"This should be my classroom," Victor mumbled as he stared at the familiar room in front of him. In his previous life, before mana entered the world, this had been his classroom in the academy. He took a deep breath and pushed the door open.
"Excuse me, Mister Johnson, may I enter?" Victor asked as he saw the familiar classroom teacher—a middle-aged man with short hair—writing something on the board. He looked around but didn't see a single one of his old batchmates. Instead, the room was filled with juniors who had yet to attempt the trial.
As soon as he stepped inside, every pair of eyes turned toward him. Some students even showed surprised expressions.
"Victor! I knew it—you wouldn't die that easily. You're like a cockroach, impossible to kill. Otherwise, the beating you took from the Mages would've finished you off a long time ago."
Mister Johnson looked at him with an excited smile and walked over, patting his shoulder repeatedly. Victor, however, felt his eye twitch violently at those words.
The students immediately began chattering among themselves.
" Holy shit, Senior Victor is alive?" a student said his jaw dropped.
"Were you living under a rock? The news spread through the whole school within minutes," said another student.
"I was studying in the library… I didn't hear any of this," the student replied meekly.
"Hah, it's great that Senior Victor is back! And I heard he even rejected Olivia when she approached him. He's single now," one of the female students said with a glint in her eyes.
"That means plenty of single girls—and maybe even some with boyfriends—will break up just to pursue Senior Victor. I know I would," another girl added dreamily.
"Not only us. I'm sure many of the girls from his batch who recently became rankers and had a crush on him will also chase after him," said a third female student.
"But… are you sure the Ice Witch, Olivia, really broke things off with Victor? You all know how deep her obsession was with him. Honestly, I was shocked when I heard she started dating Kevin," another girl remarked, and the others fell silent.
"Yeah, I remember—back when Senior Victor was just starting to rise in popularity, she was the one who pursued him and confessed. But he rejected her because he was focused on training. Everyone was stunned—and jealous—that she got rejected. But in the end, Senior Victor did accept her," reminisced a student.
"Yeah, there were even some girls from his batch who tried flirting with him while he was still in a relationship, but they got frozen and beaten up by Olivia. Only after that did they stop. If she doesn't interfere this time, I'll definitely try my luck with Victor," said another female student.
"I don't think she will. She's with Kevin now, and besides, Senior Victor lost his memories," another student said hesitantly.
"Tsk, you girls are always talking about romance. I'm more excited to see Senior Victor put those Mage Bloodline students in their place. They've been getting way too arrogant since he disappeared," a male student said with a grin.
"But he's lost his strength. Did you forget?" one student reminded.
"Heh, just give him some time. I'm sure he'll regain his former strength easily," said one of Victor's fanboys with absolute confidence.
'So Olivia was the one who pursued me, huh? Damn, that makes me kind of envious of my past self…' Victor thought inwardly, then sighed. It wasn't really his problem anymore.
"Haha, take a seat," Mister Smith gestured, and Victor turned toward the classroom. He saw plenty of empty chairs and picked one in a less crowded spot—but the moment he sat down, several students immediately abandoned their seats and rushed to sit beside him.
'Hah, looks like I really was popular with the ladies. Guess dating Olivia wasn't so strange after all.' Victor glanced at the new students who had crowded around him and noticed most of them were girls looking at him with shining eyes. He gave them a polite smile, though he couldn't help but notice the frustration on the faces of some other girls across the room missing the chance to sit with him, who were biting their pens in irritation.
"Senior Victor, can I ask you a question?" a beautiful female student sitting beside him asked.
"Sure," Victor replied with a polite smile. "But you can drop the 'Senior' and just call me by my name."
All the girls' eyes lit up at that.
"Victor, is it really true that you lost your memories? Do you not remember anything?" the girl asked curiously.
"I did lose my memories," Victor admitted. "But I still retain a few of them. Mostly, I've forgotten the identities of other students and some of the basic knowledge about this world. My life before the academy, however, I remember most clearly."
"No wonder… so that's why you don't recognize us. You used to help many of us with our swordsmanship," the girl said with a smile and pointed at some of the others.
"Really?" Victor asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Yes. By the way, Victor, what about your Trial?" another student asked.
"Hmm, I'll be taking it in the next three months," Victor replied calmly.
"Did you really break up with Olivia?" another female student asked. Victor's eyebrows twitched, but he nodded, and a smile bloomed across every girl's face.
Turning his head, Victor focused on the front where Mister Watson was writing a complex math problem on the board. Other than being a knight bloodline user, Mister Watson was also their math teacher.
"Alright, can anyone solve this math problem?" Mister Watson asked and no one replied.
'Sigh, I expected too much. This one's difficult—I just wanted to see if anyone would even try, even though I had trouble solving it myself… wait, huh? Someone raised their hand?' Mister Watson blinked in shock. Not only he, but every student's mouth hung open when they saw who it was.
"H-Huh? V-Victor, you can solve this?" Mister Watson stammered.
"Yes." Victor was puzzled by their exaggerated reactions—this was a simple problem for him.
"Alright… you can try," Mister Watson said, taking a deep breath before gesturing for Victor to come to the board. He handed him the marker.
Victor took it and began smoothly solving the problem.
'There's no way he'll get it right,' the students thought nervously, watching the board.
"Done," Victor said, stepping back and looking at the dumbfounded Mister Watson.
'Heavens… what the hell? This is correct! Did losing his memory somehow make him smarter or something?' Mister Watson stared at Victor stiffly, his mouth hanging open.