"Wait, are you crying?"
Lyra seemed bewildered as she looked at Arnold's face.
"…" He quickly turned his head around so that she couldn't see his face.
'I almost forgot the feeling of being a player of the game. Now I can finally see my status.'
It was difficult having to summon his helmet every time he wanted to check his status. The Runestone now made it possible for him to check his status as if he was back in the game.
Feelings of nostalgia washed over him.
"It's nothing," Arnold put the card away into his magic bag, "I have to get going."
"Eh?"
"I'm a student so I need to attend the opening ceremony otherwise I'll lose points."
Were it the previous Arnold then he wouldn't have cared about his points. He was only required to ace his exams; not attend class. But the current Arnold knew the importance of knowledge. He had to finish his education without any difficulties. Those points would determine his attendance credits.
The full amount of credits needed at the end of this year was 120. From what he could remember, the previous Arnold only had 92 due to his lack of attendance. The teachers even threaten to decrease 10% from every exam he ever did.
'That bastard messed up his own life. Now I have to clean up the mess to avoid graduating with a low academic score.'
"Y-You'll come tomorrow, right?" Lyra grabbed his sleeve.
"…I won't be able to stay long."
She smiled regardless, "That's fine! You can tell me about the outside world and I can tell you about the past."
◇◇
After leaving the library, Arnold did a guts pose. A feeling of exhilaration swept over him.
Although he didn't have the system as a player, he was now able to view his status whenever he wanted. The system also gave him his first quest which kind of made him nervous. He had no idea how to proceed without making any mistakes.
Arnold looked at his hologram card which shined jade green.
He had to avoid using it whenever he was around too many people.
Some students and teachers might recognize the hologram card. It was an outdated form of checking one's status but it was good enough for him since he could simply walk around with it.
The problem with the academy's new ranking system was that they only recorded a student's status on a piece of paper. This paper had their levels, skills and classes. It would be stored away and never seen again unless it had to be renewed if they enter their next class year.
Since Arnold would be running around a dungeon, he would need to check on his status in real-time. Each kill would allocate a certain amount of XP. Arnold needed nearly 4000 points before he levels up.
'I wonder what level I'm at when I'm in my demon lord form.'
He was a little disappointed that he couldn't check it immediately. But he knew that it would be a bad idea to release that much power.
'I wouldn't want to cause any trouble with the disciplinary committee.'
Now that he thought about those people, he remembered that a major character was part of the committee. Luke would end up meeting this person when he was invited to the committee after he killed the Wyrm and saved the students.
That person helped Luke to make connections and make others recognize him as the heir of the Berkley lineage.
"Well, I should get going. I shouldn't loiter around the school grounds." Arnold said to himself as he looked towards the school hall.
◇◇
"—Welcome students!" a booming voice echoed when Arnold entered the hall which was crowded with students, "we hope you came this semester with a fresh mind to study and learn more about our world!"
The vice-director, or known as the acting Director when Freya was away, stood on the stage as he looked down at the students. Behind him stood fifty or so professors.
The student council was also standing to the side. Arnold noticed them because the student council president caught his eyes first.
She was a beauty with long yellow hair and eyes. Her long eyelashes fluttered with every movement giving her narrowed, gentle eyes a certain charm. Arnold looked her body up and down and couldn't help but compare it to all the women he came to meet in this life.
Her name was Celeste von Penston, the daughter of a Sword Master.
She exuded a different kind of elegance in comparison to Olivia, her best friend. If Oliva was surrounded by a blazing snowstorm then Celeste would be the one surrounded by a field of flowers that bloomed during the first breath of spring.
She was always the big sister of their friend circle. She was a sixth year student after all.
Arnold turned his eyes back to the speaker.
"—our Empire has stood for hundreds of years. Do you know why?"
He looked at everyone present.
"That's because this academy nurtures strong men to protect and run this empire. We are the roots needed to make this nation what it is—the strongest military powers in the world!"
The students applauded the man, he nodded as he listened to the applause.
He raised his hand which made them settle down, "Our wish is still the same as it was back when the first facility was built for this academy. And that wish is to nurture the leaders of the future! If our hero has taught us anything, it's that even a commoner born in the alleys of the slums and the son or daughter of a king could grow to become great one day!"
To put it into words how everyone saw the hero, he was nothing special before his name was recognized by the people. But was that really the case? Even Arnold was sceptical about Promethius' origins.
He knew that the first hero was neither the son of a king or a rat from the streets.
The fact that he appeared out of nowhere to save this empire when it was in need caused this minor suspicion. Where did his power come from? What were his origins?
Of course, Arnold wouldn't be able to find out the truth since there were no records of the first hero anywhere.
He just existed and saved this continent—no, the world from doom.
That was all humans needed to know to sleep soundly at night.
"We strive to make heroes even if they don't have the blessings of the gods and the holy sword that almost vanquished the demon king." He looked around the school hall with sharp eyes, "Of course, if we want to achieve that dream then that means that our students will have to face many difficulties. But if you are able to overcome these difficulties then you're worthy of bearing the insignia of our academy. My words are especially referring to our fourth to final year students. They will have to complete the hardest exams of their lives. Although they aren't here, the final years have been through a lot so I wish to applaud them for making it this far."
The vice-director began clapping his hands. The teachers and students followed him.
Arnold sat there blankly.
'Fuck, how am I going to ace the final term when I myself am average when it comes to academics?'
The previous Arnold was an academic genius who didn't even need to study at all. He could skip classes as he wished but still miss nothing.
The unfairness of the universe was pissing Liam off.
Why was he reborn into Arnold completely? It would've been nice if he kept Arnold's smarts but that wasn't how transmigration seemed to work.
Liam didn't even have Arnold's memories, let alone his skills.
'I hate studying!' Arnold wanted to cry tears of blood.
"Many of you have probably heard about the ranking of the dungeon the seventh years entered four months ago. Due to its vastness and the sheer scale, they will probably only return in three months. That's an estimate we got from calculating the average amount of time spent in high-rank dungeons over the years."
A professor put up their hand. The vice-director nodded, implying that the person could speak.
"We know that the students' trainers accompanied them to the dungeon. Many being veterans. But we, as professors have been kept in the dark of what is the name of this dungeon and where it is located. I'm sure the students would also like to know."
The students murmured to each other.
"I was just about to get to that part. But since you brought it up, I think it's best to tell everyone," the vice-director turned back to the students, "This dungeon is located in the Fairy Province. We acquired the rights to enter their land last year so we made full use of those rights. That dungeon is deemed impossible to clear, even to the Fairy Millennium. But we have achieved impossible feats before so this is no different."
Arnold's frowned deepened.
"And what is the name of this dungeon, sir vice-director?" Celeste spoke for the first time. Her question represented what was on everyone's minds.
"It is one of the oldest dungeons in this world," the vice-director clapped his hands once which made a hologram appear behind him.
Arnold's face lost all colour.
Behind him was the image of a massive cloud. Above it was a mountain that stretched as far as two shorelines of two continents. A reverse waterfall was beneath that mountain. Gravity seemed to have no laws there since even rock was floating in mid-air.
'No… it can't be…' Arnold's eyes blanked.
He didn't know which dungeon it was at first since he only heard about it from his guildmates in the past. Because of his bad memory, he couldn't connect the two dots—that being the dungeon's name and what it looked like.
But.
When he saw what the dungeon looked like, unpleasant memories flooded his brain. Those two dots began connecting.
"This mountain is the burial ground of a human god, the Sky God. Thus, we know it as the Sky God Mountain."
The crowd of students applauded at the magnificence in front of their eyes. It was the burial ground of a real god.
Who wouldn't feel astonished and amazed at the same time.
But Arnold felt something different.
Fear.