'I remember reading a thread online about why transmigration would suck in real life, and at the time I got into an argument with the op, saying that he was stupid and wrong…'
Why was he having this thought right now?
One word: School.
Waking up at the crack of dawn, wearing stuffy uniforms, and attending classes from dawn till dusk.
To put it simply, it was hell.
Back on earth, Isaac was a college student, so he had already gotten used to the fact that he didn't have to wake up early, nor did he have to wear any uncomfortable uniforms anymore.
But that wasn't even the worst part of it to Isaac.
He quickly remembered how horrible teenagers were.
Back then, it was one thing, but here it seemed even worse.
The reason for that was simple: status.
Unlike his previous one, this world had a very clearly defined status system, and as was typical in medieval fantasy stories, nobility looked down on commoners.
But as if that wasn't enough, high nobility looked down on low nobility, meaning that no matter who you were, as long as you weren't at the top, you were an easy target for somebody out there.
Soren swallowed a sigh that threatened to escape.
It had only been an hour since he had woken up, and he was already exhausted.
The leading cause of his exhaustion was his current situation.
When he had figured out that Soren was a part of a Count's family, he thought he was somewhat lucky since that was a pretty high status, but…
'They're avoiding me.'
Every person Soren looked at turned to avoid making eye contact.
As if that wasn't bad enough, some even backed away from him when he walked near them.
He had thought that Soren might have been somewhat popular with his charm stat, but that fantasy had quickly shattered into a million pieces.
'I'm not sure whether this is a good or bad thing…'
At first, Soren couldn't help but feel his mood plummet when he noticed he was being avoided, but when he thought about it further, he felt that maybe it was for the best.
Sure, it was somewhat painful not to have a single friend, but he quickly realised how awkward it would have been if someone suddenly started acting like a close friend when he had no memories of them.
'Seriously, though, what did you do, Soren?'
"Whatever.."
He cleared his head of useless thoughts and closed his eyes, pretending to sleep until the professor arrived.
••✦ ♡ ✦•••
SLAM!
The door swung open loudly, waking Soren from his nap.
As he raised his head to see who was there, he was greeted by what could only be described as an angel.
A short stature, vibrant emerald eyes and cherry blossom-coloured hair, styled into a neat bob with bear ears nestled on top.
There was only a single word Soren could use to describe the sight before his eyes.
'Adorable.'
At any other time, it would've been nice to see her, but right now she was a person he wasn't too happy to meet at the moment, leaving him conflicted.
He muttered a word under his breath, quiet enough so he wouldn't be noticed.
"「Information」"
.
.
[Lilliana Roseblood]
Age: 22
Gender: F
Race: Dhampir (Beastkin)
.
.
Sure enough, a window appeared before Soren's eyes.
'I should've guessed as much…'
Upon reading the status window, Soren had noticed a key feature was missing.
The affinity bar.
He swallowed the groan that threatened to escape and looked up from the translucent window.
The person who had just entered the classroom was Lilliana Roseblood.
On the forums, Lilliana was a character with a relatively large following thanks to her cute, teddy bear-like appearance, even though she wasn't a playable character.
Lilliana was a beginner professor who had only just graduated the previous year, yet was still talented enough to earn a professorial role immediately.
Because of this, she takes being a professor very seriously, even adopting a strict professorial demeanour when dealing with students. However, due to her appearance, it's hard to find her intimidating at all, and instead, it just adds to her cuteness.
Even in-game, it was a running gag to have her professor break down occasionally to show cute scenes of her blushing or stammering.
The reason Lilliana is the professor of class F despite her overwhelming magical knowledge is simple: during her first year of teaching, she was assigned to class F as a way to test her abilities.
In Stellaris Academy, class F was a form of safety net for newly enrolled students.
Students who had just barely failed to reach class E, students who hadn't had their time to grow yet, that was who made up class F.
Stellaris Academy created class F as a means to discover these hidden sprouts, and that was also why the safety net of class F would disappear by second year.
And by giving them a year to develop, they hoped that these sprouts would blossom, even slightly.
The 35 students sitting in the classroom, including Soren himself, would be whittled down by the start of their second-year, then merged into class E, deleting the safety net that was class F.
How many would remain? The only people with that information would be the professors after the year ends, as there was no solid cut-off point.
So, if Lilliana could grow any of these sprouts, it would show her abilities as a professor.
Luckily, Lilliana is an outstanding professor, if the game was anything to go by, so next year she would be teaching class B of the second-years.
The reason Soren wasn't too happy to see Lilliana, however, was that it confirmed that he was in the same year as the protagonist.
This meant the likelihood of his goal being achieved had just fallen drastically.
What was Soren's goal?
It wasn't anything special; he simply just wanted to have fun and enjoy himself.
Naturally, being a character in the same year as the story takes place makes that goal a lot harder.
"I will be taking attendance now, so if your name is called, please respond promptly."
••✦ ♡ ✦•••
Classes at Stellaris didn't seem to be anything special.
Soren thought that it was probably because he was in class F, but most of the lessons were very basic, even more so, thanks to Soren's unique skill.
Because of this, all he had to do was look at a textbook once, and he could remember it word for word at any time.
'At least exams won't be difficult.'
There were exceptions, though.
Thanks to the knowledge gap between this and his previous world, even if he could memorise everything, there were still some things that Soren could not understand.
Those exceptions being magic theory and the class that Soren was currently attending:
Demonology.
"Does anyone know the difference between demons and monsters?"
Not a single hand was raised, as to be expected of class F.
"...The key difference between demons and monsters is intelligence. Think of it like the difference between humans and animals. Demons, like humans—"
As the class progressed, the professor continued to teach information that, on the surface, seemed like common sense in this world, but for someone like Soren, a transmigrator, it was exciting.
In TKS they never really went into any depth about the magic system, monsters or demons, magic was just a skill that you pressed a button for and both monsters and demons were just enemies to be killed, sure there were a variety of those enemies but since it was an RPG there weren't thing like 'weak points' or things that would show up in real life.
A good example of this was goblins.
In-game goblins were an easy early-game mob.
They were weak to every type of attack and had no strengths.
Their attacks consisted of [Slash] and [Yell]
In real life, however, goblins aren't so simple.
While demons and monsters still have weaknesses, in real life, they're a lot more specific.
A goblin's weak spots are the same as any humanoid creature: The heart and the brain.
Their attacks are also a lot more varied.
Since goblins are humanoid, they can use most weapons, and due to not maintaining weapons, most of them are covered in rust, meaning even a single slash can be dangerous if you aren't careful.
Goblins also hunt in groups and form tribes, meaning it's very unlikely to fight one alone, and even if you get lucky and fight a small number, they're intelligent enough to call for help when needed.
There is a lot more information, but from this alone, it's easy to see how different this world is from the game.
Soren couldn't help but feel excitement whenever he heard new information like this, as to him it was as if he was finding out new information about his favourite game that he had never heard before.
Ding- Dong-♪ Ding- Dong-♪
"—And with that, we will end today's class here. Be careful on your way out."
When the bell rang, signalling the end of the final class of the day, Soren hastily packed his things and rushed out of the classroom, as there was still one more thing he had to do today.
Exiting the arcane studies building, he started walking towards the martial studies building.
In Stellaris, there were a total of four majors that you could apply for when enrolling:
– Arcane Studies
– Martial Studies
– Divine Studies
– Academic Studies.
Although it may sound strange for there to be an academic studies major in a game like TKS, it made a fair amount of sense if you thought about it.
The world of TKS is a medieval fantasy.
There are three kingdoms secretly vying for power, while on the surface, they uphold their alliance.
– The Kingdom of Fialova (The Human Kingdom)
– The Kingdom of Einhardt (The Beastkin Kingdom)
– The Kingdom of Yggdrasil (The Elven Kingdom)
And in the centre of all of those lay Stellaris Academy.
Stellaris Academy is both affiliated with all three kingdoms and unaffiliated; no kingdom has power over Stellaris Academy, but at the same time, Stellaris Academy still needs to appease the kingdoms to obtain financial support and attract new students each year.
And realistically, how many haughty, arrogant nobles would want to roll around fighting in the dirt amongst commoners?
Even with the world in its current state, where the Valefor—The Demon Realm—is becoming more active thanks to the Demon Lord's revival, rich snobs continue to refuse to get their hands dirty.
'...To be honest, that's not much different on earth either.'
Regardless, the point is that Stellaris Academy established the academic studies majors as both a means to appease nobility and to attract more students.
After all, even if the world is in a state of constant wariness of Valefor, that doesn't necessarily mean every person is needed on the battlefield.
The academic studies major is irrelevant in-game, though.
TKS is a game about training, spending time with your characters, fighting bosses and eventually saving the world.
What room would there be for some bookworm who can't even take a step onto the battlefield?
There were fewer than five playable academic studies characters, and they were all considered garbage-tier characters that you wouldn't even glance at for combat.
'Well, some of them were cute at least'
Soren looked up at the building in front of him.
There was something he desperately needed to check here.
To Soren, it was quite literally a matter of life and death.
'Is the protagonist in this world?'
It was time to find out.
••✦ ♡ ✦•••
After waiting for about 15 minutes, Soren started to get worried.
If the protagonist wasn't in this world, then it was likely that Soren would have to take his place, which was the last thing he wanted to do.
'I want to enjoy my life in this world.'
Back on earth, he had already dealt with enough hardship, and here he was finally free of everything that had dragged him down previously.
Step step step
Then a flash of blonde passed by his eyes.
His eyes widened as he quickly looked up.
There he was.
The blonde-haired, blue-eyed protagonist.
.
[Alex]
Age: 18
Gender: M
Race: Human
.
"Hahhhhh."
The moment Soren saw him, he let out a sigh of relief and slumped against the wall.
Looking at his status window, it seems like his name was set to the default option 'Alex.'
Thanks to Alex being a commoner, he doesn't have a family name, but what he does have is the unique skill [Divinity].
This is the skill that lets Alex be the protagonist.
On the surface, it seemed similar to divine power, which priests and nuns use, but that couldn't be further from the truth.
Divine power, which was silver, was primarily used for healing and buffing and was borrowed from the gods through faith.
[Divinity], on the other hand, which was gold, was directly given by the Goddess of Time.
[Divinity] is the bane of all monsters and demons alike.
In-game, it was as simple as every demon and monster was weak to [Divinity], but Soren had no idea how that would translate to real life.
It was also the biggest reason why Soren was worried about taking the protagonist's place.
Without [Divinity], Soren would have to work more than twice as hard as Alex, which was almost impossible since Alex's personality was that of someone who doesn't stop training.
'I'm just glad I can take it easy.'
With his worries settled, Soren returned to his dorm with lighter steps.
————「❤︎」————