.
[Alex]
Age: 18
Gender: M
Race: Human
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Upon spotting Alex, Soren couldn't help but feel excitement flow through his body.
As a day 1 fan of TKS, it would have been stranger if he wasn't.
[Duel between Alex and Penny begin!]
The second the TA announced the start of the duel, Alex dashed forward and swung at his opponent without hesitation.
Slash!
The sword cut through the air, threatening to end the duel in an instant, but…
Clang–
His opponent managed to block it.
Clatter
As swords clashed, Alex began to get overpowered in terms of strength and leapt back in an attempt to create distance, but his opponent wouldn't allow that.
Clang
Slash–!
Penny's sword cut Alex's arm and leg, slowly building up minor wounds; meanwhile, Alex had yet to land even a single blow.
'He's being pushed back.'
Every time Alex and Penny would clash, Alex's fatigue began to build.
His body was unable to keep up.
His breath became rougher, and his movements became more slugging.
Stagger
As Alex was about to attack, he misstepped, causing him to lose his balance.
Just as Penny was about to take advantage of that opening, it happened.
KWAAAAA—!
A torrent of golden light shot out of Alex in all directions.
Everyone's attention shifted to the arena where two low-ranking students were fighting.
The reason for this?
[Divinity]
Alex's unique skill.
And also the proof that the hero has appeared.
– What's that?
– What's going on?
– Wait.. Is that… Is that the goddess's power?
With those words, it was like a floodgate had opened.
– It's the hero!
– He's real!
In the centre of the arena stood Alex, his opponent on the floor in front of him.
Nobody had seen what actions he had performed thanks to the blinding light, but he had somehow managed to win.
Seeing the reactions of the audience, he looked around with an awkward smile while scratching his cheek.
"Oops, ahaha."
He seemed slightly embarrassed by all the attention and quickly left the arena, leaving everyone in shock and awe.
Everyone except one person, that is.
'Is.. that it?'
He felt underwhelmed by what had just played out before his eyes.
In his memories the awakening event felt so cool, Alex fought with all he had, even knowing his weakness, but in the end he was unable to keep up with Penny and even let his weapon slip away causing his [Divinity] to bloom, seeing this the students were in awe and started shouting, calling him a hero.
'…Maybe I expected too much, Alex is also a class F student like me.'
Alex's stat sheet when starting the game was almost as bad as Soren's, with every stat starting at 0.5.
But unlike Soren, he had [Divinity] and the luck of a protagonist, which meant his growth couldn't even be compared to someone like Soren.
'It is a shame, though.'
He looked away from the arena that Alex had just been fighting in and checked on the other duels taking place.
The first person he saw was someone familiar.
'I was hoping he'd get beaten up a bit but…'
"Has he even been hit?"
On one side of the arena stood Felix with a smug grin plastered on his face.
He seemed to be using a mix of [Gaia] and [Bloom], completely playing with his opponent.
'What an awful personality.'
He was changing the terrain and restraining his opponent's movements, making it impossible for the swordsman to even take a step towards him.
'It's impressive.'
Soren knew that Felix was strong, but seeing it in action was a different experience.
BOOM!
An explosion rang out, catching Soren's attention.
"Wow…"
When he looked over to where the explosion came from, his eyes widened.
'She's a monster.'
Standing there was a beastkin.
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[Amelia Indras Einhardt]
Age: 18
Gender: F
Race: Beastkin (Wolf)
.
Rank 1 of combat studies.
The second princess of Einhardt.
One of the three main heroines.
She was a woman of many titles.
Currently, she was duelling against Rank 2 of combat studies.
'It's not even a fight.'
[Amelia Einhardt wins.]
It was such a one-sided assault that it left Soren in awe.
Beyond that, there was another reason he couldn't pull his eyes away.
'She's pretty.'
Long silver hair shone in the sunlight.
Neon yellow eyes that gave the impression of a predator.
Her toned yet slim body.
The wolf ears and a fluffy tail that goes down to her ankles.
'It looks so soft..'
She was so attractive that there was a part of Soren that even began to lament the fact that he wasn't the protagonist.
If it were only one, it would be one thing, but Alex had two more, both of the same calibre as Amelia, fighting tooth and nail for his affection.
"Sigh.. It's unfair."
He had already stated that he didn't want to get involved in the story, but that didn't leave him without regrets; after all, it would be impossible to have these thoughts when looking at someone like Amelia.
'Speaking of heroines…'
Soren scanned the building, trying to find a specific person.
'There she is.'
In another arena was a short yet chubby girl with hazel eyes and brown hair running around frantically.
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[Olivia]
Age: 18
Gender: F
Race: Human
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'I feel sorry for her..'
The woman in question was not only a childhood friend of Alex but also another one of the main heroines.
The reason Soren felt sorry for her, however, was that she was a healer.
Unable to properly attack, all she was able to do was run around, hoping her opponent would run out of stamina.
After seeing two out of three of the main heroines, a question suddenly came to mind.
'I wonder who he'll choose?'
Unlike when Ivansia was still a part of a game, the devs can no longer control the actions of each and every character, so even though there was never romance in the game, that won't necessarily be the case anymore.
Soren thought that if, like the game, the three heroines fell for Alex here too, it was highly likely they'd act on it.
'It would be stupid to expect them to stay silent forever.'
Above all, Soren had already seen how differently characters can act between game and reality through Lilliana alone.
Soren closed his eyes, lost in thought.
'I remember there being so many arguments about who would win…'
'Personally, I was always team Olivia.'
It wasn't because she was the character that he liked best, he actually preferred Crusch—the third heroine—the reason for him supporting Olivia was actually because she was Alex's childhood friend.
Olivia, like many childhood friend tropes, had been in love with Alex since they were very young.
Back before their village was invaded by demons, Olivia had been bullied frequently for her weight, and the person who stood up for and protected her at that time was Alex.
Ever since then, they had been inseparable, so much so that even when Alex said he would apply for Stellaris Academy, she suddenly said she would as well so that they could continue to be together.
In Soren's eyes, it felt wrong to have Alex end up with anyone other than Olivia after she had been with him so long.
'I wonder what Crusch is up to at this point.'
Soren suddenly thought about the third heroine, Crusch Fialova, the third princess of Fialova and his favourite of the three main heroines.
Born to a concubine, she had no legitimate right to the throne, but unfortunately, none of her siblings cared for that, still believing her to be a threat, leaving her to be isolated in the royal palace. This led her to flee to Stellaris Academy when she finally came of age.
'That's not until next year though.'
By the time Crusch enrolled, Alex had already started making a name for himself as a second-year, which was why she even got involved with him in the first place, choosing to befriend the hero as a form of protection.
Soren was slightly glum at the fact that he likely wouldn't even be able to talk to Crusch, but his mood changed when he remembered everything Alex went through to have those experiences.
[Rank 96 and 83 of magical studies, please come down to the arena.]
At the sound of his rank being called, he stood up, stretched, and then made his way to the arena.
••✦ ♡ ✦•••
Thanks to the previous duel, Soren had gained a little confidence in his abilities, but he also knew that he still had to be careful.
.
▶ Main Quest: First Steps (1) ◀
[Details: Win all 3 duels.]
[Difficulty: C]
.
The difficulty displayed on the quest window still said C, which meant that even though his first opponent was that weak, the next two were unlikely to be the same.
[Mock duel between Soren Arden and Eugene begins.]
Unlike in the previous duel, Soren's opponent didn't try to provoke him and instead took on a defensive demeanour, watching his every action carefully.
'He's smarter at least.'
Noticing Soren's lack of movement, Eugene raised his hand, casting the spell he had prepared.
"「Shock」"
Zzzaappp——!
Soren moved his body to the left, and a bolt of electricity shot past him.
Seeing the scorched ground where he was previously standing, he broke out into a cold sweat.
'What the hell is that proficiency?'
The spell Eugene had used was a basic-tier spell called [Shock], but his proficiency in it was insane.
'That's at least C+...'
Unlike Soren, others in this world don't have status windows, thus don't have accurate measurements of their stats or proficiencies.
Either way, Soren knew that his opponent was nothing like his previous one.
Wooonggg–
The yellow magic circle shone brightly, signalling the completion of Eugene's spell.
His spellcasting process was long, but the power of each spell was more in line with a class D student than a class E.
Crackling!
Lightning was once again shot at Soren, slightly scorching the sleeve of his cloak due to a near miss.
'I need to get this over with.'
With the power of his opponent's spell, Soren had decided he couldn't just stay passive and watch like he had been doing until now.
Eugene also noticed Soren's shift in posture and held his spell instead of casting it, waiting to see what Soren would do.
Soren took one step forward.
Two steps.
Then he broke out into a full sprint.
Eugene's face was filled with bewilderment at the sight of a mage running towards him, and due to that, his response was slower than usual.
With every step he took, the magic circle forming in Soren's hand shone brighter until it was finally complete.
Eugene's eyes were filled with panic, and he hastily cast the spell he had previously prepared.
"「Shield!」"
A transparent grey barrier surrounded Eugene, and he quickly started casting once more, but unfortunately for him, Soren had already reached the barrier, arm pulled back, preparing to punch.
Then.
"「Ignition」"
KWAAA—!
Just as Soren's fist was about to hit the barrier, he cast the spell prepared when running.
Shatter
The barrier crumpled like paper at the harsh flames pouring onto it.
Without stopping for even a second, Soren's fist shot through the now broken barrier and hit Eugene directly in the face.
Thud!
Unlike Eugene's [Shock] proficiency, his [Shield] was laughably bad, so much so that even Soren's low proficiency [Ignition] could easily break through it.
Eugene looked up at Soren, eyes trembling.
It looked as if he had seen something impossible happen.
"H-How did you do that? That doesn't even make sense?"
"Who knows?"
He said with a smile on his face, then raised his foot and…
Stomp
"Ack–!"
Stomped on Eugene's stomach, ending the duel instantly.
[Soren Arden wins.]
Soren turned to leave the arena, completely unaware that he had already caught the eye of a predator…
————「❤︎」————