Free Web NovelChapter 3: The First Class
The morning rays of dawn slipped through the heavy curtains of the dorm room, landing squarely on Alden’s face.
He stirred in his bed as the warm light spilled over his eyelids. He groaned loudly and turned his face into the soft pillow, trying to force himself up. But his frail body flatly refused to obey his commands.
He had meditated the entire night and only managed to fall asleep at four in the morning. Now, his alarm had woken him up at seven.
Yesterday, he focused entirely on absorbing the atmospheric mana in order to increase his total internal capacity. He knew that just blindly swinging a sword wasn’t going to make him grow. If he simply took the physical route, there wouldn’t be any difference between the original Alden and him.
By increasing his mana capacity, his internal mana would also refine significantly. His frail body would naturally adjust and develop according to the amount of mana contained inside it.
The more his body developed, the easier it would become for him to swing a sword or do any basic physical training. Even a simple morning run would be enough to break him right now.
Since Mana was the natural source of energy in this environment, it simply defined everything in the world. From human health and strength to building infrastructure, everything was ultimately powered by mana.
If he didn’t have any mana in his core, he would remain physically frail his entire life and wouldn’t be able to grow past a very low limit—a limit the original owner had already hit.
Even after meditating all night, he hadn’t earned some massive achievement. He only managed to gather a tiny drops of mana increased. But a drop was still progress. It would be entirely useless to show self-pity right now, and honestly, he was far too lazy to feel sorry for himself anyway.
"Morning..."
He sat up from the bed, stretching his stiff body, and let out a long yawn.
"Good morning to myself."
The room was silent.
A little too silent.
He slowly sat up and glanced around the luxurious dormitory room once more. No matter how many times he looked at it, he still couldn’t fully get used to the place. The bed was way too soft. The wooden furniture was too refined. Even the air itself felt incredibly expensive.
"It kind of feels lonely..."
Then he scoffed at his own words.
"Well, it’s not like I had a girlfriend in my past life either. Nothing has really changed."
He rubbed his face and shrugged his shoulders indifferently.
"I was an introvert anyway. Being alone is basically my natural habit."
With that depressing yet oddly comforting realization, he got out of bed and headed straight to the bathroom. After washing his face and taking a shower, he changed into the official academy uniform that the staff had delivered to his room yesterday.
After fixing his collar, he walked toward the large mirror on the wall. He stared at his reflection. His face was exactly the same handsome one from yesterday, and he still couldn’t get used to it. Even though his body was in the absolute worst condition—frail, thin, and visibly malnourished, but in contrast his face was literally top-tier handsome.
"Well... whatever. In this world, a handsome face can’t buy you anything. Only power defines a person’s existence."
He patted his own cheeks.
"Let’s not feel bad, Alden. One day, you might just become the strongest person in the universe..."
He tried to self-motivate himself with absurd words that any normal person would find impossible to digest. But being totally shameless, he didn’t feel even the slightest bit of embarrassment saying it out loud.
He gave his reflection one last glance, turned around, left the dorm room, and walked toward the main academy building, heading for his assigned classroom.
The loud chatter of hundreds of students echoed through the long hallway and spilled directly into Class A, the classroom Alden had been randomly assigned to.
Being in Class A didn’t mean he was in some special or elite group. The class distribution at the academy was completely random. The strongest students and the absolute weakest students could easily end up in the exact same room. There was no segregation based on power when it came to learning at the academy. Everyone was taught the exact same theory without any special treatment.
Two neat rows of large desks filled the massive room, each row capable of seating hundred of students. The atmosphere heavily buzzed with energy, the excitement of the freshmen, nervousness, wild ambition, and massive egos all mixed together.
Alden entered the classroom quietly, scanned the room with deadpan eyes, and immediately walked toward a back seat near the window.
Window seats were always the best.
But suddenly, he stopped dead in his tracks. He remembered that almost every protagonist in the different fantasy novels he used to read preferred sitting beside the window in the back row. That specific seat always involuntarily attracted massive amounts of unintentional attention, and he was unconsciously acting out the exact same trope.
He immediately changed his tactics. He walked forward and sat in the middle seat of the first row, but still positioned beside the window.
His reasoning for sitting near the window was incredibly simple: you could easily pretend to be deep in thought while actually just avoiding annoying conversations with other people.
Just as he sat down and made himself comfortable, the loud room suddenly fell completely silent.
Alden looked up from his desk.
An incredibly handsome boy had just stepped through the classroom door.
He had bright navy blue hair and striking azure blue eyes. He had a tall, athletic frame, and his eyes practically glowed with absolute confidence. He wore a highly relaxed, friendly smile on his lips.
He looked annoyingly charismatic.
Thanks to the memories of the previous owner of this body, Alden immediately recognized the guy.
"Edwin von Leonhart," Alden muttered under his breath.
’The only son of one of the nation’s five SS-rankers. The golden boy of Elderia. He is basically fated to achieve absolute greatness and reach the same heights, or even surpass, his overpowered father.’
’Well... whatever. I don’t actually care about him. He just seems to emit that repulsive, blinding aura of a golden boy. He literally looks like a hero.’
For a moment, Alden just stared at Edwin as he deeply thought about this new world.
’Is it possible that this world is actually set inside some fantasy novel? But then why wouldn’t I remember anything about the plot? I read tons of fantasy novels in my past life, but I can’t remember reading anything specific about this exact world...’
He watched quietly as Edwin casually greeted the rest of the class, smiling warmly as if this entire classroom were his personal stage.
’He looks and acts exactly like the standard protagonist from those cliché academy novels I used to binge read.’
And exactly on cue, a massive swarm of girls instantly surrounded Edwin’s desk. They laughed, giggled, introduced themselves to him, and forced him into deep, friendly conversations.
The boys in the classroom, on the other hand, stayed far away. Their expressions darkened as the jealousy set in.
"Ah... right. I forgot."
’The classic moment where the male lead unknowingly steals the crushes of every guy in the room, accidentally creates his own massive harem, and becomes the lifelong enemy of all the mob characters.’
Alden almost felt bad for him.
Almost.
’This guy’s academy life is going to be incredibly rough. That male-lead aura is basically a walking disaster magnet.’
After a few minutes of overly friendly conversation, Edwin finally took his seat. He sat right at the very front bench, of course.
It seemed he was actually dedicated to his studies. What else could anyone expect from a perfect golden boy?
Alden couldn’t help but chuckle quietly.
"This really feels like I’m watching a novel play out in real life."
Then, a sudden, terrifying thought crossed his mind.
"Wait... if the male lead has arrived... then the heroine should be next, right?"
As if the universe was directly responding to his words, the classroom stirred once again.
Every single head in the room instantly turned toward the door, both boys and girls alike.
A breathtakingly beautiful girl stepped inside.
Her bright golden hair flowed smoothly down her back, and her golden eyes sparkled like a miniature sun hiding countless secrets. Her sheer presence alone forcefully drew everyone’s immediate attention. She looked like the literal, walking embodiment of purity.
Sarah von Solaris.
Another daughter of one of the five SS-rankers.
This time, even the gossiping girls froze in their tracks.
Some of the braver boys tried to approach her to introduce themselves, but they failed miserably. She completely ignored them and walked straight toward Edwin. Her steps were light, fast, and highly eager.
She smiled brightly, sat directly beside Edwin, and started speaking cheerfully to him. Her soft cheeks flushed a slight shade of red as he gave her a very casual, warm greeting.
’Yeah, I figured as much... She definitely has a massive crush on him.’
Alden casually glanced at Edwin, fully expecting the guy to act like the usual dense, blockhead protagonist who couldn’t read a girl’s emotions even if they were written on a glowing billboard.
But instead, Edwin just smiled back warmly and gently held Sarah’s hand.
He actually openly showed affection right back at her.
The entire classroom collectively took massive emotional damage at the sight of the perfect couple.
"...Huh? So he’s not a dense blockhead."
Alden’s expectations of a slow-burn, cliché romance were shattered instantly.
