The next morning—
Edsel woke up feeling refreshed.
The sunlight slipped through the curtains, warm and quiet, as if nothing had happened the day before.
Osias, on the other hand, looked terrible, Dark circles under his eyes and Messy hair. He hadn't slept at all his mind had been stuck on Edwin… replaying everything over and over.
"Good morning," Edsel said with a small smile.
Osias didn't even look at him.
"Just seeing your face makes me angry."
Edsel's smile widened slightly.
"I see," he said. "You want to start the day with a little warm-up?"
Osias stiffened.
"D-damn it…"
He quickly got up and headed to wash his face, clearly avoiding him. Edsel chuckled under his breath then paused.
A familiar presence appeared in his vision.
The system.
[Good morning, Host.]
Last night, the system had sent him a notification about an upcoming event that would happen in the story called the 'Survival Exam'.
It was an event where all second year students would enter a simulation chamber and hunt down demons, which were also simulated.
However, that was where most students would lose their lives due to the trauma that would occur.
Some demonic worshipers had infiltrated the simulation mechanism and would cause so much mental damage by increasing the demon levels that several students would die during the exercise.
For Edsel, this event was the perfect opportunity to train and fight those demons while also uncovering the truth about these demon worshipers.
He already had an idea about who was among them and that they were hiding somewhere inside the academy.
More importantly, Edsel stared at the system window and glanced at Osias, who had just closed the door angrily after dressing in his academy uniform. Now he was alone in the room.
"How rude," Edsel muttered while looking at the closed door.
[Would you like to uncover the secret of the system?]
"Yes, of course I would!" Edsel responded eagerly.
He was curious about who had brought him here, who had caused him to reincarnate into this world, and who was protecting Edwin Perrin from him.
[The system will reveal the truth when the time comes. Firstly, you need to absorb certain artifacts that serve as pieces of Us. The more pieces we absorb, the more power you will gain, and the more secrets you will uncover.]
Edsel narrowed his eyes.
"Pieces, you say? And what do you mean by Us? Are there more than one of you?"
The system did not respond to his question.
"Are you a god?" Edsel pressed further.
[Negative.]
Edsel sat in silence for a moment while processing the information.
"I see. I understand it now. This system is not even a complete system. That is why it refuses to speak at times." He nodded to himself. "Well, do not worry about it. I will absorb more death energy and gather the artifacts that you want."
After all, he just wanted more power and more authorities to grow stronger. But there was one more thing that he needed to ask.
"But first, tell me how I can deal with people who are under the protection of the child of luck."
[Child... luck... protected... entity—]
[ERROR! ERROR!]
Edsel startled at the sudden glitching. He thought about the fragments of words that had appeared before the error.
"He is being protected," he muttered to himself. "Never mind. I will figure out the rest on my own."
He got up from the bed and began dressing in his academy uniform for the day ahead.
***********
During the class, Edsel could feel glances being cast back at him from all directions.
Students whispered among themselves, their eyes darting between him and the front of the room. He did not pay any attention to them, keeping his head laying down on the desk while ignoring the stares.
Edwin was staring back at him from across the room, his glare filled with barely restrained anger.
Osias, sitting beside Edsel, kept glancing between Edwin and the desk, worry evident on his face. Cecilia was behind them, trying to listen to the lesson, while Penelope sat beside Edwin.
She was perfectly fine despite the beating she had received the day before, thanks to the physician in charge of healing the students.
The healer from the Holy Temple had worked through the night to restore her injuries.
Instructor Adriel finally stopped his lesson and closed the book on his desk.
"Okay, I would like to announce an upcoming event that will take place two weeks from now," he said while looking across the classroom.
The students stopped their whispering and stared at Adriel with confusion and curiosity.
"This will be our first major exam of the semester, and it is important for pushing students to their limits. We already know that demons have been terrorizing humanity for many centuries, and it is our turn to put a stop to this madness. This exam serves as a way to push students beyond their limits and ensure that they do not freeze with fear when they encounter real demons in the future!"
He stared at the students and closed the book firmly.
"Don't worry, nothing bad will happen during this exam. It is not real demons that you will be facing. It is simply a simulator that was created by researchers at the White Mage Tower."
Edsel raised his head and stared at Adriel with renewed interest.
The White Mage Tower was located in Saint Tristan, a place where magical research and innovation took place.
He would love to visit it one day, but since he was a battle mage, they would never accept him into their ranks.
Mages in this world were classified into four distinct types.
Battle mages were solely based on using elemental magic for combat and close quarters fighting. Elemental mages only used magic for research and engineering purposes and could not fight in close combat. Support mages focused on buffs, healing, and terrain manipulation. Lastly, ritual mages existed, though their practices were forbidden.
According to the game, they had been hunted down and killed due to their inhumane experiments and research methods.
But for Adriel to announce the exam now, when it was not scheduled to happen for another two weeks and the semester had just begun, meant something deeper was at play.
They wanted to flush out the demonic worshipers hiding within the academy.
"Okay, class, I hope that you prepare yourselves well for this exam. Make sure that you train hard during these two weeks leading up to it," Adriel concluded while gathering his materials.