Ding.
He frowned a little. "…What was that?" He didn't move at first, thinking maybe he imagined it, but then it came again.
Ding.
This time he sat up. His eyes moved around the room slowly until they stopped at the drawer beside his bed. "…From there?" He stood up and walked to it, opening it without rushing. Inside, he saw a phone.
The moment his eyes landed on it, memories came again. Not painful this time, just information flowing into his head. How to use it. How it works. Everything.
"…So they even have phones here," he muttered. He picked it up and unlocked it easily. As soon as the screen came on, a message popped up.
Luke read it. It was about a dungeon. A request.
A small smile appeared on his face. "…A dungeon, huh…" More memories came in again, and this time his expression changed slightly.
This Luke… was really poor. An orphan with no family, no support, nothing. Everything he had, he worked for himself. Even food wasn't always certain.
Luke's eyes narrowed a bit as he kept remembering, then he remembered how Luke had actually lied that he had a guild so they would take his request to close the dungeon into consideration.
Without the lie no one would have actually considered it, Luke let out a small breath. "…So that's how bad it was." Then his expression became serious. If I don't do something… how am I going to survive here?
Now that he had learned this Luke was poor, he was also poor, "what a life…Damn." he let out a long and pitiful sigh.
He didn't waste time. He stood up, changed his clothes quickly, picked up the phone, and walked out of the room.
The academy was quiet at night. No noise. No movement. Just silence. Luke walked calmly toward the gate, his mind already on the dungeon, but just as he stepped outside, he saw her.
The girl with crimson hair, lethis.
She was standing there like she had been waiting, her ocean-blue eyes landing on him immediately. Luke stopped.
For a second, neither of them spoke. Then she started walking toward him.
"What are you doing out here at night?" she asked.
Luke looked at her for a moment before answering, his tone calm, almost careless. "…Does it matter to you?" Her eyes widened slightly.
Just for a second, then her face returned to normal, but something had changed. Nobody talked to her like that, below S-rank they keep their head low when she passed them.
"…You talk differently now," she said, realizing his tone was not like before when he first arrived, she knew he had a crush on her and was always shy to meet her but now he looked different, he was not the fearful guy unlike before.
Luke didn't reply. There was a small pause before she spoke again. "I'm sorry… about yesterday. About how that freshman beat you."
Luke frowned a little. "Why are you apologizing? You weren't the one who did it."
She looked at him for a moment, then said quietly, "…Not exactly." Luke's eyes narrowed slightly.
"That guy… Karl," she continued, "…he's my elder brother."
Luke froze for a brief second. "…Your brother?"
And just like that, memories rushed in again.
Karl, the fights, the insults, the constant bullying, and then… her. Luke's expression slowly changed as everything started connecting.
The old Luke… liked her, Karl and Luke knew eachother before they came to this academy since they attended the same magic academy to train kids, back then Karl hated Luke.
When Karl met Luke again at this academy he actually got angered, and seeing Luke had a crush on his younger sister it gave him a chance to pick on Luke over and over again, he was not actually doing it for his sister, since he would make that an excuse after bullying Luke who he knew as a weakling.
Luke exhaled slowly, his face going back to normal, but his eyes had changed. They were colder now. "…So that's it," he said quietly.
Luke looked at her for a moment, then said calmly, "…It's fine."
She watched him for a second, like she was trying to read him, then her expression softened a little. "Still… what you did today was actually record breaking, after that fight you and Karl had, we actually thought you would be powerless but your summon is stronger than Holden.." she said.
Luke raised a brow slightly. "Holden?" he asked. "That name has been everywhere since morning… who is he?"
She blinked, a little surprised. "You don't know him?"
Luke shook his head. "No."
She let out a small breath. "Holden is the strongest student in this school. Or… he was, it's a bit surprising that you don't know him."
"He has a group," she added. "All S-rank students. They're among the top ten. Not people you can ignore." Her eyes stayed on him, a bit more serious now. "So you should be careful. Your summon is strong… but you aren't, well they will all start to target you, either to recruit you in their group or eliminate you."
Luke didn't react much to that. He just looked at her calmly. "…Don't worry about me," he said. "I know how to deal with people like that, I'm not the useless Luke anymore."
She studied his face for a second, then slowly nodded. "Alright." There was a short silence, then she smiled. "I'll be going now, I just wanted to have a little chat with the guy with the strongest summon," she said. "Have a nice… night trip."
With that, she turned and started walking away. Luke stood there, watching her go, she had never given Luke even the slightest glance before, why now, Luke scoffed, "pathetic."
With the memories of this body, he already knew how things were. Many people had their eyes on her, she was pretty, powerful and came from a wealthy family. And he was actually surprised that she came to him just to talk to him because he now had the strongest summon.
A few seconds passed before he realized he had just been standing there doing nothing. "....Right."
He shook his head slightly, getting himself back together, then turned and continued walking. Step by step, he left the academy behind.
The night was quiet, and ahead of him, was his first dungeon.
A/N: Don't forget to add to library