Eventually, the mini tournament ended. Erik managed to win 19 fights before losing his first time, then, two more before losing his second time.

Only this first day in the academy already gave him several points. Just this tournament alone gave him 66 points.

The first time he lost, was against a brown-haired girl called Brenna. The fight started, and he suddenly was at the entrance again, as if nothing had happened.

Asking around, he found out she is called Brenna Scarlet, the daughter of a famous Hero. Great things are probably expected of her.

The second fight that he lost lasted a bit longer, though. A little guy called Pietro. Even Erik’s supernatural endurance couldn’t take many hits from the guy.

The heck is up with these monsters…

Erik was genuinely surprised. To think so many monsters would appear on his year…

Or is it like this every year?

…

Erik walked around the giant school grounds, almost getting lost. But eventually, he found his designated room, in the male dormitory.

The only problem was that he was supposed to have two roommates. Two people he didn’t know and was supposed to get along with.

Erik wasn’t very good with people. Rather, he was awful with people. But he tried.

He approached the door and put his card near the knob, unlocking the door. This was a special card that contained all your student information. Even your power category. Which, in Erik’s case, it was Fighter.

“I fucking told you this is my bed, asshole!”

“Bla, bla, bla. I got here first, so I obviously get to choose first.”

“The fuck? We got here together, you just entered first, loser! Now, get your stuff off my bed!”

Sight… Looks like I got paired with a pair of clowns.

The one that supposedly entered first was a tall and thin, but fit, guy. He had shoulder length black hair and was wearing dark clothes. His eyes were glowing slightly.

The one that wanted ‘oh, so bad’ to choose a bed, was large and muscular, but short. Brown hair and tight clothes. He looked like some martial arts guy. His skin was full beautifully arranged white spots.

“If you two don’t want to solve this like intellectual beings, why don’t you do it like primates and solve it in the Conservatory?”

Erik entered, the door closing behind him. The thin guy looked at Erik and started talking.

“No can do, funny guy.”

He fished his student card and threw it at Erik. For a moment, Erik thought he was being attacked, then realized the guy was most likely just showing him his card.

He was puzzled for a bit, but then found out why they couldn’t solve it in the Conservatory.

Power Category: Reconnaissance.

Well, shit, at least I tried to make a cool entrance...

Erik tossed the card back to its owner and sighed once again.

“I don’t care if you can’t solve it in the Conservatory, if you keep bickering like little kids I’ll have to solve it for you.”

This time, it was the short one that started talking.

“You talk like some big shit, yet, all I see is a green haired nerd trying to act all cool and stuff.”

Erik wasn’t even bothered by the remarks of shorty, he just sighed once more and started talking.

“Look. I know we’re all drained from the fights. I’m mentally exhausted, so I’m not thinking very well. Let’s just all go to sleep and talk about it tomorrow, right?”

He then, pointed at the tall guy “You. You don’t look like someone that cares for which bed you get so much. They’re all the same, after all. Why don’t you let hot-head over there stay in this bed?”

The tall and the short guy shared a look for a moment, and the tall guy ended up ceding the bed. They both apologized for their behavior earlier and everyone calmed down.

The tall guy was the first to start talking.

“Hey, sorry for before, I’m also tired and wasn’t thinking straight. My name is Cole, by the way. Nice to meet you.” Looking up close, his eyes were really eerie, having this green timbre to them, shining and all.

“Same here, I don’t know what got me. I’m Isaac. Nice to meet you guys.”

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

“Glad it’s all solved. I’m Erik. Shall we sleep and get to know more about each other tomorrow, then?”

…

Shit. I forgot I don’t need to sleep anymore. Rather, I can’t sleep anymore. But eating earlier felt like normal? Oh, well, I’ll take a walk, then.

Erik slowly got up from his bed and did his best not to wake his roommates up. When he got out of his room, he walked randomly through the school grounds, eventually getting lost.

After a while, he found a big car-sized rock. He hopped up at it and sat at the stone. After a few minutes, he laid his back at it and just stared at the beautiful sky.

He looked at the two halves of the moon floating up there.

“It’s beautiful…”

Even if no one heard him, he still felt like muttering his thoughts out loud. He had never stopped and just stared at the seamless sky, appreciating it.

Life is really a mystery. Before, he would always say he never had the time. But now, it felt like he had all the time in the world to just enjoy this amazing experience.

“Indeed. It’s quite a beautiful sky.”

“!?”

Erik suddenly looked at his left and found a girl sitting there, her black hair floating with the wind and her red clothes beautifully outstanding in the light of the moon. Her yellow eyes peering at him.

Fuck! Why does everyone keep appearing out of thin air!? Uh? Wait… Red clothes, yellow eyes…

Erik took a closer look at her face, and almost jumped in happiness.

It’s her!

The ‘Similar soul’. The one he received a quest to find out more about.

The girl looked at him with those peering eyes and smiled.

“My name is Celeste. Nice to meet you, hm…?”

“Erik. The name’s Erik. Celeste, huh. That’s quite a cool name you have there.”

“Don’t mention it, my parents… Well, they weren’t exactly sane when they named me. As different as it may be, I like the name.”

It’s not that different, though. Maybe she’s over conscious about it. A bad former experience, perhaps?

Erik didn’t really know what to say, so they both just stared at the sky for a few seconds. Then, Erik tried to make some small talk, you know, get this quest over with.

“Hm, also couldn’t sleep?”

“…Yeah. This is all quite overwhelming. Having to learn how to fight out of nowhere. Being forced to defend people that ostracize us just because we’re different. The worst part is having no saying at all in this.”

She looked at him expectantly, as if waiting for an answer. He didn’t let her wait too much.

“My thoughts exactly. As soon as I awakened, people started to distance themselves from me. I mean, just because there are a few bad apples in the basket, you don’t need to burn the whole thing up. Be careful to whom you say those things, though. Not everyone has the same mentality, it could get you into trouble.”

She smiled at his answer, as if expecting it.

“Thank you for the warning. So, which one is your category? I take it you have a mental power?”

Going straight to the point, huh.

“It’s… complicated. You could say I have a physical power. Let’s say I’m strong and durable.” Said Erik.

“Ah, so you’re one of those, huh. A misleading transformation. Mine is quite boring, compared to yours. I can see a person’s essence. I can visualize what they are really like, their true self. Their strong and weak aspects.”

Uh… Weren’t abilities supposed to be secretive…? She was quite detailed in her description. Oh well, if we’re going to be partners in battle, I guess I’d eventually find out the others’ abilities. Wait! Is she using it right now?... Ah, whatever, I have nothing to hide anyway.

“The way I see it, mine is the boring one. You can see everyone’s ‘essence’ and they know nothing about you. Also, in the future, I’ll be the one in the front lines, fighting directly with them. While you’ll be gathering information and the likes, doing all the cool scouting missions.”

…

And so, time passed, the two ended up talking for more than an hour. But Celeste eventually had to go back to her room and take some sleep. They both did promise to come to the same place tomorrow, though.

With nothing to do for the rest of the night, Erik browsed through his Universal Shop.

This…!

After a while searching, he decided to test something. If this system was made to make him stronger, something like an enchanted ring would be cheaper, no?

Turning the ability into an actual item, made it so that it could be stolen, broken and even lose charge.

[Ring of Defunct Physiology]

[This ring contains the ability to lack any physical weakness. Charge: one year]

[Cost: 67 points]

Around three times cheaper and it lasts for a whole year, huh. If someone gets their hands in one of these, though… If it’s someone powerful enough, I might become a slave, being made to make enchanted items for the rest of my life. Anyway, I should get an ability that originally costs less than 200 points.

The first obvious choice would be to sane his weaknesses. Specifically, his lack of regeneration.

[Ring of Limitless Healing]

[This ring contains limitless healing magic. The magic works just by thinking about activating it. It is touch based. Charge: one year]

[Cost: 50 points]

Magic? Interesting.

He hesitated a bit before buying this one. There were several other healing/regeneration types of rings. But he chose this one for its flexibility. Besides himself, he could also heal his teammates.

He bought it.

…

In the middle of the night, a light could be seen descending from the skies. The light descended in the form of a ring, in the hands of a green-haired youth. He immediately put it on and looked around, searching for any living soul nearby.

…

Ok, that was very flashy. I hope no one saw it…

He found a sharp rock on the ground and tried making a little slit in his hand. With a lot of strength, he managed to succeed. As pain was considered a physical weakness, he barely felt anything. He didn’t have complete nullification from pain, though. The nerves were still there only dulled.

Uh… Heal?

The cut visibly started to close, finishing in a second. It was a shallow cut, still it healed way faster than he expected.

Erik was also a bit curious if it would work at all. He wasn’t even human anymore Having nearly only bones and muscles in his new body, he was a bit sceptic if it would really work.

But it did nonetheless.

Perfect. Now I’m way stronger than before. I can fight outside of the Conservatory and come out without visible signs of it.

…

Erik spent the rest of the night searching through his Universal Shop, seeing if he could find another ‘loop’ in the system, such as the enchanted items (which weren’t really a loop, tough).

And as the sun started rising, he returned to his room.

----------------------------------------

Spoiler: His powers, items and points.

 Powers:

 [Defunct Physiology] - No physical weaknesses.

Items:

[Ring of Limitless Healing] - Touch based limitless healing.

Points: 16