Seeing that she was safe for the moment, Aida began pulling at her legs, trying to ascertain a way out; but no luck, she was firmly entrenched in the ground.
“Hey now, what’s all the fuss?” drawled a honeyed voice. “First day of school, and we’re already bullying girls?”
Glancing around, Aida caught sight of the speaker. Oh SHEESH. It was Levi Ashet, Annie’s first choice bachelor—and he looked much better in 3D than in the splash art. He was tall—easily a head taller than Suelina, who wasn’t petite. He had broad shoulders, and even underneath his unbuttoned blazer and cotton button-up Aida could see he had a tight stomach and waist, with strong but gentle lines rising to meet - Aida’s breath hitched - the smooth swell of well-developed pectorals. The boys’ blue tie hung loosely between Levi’s chest muscles, casually draping the collar closed, since Levi apparently decided it was too hot to keep the top three buttons properly buttoned. Levi’s evergreen hair floated around his high cheekbones in a shaggy wolf cut, with the excess length swept into his signature low ponytail. His bronze eyes swept lazily over the scene, resting for a fraction of a second longer on Aida, effectively on her knees in front of the group of boys.
Levi strolled up to the group, school bag casually dangling from his fingers over his shoulder and wand hanging loosely in his other hand. With a flick of his wand, Levi caused two more sprouts to start growing around Aida’s legs, breaking apart the rock so she could pull herself out. Sinking unwillingly to her knees on firm ground, Aida rubbed her shins; now that she (paradoxically) no longer had the support of the ground around her legs, she was starting to feel the nanofractures caused by the tremors.
“Are you all right, Aida?” Levi asked solicitously. Aida glanced up at him, and could have sworn she saw the glittery visual frame effects commonly used for ikemen introductions. Levi had his hand held out to her and was gazing down at her through half-lidded eyes, lips curled in a small reassuring smile. Aida really wanted to feel how soft his hair was, wanted to run her fingers through the fringe falling into his eyes to push it back. I bet his hair looks sexy pushed back.
Restraining herself, Aida merely grasped his hand and allowed him to pull her easily to her feet. Levi held her elbow in a firm grip as he supported her to a chair next to Sue. Glancing at Sue, Levi flashed a charming smile at her. “Morning, Suelina. Looking as lovely as ever today.” Sue dipped her head at him cautiously, her eyes bouncing between Aida, Pritchard, and Levi. Sue still had her wand gripped tightly in her hand, but didn’t seem to know what to do with it.
Leaning his head over his shoulder so that his body was mostly turned toward Sue, Levi leveled one eye at Pritchard. “Hey, why are you still sticking around?”
Muttering darkly, Pritchard wiped his sleeve over his face and ran a hand through his now-mussed hair, trying to straighten his strands. “I’m not sticking around, I was just getting ready to leave, since I think Miss Aida Loreh has learned her lesson about respecting others,” he retorted loudly. “Good day, mister Ashet.”
Aida scowled at Pritchard’s defiant back as he marched away, nose in the air. “Are you okay, Aida?” Sue asked worriedly, rubbing Aida’s back.
“I’m fine,” Aida responded quietly. She looked up at Levi, who was watching Pritchard depart with an inscrutable expression. “Thank you for your help, Levi.”
Levi glanced down at Aida and gave her a warm smile that made her cheeks heat. “Not a problem. The Spoak family ran into some difficulty expanding one of their businesses over the school holidays, so I imagine Pritchard is trying to vent some frustration.” Levi tilted his head, his amber eyes enthralling Aida much more firmly than the small liquefaction pit Pritchard had created at Aida’s feet. “Do you need to go to the healer’s, Aida? You look feverish.”
Before Aida could do more than clap a hand over her eyes, bells started tolling, and the sounds of chairs scraping back and students chattering flooded her ears.
“Oh no, I think Aida should go to the healer’s,” Sue said fretfully. “But our homeroom teacher is Professor Havi, and he’s super strict…”
“Don’t worry, I can take Aida to the healer’s. My homeroom teacher is Professor Lloyd,” Levi said. “Come on, Aida. Hold onto my arm.”
Aida complied as Sue puttered around, stacking their half-eaten breakfast trays together. Shoving Aida’s school bag into the hand not curled around Levi’s (very firm) bicep, Sue bid them farewell and rushed off to class.
Levi carefully led Aida to the healer’s room, which was several turns and hallways away from the dining hall, murmuring encouragement all the way. On the slow journey to the doctor’s office, Annie contemplated the flutter in her stomach. She didn’t think she was particularly superficial. Granted, she hadn’t met anyone in her very normal life who looked quite like Levi before, but she had certainly never felt as meek and shy as she was now - or at least, not since her elementary school years, when she still didn’t know how to interact with other children on the playground but desperately wanted to join them in their games. But even then, she was shy because she was a child and wanted to be accepted as part of the large and intimidating pack, not because any of the children looked like fairy tale characters.
Even when she crushed on the young men she met through school or work, she never felt like she wanted to “jump his bones,” as one of her closest friends called it, or felt like she was on the verge of losing control. She had kissed other men, of course, and it was enjoyable—but it never made her want to go beyond kissing.
And just like that, Annie reached twenty-three years old as a virgin, wondering if her biological clock finally decided to start ticking. Of course, Aida reminded herself, she was back in a teenager’s body; it probably had the proper healthy mix of hormones, not diluted by stress.
Levi guided Aida to a bed and made her sit, promising that he would find the healer to attend to her before he pulled the curtain around the bed and departed.
In the privacy afforded by the thin sheet of fabric, Aida put a hand to her heart - and suddenly half a dozen semi-transparent blue boxes flashed around her. Confused, Aida tried to read the box nearest to her, but was interrupted by another box that appeared over that one.
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
Character Profile: Aida Loreh
Elemental Affinity: Water
Class Rank: 30/30
RP: 0
Character Stats (expand)
Skill List (expand)
Item List (expand)
The notification boxes confirmed Aida’s hallucination: she really was in the video game she was planning on playing the following day. She cursed herself for giving in to her weakness and going to bed; if she had managed to play the game, she would at least have an idea of what potential death flags would arise. As it was, she was going into this world blind. Ignoring the character profile box, Aida focused on the other boxes (which obligingly brought themselves to the forefront of her view).
You cast Mana Blast Lv1 on Maglica Academy Bookshelf! Nothing happened.
You cast Mana Blast Lv1 on Maglica Academy Wall! Nothing happened.
Pritchard Spoak cast Quake for 10 dmg!
Levi Ashet cast Sprout to free you!
Clearing the notification boxes with a mere thought (she had to admit she was impressed by how intuitive this all was), Aida pondered her profile. She raised her finger to tap on the (expand) option next to her Character Stats, but the box expanded without actually needing tactile input.
Her character stats were displayed to her in a pentagonal chart, as well as numerical values below the chart. Aida’s jaw dropped. Her attributes chart showed humble (more pathetic, actually) spikes towards each attribute.
Character Stats
STR: 2 - 0% to next level.
FOC: 5 - 0% to next level.
INT: 3 - 0% to next level.
DEX: 2 - 0% to next level.
VIT: 2 - 0% to next level.
Contemplating the chart, it looked like the maximum stat level was 10. Based on what she knew of typical character strength classifications in video games, her character stats made her...there was no word around it...weak. However, maybe she had something to make up for it...
The Skill List obligingly opened:
Skill List
Mana Blast (Lv1) 0% to next level.
Water Manipulation (Lv1) 0% to next level.
Aida stared at her skill list, disappointed. After two years of education, Aida (the character) only knew these two level 1 skills? No wonder Pritchard and the rest of the student population seemed to have low regard for her.
The curtain slid open, revealing Levi, followed by the healer. Instead of being captivated by Levi’s aesthetics, Aida focused on the Character Profile that showed up. Unlike the actual numbers she had on her chart, all Aida was provided was a basic attribute chart, along with his class ranking - 3rd - and element: Wood. The attribute chart itself showed that Levi’s pentagon was much larger and more developed than Aida’s pitiful chart. If Aida had to guess, all five of Levi’s stats were at least 6 or 7.
“Aida,” Levi said delicately. “Are you okay?”
Blinking away the character profile, Aida looked up at Levi, noticing as she dragged her eyes along his tall frame to meet his smooth amber eyes that her gaze had been fixed directly between his legs. Aida flushed. “Yes, I’m sorry - I was thinking,” she mumbled.
“Well,” Levi said smoothly, stepping to the side and inviting the healer into the room. “I brought Healer Luk in to check you over. I’ll be taking my leave now.” Nodding cordially at the squat woman, Levi tucked his school bag under his arm and shut the curtain.
“Student Ashet told me what happened in the cafeteria,” Healer Luk said crisply as she placed Aida’s school bag on the side table. She laid Aida down on the bed, straightening her arms and legs and covering her midriff with a short blanket, leaving her limbs exposed. She circled Aida’s wrist with her fingers and checked her pulse. “It seems that nobody expected you to get into an altercation with Student Spoak.”
Aida lay quietly, unsure what to say. But Luk wasn’t expecting a response. “Slight bruising below your knees, but your pools are sufficiently stable, albeit low. How is your appetite?”
“Um.” Aida thought back to her half-eaten meal. “I actually didn’t finish breakfast.”
Luk nodded. “Make sure not to overcompensate during midday meal. Your legs will recover on their own, though you could perform some Mana Cycling exercises to help speed up your recovery. You should be fine to return to class. Let me get you a note for your homeroom professor.” Leaving the curtain open, Luk bustled to her desk in front of the healing ward’s door, expecting Aida to follow.
Taken aback by the sudden dismissal, Aida slowly sat up. Reaching for her bag, she glanced around to make sure she hadn’t scattered any other belongings around (she didn’t, since she didn’t do anything) before approaching Luk. Receiving her note, Aida was waved briskly out of the healing ward.
Aida stood in the hallway, bemused. Healer Luk had shut the door firmly behind her, and there didn’t seem to be any maps on the walls to point her to where the classrooms were. Aida resolved to head back to the cafeteria and backtrack from there, but hadn’t even taken a step in that direction before she heard the door next to the healing ward open. Turning around, Aida came face to face with a tall and broad young man with chocolate brown hair and violet eyes.