciating for Lin Yue.
Every morning, he had to drag himself to class, enduring the post-exhaustion crash after burning through his mana.
Just as he’d recovered to normal levels, he would return home not only to cook and do chores, but also to be subjected to Liya’s hellish night training, lasting until midnight.
She’d even insist on physical exercise from time to time, claiming it was to improve his physical fitness so he could better withstand the training’s intensity.
All in all, he was at least somewhat resistant now, no longer someone who’d collapse at the first sign of a tougher opponent.
His mana level should be that of a Tier 1 Intermediate Mage, though he wasn’t quite sure about his combat strength.
Airella had also come by a few times, but mostly just to chat.
She’d look longingly at Lin Yue’s cooking, unable to do more than swallow her saliva, but she’d gotten quite familiar with Liya as well.
“Time to get up.”
Allen still hadn’t awakened his Law Power.
Wanting Allen to quickly obtain the abilities he should have had, Lin Yue had already made up his mind about what to do today.
After packing up camp, Lin Yue headed toward the live combat training ground as indicated in the notice.
Along the way, he saw many students in groups of three or five—mostly nobles, sticking together and discussing how to perform well in the trial.
Lin Yue deliberately avoided the crowds until he saw the open ground encircled by magical barriers.
Under the great ancient tree, many had already gathered.
The instructor in charge of the trial was calling out names and assigning groups from a list.
“Lin Yue, Allen.”
Hearing his name, Lin Yue looked up, just in time to meet the gaze of a blond boy not far away.
The boy’s hand clutched a heavily worn wooden staff.
A faint sense of unwillingness and resignation flickered in his eyes.
This was Allen, who had started without any Law Power.
Didn’t expect to be teamed up with him.
This was a bit troublesome.
After all, in his original plan, Allen would’ve been grouped with someone else.
At least in the game, Allen showed off his Law Power, then joined the Elite Class and teamed up with Lilian.
It’s all the butterfly effect—how annoying…
Lin Yue scratched his head, then extended a hand to the real protagonist: “Let’s work well together, Allen.”
So he’s… Lin Yue?
Since entering the academy, no noble had ever treated Allen politely—let alone the infamous Lin Yue—so the black-haired boy in front of him left Allen a bit surprised.
“Mm, let’s do our best.”
This exercise was his big chance to join the Elite Class and reunite with Lilian.
For this, he’d been grinding away at magic every day these past two weeks, even letting others teach him despite humiliation—he was trying his absolute hardest.
But hard work alone couldn’t match talent in this world.
He could only draw out his own potential, bit by bit, like pulling silk from a cocoon, just to gain a foothold at the genius-filled Avelina Academy.
“How have you been these two weeks?”
Lin Yue suddenly spoke up, asking a rather strange question.
“Rather than saying I’ve been good, I’d say the pressure’s been crushing…”
Allen smiled wryly in reply to Lin Yue.
“Is that so…”
“Hang in there, Allen.”
With that, Lin Yue went to lean against the ancient tree, calmly watching the instructor call out names.
Hang in there?
Aren’t we on the same team?
Allen scratched his head, not sure what Lin Yue meant by that.
Next up should be the Elite Class groupings.
As Lin Yue listened intently, a pair of slender hands suddenly covered his eyes.
“Guess who I am?”
Lin Yue smelled a faint trace of animal scent on her hands and blurted out, “Airella, knock it off.”
Almost forgot about her.
Lin Yue turned and saw Airella, beaming brilliantly, and thought of her storyline.
As the boss of the first arc, such an important mini-event was bound to have a plot.
In the original story, Airella had revealed her beast power before the entire academy for the first time, only to be stopped by Allen.
This led to her being treated with hostility throughout the academy.
Her mentality wasn’t great to begin with—worse in some ways than someone like Liya.
Don’t be fooled by her idol-like popularity now; that’s only because everyone likes her for the moment.
If she ever found herself unaccepted by the outside world, she’d doubt herself, sliding toward ruin.
Or rather, she had never truly trusted anyone or anything from the bottom of her heart—except for the power in her own hands.
“Lin Yue, you’d better give it your all. I’m really looking forward to studying magic in the same class as you.”
“I’d rather not…”
This guy, Lin Yue…
Airella felt a twinge of dissatisfaction at his prickly attitude.
What’s his problem…?
So I misunderstood you once when we first met, made the girl you liked misunderstand you, and even freeloaded two meals.
But we see each other often enough, is he really going to ignore me completely…?
Airella counted up all the things she’d done since meeting Lin Yue, realizing she really might have overstepped—her confidence dropped the more she thought about it.
“Fine, I’m sorry…”
Airella deflated like a punctured ball and prepared to leave in dejection.
Was I too harsh?
Lin Yue looked at the crestfallen Airella and started to doubt himself.
“Well, it’s not like I actually hate you. I just wish you’d keep a bit more distance in public.”
Lin Yue explained.
In other words, he didn’t want her acting so familiar in front of others—not that he hated interacting with her.
“Ah, really? That’s a relief, hehe!”
With that, she couldn’t help but hug Lin Yue’s arm, the soft weight of her chest pressing against him.
“Just go away already…”
Lin Yue felt a splitting headache—give this girl a little warmth and she just goes wild…
While they were entangled, Isabella watched their interaction with a cold expression.
“Hmph.”
She snorted, realizing she’d worried about that Airella girl for nothing.
If she was so eager to throw herself at him, then Isabella had no reason to warn her—everyone had their own ambitions, whether to become someone’s follower or to become strong themselves.
She had no intention of commenting.
She simply looked down on those easily used as tools, those foolish sweethearts blind to the truth—especially if they set their sights on Lin Yue.
“Miss Bena, looks like we’ll be working together for the next few days.”
Charles, from who knows where, had produced a rose, holding it in his mouth and performing a noble’s bow.
He and Bena had been assigned to the same group.
“Even though we’ve had our differences, I hope we can turn enmity into friendship and win the day together…”
With that, he presented the rose to Isabella.
“…”
Isabella accepted the rose, arching an eyebrow at its vibrant color.
Charles thought he’d succeeded in winning her favor, his confidence soaring.
“If you’ve done bad things, don’t pretend to be a gentleman now—it’s disgusting…”
With a single hand, Isabella crushed the rose and tossed it into Charles’ face.
“Keep at least five meters away from me. I hate being close to men.”
With that, she left the crowd just like Lin Yue.
Tch…
Charles snorted, glancing toward Lin Yue.
Just a while ago, they were both seeking someone to rely on.
Everyone knew them as notorious noble brats—could Lin Yue really be any better than him?
As Charles puzzled over this, he saw a figure he’d been longing for day and night.
A twin-tailed girl slowly approached the playful Lin Yue and Airella.
“Lin Yue, what a coincidence… Ah, and this is…”
It was Mapel, who had worked at her shop two weeks ago.
Mapel greeted them with a shy, adorable smile.
The moment Airella saw Mapel, warning bells blared in her mind.
No way?
Another girl, and she’s so cute too?
Highly suspicious Lin Yue is a playboy!
Always chasing skirts!
But even if that were true, Airella had no right to judge Lin Yue—men were all the same, and it’s not like she liked Lin Yue anyway, so it didn’t matter.
“I’m Airella. We’re friends, hehe…”
Airella smiled, lightly patting Lin Yue’s shoulder.
“So you’re Airella from the Elite Class—I’ve heard so much about you. They say you caused quite a stir during the exam.”
Mapel smiled, carrying herself with her usual social grace.
“Oh, not at all. I think everyone else is much more amazing than me.”
Maybe it was the compliment, or maybe it was Mapel’s gentle tone, but Airella, unusually, spoke her true feelings.
Heh, more amazing than you?
Even the protagonist in the original story wasn’t as strong as you—one of the few Tier 2 Novice Mages…
Lin Yue felt at a loss.
“But, are you two really just friends?”
Mapel looked at them, unable to resist asking.
“Oh, us, before we were…”
“Mapel, how’s business at your shop? Was it affected at all?”
Lin Yue quickly changed the subject.
“Um… if you’re talking about impact, yes. But it’s mostly people coming by just to see the so-called Lin Yue Hawk. Business actually got better.”
“Oh, right, that reminds me.”
Mapel recalled one of the reasons she’d come to chat.
“Your wages from that day are here.”
Mapel took out four silver coins and placed them in Lin Yue’s hand.
“Wow… is it really that much?”
That was more than some places paid for two days’ work.
“No, no, it’s also to thank you for helping me chase that guy off that day…”
Mapel seemed a bit shy, her face taking on the look of a lovestruck girl.
Suspicious, suspicious, suspicious!
At that moment, Airella’s internal alarms were practically deafening.
There’s definitely something fishy about those two!
Airella covertly poked Lin Yue in the back with her finger, whispering, “That girl… seems to like you…”
“You’re overthinking it.”
Lin Yue could only respond with denial to Airella’s whisper.
“Hey, Lin Yue Hawk of the Ordinary Class. You’re pretty popular, huh? First chatting away with Miss Mapel, then catching up with Airella—what, are you so confident about this trial that you’re busy flirting already?”
It was Charles.