008. Day 1 of the Academy

Kael was immediately woken up by sounds from the room, and he jolted up from the desk, briefly forgetting he was no longer in his apartment.

As he stared out the window, he immediately remembered he was now living in the academy.

"Right, I forgot."

He turned to the movements behind him and saw Joe moving up and down the room quickly.

"What's wrong? Did something happen?"

Joe briefly glanced at him as he moved. "Are you okay? It's 6 a.m., we overslept!"

Kael stared at him, confused. "So? Why are you overreacting when it's just 6 a.m.?"

Joe didn't respond. He started putting on his school uniform, and that's when Kael remembered what he told him last night before they slept.

"Right... so we have to get there by 6:30 a.m.?"

Joe nodded, then buckled the collar of his uniform. "You still have time. I'll wait for you for 20 minutes. After that, I'm gone."

Kael shrugged and stood up from the desk. He hadn't woken up this early for school in years. But he had to start getting used to it since that would be his life from then on.

It took him half an hour before he was done. The changing room already had different uniforms for tryouts, but he found one perfect for his size.

"Alright, I'm done, Joe."

He came out of the changing room and realized Joe was gone.

"He went too early. Now how am I supposed to find the assembly ground?"

He stepped out from his room and saw a flood of students running toward a particular direction.

He followed the crowd, though he noticed some students were lazily walking toward the assembly like the punishment didn't bother them.

Kael got there on time, and the assembly ground was filled up—different classes, different faces. And the worst? He didn't know where his class was or who his classmates were.

"This is going to be a drag." He shrugged toward any line before he noticed someone waving eagerly at him—it was Joe.

He moved toward the row Joe stood in. "Is this our group?"

"Yeah, it is. We're at the bottom, remember? Our class is said to be the weakest, but no one has actually seen each other's strengths yet. Funny thing, right?"

"Yeah...."

He turned toward the individual that announced themselves as they walked in.

"Good day, students. As you all know, today is the resumption of our great academy, and there are new students who will be joining us today."

He took a long pause to clear his throat.

"Among them is the well-known young hunter, Reon Vergüenza. A round of applause!"

The crowd grew wild at the mention of his name. Even Joe seemed to react.

"What's so cool about him? He seemed lame to me back at the dungeon," he whispered to himself, though he also felt the same way the others felt.

Reon walked up to the stage as his name was mentioned and stood beside Mr. Wong.

"Sadly, we can't mention each and every intern we successfully registered, but there's another individual Mr. Wong himself would like to call on stage."

He squinted at the crowd as he mentioned the name, "Mr. Kael Graves."

Kael shrunk at the mention of his name. If there was anything he didn't like at all, it was public attention.

He preferred hiding in the shadows or at the back of the crowd, but he had never once loved being the center of attention.

"Hey, isn't that you they just mentioned?" Joe asked.

The speaker gestured for him to climb the stage, but Kael refused and stayed put.

Then Mr. Wong took the microphone. "Mr. Kael, please join us on the stage."

He shrugged a bit before he moved. All eyes stared at him as he walked—no applause.

Reon smirked at him as he climbed the stage and stopped right beside him.

"You don't seem to like public attention, huh?" Reon whispered.

Kael shook his head. "Not one bit."

"They're both special individuals who'll be joining us today. Please show them care and your best behavior"

The speaker handed the mic to Mr. Wong to give his speech.

"From today, classes begin, and those who are in the new classes will be assessed throughout the term since they didn't take any exams to get in. I wish you all well in your studies."

After a while, the assembly ended, and everyone was sent to their various classes.

Kael didn't waste time before he left the stage.

"Hey!" Joe called out. "You didn't tell me you were a special guest."

Kael forced a smile. "Well, now everyone knows."

Joe showed him the route to their classroom, they had to walk a really long way from the assembly ground.

"This assembly...is it everyday it's being held?"

Joe glanced back at him as he hurriedly showed him to their class. "No, it only happens on the first week of every term not everyday"

Kael released a sigh of relief immediately, "I don't see myself walking this length just to head to class from the assembly everyday"

They eventually arrived at their classroom, though it seemed the class was already almost filled up with everyone sitted on their desks, waiting for the lecturer to arrive.

As soon as Kael stepped through the doorway, something felt off. The air was still—too still—and a faint pressure settled on his chest. Whatever it was, it reminded him of death.

He immediately turned, and glanced around the classroom and noticed a system tag right above the head of a female sitting at the back of the classroom.

[SYSTEM WARNING]

» Target Identified: [ ??? ]

» Death within 6 Days

» Cause: Duel]

Kael paused where he stood and stared at it for a long while to make sure he wasn't just seeing things..

'How's this possible? I can get to know people's deaths too? What kind of system did I awaken?'

The girl noticed his stares and stared back at him in a rude manner before Joe walked up to him and dragged him away.

"What are you doing bro, do you want to get into trouble?"

Kael glanced at Joe, trying to see if he could notice any tags on him as well. "What do you mean?"

"Don't you know who she is? She's Seraphina Pewsey of Pavilion, our ally."

Kael sincerely hadn't heard any of the names he mentioned until just now, "Wow, really? I didn't know. I should have given her a proper greeting!"

He said sarcastically, but Joe didn't understand sarcasm.

"Don't worry, we'll do just that later after class. Hopefully she'll become friends with us"

Then kael stopped and realized something Joe didn't remember mentioning earlier. "Wait Joe...didn't you say our class was at the bottom? So what is she doing here?"

Joe paused at his question and glanced back at kael as they both took their seats, the silence lingered for way longer than they had both intended for it to.

Right before Joe could answer, the door creaked open and a teacher stepped into the room, holding a textbook under one arm and a cane in the other. The murmurs died instantly, swallowed by a sudden silence.

"Good day, class. Starting today, I'll be your homeroom teacher. My name is Mr Lemon, I hope we can communicate well and work together smoothly."

The class had begun but kael just couldn't get his eyes off her, the girl Joe said her name was Seraphina Vaelthorne.

The tag that hung above her head was disturbing, though he couldn't understand why it was disturbing to him when it had nothing to do with him.

Then he understood why—because at that very moment, a cold flicker danced across his vision as a translucent screen blinked to life before his eyes.

[System Notification]

❖ Narrative Task Initialized ❖

Designation: Emergency Storyline Intervention

Task: Ensure the survival of Seraphina Vaelthorne, a central narrative entity, for the next 6 days of real-time.

Failure Consequence: The death of the target will result in an unstable narrative divergence.

Reward Upon Completion:

▸ +100 Narrative Points (NP) – Influence and alter story progression.

▸ +25 Cipher Points (CP) – Unlock encrypted abilities, lore, or system functions.

Note: Interference or negligence may result in permanent consequences.

► Accept / Reject.]