(Raven's POV)
=====
[STATUS]
Name: Alec Osmond
Rank: D-
Mana Control: D+
Strength: D
Agility: D
Stamina: D
Intelligence: D
Luck: D-
Charm: D+
[SKILLS]
-Makes you calmer.
-Boosts your thinking capabilities while activated.
-Travel in any direction instantaneously.
-20 meters range.
[TRAITS]
-Obtain memories from your past life.
-Obtained from past life.
-Makes your body compatible with mana so you can use magic better.
-Increases your strength against anything 'evil'.
=====
=====
[STATUS]
Name: Curtis Hawkins
Rank: E+
Mana Control: E+
Strength: E+
Agility: D-
Stamina: E+
Intelligence: D-
Luck: E+
Charm: D+
[SKILLS]
-Wounds you inflict on your opponent will bleed continuously for 30 seconds.
-Increases your speed by 80% for 1 minute.
[TRAITS]
-Makes anything about swords easy for you to grasp.
-Makes you let out an aura and presence of a noble.
-As long as you remain unwavering and proud, increases your strength by 10%.
=====
'Alec and Curtis.'
They're rank 1 and 2 respectively in all freshmen.
I'm looking at Alec's and Curtis's stats the system recorded earlier. It's the same as what I remember in my novel.
"They're strong."
I muttered while lying on the bed in my dorm. The classes of the first day finished smoothly after the bullying event.
"Their damn charm is way higher than mine."
I grumbled, still looking at the status windows projected in front of me.
Anyway, on our first day here—we pretty much did nothing as today was just for us to be familiar with the academy. After explaining some things to us, Sir Kendy gave us our dorm number.
There are 3000 freshmen and there's a student ranking to determine our dorms.
My rank is 2619, which is bad, so my dorm is pretty small.
All the main characters are within rank 10 so they have a hundred times better dorm than mine.
The academy does this for the students to work hard and do their best.
'Well, it's working because now I kinda want a better room, to be honest.'
Anyway, I already checked the main characters' stats.
Alec is
Curtis and Eve are
Adelle and Aoi are
It's all higher than mine but I'm not the weakest in the class. Well, I'm supposed to be the weakest... But I already ranked up twice.
Also, as you can see—Alec is an reincarnator. He regained his memories of his past life along with
In his past life, he was a 7th tier magician. The demons also invaded their world, and he died fighting one of the strongest demons.
Using a sword until he regained his memories of his past life, he chose to maintain it as he also have a talent for it... and so, he became a magic swordsman.
He aimed and became the top 1 in freshman ranking to earn a scholarship here in Lunar.
He just needed to be in the top 10 to get the scholarship, but Alec decided to do his best to make his parents proud.
"Now what?"
I asked myself after recalling some of the novel's information.
'My actions are all a mess.'
I darted here and there without any clear goal.
"Should I involve myself in the story or just let the it proceed as intended?"
I've been wondering about that since I came here last month. I had a lot of time to think about it, but coming up with an answer is difficult.
[The latter is impossible as you already altered some happenings and the Transcend Beings will likely interfere with the story.]
The system said to me. I nodded as I agreed with what it said.
"I plan to help in some scenarios, but what should I do till then?"
I asked the system.
[Why don't you train seriously? Your fighting style is a mess, your body is weak. In this case, you'll be a dead weight to them rather than help.]
It answered.
"Right."
Its words hurt, but they're true.
So I took something out from my spatial storage.
=====
-Upgrade an item.
=====
These scrolls are one of the rewards I got from killing the King Wolf. Their description is simple and vague but these scrolls are rare and their effect is enormous—enough to make a simple knife as sharp as a sword, or even better.
"I wonder if I should just sell these?"
I contemplated while looking at the three scrolls.
I remember a single scroll being worth five million zeals each or more. It's hard to get because you can only get it as a reward from dungeons.
[But you can buy it in the System shop.]
The system read my thoughts and said that.
Its words made my eyes widen as my head quickly snapped in its direction.
"Really?"
I asked, my eyes shone in expectation.
I was excited because I could earn a lot of money out of it. Like buy it in the system shop and sell here for zeals.
[Yeah, it's 1000 CP each.]
At the system's words, my smile turned into a frown real quick.
I gained a lot of attention as an author since this morning, but when I checked my CP balance, I only had about 350 CP. The 300 of that is even from the 2500 CP I got as a reward.
I ignored the system and looked back at the scrolls, dejected.
"Anyway, where should I use this?"
I have three scrolls. Using it on the gun I got from the academy would be stupid as I plan to get more powerful weapons later on.
Using it on a bullet would be the stupidest thing I can think of.
So after removing the obvious stupid choices, I'm now down to two items.
[Ring of Gluttony] and [Cat's Earring].
But I got three scrolls, so I decided—
"I'm gonna upgrade both and save the last one for the weapon I'll have in the future."
Also, I can just buy another one from the System Shop. I just need to save up enough CP.
With that thought, I unrolled the scrolls and tore two of them. The scrolls are connected to the thoughts of the user, so they know what items I want to upgrade.
FWOOSH~
Lights covered the [Ring of Gluttony] and [Cat's Earring].
It's blinding, but it doesn't hurt my eyes.
And after a while... The lights faded and disappeared.
[Upgrade was successful]
[Upgrade was successful]
Then the system announced the success of the upgrade. It made me frown again.
Why?
"Can upgrading items fail?"
I asked. I didn't write that in the novel—it was supposed to be always a success.
[Yes, things like upgrading or ranking up using items can be unsuccessful sometimes.]
The system replied, making my fear come true.
"Why?"
[The Higher Being said it's to maintain a certain balance.]
I'm still confused, but I didn't pry about it any longer. I seems like I wouldn't get a straight answer anyway.
'So there's a chance that I will lose millions of zeals or a thousand CP for nothing.'
That's gonna be frustrating as fuck.
As I was in that thought...
[Your Luck stat is pretty high so you always have a high success rate.]
The system informed me of that, and it made me feel a bit better.
"That's good, I guess."
The [Luck] stat is naturally for training. For example... You did a training enough to increase your stamina by 1 point, but if you have a high [Luck]—there's a high chance of gaining 2 stamina points or more instead of just 1.
"So now the [Luck] stat has a new function, huh."
That Higher Being sure is changing a lot things.
"Anyway... System, show me the new effect of the items I upgraded."
I'm curious, as the [Ring of Gluttony] didn't get upgraded in my novel, and the [Cat's Earring] doesn't even exist in my novel.
[Just the new features?]
"Yeah."
It will be just the same anyway except the new features added.
[Okay.]
Just then, two bluish transparent windows appeared.
=====
[Cat's Earring]
-New unique skill
-Partially transform any part of your body into a cat's body part.
-Consumes mana.
=====
My eyes widened seeing the new effect of the [Cat's Earring], then after thinking for a bit, a smile appeared on my face.
Cats are good at detecting movement in low light, have an acute sense of hearing and smell, and can see well in the dark.
This skill is more useful than it seems.
Curious... I tried using the skill on my nails. My fingernails grew 1 inch long and looked like a cat's claws.
I tried channeling mana into it, and it was easy as fuck.
"Woah..."
I let out a voice of admiration.
'This can be useful in close combat.'
I thought.
I still don't know how to imbue mana into weapons but this can be an alternative.
Then I transformed my eyes into cat's eyes. I thought I'd be nearsighted as cats are nearsighted, but my vision remained the same. It's even better—I can see well in the dark and motion seems to slow down a bit.
Looking in a mirror, the white sclera of my eyes turned gray and the centers turned vertical.
It's said in the internet that cat's eyes are suitable for hunting.
"This is fun."
After playing with the skill for a bit, I stopped messing with the earring and checked the new effect of the [Ring of Gluttony] next.
=====
[Ring of Gluttony]
-Summon an animal familiar.
-The summoner will be the master of the familiar even if the ring wearer changes.
-Can share senses with your familiar.
-Appearance of the familiar will be based on the wearer's favorite animal.
=====
"What?"
I read the description again.
"A familiar."
My heart then started beating faster after mumbling that. I always wanted a pet but didn't know what to get.
I thought of taming beasts but I can't do that at the moment—not just because of money problems but many more else.
"It will be my favorite animal?"
That option caught my attention too. I don't even know what my favorite animal is.
I've been swept by dog person's and cat person's words so much that even I got confused about what I really want.
I've been lonely this past month. My parents always message me but I'm still pretty awkward towards them and I still haven't met them in person yet.
"And this system doesn't talk if not being asked. It even reads my thoughts so talking with it is pointless—it doesn't even have a physical body."
I muttered.
[I don't want to talk to you that much either.]
It's rude too.
So, without waiting any longer, I tried summoning a familiar.
'
And when I thought of that, my mouth unconsciously opened on its own.
"[Come, present yourself to me—Familiar from the Ring]!"
My voice came out on its own. It's like I need to call something from the ring.
It was embarrassing. My face cringed. Luckily, no one's here with me.
[Ew, cringe.]
Except for the system.
'Shut up!'
Anyway, after that, white smoke erupted from the ring.
SWOOSH~
"White?"
I got confused as the ring always produces black things.
Then, the smoke started to materialize not long after.
"Why is it so small?"
The smoke formed a ball-like shape as big as my fist.
And when it was done... I looked at what appeared from the ring.
It wasn't a cat or a dog.
-Kyu?
It was a pure white cotton-like bird that tweeted while tilting its head. Its tweeting sounds weird but I ignored it—I mean, I got transmigrated into my novel, nothing is weirder than that.
Anyway, I recognized what the bird is—it's a Shima Enaga. It's a bird species I like and I can't forget because of its cute appearance.
-Kyu! Kyu!
The bird flew toward me and I watched it do so.
'Cute.'
I unconsciously thought.
*****
I'm currently sitting on my bed while leaning on the wall. The white cotton-like bird thing is standing on my right shoulder, like a parrot standing on the shoulder of the pirate captain in some common pirate fictions.
"Why is it white? And do I like cute things?"
I mumbled, looking at the cotton ball on my shoulder.
I was convincing myself that I like cool things more than cute things.
At least I thought it was gonna be a wolf or something.
-Kyu?
The cotton tweeted, looking at me and tilting its head.
'It's really cute though.'
I thought.
"Argh! Whatever!"
I didn't dislike the outcome. In fact, I like it. It also says in the description earlier that I can share its senses.
'In a sense, I can literally have a bird's-eye view.'
Observing things from a high place is a huge advantage to me in many ways. I can even use it to scout.
"Are you a boy or a girl?"
I asked the cotton bird, but it just tilted its head again as if asking what I was talking about.
[It's a girl because you can't picture a boy bird.]
The system said.
"Just because of that? Are you sure?"
I asked.
[I also appraised it. Here, have a look.]
After that, information about the cotton appeared in a status window form.
=====
[STATUS]
Name:
Rank: F-
Intelligence: F
[SKILLS]
[TRAITS]
-Ranking up is possible.
-Can use the skills of the ring like the wearer.
=====
The cotton has her own rank and intelligence. It's the lowest rank, but with her trait
She can also use the [Ring of Gluttony]'s skills. I don't know where I would use that, but maybe in the future, it can be useful.
'She even has a stealth skill!'
The skill is common, as you can buy it for about 10,000 Zeals. But having it from the start is like having free 10,000 Zeals, right?
"Ah...! The name..."
I exclaimed as I noticed her name. She has no name.
"What should I name her?"
I don't like flashy and long names. I just want a simple one, but I still need to think about it.
Then with the help of my traits, I found a perfect name that I'm looking for.
"Shima Enaga is originated from Hokkaido, Japan. Its white fur reminds me of snow, it's also a girl."
I listed what I took into consideration and used my taste to come up with a name.
"I'll name you Yuki."
It may sound very human for an animal, but based on the system earlier, she can gain intelligence on par with humans.
Naming her with an animal name feels wrong.
I also thought of just naming her 'Cotton,' but she might hate me in the future for it.
-Kyu! Kyu!
And it also looks like she likes her new name. With me connecting with Yuki's senses, I can feel her emotions as well.
The corner of my lips rose as I could feel her being comfortable with me.
I looked at the time.
<10:03 P.M>
Having these events, and also training a lot earlier, I'm starting to get tired.
"Haaa..."
I yawned. I placed Yuki beside me and laid down on the bed. And not long after that... I fell asleep.
"..."
And with that, my first day in the academy came to an end.
=====
The Shima Enaga is a subspecies of the long-tailed bushtit. They are also known as the silver-throated tit or silver-throated dasher. They are a tiny bird (at 12–16 cm in length, including their tail at 7–9 cm).