Chapter 8 - First Classes 3

I stared into blank space as the teacher droned on.

"Occasionally, humans are born with their first mind awakened, allowing them to use magic. Some skilled mages and combatants may be able to unlock their second mind, granting them access to another magic. And only the greatest mages in the world, such as our principal, have been able to gain access to their third mind..."

"Teacher, what about the fourth mind, does such a thing exist?" 

Evelyn asked the teacher inquisitively. She was the type of person who cherished learning.

"Ah, a good question.... Well, I can only really give you two answers to such a question. Usually, to advance into a further mind, one has to grow stronger and face immense emotional and physical hardships. You and I could not imagine the difficulties it would take to open the third mind..."

The professors eyes gleamed in wonder. 

In the game, taking on a quest to unlock a further mind was always difficult.

Players were capped at 3 minds.

"But for the fourth mind, well I suppose I can tell you a story. Legends say there was once an old witch. She had unlocked her third mind, and had grown powerful enough to topple mountains and part oceans. Yet she craved more, and pushed herself to the literal brink to try and unlock her fourth mind."

The teacher took a pause, making sure the classroom was listening.

"Sadly, the extreme circumstances she put herself through did not manage to accomplish the feat, and instead she died from her own training..."

"As for the second answer to your question... Well, legends say that those who have unlocked the fourth mind are the ones whom we refer to as the gods today."

From my experience in the game, I knew his statement was at best only partially correct.

The crazy fuckers who had unlocked their fourth mind were strong enough to frighten the gods.

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My classes passed by, and I reviewed the progress I had made on increasing my proficiency with light magic.

[Name: Light Magic

Rank: D+

Allows the user to generate light element mana. This may be used as per the user's discretion. Light mana deals higher damage to evil foes.]

It was good progress.

My natural gift in magic as a Castellan as well as having the gains perk were very helpful.

Ideally, before the final exams of the year had came around, I would be able to upgrade it to B+.

The higher the rank, the harder it was to progress it to the next rank.

To put it simply, the difference between A and S rank for a skill was far larger than the gap between F and A.

D+ proficiency was in reality quite unimpressive.

I would need to take more chances to upgrade my abilities.

As I was packing my things, ready to go back to my dorm, I heard footsteps approaching me.

"Would you be able to spare us your time, Ares?" 

Cassenia asked me with a friendly tone.

It was a slight change of pace compared to the treatment I had been receiving so far.

On her left, stood Iris, her hands placed on her hips as if she were ready for a fight.

Evelyn, on the right, maintained a calm demeanor. 

'Hey wait, shouldn't she be on my side? She's my attendant?'

I had tried to be nice to her, but so far she had been quite unreceptive...

"Hm? Yeah, I suppose I could spare you all a few minutes."

I responded coolly.

[Analyze!]

[Name: Cassenia Haven

Class: Saintess of Sun

Overall Rating: A+

Strength: D+

Vitality: S

Agility: C-

Intelligence: S-

Wisdom: S+

Charisma: A+

Feelings towards you: Interest, Wariness]

I let my guard down a little upon seeing that she didn't have any particularly negative emotions towards me.

But seriously, what a ridiculous stat distribution, 3 S rank stats as a first year academy student?

"So.... to keep it short, is it true that you received a divine revelation?" 

Cassenia cut to the chase.

I was surprised that the bullshit I had made up last week had come to bite me in the ass.

"I.... don't really see how it concerns you?" I attempted to weasel my way out with a non answer.

Apparently, they weren't expecting such an answer.

"Asshole, just give us a clear answer, she even asked nicely!"

Iris sent me what was supposed to be a threatening gaze.

But...it felt more like a chihuahua threatening to bite me.

I looked around for a moment, ensuring nobody was listening to what I was about to say.

I made eye contact with Cassenia and grinned before speaking.

"Is it because you're the Saintess?"

Immediately, the faces of the three girls that stood in front of me were painted white.

'I expected Iris would know about Cassenia's identity... but to think they had already told Evelyn as well?'

It seemed they had already formed quite a close trio.

The saintess, usually acting in a composed manner, was extremely flustered.

Yet she still denied what I said.

"T-The saintess? Hah, that old legend? Why on earth would you think that? Just because I can use sun magic? It's rare but that doesn't mean I'm the saintess!"

She was sweating bullets at this point.

She sputtered out a few more denials before I decided to speak again.

"Did you think I wouldn't be aware? The intelligence network of a duke spreads quite far, farther than you may have expected."

It was the most reasonable explanation I could think of at the moment.

"W-well, since you already know, then it should be obvious why I'm asking you such a question! Of course the matter is related to me! Did his grace really bestow you with light magic!?"

Ah, she did have a quirk like this, didn't she?

Whenever the topic of religion, specifically pertaining to Solan came up, she spoke with the obsession of a true fanatic.

"Well, I guess it was something like that?"

In a certain way, would it not be fair to call the system and the admin behind it a sort of god?

"D-d-did his grace... say anything to you?" Her azure eyes shone with expectation.

At that moment, I saw an opportunity to gain her favor.

If it was something related to her god, then she wouldn't hesitate to ignore all the rumors surrounding me.

"He imparted upon me just three words...

Save the world."

Truly, I was a master of bullshit.

"Ah, ah! His grace said a similar phrase to me!" 

She was ecstatic, and at that moment I checked her feelings towards me.

[Friendliness, Comradery, Trust]

It was a complete one-eighty from the prior results.

Seeing I had answered her question, I wasted no time in leaving the classroom.

If she found out that what I said was complete bullshit, she'd probably try to kill me for insulting the name of her god.

But it's not like I had anything to worry about.

After all, Solan is dead. 

Well, that was just one of the things to be expected from Hell mode, wasn't it?