In a room that looked like a classroom but instead of benches there was a luxurious velvet chair and study table made of red wood that looked like it came from an exotic tree species.
Arthur sat attentively in his chair, it appeared as if his focus directed towards the lecture being delivered by a lady clad in violet traditional attire, with hints of lilac woven into the fabric.
The lecture continued and one could see Arthur fidgeting a strange card in his hand.
"For the last part of today's class I will give an introduction to the grand archive of classes written by William Bowen, the only mage in existence to reach the fifth awakening" with reverence for the said person being reflected in her eyes, Celine, Arthur's tutor for magic studies, continued to speak."
"As I've mentioned before, the class you obtain upon awakening is directly influenced by the distribution of your stats, your experiences up to the age of sixteen, and your genetics."
"Some scholars speculate on the involvement of past lives in determining your class, but these are mere conjectures, as peering into past lives is generally beyond our capabilities. Although there maybe exceptions in the vast world unbeknownst to me"
"Past life, huh?" Arthur mused, his gaze drifting towards the window to behold a garden lush with greenery, bathed in the warm afternoon sunlight filtering through the verdant trees.
It had been a day since Arthur arrived in this world and tried to uncover the scheme of assassination that had been played against him.
Yesterday he came to know about many interesting things going on in the castle With the duke absent in his estate as he was on a trip to the borders of the Nolan dukedom, which bordered an enemy empire.
After his history class yesterday, he also went to meet the head butler who had been and the personal right-hand man of the duke Nolan.
His name was Jade, and he was the one who was handling all the affairs of the territory in the duke's absence.
After that, he came to his room and exercised his mind to come up with a solution about the information he had gathered about the people around him while interacting with them.
After all, he had the sight of genesis with him that could detect any lies or deception of a person.
Although, he didn't bother to peek into their status windows. He still felt that it was not the right thing to do,
so he only used the halo effect to detect lies and the effect that negates all illusions and concealment in front of his eyes
but he still knew that if thing went downhill at some point in time, he won't mind using it to see their status panels and directly differentiate between friend and foes.
As he roamed the estate before retiring to his room, Arthur stumbled upon numerous intriguing discoveries.
While most of these findings didn't directly concern him, one piece of information he had acquired was crucial for his survival.
He had after that planned thoroughly on how to use it carefully and trace it back to the mastermind.
"Arthur??"!!
Arthur came out of his stupor as he looked at the lady in front of him, it was about half a year since Celine had been assigned as his magic theory teacher.
She seemed to have just recently awakened, as the youthfulness on her face hadn't shown any signs of maturity that came after entering one entered their twenties.
Although her physical measurement said otherwise, radiating the allure of a woman.
In truth, she was just seventeen, while Arthur was just on the verge of reaching fifteen. Still he wondered how she had been assigned the role of his teacher considering their age gap their level of knowledge shouldn't differ too much.
"Had you been daydreaming all this time?" Celine looked at him and snorted as if looking at a useless fellow.
Seeing her attitude, Arthur couldn't help but let out a sigh. For all this time, he had found himself drawn to her, not of his own accord, but rather as a residual influence from the previous possessor of his body—the former Arthur, whose personality could only be described by a single word: 'coward.'
But the influence was not strong enough for him to be completely affected, after all arman's experience and age was much greater than the previous Arthur who used to hole up inside his room, afraid to come out and show any potential.
But that wasn't the sole reason for her disdain towards him, and Arthur was well aware of it.
Celine was hailed as a prodigy among her peers, showcasing remarkable potential from the very beginning. With such talent, it was only natural for her to possess a sense of pride.
Despite being his teacher, they belonged to the same generation. Over the past half-year of tutoring him, she had keenly observed the affection reflected in his eyes whenever he looked at her. This realization fueled her disdain even further.
"How dare someone as trash and talentless as him harbor hopes of gaining my affection," she seethed inwardly, her disdain palpable.
Additionally, as the son of one of the five strongest saints of the western continent, she deemed Arthur unworthy of his prestigious lineage. The unfairness of life gnawed at her, leaving bitter resentment in its wake.
"How dare someone as trash and talentless as him harbor hopes of gaining my affection," she seethed inwardly, her disdain palpable.
Additionally, as the son of one of the five strongest saints of the western continent, she deemed Arthur unworthy of his prestigious lineage. The unfairness of life gnawed at her, leaving bitter resentment in its wake.
Her decision to tutor him had little to do with him personally; rather, it was a calculated move to establish a friendly connection with the Duke and elevate her own influence.
It was clear that she was an ambitious lady with immense pride. Arthur naturally knew that, not just him but also the previous deadbeat Arthur had known this fact.
To the current Arthur, it didn't really matter what she thought.
His center of existence was not her, after all, he was not one of those simp main characters in cultivation novels who would go around half of their life chasing a lady who herself came to annul their marriage and looked down on them.
"She's just a passing wind in my journey," Arthur mused, indifferent to Celine's presence.
Returning to her question, he responded, "Yes, actually, I'm just bored. Never mind, let's continue tomorrow, since I have work to do."
Though his words were genuine, Arthur knew Celine wouldn't buy his explanation. She replied sarcastically
"Ok whatever, it's not like the information will be of any use to a person like you" as she tried to mock him by saying things like this, she thought that her comment would affect his self-esteem.
However, her expectations were far from reality. With a wide grin on Arthur's face, he responded,
"Yes, I agree with you. After all, people like me have people like yourself serving us, so we don't need to pay attention to trivial things like magic theory, which your whole life is based around, apparently."
Arthur said seemingly in an unbothered tone with his brows relaxed as he stretched out his arms as if waking up from deep slumber.
Listening to his words, Celine's heart surged with anger, unable to find words to counter his blatant narcissism. Never did she anticipate a scenario where he would so boldly use his status to suppress her in this verbal exchange.
"You... you...!!!" she sputtered, struggling to control the rage boiling within her. The air of superiority she had carefully cultivated in front of him lay in ruins, shattered by the humiliation inflicted upon her by someone she deemed beneath her.
"Why? Are you lacking words? Don't worry, I won't speak the truth any further. You can now choose to leave and mind your business as the class is over now, or you can choose to stay here, but I can't guarantee that I would be able to hold my laugh back since your face has gone completely red."
"Also, if you feel like nose bleeding, don't do it here on the carpet, since you won't be able to pay for it if it gets ruined."
**Bang!!!** Arthur wasn't even able to see anything as with a swift movement she banged the door and dashed out of the room as if not wanting to get humiliated further.
All he could remember was seeing her eyes tearing up.
*Sigh!!*
"I hope she understands that useless ego will only get in her way"
"Huh?? Why do I feel bad for her? Seems like the previous body was really a simp"
"Anyway, let's do it" Arthur said with anticipation as he looked at the mysterious card in his hand that he was fidgeting all this while in his hands.