My day started off when there was light in the sky.

That was around four or five, usually five.

It was still relatively dark outside with just enough residual light to navigate the campus.

I spent around an hour running. Then I’d loosen up with a little tricking and acrobatics since there was grass to cushion my landing.

There was no music to pass the time so I was tempted to glance at my watch in anticipation for nothing other than a number

Sooner or later, another hour would have passed as I did a final stretch. I never achieved a full front or side split in my last life, though I could still kick high regardless.

I wanted to be a little better this time around, even if it was only investing a little time for static stretching.

But this time investment… It might not matter as much as I think it does.

After all, what does it matter when even sleep becomes optional?

After that, I went back for a morning bath as I meditated in the water. It wasn’t meditation in the traditional sense since my mind was consciously circulating my mana.

In these times, I’d always imagine what I could do with this mana. Reanimate the dead perhaps. Or replicate a nuke.

But the fact didn’t change that this was still a time investment… An investment for what though?

When my skin got soggy, I got out.

I didn’t have to think much at that point, because there was always the looming possibility of a girl waiting on the other side of the door. I wished at least.

I’d wonder where she had gone as I dressed.

Her innocent pre-pubescent attitude towards life had carved a mark in my psyche along with the other holes.

I don’t think I had ever met anyone quite as dumb and hope-inspiring…

I trot a little on the floor as I get myself accustomed to walking again. The heels of my feet ached whenever I walked. The tendons and ligaments were not accustomed to my methods.

Pivot pivot, step step; the balls of my foot ate all the impact. It hurt sometimes, allowing me to appreciate the crusty old callouses I once had.

Some may call them disgusting and opt to have them removed by a podiatrist. No one wanted ugly feet.

But from my perspective, this must be where the saying, “It’s the small things in life,” originates. It was a nostalgic regret.

I take another minor readjustment as I debated whether or not I’d skip breakfast.

Not today.

Melissa had already occupied a table, and I sat along with her as it was the only area familiar to me. It makes me question why I do the things I don’t want to do.

But she hasn’t degraded yet; I’d convinced myself. She was certainly malleable to corruption, but so was I and anyone else. I had no reason to dislike her so much. So why did I?

My morals weren’t that black and white, meaning my emotions were at fault. It was the fault of the prejudice tied to my heart.

She usually talked a lot, at first gossiping, but as she realized I did not like it, she altered the trajectory of her speech.

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I’d respond with brief yeses and nos, occasionally putting my opinion on things.

I didn’t like using such descriptions, but to describe her, she was publicly introverted and privately extroverted. At least that’s the feeling she gave off.

The reason being that she talked just about the same as Sam while maintaining a reserved air somehow.

For today, she didn’t speak as much as she normally would.

We still talked. Less about stuff, and more about that event. The festival or something. Apparently, everyone had to participate.

I inquired about it and she answered, leading to a point where she started asking me peculiar questions.

One in particular was concerning that student from yesterday. She asked if he was fine, which was odd. Maybe she was sympathetic to what I had done to him. But she shouldn’t know that. It must be plain curious, then.

“He’s fine.”

I put him in the infirmary. It took a while to find where it was since I wasn’t keen on memorizing directions.

As I delved deep into my memories to recall the path, I found myself wondering what happened to that tall student—the student who guided me out of the infirmary on that day. It’s a shame because he looked like the type to be bullied by toddlers, not to mention anyone older than that.

Another thing she asked was something I found strange. Even more so than the last one.

It first started with, “Why don’t you train at the facility?”

When I answered, I reckoned it to be just that. But she somehow turned the question into, “Can I train with you?”

I found it hard to say no when I saw the desperation from back during the exam manifest again in her eyes. The stubborn tenacity paralleled that “challenger” guy’s determination to win.

I wanted to say no but inadvertently found myself saying the opposite. I wanted to believe she manipulated me into saying that.

As for why she was so eager to “train” with me, I was unsure. Did it have something to do with that guy?

I did tell him to mess with her first before I would accept his challenge… Which I shouldn’t have done.

‘I need to regulate myself better.’

This wasn’t the first time. I noticed earlier that my act was slipping ever since Benni appeared out of nowhere like a jack in the box. And that Melly woman…

I don’t know what to think about her.

On with the day, we went to our first class together where Professor Eigenvalue greeted us at the door.

The way he smiled like usual irked me. It’s as though Sam never existed and was just a fiction of my mind created to alleviate my isol—solitude, I mean. I don’t even know her that well, so why?

The class wasn’t anything interesting, unlike the first week where it was basically just sparring every day. It had now become a class about magic and how it is utilized in combat, living up to its name, Combat Magic.

That edgy white-haired kid was eying me throughout. I wasn’t going to reproach him about it though.

Anyway, after class, Eigenvalue dragged us aside to inform the two of us to meet at the end of the day. At the training facility, he specified. He had something to talk to us about.

I concluded it would be an unwelcome development without a second thought.

Everything else was straightforward.

Chemistry was chemistry. Numbers was numbers. And history was history.

While I couldn’t understand the written words, by listening to the lectures I found that the development of academia in this world wasn’t that bad. It at least was on par with the 1700s or 1800s. Numbers was essentially basic algebra and symbol manipulation whereas History is obvious.

With enough induction, I figured out the number system and its representations quite easily. I could say for sure that I knew how to write numbers and symbols like the variable “X” which in this world, was “O.”

It was a good start for actually learning the written language of this world.

As for Chemistry, it strayed from the chemistry I knew.

Elements was still a term used, except there was no periodic table. Rather, it was a bit more “pseudoscientific” as scientists from my old world would call it.

Instead of a whole damn table with numbers at every boxed corner, these guys were a lot simpler with their five elements.

Namely: Water, Lightning, Earth, Wind, and Fire.

It didn’t take long for a monkey like me to add one and one together and realize these were the elements used by people when they cast magic spells.

What I didn’t understand was why there were only five elements.

If my ears weren’t mistaken at the time, Benni said something about bringing me into this world via spatial and temporal magic. He also said this “system” of mine operated with similar magic.

I found it unnecessary to call upon this “system” device, so I didn’t.

[The Sword God compels you to become her apostle.]

Of course, there were still notifications like this which appeared every now and then.

I don’t know if I should do anything about it, so I’ll pretend I can’t hear it. This tactic seemed to work well when women employed it against men. So I figured, why not?