'Says in the message that class starts tomorrow at… 9 in the morning... Seriously?'
With nothing else to wear, Mark put on one of many academy uniforms, perfectly tailor-made. It was quite snug on his fit frame.
The uniform was all navy black, lined with crimson and sturdy pauldrons, a belt, along with golden buttons and other golden adornments and accents.
Very military-esque; the Kolzig-Bondra Academy was established as a pipeline for humans to combat the other races, especially Demons.
'So how did the Demons pose a threat in the original novel without End as their god?'
They didn't. They had no god. In turn, they were absolutely pummeled by William over and over again.
Yes, it made the novel an absolute snoozefest. But hey! At least the author wrote good—uhh… scenes. Scarily good. Probably the only saving grace. Not that Mark particularly enjoyed that kind of stuff, but real recognizes real.
'End might be a dirty dog… useless thoughts. Get a grip.'
Mark didn't have much time to waste really.
The first event in the novel was the Academy's placement test. But it appeared that the placement test had already happened before his transmigration.
The extra before him—if he even existed—did well enough to just barely—and conveniently—squeak into the top class of the first years: Class 1-A.
While there were a lot of academic aspects to the Academy, the most important aspect was fighting ability.
And Mark had no fighting ability. No amount of academic success could make up for that.
When he would inevitably be forced to test his combat prowess, it would surely end with him being expelled.
And he couldn't have that happen. Staying in the Academy would allow Mark to be close to William, not to mention that it was the most efficient path to growing his power.
Speaking of, how was he going to grow his power?
There were specific qualifications to growing each stat, but almost all involved a grind of some kind.
Wanna grow your strength? Lift up some weights and swing a sword. Faith? Go pray while living by the tenets of your patron god. Intelligence? Read a book, pay attention in class, learn new things, stuff like that.
Though grinding for stats would be difficult and very time-consuming, at least growth was fastest in the beginning.
Another way to improve one's stats was through the usage of Shards. For every skill point, one needed 5 Shards. The most common way to earn Shards was through killing high-level beasts. But you couldn't buy Shards; they were only given to the killer.
Killing beasts for Shards was out of the question; Mark had no way to kill anything. As an American, he was only ever trained in the M4 Assault Rifle Dao. Not to mention that Shards were ridiculously rare to obtain.
That was because the requirement for gaining Shards from beast kills was pushing yourself to the absolute limit for the kill. A cute little tidbit of end-game knowledge, but still not helpful at the moment.
'Realistically, my only options are going after an item, an art, or trying to purchase a skill book somewhere.'
Mark had one item specifically in mind, but he wanted to exercise all options first.
Affinities were useless at the moment; they were efficiency boosts to particular types of Arcane-based magic, which he had no points into and therefore could not use.
Arts were specific styles of weaponry that greatly boosted their power and effectiveness.
Skills on the other hand were efficient abilities that varied from utility, defense, offense, whatever. They could literally be anything and everything. From massive blasts of energy to an instant dishwashing skill.
The great thing about Skills was that they were learned instantly. Even better was the fact that WorldEnder420 did zero balancing.
'The first F-tier skills William got were ridiculously overpowered. And on top of that the S-tier skills were absolute dogshit. It made no sense.'
Skills and Arts both required a lot of money to purchase from the Underground.
Aristocrats preferred to hoard their copious amounts of Arts, Skills, and Items. They would rather die than allow the masses to feast upon delicious banquets of power.
As such, the open trade of all special system-based objects of power was outlawed under the guise of regulating power from falling into the hands of the wrong people. Pretty messed up.
'Didn't End say I'd start off with enough money? How much do I have?'
Mark walked over to his dresser where a very neat sack of coins sat gently.
Untying and peering inside revealed an assortment of Gold, Silver, and Copper coins.
'What a lazy currency. I told him in the comments to change it to something else…'
Even lazier was their conversion rate. One Gold coin was 100 USD, one Silver was 20, and one Copper was 1.
'Who cares how economies work in a fantasy world… convenience is best."
Pouring out the sack, Mark began to count his coins. In the end, he counted 9 Gold, 9 Silver, and 10 Copper coins.
'Great. I'd have to spend all my money for the lowest-end F-tier skill.'
With how unbalanced the Skills were, it wasn't a farfetched idea. But still, nothing more than a backup plan.
'Looks like I'll have to go with the high-tier Item rush after all.'
This plan wasn't without blemish. The Items that William obtained were all high-end, but they were more late-game. They were locked away in Aristocrat's vaults or high-level dungeons.
But there was one perfect Item that William 'stumbled' upon in the early game: the Bolstered Core.
'Surprisingly not located in a mountain. Incredible. It's conveniently right on campus. Should be inside the Alchemy room if I recall correctly…'
Seemed obvious, easy, and efficient. Checked all the boxes. Grinding the stats would be a pain in the ass, but with the Bolstered Core, it would be an absolute cakewalk.
'Time to get to it.'
***
It was mid-afternoon in the Ember Union—the combined societies of the human realm.
Specifically within the Ember Union was humanity's leading Academy: Kolzig-Bondra.
The cute little quirk about Kolzig-Bondra was that it was entirely floating, nearly reaching the clouds.
Using some unexplained magic, they managed to tear the land holding the campus from the ground, raised it up, and suspended it in the air half a millennium ago.
To access the Academy, one would have to go through the one and only entrance. The invention of the Traveler God, who bestowed humanity with the Kriophoros: massive circular teleportation portals.
An absolutely insane gift that saw use in every single major settlement, but that was by necessity.
The surrounding wilderness of every surface-level human settlement was scarred by the Demonic Uprising that occurred 725 years prior.
Incredibly strong creatures roamed the untamed wilds beyond human walls. That made land trade nearly impossible. But with teleportation, humanity could instantly take whatever they wanted through portals and immediately appear in another city.
Stepping out of his dormitory, Mark began to walk through the lavishly paved roads of Kolzig-Bondra Academy.
The high winds swept his long curly hair as he walked with a hurried pace and squinted eyes.
With class not fully in session, campus life hadn't fully bloomed yet. But a few students passed by laughing and joking with their fellow high-class, aristocratic friends.
Mark didn't want to think of himself as a total hater, but something about their pompous and uncaring laughs grossed him out.
'Jokes on them, they're extras too.'
Checking his watch, a projection of the school map appeared which he checked to ensure he was going in the right direction.
Eventually, Mark reached the luxurious main campus building.
Stepping inside the doors, he could hear his dress shoes echo through the dim hallways as they collided with the opulent marble floors.
The front desk where a secretary was supposed to be was empty—quite nice of the Academy to allow their faculty to take breaks. Maybe there were worker's unions in this fantasy world.
Eerie. It was odd that Mark was practically alone inside the main campus building. But then again everyone had better things to do than show up to school a day early.
And that was perfect. Fewer people seeing him enter the Alchemy Lab would mean less likelihood that he got caught for stealing.
Within the Eastern wing of the main building, a singular door hid away a massive laboratory that included some of the most coveted and expensive ingredients found in all the realms.
Hidden among them was the Bolstered Core, an item that tripled the user's stat growth rate. Permanently.
'Overpowered. It should've never fallen into William's hands in the first place.'
But as Mark put his hand on the lab's cold door handle, he noticed something strange.
A bright blue circle of light appeared.
And out stepped an unfamiliar, but easily recognizable young man.
Black hair. Glowing golden pupils.
William von Westergard. Without a doubt.
'What the—'
Blaring red text flooded Mark's vision immediately.
┌─────═━┈┈━═─────┐
*EMERGENCY QUEST*
Leave. Now.
Reward: 25 Shards
Penalty: Death.
└─────═━┈┈━═─────┘