The first day at Anubis Academy buzzed with excitement.

I wore the standard uniform: a black coat lined with striking yellow trim, paired with matching black pants. Every student, regardless of gender, followed the same dress code.

At the moment, I was in the Freshman building, heading toward my classroom, with my Super Watch displaying my schedule.

Adventurer 101.

Gender Studies.

Second Millennium History.

Application of Magic.

All classes were optional, except for the Adventurer ones. Pass every Adventurer class, and you could graduate in three years. But grades still mattered—especially when guilds came to recruit. Anubis Academy required every student to take at least four classes per semester.

I was on my way to class 1-C.

The classes at Anubis were ranked: 1-A had the top ten students. 1-B, with twenty students, ranked just behind. And then, there was class 1-C—the rest of us. Forty students in all.

Standing in front of the classroom, I felt a rush of nerves. The whole situation felt surreal, and I had this irrational fear that I might wake up from the dream and find myself alone in my room… missing my left hand.

Shaking off the thought, I took a deep breath, opened the door, and stepped inside.

I scanned the room.

Nick, the best friend anyone could have, was at his desk, eating a hamburger.

Valentina, the class representative.

Penelope, the walking disaster.

Hikari, the rich girl.

William, the nobleman.

Lelali, the vampire.

Mathew Hunt, the wannabe hero and every guy’s worst enemy—playboy of the school.

It seemed like only some of the students had arrived early.

The room was set up with four rows of desks, ten in each row. I found a seat next to Nick in the middle area.

Turning to him, I said, “Good morning, Nick. Looks like we’re classmates now, huh?”

Nick gave me a shaky smile. “Hey, Wally. Looks like you survived the Philadelphia warzone.”

“You had a rough time during the Field Exam, didn’t you? I knew my strategy of avoiding the other participants was solid.”

Nick leaned back in his chair. “It was like a bad war movie. Everyone was gunning for each other. I swear, that girl Penelope took down hundreds by herself. After witnessing that bloodbath, I realized something: humans are terrifying.”

I chuckled. “Sorry for laughing, but yeah, humans are scary. Have you ever seen a B-Rank Monster, though? Regular military weapons can’t even scratch those things. Even spells bounce off them like nothing. I’m scared of humans, sure, but I’m downright terrified of B-Rank Monsters.”

Nick gulped. “You don’t think the instructor’s going to make us fight one, do you?”

“...I’d definitely consider dropping out if that were the case.”

“Why did I think coming to Anubis Academy was a good idea?”

“I don’t know about you, but I came for the reputation.”

As more students trickled in, Nick and I kept chatting. Soon, everyone was seated, and the professors entered the room.

Professor Benson, a middle-aged man built like a bodybuilder, strode in with a broad smile. His short beard and hazel-colored hair gave him an imposing presence.

“Good morning, class!” he boomed. “You can call me Professor Benson. I’ll be your professor for the next three years. My job is to teach you everything about becoming an Adventurer—from A to Z! I expect 200 percent effort from all of you!”

He waved at the two people beside him. “These are my assistants, and they’ll introduce themselves.”

The first assistant, a young man with an undercut and jet-black hair, stepped forward. “Hello, class. I’m Assistant Sickle.”

Next, a young woman with black hair streaked with green highlights and matching green eyes smiled at us. “Hi, everyone! I’m Assistant Mabel. I hope we have an exciting year! And if you need anything, feel free to reach out to me.”

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Professor Benson clapped his hands. “Now, today’s the first day, so we’ll keep things simple. I’m sending everyone the syllabus—take a look and be prepared for what’s ahead. The first half of the class will cover theory—monsters, dungeon navigation, survival skills. The second half will be hands-on training, where you’ll face monsters.”

He nodded at Mabel, who tapped a few keys on her keyboard, and a hologram popped up in front of me—and every other student—displaying the course material.

“Let’s start with something light,” Benson said, pointing to the hologram. “What are dungeons? A Dungeon Portal leads to a realm filled with monsters. Most often, these areas are desert landscapes. The more dangerous dungeons have forest environments with more powerful creatures. A dungeon is essentially a sealed-off section of another world, saturated with mana. If you go beyond the boundary, you’ll end up in a wasteland or dead world. It’s theorized that dungeons exist to create monsters.”

The hologram shifted to show an image of a werewolf.

“Monsters inhabit dungeons,” Benson continued. “And if a Dungeon Break occurs, they can escape and wreak havoc on the world. Your job, as future Adventurers, is to hunt and eliminate as many monsters as possible. That’s what this class will teach you.” He grinned. “Hope you’re ready, kids.”

With that, the lecture began, and the first day of Adventurer Class wrapped up without any incidents.

----

Being a student at Anubis Academy came with plenty of perks, especially the mana development rooms.

These rooms created an artificial environment rich in a specific type of mana, designed to enhance a person’s Mana Core. For me, the fire mana room was the most effective.

I always made sure to book two hours in the fire mana room for personal training.

The room was enclosed by steel walls, with a dial to adjust the concentration of mana. I glanced at my Super Watch to check my current mana capacity.

It read **8665**. Once I reached **10,000**, I’d achieve a D-Rank Mana Core.

If only I had inherited the Unicorn Mana Core, reaching D-Rank would have been easy. I silently cursed my useless older brother.

After taking off my shirt, I sat cross-legged in the center of the room, focusing on absorbing the fire mana into my core.

An hour later, I checked my Super Watch again. **8675** mana capacity.

On a typical day, I could only increase my mana by 1 to 3 points per hour, but in the fire room, it jumped by 8 to 10 points per hour.

My good mood was shattered when an unwanted visitor walked in.

Sarah Love. She was from Class 1-A and famous for starring in Hollywood movies. With wavy blonde hair and crystal blue eyes, she had millions of fans.

On the surface, Sarah was perfect.

"Hello there," she greeted me with a smile that didn’t reach her eyes. "You've been here for an hour, and I want to use the room for training. Could you vacate it?"

Though her tone was polite, it was clearly a demand. Sarah and I never got along; our relationship had become so toxic that in the first timeline, we’d actually fought.

"I'm not leaving. I booked this room for two hours," I replied, adding, "But you’re welcome to share it."

She pulled out her Super Watch. "How much?"

"What?"

"How much money do you want to give up the room?"

"I’m not interested in money."

Suddenly, my Super Watch beeped. Confused, I checked it and saw that $5,000 had been deposited into my account.

“There you go,” Sarah said sweetly. "I’ve paid for the room. Now, kindly leave."

"You bitch! I’ll get a professor to deal with this."

She flipped her hair casually. "Go ahead. I’ll just tell the professor that I paid for the room and you’re trying to scam me for more."

I realized she had me cornered. There were no cameras in the training rooms, so I had no proof.

Sarah was as ruthless as ever, just like in the first timeline.

Feeling humiliated, I grabbed my stuff and slowly headed for the exit, defeated.

----

I made my way to the dorm and headed to my assigned room.

The room was spacious, with a green carpet and a matching green bed. There was a desk, a computer, and plenty of room to move around.

I began unpacking my clothes and supplies, but once everything was in place, the room still felt barren and empty.

"I should get some pet fish," I muttered, thinking that their presence might make the space feel less lonely.

So, I ordered a large aquarium online along with two lionfish. They were scheduled to arrive tomorrow—hopefully, they’d help combat my solitude.

I opened my calendar and glanced at my upcoming schedule.

"Oh right, Hikari is supposed to die this week," I murmured, seeing the grim reminder in my notes.

Hikari Konpeito, heir to an absurdly wealthy conglomerate, had more money than most nobles could dream of. Yet, despite all her riches, she died in a dungeon during the first week of school—at least, that’s what happened in the first timeline.

"Will a warning email even help?" I wondered out loud.

I set up a fake email account, untraceable thanks to the dark web, using the username "Prophet."

Just one email might be dismissed as a scam, so I decided to send multiple messages—each one counting down to the day she was supposed to die.

The first email would read, "You will die in the dungeon in seven days."

The second, "You will die in the dungeon in six days."

And so on, until I sent the eighth email on the day of her supposed death. Each message would hit her inbox at midnight.

I doubted she could ignore eight ominous emails.

After setting up the scheduled messages, I received a notification—the class rankings had been posted.

“Huh?” I checked the list and saw I was ranked twenty-fifth in my class.

I had cheated and only expected to land around twenty-fifth place. How terrifying were my classmates?

I leaned back, thinking. In the previous timeline, I had struggled to keep up with them.

Most of my peers were prodigies, geniuses, or heirs to noble families with world-shattering resources at their disposal. While I only had access to the mana development rooms as a student at Anubis Academy, many of my classmates had similar facilities in their own homes.

They probably had B-Rank Monster Cores gathering dust in their closets—items I couldn’t even dream of affording. Their wealth was beyond my imagination.

“Reality is cruel,” I sighed.

If I wanted to survive in Anubis Academy, I couldn’t afford to slack off.

The door opened, and I turned, expecting to see Nick, my supposed roommate.

But instead, it was Holly Halloween—a vampire.

“What are you doing in my room?” I demanded, my voice sharp.

Holly looked taken aback by my tone. “I’m your roommate.”

She had short violet hair, crimson eyes, and always wore green to blend into the forest. A sunlight protection Magic Item hung around her neck.

I closed my eyes and counted to ten.

Right. Because my exam score had improved, my roommate assignment had changed.

"This is going to be a problem," I muttered.

"Because I’m a girl?" Holly asked, raising an eyebrow.

"No, because you're a vampire."

She rolled her eyes. "As if I’d want to bite someone as ugly as you."

"And I’d rather not sleep in the same room as you."

"Fascist, xenophobic racist bigot."

"Bloodsucking baby eater."

We glared at each other.

"Let’s just ignore each other until next year," Holly said, her voice dripping with annoyance.

"Deal."