The academy uniform featured a crisp white dress shirt as the base layer, accented by a red and gold necktie tucked neatly under a tailored navy blue blazer. Matching dark blue trousers completed the set, while sturdy leather shoes offered both comfort and mobility. Over the ensemble, a black cloak draped elegantly across the shoulders, fastened by a golden pin embossed with the academy’s insignia. The cloak's red-lined interior added a striking contrast to the rest of the uniform.

Zeke stood basking in the early morning sun, watching as the servants moved his luggage into a carriage. A long yawn brought with it sleepiness and fatigue. He felt as if a thick fog had settled in his mind, each thought moving sluggishly like it had been dragged through mud.

“Young master,” Einar's voice gained Zeke's attention, though it did not make him any less groggy, “We're done loading the carriage. Is there anything else you need to take with you?”

“...None that I could think of.” He replied after a moment of consideration, his voice sounded vacant.

Silas Salvador has no personal maid. Unsurprisingly, his less than favorable personality caused everyone to quit after only a few days of serving him. He only had Einar to assist him in certain matters, and will also travel to the academy along with him.

“Are you sure you didn't forget anything?”

Circe's sudden appearance startled him awake. Now with eyes widened and alert, Zeke stared at her as he replied, “Well, technically you, but since you're here now my answer remains the same.”

The female and male uniform looked practically identical, the only difference being the short skirt that they wore on top of their leggings. “Let's go sit in the carriage,” Circe gave him a bright smile as she grabbed his hand, “It's been two days since I last saw you, I have a lot of things I want to talk about!”

“Uh, sure…” Now that his heart rate had slowed down, the sleepiness instantly rushed back in. Zeke let Circe drag him over to the carriage next to the cargo holder, leaving Einar all alone.

“Seriously, that place is the worst!” Circe initiated a conversation the moment she closed the door, isolating them from the outside world. As Zeke sank into the seat's cloudy cushion, his eyelids threatened to close. Meanwhile, Circe rested her elbow on the window sill and propped up her chin. “No one bothered me, sure, but it felt like they were deliberately ignoring me.”

“...Even the servants?” Zeke inquired, his voice low from fatigue.

“Not Lilia, but yes,” Circe sighed, shaking her head, “Though they were also acting particularly…dodgy around me. I first brushed it off as just them being mean to Ruelle as per usual…But I just can't help but think they're hiding something.”

Hearing that, Zeke straightened himself and asked, “Was that why you wanted to stay for two days?”

Circe nodded, a smile breaking across her face, though her downcasted eyes contrasted the expression, “Yep, though unfortunately I didn't have enough time to look into it further. They were really on guard, especially around the marquess’ office.”

A heavy silence settled between them. Zeke turned his gaze to the window, attention drawn to Einar and Lilia as they climbed into the carriage loaded with their luggage. From where she sat, Circe could barely discern Zeke's expression. Though his face remained blank, the faint flicker revealed thought stirring behind those distant eyes.

Eventually, Zeke mumbled, his attention lingering on the view outside, “...If your gut tells you something is wrong, then it is most likely correct.” As the carriage jolted forward, the soft creak of the wheels filled in the silence. “Or maybe it's just a typical case of corruption. We're talking about House Peregrine here, after all.”

An unknown weight dissipated in an instant, bringing a smile to Circe's lips. “Yeah, that definitely sounds plausible,” she turned her gaze towards the view outside, the bustling streets brought with them a sense of nostalgia. They'd only come to this world for about a month, but it was enough time to grow attached to the little things they see passing by the carriage windows. “...It won't hurt to be cautious,” her words came out as a soft mumble, but held the weight of the truth that their brief silence agreed upon, “Let's just keep an eye out.”

Zeke swallowed down an invisible lump in his throat, the anxiety of the unknown ran cold sweat down his spine. Not daring to break the quiet, he gave her an acknowledged nod and shifted his focus back to the window.

For a long while, they sat in complete silence, with only the gentle clicks and creaks of the carriage cutting through their thoughts. They both knew that worrying would do them no good, but they still couldn't help but dwell on their own words, wishing for a smooth path in the times to come.

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The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

“...So what happened?” Circe's question broke through the silence between them, a look of nonchalance dawning on her face. As Zeke drew his attention away from the view, she continued to ask, “Did you decide to accept Solren's offer?”

“Yeah, I did,” Zeke responded, his voice lower than normal. By then, the sun had risen past the horizon, yet he still couldn't shake off the drowsiness in his tone. “He also offered me an element assessment. Apparently I'm a dual element mage,” Circe's eyes slightly went wide at his words, though he'd spoken with such indifference that it made him look arrogant, “My affinity's Lightning and Space…though it seems they call the Space element ‘Star’ in this world, probably because the concept of another layer beyond the sky doesn't exist to them yet.”

“Lightning and Space…” Circe brought her fingers to her lips, eyes averted down as her brows furrowed in deep thought. Silence enveloped them once more, but soon broke apart. When she lowered her hand, she spoke in a stern voice. “That's a damage-heavy element in combination with the element with arguably the best status condition in the entire game…You might want to go DPS too to maximize your build.”

“That's what I think also,” Zeke nodded along, “I took it as a chance to learn Meteor Shower. The skill even increased from B to A rank because of my Mana Overlord aptitude.”

Circe raised an eyebrow, “...Eh, the rank of your skills didn't increase when you learned Strengthen, Mana Barrier, and Wind's Grace, but Meteor Shower is an exception?” Deep thought flickered in her eyes again, “Maybe there are specific criterias for it to activate…I wonder what that could be.”

“Not just that,” Zeke leaned against the window, “But Circuit Disruption also got the same treatment…And uh,” he frowned, glancing at Circe with curiosity in his eyes, “Why do you keep calling Zephyr's Blessing by the wrong name? I noticed this before but never got around to asking.”

Circe expected his reaction, and she replied calmly, “It's no surprise you don't know since you're not a combat-focused player, but they changed the names of a lot of skills when they added new ones in patch one point two four.”

That may sound like some random numbers, but even Zeke remembered that particular update. A knowing look flashed across his face as he replied, “Ah, the ‘Skills Expansion Update’, I only cared for the ones that impacted the story mode since they added several hundred skills into the game.”

“Yeah, it used to be called ‘Wind's Grace’ before they used that name for the passive skill, and changed the active skill to ‘Zephyr's Blessing’. I sometimes mix up the old versions.” Her fingers shot up one by one, listing her words, “They also introduced ‘Tickets’ into the game which makes it easier to grind for Skills and Equipment.”

Hearing that sparkled realization behind his eyes, Zeke opened his inventory as he spoke, a hint of excitement tinged his voice. “And speaking of which…” he took out a piece of paper, crafted from pure gold with the word ‘Skill’ engraved onto it. “I got this as a reward for the Special Event with the half-lich.”

Circe's expression brightened as she spoke in a rushed tone, “Oh! Use it, use it!”

Seeing her excitement, a smile broke across Zeke’s lips, “Alright.”

A blinding light enveloped the golden ticket as it levitated above his palm. It expanded outwards, but swiftly retracted into a fine point before disappearing, leaving behind only traces of shimmering particles.

In the ticket's place, a system panel appeared to announce his prize.

[Used x1 ]

[Congratulations! You've gained the Passive Skill ]

Both Zeke and Circe screamed the instant they read the notification. Just the name of the skill alone had a heavy ring of power to it, and Circe swiftly switched sides to get a proper look at the description panel. “This is ridiculous! I haven't seen this skill before but I already know it's good!” Her voice held disbelief along with a tinge of excitement. The look in her eyes betrayed her exhilaration in an instant.

< Skill Description >

Name: Absolute Calculation

Type: Passive Skill

Tier: EX

Cost: None

Cooldown: None

Effects

* Grants the user heightened processing power beyond human limit.

* Skill can be turned on and off to prevent overloading the user [Currently: OFF]

* Proficiency of the skill can be increased with practice and proper understanding of the calculated material.

Bonus Effects

* The Exclusive Skill of ‘Silas Salvador’ grants the user a permanent (+5) to both and

* When used by the Character ‘Silas Salvador’, the backlash from overusing the skill decreases by 50%.

<<>>

[Achievement Unlocked: ‘One of a Kind’ - Unlock your first Exclusive Skill!]

[Gained some EXP.]

[Gained x10 ]

Silence filled the air as they read through the system panels one after the other again and again. Zeke had been so lost in thought that he forgot to close his gaping mouth, only remembering to do so when he finally spoke. “...Silas’ Exclusive Skill…I have so many questions right now.”

As the name suggests, each character possesses their own unique ‘Exclusive Skills’ that cannot be found in any other character. Some of them share similar or the same names as regular skills, but the unmistakable rainbow ‘EX’ tag along with extra effects set them apart. Usually, a character possesses at least one of these overpowered skills, but there have been cases where they could gain up to five Exclusive Skills.

“I never knew you could pull an Exclusive Skill from a ticket…?” Confusion and skepticism laced Circe's tone. She narrowed her eyes in suspicion at the system panel, reminding Zeke that she did the exact same thing when he got Tyrant's Majesty, but for a different reason this time. “It must be because we keep getting unexpected events that even the normal game system is bugged out…” Her legs and arms crossed as she lifted her chin, eyes still full of doubt, “But apart from that: Absolute Calculation? Silas doesn't seem like the guy to have something like that, and as an Exclusive Skill no less.”

Zeke's lips thinned into a straight line. She had a point, yet for some reason, he felt like the skill was already in the right place. “Whatever it is…even if it's a bug, this skill is basically a cheat skill,” Zeke brought up his skill panel, pointing towards the ‘Circuit Disruption’ listed under ‘Active Skills’. “With Absolute Calculation, I could probably disable any spells within my scope of understanding.”

Though her expression held onto the last bit of doubt, Circe nodded along with Zeke's words. “You're right, if you train well then you might become the most busted mage in history,” now her voice held a hint of intrigue, the interest of a battle-addict gamer surfaced to her expression, “I can already see the dream combo. You better not slack off with your studies, Zeke.”

Hearing that made him scoff, his gaze caught onto the sight of a large infrastructure far in the distance. It looked like a castle. “As if, unlike you, I actually don't mind studying.” He crossed his arms, speaking in a mocking tone.

Circe smirked as she lightly elbowed him, “Then why did you not go to college?”

Zeke turned back to Circe, now with a deep frown ceasing his forehead, “I landed a proper job as an esport gamer. I didn't have the need nor the time to pursue higher education.”

“I know, I know,” Circe replied in a half-apologetic voice. Turning to the window by Zeke's side, she pointed with her chin as a small smirk spread across her lips. “It's fine though, since you'll be back to school in just a moment. We're almost at the academy.”