Wisdom Academy was the most prestigious institution in the small town of Stoneguard, renowned for training youths to become hunters. Though the town was small, it lay within the territory of the Zelia Kingdom—the largest and strongest of the three kingdoms.
A young girl stood hesitantly before the academy gates, doubt clouding her face. She questioned whether she had made the right choice.
'Remember what I said, Gwen. If you don't manage to get a hundred friends to come to your birthday party, I won't let you enter that place.'
The girl, named Gwen, took a deep, shaky breath. Her labored breathing was audible to the passing students, who immediately gave her a wide berth, hurrying as though she carried a deadly virus.
And who could blame them? Her appearance was disheveled and pitiable: a long skirt marred with tears and patches, two messy braids hanging unevenly over her shoulders, thick glasses slipping down her nose, and cheeks smudged with black stains. She looked more like a beggar who hadn't bathed in weeks than a student.
"Is she a student here?"
"Look at her clothes. Is that supposed to be our uniform?"
Indeed, Gwen wore the academy's signature fuchsia uniform, which usually exuded elegance. Yet, on her, it seemed like a cheap costume. She had altered it—adding mismatched fabric to extend the sleeves and lengthen the skirt. The once-short-sleeved, knee-length uniform now had clumsily stitched long sleeves and a skirt that trailed to her heels. The sewing was amateur at best, and the uneven stitches made her modifications painfully obvious.
"Since when did we have students like that?"
"Is she new? Why didn't I hear about it?"
"Shh! She can hear us. Let's go!"
The whispers didn't faze Gwen. She had no interest in what others thought of her. What annoyed her was the senior disciple who forced her into this situation.
'You can go down to the mortal realm and make friends, but you can't use your true appearance. That's my condition.'
One of her hands curled into a fist, itching to pummel her grinning senior into the dirt. But there was no escaping it—she had descended to the human world and couldn't return to the upper realm until she completed her mission.
The mission? To make a hundred friends.
Gwen sighed, feeling as though a hammer was pounding her skull. This task felt infinitely harder than slaying a hundred monsters. Socializing was not her forte, after all.
For a fleeting moment, she considered running away and returning home. There was still time to escape unnoticed. But just as she turned, an ominous thunderclap echoed in the sky, freezing her in place. The hairs on her neck stood on end as a chilling sensation washed over her.
GWYNETH!
Her teacher's thunderous voice boomed in her mind, making her flinch.
"Okay, okay, I'm going!" Gwen hissed, shaking her fist at the sky in frustration.
No one else saw the sudden dark clouds obscuring the sun or heard the deafening thunder. To those around her, Gwen's odd behavior only reinforced the nickname she was about to earn: Freak Ugly Girl.
Meanwhile, in another part of the academy…
"Hey, have you heard? There's a rumor about a new student—a weird, ugly girl."
"Really? That can't be true. Wisdom Academy is an elite school, even in a small town like Stoneguard. Royal families send their heirs here. There's no way they'd accept someone like that."
"Exactly. Our graduates become top-tier hunters. There's no way a freak would get in."
A loud yawn interrupted their chatter. They turned to see a senior student with jet-black hair and striking cobalt-blue eyes. His handsome features made him the object of admiration for most students.
"Did I miss something interesting?" the boy, Clayton—known as Clay—asked lazily.
"Not really," one of his friends replied. "By the way, Clay, did you have not enough sleep again last night? Your eye bags are getting worse."
Clay blinked in confusion, his innocent expression making it clear he didn't understand why it was a problem.
"If you're tired, why don't you just sleep?" his friend teased.
"Oh, good idea. Wake me if I'm in the way," Clay mumbled, promptly burying his head in his arms.
"How could you disturb us if you're asleep? Also, how do you still look so handsome with those eye bags?"
Clay's looks and relaxed demeanor earned him admiration and jealousy alike. While some tried to bully him, his lack of reaction—fear, anger, or even annoyance—made them lose interest. Moreover, knowing his mother was the legendary knight who had slain a hundred high-level monsters deterred most.
Clay cared little for his family's fame or the expectations placed on him. He lived without ambition, uninterested in the politics of friendships or status.
As the school bell rang, students rushed to their classes, unaware that their peaceful routines were about to be upended by the arrival of a peculiar junior—a girl they would soon dub the Freak Ugly Girl.