I entered the recreational building for the first years with lazy steps. An AI at the reception asked for my name and then guided me to the room that Zachy had reserved.

Missing a player? How could that idiot have booked a pool room as a single person?

The elevator stopped and I passed through the dimly lit passage and entered the yellow room on the right bustling with LED lights. The recreational space was starkly different from the places in our dorms. It was meant mostly for students to compete with other things including a VR battle simulator. The other things were just added on top, because Agriche things. We exploited that well so the people who invested in it won't have to roll in their graves about missing out on getting their money's worth.

As I pushed open the door, a burst of cold air hit me.

"Yo, Zachy Bird—" I stopped speaking midway.

"Ralph?" Luke said. "We've been waiting."

Seriously, these guys.

If they were going to hang out, they should take others from the top 10, not me.

"Oh, Ralph, you're here?" Zachy walked in from the side with a cue in his hands. "You text like an ass."

"What if you didn't recognize me, Mr. Popular."

I shrugged and entered. He passed the stick to me and went back to take another. The room he had taken was a small one with only one pool table. "We're gonna play with three people?"

"Four."

I reeled back in surprise when Leone Hendrickson's voice reached my ears. For all the regality in this person, his presence was crazy weak. He seemed a bit hurt at my surprise, but didn't say much.

"Feels odd being here."

"Hm? Did we do something? I am sorry if I offended you, Ralph." Luke didn't take a second to apologize. I would have written such quick words as insincere, but his eyes made it tough to do so.

"No, no, I was just talking about the ranks, ahaha." I quickly waved my hands and corrected myself. Zachy was ranked one, Leone was third, and Luke was fourth. It felt weird to associate with them at times, half because I didn't care and the other half because I didn't want 'Ralph the Leech' getting a sequel.

{They're still important people, it's fine right?}

Honestly, I much preferred playing the mysterious helper with high-rankers like these.

"If you're talking about the ranks, then don't worry." Zachy immediately swooped in. "I wouldn't have gotten the first rank if that small robot hadn't crashed into me."

Exactly like that one. During the exams, I had ReRa go around and mark Zachy. After getting the boss' core, I attracted the attention of all the cameras and avoided them from noticing ReRa actively searching for Zachy and bumping into his wrist with the core. That way, they chalked it up to a coincidence despite having a few suspicions.

"That and we are all comfortable with you," Luke added. "You should be more confident, Ralph."

{Wow, did he just ask you to be confident? This is the type of guy to call sewage holy water, isn't he?}

Extreme.

The top rankings had completely changed, with only a point of difference between one and two. Leslie Fenrir and Soliana Neriren from Seraphina's gang had also come up in the top ten while Ardreth Vallen from our class was kicked out way back due to a disqualification.

The academy worked in weird ways.

We were going to officially start our break tomorrow, but all the classes had been canceled for today.

Seriously, what was the point of pushing up the exams?

***

I played with the group for a few matches before the time to go back rolled in. I almost forgot mom's gift on the table, though, so I had to run back and separate from the other three.

As I held the box with both arms in front of me, I took long steps through the tranquil paths of Agriche. Dim streetlight had started turning up from the antique lampposts around as the sun drowned in a sea of indigo and red.

"Busy day..."

{Was so.}

"Should I have met up with Remy as well?"

{Oh? I thought you were pissed off when she completely ripped you apart for abusing ReRa}

I grumbled at the system's words. Some sand had started grating against my shoes as I reached closer to the Red Crab Dormitory.

"Even if I was, I can't blame her for getting angry over our child. I should apologize to ReRa too."

{I don't understand you guys.}

The world of intellectuals was lonely. No, wasn't it the world of idiots like the system that was truly lonely? Anyone with half a brain cell would understand my stance, not this dumb rat though, it seemed.

I passed through the doors of the Red Crab Dormitory and into the first mansion on the left. Apparently, all dorms also had a dorm in charge in the form of a professor. We never found the Green Wolves' in-charge since he was always drunk.

I made my way to the room on the top floor of the mansion. It was the biggest room with the best view that I had snagged as soon as I came in. The doors opened up to the dark room lit by the few lost strands of twilight that made their way in. A slightly warm breeze seeped in from the seaside window.

After placing the gift on a table and flinging away Mr. Teumessian's nephew's letter, I closed the windows facing the sea and opened the ones on the sides. Night breeze had to be cold now. I didn't feel like turning on the lights or anything, though, so I backstepped and plopped myself over the bed.

Nice cushioning, that's a 7.

"What busy days..."

{Again? You just played around though?}

"And? Is playing not working as well?"

{No. Of course not?}

Fair. A groan escaped me as my hands flitted about before falling to the sides. I wanted to go to sleep, but I also wanted not to. I was too lazy to sleep, but also too lazy to do anything else. It was like a cloud had formed in my mind, and so I did what anyone else would do and pulled up my watch.

Ever since I got this thing, I had become rather used to its convenience. There was less time to daydream.

I browsed the net, bored off, opened the messenger app, bored off again, and opened the net, then I got bored again and opened the messenger again. Before I could fall into the unending chain, a message popped up on my screen.

[Damian: The boss wants to meet you two. The time has come to join properly.]

There was also this.

I hadn't felt it much, but I was involved with quite the assholes. Troublesome assholes.

Ones that I was planning to use.

[Me: What about Kristina? What are you going to do?]

[Damian: She didn't meet her objective. It's up to the boss. Don't worry though, I'll make sure that kid doesn't croak before the boss decides. She makes good tea.]

Was he voice-typing?

[Me: When?]

[Damian: Soon]

"Hah, this is another thing to stress out about."

{You won't let her be harmed, right?}

"I'll try. It doesn't matter that much to me."

I felt like the system clicked its tongue, but that was impossible.

The small exchange had pulled me out of the mood to use the watch, so I simply laid about with my eyes closed.

Status.

Without a second of delay, the system's status window opened at my mere thought.

{Host Details: •Name: Ralph Rubinstein •Age: 16 •Rank: F+

•Title: You Bastard (Given to the biggest of bastards), Machiavellian Swindler

--

•Stats: (Calculating)

[Strength = F(SEALED)] [Stamina = E-(SEALED)] [Agility = F+(SEALED)] [Mana = F+(SEALED)] [Intelligence = E+(SEALED)] [Luck = ???(SEALED)] [Charm = E+(SEALED)]

UNIQUE STAT: [Expertise:

--

•Skills:??????? (Calculating) [Flame Magic (E-)] - Use Beginner Flame Magic [Wind Magic (E-)] - Use Beginner Wind Magic [Ice Magic (E-)] - Use Beginner Ice Magic [Lightning Magic (E-)] - Use Beginner Lightning Magic [Dark Dissolve (E-)] - Hide in the darkness (+1 Stat for Dark Awakening) [Dark Disguise (E)] - Change the way people perceive you (+1 Stat for Dark Awakening) [Dark Dismiss (E-)] - Dismiss sounds and light into the Darkness (+1 Stat for Dark Awakening) [Dark Damage (E-)] - Inflict constant mental damage and confusion (+1 Stat for Dark Awakening)

[Dark Decree (E+)] - Command your target. The degree depends on your and the target's mental strength along with skill stat (+1 Stat for Dark Awakening)

--

•Inherent Abilities: (Calculating)

—Intermediate Martial Arts: ~Unknown Style~ Hell's Circles (SEALED)—

Your Martial Arts ability have gone a step beyond a beginner's and has reached the intermediate level! An original Martial Arts style designed with your body and skills in mind after taking in data from hundreds of other styles. An epitome of talent display

—Dark Awakening—

Congratulations! You are an awakener! The power of mana has given rise to the dormant dark spells in your body! Your body will incline more towards Dark-type skills and abilities, you can learn all dark abilities with great efficiency, but learning everything else will be tough! Give up!

—Beginner Magic (SEALED)—

The untapped and complicated prowess of magic that leaves even the smartest of geniuses frothing at the ends of their mouth. You earned a beginner-level understanding of the structure of spells and mana to begin on the path of bending reality to your will! Make sure to wipe the ends of your mouth!

-- •Gifts:

EXTREME (SEALED)

The biggest gift of mankind, the ability to adapt, taken to an extreme level. You can absorb most things like a sponge and make them your own.

2(SEALED)

???

•Personality: Kind (Merging) / Insane, maniacal (Merging)}

A new problem had picked on my mind as well.

The reason the stats showed calculating wasn't that the system was still getting a gauge of my ability, but because it just couldn't show me all the things that a system normally could. Its rank was still F after all.

The system had suddenly 'remembered' this detail, along with a few others. It was a strange choice of words, to be honest.

That wasn't a problem, though. The actual problem was the last line.

Merging.

I didn't agree I was insane or maniacal. I was completely sane. If one wanted to check the insanity of real criminals, they compared their answers with mine. But well, what was this about merging? Makes it sound like I had a split personality.

"Still no clue?"

{None at all, teehee! (✿>∪◕)~}

I took in a deep breath and decided to ignore it. The first special exams had passed, albeit a month earlier than usual. We were now full-fledged students of the Agriche Academy.

With a sigh, I stood up and grabbed mom's gift. It was wrapped pretty mechanically with no ribbons or satins to decorate it. There wasn't even a name card.

I slowly pulled apart the tapings, careful to not damage the box or the wrapping. The wrapping came apart effortlessly to reveal a white box underneath. I opened that too and peeked inside.

There, like the antiques of old, was a single globe. It was lifted on its stand and tilted to an axis as a wooden line passed through the center of the wooden orb. Continents and seas were etched upon the globe while a single touch was enough to give it a spin.

The corners of my lips tugged up as I pulled out the globe and carefully placed it on the desk near me. At the bottom, a small piece of paper entered my sight.

Mom had written a note. She took the effort to use a pen and write in her handwriting, it was more than just a rare occurrence.

[You liked to look at them as a kid, right?]

Did I?

[I hope you'll like it.]

I placed the note on the desk as well before picking up the globe again and placing it on display on the walls. It looked rather odd, a single antique wooden globe inside a room of complete white. I carefully turned it around till Agriche Island came into view, right below the Federal States.

{It's a nice gift.}

"I guess?"

My empty room had found its first inhabitant.

I decided to go to sleep for now. There was still a lot to do.