After wandering around the academy grounds for a while, Kael finally grew bored.
"So what's the point of exploring if this isn't even the real academy?" he asked Theo, kicking a small pebble off the path.
"There isn't," Theo replied flatly.
Kael stopped walking. "Great. I'm going back to bed."
"You can go without me," Theo said. "I have to meet with someone."
Kael raised a brow, a knowing smirk playing on his lips. "Let me guess, your sister?"
Theo merely rolled his eyes and walked off without answering.
"Say hi to her for me!" Kael called after him, a faint chuckle escaping his lips.
He made it back to his dorm and flopped face-first onto his bed, burying his head in the covers.
Luckily, the medicine they'd given him had finally kicked in. The searing pain in his ribs was now a dull ache instead of a scream.
His limbs still felt heavy, but it was manageable.
"Now… let's see," he mumbled, summoning the Archive interface with a thought.
As usual, the familiar golden system screen blinked into existence, its smooth, clean design still reminding him of a game menu.
Kael scrolled to the "World Task" tab and reread the description carefully.
"So the lovers created the Archive… on their deathbeds… and now it's considered the most powerful authority in the world." He stared at the screen for a second longer, letting the information sink in.
"Damn. They must've been insane powerhouses."
And then there was the other guy. The one who put those powerhouses on their deathbeds. The one Kael was apparently supposed to stop.
He sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose. This was way too much responsibility for someone who still wasn't even sure what his class did.
Sure, he knew the Archive would give him tasks, and completing them would eventually make him stronger… but still.
It felt too big.
Too heavy.
"Well… I did promise to try," he muttered, a faint sense of resignation in his voice.
He turned back to the interface, his eyes landing on one small, unassuming stat.
Age: 17
His brows furrowed.
Theo had said most people undergo the first Trial at sixteen.
But He had just recently formed his bond with the Archive which means this body had not yet established one.
Which raised a more disturbing point, he didn't remember taking any kind of Trial at all.
And he'd been able to see and interact with the Archive even before he supposedly "ascended." and got a class.
That wasn't normal from what he understood.
Not that anything about this situation had ever been normal.
Still… something felt off.
Too off.
But Kael, as always, defaulted to the only explanation that made sense to someone like him.
"Must be that classic MC anomaly. You know, bugged stats, overpowered system, mysterious backstory."
It made enough sense.
But there was still one question lingered. One that scratched louder than the rest, refusing to be ignored.
"Whose body is this?"
In every transmigration novel he'd ever read, the protagonist always took over the body of someone important, be it a noble, a prodigy, a hidden heir. Their identity was never small.
Was that the case here?
'Is there someone out there looking for this body right now?'
'Who was the original owner?'
'How did they die?'
He didn't know.
But he'd need to find out.
Sooner or later, if he didn't, it might come back to bite him.
"Whatever," he muttered aloud, pulling the covers further over his head, already drifting off. "I'll worry about it later."
And with that, he drifted off into the kind of sleep only someone half-broken and thoroughly confused could truly enjoy.