After their awkward pick-up line exchange over lunch, things between Soren and Amelia had been strange for a while.
For the rest of that day, and even the next morning, every time their eyes met, one of them would look away first.
If their hands brushed while walking, both would stiffen up for half a second, then pretend nothing happened.
But like everything else, it faded.
Training continued.
Classes dragged on.
Life moved forward.
By the middle of the week, the memory of those lines had dulled to a quiet embarrassment tucked in the back of Soren's mind, something he only remembered when Amelia leaned a little too close or when her voice dropped into that low, husky register by accident.
Right now, however, Amelia was not his main concern.
Soren was sitting in class F's homeroom, tapping his fingers against his desk as he stared at the woman in front of him.
"So what's wrong, Ren?" Lilliana asked.
She stood by the teacher's desk with a stack of graded papers, her expression as calm as ever.
She showed no signs of embarrassment using his nickname in front of the class anymore.
At first, some students had snickered about it, but by now everyone had gotten used to the fact that their homeroom professor freely called one specific student "Ren".
Soren shifted in his seat.
"Mm… I've just been thinking, I was wondering if I can attend higher-ranked lectures."
Lilliana blinked once, then tilted her head slightly.
"Oh, right, that makes sense," she said.
Her reaction was a lot milder than he had expected.
No surprise.
No "Are you sure?"
Just a simple nod, as if she had been waiting for him to ask.
"It makes sense?" Soren repeated.
"Well, you did rank the highest among the top 30 in the written exam during the midterm," she said, flipping through her notes until she found the right page.
She looked at him over the top of the paper with a small smile that almost reached her eyes.
"There was no way you'd stay content with just class F forever," she added.
Soren scratched his cheek, a little embarrassed.
"So can I?" he asked.
"I've already spoken to both the class E and class D teachers about your situation. Sadly, they declined to take you this semester," Lilliana replied.
"So I have to wait until next year?" he asked.
"Unfortunately, yes," she said, lips forming a small apologetic curve. "The academy doesn't officially reshuffle students mid-semester unless there are… very serious reasons. Academic performance alone isn't enough until the year ends."
"Then that's fine," Soren said.
Lilliana blinked again.
"I thought you'd say– Huh?" she said. "You aren't disappointed?"
"I mean, it's annoying, but we already get to pick our lectures from next semester onward, so homeroom classes don't really hold much meaning after that."
He shrugged.
"That's true…" Lilliana murmured, her gaze softening for a second.
She looked like she wanted to say more, but held it back, instead folding her hands together in front of her.
"Oh, right," Soren continued. "The more important question I had was I wanted to ask if it's at all possible for me to attend some lectures for other majors."
Lilliana's ears twitched faintly on her head.
"Could I ask why?"
"Well," Soren said, thinking back to his fight with Alex. "Not to sound arrogant, but as you saw during my duel against Alex, I'm able to use magic whilst moving, I fight with an axe, and I can even use divine power to some extent."
He lifted his hand and flexed his fingers out of habit, as if feeling the remnants of mana still clinging to his skin.
"So I just wanted to learn how to use everything better," he finished.
Lilliana didn't answer right away.
She tapped her pen against the desk a few times, thinking.
"I don't think there are any rules against that," she said eventually. "There have been students who enrolled in both Divine Studies and Martial Studies at the same time, among other variations… but I've never seen a student enrolled in all three."
"That sounds like it's going to be a pain to get accepted, then. How does it work, normally, though?"
"In the example I gave," Lilliana said, shifting into her 'lecturer' tone, "a Divine Studies student taking Martial Studies too would substitute a few lectures per week with Martial Studies lectures, or take them on top of their usual schedule."
She tapped the corner of his desk lightly with her pen.
"But at the end of the day," she continued, "they would still be registered as a Divine Studies student. Their ranking, credits, and graduation status all stay tied to that major. The extra lectures are considered supplementary."
"I see," Soren said. "That works then."
He hadn't been aiming for three official majors anyway.
Just enough exposure to make sure he wasn't using things inefficiently and getting himself killed out of ignorance.
"Should I put a word in for you for the second semester?" Lilliana asked.
"Yes, please," Soren said.
"Then, to confirm, magic is your main focus, then Martial Studies, then finally Divine Studies. Am I correct?"
"Yeah, in all honesty, my divine power is pitiful. I'd just like to learn how to increase it and how to utilise it slightly better, so I doubt I'd take many lessons from that major."
The idea of sitting in a Divine Studies classroom being stared down by priests who actually believed in gods still made him uneasy.
It was easier to think of his divine power as just another resource than something sacred.
"All right. I've written that down. I'll organise the request and hand it to the faculty office before the final exams are marked," Lilliana said, scribbling something neatly on a piece of paper.
She placed the pen down and glanced at the clock.
"Should we eat now?" she asked.
Soren's stomach answered for him with an untimely grumble.
"Yes," he said a little too quickly.
Lilliana laughed quietly, a small, breathy sound that warmed the air for a second.
••✦ ♡ ✦•••
The final bell of the day rang out, signalling the end of lectures.
Students began packing their bags, voices rising in light chatter as each stood from their seat.
A few people left in groups, others drifted out alone.
Soren, however, stayed seated.
He leaned back in his chair and stared up at the ceiling, arms folded behind his head.
Amelia had asked him to wait for her after class.
She hadn't explained why, and he hadn't bothered to ask.
'If it was important, she'd have said so, but still, she actually asked me to wait, it'd be rude not to.'
He didn't mind waiting.
That wasn't the problem.
The problem was that there was nothing to do.
Back on Earth, he would've messed around on his smartphone, scrolled through forums, or replayed old clips from ❰The Knight of Stellaris❱.
Here, his pockets were empty.
No phone.
No internet.
No games.
Usually, in moments like this, he passed the time by forming small magic circles under the desk, running mana through his circuits to refine his control.
But today, even that option was limited.
He flexed his fingers, feeling the dull ache in them.
'I pushed my mana too much during lectures…' he thought. 'Even if I try forcing more out now, it's not gonna do much besides fry my brain.'
In the end, boredom won.
"「Status」," he muttered, voice flat with lethargy.
The familiar window popped up in front of his vision, translucent and faintly glowing.
.
[Status Window]
Name: Soren Arden
◈ Stats
Stamina - 1.6 (E) [Increased by 0.3]
Strength - 1.3 (E-) [Increased by 0.1]
Agility - 1.5 (E) [Increased by 0.2]
Mana - 2.2 (E+) [Increased by 0.1]
Divine Power - 1.0 (E-) [Increased by 0.2]
◈ Skills
- Basic Magic
└ Breeze (D) [Increased by 3]
- Blood Magic
└ Blood Absorption (D+) [Increased by 4]
- Pain Tolerance (E-) [Increased by 1]
- Basic Axemanship (F+) [Increased by 1]
.
Soren stared at the numbers for a long moment.
"…Huh," he exhaled.
It was almost ridiculous when he saw it laid out like this.
Nearly two weeks since claiming the second hidden piece, and his entire sheet looked like it had been quietly rewritten.
Part of it was simple logic: low-rank stats were easier to raise. E-rank and below moved faster, especially for someone still in their physical growth phase.
But the rest?
That was just effort.
Annoying, painful, constant effort.
[Blood Absorption] and [Pain Tolerance] creeping up thanks to Lilliana's calm, matter-of-fact bloodletting sessions.
[Basic Axemanship] and his physical stats inching forward from Amelia's brutal yet precise training.
Mana and divine power sharpening little by little from his constant, secret practice during lectures, forming and dismissing [Breeze] circles until his brain felt fried.
He had built his whole schedule around training.
Morning runs and sparring with Amelia.
Afternoon lectures where he "listened" while quietly drilling spells.
Evenings spent in the training halls, libraries, or bleeding in front of Lilliana with a towel clenched in his teeth.
If he tried to describe it to someone, it would sound unbalanced, almost unhealthy.
But to him, it didn't feel that way anymore.
Because he wasn't doing it alone.
Training with Amelia meant he laughed, complained, and got called weak to his face at least once a day.
Practising blood magic with Lilliana meant warm tea, gentle scolding, and her soft, worried "Ren" whenever his expression twisted.
Even his late-night ventures had shifted.
He had friends in this world now.
People waiting for him.
People he wanted to keep safe.
If the Soren from the day of transmigration saw him now, that guy would probably have a breakdown.
'Wasn't the whole point to avoid getting involved?' he would shout. 'Why are you training like a masochist and befriending heroines?'
The current Soren, however, just looked at his status window and felt something simple.
'I like my life right now. It's exhausting… but it's fun.'
He smirked to himself.
"Not bad," he muttered, closing the window with a swipe of his hand.
Thud!
As if to trample on those pleasant thoughts, the classroom door slammed open with unnecessary force.
————「❤︎」————