Proofreader: Future Me!

“Seriously?” My eyes were focused on the protagonist I played in the [Enigmatic Academy]. “Why is she ramming into these romance flags at every opportunity!?”

Yesterday in the exams, she found herself entangled with Charles before I had to stumble my way through them. LITERALLY.

I made the choices when I played as her in the game, so seeing the intended character was more than just disturbing.

“Wait- you’re Percy right?” Serina’s voice jumped around the empty homeroom.

Currently, she was engaging in conversation with Percy, the smartest kid alive. His romance route was relatively hard to achieve, so it needed hardly any maintenance. The affinity bar that floated atop her head showed only curiosity at a mere 10% anyway.

Yup, an affinity bar.

Really… why did I have to reincarnate in this world? Just what happened yesterday for me to be here?

-x-

I had died passively, with hardly any regrets. Thoughts of family eluded my mind, but they cleared up mysteriously.

What was I focused on now? This status board is in front of me.

[Welcome to the Destroying Romance System!]

[In this world you are Luke, the troubled son of a fallen barony, who died unknowingly after attempting to court Serina Rosemary.]

[Your goal? Protecting this world from romance!]

[Introduction - Quest #1]

[Deatils:]

* You have just reincarnated into another world, and now you have to adapt to the new environment that surrounds you.

* Get familiar with your new life through the tasks given by the system!

[Objective:]

* Prevent Serina from entering the romance route with Charles!

[Reward:]

* An affinity bar.

* 1 point in every stat.

[Failure:]

* Death.

[Good luck in your adventure, reincarnator!]

“Huh…? Death- again?”

From what I understood, romance was already devastating toward play-throughs in the game. So this wouldn’t be much of a difference, right?

“Yeah so-“ I looked over a line that I overlooked. “What?”

[In this world you are Luke, the troubled son of a fallen barony, who died unknowingly after attempting to court Serina Rosemary.]

This guy TRIED TO COURT SERINA?!

I frantically panicked around a lobby of students. Not only was I to stop her romance, I had to do it while being the one who got rejected. Furthermore, if I failed, I would die. Probably without the chance to reincarnate again.

It’s like… I’m being forced into the stalker role.

With dead fish eyes I glanced toward the crowd of students, looking for this protagonist. Immediately, I saw the signature violet hair crashing towards every main character in sight.

Dammit.

I began pushing past the dense pack of students, scrambling toward what may be my death. My breath was

“Charles was it?” Violet eyes poked fun at the emperor’s progeny. “You sure are a cute one for the proclaimed crown prince!”

Sporting a cheeky grin and cutesy face, she made her interest clear.

“And your name is?” He had an amused expression, asking even if he already knew.

This interaction… it was practically guaranteed that she would enter his route if he was found in this crowd during the game’s introduction.

[Warning!]

[Approximately 30 seconds left until death.]

Shit. Shit. Shit.

[29 Seconds.]

Under the time pressure, my mind raced.

“Status!”

[Luke]

[Age: 15] [Race: Human]

[Attributes]

Vitality: 10

Agility: 10

Strength: 10

Mana: 10

[Skills]

Outer Eye (Z) (0% Proficiency)

Enhancement (F+) - [Growth Type]

Destroying Romance System (???)

I gnashed my teeth together. I just spawned in, and already my life was about to end.

[20 seconds left!]

I wanted to bet on the enhancement ability, but there was nothing I could do.

Increase any of my stats? No, that’s stupid.

[10 seconds left!]

I have to stop Serina from talking to Charles any longer!

“Wait that’s it!” I exclaimed, receiving weird looks from the crowd around me.

The act of stopping and breaking down things, that in itself is destruction. Now, just apply that to romance and…

What the fuck am I on about!?

[3 seconds left!]

Screw it! I’ll figure it out later.

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[1 second left!]

Air brushed my face as I embraced the stares of confusion. I was currently flying across a stampede of bored students, all gathered in their groups of friends. The view of tall school facilities made their presence known in my pseudo flight.

[0 seconds left!]

Whoosh!

“Shit!” “A commoner?” “The guy from earlier?”

Fuuuuuuuuuuuuu-

The ground quickly became visible as I was brought down by gravity. I clenched my teeth preparing for the fall.

I’m sorry Charles, but… you might be out for a while after this.

CRASSSHHH

My arm wouldn’t move, and I couldn’t see much. Red botches blocked my vision.

“W- what are… are you?” A muffled voice came from underneath, “An assassin pe- perhaps?”

“N- nah. I’m j- just trying to… live.”

“Ha- ha- ha…” He let out shallow laughs. “Crazy motherfucker.”

[Introduction - Quest #1 has been completed successfully!]

[Rewards are now being given.]

Not the time system… let me close my eyes for a bit.

[Understood.]

“That was… amazing!” Serina’s voice loomed over our crippled bodies. “You’ve caught my interest despite your earlier appearance!” Her voice was directed at me.

As if her words were a trigger, I blanked out immediately.

-x-

Charles and I passed out simultaneously at that time. Where soon after, I was granted an affinity bar to work with.

When using Outer Eye, I could now see a pink bar on someone’s status board which would change depending on the person I was thinking of.

The worst part of all this… was that Serina’s bar was at half when I thought of myself.

[Princess’ Escapade - Quest #2]

[Details:]

* Princess Luna has gained an interest in yourself as well as Serina due to yesterday’s incident.

* Serina is currently enamoured with your stellar performance and wishes to speak to you. However, she finds it nerve-wracking to speak to the one she developed an attraction to.

[Objective:]

* Prevent Princess Luna from trying to create ‘special’ relations with yourself or Serina.

[Rewards:]

* Two Points in every stat.

* Random Skill Exchange Ticket.

[Failure:]

* Bad Ending #241 - Princess and Duchess Interlopers

Alright… no pressure. No pressure.

This wasn’t a hard objective to achieve. All I had to do was hang around Serina until Luna struck. Unfortunately, Floreis’ class of General Combat was right around the corner.

Serina was chatting with Erin and Percy, seemingly creating a friend group already. Although, in between her talks I caught her peeking at me.

You know… maybe this wasn’t as bad as I thought it was.

Even if Erin, my favourite character wasn’t on to me, Serina was a lot more special. Technically I’ve spent almost three thousand hours with her, all to clear this damned game.

“Student Luke,” Runalia tapped my shoulder, “Move along, your class is starting.”

Her act despite knocking me out in the practical exam was anything but convincing now.

I tailed the protagonist’s group while hanging around the main class.

“You should’ve seen it! The prince in the flesh, crushed by a falling human meteor!” Serina gestured by raising her hands and exclaiming wildly.

“I highly doubt someone could achieve that level of speed without external help,” Percy speculated about my ability.

Erin simply nodded but perked her ears up nonetheless.

“His smile and dialogue with the prince was the funniest!” She continued telling the story. “Charles asked if what he was, and you know what he replies with?!”

“Humor me,” Percy said.

“‘I’m just trying to live.’” She mimicked my voice with a fake deep voice. “What kind of response is that!? Hahaha!”

Erin responded, “Indeed. Such words are confusing.”

“Muuu… don’t you have anything else to say?” Serina pouted.

“…” Erin delivered a blank shake of the head.

“She has a point, Luke, or whatever his name is. That kind of behaviour is confusing,” He mused for a moment. “It could be possible that his life was under threat if we only consider what you’ve told us.”

“Ehhh…” Serina’s expression fell. “Actually, he did try to confess his feelings for me not long before that.”

“”…””

I felt the two of them stare at me from the distance.

“Well, it felt like a completely different person,” She wondered. “Maybe he somehow changed in the moments after I turned him down?”

The pair of Erin and Percy shook their heads in sync. I don’t blame them for their thoughts in all honesty.

I thought about the contents of this class. Combat Class is normally the hardest, but can also be the easiest depending on how you played the game. The first class entailed a great activity of sparring against your classmates. Hah….

“Welp, this class is gonna be fun,” I murmured sarcastically. “Just gotta pray that I’m not put against Mark or Vyke.”

-x-

“Luke and Mark, you two are the first to start!” Professor Floreis’ voice resounded in the open field.

Hahaha… something tells me I’m just not fated to have my way regardless of what universe I’d be in.

“Begin when I signal it.”

I turned toward Mark, Abel’s future successor and activated my Outer Eyes.

[Mark Cresent]

[Age: 15] [Race: Human Demigod]

[Attributes]

Vitality: 40

Agility: 45

Strength: 30

Mana: 90

[Skills]

Hero’s Teachings (S+) (43.6% Proficiency)

[Other Skills are listed for viewing.]

Yeah, this was completely fair.

I raised my head and faced Floreis, “Sir, I believe this is incredibly imbalanced.”

“And why is that?” He directed a stern expression toward me.

“I’m a commoner with hardly above-average abilities, against the successor of the greatest hero.”

“Ahem,” He coughed weirdly. “This was to show how a weaker one would fair up against stronger opponents.”

“Think of it as a lesson towards the unfairness you will face in the future,” He justified his clear mistake.

“Shut up already!” Mark yelled across from us, “Talk there, talk this, when will ever talk with our swords?”

That was strangely poetic- wait no I can’t get lost here. I had one card up my sleeve, just one.

“On one condition!” I raised a finger in conjunction with my words, “I get the first hit in.”

He shrugged, “Not like it’d make a difference.”

Floreis clapped his hands together, “Well then, it seems you both have consented.”

“On my mark. Get set. Ready. And Go!”

Slowly, inch by inch I approached Mark. I held my sword over my shoulder carefree. Evident by the popping veins on his head, it seems he didn’t take a liking to that.

Sorry but, the flashier this is the better rewards I get.

[Flashy Destroyer! - Sub Quest #1]

[Details:]

* The proclaimed future strongest is your opponent, prove your worth to the audience.

* Serina and Luna are seriously watching your movements, as you make way to a pathetic finish.

[Objective:]

* Beat Mark in this spar with whatever means necessary.

[Sub Objective:]

* Make it as flashy and flabbergasting as possible!

[Rewards:]

* 5 points in all stats.

* An event with [???] is likely to occur.

[Sub Rewards:]

* An increase of affinity from targets [Luna Rend Alexander] and [Serina Rosemary].

* Surprise Reward.

[Failure:]

* Loss of interest from Floreis and Abel.

I grasped the [Enigmatic Chance] on my uniform. “Please, don’t fail me here.”

As if answering my prayers, I spotted the small red dot in between his eyebrows. I only had one chance or I’d get my shit rocked, as well as lose my rewards.

“Sssuuuuuuuu…” I breathed out as gently as possible, recalling the teachings of my former master.

I raised my arm reforming all the knowledge of combat in one single strike. I gripped the wooden sword with even more strength.

Crkk! Snap!

The wooden handle was tearing down. For the final touch, I would enhance my speed to add kinetic force to my movement.

“Mark, I’m sorry.” I leaned forward, preparing my body. This’ll be a special one…

I’ll call it, [Re:Vorpal Strike].

He scoffed at my actions, “Hurry up, I’m losing my patience.”

Wish granted!

The entirety of my body felt the force of air pressure resisting with all its might. I may not be the fastest, but just fast enough to catch him unawares.

I thrust my arms, bringing out all I could muster. I coated my strength with my enhancement ability, all to strike the middle of his head.

Acupuncture? At this point, It’d be lucky to not blow off his head.

“What- this peasant-?”

The sensation of having struck a target flowed through my body.

[Critical Hit!]

A status board occurred in the middle of my vision.

“Ha… how the fuck you like that!” Adrenaline rushed through my body. “Hero’s descendant for what? To lose to the weakest here!?”

It didn’t matter if he had a handicap, right now I was enjoying the rewards being handed out in front of me.

[Rewards are being given out!]

[5 points in all stats have been awarded.]

[Event with [???] will occur soon.]

[Sub awards are now being awarded!]

[Affinities of targets Luna and Serina have increased!]

[‘Surprise Reward’ is now being revealed!]

[Surprise Reward: Abel has gained an interest in your existence.]

Hahahah… this is… the power of a system!

[Alert! Your life will end in approximately two hours!]

Isn’t that when all the classes finish? Wait, don’t tell me…

I looked over at the princess who was now holding the most devilish smile I’ve ever seen in my life.

“L- Luke has won the match!” Floreis’ expression was as if he couldn’t comprehend my victory.

That was late… too late to the point I’ve lost all sense of victory. I sighed in resignation seeing Serina approach me from the crowd.

“That was super-super-dooper-amazing!” She grabbed my hands with visible excitement.

“Uhh… thanks?”

She spouted praises, while the crowd around us watched on with shock. Charles smiled wryly, while Erin and Percy had disturbed expressions.

“I can’t wait for my turn!” She grabbed my arm and led me toward her newly made friends. “This is Erin and this is Percy, I’ve told them about you already. Be nice okay!”

I guess. This wasn’t too bad.

Serina’s smile was brighter than the Sun I could recall.

Screw Luna’s meddling, I’m gonna enjoy myself.