After ensuring that every student was present, the teacher gave me a harsh gaze that said don't do anything stupid.
Maybe, earlier on, I could have gotten away with messing around in Class with my noble status, but now I was just another weak commoner, so pissing off a professor wouldn't do me any good.
Having reached the E-threshold, I was now officially required to pick a class that would determine my future. Changing classes wasn't unheard of, but only a few hundred people had managed to do so using an item. However, their stats were reset.
The system would prompt you to enter your choice within a week of being ranked, so time was of the essence.
The obvious choice here was to become a swordsman, as I had already picked up a sword from the facility and practiced with it during my week-long stent in the mountains.
However, the main character is also a swordsman. This means it would be impossible for me to obtain most of the class's overpowered items; the plot would change if I stunted the protagonist's growth by doing that.
Besides swordsman, there were a couple of classes related to magic abilities; however, as a newly reincarnated person without knowledge of how magic worked, that would be a terrible choice.
My high magic power stat wasn't seeming too good now...
*BANG*
The sound of a fist violently slamming down on the desk echoed throughout the classroom and snapped me out of my thoughts. Of course, our professor was the source of this noise.
"Pay attention, Class D! I will not repeat myself. ** The club fair will be held this Friday, so consider your options. You can view them on your school-issued phone. That's it for the announcements."
Our homeroom teacher briskly walked out of the room and was replaced by a middle-aged man who looked similar to your average Tokyo office worker with his suit on.
However, I was not fooled by his simple and hard-to-miss appearance. Mr. Williams was notorious for being among the harshest teachers, even daring to assign homework on vacation breaks.
Without turning to face or greet us, Mr Williams took a piece of chalk and began writing on the board.
[Classes / Professions]
Instantly, my interest was piqued. What were the odds that the school would teach me something useful for once? Was my partial S-luck stat coming into play?
"Classes are split up into two categories. Weapons and Magic. Within those two categories, you have a variety of subclasses to pick from, such as swordsmanship, spearmanship, or magician. Does anyone know how you should determine your subclass?"
A student like Ren wouldn't actively participate, so I kept my hand down. Maintaining Ren's delinquent attitude for now was necessary, but as time went on, I could slowly change people's perception of him. For now, staying lowkey and not attracting any attention was the plan.
I planned to rise to Class A, as the benefits of graduating from the top class in the human's best academy were top-tier, ranging from guaranteed government jobs to free weapons and accessories.
To raise classes, I would need to obtain celestial points: 10 for Class C, 25 for Class B, and 50 for Class A. These points are tracked on your phone and can be gained in several ways, such as achieving first on an academy test or practical training exam, performing well in club competitions, or simply committing morally right acts.
The latter was definitely off the table, and club competitions were notorious for being impossible, so my only choice was the first.
Going from a stuck-up noble to a nerd could be suspicious, but I hoped people would see me as someone who desperately attempting to reenter my family by impressing my father with my scores.
Back in the classroom, surprisingly, no one raised their hand. I mean, it wasn't rocket science. You look at your stats to decide.
However, that method wasn't useful for me, as I was from another world.
"Since no one wants to answer, I'll tell you: Your stats compatibility is the most important factor."
To my disappointment, the rest of the class was classically useless. The teacher just talked about which class to choose based on your highest stat.
My second-highest stat was speed, so the choices based on that were Assassin, Long-Range Bow, Katana swordsmanship, or Wind Magician.
My dragon's trait greatly enhanced my eyesight, so I leaned toward being an Assassin or Bow user, as those two required a keen eye.
Unlike a swordsman who fought and used the openness of the battlefield, an Assassin used the obstacles spread around the field to shield their movements and focused on one individual instead of the many.
Each category of magic and weapons also received an attribute, with mana recovery assigned to magic majors and QI recovery to weapons. However, there were exceptions to that within the weapon category, as, unlike magic, where everyone needs mana, not every class required QI.
Assassins instead received a stealth attribute, and bow users received a perception attribute.
Recalling that one of the heroines within Liam's party used a bow, and that using a bow meant hiding at the back of the battlefield, I started leaning more toward the assassin.
Training with both a bow and dagger simultaneously would be useless, so stalling my class decision would only lead to problems.
A mage...
Yes, my magic stat was indeed the highest, but I'd have to be one big dumbass to choose mage.
Ren had done jackshit during his childhood... so I couldn't even feel the mana inside my body!
Sure, I had a high mana stat... but it was essentially decoration!
Every other mage, even the non-rich ones, could circulate your mana.
And here I was, with the only evidence of me having mana being my stat's menu!
Ignoring the professor, who kept writing on the blackboard, I opened my system menu and scrolled through the list of potential classes until I found my desired one.
[Are you sure you want to pick the Assassin Class?]
[Y] [N]
After clicking the Y, I eagerly waited a few seconds until my system menu finally updated.
[Class: Novice Assassin (Level 1 : 0%) ]
-> Stealth: E-
Stealth was the art of blending in with your surroundings and being unnoticed, but I was still somewhat confused.
How can your stealth improve? Do you eventually become invisible to people or become more in tune with your surroundings?
Having no information on the Assassin class was both good and bad. It meant I didn't have to worry about taking most items, as the plot wouldn't change. However, it also meant that I had no idea about its secrets.
Still, the pros outweigh the cons. Skills books are rare and very useful, so by taking a smaller quantity class, I didn't have to worry about taking a book that the protagonist or any important character would take.
Due to the dark connotation of the Assassin class and its small number of users, most were smaller, unimportant djinns or criminals, so stealing some of their skills wouldn't cause a stir.
While thinking of some excellent skills and accessories to accompany my new class, the bell rang, interrupting my thinking and signifying the start of lunch. So, I brushed away the system menu.
Although I was somewhat hungry, I was in no mood to go into the cafeteria after recalling the situation before class, as everyone was hyper-focused on my movements.
Without anything else to do, I headed towards the weapon facility to exchange weapons.
After returning the long, sharp sword, I grabbed a pair of tiny, lightweight daggers that resembled stilettos.
Due to the few assassins in the school, there were only a few options for daggers, so I prepared to leave with these; however, another pair caught my attention.
Unlike the stilettos, the pair in front of me were curved daggers similar to karambit except longer.
Although the curved daggers would make it harder for me to deflect attacks from sturdier weapons like swords, the power and offense capability they supplied instantly made me choose them.
Unlike straight daggers, the karambit-like knives had various creative styles, making it significantly harder for an opponent to predict my movements. Their curved tips would make slashes and cuts more powerful.
Putting back the stilettos, I picked up the curved daggers, weighing them in my hands, before taking them.
After returning to my room to get some food and drop off my new weapons, I returned to the classroom.
My plan to avoid the cafeteria seemed to have backfired, as people kept wondering and speculating about my whereabouts during lunch.
"Dude, I heard he already got in another fight."
"already? What the hell?"
"Maybe he was spying on his next commoner target."
"I heard he had to eat the broke-kid lunch. That's how he lost so much weight during the suspension."
Even if this was a world with magic, the personality of high schoolers stayed the same.
"Seriously, what the hell are these guys, my fan club?"
The rest of the Class passed without a hitch, so I got up and prepared to leave.
However, I heard a voice behind me as I walked towards the classroom exit.
"Stop there."
Without even turning around, I knew the source of this voice had to be Liam. Almost anyone could recognize his annoying ass voice.
Pretending not to hear him, I exited the classroom and headed to the training hall to practice with my new weapons.
Unlike a sword, my grip on the daggers isn't restricted. I can hold them downwards, sideways, or not even hold them at all.
"Throwing them is always an option!"
When I entered the training hall, I saw various equipment, such as scarecrow targets for sword training, shooting ranges for bows, and finally, the private rooms where the AI dummies were stored.
Using advanced technology and AI, you could use data from previous fights and upload them to the dummy, essentially making the dummy a natural person who can move around and hit you.
After entering the small private room, I tossed the AI dummy a sword, grabbed my daggers, and pressed the start button. Seeing a dummy made of metal moving around and dodging like an average human was surreal, but the pain soon replaced that curiosity.
"Damn, those dummies DO NOT HOLD BACK."
After getting hit in the stomach by a wooden sword held by the dummy and thrown against the room's wall, I decided to lower the difficulty back to easy.
Even after resting for 10 minutes, the easy dummy still pushed me back with its sword slashes.
Sure, my offensive power was astounding, as I could probably take out the dummy in a second, but what was the point if I could never hit the dummy?
I constantly retreated from the sword's harsh blows until I finally blocked one of them.
I could finally stop one of the sword's slashes by forming an X with the two daggers. Recreating that same motion, I could block the 2nd slash, the third, and finally, the fourth.
However, after another twenty minutes of training, I realized something weird.
I could see the trajectory of the dummy's slashes before it swung...