He slowly opened his eyes, pausing instantly when he didn't see the familiar ceiling.
"Where the hell am I?"
Arlo slowly got up and looked around.
This was an old, single-room house. As he looked around, he noticed there was nothing in the house except for a bed, a table, and a small cupboard. Moreover, all the furniture seemed to be from an ancient era.
"Was I kidnapped?"
As Arlo thought this, a sudden pain shot through his head, and memories began to surface in his mind, making his eyes widen.
"Did I transmigrate to another world?"
Arlo was an ordinary 25-year-old man on Earth. His only unusual trait was being an orphan, but he had overcome that and continued living a normal life a long time ago. Apart from that, his life was spent commuting to work, occasionally going out with friends, watching movies, and playing games. In short, he had an ordinary life.
Now, he was a 17-year-old boy with the same name, and this world was very different from his previous one.
Unlike his old world, this one was fundamentally based on magic. People became stronger with the help of magic, easily achieving things he had only watched in movies in his previous life.
Arlo was currently attending a magic school.
Magic schools were equivalent to the kingdoms of the old world. Each magic school controlled a certain region and held all the authority within that area. If you possessed talent, you could enter these magic schools and gain powers unattainable by ordinary people, but if you were untalented, you were condemned to a normal life.
Arlo was one of those people.
Unlike his previous life, Arlo had a family in this life. His father was a civil servant in the city administration, and his mother was a housewife. While being a civil servant might seem like an ordinary job, they were the magic schools' connection to the common people.
Even though there were rules and laws in this world, in a world without security cameras, where a person could be faster than a car and shatter rocks with a single punch, safety was always one of the problematic areas.
That's why civil servants were one of the most prestigious professions for common folk, as besides earning a good salary, they came under the protection of a magic school. Considering that magic schools were the true owners of the regions, no one could easily harm a civil servant.
With such a family, Arlo and his two siblings had lived an ordinary but beautiful life. When Arlo turned 16, he passed the magic school exams, showing that he possessed the talent to become a mage.
He was currently an outer student at the Koltare Magic School.
In this world, mages were sequentially categorized as a Mage Apprentice, True Mage, Master Mage, and Mage King, and each step had 9 levels.
Arlo was currently a 3rd-Level Mage Apprentice, which is why he was an outer student.
In the school, students were divided into outer students, inner students, and true students. A person could only become an inner student as a True Mage.
After processing these memories, Arlo stood blankly for a moment and looked around. He didn't have much to leave behind from his previous life, so adapting to his new life wasn't too difficult.
The real question was what he should do now.
---
System loading.
---
Arlo's eyes opened with excitement. He had read a few things about this in his old world, and if he had a system, it could definitely be said that he wouldn't be ordinary in this world.
---
Name: Arlo Klser
Level: 3rd-Level Mage Apprentice
Abilities: Fireball (Medium), Fire Wall (Medium)
EXP: 0/100
---
Arlo stopped and looked at the screen that had appeared in front of him.
"Well, so what?"
Normally, shouldn't systems give their users unnecessarily powerful and potential-filled welcome gifts?
Why didn't Arlo have anything?
---
Quest defined.
Quest Description: You haven't seen any place in the school except for certain areas since you entered. Now is the time to change that.
Quest: Explore every place you can go to in the magic school
Quest Reward: 5 EXP
---
Arlo understood the situation as he looked at the new window that opened in front of him. This was a quest and reward-based system.
After looking around, he got up and approached a water jug to wash his face, looking at his reflection in the process, but he froze in surprise.
"How is this 17 years old?"
Arlo had brown hair and light green eyes. Arlo didn't care much about these because there were all colors of hair and eyes in this world. What really caught his attention was his face.
He had soft-angled facial features, and combined with his fair skin, he could be said to have a handsome face, but the problem was that the face didn't look like a 17-year-old's.
"If I saw him in my previous life, I'd call him 'bro'."
Yes, despite being 17, Arlo looked like he was in his mid-20s.
After standing for another second or two, Arlo sighed and lifted his head. Although his consciousness had merged with the previous Arlo's memories, the difference in perception was evident here.
According to the previous Arlo, having these facial features at this age was completely normal, which is why he hadn't even thought about it, thus highlighting the difference in perception.
Arlo took a deep breath, washed his hands and face, and left the small house. It would take time for him to get used to these events, so for now, letting things flow was better.
When Arlo stepped outside, he paused for a moment while looking at his new world.
Koltare Magic School was built in the middle of a mountain range to protect it from various attacks. Because of this, no matter where Arlo turned his head, he saw huge mountains.
Also, whether due to the magic school's location or the underdeveloped technology of this world, the air was much fresher than in his previous life. Arlo could feel himself revitalized even while breathing.
He was currently in the area where the outer students' houses were located. Small, single-room houses like his own lined both sides of the road, and people walked along the long path between the houses.
A new thing Arlo noticed was that the attractiveness level of the people here was much higher than in his previous life.
Arlo had thought he was handsome when he first saw himself, but now looking around, he could only be considered slightly above average here because the place was full of handsome men and beautiful women.
Arlo didn't know if the reason for this was that the magic in this world made people more developed or if it was because the magic school contained elite individuals, but since he looked 25 at the age of 17, it was clear that magic played a part in these differences.
---
Quest defined.
Quest Description: Self-proving is an endless path.
Quest: Get 10 people to admit you are handsome.
Quest Reward: 10 EXP
---
"..."
Arlo was speechless for a moment as he looked at the window in front of him.
In a world where power reigned supreme, should the path to self-proving be getting others to admit you are handsome?
As Arlo stood there, a bad feeling suddenly passed through him.
This system didn't seem very reliable.
---
"Bro, am I really ugly?"
"Huh?"
Ornak was surprised as he looked at the person who randomly appeared in front of him.
"My girlfriend left me, saying I wasn't handsome enough. Do you think I'm that ugly?"
As the man looked at him sadly, Ornak felt bad for a moment. The man in front of him was handsomer than him, so what should he say about himself if this man was ugly?
"No, of course not, bro. You are very handsome. That girl must be blind for not appreciating your worth."
Arlo wiped away fake tears and looked at the man in front of him.
"Thank you, brother, I needed that. I hope you meet your loved one too."
As Arlo prepared to leave after saying this, the man in front of him suddenly started crying this time.
"Can I really do it?"
"Huh?"
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
---
Quest completed.
Quest: Get 10 people to admit you are handsome.
Quest Reward: 10 EXP
---
Name: Arlo Klser
Level: 3rd-Level Mage Apprentice
Abilities: Fireball (Medium), Fire Wall (Medium)
EXP: 10/100
---
'If I were a psychologist in this world, I'd probably make a fortune.'
Arlo looked with surprise at the man walking away with a half-happy, half-sad expression. He didn't know if he was the one picking out people with psychological issues or if everyone here was troubled, but the things he did just to complete this quest were earning real-world psychologists a ton of money.
Arlo finally relaxed, relieved that the quest was over. The task he had expected to be easy hadn't been so simple mentally.
He sighed and kept walking. He still needed to explore the school, but he froze again when a new display appeared in front of him.
---
Quest defined.
Quest Description: The sun is everyone's shared property. Those who use it excessively must be punished.
Quest: Punish the culprit in the sun's catchment area with a loud slap.
Quest Reward: 30 EXP
Failure Penalty: Level -1
---
'Someone who uses too much sun? What the hell is this?'
Arlo was bewildered by the quest when his eyes were suddenly dazzled.
A bald, muscular man with a stern face, nearly 2 meters tall, was walking past him.
'...'
Yes, the light was coming from the man's sun-like shining head.
Arlo didn't know whether to laugh or cry as he looked from the man to the quest.
The system's sense of humor wasn't bad, but he wasn't sure if he'd be laughing when the 2-meter man beat him to a pulp.
Moreover, there was a penalty, and apparently, it meant a regression in his mage level.
It should be noted that Arlo was only a 3rd-Level Mage Apprentice despite having been here for over a year. Furthermore, he understood from his memories that he hadn't reached Level 3 long ago. Now, losing one level here could cost him months.
Arlo gritted his teeth, looked at the man, and ran toward him.
"Brother, brother, wait!"
The man suddenly stopped and turned around. Arlo involuntarily gulped when he saw the 2-meter man covered in muscle.
Beyond his physique, he could sense that the man was a much higher-level mage than himself.
"What do you want?"
The man asked in an intimidating voice, and Arlo immediately replied.
"There's a fly on your head."
Yes, that was the only thing he could think of in a hurry.
The man looked at him, then ran his hand over his head, but found nothing.
"It escaped your hand and moved to the back."
Arlo described the non-existent fly to the man, slowly stepped behind him, and cried out while praying internally.
"Damn it, it's going to sting your head!"
Then, he slapped his head with all his might.
'SMACK'
'...'
Perhaps he got a little too carried away because the sound reverberated around the area, and several heads turned their way.
The man slowly turned and looked at him. Then, as he slowly raised his hand, Arlo felt his soul briefly leaving his body.
'System, your sense of humor is terrible.'
Arlo closed his eyes, awaiting a painful death, when a hand landed on his shoulder and held him.
It couldn't be called gentle, but it wasn't the deadly strike he expected.
Arlo hesitantly opened his eyes and saw the man smiling brightly.
"Thank you, brother, it would have been awful if a fly had left a mark on my beautiful head."
Then, without saying anything else, he walked away, radiating light around him.
---
Quest completed.
Quest: Punish the culprit in the sun's catchment area with a loud slap.
Quest Reward: 30 EXP
---
'...'
'Could the magic in this world actually be a drug?'
Arlo stood there, momentarily questioning his life.
From the system he'd acquired to the people he'd talked to, right down to this 2-meter giant.
Why did all of them seem like they were crazy?