At noon, when the sun is in the sky's peak, all candidates gather in front of the bulletin board. Witnessing all that, the only thing that Erik can do is baffled at the situation.
'....With this many people, why did the academy provide only one bulletin board?'
Erik looks left to right, screening the participants with his eyes and the only thing he sees most is low-level nobility and commoners.
'I see, it seems the high nobility is already certain that they will pass,'
There's not much of the character he knows here, and only two who he knows can be seen standing toe to toe with other candidates. It was Elise and Edna.
'It's understandable, they only post who got accepted and they will inform the candidates personally where their classes are,'
When Erik came closer, he searched for his name on the list from the bottom. As he looked up until the 50, Erik's face paled.
'What?'
'....Am I failed?'
Sweat began pouring, wetting his nape. His breathing became rougher and rougher as he thought about this case.
'W-what should I do...'
'What happens if I deviate too much from the main story? Can I survive? Can I even trust the other main characters to solve everything?'
He hears some candidates before vanishing from the crowd, returning to the uncertain possibility.
"What nonsense is this?"
"Erik? Without even surname,....."
Intrigued by that, Erik lifted his head and looked at the place where the candidates had been looking at.
"Huh?"
On the bulletin board, his name was carved with zero before his name. The academy that was supposed to accept only 200 candidates became 201. An exceptional number that no one had ever seen before carved on the board with an unknown person in front of it.
In the hallway, when all the students cannot be seen anymore, the sound of footsteps reverberates and fills the silent corridor with its melody. In the middle of it, with an orange colour filling the corridor, a small girl is seen walking alone serenely.
She walked down the corridor until she stopped in front of the bulletin where the academy announced its new student. She screened from bottom to top, giving it a small courtesy until she saw the students' top list.
With a small voice, she said, "Erik...." and then walked away.
The next day, before the classes even began, Erik sat down on the seat. The class seats look like university seats, with the more back the seat the higher and in the middle, there's a podium for the professor to teach.
With the class hustle and bustle, Erik was already alone and looked like a sore tumbs because of his entrance exam result. As if he was expecting it, he knows he will get into the S class with that kind of rank.
But it's not what bothers him, last night when he was finally done for the day he hit the bed and started to sleep soundly but got some strange dream instead.
'....what a strange dream,....'
A dream about his parents or rather Erik's parents. A dream of the past that he didn't experience himself.
'Is this Erik's and my mind began to sync?'
'The reason why I got transferred is also vague, I don't even know what purpose it is but,....'
'I need to do something about the last event,.....'
'The event that wrecks the Fantasy World, a boss event that can't be damaged by magic in the magic-user world,'
With the disadvantage of the mainly magic users in the game, no one ever bothers to clear it except for the one that uses mainly physical damage. With more than a hundred runs, he managed to kill the boss by himself.
When he is deep inside his monologue, the class door opens. Before it, a man with scars on his face emerged.
The professor's face didn't show any expression, with a book in his hand he walked into the middle of the class.
"Good morning, as you know, all of you here are the ones at the peak of this year,"
"Be proud of it, but don't let it get into your head as it just temporarily,"
"You can get demoted and also get expelled, be sure to work hard,"
The speech contained encouraging words with some stern warning, Erik, who didn't particularly care about it just brushed it off.
In his head, he says, 'After this, it should be that right,....'
When he says that, the professor ends his speech.
"After this, follow me to the altar for the succession ceremony,"
"As S class and A class will be together, mind your manner so you lot don't give the professor inconvenience,"
When others get excited to hear the staff succession ceremony, one of the students, with her side eyes looks at the person that became the talks of the student before. She's been looking at him for a while as if Erik is someone suspicious.
"Come on, Edna, let's move,"
After her friend said it, her focus shifted again. With a smile on her face, she says, "Oh, yeah, let's go,"
In the room full of staff, a blue light emanated from below. Lighting up the room blue with many staff levitating not far from the ground adds a magistic feeling.
'Succession ceremony huh,'
'A beginner event to choose your very first staff,'
The player can choose all of the staff available with compatibility to the character they played. The compatibility is the key to succession success and the staff the player chooses will determine the player's play style.
When Erik walks through the staff, looking the staff that he will use between students and the other staff. A man that he doesn't know bumped his shoulder.
"Huh?"
"I thought I bumped into someone but, it's just commoner,"
A young man appeared, and without a slight sorry on his face, he rambled.
"A peasant like you in the class S,....."
"What a joke,...."
Realizing something, Erik just kept his mouth shut and pretended to hear.
'...I see, so it's like that,'
Coming from a humble background and taking place in class S makes him an object of jealousy from the others, especially nobles. An unavoidable scenario to the point of bother will haunt him.
With an indifferent face on him, he mumbled, 'What a bother,'
"Oi, how dare you look at me like that,...."
"You think you're special because you got a place in the class S?"
The young man snapped, and he glared at Erik. His face distorted, and his eyebrow frowned, looking discontent towards Erik's behaviour.
"Listen here you peasant, the places that you got it should be me,"
"A nobody like you dares to step your sorry feet into the higher realm,"
"Know your place peasant,"
The troublesome things never ended as the young man kept yapping in front of Erik.
"I will prove it in this staff succession,"
"I, Damian Scallows, will take the high-tier staff!"
After hearing Erik's bold statement, he looked at Damian with a nonchalant expression.
'What a fool,....' Erik thought.
The succession staff ceremony itself isn't something simple as people think, in the game, each character has a fixed staff to be wielded. But the lore of the ceremony itself is different, it's not the player that chooses the staff but the staff that chooses its wielder.
'I am intrigued, with that kind of bravado if he can't even take what he wants,'
'What kind of expression he will make later,....'
Far inside the room, a small figure can be seen walking passing all the staff as if she knows where she is headed. At some point, she came to a halt, staring into the staff in front of her but not long after she walked away.
'What will she choose?' Thought Erik.
In the Fantasy World, Edna can choose whatever staff she wants. Her high compatibility with all elements is the trait that she has, [The One That Loved by The World]. But, if she's not a player, there are only two staff that she will choose. Either Nightangle or Terrion. Whichever she chooses, her capture target will be different.
With small steps, she walks forward until she reaches Terrion, but with an indifferent look, she walks past it.
'So she chose Nightangle,....' Thought Erik.
Erik is certain that Edna will choose Nightangle, with her traits and immense mana, using Nightangle is a popular play-style in the fandom as the staff enhances the magic power tenfold in exchange for the staff always consuming the user's mana when it is used.
But, when Edna was already near the staff. She passed it again without batting an eye on it.
'Huh,...?!'
She walks forward until a certain staff, Sigrun, a staff that specialises in the buff category. With her small hand, she reaches the staff and a light covers the entire area, blinding all the eyes near it.
'Sigrun?!'
With a threat threatening the future, a being that can't be defeated by magic will destroy the world. The girl that in his eyes chooses something that will help to defeat it. A sound and logical judgement but,.....
'....Don't tell me,.....'