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“You’re distracted,” Erin coldly stated.

Despite my previous reluctance to continue these sessions on the weekend, I was persuaded to continue… fortunately, the blessed feeling of having a healer had been bestowed upon me starting today.

“You would be too if you were part of a certain class,” I complained, sprawled across the hard but cold floor.

“Class as in subject, or as in your status?” Uriel chimed in.

“Subject,” I sighed.

“Hard project?” Erin asked now with a hint of concern.

“Yes and no, apparently the Ancient History class is preparing a visit to a ruin of the Shadow God,” I spilt the information without regard for secrecy.

There was no reason to hide it, and maybe I could receive some insight too.

“We’re all taking that class, including Uriel,” Erin spoke while poking at me with the end of her wooden sword.

I pushed the weapon away and stood up. I understood Erin signing up for it for various reasons, and also because she always took it in the game. In Uriel’s case, I couldn’t grasp why.

“I get Erin, but why you?” I asked the blushing priest.

“I- I thought it would be good to… erm, learn more about the… previous Gods that existed alongside Eien!” She answered awkwardly as if coming up with an excuse on the spot.

Someone put that idea in her head. I would say something, but it wouldn’t hurt her schedule since it was predetermined that she would take less than the ideal four subjects due to her duties as a priest. It also didn’t give out any homework assignments, except on special occasions.

“Are you going to tell us what happened or not?” Erin asked with irritation.

I shook my head, “No, not yet, I don’t want to worry you guys about something uncertain.”

What the professor told me, paved a path for me to take. He practically told me what to do outright, to score high enough to be able to negotiate a change within the upcoming term. Luckily this would not interfere with the bad ending, as the tests are a couple weeks after the supposed date given by the Status Prompt.

“You can tell me anything!” Uriel exclaimed in my ear.

“It’s fine, and like I just said, it’s not set in stone.” I kindly refused her offer.

“Ehhh…” She pouted for a second.

Erin asked the pitiable saintess, “How about we go eat lunch? And, yeah, you’re not invited.”

“Alright, you won’t need to say that again.” I put up my hands in retreat and left without a second thought.

“Wait, I want to eat with everyone!” I could hear Uriel from the distance but Erin’s pull was infinitely stronger.

Getting beat again was not part of my plan. Rather, what I wanted to do was examine my status board and practice something I’ve had in mind for a while.

I wandered aimlessly around the academy while I looked at the new skill Uriel granted me yesterday.

[Skills]

Divine Stigma (S) [New Skill!]

* All Gods have a symbol that embodies their persona, this stigma has been blessed with the divine power of Eien. It contains two functions.

* For one time, the owner of this stigma will not die and time will be reversed.

* For one time, the owner of this stigma can call upon the deity of time and be granted powers ahead of their current self.

This world which had been ruined after the Great War, now contained few Gods. Eien was the most prominent one. Considering that war had wiped out races of all kinds, involving both the demons and deities, the fact she survived gives a subtle glimpse of her omniscient prowess.

To my luck, such a God now had blessed me with something immensely valuable. I could revive, and receive a deus ex machina buff. I doubted I would ever use such a buff, but having a second life would be necessary for plans that I had otherwise discarded.

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I took a glance at my attributes, but it seemed nothing much had changed.

[Attributes]

Vitality: Tier 0 (33%) -> (34%)

Agility: Tier 0 (25%)

Strength: Tier 0 (29%) -> (29.5%)

Mana: Tier 0 (81%)

I doubt I’d experience any growth in mana until I’ve mastered Fjleora’s breathing technique. On the other hand, I would most likely defeat the average student thanks to enhancement.

I frowned, however, as I thought of fighting Fen next week. Beating the normal student after training for two weeks was a great feat for this body, but defeating the protagonists was nothing short of impossible.

On the other hand, the two basic techniques I acquired thanks to Erin and Serina were now almost ready to evolve.

[Skills]

Basic Swordsmanship (E) (86.42% -> 91.63% Proficiency - Evolution Possible)

Basic Magic Control (D) (42.56% -> 98.57% Proficiency - Evolution Possible)

The process of evolution was quite simple actually, since all that was required was to slay monsters while using that skill. It was the universal way of progressing normal skills… however, just like this body’s unique Enhancement, there were many cases of better skills needing to meet special requirements to grow.

Another good example would probably be Erin’s Demon Lord Techniques, or Fen’s Castellian swordsmanship, which were unique skills.

There was simply too much to do and not enough time to reach it. My stats have grown considerably, but I’m too far behind those of the chosen. Unfortunately, this world had other thoughts.

My eyes once again drifted to the bottom of my status board.

[Category: Protagonist - Uriel.]

[Route: Bad Ending #13 - An Eternity Between Us.]

[D - 30]

I had received this last week, and now it was starting to dawn on me how little time I had left to be ready. Before then, I needed to accomplish a couple of things, teachings from Haruto, and the support of Krulia.

The former was already set in stone, but the latter would require negotiation. Her storyline involved finding the two halves of the future world tree, one of which I’ve already linked to myself. As a result, something told me we were going to meet again very soon.

I slumped further into the bench, almost merging into one being. I stared into the sky, feeling the calming fog in my mind. There were other mysteries that I desperately wanted answers to, but now was not the time to search.

“Oh, if it isn’t the captain!” A girl’s voice rang at full force in front of me.

“Fren- Frennia?” I stuttered, trying to calm my ringing ears. “Where are the other two?”

“Kyle and Beatrice? They’re both resting since we had a rough time subjugating a horde of goblins somewhere up in the Southern Regions,” Frennia recounted.

“Which one in particular?” I had asked with a certain intent.

“Hmm… I think it went by the name of Falcon,” She tapped her chin trying to remember.

Falcon, it was the birthplace of Alicia. It was considered a lawless area, with countless monsters and mercenaries roaming it. All of its residents were considered battle-heartened veterans.

“Oh yeah! The girl from Class A-1, Alicia thanked us after we came back!” She hopped around, happy from meeting such a widely regarded figure.

I haven’t seen much of the outside world yet, but from the game, she was somewhat of a celebrity. Everyone knew her, and her various exploits in the unification of the South before attending the academy.

However, something doesn’t add up.

“In Falcon, there were a lot of mercenaries, right?” I muttered to catch her fleeting attention.

“Of course! Wait… why did they need us?” She racked her head for a moment.

Thankfully, Frennia wasn’t as dumb as she seemed and caught on instantly. However, the fact Alicia personally visited them meant there was something important I was missing.

“Ugh, whatever!” Frennia slapped her cheeks and faced me. “Anyway, the reason I came to you was because she told me to ask if you could talk tomorrow around Lunch! I don’t know what she’d want with a weakling like you though.”

Suddenly a realisation dawned on me. Not too long ago she expressed the desire to talk with me.

‘But why!?’

It was the only thing I didn’t get. Alicia could have simply asked me in person, instead of going the roundabout way of getting these ruffians to do a quest. There’s zero reason for her wanting me to join her faction, besides the slight shows of heroism the week prior.

The only way I could learn anything is by accepting it. Even with game knowledge, the only reason I can come up with is that she would want me.

“Captain, you okay?” Frennia leered at me with her small eyes.

“Yeah, I’m fine with meeting her, go relay that.” I sighed and left the bench’s cool embrace.

“Aye! Immediately!” She saluted childishly and set off toward the girl dorms.

I was left on my own once again, but there was nothing to do besides doing some isolated training and practising breathing in mana.

-x-

Across from my bed, beyond the window, a strange bird-like creature became closer and closer as the seconds ticked. It looked like some strange amalgamation of beast and bird, it had fur rather than feathers but still managed to fly.

I put down the shitty book, which told me that the name of the Elven Tribe Leader was Alfaraz.

‘What do we have here?’

The window still was lifted, and an envelope had been delivered through the creature’s sharp beak.

“For me?” I uttered silently.

“Letter! Letter!” The bird mimicked the human word at a volume I’d heard only at concerts.

“Okay, okay keep it down!” I shouted in a subdued voice.

It finally relented, and I swiped the envelope from the bird-beast hybrid as it flew away. I flipped it over, leaving me to frown. A visible signature spelt out, KV.

‘It seems I wasn’t wrong about meeting her soon.’