The blue portal closed, and William von Westergard entered the empty Alchemy Lab.
'No way…'
He hopped on top of one of the counters, rummaging through the glass-jarred ingredients that sat on shelves.
┌─────═━┈┈━═─────┐
*EMERGENCY QUEST*
Leave. Now.
Reward: 25 Shards
Penalty: Death
└─────═━┈┈━═─────┘
Mark took his hand off the door handle, slowly backing away from the windowed door as his stomach sunk and churned with an ocean of dread.
Turning around, he calmly began to back away from the lab door.
Then he sprinted.
TAP. TAP. TAP. TAP. TAP…
Flying through the hallways, Mark reached speeds unprecedented to him. His breaths were shallow and panicked.
'What the actual fuck?! This is all wrong! I knew that prick of a god fucked me over!'
Mark's heart pounded at the sight of the red emergency quest. It lingered in the periphery of his vision.
Fear welled up in the depths of his stomach.
The penalty for disobedience was death. At least he was adept at following orders.
…
Luckily as Mark sprinted through the marble halls of the main campus building, no one was there to see him.
At least, he assumed so. The front desk was still empty.
As he stepped outside and into the cool winds, the red emergency quest faded from sight.
┌─────═━┈┈━═─────┐
*Quest Complete!*
Reward: 25 Shards
└─────═━┈┈━═─────┘
"Hah…"
A sigh of relief. All of his worries faded. He could finally try and wrap his mind around the horrifying, mind-shattering sight he just witnessed.
William von Westergard wasn't the same as he had been in the novel. He wasn't supposed to obtain the Bolstered Core for another week or so.
'What is it? Regression? Transmigration? How the fuck does he know where the items are as well?'
End specifically omitted all extra information about William…
'And he already wove a teleportation skill for himself this early? There's no way! He has to be low-level to even go for the Bolstered Core… he couldn't teleport unless he invested in Faith and bonded himself to the Traveler…'
A farfetched idea, but the most plausible that Mark could muster.
William was a lone wolf in the original novel and therefore didn't bind himself to the patronage of any god—which Mark did enjoy. However, that didn't matter at this point, since this world and the novel were extremely deviant from one another.
The idea of killing William just became infinitely more difficult. No. It was nearly impossible.
Not only did End completely lie about the fact that he had changed the novel based on Mark's critiques, but he also omitted the fact that William knew his own future and what items to get!
Worst of all, this made Mark less special than he already was. That was the ultimate crime here.
Tons of possibilities of the real nature of this world swarmed around Mark's head. But he knew it was futile; it was all conjecture, and he had to focus on his immediate future.
'Alright. Fuck it. Plan B it is.'
'Status.'
┌─────═━┈┈━═─────┐
Name: Mark di Abbott
Age: 18
Race: Human
Class: None
Title: End's Apostle
[Level: 0] Novice
◄ Strength: 0 - ◇─◇─◇─◇─◇ ►
◄ Vigor: 0 - ◆─◇─◇─◇─◇ ► +1
◄ Insight: 0 - ◆─◇─◇─◇─◇ ► +1
◄ Dexterity: 0 - ◆─◇─◇─◇─◇ ► +1
◄ Intelligence: 0 - ◇─◇─◇─◇─◇►
◄ Arcane: 0 - ◇─◇─◇─◇─◇ ►
◄ Faith: 0 - ◇─◇─◇─◇─◇ ►
◄ Charisma: 0 - ◆─◆─◇─◇─◇ ► +2
◄ Luck: 0 - ◆─◇─◇─◇─◇ ► +1
➥Unallocated Shards: 25
◃───***Skills***───▹
◃───***Arts***───▹
◃───***Affinities***───▹
◃───***Items***───▹
└─────═━┈┈━═─────┘
'I got a bunch of natural Shards just like that? I sprinted one time! And +2 Charisma? I didn't interact with anybody…'
Whatever the case, he was just glad to improve. It might come in handy later, but it still didn't do much for him now.
Also, the mere fact that he was given a quest in the first place meant a few things.
'I'm the main character! Or at least, I have the same system that William had.'
But William's system never threatened him with death! That had to mean one thing:
End was in control of his system. And Mark firmly believed now that dying by that bastard of a Demon Emoji God was a very real possibility.
Plan B looked a lot better now that he had been kindly gifted with 25 Shards, which was enough for five whole stat points.
All Mark had to do now was go to the Underground and pray that he was blessed enough to be given an overpowered F-tier skill for cheap.
And so after narrowly escaping death from either an overpowered, future-knowing main character or a vengeful emoji God, Mark walked back to his dormitory to collect his things for his upcoming trip to the Underground.
***
The Kolzig-Bondra Academy's library was not only world-renowned but realm-renowned.
The Dwarves, Demons, Orcs, Elves, and Mutants all envied Human knowledge.
But what truly made humanity the most dominant race was their Gods.
While the rest of the races had only one or two God representatives in the Pantheon of Thirteen, Humans had the most with three.
The Father, the Mother, and the Traveler.
Theology was at the forefront of Ranni's life. Of course it would be. She was from the direct lineage of the Mother God's Apostle.
Aside from the direct descendants of the Father God himself, there was no higher level in aristocratic society.
Ranni Ema Luikots, the sole daughter and heir to the Luikots Duchy Guild, was the ultimate reflection of the Mother.
Beauty, intelligence, and graceful strength. She was as well endowed as the depictions of her patron Goddess were. An infectious beauty.
Her long platinum hair, perfect and piercing facial features, and emerald eyes that seemed to glow were a magnet of attention for her peers at Kolzig-Bondra Academy.
But above all, her perfection was solidified by her determined work ethic. A strong push towards living up to her legacy. She felt compelled to live up to these expectations.
It was a normal human reaction to bask in stares and glory. Ranni never seemed to relish in it for too long; she felt aware of the dangers hubris posed.
Perfection was a sham; the Hidden Hand never allowed for a perfect being, not even the Gods, for it was the only one.
Ranni wanted to spend the day before the official start of class studying theology, along with her future class material.
What better place than the renowned Kolzig-Bondra Library?
Walking out from the lush Upper Girl's Dormitories, her beautiful white hair flowed elegantly behind her amidst high-altitude winds.
She stole the stares of every student she passed, all while ignoring their enthralled states.
When Ranni entered the main campus building, she noticed that the front desk was empty, which was where a secretary should be. There weren't any students or faculty roaming about despite the school population being over one thousand.
'It's a day before school and no one's active? And the Academy dares to use the word prestigious?' she thought, her inner monologue tingeing with annoyance.
But there was one pair of footsteps. One that entered at the exact same time as her.
She glanced out of her periphery. It was a boy with long brown curls and hazel eyes. He was quite attractive all things considered.
His gaze seemed focused and determined as he entered, going towards the Eastern wing of the main building.
They paid each other no mind.
'Guess some people do work hard here after all,' Ranni thought.
The platinum-haired girl turned towards the Western wing as she made her way to the library.
But when she sat down in the empty library with her book of choice, there was no one to gaze at her.
That was great. Right?
Ranni didn't feel like that at all. It felt empty. It was empty.
"Tsk…"
After a few minutes of reading, she quickly grew frustrated and opted to simply check the book out and return to her dorm room.
'Did I really let it go to my head? Mother, bless me…' she thought, repentance balancing her conceit.
It wasn't as simple as arrogance, but rather the wall she had built around the public self which she displayed to the world.
Ranni's public persona was built to push back against the constant gazes. But now with nothing to actively push against, it simply fell flat and shattered against the ground.
Ranni would be much better off reading in the comfort of her dorm room.
So she exited the library and began making her way to the main hall entrance.
But there he was again. The same boy she had entered with.
TAP. TAP. TAP. TAP…
The brown-haired boy bolted past her and out the door, his face pale and alert.
…
'The fuck?'