Two days had passed since my last training session with George.
Throughout those two days, I kept trying to focus on that sensation—the one I had briefly felt back then.
But no matter how much I trained, no matter how hard I pushed myself, I couldn't feel it even once.
Every time I went to George for help, he said the same thing:
"You have to feel it on your own, without outside interference. Even if I wanted to help you, I can't.
This is something you must discover by yourself."
Damn him and his useless advice.
He couldn't even tell me which path I was supposed to take.
"Alright everyone, I hope you enjoy your day off!"
Rina's voice pulled me out of the whirlpool of my thoughts.
I raised my head slightly.
A day off…
Did that mean I had only been in this world for two weeks?
It felt like I had already lived half my life here.
Well, since it was a day off, there was somewhere I needed to go.
I had prepared a clear plan for today.
I was going to leave for the imperial capital—
to a place where a rift was likely to appear soon.
In the game's storyline, that rift would appear later, and the protagonist would be the one to find it.
It would greatly increase his strength.
But I needed it more than he did.
The reason?
A rare item.
An item capable of rapidly increasing its user's strength at an insane rate—something I desperately needed in my current situation.
I was the weakest person in the class.
At this level, I wouldn't survive the upcoming event.
My gaze shifted unconsciously toward Zion.
He was sitting at the front of the classroom, calm as always, looking as though he was deep in thought.
I felt no pity.
And why should I? He would have an unlimited number of items in the future—he'd practically be giving them away.
Taking just one from him…
That wouldn't hurt, right?
I stood up from my seat, picked up my bag, and headed toward the classroom door.
Just before I left, I heard a voice calling out from behind me.
"—Hey!"
I turned toward the source.
I recognized him immediately.
A young man with jet-black hair and dark eyes tinged with red.
His height was average, his body slender yet well-toned, and his posture carried a strange balance that radiated unsettling unease.
His features were sharp—defined jawline, straight nose, and slightly pale skin, as if he rarely saw sunlight. He wasn't handsome in the conventional sense, yet he possessed a disturbing kind of allure, the sort that drew attention even when you tried to ignore it.
His smile—far too calm—never reached his eyes, giving him an uncomfortable presence.
He was walking toward me with quick steps.
Darwin Rofield.
One of the main antagonists of the Academy Arc.
The primary villain of the first major event, someone the main characters would struggle greatly to defeat.
But that wasn't what made him truly dangerous.
He possessed completely corrupted Ania.
His Ania was the result of drinking the blood of a high-level demon—a power that granted an insane leap in strength, but at a terrifying cost. The risks were enormous, and only a handful survived such an ordeal. Simply consuming demon blood was enough to drown the body in unimaginable pain, pain that tore apart internal pathways and burned the mind into madness.
Darwin was one of the few who survived.
But the price?
He had gone insane.
He raised his hand and waved at me with a smile.
At first glance, he looked like a normal person—
like someone greeting an old friend he hadn't seen in a long time.
But I knew the truth.
I knew what hid behind that fake smile.
Darwin was unstable
.
His emotions were amplified to an extreme degree, and even the slightest stimulus could trigger a bloody explosion.
"It's been a long time since we last met."
He said it in a friendly tone…
far too friendly.
The more I focused on his words, the more it sounded like we were old friends.
Friends?
Did I even have friends?
When I looked at him again, his smile widened.
I swallowed before replying.
"I'm… sorry. I lost part of my memory, so I don't think I had any friends."
The moment he heard that, his eyes widened in what looked like genuine surprise.
"Oh… I'm sorry."
"No problem."
He scratched the back of his head and said,
"I kept seeing you ignore me every time, so I thought you were doing it on purpose… I started to hate you a little, honestly."
My heart froze for a second.
Then he quickly added,
"But I didn't know you had lost your memory."
At that moment, I realized how close I had been to death.
If Darwin hated someone—even for the simplest reason—he would kill them without hesitation.
That was why I couldn't let him start hating me.
I didn't want to die.
"Well then,"
He smiled once more.
"How about we go out tomorrow, like we used to in the old days?"
Go out with you?
Did he think I was insane?
I replied instantly, without thinking.
"I'm sorry. I have something important to do tomorrow."
His expression changed.
"Can't you postpone it until next week?"
Even if I had nothing to do, I would never go out with you.
I shook my head immediately.
"No."
His expression shifted again as he looked at me.
The air around us seemed to change in that instant.
One second—
That was all it took to make my hair stand on end.
It was a cold, terrifying stare.
Then, just as suddenly, he returned to normal.
He smiled again and said,
"Alright then. Let's talk more some other time."
The moment he finished speaking, he turned around and left without looking back.
I didn't move.
Or rather—I couldn't.
My body was completely stiff.
I stood there for a while before my body finally returned to normal, then hurried away.
When I finally reached my room and closed the door behind me, I collapsed onto the chair, breathing heavily—as if I had been holding my breath for minutes.
When I recalled his gaze, I knew the truth.
If there hadn't been others around…
He would have killed me.
I looked down at my hands.
They were trembling.
"…I need to get that item."
I muttered quietly.
"And as soon as possible."
Before that madman explodes.