Anya’s life was going great.
Ever since she’d moved to Starhold, it had been one good thing after another. Her talent was excellent for making easy money. Being able to just look at something and see its past states was a service many appreciated, especially those who dabbled in alchemy.
About half a year ago, she got herself a gig at the University of Starhold, pretty much working full time for the alchemy studies department. There were a number of sensitive ingredients whose past mattered a lot. Tasks like checking the age of a fruit, whether a mushroom had been bruised, or if a mineral had grown around impurities made up the bulk of her workload.
There were many methods to verify these things, but rarely were they cheap, quick, reliable, and didn’t damage the ingredient in question.
Meanwhile, all Anya had to do was take a look, and the history of the ingredients would unfold itself before her eyes.
It was also great that her clients were disgustingly rich, and didn’t hesitate to pay thousands of dollars for a single examination. When the ingredients in question were worth a fortune, it was a pretty small price to pay.
She only kept her job for about three months. And then, with the recommendation of a bigshot professor who really enjoyed having her around, she managed to accomplish something she didn’t expect to see happen in her lifetime.
She landed herself a scholarship at the University of Starhold. Well, she still had to pay like ten million dollars a year. She could comfortably cover that with the money she was being paid, but class credits weren’t free, and those put her in a situation where she had to toil until her eyes bled to catch up with the fees.
Now, rather than just an employee, she was an alchemist trainee and a junior assistant in the University of Starhold alchemy department.
The arrangement was more than fine with her. Getting an education in alchemy at such a prestigious establishment would guarantee her a safer life. She was done chasing pocket money in dangerous realms. The front lines weren’t her calling.
Here, she found comfort, prosperity, and a cozy future. Life was good.
She woke up on an ordinary day like any other.
She afforded herself some extra sleep since she had no classes to attend that day. The place she was living was a small dorm room close to the university, but the size of her accommodations were of no concern. Even a coffin-sized room cost an arm and a leg in Starhold, so having a proper studio apartment as part of her scholarship was a luxury she wouldn’t look down on.
Work was waiting for her later in the evening, but until then, she had the day off. Rather than squander it on something meaningless, she picked up a book and got to studying.
Alchemy was difficult. At the rate she was going, it would take her a decade to qualify for even just an entry-level position at a company. And who knew how long it would be until she could call herself a proper alchemist?
It was nothing unexpected, though. With how long two-stars could live, she had no issue spending decades at the university. In fact, from what she had seen, her education would likely never end. Even the professors had classes to catch up with as new discoveries were made.
She wasn’t complaining, though. It certainly beat having to risk her life every day.
Her day went by sipping on tea, flipping pages, and finding increasingly complex sitting positions. The tea was a bitch to make. Usually, it took her about four tries and almost forty minutes just for a small cup. But it was worth it. It was a blend that one of the professors had taught her how to brew.
The impact it had on focus, memory, and mental energy easily tripled the progress she made in studying. If she had access to something like this when she was a kid, maybe she wouldn’t have flunked out of her academy in the second year.
Her alarm went off, making her flinch. “Already?” She checked the clock. It was indeed already 7 p.m. Closing her book, she got up, stretched, and started getting dressed for work.
The university was a short five-minute walk away from her dorm.
As usual, she plopped her sad collection of unimpressive badges on her chest and started making her way through the streets. She was surprised that she managed to get used to walking about Starhold. At first, it drove her insane, especially the nauseating flashing of auras around her.
But humans were adaptable creatures.
An immense aura suddenly came into her range. It was a four-star. Anya didn’t even flinch. Rather, she just moved to the side of the street, making sure whoever it was had plenty of room to walk past her. A woman with dazzling cyan hair strode past the parting crowd, giving nobody there a single glance.
Anya didn’t recognize who it was, but alas, the city was full of powerful people she didn’t know.
Before long, she made it to the entrance building. Just as she was about to make her way in, someone pushed past her in a frantic run. Late for class, huh? She mused, only to see the long-haired man turn to the registration booths instead. She scowled. Late for enrollment!? Jeez… Some people have it too easy in life.
“Special entry: Freddy Stern. Welcome to the University of Starhold! I believe this is yours.” She idly watched the man take his ID and tablet from the booth. Just as she was about to look away, he turned around, revealing his face. One that she recognized.
Her blood ran cold. She instantly glanced away, not daring to look at him for another moment. Fuck fuck fuck, that’s him, isn’t it!?
There was something of a legend in Starhold. A man had once stepped outside and fought tirelessly, rampaging against the beasts until his body literally fell apart. He had survived against all odds, and then, he vanished. Nobody knew the real identity of the legendary Lobotomizer, and nobody knew whether he was even still alive.
Well, nobody except for Anya.
Her heart pounding out of her chest, she tried to remain calm. It wasn’t like she was in any danger. For all she knew, the man didn’t really care if she knew who he was. He hadn’t exactly hidden his identity on purpose back then.
But he did glance at her, however briefly. He probably hadn’t seen her face. Even then, he probably wouldn’t care. Probably.
I have a bad feeling about this.
She followed after him, lining up two spots behind him to enter the gate.
He is pretty cute, tho.
The man had a strange presence about him. He was thin, and looked vaguely anxious. It was nothing like what she’d expect from someone capable of fighting like that. The longer she observed him, the more her curiosity was ignited. How did he heal so perfectly from all that damage? Was it connected to all the bizarre states his body had been through? Was he, in fact, a body snatcher of sorts? Probably not.
But what was his deal, then?
Suddenly, he chuckled to himself, completely unprompted, then started fiddling with his shirt, likely putting his badges up. “Oh, this is going to suck,” he muttered with a sigh, still putting up badges.
Jesus, how many does he have?
Rationally, Anya knew it was best to stay the hell away from this weirdo. And that was exactly what she was planning to do. She didn’t know why she was phrasing it mentally like she would do anything but stay as far away from him as possible.
Ugh… The bad feeling is getting worse.
As far as she was concerned, Anya was cursed. For some godforsaken reason, she always found herself running head first into trouble. Deep down, she attributed this to an inborn desire for adventure, but usually, she didn’t dare admit this to herself, lest she get carried away again. Adventure bad. Career good.
The man—or rather, Freddy Stern, as she overheard just a minute ago—finally finished setting his badges. Given his back was turned to her, she didn’t see what they were.
Sighing, Freddy raised his tablet and fiddled with it until it turned on. He muttered something under his breath. Groaning, he facepalmed. “I already missed three classes! That’s just great…”
Unable to restrain her burning curiosity, she took a little peek at his screen, where she could clearly see his schedule. Holy fuck, that’s dense!
The guy had like seventeen different classes packed into his schedule!
With her enhanced eye sight, she easily noted the classes on his list. They were all basic classes—in fact, many of them were supplementary classes for those who wanted to improve their basics, or take a refresher on basic academy studies.
Anya scowled as she noted a class she had never heard of before. Elementary Studies? That was the single most vague class name she had ever heard in her life. What exactly did they teach there? Addition, subtraction, and the alphabet?
Curious, she pulled her own tablet out to look the class up. What she found was… quite confusing.
Apparently, the class had been created on that day. It was brand new. And there was only a single student enrolled in it. She couldn’t see who it was, as attendance was anonymized on the University site, but given she had peeked at the man’s tablet…
She pressed on the class to pull up the description.
A summarized course covering elementary and middle education.
Host: Dr. Jared Nocke.
Anya blinked. Then, she scowled. What…? Seriously?
The University of Starhold wasn’t like the academies. Those had strict rules for the ages of attendees, and were generally a pain to get into. Meanwhile, the University was open to anyone who could afford to pay the exorbitant fees, and it wasn’t uncommon for that to include those who had accomplished great things despite an inadequate education.
The professors had a good deal of power over what kinds of classes they decided to run. It was something of a free market, with professors earning most of their pay from the class fees. In general, this meant that professors aimed to run desirable classes with a high potential attendance.
A good deal ran classes on basics, as there was a great number of people who wanted to shore those up.
But a class covering… elementary and middle school level education wasn’t going to sell all that well. At all, really. And the professor in question was Dr. Jared Nocke! This was literally the guy who other professors went to to learn how to craft classes. In fact, he was head of the Curriculum Committee.
Anya slowly lifted her head, gulping as she took note of the man before her.
Who the hell was this guy, really?
Her shock was interrupted as she watched him scratch his head before enrolling himself into “Advanced Blood Runeology”.
He’s adding more classes!?
“Yeah, that should do it.”
Anya peeked at his tablet again. There were 27 classes packed into his schedule. In fact, the guy barely had like seven hours of free time a day. When was he planning to sleep? Or actually study?
It would be a miracle if he managed to pass even just a quarter of those classes. Was he perhaps simply that rich? Clearly, he didn’t care much for pissing money into the wind, and given by the fact he needed a refresher on elementary education, he certainly wasn’t a high-level scholar.
The conveyor belt finally took them to their location. The guy wasn’t paying attention, so he stumbled as the belt sank into the ground and threw him on static flooring.
To be fair, it happened to almost everyone who first took the ride.
The entrance hall was massive.
Oppressive metal walls rose on their sides, with murals and paintings breaking the overbearing architecture, breathing some life into the otherwise cold megastructure.
The ceiling was almost twenty meters high, with a number of university staff members flying above them on moving platforms. The students had to take a number of gates akin to the one they’d just come through, where conveyors zoomed them about to different sections of the building. Without those, getting anywhere on time would be impossible.
The hall was packed to the brim as usual.
Anya stepped off the conveyor belt, stopping just behind Freddy, who quickly caught himself and started walking forward. She noted that he looked like he really wanted to cover the badges on his chest with his arm, which wandered around his chest area.
Before she could even process her confusion, the many students before them began muttering, pointing fingers in the man’s direction and whispering in disbelief.
“Are those legit?”
“There’s no way.”
One man burst into laughter. “Dude!” He elbowed the friend who was walking beside him and then pointed at Freddy’s badges. “Look!”
What do they see!?
Given the reactions, Anya was starting to think the man had just lost a bet or something, and had to put something wildly inappropriate on his chest.
Anya was walking behind the man, so she hadn’t yet seen what exactly it was. She was about to explode with curiosity.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” A booming voice filled the hall.
Anya slowed her steps, deciding to stick a bit further back from the scene as she noticed who was approaching.
A muscular man wearing a tight white shirt marched in Freddy’s direction, fury evident in his expression. The man’s hair shimmered with an unnatural red color, his eyes burning with a golden hue.
Rather than just slow down, Anya actively took steps back, making extra sure she was nowhere close. Putting her head down, she slinked into the crowd. Oh my gosh! It’s Shane Lawman!
She had only seen the man a few times in passing. A son of the Rainbow Overlord, he was an extremely prominent figure among two-star youths in Starhold. There were few in their generation capable of matching the man’s power and accomplishment, which became doubly evident when she looked at the man’s chest.
He was about as decorated as a christmas tree. He even had a fifth-rank Slayer medal! That meant he had killed over a hundred monsters that were above his own rank!
Just the thought of having that kind of power shook Anya to the core. Even just a single kill above one’s rank was an unfathomable feat. A hundred was beyond inhuman. The odds of beating something stronger than yourself were well below 50%. Flipping that coin so many times and coming out on top required something special, something few people had.
“Huh?” Freddy muttered dumbly, pointing a finger at himself. “Are you talking to me?”
“Who else would I be talking to!?” Shane shouted, towering half a head over Freddy. “Take those off, or I’ll call a watchdog!”
I have to see this. Anya turned, making her way through the crowd as she moved to take a look at Freddy’s chest.
“And why should I?” Freddy retorted. “The hell’s wrong with you, man!?”
Shane stepped forward, pointing a finger down at Freddy. “Are you stupid? Do you think this is funny? I’m giving you a chance to live here, buddy.”
It was at this moment that Anya finally got a look at Freddy’s chest. She nearly burst into laughter. Okay, sure.
Those badges were obviously fake.
It stopped being funny when she remembered what the punishment for this was.
No matter how many lost their heads over it, there was always another idiot who thought it would be a wise idea to forge false badges.
But…
A chilling thought made its way down Anya’s spine. She knew who this person was. He was no doubt a highly competent fighter. So why would he…? She gulped. What if they aren’t fake?
It was unthinkable. Those badges were genuinely absurd. The man had a number of special-ranked badges, enough to put some Lords to shame. Many Lords, actually. Most didn’t have that many special badges.
It was particularly stupid to wear a fifth-rank Trooper badge while also wearing a first-rank Expert medal. Now that was funny. And a special-ranked Martyr badge? Those were given posthumously.
“You’re giving me a chance to live?” Freddy squinted at the taller man, the anxious air about him vanishing in an instant. “What exactly do you mean by that?”
Shane barked out a laugh. “You’re really choosing to die on this hill? Fine then.” Taking out a phone, he called up school security. “Fake badges, entry corridor.”
Freddy facepalmed and sighed in exasperation. “These are real, dude.”
Shane gritted his teeth. “Are you seriously that stupid!?” He flicked the special-ranked Martyr badge. “So you died in combat, then?” Then, he flicked the fifth-rank Trooper badge. “And you killed a million enemies”—then he flicked the Expert badge—”in fewer than ten battles?”
“I fucking hate my life…” Freddy muttered, looking profoundly embarrassed.
“It’s too late for regrets now, buddy.” Shane snorted.
Suddenly, a dense three-star aura descended onto the corridor. A trio of watchdogs stepped into the room, marching towards Shane and Freddy.