Julius woke up before any of the other students but rather than feeling drowsy and mechanical he felt like he had been cleansed doubtlessly. His mind was as clear as fresh river water and his eyes were darting around the Lighthause dorm energetically.
Although Ruloy was a grand and prestigious academy the Lighthause dorm was one huge room that probably spanned a hundred or so meters either way and housed each and every male Lighthause student.
Climbing down from his top bunk, Julius held back a yawn.
Julius walked over to the washing area and poured a strange blue refreshing liquid into his mouth. He had learned from Yevian that it helped clean and strengthen the teeth.
Many common Earth appliances had been substituted here. In the new world.
Julius slotted himself into a recently-ironed Ruloy uniform and rolled his shoulders back comfortably.
He looked to the very top of the huge dorm room. There in the center of the ceiling was a grand clock.
Julius marked the time as 7:05.
A few crows cawed outside through a painfully bright glazed window.
Julius sighed, heading out early to the Grand Hall for breakfast.
Breakfast was set from 8:10 to 8:35 every day on the dot. Not even the one out of seven free days held an exception.
That meant that Julius had almost an entire hour of just sitting in the grand hall by himself.
Julius shrugged off the thought.
He had been alone for a large majority of his life on Earth so even without the existence of entertainment-consuming devices like phones and tablets he would be able to sustain himself.
Julius finally made it to the Grand Hall where he used the side-exists to enter as every student ought to.
When he arrived there were very few present. At most 10. All quietly conspiring with each other.+
Julius was the only Lighthause in the entire hall and decided to book his seat at the very bottom of the Lighthause table.
The tables were entirely empty.
Julius scanned his system lazily, the closest thing to an electronic device in his life nowadays.
{What would you like to look at, Player?}
Julius rubbed his head in boredom.
He muttered uncertainly.
"Show me something useful."
{Daily Spin Unlocked.}
Julius let out a slight smirk.
"About time you made up for this level 1 shenanigan."
{Lvl 25 Required for Daily Spin.}
{Daily Spin Locked.}
Julius' expression drooped.
"Good one."
He laughed dryly.
The system feeling almost sympathetic tried to make it up to him.
{Monthly Death Spin Unlocked.}
Julius squinted his eyes as he looked at the blue screen in front of him. On it was an ominous blood-red wheel with several unreferenced words on it.
"How does this work?"
The system replied instantly, with its usual monotone genderless flatline voice.
{The Monthly Death Spin is a spinning wheel with a -1- Month Cooldown. It holds many options that may be received but due to its quality of being unrestricted for all levels most of its options are harming to the user in some way.}
Julius' mood was dropping.
"Run me through some of these... worse options."
A list popped up in front of him. Julius' eyes were glued to the screen mechanically.
{Weak stick 2.34%}
{Death by fire 12.65%}
{Death by Death 3%}
{Iron Bar 2%}
{Holy Water Jar 1%}
{Excalibur Replica 0.6%}
{One-Time Only Safe Option Coupon 0.003%}
{Death by Suffocation 1%}
{Rizz 0.000002% Legendary Rank}
{1 Stat Point 0.00000004% Forbidden Rank}
{More Options...}
Julius facepalmed.
His face twitched ruthlessly.
"This all you got? Rizz? 1 Stat point? A stick?"
The system was silent.
{...}
{Is the Player dissatisfied with their new wheel?}
Julius did some quick math and almost shouted in the grand hall.
"What do you think?"
He hissed.
He checked his math once more.
"I just calculated but..."
"This wheel has an 84% chance of me dying."
Julius rapidly plummeted his finger down the list.
{Death by Potato 50%}
Julius almost screeched as his eyes darted to this monstrosity of an option.
"Did you really think you could just sneak this in?"
The system mumbled sadly.
{System is confused...}
Julius sighed in frustration.
"Don't be. But get rid of this thing."
He looked down condescendingly upon the list.
"This is a disgrace. It's like... A death penalty."
"Are you trying to kill me?"
The system was silent before responding desperately.
{Protocol forbids harm to the Player without a clause in any way or form.}
Julius sighed wholeheartedly.
"I'm going to sleep. Wake me up when breakfast starts or if anything consequential occurs."
Silence.
"Please."
{System obliges.}
Julius awkwardly lay his head sideways on the wooden table before him. The tablecloth was thin but smooth and comfortable.
For a draining 10 minutes or so he couldn't sleep. His mind was too clear. His thoughts were unstoppable.
It was only when he blinked twice that he saw Yevian across the table munching on roasted sausages with inner peace.
Yevian noticed Julius' open eyes and acknowledged him with a nod of his head.
"Morning."
Julius nodded back, slowly lifting his figure up from its ungainly fowl.
"Morning."
Julius looked around himself in confusion. The entire hall had been packed to the brim with students.
He cursed. Reminding himself to scold his system later. He had once read a book. It wasn't paper. It was virtual.
And he had deleted it after dedicating 3 hours to it.
Julius breathed out loosely.
In said book, it was just a generic sort of isekai setting with a protagonist aided by a system. Over time the protagonist slowly had their entire life, personality, and hobbies taken away by the system. Quests would decipher their entire story and the protagonist had no choice but to obey lest he would end up losing levels.
Why was this important at all?
Julius shrugged to himself.
He just had an inner warning to never let his system rule him like a dog. He couldn't be too lenient with it. Even the highest miracles can fall and kill.
Yevian swallowed some odd assortment of meats.
"How long have you even been here? I arrived 20 minutes ago and you were still sleeping. Also, you're feeding Jerry when we return if it's not tomorrow."
Julius scratched his head sorely.
"Since 7."
Yevian filled his bowl with scrambled eggs.
"Nice."
Julius coughed, filling his cup with water swiftly.
He gulped it all down before wiping his mouth with his sleeve.
"You gave Jerry extra right?"
Yevian nodded.
"Of course, there's no way students can conquer a dungeon in a school day."
Yevian looked to his left.
"Well... Maybe some students..."
He irritably glanced at the House of Dragon. The collection of elites.
Julius was just about to snatch a sausage to mix with his scrambled eggs when all the food vanished into purple rifts.
A voice boomed through the entire hall through some sort of magic amplifier.
The voice was dry yet crackling with wisdom.
"Welcome Students of Ruloy."
The voice came from the front of the hall. Julius leaned his head up, scanning for the speaker.
There he found a man who looked like a 1-to-1 copy of God.
That's right, the God that Julius had seen in the simulation stage.
He had his toga, his wrinkles, his bald head, and his awful posture.
Julius rubbed his eyes again and again.
He whispered under his breath.
"Have I gone crazy system?"
{Curse scan is unlocked at Level 25.}
"Gee thanks."
Julius cursed.
The man at the front smiled graciously.
"You may be looking at me strangely, for good measure of course."
"I am Gondares Flamehall. The Patriarch of the fallen Flamehall house and your Headmaster."
"I am of the Speltrum Race."
"This means that I take the form of the strongest being that you have ever seen in your eyes."
"If you see a man with long grey hair and 2 lines of grey teeth then I am the strongest person you have ever seen."
"If you can see anyone else, then you're either surprisingly lucky or deviously impervious I must say."
"But my introduction does not matter anymore."
"As an Apology for missing your welcome to Ruloy, I have doubled the prize of the dungeon event taking place today over the following week. I hope that all of you as the 483rd Order of Ruloy enjoy your stay and utilize it to its utmost peak."
He cleared his throat, sending tremors down the entire Grand Hall.
"Ahem."
"After this meal, you will all remain here so that Albertos can transport each of you to your dungeons alongside your teams."
"Your teams will be listed above you if you would be so kind as to raise your heads."
A whoosh of flames blitzed through the air above the students.
Flaming names apparated.
Julius found himself after around a minute.
He let out a small sigh of relief upon seeing his group.
Group 4
Julius. E
Yevian. Y
Savel. S
Ricky. B
Auder. A
Many students either mourned or celebrated their groups.
The headmaster smiled weakly.
"Now, do not bother yourself with remembering your teams, that will be sorted right... now."
A scarlet emblem imprinted onto the right hand of every student.
A lionizing 4 formed on Julius and Yevian's hands.
The headmaster gave his parting words.
"May you all enjoy yourself a fine breakfast."
All the food returned, when Julius took a bite it tasted better than before.
Julius shrugged.
"It's not so bad here."
Yevian mouth was stuffed and at bursting point, from all the delicious food he had crammed in.
"Mmphff. MFFFPH."
Realizing he was incapable of speech, he settled for a big thumbs up.
And so the Dungeon Assignment was getting ever so close.