Tring~! Tring~!
The familiar sound of my alarm clock woke me up, and confusion slapped my face as a sharp sting caressed my cheek. I jerked up quickly as if I’d just awoken from a bad dream. My memories were in a chaotic state, causing a throbbing sensation in my head. At the sight of my surroundings, bits of my memory started to return slowly. I was currently sleeping in my one-bedroom apartment. The familiar furniture and appliances across the room put my mind at ease but, at the same time, evoked a feeling of displeasure.
Was that really a dream? No…
It was at that moment that I finally realized there was another presence in the room.
At the side of my bed stood a girl with long, black hair and light green eyes that seemed to see beyond the world reflected in them. She was wearing a familiar-looking uniform, the prestigious Rezen Academy uniform.
The moment our eyes met, something gripped my heart, sending a surge of warmth through me and making my face flush. The unfamiliar warmth of tears rolled down my face as an indescribable feeling assaulted me.
She was by no means dead, but....
Why?
Why did it hurt so much?
“Huh… w-what?… did I hit too hard,” the girl mumbled under her breath as her face turned pale with worry.
The moment her voice reached my ears, it felt like my heart was being squeezed tighter, and all the emotions I had suppressed came flooding back, hitting me with a raw, piercing clarity.
The feelings I couldn’t show because I was on the battlefield.
The feelings I couldn’t show because I was the leader.
“Ahhhh~!” An inaudible scream escaped my lips as my head spun and everything around me seemed to blur. All that remained was the disorienting silence pressing in on me.
***
An awkward silence floated in the spacious room. After taking a quick shower and preparing myself, I was currently sitting in the living room with my little sister opposite me. My little sister, Lily Dragnok, stared at me in silence as if her brain hadn’t processed what had happened a few minutes ago.
We were having breakfast together—scrambled eggs and bacon with toast—but as time went by, neither of us touched our food. It seemed the earlier scene left a bad aftertaste for both of us. All we did was wrestle the food with our forks and occasionally flip a piece for some plate action. However, Lily would occasionally glance at me with a worried expression.
“It was nothi—”
“Did the family do something?”
In the suffocating atmosphere, I tried to put her mind at ease, but she cut me off and asked a question with a serious expression. She seemed to think that what I’d gone through had something to do with her adoptive family—the all-powerful Dragnok family. This little stunt wasn’t worth causing friction between them, since Lily had only been adopted five years ago; it was still hard for her to trust them.
By the way, I wasn’t part of that family, but the two of us were related by blood.
“It has nothing to do with them. Plus, they are trying to get on your good side, why would they compromise that?”
The apartment I was currently staying at was one such example of my claim, and it seemed she somewhat believed my words as she repeatedly nodded as if trying to convince herself. Thankfully, she started to stuff her face with food afterward as if nothing had happened. Seeing her familiar habits play out in front of me, memories of the past came back to me—memories of the future. The Dragnok family really had an eye for scouting talent; as one of the few individuals who was closest to reaching S-rank, Lily was truly a force to be reckoned with.
To put that into perspective, there were only four S-rank humans in the whole world at this point in time. Ten years from now, the number remained the same. Though many like Lily were close, it would've taken a few more years for another S-ranker to appear.
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“The car is here, let’s go.”
Lily’s words cut me from my thoughts as she took a quick glance at her cell phone. At her words, we both stood up and went downstairs.
08 April 2990 of the Draconic Calendar.
08:34.
I had really traveled ten years into the past. Until now, I had only assumed so based on the young Lily who woke me from my sleep, but it didn't take long for my suspicions to be confirmed. A quick glance at my cellphone provided enough proof of that. We finally reached the ground floor and left the building. The bustling sounds of the morning rush filled the city air, with multiple cars and people intermingling everywhere as far as the eye could see. On the ground floor, a limousine was parked parallel to the entrance.
All that was missing was a red carpet and every passerby would have immediately gathered to pay respects to whoever was due to enter it. A man in a black suit and sunglasses opened the door the moment he saw us and motioned for us to enter. I hesitated as I looked at the interior of the limousine, which seemed to scream, ‘No Commoners Allowed!’ Since I was now back to my 16-year-old self, my previous ranks and achievements were nonexistent.
“Don’t worry, it won’t drop us directly at the academy, so we’ll walk the rest of the way.”
Lily seemed to interpret my worry differently as she pushed me into the car, and I reluctantly entered. If the current past followed the previous one, then today would be the placement exam for the new first-year students at Rezen Academy. It seemed my memory was pretty good as Lily let out a cheerful voice, her next words confirming my suspicions.
“I can’t wait to live at the dorms.”
It was a strange thing to be excited about, but knowing her, she probably felt suffocated living under the same roof as the other members of the Dragnok family. As a member of high society, she wasn’t allowed to live with a lowly commoner such as myself, but she would occasionally visit every chance she got.
It was only natural; the mighty Dragnok family would rather have adopted me as their pet and kept me in their basement if it meant Lily could live at their mansion. But now, because of the Academy, she would finally be free of that.
For like three years though.
Seeing her cheery attitude, I spoke up to her, “Shouldn’t you be more worried about the placement exams?”
“Huh… that? Well, I'll probably be thrown into the higher classes even if I dragged my feet,” she replied with a pout. Her competitive nature made her dislike her position a lot. She then continued before I could speak,
“What about you? If you drag your feet, we won’t be able to have our rematch.”
She thrust her fist forward and stopped it next to my face.
Ah, that’s right. We made such a promise, didn’t we?
It felt embarrassing to remember such a thing, especially since I wasn’t even able to keep up with the weaker students after getting assigned to the middle classes. However, I wasn’t sure what was more embarrassing: the fact that I barely made it into the middle classes or the fact that Lily still kept her strange sense of rivalry against me even then.
“We might really settle the score this time.”
I muttered without much thought. Lily seemed taken aback by my words, which were completely different from what I’d said in the previous iteration. But as if I’d picked the correct dialogue in a romcom game, she gave a cute smile and nodded to herself, saying,
“Of course.”
The rest of the trip was silent, although not as awkward as the last silence in the living room. Because of this, I took the opportunity to look at my stats. We still had at least an hour before we could reach our destination.
“Status.”
A bluish, almost transparent window opened up in front of me. Lily seemed a bit surprised by the sudden action and also muttered the same under her breath. She turned to me with a small smile that seemed to say, ‘I won’t lose.’
Emm, isn’t that a bit too competitive?
It wasn’t like anyone else could see the status window of another person, so her behavior was frightening me a bit. If I suddenly started stabbing my face with a pencil, she might just join me and stab herself harder. I shrugged my shoulders and cleared the scary thoughts from my head as I glanced at the window in front of me.
================
Name: Ian
Title: Regressor
Strength: 22
Stamina: 24
Speed: 21
Agility: 25
Intelligence: 39
Magic: 34
==============
Authority:
[Time Perception Lv. 9 (Evolved)] — Allows manipulation of how the user or targeted individuals can perceive time.
[Time Lv. 1] — Allows the user mastery over all time-related magic.
Special Skills:
[Status Lv. 5] — Allows the user to view the status of everything in universal numeric metrics.
Unique Skills:
[Object Perception Lv. 9] — Allows the user to directly manipulate how objects perceive time through acceleration or deceleration.
[Regress Lv. 1] — Allows the user to revive after death. [Restriction] — memories of the past life are completely erased.
[Recall Lv. 1] — Allows the user to perfectly recall everything they have seen, heard, or experienced at least once in the past.
[Future Sight Lv. 1] — Allows the user to see 0.5 seconds into the future.
[??? Lv. ??] - ???
[??? Lv.??] - ???
[??? Lv. ??] - ???
[??? Lv. ??] - ???
=================
Oh?