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"Igno!" I shouted as fire swirled from my palm and clashed into the dragonbite's face. That's the big dragonfly enemy from the tutorial. The easy enemies, not the Fire Jacks that nearly melted my face off.

Geez, I freakin' hate igno... Casting igno has always been one of my least favorite things, though it was such a reliable damage type for the enemies in the surrounding areas. Igno was, of course, the lowest tier fire spell available to people. Loads of monsters in the plains and forests tended to be weak to fire, and luckily for me, all around Rose Academy were plains and forests. The downside to igno, in my opinion, was that it was hot. Hot as in, I hope I'm wearing shorts and a fresh t-shirt, hot.

I wiped the sweat from my brow as I took a short breather. Spawning at the save point helped me regain the stamina I lost from running from the emerald dragon, but I felt myself running low on steam just trying to find the damn thing again. I really hoped I would find the bastard again soon, because without anymore igno to cast, all I had left were terris and my heavy book bag. Could my heavy book bag count as a weapon?

In any case, dragonbites were immune to terris. Most things that flew seemed to be immune to it. Terris did a lot of damage, though, so I always tried to keep a few on me for emergencies.

Once I got a couple minutes of respite, I turned my attention back to the task at hand - kicking that dragon's ass.

It didn't take long to find it again. I wandered until I finally felt the ground shaking. Part of me felt fear. After all, naturally, I didn't want to die. My body's fight or flight instinct threatened to kick in, but I did my best to steel my nerves. I just wanted to see if Vulpitas could one shot the emerald dragon. If it could, that meant even when certain events in the game took place, like when the rival mercenary boarding school attacked us (its a long story), I could defend myself with incredible ease. Vulpitas could be my trump card when the stakes got high and I found myself backed into a corner.

I walked in the direction of the rumbling, until I realized the emerald dragon was running. It was running in the direction opposite of me! I chased after it, until I finally saw its tail end. Its chubby body was so cute... No! Don't give in! It isn't cute. It killed you!

In front of it, I think it must have been chasing someone. I heard the grunt of effort as the student running away from the emerald dragon complained about his leg cramping up. Looking around at our surroundings, I realized we were reaching a dead end. The emerald dragon had cornered the student, who begun to cower, I think, based on how he started to cry.

Apparently this bastard killed someone before he killed me. I pulled out my vocari gem and without any hesitation, I shouted, "Hey ugly! Why don't you chomp on this?!"

The emerald dragon suddenly stomped in its tracks and turned its long neck to gaze at me. I wasn't one hundred percent sure, but I felt certain this was the dragon that killed me previously. I grinned as I commanded, "Vulpitas, attack!"

Again, Vulpitas appeared in all its glory. Its blue fur bristled at the sight of the emerald dragon. It meowed, then hopped up into the air. The emerald dragon begun to turn its whole body as it extended its neck out towards Vulpitas, which fell towards its head, with crystalline legs pointed downward.

The dragon opened its mouth, green smoke billowing in its throat, but Vulpitas started to fluff its tails and somehow changed its trajectory midair as the emerald dragon spewed poisonous gas where Vulpitas had been just moments ago. With a glint in its eye and the diamond embedded in its forehead, Vulpitas connected its pointed legs onto the emerald dragon's eye.

The creature's ear-piercing roar nearly ruptured my eardrums as Vulpitas landed back near me. It looked at me triumphantly as the emerald dragon fell over dead.

I leaned down and reached out to Vulpitas, trying to scratch its long, rabbit-like ears, but before my hand could even touch it, Vulpitas vanished into shimmering diamond dust. I sighed as I pocketed the vocari gem. "How do I pet you...?" I whispered to myself.

"Uh, hey...?" A random voice interrupted my thoughts. A male student with a really bland appearance came into my field of view once I looked up.

He had brown hair, brown eyes, and no other distinguishing features. I pondered for a moment if this was a named character or not. Since he was probably going to die just now, there's no way he could be a named NPC. As realistic this world actually is, I'm pretty sure the only people who could just randomly die for no reason are people like me - NPCs that have no names, no importance, and thus don't serve the main cast or plot a purpose.

Well, I really hoped I had no importance anyway...

"Hello?" The NPC guy waved his hand in my face to get my attention. "Are you okay?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah... Sorry, I get distracted sometimes." I replied as a touched the vocari gem in my pocket. Hearing this guy's voice, he even sounded like a generic background character.

Thinking about it that moment, he really reminds me of all those brown haired walking male student NPCs. The ones that acted as a sort of background filler. That's pretty amusing. This guy is as plain as toast, but in a meta-way, he was kind of famous. I have yet to meet a more NPC-ish character.

I did just regain past memories though, so who knows who else I might run into? Maybe I'll meet the character model for the rand girl student that also populates the background.

"... So anyway, would you like to catch some dinner?"

I was nodding along to whatever this guy was saying to me so I didn't look rude. I caught the gist of what he said. Mostly stuff like, that was so scary, so dangerous, you are so brave, etc.

"Eh? Oh! Sorry, I am actually really busy tonight." I stopped him in his tracks. He wanted to take me out to dinner to show his appreciation, but that was not necessary. I spent my evenings reading and nothing was going to change that!

"Ah, maybe-"

"I am actually really busy practicing for the Thorn entrance exam," I lied through my teeth. "That's why I was here all by myself."

"Makes sense! You are so strong. I really think you could pass with maximum ranking! Oh right, my name is Tadd. What's yours?"

"Uh, my name is Bianca," I scratched my cheek and did my best to keep from being embarrassed. Receiving praise was very difficult for me.

Tadd suddenly grabbed my hands. "Bianca, what a lovely name! Well, I'll let you go for now, but I'll definitely be seeing you around! I wish I could help you practice, but I am lousy in a fight. 'Til we meet again!"

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

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He gave me a big smile and ran off towards the Rose Dungeon entrance. I smirked when he was gone. Psh! In a sea of thousands of students neither of us stand out. Just try not to get killed again!

I wished him a happy life as I dawdled for a moment before heading to the entrance.

"Bianca! Are you free right now?"

"Hey! Great catching you in the hallway."

"Wow, you are even well-read. You really are a well-rounded hero!"

Despite what I thought, we kept running into each other! Suddenly, he was just everywhere all the time!

The day after I used the save point, Tadd saw me before school started as I left the girls' dormitory. Tadd and I had a brief run-in between classes. Then he found me at lunch when I was trying to get some reading in under the stairs.

I looked all around myself for any sign of him as I made my way to the Rose Academy save point. I decided to try to save again since a whole day passed. Sure enough, that feeling hit me again. I decided to try to make this a routine... The hard part was hoping no one noticed me looking weird and poking at what I supposed looked like the air to everyone else.

"Well hey there stranger!" Tadd's voice penetrated me thoughts as I whirled around quickly as if to hide the save point behind me. As if he can even see it.

My smile twitched as I replied, "Tadd, long time no see." I tried to joke. I couldn't just shoo him away or hit the eject button on this conversation. Some part of me wanted to try to be nice until he gave me a reason to act otherwise. Being annoying didn't count unless he could tell he was doing it.

And he definitely couldn't.

"I know you are busy getting ready for the Thorn test. I just wanted to give you a heads-up about it to prepare. I wouldn't want to end up alone in the newbie squad." Tadd smiled gently. I wondered what he was going to try to tell me. It definitely couldn't be something I don't already know. "I heard we are going to ship out to the Ice Cave north of here. They want us to successfully create a pact with Gelina, the wolf queen."

I tilted my head. This wasn't surprising information, but it was more detailed than I thought anyone would be able to find out. I only knew the exacts because I've already played through that part of the game. However, the locations of the Thorn tests were closely guarded secrets. The names of vocari actively working with Rose Academy we're even more secretive.

Based on what I've managed to gleam in the books I checked out from the library today, mostly about vocari and known vocari and their locations, Rose Academy keeps all their contacts under tight wraps. Theoretically, students taking the Thorn tests are sworn to secrecy after signing something of an NDA in this world.

"Really? I didn't know Rose Academy had a deal with the wolf queen. That's sort of a big scoop. You sure you wanted to share that with me? Only the top ten students get in, you know..."

"Of course, Bianca. You saved my life and I don't think I can ever repay you. You are my hero, for real." I wasn't sure how to respond so I just chuckled and shook my head. Despite my protestations, Tadd continued, "I think after the test we should go out and celebrate when we get picked. It'll be my treat. I just really want to pay you back is all." Tadd smiled.

He looked like such a generic NPC sort of guy, but I couldn't help but smile. I had a soft spot for earnest characters. I nodded.

"Okay, but don't be sad if I fail."

"No way, you..." He leaned in and whispered, "You already have a vocari. I bet this will be a piece of cake."

Truthfully, I wasn't going to pass because I never signed up to participate in the test to begin with. I shrugged my shoulders and casually said, "I guess we will have to see!"

Thankfully Tadd had somewhere to be right after our conversation, so I went to the library. I put my name tag on and started the process of returning my books. As I stood behind the circulation desk, which is basically the help and checkout desk, I felt a sense of calm peace I could only feel at the library.

In case you forgot, I'm a library aide.

I've been a library aide since I was old enough to legally work as one, which was about age 14 in this world. The older librarians regarded me as something like a prodigy because of all the great ideas I would come up with about how best to organize our collections, maintain information about those collections, and how to cultivate the collections... In short, I was probably metagaming my library career in this life by accident. Somewhere in the back of my head, I still had that knowledge I spent so much time and money to acquire in my previous life.

There's no way I would let that last life go to waste.

Speaking of which, I've done a bit of thinking and soul searching... Whoever I was before this life, I'm not really that person anymore. First, my previous life ended at about 30 or so. Right now I'm barely 18. Mentally, I might be mature for my age, but I honestly don't remember everything about my previous life. For example, I can't remember my previous name or even what I looked like. So my mental age was probably normal for the me I am in the moment. Second, even learning that this world is somehow based on a videogame hasn't changed how I feel about things. I still hate the Astarion Empire for destroying my hometown and taking my family away from me. Just as much as ever, if I think too much about my brother and my parents, I...

Well, I'm Bianca. I have an edge over this world by knowing it's history and it's future, but, I'm still me.

As I was lost in thought, I didn't realize I had a surprise visitor. He was standing in front of me for a couple of minutes before my brain registered he was there. I snapped to attention and apologized profusely out of habit as my brain caught up.

It was a tall, hunky Oberon brooding over me.

"Oh it's just you," I deadpanned. "What's up?"

"..." Oberon maintained his pause. Honestly, I could almost hear him saying Dot dot dot sometimes. After another century, he said, "I wanted to make sure you were feeling okay."

"Huh?"

"The Fire Jacks. Even if you beat them, you probably... Were scared or something." Oberon crossed his arms and looked away from me. "Maybe you were tired. Helia dragged me to the doctor, but you... Should have gone too."

I squinted at him. Was Oberon showing concern for my health? It's not like he isn't a nice guy, but we've barely interacted before now. Suddenly it occured to me.

"Oh! Helia isn't here right now. She usually works the weekends." I smiled as I freely offered him Intel. I wished my friend the best of luck.

"...right." Oberon nodded, but continued to avert his eyes. "Actually, could you... Help me find something new to read?"

"Well now you're talking!" I clapped my hands together and cracked my neck. It made an obnoxiously loud cracking sound that made Oberon shudder. "Want recommendations close to what I told you before? You really like the heroic fighting stuff, right?"

"Hmmm..." Oberon continued to find the ground fascinating as he spoke. A faint blush crept up to his cheeks. "Do you think... It could involve... Romance."

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"Romance?"

"Yes." He nodded. "Romance between a soldier and... A girl. Maybe a bookish type of girl? It can have action... Or not."

"Oh, that's easy. I mean, basically there is almost a whole subgenre of books like that... Though they are usually told from the girl's point of view." I thought aloud as I started to mentally search for books like what Oberon was asking for.

"Is that so?" Oberon finally looked me in the face and into my eyes. Progress! He's making eye contact!

"Oh yeah, women have a huge market share when it comes to the romance genre. And admittedly, most other women who read that genre are like me. Mousy and just into the escapism of books. It's nice to feel like you can keep all your hobbies and find someone really hot who is willing to accept you for who you are, you know?"

"..." Oberon's brain seemed to be loading again. As he kept quiet, I left my desk to walk towards the books I had in mind for him. He followed me, his silence hanging between us.

"So, this one is really great, but the main character is a girl... There is another similar book from the guy's point of view, but-"

"Did you read this one?" Oberon interrupted me. That wasn't typical of him. I blinked since it was not usual for him to both interrupt someone and speak so much.

"I did, actually."

"What do you think of it?"

"Well," I grinned as I turned to meet his gaze. "This is actually my favorite book in the romance genre!"

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Oberon stared at me for a moment. I could tell his brain was loading some dialogue, so I waited patiently for his mouth to catch up. Again, he looked at the floor with reddish cheeks and held out his hand.

"...I'll take it."