Kaizen's eyes snapped open at 4:30 AM.
He didn't need an alarm. He didn't need a rooster. The sheer adrenaline of planning a heist on a Saturday morning was enough to jump-start his heart.
'Today is the day,' he thought, throwing off the covers. 'Today, I stop being a background texture. Today, I get loot.'
He sat up and looked at the other side of the room.
Empty.
Klaus's bed was made with military precision. The sheets were so tight you could bounce a coin off them.
'Of course,' Kaizen sighed, rubbing his face. 'He's gone.'
It wasn't just Klaus. Kaizen knew the lore. The Main Characters and named NPC's, they didn't sleep in on Saturdays, or any day at that…. They were out there right now, running marathons, lifting boulders, or meditating under waterfalls.
Leo and the other three heavenly King's were D-Rankers, born with talent, money, and power... and they still worked harder than everyone else.
"It's unfair," Kaizen grumbled, dragging himself to the bathroom. "How are the F-Ranks supposed to catch up when the elites are grinding XP at 4 AM? The game balance is broken."
He took a quick shower. The water was hot, but the moment he stepped out, the morning chill hit him like a wet towel.
Shiver.
"Cold," Kaizen muttered, his teeth chattering instantly. "I'm an F-Rank. My cold resistance is basically zero."
He dressed quickly in his track suit, then grabbed a piece of paper from his notebook. He needed to leave a note for Klaus so the Demon wouldn't think he had been kidnapped (again) and blow up the dorm looking for him.
'Went for a small trip. To clear my mind. Don't look for me. I'll be back tomorrow.'
He placed the note on Klaus's desk, right next to a book titled The Anatomy of a Soul.
He grabbed his backpack. He packed the essentials:
Water bottle (Empty).
Flashlight (Batteries included).
A towel (Always useful).
His ID card (Crucial).
He slipped out of the room and into the hallway.
The dorm was silent. But once he stepped outside, the morning air bit his skin.
"It's freezing," Kaizen hissed, hugging himself. "If I'm cold now, the mountain is going to kill me. I need winter gear. I need a coat. I need thermal socks."
He started walking toward the Cafeteria.
A few students were jogging past him. They were sweating, glowing with mana, looking like models for a sports drink commercial. They glanced at Kaizen—shivering, pale, walking like a zombie—and looked away.
Kaizen ignored them. He had a destination.
The Central Cafeteria.
It was a massive building with glass walls, glowing with warm yellow light in the predawn gloom.
Kaizen walked in. The smell of coffee and bacon hit him, and his stomach roared.
He walked past the "Premium Station" (Omelets made to order: 50 Crowns). He walked past the "Energy Station" (Mana Smoothies: 100 Crowns).
He stopped at the "Standard Issue" counter.
A bored woman was ladling gray-ish oatmeal into bowls. Next to her was a basket of apples and hard-boiled eggs.
[ Price: 0 Crowns ]
"Free," Kaizen whispered reverently. "My favorite number."
He grabbed a tray. He loaded it with oatmeal, three eggs, and two apples.
He sat down in a corner, away from the "Gym Rats" who were loudly discussing their gains.
The Zenith Academy was a scam in many ways. Everything cost money. The dorms were tiered. The food was priced. The gear was exorbitant.
But the basics were free.
Why?
Because the tuition fee to enter this place was astronomical. It was enough to buy a small country.
Rich nobles like Lance Wind paid it without blinking. SSS-Class potential geniuses like Leo Crimson got in on a "Hero Scholarship" that covered everything.
Kaizen peeled his hard-boiled egg.
'Wait.'
He paused, the shell crumbling in his hand.
'I'm not a noble. I don't have money. And I'm definitely not a genius on a scholarship.'
He looked at his ID card on the table.
[ Kaizen Renji Asahina ]
[ Rank: F- ]
If he was a background extra... a nobody with no family history and no money...
'Who paid my tuition?'
The egg slipped from his fingers and rolled onto the tray.
'If I don't have a scholarship... and I don't have parents... did I just spawn in with my fees paid? Or... is there a benefactor?'
He looked around the cafeteria. The shadows seemed a little longer.
"Great," Kaizen muttered, picking up his egg. "Another mystery. Add it to the pile."
He shoved the egg into his mouth whole.
"Doesn't matter. First, I eat. Then, I steal a sword. Then, I worry about my student loans."
Five minutes later, the tray was clean. Not a crumb remained.
Kaizen rubbed his stomach. It wasn't full. It was just... confused.
'I need to hike a mountain. I need calories. I need to stockpile fat like a bear in winter.'
He stood up and marched back to the counter.
The bored woman looked up. Her name tag read [ Helga ]. She had arms thick enough to strangle a bear and a face that said she had seen everything and hated all of it.
"Back already?" Helga grunted, ladle hovering over the oatmeal. "What, you got a tapeworm or something? Students usually don't come back for seconds of the slop."
"I have a big day," Kaizen said, trying to look charming (and failing). "Lots of walking. Need fuel."
"Hmph." She eyed him suspiciously. "You look like a twig. You better eat it all. I don't tolerate waste."
"I promise," Kaizen nodded seriously. "Every bite."
She softened—barely. She slapped an extra-large scoop of oatmeal onto his bowl and tossed him two more eggs.
"Going somewhere?" she asked, glancing at the backpack on the seat behind him. "Hiking?"
"Visiting family," Kaizen lied smoothly. "Just for the weekend."
Helga nodded, her expression softening a fraction more. "Family is good. Don't forget to call your mother."
She turned back to the pot.
Kaizen took his loot and sat back down. He grabbed a cup of hot, free coffee (black, tasted like burnt rubber) and started eating again.
Slurp.
The doors to the cafeteria burst open.
A scrawny man with thick glasses and an armful of books came running in. He was panting, his tie askew, looking like he was five seconds away from a nervous breakdown.
He sprinted to the counter.
"Helga!" he squeaked. "Where is he?! Where is the Professor?!"
WHACK.
Helga didn't even turn around. She backhanded the guy on the head with her ladle.
"Quiet!" she barked. "People are eating! Stop screaming, you twig!"
"Ow!" The scrawny man rubbed his head, adjusting his glasses. "I'm sorry! But he's missing! The Dean is looking for him! The council meeting is in twenty minutes!"
Helga sighed. She pointed the ladle toward the far, dark corner of the cafeteria.
"He's been there since 3 AM. Drank four pots of coffee and ate half a loaf of bread."
Kaizen perked up. He looked where the ladle was pointing.
Slumped over a table in the shadows was a man.
He was wearing a pristine, charcoal-gray three-piece suit that cost more than Kaizen's entire life. His silver-streaked hair was messy but stylish.
He was currently drooling on the table, muttering to a salt shaker.
"Oh thank god," the scrawny man wept. He rushed over to the corner.
"Professor! Professor! Wake up!"
The sleeping man stirred. He lifted his head slowly. He was devastatingly handsome, with a sharp jawline and heavy-lidded eyes that looked both exhausted and amused.
"Mmm?" the man mumbled. His voice was deep, smooth, and unmistakably Aristocratic British, slurred with the elegance of a functional alcoholic. "Is it... the apocalypse already? Or just Monday?"
"It's Saturday, sir! And the Council Meeting! You're late!"
The scrawny assistant grabbed the Professor's arm, trying to hoist him up. The Professor was dead weight, smiling goofily at the ceiling.
"Ah, Saturday..." the Professor drawled. "The day of rest. And yet, here we are... shackled by the chains of bureaucracy."
He stood up, swaying slightly. He towered over his assistant.
Students around the cafeteria stopped eating to watch.
"Who is that?" someone whispered.
"Is he drunk?"
"He's kinda hot though..."
"Eugghhh... That's him! The professor with no student!"
"Girl, he's an Axiomancer, what do you expect...'
The assistant dragged the Professor toward the exit, struggling under the weight.
As they passed the counter, Helga yelled, "And don't come back until you pay your tab, you lush!"
The Professor stopped. He turned his head lazily. He brought two fingers to his lips and blew a kiss toward the angry lunch lady.
"Farewell, my grim Valkyrie," he declared with a lopsided grin. "Your oatmeal... is truly the cement that holds my soul together."
He stumbled out the door, dragged by his weeping assistant.
Kaizen watched them go, a half-eaten egg in his mouth.
He swallowed.
'Wait.'
He knew that scrawny assistant. That was Mr. Finch. The NPC who gives you the tutorial quests for the library.
Which meant the drunk guy...
Kaizen's eyes widened.
'That was Professor Archibald Xavier Cross. The S-Rank Axiomancer. The "Vector Gentleman."'
Kaizen looked at the door.
'Why is one of the strongest Axiomancer on the continent drunk in the student cafeteria at 5 AM?'
He shook his head.
"Not my problem," Kaizen decided firmly. "I have a sword to steal."