.
▶ Emergency Quest Complete! [Escape] ◀
[Details: Flee or Deal with all three attackers.]
[3/3]
[Difficulty: C+]
[Reward: 200 Points]
.
'200 Points…'
The translucent window lingered in the air for a few seconds before fading away, leaving Soren staring at the space where it had been.
With the completion of the escape quest, his total had climbed to 386 points.
At that number, he was just shy of the 500-point threshold, the point where skills stopped being mostly convenience-based and started becoming genuinely useful.
'One more decent quest and I'm there.'
That thought alone should have been motivating.
Instead, Soren found himself hesitating.
"What should I even get…?"
He had opened the shop window more times than he could count over the past few days.
Each time, he scrolled slowly, carefully, weighing every option.
Most skills at the price of 500 points were either weapon-specific proficiencies or mundane life skills.
Cooking efficiency.
Tool handling.
Weather resistance.
Useful.
Just not what he needed.
The only exceptions were a handful of mental-type skills, things like [Mental Acceleration] or [Pain Tolerance].
Powerful in their own way, but also dangerous.
Soren didn't like the idea of numbing pain or forcing his mind to work faster than it already did.
Not after what he had experienced.
'I'll think about it later,' he decided, closing the window.
Right now, there were more immediate concerns.
He lowered his gaze to the paper laid out neatly on his desk.
[Midterm Exam Timetable]
The midterms.
In ❰The Knight of Stellaris❱, they were little more than a pacing checkpoint, something the player breezed through between major arcs.
But this wasn't a game anymore.
Even minor events carried weight now.
Soren leaned back in his chair and stared at the ceiling.
'What am I supposed to do?'
When he had first arrived in Ivansia, his plan had been simple.
Keep his head down, stay average, make a few friends, avoid the spotlight, and survive.
Nothing special.
Nothing dangerous.
That plan had already begun to crumble.
There was the academy itself, combat-focused, unforgiving, constantly pushing its students toward violence.
Then there were his family circumstances.
And now… this.
It felt like the world itself was refusing to let him live quietly.
He still intended to avoid the main story as much as possible, but reality had made one thing clear:
If he didn't get stronger, he wouldn't last.
Not here.
'But how?'
That was the problem.
He could keep training the way he had been, light physical conditioning, endless spell repetition to grind proficiency, but that was a slow path.
Painfully slow.
At this rate, he wouldn't even be able to leave the academy city safely, let alone challenge a dungeon.
Soren exhaled and called up a familiar window.
.
[Status Window]
Name: Soren Arden
Age: 18
Race: Human
◈ Titles
- Transmigrator (Year 1)
- Stella's Secrets
◈ Unique Skills
- Library of Memories
- ???
◈ Stats
Stamina - 0.9 (F+) [Increased by 0.2]
Strength - 0.7 (F+) [Increased by 0.1]
Agility - 1.3 (E-) [Increased by 0.3]
Mana - 1.3 (E-) [Increased by 0.2]
Divine Power - 0.3 (F)
Charm - 8.7 (S-)
◈ Skills
- Life Magic
- Basic Magic
└ Ignition (D) [Increased by 4]
└ Shock (E+) [Increased by 4]
└ Gaia (E+) [Increased by 1]
└ Aqua (F+)
└ Shield (F)
- Concentration (E-) [Increased by 2]
.
"…Huh."
It had been a while since he had looked at it properly.
'This… actually isn't that bad.'
Nearly all of his stats had surpassed Alex's starting values.
Two had even crossed into E-rank territory.
Then there was his magic.
'D-rank already.'
He had known he was improving; constant use tended to do that, but seeing it laid out so plainly was reassuring.
Still.
'It's not enough.'
It was only the second day of the Juniper Sun.
That left roughly two weeks until the midterms began.
The written portion didn't worry him in the slightest.
Thanks to [Library of Memories], memorisation was trivial.
The practical, however…
That was another story.
"…Wait."
A thought surfaced.
He straightened in his chair.
'Can't I just do that?'
Without bothering to sit back down, Soren stood abruptly and headed for the library.
••✦ ♡ ✦•••
Thud.
Two thick books landed on the table in front of him.
[Introduction to Basic Magic] [By Stella Nocturnis]
And,
[Introduction to Divine Power] [By Gabriella Amorth]
Books he realistically should have read much earlier.
'Better late than never.'
They were part of his answer to immediate strength.
Right now, Soren's biggest weakness wasn't raw power; it was options.
He only knew a handful of spells.
In real combat, that was crippling.
During his mock duel with Yuli, he had realised something important:
Thanks to [Library of Memories], he could perfectly copy magic circles just by seeing them.
That alone had given him access to [Shock] and [Shield].
So why stop there?
'I'll learn all the basic magic.'
Most mages would call that idea inefficient, wasteful, even.
Typically, a mage focused on a small number of elements and refined them to perfection.
Felix, for example, prioritised earth, plant, and barrier magic.
But Soren wasn't a normal mage.
He didn't lose time memorising.
He didn't struggle with complexity.
And his fighting style didn't rely on overwhelming force.
Utility mattered.
As he flipped through the pages, however, disappointment crept in.
"Is that it..?"
In ❰The Knight of Stellaris❱, there were fifteen known magic elements.
Water. Ice. Fire. Earth. Wind. Plant. Lightning. Gravity. Sound. Barrier. Light. Dark. Blood. Time. Space.
[Pure Mana] existed as a rare exception.
Time and space were divine domains, practically inaccessible.
Blood magic belonged almost exclusively to vampires.
However, the book covered only nine elements.
Light, dark, and gravity were missing.
'At least it's something.'
Though he thought that he still couldn't help but sigh at the missed opportunities.
Light magic would have been invaluable for exploration; monsters feared it, undead avoided it, but that could wait.
••✦ ♡ ✦•••
Thud.
Upon finishing the first book and memorising the remaining magic circles he had left to learn, Soren brought his attention to the second book.
[Introduction to Divine Power] [By Gabriella Amorth]
Truthfully, it was a book that was somewhat useless for Soren at present.
.
Divine Power - 0.3 (F)
.
At that level, expecting miracles was laughable.
Still, knowledge mattered.
Even if he couldn't use it properly now, understanding it would help later.
With that in mind, he started flipping through the pages, only to grimace immediately.
'Of course…' he thought as he let out a sigh.
There was something Soren had overlooked.
Divine power wasn't like magic.
You couldn't just memorise a circle and cast it.
You had to pray.
You had to believe.
And that was the problem.
Soren was an atheist.
Obviously, he was aware that Ivansia had gods; he had seen them after all.
But that didn't mean he trusted them or had faith in them.
"What am I supposed to do?"
The idea of suddenly becoming devout felt absurd.
'Should I just give up on it?'
The only reason he had even thought of learning how to utilise divine power was because of the few stat points given by Stella's Apple, but now even that seemed useless.
Fwaaa.
"…Huh?"
Or so he thought.
A purplish-silver glow flickered around his left hand.
He thought he was seeing things for a moment, but…
Wooong.
…It happened again.
'Divine power?'
He stared at it, baffled; he hadn't prayed or even had any faith in the ability to use it, yet the light clearly appeared.
Not only that, but unlike regular divine power, which was pure silver, Soren's also held a hint of purple within it.
He hesitated, then read aloud.
"I call to you, goddess, hear my name and help thy champion. 「Minor Blessing of Mana」"
Woooong—
The light appeared in Soren's hands once more, proving his theory of it being divine power correct, however…
Fwoosh.
The light dissipated before the blessing activated.
"…Did it work?"
He assumed the reason for the light disappearing was due to his lack of divine power stat, but he still hadn't seen an incantation activate, so he was unsure of whether to call it a success or not.
Still, it was enough; he was now confident that he had the ability to use divine power.
He memorised the book, powering through all the fanatical god talk.
••✦ ♡ ✦•••
A week and a half passed.
Training.
Repetition.
Experimentation.
.
[Status Window]
Name: Soren Arden
- Basic Magic
└ Ignition (D+) [Increased by 1]
└ Shock (D-) [Increased by 1]
└ Gaia (E+)
└ Shockwave (E-) [Increased by 2]
└ Shield (E-) [Increased by 2]
└ Bloom (F+) [Increased by 1]
└ Aqua (F+)
└ Freeze (F)
└ Breeze (F)
.
While not entirely satisfactory, it represented significant progress in such a short period.
Some of the spells were useless
Others weren't.
Both [Bloom] and [Shockwave] were surprisingly good, especially [Shockwave], as it finally gave Soren the mid-range attack he had been desperately needing.
Kwaaang!
He looked over at the target dummy, sitting roughly twenty metres away, which had a dent in its chest.
'Perfect.'
Not only was it powerful for its proficiency level, but it was also invisible due to its being sound magic.
It did have a drawback, which was that it was deafeningly loud, but an invisible ranged attack was priceless for Soren right now.
'[Shock] is also at D- now too.'
Both of Soren's main offensive spells had crossed the barrier into D rank.
This meant that they were now viable threats even to some of the stronger students; obviously, that didn't include class A, though, as they were monsters.
"Hahhhh…"
He finally felt somewhat ready to tackle the midterms.
Ting-♪
Hearing that sound, however, Soren's confidence completely vanished.
.
▶ Main Quest Received! ◀
.
▶ Main Quest: First Steps (2) ◀
[Details: Place within the top 10 in the midterm practical.]
[Difficulty: A-]
[Rewards: Random Magic Skill, 150 Points]
[Penalty: None]
.
"…Shit."
He had only just gained confidence in his ability to pass the practical, then all of a sudden, a quest appeared and told him that just passing wasn't good enough.
'At least the rewards are good.'
A rare magic skill was a fantastic reward for Soren's current situation, where he didn't have access to the few rare magical elements.
In the store, a rare magic skill itself costs 1000 points, meaning this would give him a significant boost in power.
Then there were the points the quest gave; if he obtained those, he would finally cross the 500-point threshold for obtaining a decent skill.
The problem was, of course, the contents of the quest.
"Top 10…"
With his knowledge of the game, he knew why it was telling him to get top 10, but he still didn't like it.
Ignoring the fact that it would be almost impossible to get into the top 10, the real problem was that it would make him stand out with no escape.
The midterm practical was a battle royale-type event where each participant would have to collect mana beads, and whoever had the most mana beads at the end would win.
The issue is that throughout the exam, the locations of the top 10 students are broadcast to all other students.
Their name.
Their placement.
Their location.
Everything.
This meant that even if Soren got lucky enough to get within the top 10 with how weak he was, it was unlikely he would be able to last until the end anyway.
'But I really want that reward…'
He knew the location of every mana bead, so if he was left alone, he could get within the top 10, but once again, it was a lack of strength that held him back.
'At least there's no penalty this time.'
During his first main quest, there was a penalty of -0.5 to all stats if he didn't win all the mock duels.
This time, however, as if acknowledging how unrealistic a quest this was, whoever was behind the status window didn't bother.
He tried to think of a plan of action, but…
"Ughh…"
It was useless.
Soren wasn't a schemer in the first place, but he felt genuinely lost by his current situation.
Was there any way for him to complete the quest?
After a few minutes of thought, he raised his head from his hands and spoke.
"Whatever, I'll figure it out later."
Instead of overworking his brain, he decided to wait and see how it went, and if given a chance, he would take it.
Until then, he would continue doing what he had been doing and just raise his proficiencies to the best of his abilities.
Four days remained until the midterms.
————「❤︎」————