Chapter 2: First Relics and First Problems
If there's one thing every decent RPG player knows, it's this:
You don't wait for the story to start.
You break it.
And so, while the other students of Ordanis Academy were busy unpacking their trunks and practicing how to smile nobly, I was digging through dirt under a statue at 3 in the morning.
Because this statue? It wasn't just a forgotten piece of stone honoring Sir Glorious-Something-the-Third.
It was a loot marker.
"Come on, come on..." I whispered, brushing away dirt and roots with a small enchanted spade.
Then—clink.
I froze.
There it was. Half-buried in the soil, wrapped in aged leather and humming with a faint dark purple aura.
[Fragment of the Nameless Codex]
First hidden piece? Mine.
I held it in my hand as the mana in the fragment pulsed gently. It looked like a burned corner of a once-grand tome, still exuding energy. In the game, you needed all six fragments to unlock the ability to rewrite reality.
Which, of course, none of the main characters ever did.
Idiots.
I had a copy-paste brain and no moral compass. That fragment? It was step one in a long, greedy staircase to the top.
"Alright," I whispered to myself, standing. "One down. Thirty or forty more to go."
And with that, the nightmares officially began.
---
Back in the dorm, the half-elf roommate still hadn't spoken a word to me. Honestly, I respected that. Quiet people are the backbone of society—they don't ask questions when you sneak in covered in dirt and arcane energy.
I opened my notebook—one I'd enchanted to be non-detectable by surveillance spells—and started checking off my next objectives.
[Thread of Kalserin's Echo]: hidden in the disposal vents behind the alchemy lab. Grants resistance to time-based magic. Will be needed later when the Academy nearly collapses in a temporal loop.
[Tome of Unweaving]: deep in the restricted section of the library, behind a puzzle that kills anyone who fails it. That's tomorrow's nightmare.
[Sealed Flame of Viridian]: sealed beneath the Academy's dueling arena. Needs a fire core to break it. Need to steal one from the forge. Legally? Hah.
I chuckled softly. "Most people worry about failing classes. I worry about surviving cursed puzzles and ghost traps."
---
The next day was the official start of orientation classes.
I took my place in the back of Lecture Hall C, a large room designed for about sixty students but currently hosting maybe twenty. We were the "leftovers"—non-noble, non-genius, non-special.
Which made me invisible.
Perfect.
I scanned the room. No main characters in sight. Good. That meant I had breathing room.
But just as I pulled out a scroll to re-read the [Codex Fragment's] secondary effect, the door slammed open.
A girl walked in, late.
Silver hair, golden eyes, long coat over her uniform. She walked like she owned the continent and everyone on it.
Reina Von Lysser.
One of the five main characters.
Noble, cold, monstrously powerful. Destined to awaken a divine bloodline and lead the resistance against the Demon Kings in the future.
Why was she in our class?
No, no, no.
I sunk deeper into my seat. Please let this be a fluke. Maybe she's just here to deliver a message?
She sat down.
In the row in front of me.
"Of course," I whispered to myself. "Because fate's a petty gremlin."
---
Class dragged on with an old professor explaining the properties of harmonized mana crystals. I pretended to take notes while actually scribbling ideas for how to reach the alchemy lab's disposal chute without setting off the alarms.
Then came combat practice.
Everyone had to spar—just basic evaluations. I intentionally performed just above average. Enough to avoid suspicion, but not enough to stand out.
Until Reina stepped into the arena.
Her opponent? Some arrogant third-son noble.
He made it three seconds.
She didn't even draw a weapon. Just used a glare and compressed mana to slam him into the ground.
Dead silence.
And then she looked at me.
No—through me.
Like she could smell something strange.
"...Hm."
Nope. Nope nope nope. I mentally buried my aura and activated [Low Presence], a minor skill I had picked up in a hidden sub-quest last night.
I don't care how pretty or powerful you are. Stay away from me. I'm on a schedule.
---
That night, I snuck into the alchemy lab using a borrowed janitor's badge and a very long list of lies.
The disposal chute was beneath a false floorboard.
I pried it open.
The inside was filled with broken glass, failed concoctions, and mana residue. Smelled like someone tried to invent citrus-flavored acid.
I descended carefully, using [Threadbare Cloak]—a junk item that grants 1% stealth bonus. Useless for heroes. Perfect for gremlins like me.
And there it was.
[Thread of Kalserin's Echo]
A glowing silver thread, tangled in a ruined experimental golem.
I reached for it—carefully—when the golem's eyes flickered.
"Of course it's not dead," I muttered.
One smoke bomb and a sprint later, I was back in my room, thread secured in a containment pouch and heart pounding like a terrified rabbit.
Second relic? Acquired.
I collapsed into bed, sweaty and smiling.
Two relics in two days.
I was on fire.
Possibly literally. The Thread had a weird afterglow.
---
Before sleeping, I pulled out the photo of my sister again.
She was the only thing grounding me. My real goal. The real reason I was risking permanent death in a cursed magic school simulator.
Beat the 8th Demon King—Nihil'Thar, the Rift Reaper.
Get his dimensional key.
Go home.
No saving the world. No bonding arcs with righteous heroes. No sacrifice for a cause I don't care about.
I just want my sister.
And I'll burn every villain, every dungeon, and every prophecy along the way to make it happen.
Even if I have to smile and joke the whole way through.