"Did I miss it..?"

Shifting his gaze away from the students, Athen eventually spotted the empty stage, letting out a sigh of relief.

If he had been officially late and the school decided to punish him, he could have been very well caught on the first day by some teacher.

After all...his current identity wasn't even his, so with a bit of investigation, the truth might come out.

Wearing a nonchalant expression, Athen sauntered down the path and toward the entrance of the square-shaped plaza where the stage and students were located.

Nearing the end of the path, Athen spotted a figure with glasses waiting with a clipboard in his hands.

Not noticing Athen, the teacher tiredly stared at the clipboard in his hands, aching from last night's work of setting up the massive event.

Now that Athen was officially in the academy, he had two options.

He could act as one of those nobles who donated to the poor and performed community service to better their academy.

Those chummy protagonist-like characters with an outgoing personality and always a nice smile

Or...he could be one of those arrogant assholes who believed that the world was supposed to bend to their and only their will.

The choice was quite clear.

Of course, this was all an act.

The second someone called him out and asked to fight, Athen would have no choice but to fold.

After all, he had never even touched a wand, or magic for that matter, while the other students here had most likely come from prestigious schools where they were exposed to spells on the daily.

Or did he...?

Athen was sure that his time-stopping ability would allow him to win against most students their first time fighting, no matter the other person's capabilities or experience.

For all he cared, the other person could be the best student in the school, but his time-stopping ability would most definitely prevail.

Unlike teleportation spells, there was no way to tell if someone was using Athen's ability.

He would simply disappear and reappear without any delay behind the person.

This would only work one duel, though, as once the others figured he had a teleportion-like ability, they would find counters.

So, all he had to do was set one precedent.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

A precedent so horrific that no one would dare question his ability.

Now that he was in the academy, Athen was no longer afraid of attracting attention...actually, he welcomed it.

If he was just some no-name, the academy wouldn't hesitate to punish him for sneaking in and stealing the diamond when they found out.

However, if he was a well-known figure, there would be a whole scandal and controversy surrounding the academy if he was caught, so the academy wouldn't be able to boot him out as easily.

Wearing a smug expression, Athen let out a dry cough, causing the tired teacher to glance upward from his clipboard.

Reaching under his glasses and rubbing his bloodshot-red eyes, the teacher sighed before finally asking.

"Name?"

While Athen did have plenty of reasons to come at this teacher, such as his slacking off work to sleep or clear unprofessionalism, he decided to just be civil.

After all, these were teachers who could discipline, punish, and make his life hell for simply disrespecting them.

"Kai."

Hearing Athen's response, the teacher seemed to write something down on his clipboard for gesturing forward.

"Seat #4"

"Thank you, sir!"

Suddenly, as Athen began walking away, the teacher's eyes widened, and his glasses nearly fell off of his face.

"Wait...Kai, as i-"

Leaving the muttering teacher behind, he continued forward, not trying to hide the nametag on his shirt.

Athen had thought about the teacher's question a lot and, in the end, decided to use Kai's name for this event as he had the collared shirt already.

After that, though...Athen would have to find the name of the diamond's original recipient.

The two men he had stolen the diamond from had gone straight from his hometown to the academy on the flying ship, so there was no way they could have noticed their mistake yet.

But...it was only a matter of time before someone within the school noticed.

Then, his whole act as a Celestial Academy student would be done...finished and over.

He had until then to establish himself within the school.

And what better place to start than this orientation, where every student and teacher was gathered?

Glancing at the seats right before the stage, Athen spotted the nametag "Kai #4" alongside two familiar faces.

Beside Kai's chair, which was surprisingly empty, were both Alice and Delphi, who were both intentfully gazing at the stage.

"Well...guess I can't sit there."

In contrast to the other student's plain uniforms, their blazers were adorned with countless golden buttons and other various symbols that Athen couldn't comprehend.

Anyway, Athen decided not to stare too long and immediately began walking to the seats furthest away from the stage, hoping to find an empty one.

The orientation almost seemed like a cult gathering.

Every student in front of him was wearing the same pitch-black jeans and shirt with a single symbol attached to their collar and their name next to it.

Well...who was he to complain? He had risked his life to join this cult!

However, before Athen could even reach the back row of seats, a tight force suddenly gripped his shoulder.

Then, before he could react, his entire body was pulled forward and into the row of seats he was closest to.

Finding himself sitting on an empty seat, Athen confusedly stared around for a second before finally hearing a voice sound from his right.

"Where the hell have you been!? I've been waiting for you for at least two hours now!"

Did some random student mistake him for someone else?

If so...now was the perfect time to begin his arrogant master act.

First impressions were critical, so Athen had to make this perfect.

As his first victim, this student would have to be the one to begin spreading rumors about Athen's terrible and violent behavior.

"Who the hell do you t-"

However, as Athen looked at the owner of the voice, he suddenly stopped.

"..?"

Trying to salvage the situation, Athen smiled and patted the boy on the back before saying.

"Kai...my friend!"

Either ignoring or not caring about Athen's rude first words, Kai returned a smile before leaning in and placing his mouth to Athen's ears.

"I assume you used my name to enter this event?"