Chapter 41: Eldoria Academy (2)

After their first day had finally come to an end, the three of them still hadn’t reunited with their previous companions.

The three walked together, and of course, they continued to attract the attention of other students. Or rather, Philip was the main center of attention among the students at the academy.

"Looks like you’re quite popular, Philip," Magnus remarked, sounding rather annoyed that he wasn’t as popular.

Haruki remained silent, not uttering a single word.

The three of them headed straight to their room, and Haruki quickly closed the door behind them.

"Ahh! Being famous sure is fun, isn’t it?!"

Magnus said while glancing at Philip.

"Are you jealous?"

The two of them started arguing again, as usual, all because of Magnus’s antics.

"I’m going out for a bit. I want to take a look around the city in this kingdom."

Neither of them paid any attention to what he said. Haruki simply changed his clothes without even bothering to freshen up first.

Even when Haruki left the room, the two of them didn’t notice.

Haruki used his Invisibility skill to avoid being seen by the other students. After successfully leaving the academy grounds, he deactivated his skill and quickly made his way towards the city.

He couldn’t believe that there was still another prosperous kingdom in this world. As far as he knew, according to the novel, no kingdom had remained prosperous after King Arcane ascended the throne.

He also noticed nobles and commoners laughing together.

"Is this really the kingdom belonging to Arcane’s younger brother?"

’The Kingdom of Eldoria... If I remember correctly, this kingdom was only mentioned once in the novel, without being given even the slightest chance to appear.’

Haruki then let out a sigh.

’And according to what I read, portals randomly appear every day, releasing monsters into the kingdom.’

He then noticed a small library beside him. At first, he intended to ignore it, but suddenly changed his mind, wanting to try reading some books from this kingdom.

...

According to myths, thousands of years ago, this kingdom had a king who was incredibly power-hungry. He wanted to surpass the limits of humanity and become a God.

However, due to a war whose origins were unknown, the kingdom eventually fell into ruin. But before the king died, he placed a curse upon his own kingdom, believing that the people under his rule were useless for failing to help him obtain power on the level of a God.

That was the book Haruki had been reading after spending an hour inside the library. It was a historical account of the Kingdom of Eldoria, which the people of the kingdom regarded as nothing more than an ordinary myth.

’Wait... Why does this sound so familiar?’

Haruki thought hard, trying to recall where he had heard something similar before.

*"They are called God Kings."*

Haruki suddenly remembered that Teacher Aelin had once told him about them. He flipped through the book again, and his eyes widened slightly.

*The death of the First King was caused by his own failure to appreciate the gift bestowed upon him by the Supreme Ruler.*

’So, what Teacher Aelin said was actually true?’

He began to feel somewhat doubtful, remembering that the story was supposedly nothing more than a tale made up to help children fall asleep.

He eventually closed the book and let out a long sigh. Then, he noticed the author’s name printed on the book’s cover.

Haruki quickly stood up and approached the librarian, asking where the author had lived.

"Uh, it’s quite rare for people to take an interest in that story," the librarian remarked.

"Besides, the author passed away almost a year ago."

Haruki felt a little disappointed and decided to buy the book instead. He then searched for the money he had taken from Philip a few days earlier and took it out.

The librarian glanced at the money Haruki had offered.

"Hmm, are you from another kingdom?"

Haruki slowly nodded. The librarian then decided to give him the book for free, since nobody seemed interested in reading it anymore. In fact, nobody even bothered to touch it.

’So, I’m the first one, huh?’

He slowly stepped out of the library, only to find that some sort of commotion had broken out.

A portal had appeared, releasing a monster that looked like an enormous goblin.

All the citizens were using their magic to fight it, but Haruki could tell that they were struggling to defeat the creature.

"Huff."

Haruki then raised his hand and used his Gravity Magic against the goblin, immediately slamming it into the ground.

The citizens who witnessed this were astonished. They couldn’t believe that someone so talented had appeared among them.

Haruki quickly finished it off using his new dagger, which he had purchased several months ago, before returning to the real world.

Haruki’s new dagger had been enhanced with a special effect: poison. Anyone struck by its blade would experience a burning sensation throughout their entire body, even if the wound was only minor.

Haruki instructed everyone to retreat and leave the matter to him.

He casually threw his dagger towards the monster. However, thanks to the ’Stats’ system he had acquired over the past few months, he could freely distribute the points he had earned among his abilities.

[HARUKI] Title: ???

Strength - 20

Agility - 5

Intelligence - 5

Magic: Gravity, Light

Skills: Invisibility, Blade Recall

’Ah, I’ve put way too many points into Strength...’

The goblin slowly began to writhe in pain as the poison from Haruki’s dagger took effect. Shortly afterwards, the monster vanished completely upon its death.

The citizens standing nearby stared at Haruki with admiration. Some of them even whispered to the people beside them, saying that it had taken nearly half an hour, or even longer, to defeat that monster, despite having so many people fighting against it.

"Y-Young man..."

Haruki noticed an elderly man calling out to him.

"Where are you from?"

Haruki paused for a moment, thinking about how he should answer.

"I... I’m currently studying at Eldoria Academy."

Everyone immediately gave Haruki a respectful salute upon hearing that he was a student of Eldoria Academy.

’Is this academy really that prestigious?’

Haruki, who was standing amidst the crowd, received respectful greetings from the citizens around him.

Just as Haruki was about to leave, someone approached him and offered him a chance to join the Monster Hunters, an organization responsible for eliminating Monsters emerging from portals.

"I can make you stronger every single day."

Everyone around them looked at the two with curious expressions. Some even gazed at the man with admiration, as if he were someone quite famous.

"My name is Valt Vez, the leader of the famous Portal Monster Hunters."

Haruki was slightly surprised that the man had openly introduced himself as a famous individual.

The people around them began whispering, seemingly convinced that Haruki would accept the offer.

"I refuse."

However, Valt stopped him once again, as it wasn’t every day that someone like him would personally invite another person to join his organization.

Without saying much else, Haruki increased his Agility stat using the points he had obtained after defeating the Goblin Monster earlier.

[REMAINING POINTS: 10]

’Allocate all points to Agility.’

[AGILITY - 5 → 15]

In an instant, Haruki was already standing in front of Valt Vez. The man was taken aback by Haruki’s incredible speed.

And once again, Haruki suddenly appeared behind Valt and gently tapped his shoulder, wanting to show him just how different their strengths were.

Valt turned around, slightly startled to find that Haruki had already disappeared. Even the citizens nearby hadn’t noticed when Haruki had left.

After that, Valt also departed and headed towards an empty alleyway.

"Impressive. Perhaps he’s a little better than Philip."

He slowly removed his clothes and poured water over his hair.

As it turned out, he wasn’t actually the famous Valt of this Kingdom. He was merely someone disguising himself as Valt to test Haruki’s strength.

More importantly, he was also a student at Eldoria Academy. It was revealed that he was the same person who had been secretly observing Philip and Haruki back in Eldoria.

He then left the alleyway without another word.

"Phew, I’m glad I obtained the Status Stats."

He then decided to return to the academy.

When he was already approaching the academy, a rather crazy idea suddenly crossed his mind. Haruki decided to look for their friends from Arcane Academy.

His previously slow footsteps gradually became faster. He then activated his Invisibility Skill and swiftly entered an area he hadn’t visited during the morning’s lessons.

Haruki explored the corridors one by one, checking every classroom in the academy. Eventually, he decided to search the boys’ dormitory, since he hadn’t seen any male students there earlier.

With no other choice, he had to peek through the windows from outside while using his Invisibility Skill.

Haruki couldn’t find a single familiar face from Arcane Academy. He continued searching, considering that the dormitory had quite a lot of rooms.

He was beginning to find it strange that he hadn’t encountered anyone he knew. This raised all sorts of peculiar questions in Haruki’s mind.

Nevertheless, he tried to remain optimistic.

For some reason, he was becoming increasingly worried about the students from Arcane Academy.

Eventually, he peeked through the window of the room he was staying in and saw that Philip and Magnus were fast asleep.

’Huh? Weren’t they fighting earlier? And now they’re sleeping? They’re really acting like children...’

And yet, Haruki still wondered where the male student of Arcane Academy was now.

He then thought about checking the girls’ dormitory to see the female students of his Academy, but he should think again.

And, he thought of something a little crazy.