Confidence is key.

  Confidence.

  My eyes narrowed as the memories of how the proctor could've easily beaten me if he had was serious. He only did that to probe. I only won because I had fought like a fool. I didn't know anything about swordsmanship. Barely anything. Only winning due to the fact I was ready to do anything to win.

  I looked at the letter I was given by sir Kay or Cai.

  You are formally invited to the knight course of Avalon's royal Academy of Military and Civil service. Due to a recommendation from an esteemed instructor, and representative of Avalon le Fae's guards, you have been accepted, and your application is hereby authenticated by the faculty of the academy. Congratulations Sir Bors, squire and apprentice knight of Avalon's royal academy, you are now part of Avalon's royal forces under the officer class of apprentice Knight.

  -Signed, Academic dean of Avalon Royal academy of Military and Civil service, Sir Gawyn ab Beiddgar, Knight of the sun, A knight of the round table.

  I sighed. Due to my talk with Sir Kay, and how I fought with ferocity against him, supposedly playing the fool to win, I had gotten a recommendation from the man himself. Honestly, it was quite a drag. Being a knight is good and all but from what gameplay I did do, it's the equivalent of the Marines or shock troops. It's going to put me in an early death.

  But fuck it. We ball.

  You only live once. Plus maybe, just maybe, i would find life bearable enough to continue on living and the touch of a person not as uncomfortable enough that it would make me physically feel ill like before.

  Scratch that, i technically lived two lives through luck. But i digress. To live once is normal, to live twice is a miracle, to live thrice is short of divine providence and the equivalent of divine plot armor.

  Taking a deep breath, i concentrated as much mana as i could output and shaped it similarly to the knife reinforcement earlier but larger. Imagine it. Visualize the blade, visualize the thickness of the blade. 0.2 microns.

  If i play this right, i could recreate something similar to saber's excaliblast or whats essentially discount strike air.

  Steady.

  Steady.

  hah.

  As i added more and more mana output to the blade, i suddenly felt a burning feeling all over the nerves of the arms holding the sword.

  Thud.

  Thud.

  Thud.

  I could feel my heartbeat grow as heavy as a drum beat. I could practically feel it.

  Then my chest felt like it was burning as i put more quantity and density of the mana output.

  Collapsing to the ground, i clutched my heart whilst dropping the sword on the ground. Shattering the mana engulfing it like glass.

  Fuck, it hurts,

  It hurts so fucking bad. My arms. Oh god they felt like someone just singed me with scolding water. My breaths grew shallow, and my head swimming in the agonizing pain of the situation.

  I wanted to scream but couldn't as my throat seized. Muscles utterly loosening and making me feel drowsy like i was having a heavy fever.

  God.

  Oh its so hot!

  Quickly tearing off my clothes and jumping into the bathtub quickly being filled with water. The water hissed all over my body, steam coming off me in droves. Last thing i saw was the bathroom quickly filling up with steam from quickly evaporating water.

  Glug

  glug

  glugggg

  What...

  What?

  Suddenly opening my eyes, i choked on water. My throat quickly filling up with water, and my nose drowning in water.

  My eyes widened as i realized the tap was still running.

  Fuck! the fucking water bills! ?????? Uwaaaaaa!

  I'm going to be so broke!

  I quickly turned it off, and looked down only to see the floors being flooded with heel high water. Shit! My house is flooding! Wait is this even my house or am i just renting it?

  Oh man im so cooked!

  Quickly going off the tub, i opened up the drains to quickly drain the water. Now that's done, i'm going to check the outside. Opening the door, my soul felt like it was leaving.

  Water on the floor. On the damned wooden floorboards!

  hahahahhahahqha!

  My own manic laughter inside my mind echoed through my unstable psyche. The utterly fragile psyche was having a mental breakdown at the potential cost of fixing all of this. This is going to take a while. In the future i will need to get a job.

  Sigh.

  Part time student again.

  The more things change, the more stays the same. Maybe i should just whore myself out for the nobles. Being their punching bags like always. I mean surely being a butler paid great right? I mean nobles are supposed to be rich. If i had to i would even suck cock for money if someone offered.

  I took a few stretches as my body felt a little sore before starting to clean up the mess.

  5 hours later....

  Phew....

  Looking at the now cleaned floor, i couldn't help but feel slightly proud of myself. Nice job.

  Pathetic, you took too long doing a simple task. Even your cousin could do better, he's 8 years old for goodness sake.

  My mood quickly soured at the memory.

  No. She doesn't matter now. None of it matters now. I have my own life now. They had been long gone from my life now. To just think of happy thoughts. Escapism. The smell of the moonlit skies in the middle of midnight. The smell of cigarettes.

  Honestly, your nothing but a disappointment. Why can't you just live a life healthily? You keep destroying your body yet you want to live a long and happy life? What a joke.

  Hypocrite.

  I smacked myself at the words my mind conjured up. They're just hallucinations.

  Is it really illusions when its true?

  Shut up.

  Awwww, little manchild can't accept truth? Too painful for you?

  Shut up....

  Blah blah blah, who cares about your opinions, you don't even want to do the work needed for your own opinions.

  Shut up......

  What an inveterate hypocrite. Your whole personality is a lie. You smile when you are unhappy at strangers who rarely care for yours. You make yourself look happy whilst inside your rotting like a fruit. That's why your such a wretch.

  "Shut the hell up!" Instinctively reinforcing my hand and punching the table in front of him, the table broke.

  His mind only realized moments later that the table broke.

  Shit.

  Laughter echoed through his head.

  Showing your true colors huh?

  Damnit...

  I took a deep breath. Damnit, i needed meds. But its going to be expensive.

  I sighed.

  Im broke rn.

  "hahahhahahhaha"

  Manic laughter echoed out of my mouth. Being broke again. To claw my hands out of the mud that was being poor as dirt except tis time i have a home. Or atleast i hoped so.

  Clicking my tongue, i grasp my hands together, wiped my face off, and took a deep, self deprecating breath.

  This is such a drag....

  My body still ached from earlier. Standing up, i went to bed and slept my aches away.

  A day later....

  My body still ached. Oh man... Im going to be so cooked in the battle lessons for today. Currently i was wearing black slacks, a white t-shirt, a grey zip up turtle neck i found in the drawers, and some crocks sandals. There isn't any dress code according to sir kay, and he told me that its up to me what i wear, there was no dress code. Looking at the mirror, i look more like a college kid going to school. But it was a habit i used to do in college. There wasn't any particularly strict dress code so i wore casual clothes that would be comfortable enough.

  Quickly eating and finishing the food i prepared earlier in a rush. I grabbed everything that was important or atleast what i thought important for school which was a pad of index cards, the mana control book, and a couple ballpoint pens put into my pockets. Taking a deep breath and visualizing the feel and forcing the mana to exhibit the properties i wanted it to have, i flooded my circulatory system with mana forcing my body to feel energized. According to the book, this was a rather simple control technique meant for endurance reinforcement and had a factoid of being used as mana induced viagra by the common folk.

  Feeling the mana coursing through my veins, it felt like someone just rubbed mints on an open wound, and injected me with meth. It didn't help that it made me feel slightly sore. But pushing forwards, my body moved much faster than normal. The wind pushed across my face like the gentle caresses of a loving mother. The feel of it felt like everything will be fine. A gentle reassurance.

  When houses or walls blocked my path, i decide to use my brain with what knowledge i had on mana control and some imaginative uses of it based on my knowledge on chemistry, physics, and particle interaction. By forcing the mana to polarize or change the charges of particles, i made it so that in one jump, it would throw me upwards like a jump boost. As positive particles repel, by making it so that only positives overflow in a specific surface, it would naturally repel both surfaces like magnets. Then having those particles collide causing a cascade explosion and throw me upwards.

  Only for first to half work. I tried doing so but it was a bit taxing. My body started to heat up and the effect only had me levitate an inch off the ground. Doing the second half only heated the soles of my crocks. So i decide to do the other. Something similar to wall running from naruto. Only this time i had to turn the mana to be both protons, and electrons to be 1:1 for them to actually attract each other. These thoughts were based on my knowledge of mana control and mana to element conversion. I was bed ridden yesterday after the whole trying to recreate an excaliblast thing, and had decided to read a book to pass the time. In doing so, i had read a lot of the book, and managed to get into the basic mana to element conversion unit. The most basic was fire, and wind. Wind was making the mana move at a fast pace. It was both the most basic yet concentration heavy element only secondary to lightning. Anyone could learn them according to the book but they needed actual knowledge to do so rather than most magic systems i knew which was just 'Using fantasy, and imagination or by gift of god'. Knowing what i had known from my past life, the shit my parents put me into just so they could live a cushy life and retire once i get a job and control my life for their own greed. Hell, when i was a kid my parents gave me a savings account in the bank they used. Said account was drained multiple times in the past saying it was for the family only for them to buy new iphones using the money i painstakingly saved.

  But i digress. Unconsciously i gritted my teeth in anger as i remembered those memories.

  For fucks sake, they stole money from my piggybank that i was going to use to buy a quilted blanket because my blanket is old and deeply needed to be thrown out as quite literally, the patches on it was torn again.

  Deep breaths..

  They have no say anymore to my life....

  They have no say anymore.

  I quickly imaged the process in my mind, and tried to walk on the wall only for me to fall down and hit my head as it was more straining to do so than just... Climbing the wall.

  Oww..

  Quickly getting up and trying not to get myself arrested under faerie law and the faerie-human contract, I quickly decide to do something similar to wall climbing that spiderman does. Doing so was so much easier although my hands felt like I just dipped my hands on glue and stuck my hand on a rat trap.

  Overcoming the wall, I decide to do something so stupid. Oh man..

  Running and jumping from the rooftops, It felt so freeing.... I never felt so alive!

  "Hahahaha!" I laughed as I jumped over a rooftop and landing into another rooftop. The thrill of it, the adrenaline.

  Why hadn't I tried this before?!

  Jumping to another rooftop with a large gap, I managed to run and jump only to fail spectacularly and thankfully got to stick into a wall a few feet from the top. Phew..

  I could've died.

  But a part of me was disappointed. The soul remembers the brief oblivion.

  How everything was nothing. Where there was nothing. The sweet embrace of oblivion. No memories...

  No anything....

  No, no.... It's.

  Agh...

  Pulling myself out of this problem, I sat on the rooftop I climbed into. Looking down, a part of me wanted to jump. To just... Die.... A smile curled into my lips, but the more sentimental part of me wanted to live. Why? It asked. Why do you want to do so?

  ...

  Why do I care so much?

  Hahahaha.

  My ass cheeks clenched at the thought of jumping off it and not caring about the landing.

  Hah.

  No...

  It's....

  Ah no...

  I decide just move on. Standing up, and looking back, I just moved away and ran from the place.

  Running. And running.

  Just like always...

  Each jump from rooftop to rooftop made me feel more and more alive yet deep inside I could still feel the want to return to oblivion.

  Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.

  Tsk.

  Isn't this the life I wanted?

  Full of adventure, and friends?

  Something I could deeply enjoy.

  I sighed knowing full well this is going to be a hell of my own want.

  Thankfully I didn't jump from large leaps. Although my body is slightly sore from the mana coursing constantly on my body. It's slightly hot now that I thought about it. Quickly taking off the jacket, it was slightly more bearable.

  Using whatever Mana I could scrounge up safely, I slid down a wall to slow and break my fall. Still, Mana was coursing on my veins so I felt a little high. Doing so slightly inhibited my mind so I didn't punch in my card, and just climbed the tall gate with nothing but grip strength and determination not to go to jail thanks to some treaty this body's ancestor's made.

  I did not want to rot in some jail in my next life.

  I didn't notice the people looking at me weirdly, or the guards shouting at me to punch in my card. All my mind had going was the thrill of the run, the high of Mana coursing through my veins, and the will not to be late or be considered absent and getting dragged into school.

  The VN had this weird mechanic where if you didn't go to school, you have to fight knights. At first it was regular knights, and if you get 20 days of marked absences, you get to fight suped up bosses and if you lose, you get sent to jail.

  Whoever made this game was either high off their mind, or thought it was funny to punish people who skip school with boss fights that will make you want to bite off a gold coin in anger.

  Quickly using some Mana, I snuck into my home room using the newly dubbed 'Scuffed Climbing' technique.

  I didn't notice the people who were pointing or the people filming this with the local equivalent of phones. Honestly I didn't think they actually have phones at the time since in the game there was no TV, phones, or tablets. Although they did have touch screens and those futuristic looking keycard scanners. Climbing into the window of my classroom, I managed to get in only to be greeted with the dumbfounded and disappointed faces of my classmates.

  "How unruly. We have a classmate that couldn't even do a common courtesy of coming inside the room normally. Honestly I am dumbfounded at how such a peon managed to enter the program."

  "Look at him, he couldn't even bother to wear the proper attire of a knight in training."

  "Peasant." My eyebrows twitched. Stereotypical nobles, but considering what that meant in this world, it comes from a place of power and 'refinement'. Human nobles in Avalon are always made from powerful people. People that could destroy a house with a simple swing. No joke, the intro cutscenes showed the power of nobility and the people born from these families. Being weak meant having the family being overtaken by new blood who was stronger. To keep the title and the privileges that comes from the tittle, they must continue to strive and thrive to be powerful enough to overtake the new bloods who have the potential to reach the strength of one or more of the members of the family.

  These richkids are the equivalent of no lifer prestige players in cod. They would normally wipe the floor of everyone else but thanks to pride, anyone who is of non noble blood, they act like a more laid back Gilgamesh who just thinks of you as an ant and finds it amusing that you still try to fight back.

  I couldn't help but give them an eye smile remiscent of a certain scarecrow.

  "Yo. The name is Aggrian Bors. Nice to meet y'all senpai~" Most of them scoffed whilst some tilted their heads in confusion at my fake smile, and the japanese honorific. They didn't understand what that means judging from the expressions on their faces.

  But just as quickly, they turned around and minded their own business as they didn't consider me as something to look out for as I had a name that wasn't from a noble line. I sighed. Taking a seat near the windows nearby...

  Now looking at my seat mate next to me, it was the same girl as the one who visited me earlier last week. I wonder if she could take me as some attendant or a Butler. Money is going to be tight, better secure a job now so I could get a cushy life or be destitute till I find some glory.

  Fueh.

  With how many people could've pulled 'Its just a gas leak' in their peak in this world, it would be hard to get to that kind of recognition to live a cushy life. Hell if I don't act like a fool and play dirty, honestly I'd get my ass kicked if they actually took me seriously. It's like those discussions of Shirou Emiya vs Gilgamesh on who wins vs what actual happened.

  I've seen enough anime and games filled with egomaniacs to know how to exploit them.

  "Psst." I called the girl from earlier that week. She flinched as of she just heard a ghost and looked at the sound of the direction only to freeze and remember something. She relaxed and just looked at me with a face remiscent of bored interest.

  "What do you want Bors?" She asked. I was surprised at how she said and knew my name. Honestly I expected to hear the peasant and below me spiel given how many in the room called me a filthy peasant.

  "Wanna be friends? Sorry for earlier, we got on the wrong track." She snorted as if that was the most humorous thing she heard this day.

  "Really? I only visited you since the nurses told me that the picture I had given them had been cross referenced with one of the patients."

  "It's fine.. I'll do whatever you want if you become my friend." I said with barely hidden glee at the potential employer I'm going to have if this whole knight thing doesn't work out for me. If it still won't work.

  Well, there is another option.

  The way of the nukenin from Naruto.

  Taking bounties for assassinations or body guard stuff. But fr, that kind of life is kinda a drag. Would rather be a noble's butler than going nukenin. But if there's no other way, then so be it. I have nothing else to lose.

  *Shrugs*

  "That's a pretty huge offer you gave. Mind you sign it with a contract enforced by the faeries?" She asked, and me having no care about the literal deal with the devil type contract I was going to sign, just smiled.

  "Sure." The girl, smiles deviously as if I literally just sold myself to the literal devil. My eyes twitched, and just endured it as I was going to have job security. Any guy back home would kill for job security.

  Job security? In that economy?

  You'd have more chances to die randomly in the street by car accident than actually securing a job.

  "Then, in accordance to fairy law, I invoke the name of the fairy of creation, The lineage of the Avalon le Fay, I Artyn Valentine make a contract with Arggrain Bors to be his friend in exchange he will have to do whatever I say if I prompt him to. This contract will be enforced by the will of the world. In accordance to the authority and sanctity of vows, You, Aggrian Bors accept this contract?" Everyone in this room seemed to be stunned at the fact someone actually made a contract, and to a peasant at that. I gave a genuine smile, yet to anyone who truly knew who I was, this was something you should never want to see.

  "I agree." Suddenly I felt something burning into my soul. I collapsed to the ground panting, and groaning as something seared itself into my soul.

  Oh fuck..

  Ohaaaaggghh...

  It hurts....

  I groaned and writhed in the ground for minutes up until I passed out and got woken up with a bitch slap to the face courtesy of a cold piece of ice.

  "Agh.... What happened..." I asked, my mind reeling and trying to remember what just happened. My eyesight was still blurry so I didn't notice that I was looking up at a female instructor that was standing and incidentally, I got a panty shot esk sight of a mix of stockings and leggings hidden with a knee high skirt but was too out of it to mentally notice or silently enjoy the sight in front of me.

  Yes I'm a pervert, and yes, I like women who could beat me up and would actually try to injure or kill me.

  And yes, I would happily die in the hands of a woman even if I die a horrible death.

  I could only groan, and just roll sideways like a unruly child that didn't want to be woken up.

  I could feel the stares but I didn't care. My body felt so sore....

  That was what happened up until someone literally threw cold water at me. I quickly stood up and did an stereotypical albeit shotty salute of a US marine corp soldier.

  Honestly it reminds me of that time I tried to enter the marine corps to get myself killed when I was 19 only to be rejected because i was too mentally unstable to join.

  The instructor's golden eyes stared at me, eyes narrowed to actual slits. The slits reminding me of dragons from movies I used to see like LOTR or dragon heart. Some sort of dragon kin in this world?

  "Well, aren't you the one Cai recommended. Heh. How quaint." She said with barely hidden distain.

  "He always pick those with unique personalities reminiscent of assassin's but with total lack of decorum." She pinched the bridge of her nose and muttered something akin to 'this idiot just broke laws but got by thanks to dumb luck and Cai.'

  "Sorry."

  "Sorry won't fix what you did!" She snapped at me.

  "Jeez. I was just apologizing."

  "You literally broke in."

  "Is it breaking in when I am a student here?"

  "Yes!" She gave me a bitch slap for just those words alone.

  "Fine. Fine. I'm sorry okay. It won't happen again."

  "Be sure."

  "Uhuh."

  "Phuh...." The instructor just waved her hand.

  "Introduce yourselves. I'm too tired of this much bullshit in the morning." She said with a bored yet nonchalant hate that someone with years of pent up hate and tiredness of everything could achieve.

  As a joke, I sat down on the floor and just crained my neck towards the instructor with eyes who would rather die than continue the stupid charade. The perfected eyes dull and hollowed eyes I used to look at people in college. A manic smile that would make any drill instructor in any self respecting military put me in a mental hospital if they saw me.

  Letting out a giggle that would surely creep anyone who heard it, the instructor just looked at me with a raised eyebrow before deciding to make me go first.

  "You go first." She pointed at me as she was a little curious at the weird kid who just checked something that would put him in a mental ward.

  I smiled a fake smile, and closed my eyes remiscent of a fox smiling.

  "My name is Aggrian Bors. My age is..." The class decide to tune in as they seemed to want to know the one who ruffled a few feathers.

  "Classified." The instructor's eyes narrowed yet didn't speak up. I titled my head and continued the face expression I just made. I decide to go all in with a Kakashi esk intro.

  "My likes are..." I gave a laugh.

  "None of your concern or something that would land me a good beating (Even though some intrusive thoughts want to do so just so I could die. The types of thoughts a suicidal man trying to hide pain would say for jokes even though they are entirely serious.)." The other students looked at me confusedly at those words whilst some I could feel then twitching as if I meant something perverted. The instructor's on the other hand had her eyes narrowing even further at my ominous wording.

  "My dislikes..."

  "Well let's just anyone with a Gilgamesh esk like personality, and anyone who would trample on my own personal happiness." My lips thinned at that as my eyes narrowed into barely visible slits. The others looked confused on who that was. But i didn't elaborate further.

  "My dreams? Live a life I personally enjoy. Personally I like the motto who dares wins. But who knows, I'm just a civilian with barely any knowledge of military life." I said before grabbing my jacket, and wearing it. Pulling out an index card, I threw it and caught it on my hand. Twisting it, I showed the index playfully, and dropped it into my sleeve with a raised arm. Using the same principle as earlier with the wall climbing, I forced the mana to have it stick it into the jacket. I then playfully 'tried' to empty the sleeve of the jacket only for nothing to come out. I 'tried' to jump to 'dislodge' it from my torso, making them think the index slid down my torso. Only for nothing to come out. Taking off the jacket, they could see nothing stuck to my body. Some scoffed whilst others were intrigued. Some who were magically sensitive could sense the mana on the jacket and started to talk amongst themselves to find out how I did that. I could only smile the fake smile remiscent of a certain fake priest which certainly creeped some of them out.

  Going to my seat, and wearing the jacket again, I lowered the sleeve only for the index to be caught by my hand. The mana used from the spell evaporated as it was no longer held up by will power.

  The instructor could only gaze at me suspiciously but after a few seconds she moved on as if she wanted to delve deeper on the mysterious student who didn't follow proper protocol and said something ominous that he would probably be marked as flight risk/traitor.

  The girl who I had made a contract with on the other hand asked me something.

  "Well, how did you do that?" She asked, curious at my show of simple magic tricks.

  "Well, I magnetized the electrons and protons together to make the index card stick." She looked at me as if I was joking.

  "What? Something wrong?" I asked, a bit self conscious at why she stared at me as if I was stupid.

  "That's costly. I mean that's so inefficient! You'd be better off covering the index with a film of reinforcement to do the trick." She said as she showed me a trick using reinforcement by reinforcing her uniform and letting the index card stick into the surface of her uniform. Gazing into the trick, it was rather more simple and costs less than what I did. However it'd be easy to take that off. With a simple punch that would be easy to do by many a knight far greater than him. Thing was, magic like my polarization of charges was an intangible spell and can only be broken by the loss of concentration whilst reinforcement was tangible and needed far less concentration as the mind unconsciously concentrates on the tangible phenomena, making it have less conscious effort in the concentration side of the spell. In truth she was telling the truth but speaking in practicality, this had uses outside combat as utility or movement type spellcraft.

  "Yeah sure but this spell can be used in climbing as utility for hard to maneuver areas." She seemed to smile at that.

  "Ah so your that far in the study? Water walking via polarization of the native electrons and protons. Except converting most of the electrons into protons." I scratched my head at that and looked away.

  "Uh... No. Not really, I do have some knowledge on physics, and chemistry. That was a theoretical for me since I can't do it as it will take a lot of concentration to do so." I said, a bit abashed at how little I know. In the VN/RPG, some of the characters, along the lines of the top 14 of the class had the ability to do so. I had to press down the enter key constantly to walk on water, some of the tactics I used for Mana efficiency in the game was jump walking which abused the jumping and water walking mechanic of the game to keep from sinking in the water floors/levels of the game in the early game such as the training ground 13, a swamp crawling with phantasmal creatures, some docile whilst others hostiles. The faeries and the school make the students cull the predators when they are far more numerous and doing the same with prey in the training area as a form of training for combat. According to the lore, the place was where the original faeries come from, the primordial soup of the faeries. It is still unknown why the faeries exist and one of the greatest mysteries of the world. The area was dangerous, dangerous enough that normally the place killed the weaker knight candidates so that the strongest pass on their genes, and live more productive lives than those who died who are deemed weak and just viewed as another casualty for peace.

  All I had was reinforcement, and this polarization technique. This was relatively basic compared to the other spells like fireball, twister, firestorm, etc. From what I head, what I just did was relatively basic and anyone proficient with magic could do. I slumped on the chair as I realized I needed to learn more to survive this place, and find a sliver of peace that I personally could enjoy.

  Hell, if I could live off killing monsters and doing 'culling operations' as the game titled the missions to live, I would. The money is good but compared to the things you could gain with fighting in the front lines and getting fame, it was rather tame but still, with just a couple missions you could earn the equivalent of $80k as it was far cheaper to pay a single squad of knights than use a entire company of enlisted men to clear an area. The pay, and the logistics of such an operation would be far higher than just paying a squad of knights capable of cutting down a company of enlisted alone each.

  I sighed whistfully as I thought of getting paid that much with just killing monsters or even, hell feeling the cold embrace of death. Staring down your death.

  I shivered and felt something akin to happiness when thinking of ending the suffering. Some part of me wanted to die, to erase the memories of the past, to dull the pain of the fear of other people.

  I shook my head and continued my talk with Artyn. The two of us continued to talk about our knowledge on the sciences. I talked about the knowledge i had on basic chemistry and some rabbitholes i fell into like researching how to create a nuke. When i said nuke, she was confused on what that was. On the other side of the room, i could see the instructor narrow her eyes at me as if i just did something wrong. Like i had just revealed something buried in so much red tape that i could get arrested for it. Her eyes shifted into something akin of the eyes of a predator waiting for it's prey to do something stupid and pounce to kill it.

  When I noticed that, I decided to shut up as to not get into something I had no right to be in.

  "That's about it for my knowledge. Although I kinda miss the stars..." I muttered longingly. I kinda miss the stars, the big dipper, Orion, Andromeda, canes, etc. The nights of Avalon was devoid of the stars. Devoid of the night skies I loved to gaze at when I was still up and unable to sleep.

  "Do you know what the stars look like?" Asked Artyn, her face twisted into something akin to that of a cat looking at a toy dangled Infront of it. Well, shit. The cats out of the bag.

  "I do." I decide to sketch out the firmament of the stars and the constellations I remembered into the index card. Drawing the stars and shading it thoroughly to give the proper rendering. My sketch was decent albeit It was rusty as I didn't follow what my parents wanted of me growing up. The skill was something I picked up as they forced me to draw in order to gain knowledge how to draw schematics of machines, and homes. If I truly wanted to back then, I could've just continued the path they wanted me to take but didn't since I utterly loathed it. Sometimes when I gazed at a sketch pad, I remembered the scolding of how shitty my old drawings we're and how they pushed me to be better albeit for their own twisted greed. The memory of their truth. All they wanted was some golden boy that will allow them to retire in a world where at one moment you have a happy, the next you are destitute and poor. From that part they were better than most. They were atleast truthful about it. I glanced at artyn to see her reaction to the sketch only to see her asking what the line of stars was.

  "What is this?" She asks, her face scrunching into confusion as she had not seen the sea of stars before. Only seeing the cloud or cloudless nights with only the fake moon to illuminate everything in the inner sea.

  "That is cassiopeia. The five linking stars with the background of the sea of stars behind it. That is a constellation. Named after the goddess' andromeda's mother, a queen of greece."

  "So an icon of the world above?" She asked with awe but that quickly turned into a sense of suspicion. Her eyes narrowing.

  "Are you one of the inhabitants of Andromeda?" She asked, voice filled with suspicion.

  "What?"

  "Tell me the truth. I invoke our contract." Suddenly i felt my soul being chained. My throat was being squeezed.

  "I-" The instructor and everyone's eyes turned to me as the confrontation become heated.

  "Answer me, Bors." My mind started to feel the compulsion of truth. Man this is a contract? Fuck i fucked up. But alas, that is my burden alone and i alone am responsible. I don't hate her, i just mentally sighed. But i refused. What happens if someone knew what i truly was. Will they kill me for being an aboration. Some part of me felt bad for the person that used to own this body. But the guilt made me want to atone for it as it was my fault why he was dead. What happens when she hears that i suspect i took her friend's body? She would kill me. I wanted to laugh but my heart started to beat faster as some perverted instinct of my hurting soul embraced death with such a genuine happiness.

  Eventually, i felt something being shoved into my heart.

  Tell her the truth.

  Finally breaking, he unconsciously told the truth.

  "I'm a reincarnator okay! i-"

  "I woke up more than a week ago. The day of the entrance exams. I didn't know it at the time but later i knew that this body isn't mine. This body is supposed to be dead!"

  "The night before, the owner of the body died. The next day i was incarnated into this body. I suspect the one i am inhabiting is your friend." Artyn looked bewildered before looking at me with a sense of hatred as if i just lied in front of her with such an absurd lie.

  "Tell me the truth."

  "I am telling the truth! I.."

  "I didn't ask for this! When i died.."

  "I just woke up a week ago during the exams. I was fumbling around, trying to see the life of the body i was inhabiting. To live a life i never had. Before this i was just a no one. Some ass who just wanted to get away from the suffering that was life. To live a fantasy i myself couldn't hold. I'm sorr-" When i said that the instructor let out a laugh.

  "I guess right. Not the first time there's a reincarnator that got into the school. It's not a problem. Honestly the only reason why the common folk don't know what that is, is because reincarnators are given privileges to live happy lives and are encourage to do so in order to heal and pass on. Reincarnation with memories only happen when a soul is damaged and scarred to the point of being a flight risk when cleaned and recycled. Every taint of it will not be erased and will just linger and gather even more in the next life. Eventually that taint will cause a corruption so deep that if they ever get into power, it will drown a world in a world war. If not then they will become a threat to the world." Then the voice of the instructor grew even more serious.

  "None of this information will leave the room. The topic of reincarnators is restricted. The governments of the inner sea deem this information a restricted info as they can pertain about the past. You mister Bors are one interesting fellow. Cai was right about you. I guess i lost the bet. But in all seriousness, he really does see potential in you. Considering how you talk about yourself, your new to this and are just a newly made one. The world sees you as something akin to an animal with a cold. See me after class mister bors for we have a lot to talk about. Also go to room 32 right now, theres a support group there. It's held every morning before the afternoon, and before the start of the physicals." She said before watching me intently and sighing when i didn't move as i digested what she just said. Then she drags me into the room herself to get me some help. I looked at Artyn before i got dragged further only to see her eyes looking at me as if i were a monster, which was understandable. I would do so too if someone else took the body of my friend and lived a life he could not enjoy anymore. A knot twisted in my stomach as i realized my situation. I don't deserve this.

  As if sensing my thoughts, the instructor only gave me a glance and a few words before deciding to drag me quickly to get some help.

  "Its not your fault. It's normal to feel so. Although its a bit weird that a reincarnator only became lucid and awake this late into the life." She said before i got dragged away fully, the room i was in was left stunned and some were already gossiping.