"This is where you'll be living for the duration of your stay."

Today was the inauguration day. Besides the speech, we were introduced to our dorm rooms.

Because of my situation, I was introduced to the dorms before the others. As such, I was separated from Leon.

It was a good thing.

Thinking back at his expression my face nearly crumbled.

"Here's the key. You'll need it to access your dorm."

I stood silently to observe the building.

The Rondeo Building. With over ten floors, it looked rather grand.

It was indeed a building fitting the top ranker.

"Cadet Julien?"

I finally took note of the black card near me.

".....Thank you."

It seemed nothing fancy.

Just a plain old metallic card.

"If you need anything else from me, please feel free to inform me."

"I will."

As I entered the building, I climbed the stairs and headed to the last floor. That was where my room was.

Being the number one rank did have its perks.

"This should be it."

A tall wooden door met my sight.

I didn't hesitate to swipe my card, unlocking the door to the room.

"....Wow."

It wasn't as though I didn't expect it, but...

"It's big."

The place was grand. A lot bigger than I could've possibly imagined. Sizable windows adorned the space at one end, granting me a view of the huge garden below.

Sofas and an array of decorations throughout the room complemented the room.

On any normal occasion, I would've taken my time to explore the place more.

Unfortunately, I wasn't someone who could afford to waste time.

"Haah..."

I sat down on the ground.

And went ahead with my training. My mind was tired, and so was my body. Even so, I had no choice but to push away the fatigue and train.

I was the one who pushed myself to this point.

I had to own up to my choices.

Tzz

I failed on the first try.

"Again...."

But I didn't lose hope.

I had no choice but to continue.

Once again, this was what I had done to myself.

The current spell I was practicing was called [Hands of Malady]. It was an elemental spell that belonged to the Curse element.

Being a beginner-type spell, its difficulty wasn't very high.

From what Leon told me, spells were classified into five different ranksbeginner, intermediate, advanced, superior, and perfected.

What set the spells apart was the number of runes each spell contained.

[Hands of Malady], being a beginner-type spell, only had twelve runes.

My goal was to connect each rune before fully forming a magic circle.

Which I have yet to achieve.

So long as I managed to connect all twelve and complete the circle, the spell would activate, and I'd be able to summon the spell whenever I wanted.

The key point was that I had to complete the circle before using it.

Tzz

But things weren't going very smoothly.

"Another failure...."

I had managed to connect four of the twelve runes.

I didn't lose hope.

"Again."

Mana flowed out from my abdomen. Like a warm current, I slowly guided it toward the tip of my fingers, where the faint form of a circle appeared.

That was the first step.

Now the runes.

Rune one.

Rune two...

Rune three...

Rune five...

Rune s...

"Ah."

Tzz

It shattered again.

I felt frustrated, but I didn't give up.

There was obvious improvement.

So I continued.

"More, just a little..."

As if I were in a trance, my mind worked in overdrive, and runes connected one after another.

The sight left a strange feeling on my body.

It made me crave more.

"Yeah, yeah...!"

I felt my skin crawl at the sight of the runes lighting up in front of me.

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight...

I was so excited that I didn't even notice that something wet was trickling down my nostrils.

All I thought about at the moment was...

"A little....! Come on!"

The runes.

"Just a little..."

I could feel it.

So long as I kept going, I could achieve it.

My state of mind was perfect. This was a chance that I was sure I couldn't give up on.

I had to try now.

"More...!""

Before I lost the sensation...

I had to continue.

I could finally summon my first spell.

So long as I...

I...

"Ukeh."

A weird sound escaped my lips, and I realized something.

How could this be...?

.....I can't breathe.

The air just wouldn't enter my body.

"...Hup."

No matter how hard I tried, my mouth wouldn't open. As if I had forgotten how I couldn't even use my nose.

My head felt lightheaded all of a sudden.

The world in front of me started to shift.

In my mind, I knew the reasoning behind this situation.

I stared at the magic circle that balanced at the tip of my fingers.

There were ten runes.

Two more to go.

I could do it...

Yeah.

"Ukh...!"

I pushed myself.

Drip...! Drip...!

Something ran down from both the holes in my nose.

It stained the polished floor in red.

But I chose to ignore it.

I couldn't afford to pause.

My situation didn't allow me to.

It came as a result of my actions.

I had to own up to them.

"Uakh...!"

My mind started to crave oxygen.

The sensation became more and more pronounced.

I felt a weird tingle in my chest.

My toes wiggled.

So did my left arm. Almost as if on impulse.

I couldn't breathe.

My mind desperately told me to let go.

Let the circle shatter.

Breathe.

But.

"Ukgh...!"

I couldn't.

Not when I was this close.

No...!

Not yet!

So... Close!

The tenth rune lit up.

I could feel it.

I was almost there.

"M-more...!"

My voice came out hoarse.

But I was close.

So close.

Eleven runes.

Yes....!

I was...

Tzz

Ah.

Thump!

Growing limp, my body gave up on me.

"Uahp!"

I felt my head smack against the floor.

"Haaa... Haaaa.... Haaa..."

And I heavily gulped for air.

The consequences of my actions finally caught up to me.

I lost control of my body.

It trembled furiously on the ground.

"Kh...! Kh! Kh!...Akh!"

The pain was overwhelming.

But.

"N-no..."

All I could think of was my failure.

I could deal with pain.

But I couldn't deal with my failure.

I was so close.

Just a few seconds away.

"N... Huap... No..."

The sense of desperation felt overwhelming.

It was eating away at me.

"N-no...! Ah."

So much so that the moment I felt I could control my body again, I tried again.

But.

Tzz

"N-no..."

Four runes.

How could this be...?

"Again."

Tzz

The circle shattered again.

Three runes.

"Ah..."

My body felt weak.

Realization hit me.

I had lost that state of mind.

The chance for me to finally grasp the circle.

I had failed.

"H-hah."

My chest trembled as my arm fell limp.

I felt weak.

My head was light, and the world was hazy.

When it finally hit me, though...

"Khh...!"

I clenched my teeth tightly.

Close...!

I was so close!

If only I had lasted just a few more seconds!

Fuck!

How could this body fail me at such an important moment!?

Damn it!

"Ahhhhhhh!"

I screamed at the top of my lungs.

The sense of frustration I felt wasn't something I could contain.

Bang!

I smacked my fist against the floor.

Bang!

I did it again.

"D-damn it....!"

I felt so frustrated.

It was there.

Right in front of me.

I was so close.

I felt it.

So,

"Why...?"

Why!!

Why couldn't I do it?!!!

I felt like screaming again.

But as I opened my mouth...

"..."

Nothing came out.

That was when I realized.

I had lost my voice.

"Haaa... Haaa..."

All that came out of my mouth were my heavy gasps for air.

I closed my mouth shortly after.

And made a resolve for myself.

This wasn't the end.

Until my body broke apart, I was going to succeed.

I wasn't going to let myself die an easy death.

I wasn't...

"...?"

I blinked.

'Where am I?'

I struggled to comprehend my situation.

All it took was a blink and the scenery around me changed.

'Wasn't I just in my room...?'

Trees surrounded me from all sides while the moon hovered in the sky.

It was a completely different environment to my room.

'My body...!'

As if I had lost control of my body, it moved on its own.

Sneakily moving around the trees. As if it was trying to hide from something. This continued for a while.

All until,

"Are you seriously the Black Star?"

A cold voice reached my ears.

My body trembled, and my feet came to a step. Slowly, my head turned, and a figure appeared.

He wore a black hood and hid his appearance.

A strange sense of oppression came out of his body as he slowly approached me.

What's going on...?

The situation confused me.

This scene... Experience... It felt eerily familiar. It reminded me of my first vision right before I came to this world.

Could this be?

"You're a lot weaker than I thought."

The gap between us shrinked.

I took a step back.

"Heh."

Though I couldn't see, it felt as if he was smiling beneath his hood. The scene seemed to be amusing to him.

".....How low has Haven fallen for them to select someone as incompetent as you? Not only are you incapable of using any spells, but you even went ahead and challenged everyone with that puny arrogance of yours. It's no wonder you lost your first duel."

Uh?

I lost the duel?

Though I wasn't completely sure, I had a feeling this body... vision... belonged to a future version of myself. Not the previous Julien.

Therefore...

The news of me losing the duel hit me particularly hard.

'So in the end, I still lost...?"

It took me no longer than an hour for me to realize I was way in over my head when I challenged everyone.

There was no way I could beat anyone with my current skills.

A fool.

An idiot.

That was who I was.

And yet...

'No, it's simply because I didn't do enough.'

I didn't stop my resolve for one second.

If I lost, then it meant I didn't try hard enough.

I wasn't desperate enough.

The pain I went through.

It wasn't enough.

"In any case..."

My attention shifted back to the hooded man.

His hidden gaze fell on me, and I felt my entire body shiver. As if two hands had gripped my throat, I had a hard time breathing.

A familiar sensation gripped my entire body.

.....It was fear.

"I should probably end this."

He approached me with a leisurely step.

Coming to a halt a few centimeters from me. His eyes locked on to me, and I felt my breath leave my body.

".....There are other more important people I need to take care of."

The world turned black shortly after.

"Huaaaa....!"

My eyes flared open, and my body sat up.

Sweat poured down from all over my body as I took deep and unsteady breaths.

"I'm-m... Haaa.... back?"

I was struggling to grasp my situation.

Thousands of questions flooded my mind.

What was that? Who was he...? And why did he kill me? Where did I die?

And just as my head throbbed in pain as I tried to understand the vision, something appeared in front of me, and a weird sound came out of my mouth.

".....Ah."

That was because,

[Julien D. Evenus]

Level :17 [Tier 1 Magician]

Exp : [0%[16%]100%]

Profession : Magician

Type : Elemental [Curse]

Type : Mind [Emotive]

Spells :

Beginner type spell [Emotive] : Anger

Beginner type spell [Emotive] : Sadness

Beginner type spell [Emotive] : Fear

Beginner type spell [Emotive] : Happiness

Beginner type spell [Emotive] : Disgust

Beginner type spell [Emotive] : Surprise

Beginner type spell [Curse] : Chains of Alakantria

Beginner type spell [Curse] : Hands of malady

Skills :

[Innate] - Foresight

[Julien D. Evenus]

A weird screen floated in front of me.

One that multiple other smaller ones accompanied.

Lvl 1. [Fear] EXP + 0.01%

Lvl 1. [Fear] EXP + 0.05%

Lvl 1. [Fear] EXP + 0.04%

Lvl 1. [Fear] EXP + 0.3%

Lvl 1. [Fear] EXP + 0.01%