"If you want to live... be stronger than death."
That was the first sentence I wrote in a new notebook I found in Cassius's room.
A week had passed since the meeting with my parents.
A week of thinking, analyzing... and preparing.
In the game, Cassius had it all:
A natural talent for the sword. A magical genius. A perfect physique.
But what he didn't have...was the will to survive.
He was just a character...who dissolved halfway through the story.
As for me?
I want to survive.
I want to dominate.
I want to be the master of the game, not its victim.
So, I began training.
---
At dawn every day, before anyone was awake, I went out to the back practice yard.
The sword first.
Cassius's old moves were memorized in his body, but I needed to awaken them, repeat them, and strengthen them.
Quick strikes, precise muscle contracts, and measured breaths.
Then magic.
I sat cross-legged on the floor, surrounded by simple energy circles I'd drawn with chalk.
I circulated my inner mana, slowly at first, then more rapidly.
— "An internal mana explosion, converting it to heat, then releasing it as a short wave... like what Cassius did in the third theoretical magic exam."
— "Shadow magic, partial control pattern, summoning a palm-sized shadow."
— "Body enhancement magic. It's not enough to be a magician; I must be a magical warrior."
I failed at first. A lot.
But I knew something the original Cassius didn't:
"A true wielder... isn't afraid to try again."
---
The servants began to notice.
Even Miranda, who had always been calm, said to me one day:
— "You train like you're going to war, young master."
— "Because I am going to war, Miranda. Only no one knows yet."
---
I read every book in the library.
About the Dragon Races.
About the Sins of the Dark Emperor.
About the Secrets of Raw Mana.
About the elite squads that form in the first year of the Academy, and how their members are selected.
"Information... is my first weapon."
---
At the end of the fourth week, I stood in front of the mirror.
I looked into the reflection of a face that was still young, but whose eyes had become sharper.
His body movements were more rigid.
His energy aura... resembled a simmering fire.
"Cassius von Grecian... was a genius."
"As for me... I will be a legend."
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