The massive five-meter-tall oak doors creaked open, breaking the silence. Arvin stepped into the Grand Library of Astoria Academy. The scent of old paper, ink, and magical dust immediately filled his nose—a smell that was soothing to some, but foreign to the previous owner of this body.
The view inside was breathtaking. Bookshelves towered up to the domed ceiling, which was painted with constellations. Afternoon sunlight streamed through the stained-glass windows, creating pillars of colorful light dancing on the marble floor.
However, the beauty of the architecture was instantly forgotten because of the students' reaction.
As Arvin walked deeper inside, the atmosphere changed. The library, previously filled with the soft sounds of turning pages, suddenly went dead silent.
Dozens of pairs of eyes were now fixed on him. Not only the first-year students, but even seniors from the second to the fourth years looked up. Their faces showed one uniform emotion: deep fear and shock. Some students even had their mouths hanging open, as if they had just seen a ghost in broad daylight.
Whispers began to drift through the air, faint but clear enough for Arvin's sharp ears.
"Is that Arvin Vedegra?"
"Why is that monster here? He never reads..."
"I hope he doesn't get angry just because we're looking at him..."
To them, seeing Arvin Vedegra—the Duke's heir known for being the most brutal, cold, and strongest student in the academy—step foot in this sanctuary of knowledge was a dangerous anomaly. They knew Arvin rarely cared for theory; he was a feared practitioner of violence.
Arvin stopped in the middle of the main hall. He felt those stares piercing his skin. If this were the original Arvin, he might have felt offended or proud to be the center of attention. But the current Arvin just felt annoyed.
He scoffed loudly, then swept his sharp gaze across the room, making anyone who met his eyes immediately look down.
"What is wrong with your eyes?" his voice echoed off the stone walls, loud enough to be heard on the second floor. "Do you have a problem with me coming here?"
Silence. No one dared to answer. They hurriedly buried their faces back into their books, pretending to read the same sentence over and over.
However, not everyone was afraid of him.
From behind a shelf in the historical fiction section, a young man stepped out. He had golden-yellow hair that shined under the sunlight and a posture that was sturdy yet elegant. His uniform was flawless, with a gold badge on his chest.
"This is a library, Lord Vedegra. It would be better not to be too noisy," the young man said in a calm but authoritative tone.
Arvin turned his head. His eyes narrowed as he recognized the figure. Oliver Arlion Da Astoria. The Third Prince of the Kingdom of Astoria, and a second-year student expected to be the future Student Council President. He was one of the romance targets in the game, known for being easygoing but manipulative.
Without a shred of fear, Arvin closed the distance between them. He didn't bow to show respect to the royal family. Instead, Arvin raised his index finger and boldly poked the Prince's broad chest.
The action made several students watching gasp in horror. Touching a member of the royal family physically was highly disrespectful, especially coming from Arvin, who was known for not hesitating to hurt people.
"It is your stares that are making me noisy here, Prince Oliver!" Arvin replied with a provocative smirk. His finger pressed a little harder. "If you realize this is a library, you better discipline your subjects' eyes so they don't pop out like goldfish. And one more thing... do not order me around, Prince Oliver."
Oliver paused for a moment. He looked at the finger pressing against his chest, then shifted his gaze to Arvin's face. Instead of getting angry, the corners of Oliver's lips curled into an amused smile. He raised both hands in surrender and took a step back.
"Okay, okay, I understand. I will be quiet," Oliver said casually, his eyes twinkling with amusement. "Please enjoy your reading, Lord Vedegra."
Inside, Oliver laughed. Goodness, he really lives up to the rumors. Rude, blunt, and afraid of no one. Not even to me, a prince. Interesting.
After Oliver returned to his table, Arvin clicked his tongue. He fixed his uniform collar and walked toward the quietest corner of the library, an area rarely visited because it held boring ancient magic theory books.
He grabbed a random thick book with a faux dragon-skin cover and threw himself onto an old wooden chair in the corner.
Arvin opened the book, his eyes scanning page after page, but his ears remained alert to the situation. I have to wait until this place is empty. The secret room must not be discovered by anyone else.
However, boredom struck him. Idly, he started to actually read the scribbles in the old book. The title was 'Advanced Space Manipulation Theory'.
As his eyes traced the third paragraph on page seventy, something strange happened. The words seemed to jump off the paper and dance in his mind. A complicated magic circle diagram suddenly made perfect sense.
Wait... this is...
Arvin's eyes widened. On that page was the formula for Dimensional Storage magic. High-level magic that usually took elite mages years to master because it required complex mental calculations.
Wow! I hit the jackpot! I never expected the random book I picked to contain such a great technique.
Arvin looked at the magic circle pattern again. One second. Two seconds.
Click!
An imaginary sound rang in his head. He understood. He understood the mana structure, the energy flow, to the nodal points. Everything was recorded perfectly in his brain as if he had created the magic himself.
I understand it with just one look? Arvin looked at his own palm with a mix of horror and amazement. Arvin Vedegra really is a cheat character! This body has a magical brain capacity that doesn't make sense. I'm getting goosebumps myself!
Driven by curiosity, Arvin tried to practice it. He focused mana into his palm, imagining a hole in the fabric of reality.
"Store," he whispered.
Zip!
The air distorted slightly, and the thick book in his hand vanished without a sound. No explosion, no failure. Clean.
Wow! I actually did it!
Arvin moved his hand again, imagining the book returning.
Zip! The book reappeared in his grasp in the blink of an eye.
Damn developers! Why did they think of creating a character with such powerful abilities just to make him the enemy of the world? It's such a waste of talent!
A wide grin now adorned his face. If he could learn space magic this fast, what about other magic?
I better read all the magic books on this shelf while I wait!
With burning enthusiasm—a passion he had never felt in his previous life—Arvin stood up. He grabbed piles of magic books: Basic Fire Elements, Intermediate Water Manipulation, Wind Aerodynamics, Earth Structure Hardness. He piled them up high on the table.
Time seemed to slow down for Arvin, but it moved fast for the world around him.
He opened the Pyromancy book, read two pages, then snapped his fingers. A small blue flame danced on the tip of his index finger, stable and hot. He extinguished it, then switched to the Hydromancy book. He moved his finger, and the water vapor in the air condensed into a perfectly spinning ball of water.
All the students remaining in the library slowly stopped their activities. They watched from a distance with their mouths agape. The scene in the corner was truly absurd.
They saw Arvin Vedegra, the cruel genius, flipping through book pages at lightning speed, then practicing magic from various elements interchangeably without chanting a single spell. Silent Casting. A technique only Archmage-level wizards could perform.
"He... he's using four basic elements at once..." whispered a third-year student with a pale face. "Even professors need a wand to stabilize that."
Aside from his face being as handsome as a statue of a god, everyone in the room now realized a terrifying new fact: Arvin was a monster genius.
Arvin himself was so immersed in his flow state that he didn't realize he had become a free show.
Wow! All the magic I learned is instantly recorded in my muscle memory and brain. It feels like downloading data into a supercomputer.
Arvin, you really are a cheat!