The Protagonist

"DEVIATION 0.0000001%"

I knew that the screen was something akin to a system, but there was no stats or my name on it, only those words, which I can't make any sense of.

It would have been pretty weird to have kept my finger in that pointing position, so I lowered my hand.

As I lowered it, everything became normal, I could see and hear clearly too.

"Lucian?"

Sylphyre's call broke my line of thought as I looked at her confused face.

"It's nothing.", I replied curtly, indicating her to continue with her explanation of what exactly she meant.

"As I said, there is something suspicious occurring inside that dungeon, and I think it's pretty serious considering Mr.Xavier was sent to investigate.", she replied.

That makes sense.

Because Professor Xavier is not some ordinary teacher.

Well, all the professors of this academy are veterans in their fields, but if I would have to make a comparison, then even if the whole academy including the teachers, students and the principal himself, went against him in a fight, he would win by a large margin.

He is from one of the core noble families, who played crucial role in the First Great War.

If he has been dispatched to investigate, then it can't be avoided.

This piece of information was pretty important to me, but I don't get why she would share with me.

Sylphyre doesn't do anything without a reason.

"So what are you trying to imply?", I asked, trying to figure out why she is telling me all of this.

"Don't try to feign ignorance, it is the same dungeon, in which you were injured. Now there are mysterious disappearances happening there. This can't be a coincidence. I want you to tell me what exactly happened.", she told me with a serious face.

If you think that way, it is pretty obvious that I might know something.

Then, I remembered the message on that system panel.

DEVIATION 0.0000001%

It might be trying to say that, the story has deviated from the main storyline, by 0.0000001%?

Well, let's try to predict what might have happened there.

And if I had to guess…

"The dungeon was already investigated after my accident, wasn't it?" I asked, keeping my tone casual.

Sylphyre frowned. "Of course. The Academy conducted a full-scale assessment, and no abnormalities were found. That's why it was declared safe."

Lucian conducted a forbidden ritual to revive a powerful monster which was already dead.

He got the information on the monster and the procedure of the ritual from the black market.

However, the ritual failed.

And the sole reason was the protagonist of this story.

He is not the easy going, virtuous hero that many stories portray.

The protagonist of this story is a regressor, which means that he has witnessed far more bloodshed than anyone in this story.

Thus, he can be ruthless and cold when the situation needs it.

Sensing that, Lucian was planning something, he started to gather information.

Moreover, Lucian didn't know that the monster he was going to revive was one of the ten greatest disasters, which can shift the power balance of this world, within a fraction of a second.

But the protagonist knew, so he got the information from the black market trailing Lucian and interfered in the ritual injuring him heavily.

And, as repercussions, Lucian lost his life after a few days.

This is how the story unfolds.

The only variable I can think of is me transmigrating into Lucian's body.

...

Wait.

This can only mean that, either a fragment of the monster or something entirely different was revived during the ritual after the protagonist's interference.

Maybe that's why, Lucian's life energy depleted, and his soul was severed from his body, and then I transmigrated into it.

That makes a lot of sense now.

If that was true, then I had a much bigger problem than just avoiding death.

Because that meant something was still in that dungeon.

Something the protagonist thought he had stopped… but hadn't.

And the worst part?

If my theory was right, then the thing that had revived—it was connected to me.

Lucian had died because his life energy was drained. His soul had been severed. And somehow, I had taken his place.

That meant… whatever was lurking inside that dungeon might still be feeding off of me.

A chill ran down my spine.

If that thing hadn't been fully resurrected yet… then it might still be growing. And it might be coming for me next.

Sylphyre was still watching me carefully. She wasn't stupid. She could tell I was thinking about something important.

I needed to be careful. I couldn't let her realize I was hiding something.

"I see," I finally said. "If Professor Xavier is investigating, then something must have changed. But I don't know what you expect me to say. I don't remember much from that day."

Sylphyre narrowed her eyes. "You don't remember anything?"

I shook my head. "Just pain. And then… darkness." That part wasn't even a lie. Lucian really had died after the ritual.

She stared at me for a long moment, then sighed. "Fine. But if you do remember something… you'll tell me, won't you?"

That sounded more like a threat than a request.

I forced a smile. "Of course."

For now, I needed to keep up appearances. But inside, I was already forming a plan.

If something had survived that ritual, then I needed to find out what it was… before it found me first.

***

The next day, classes continued like usual—except for the fact that I was trapped in a situation I absolutely wanted to avoid.

The moment I entered the classroom, our homeroom teacher, Professor Vance, eyed me sharply.

"Lucian, your attendance is concerningly low. If you miss another practical session, you'll be penalized," he stated firmly.

I swallowed back a groan. Normally, I would have skipped and gone straight to the dungeon to investigate, but with that warning hanging over my head, I had no choice but to stay.

And to make matters worse, today's session was a joint class.

Class A and Class S.

Class A consisted of 30 noble students, each carrying themselves with an air of arrogance. Meanwhile, Class S had only 10 students, but each of them was an exceptional genius, excelling beyond ordinary standards.

Among them was the protagonist.

Leon Vermilion, the regressor.

The class S consisting of genius students like Sylphyre, and the other members of the protagonist's party, were standing in a group in the front.

There were mixed emotions among the class A students, seeing Leon, a commoner in class S.

Well that doesn't matter much to me.

I should keep a low profile in this class, and try to avoid contact with any of the students.

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A/N :

Please comment down your thoughts on this chapter.

Next : The First Contact

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