Vol 3. Chapter 14: There Seems to Be Something Strange at Home

Catching the flicker in Isatia’s expression, Vinny realized he hadn’t been mistaken—Isatia was indeed researching this civilization and was interested in it.

As to why, that was anyone’s guess.

Marsmo—Vinny had never heard of it. He barely understood the Tyrelis Empire as it was, let alone any older human civilizations predating it.

“Marsmo, I imagine most of you haven’t heard much about it. This was a powerful civilization that once occupied the central continent. It lasted for several centuries, but later perished for reasons unknown.”

“Parts of its culture were absorbed into modern human civilization—customs among them. Even the places where Marsmo once stood still retain many habits from the Marsmo culture,” the homeroom teacher explained.

“Besides that... Miss Isatia, do you have something to add?” Noticing Isatia suddenly raise her hand with perfect posture, the teacher paused and asked.

“Teacher, under Carillian Academy regulations, when the Academy discovers a secret realm, students can sign up to participate in the exploration. For this exploration, are first-years eligible to join?” Isatia parted her lips and asked in a cool, steady voice.

“In principle, this kind of secret realm expedition is usually reserved for upper years.” The teacher pinched a textbook under one arm and pushed up his glasses.

“Teacher, why won’t the Academy give lower-year students a chance? A chance to prove we’re not inferior to the upper years.” Isatia continued, calm as ever.

That set the class murmuring.

If you could get into Carillian Academy at all, weren’t you a proud genius? Her words hit them right where they lived.

What about the year level? Weren’t they all chosen ones? If the upper years could do it, why couldn’t they??

As for Vinny, he couldn’t care less. Chosen one? He only knew how to coast. Shicodale beside him had the exact same reaction—blankly adorable, wearing a look that said he had no idea what everyone was talking about.

Vinny deliberately glanced at Aesphyra’s face and found she had already slipped into the right headspace, serene and composed.

“On that point, the Academy is offering equal opportunity this time. The usual threshold starts at second-year and above, but there have been some changes this year,” the teacher said.

Then he faced the room.

“Class, do you know what a deep-buried secret realm is?” he asked.

Plenty of students couldn’t answer. They didn’t know what a deep-buried secret realm was—though that did not include Isatia or Aesphyra.

“You mean, to get into the secret realm proper, we first have to enter a preliminary realm?” someone ventured.

“Yes. Anyone entering must first pass through the realm’s preliminary area and obtain a key before they can enter the main realm buried deep within. Think of it like a tomb: you have to enter the antechamber before you can access the main chamber left by the tomb’s owner,” the teacher explained.

Grim as that sounded—like grave robbing, really—in a sense discovering a new secret realm did have a tomb-raider vibe.

First, only strong civilizations could leave secret realms behind. Second, the creators of those realms—and their descendants—were basically all extinct.

So finding and excavating a secret realm really did feel like exploring a tomb. Everything inside was unknown.

“This could serve as an assessment. Our advance faculty have run the numbers. Each entrant has about three days to find a key. Exceed that time limit and the realm erases you. But if you carry an Academy teleportation token, it’ll simply eject you from the realm—no further consequences,” the teacher said.

“So, the Academy is making an exception this time—no threshold. Anyone who wants to try can join the queue, because the preliminary realm is an elimination round by itself.”

“The Academy’s specialist mentors have already set up a link between the realm interior and the entrance. As long as you carry your token, you won’t face safety hazards.” This was the usual method for realm exploration—hire a large number of professionals to establish a link between the entrance and the interior.

In plain terms, it was like creating a respawn point inside a game dungeon. If you died, you resurrected—so you didn’t actually die. Without that respawn point, a teleportation token was just an ordinary token—meaningless.

It took a massive amount of work and expertise. Only Carillian Academy—or a nation with serious horsepower—could pull it off in a few months.

“Anyone who can find a key will be deemed qualified to explore the deep-buried realm,” the teacher said. “Conveniently, there’s a short break this weekend—the first weekend of the term. If you’re interested, you can sign up after class.”

The students were itching to go.

With that, the teacher moved on to the lesson.

“Vinny, are you interested?” Shicodale whispered, cute as ever.

“Me? You’re kidding. Why would I run off to dig up a tomb for no reason? Bored? We finally get a break and I can’t just stay home and rest??” Vinny picked at his ear, casual as could be.

A Marsmo secret realm? Did the original story have this? It didn’t, right?

Forget it. There was no using the original timeline anymore. It had flown off to parts unknown. Who knew which tiny detail had set off the butterfly effect?

Or maybe Vinny’s existence meant the worldline was constantly shifting. How were you supposed to judge anything then?? Even knowing the original plot was useless—this wasn’t even the same world anymore!

Vinny yawned his way through the morning classes. In the afternoon, he finally met up again with the Armor Class.

“Vinny, long time no see.” Bardos—the big brother of the Armor Class with the highest Spirit Soul compatibility—nodded at Vinny in greeting, a towering youth from the tribes.

Nice vibe. It felt like being back in a campus from his previous life—that relaxed, youth-bright atmosphere.

“Long time no see, Brother Bardos.” Vinny nodded back and glanced at the seats. Sok and Jaden were shooting the breeze. Seeing him arrive, they raised hands in greeting.

The Armor Class were all easy to get along with.

Before long, Feikolin walked in with a cigarette hanging from his lips, same dead-fish eyes as ever.

“Brats, you didn’t forget everything I taught you over the break, did you?” First words out of his mouth, rude as always. Everyone was used to the way Feikolin talked.

“Alright, everyone’s here. Enough chatter. Your homeroom teachers told you already, right? That matter.” Feikolin blew a smoke ring and drawled.

“What matter, Teacher Feikolin?” Sok asked, curious.

“Don’t play dumb with me. What else? Isn’t there a newly discovered secret realm on that little island southeast of the Academy?” Feikolin snorted.

“Huh? There is?” Everyone else kept quiet by default—only Sok looked lost.

“Heh. Sok, did you sleep through the morning lectures?” Feikolin said, as if he’d seen straight through him.

“Ah—ah? No, Teacher Feikolin, I was totally focused this morning. Definitely didn’t drift off.” Sok rushed to reply, but the nervous look on his face sold him out completely.

“Hahaha.” The others couldn’t hold back their laughter.

“Heh. You think I’ve never been a student? Forget it. I’ll just tell you straight. If you can manage it, you can take part in this excursion. There’s no real danger—you won’t die. This is prime hands-on experience, both real combat and realm exploration. Treat it as training.”

“Raise your hand if you want in. I want to see how many cowards our hard-charging Armor Class is harboring,” Feikolin said.

Three hands went up. After seeing everyone else raise theirs, Sok felt awkward and slowly put his up too.

Which left... Vinny, sitting there alone, blank-faced, motionless.

“Hmm?” Feikolin’s interrogator stare dropped on him at once, pressure slamming down over Vinny.

“Vinny, you—highest compatibility in the Armor Class, heir of the Facilis line—and you’re unmoved by something like this?”

“Uh, Teacher, no, I...,” Vinny started to explain—only to find Feikolin had somehow slid right up to him, eyes bulging like bronze bells.

“Look at yourself. Think about your current situation. Think about your family’s current situation. You can’t push a little? Everyone else in the Armor Class has the guts and confidence—why don’t you dare?” Feikolin bent down, eyes nearly pressed to Vinny’s face, oppressive as a storm front.

“I—no, Teacher, I have a reason not to go.”

“What reason? Your head’s a little bigger than other people’s so you can’t go?” Feikolin chuckled.

His head wasn’t big at all, okay??

“No, no. To be honest, Teacher, I’m sick,” Vinny said, all innocence.

“Sick? With what? You look fine to me.” Feikolin gave him a once-over.

“Well, not every illness is visible to the naked eye, Teacher,” Vinny said helplessly.

“Then tell me what you’ve got,” Feikolin said.

“Uh... uterine chill....” He’d teased Aesphyra with it that morning, and the words just slipped out in the afternoon.

“Huh???” Not only Feikolin—all four others stared, dumbstruck. Sok’s look even gained a touch of respect.

To dodge a realm run, he’d make up something like that? Not bad. Brother Vinny, I salute you!

“Wrong! I meant anemia—anemia!” This time Vinny wasn’t even lying; he really was anemic.

“Anemia? I don’t see it.” Feikolin peered at him. “You look ruddy and full of energy. I’m not seeing any symptoms of anemia.”

“Uh... uh.” What symptoms did he expect? He couldn’t exactly say the anemic one was his other self, could he??

“You trying to snow me?”

“No, Teacher, I really am anemic. It’s an internal injury!” Vinny protested.

“Tch. Fine, fine. It’s your own business and your own choice. Still, you gutless, ambitionless brat.” Feikolin’s face filled with contempt. “With your family in this state, and you don’t think to fight for yourself? I despise you.”

“I never said I wouldn’t go,” Vinny muttered, the corner of his mouth twitching. “I’m... considering it, alright?”

“Whatever. It’s your call. Enough talk—class starts now,” Feikolin said. “And a warning: there’s a live-combat assessment midterm. If you don’t build up some experience, don’t cry when you fall behind.”

The first day of the term ended. Vinny hauled his tired body home. The moment he stepped in, he smelled food.

Ahh, after school, nothing beats coming home to someone cooking.

In his previous life it was his mom. In this one...

Vinny set down his books and, dazed, wandered to his seat, stomach growling as he waited for dinner.

“Pfft, Vinny, do you need a napkin? I heard that if someone with a low IQ drools once, it can’t be cured for life~”

“???” Once his brain managed to read the sentence, three question marks floated over Vinny’s head.

That... didn’t sound right.

No way Shicodale would say something like that, would he??

More like...

Wait—that voice obviously wasn’t Shicodale’s. It was—

Vinny snapped his gaze to the side. Sure enough, he saw the white hair and the big black bow tied behind the head.

“...” Vinny’s expression froze.

“Good evening, Vinny~” Aesphyra tucked a lock behind her ear and narrowed her beautiful eyes with a smile.

“Hold up—what are you doing here? How did you drift into my place??” Come on. He finally clocked out and could relax in his private space—and he still had to get tormented by a white-haired short nut?

What was this? Couldn’t he just rest like a normal person for once??

“Out. What, is this a place anyone can just stroll into? Out, out, out. Nut products aren’t welcome here!” Vinny stood and pointed at the door, fuming.

“How cruel. Is this how you treat a friend who drops by?” Aesphyra said.

“I’ll drop you. Who asked you to come? Who said you could come in?” Vinny laughed in anger. “Also, look carefully—this is a boys’ dorm. Boys’ dorm! You really dared come in? Not afraid it’s dirty?”

“Well, if all the boys were like Dale—fragrant, soft, cute, and a domestic all-rounder—not annoying at all, then I wouldn’t mind coming by~” Aesphyra smiled, the tease aimed squarely at Vinny.

Oh? So the dagger comes out of the map now?

Worldlines overlapping, are they? The damned white-haired short nut had finally set her sights on his adorable little chef?

“If Vinny would learn from Dale and be less annoying—that’d be nice. Mm, I’m not asking much. Half of Dale is probably too hard for Vinny. How about one-tenth~?” Aesphyra propped her chin like a noble, beautiful white ragdoll cat.