Go to School

[Ding! The {Go to School} option has been unlocked!]

"Is this what you meant by saying the new guy likes to space out?"

"Haha, yeah… You'll get used to it."

Hiro heard Marcus and his other roommate, Elvin, chatting up while gesturing toward himself.

He withdrew his attention from the pop-up window and chuckled, shaking his head.

The three of them happened to be in the same class, so they decided to arrange their seats in one row at the back of the class.

Hiro didn't know if it was intentional, but if Elvin had a pair of pointed ears, he would have been the splitting image of an elf.

He was almost as handsome as Hiro, but he was the outgoing, enthusiastic, and somewhat shy around girls type of a dude.

Hiro rolled his eyes and replied, "I'm trying to get in the mood to give my 100% to the class, you know. It's called proper time management."

"Someone seems to be aiming for the top of the class, huh?" Marcus commented with a chuckle, already preparing the books and notebooks for the first period.

The other students started to file into the class one after another, but the ice wall was ever present, and many kept to themselves or to their small circle of friends.

Soon, the chime of the first-period bell echoed, followed by the clanking of high heels as their class's homeroom teacher walked in.

She wore a formal black outfit and a tight pencil skirt, a white shirt, and a pair of pitch-black eyes that matched her hair.

Pulling the silver pin from her high bun and allowing her hair to cascade down her slender back, she successfully drew the attention of everyone in the room.

She introduced herself, and when the class started, Hiro's two friends would often whisper and join the gossip in the class.

It couldn't be helped, Teacher Aiya was beautiful, but Hiro wasn't paying any attention to that. During the activation of his "Go to School" option, just like going to the gym, a mysterious energy was dictating his actions and thought process.

It would automatically filter out those unnecessary distractions from affecting the quality of his focus. Even without his active effort, Hiro was absorbing the lecture, sorting it out in his mind, and scribbling his thoughts neatly onto his notebook.

Thankfully, Hiro wasn't the only one in the class who was taking things seriously. Even though the Class Advisor and Homeroom Teacher wasn't saying anything—her limped, cold eyes were oh-so observant.

Some of the quick-witted students already noticed her eyes darting about in the class even if she didn't say anything.

Towards the end of the period, she checked the class register, cross-referenced the seating arrangement with her personal handbook, and wrote a few names on the whiteboard.

Hiro snapped back from his focused state to find his name, together with six other names, written on the whiteboard.

"From the names I've listed down, those who want to compete for the position of class president, raise your hand," Teacher Aiya spoke in her soft voice.

After a moment of silence, a collective gasp echoed through the class. After thinking about it for a moment, Hiro decided not to get involved.

He was already busy with his {Simulation Space}, and will soon be occupied with the Paranormal Society.

After he achieved the world's standards of Tier-7 in both games, progressing further became even more challenging.

The quests both in the Legend of Babylon and Transcendent Taoist became either complicated or very long, consuming up to 3 or 5 days for one simple quest.

Although Hiro managed to bring up his spirit array's rate to 22, that would barely amount to 2 million spiritual units per day, leaving him grinding for almost a month to achieve a minor breakthrough.

Although he could use the remaining 20 gems at his disposal to increase the spirit array's efficiency by 200 units, he felt as though he would be making a loss.

Why? Because no amount of progress in that game could reflect on his abilities in real life; at least not in the long term.

Hiro realized that his future lay in completing the Legend of Babylon, while his cultivator identity could at best be used to accept and issue missions on the PARA.

While Hiro was feeling conflicted about his future direction of growth, three of the seven candidates raised their hands.

There were two boys and one girl.

Teacher Aiya nodded her head and said, "The three of you will serve as my assistants for the upcoming month. I won't tell you what I expect of you, nor will I reprimand or compliment your efforts during this probation period. At the end of the month, I will select one of you as the class president. That's all."

After she finished talking, she began to pack up her materials. One of the boys was quick to act while his competitors were confused.

He dashed to Teacher Aiya's side and began to clean the whiteboard. The girl was the second to act, hurrying to sort out the teacher's notes together with her, helping her pack up the materials.

The former boy wasn't insolent enough to help the teacher because he was afraid to create a misunderstanding, but the girl didn't mind because she was also a female.

The third student was left there standing with nothing to do, and for a moment, his face heated up.

As forewarned, Teacher Aiya didn't comment or exhibit any reaction. When she was sure that there wasn't anything else left for her to do, she checked her wristwatch for the time, picked up her bag, and walked away.

What a Mastermind! Hiro couldn't help but compliment in his mind. The teacher had successfully recruited three hardworking minions to help her do the miscellaneous tasks, and all she offered was the stupid class president position.

That short episode gave the class a good laugh, but the second period had already started and the teacher walked in.

The third period followed after, and before Hiro realized it, the bell chimed. Storing his notebook in his school bag… Well, it was a laptop leather bag, Hiro stood up.

He had colorful notebooks, two for each subject, which kept his bag full. Thus, he kept the school's books in the desk's drawer.

"Hiro!"

Barely had Hiro finished arranging his stuff when a pink-haired, bubbly Bella burst into the classroom and hopped his way with a smile.

She lifted two lunchboxes, one in each hand, and said, "Here, Mom asked me to give you this as a thanks for yesterday! Are you busy this lunchtime?"

It was an obvious invitation for lunch.

Wait a second…

Hiro blinked and asked, "I thought you didn't go to this school?"

Bella rolled her eyes. "I'm a student of this school now, what of it?"

Hiro's lips twitched.

I knew it! Nothing can escape the influence of capitalism and politics! No rules are absolute in this world!

Then again, this made Hiro wonder just how far the influence of Bella's family goes.

Back to the main event—the invitation for lunch—Hiro gladly accepted her offer.

"Damn, you're gonna leave us behind just like that?" Marcus acted heartbroken, but it was hard to buy with him being so invested in playing his mobile game.

Elvin brought his chair and was seated rather close to Marcus with a hungry look in his eyes, pleading to have a turn to play.

Yeah, I didn't mention it before but Elvin is broke as hell. The dude doesn't even have a cellphone, he only made it here with hard work and scholarships!

Hiro thought about it and decided to give this pitiful roommate of his a new phone after he received the sale shares from the new VR helmet sales.

The gaming hardware companies had already begun promoting the new product, much faster than the estimated three months.

Then again, three months was just a conservative estimate, but Hiro wasn't about to complain about it.

He wanted to joke around with Marcus and Elvin, but Bella stuffed the lunchbox into his arms before dragging him away and leaving the classroom.