"Those who wish to resign must submit a letter to the academy's board."
Two days after the funeral, the school issued that message to the students.
"Classes will only begin on Monday, so I'll use Friday, Saturday, and Sunday to train even harder."
Enrico entered the training room and started running laps.
[As always, crazy about training.]
"Huff... I have to be. I'm still weaker than many others here. Besides, several people I wanted by my side died."
He increased his pace.
Out of the 30 students from Class D, only 8 survived: Kai, Valença, Serenya, Sílvia, Elian, Caelan, Liam, and Enrico. What surprised him was that Class C had only three survivors, which worried him deeply, as that was the class where he was supposed
With a character who will become friends with the protagonist, His name was Kevin Laplace. Fortunately, he survived, which brought Enrico some relief.
After running for 15 minutes, he drank some water and saw that the names of those who had dropped out were being announced. To his dismay, Kevin was one of them.
A punch struck the wall.
"Damn it."
If it was announced, that meant he was already gone. Enrico immediately went back to training.
After two hours, he lay on the ground, breathing heavily.
"...System, I want to make a pact to enter dungeons I've already cleared for training. What could I offer to achieve that?"
[Defeat a 9th-circle mage and sacrifice them.]
"Do you think I'm an idiot? We'll need lots of 9th-circle mages to survive, and I couldn't even touch a 1st-circle mage, let alone defeat one."
Enrico got up in disbelief.
[If you really want a dungeon for training, I can offer one back but with limitations.]
"What?" A list began appearing on the system screen.
First: You can only enter the dungeon once per week.
Second: You can't bring any helpful items.
Third: You can't bring anything back from it.
Fourth: You can't bring anyone else in.
Fifth: Only dungeons that appear in arcs of the original story can be revisited.
Sixth—and the cost of the pact: For each dungeon you enter, you must bring a core related to the dungeon's level and enter it with only 20% of your mana, which must last the entire run.
Just hearing all that made him irritated—it was full of disadvantages.
[But you gain something good. The percentage of all your magic or other types increases by 2% of that magic's circle level for each major enemy you face. This dungeon has six, so you could improve your circle by 12%—though at your current level, you won't defeat any of them.]
"That's still bad, but if I want to grow, I'll have to accept it… Can't you increase it to twice a week?"
[No. This is non-negotiable. This is what the constellations offer.]
"I can offer the pact, but they decide, huh?" Enrico knew he had to make the most of this.
"Alright, I accept."
[Beginning dungeon creation. It will take a few hours to complete.]
Enrico stood up and stretched. I've got another pact in mind, but I can only offer it after completing the next arc, like they said.
Looking out the window toward the board's building, he hoped no other important characters would drop out.
"I hope no one else gives up."
[Well, bad luck, because Valença seems to be heading there.]
He rushed to the window and saw Valença approaching, then sprinted after her. No, this can't happen—losing her now would be asking to die.
---
She had done nothing. She had been useless. Even someone she didn't like had done more than her. How could someone like her become a mage?
Valença looked at the letter and remembered her dream of becoming a mage to help her village. It doesn't matter—there's no way I could stand up to that prodigy.
She reached the door, took a deep breath, and began to open it.
"Where do you think you're going?"
She turned toward that voice—it was Enrico.
Valença gave a bitter smile.
"What are you doing here?"
Instead of answering, he asked
"Are you here to quit?"
"Yes, so what? That doesn't matter for a commoner like me, right?"
She looked at him with the eyes of someone who had given up, as if the flame inside her had died.
Enrico had many thoughts on how to stop her. In the original story, she had an inferiority complex toward Enrico, but thanks to Kai, she gained more confidence and overcame it. But here, I was the one who won that battle, which should've crushed that confidence…
He saw her starting to open the door. I have no choice—I'll have to become that kind of character.
Valença began to step inside until Enrico's voice stopped her.
"You know why I used to bother you?"
Valença looked at him, confused, and was about to speak, but his next words surprised her.
"Because I envied you. I saw that you were going to surpass me and decided to act out like a child," Enrico said, clenching his hand.
Valença was in total disbelief. That genius… envied her?
"You see, I wanted you to stay beneath me, but I went about it the wrong way. Instead of training, I kept bothering you. It was humiliating. Until I learned that without effort, even just a little, you achieve nothing." He continued without pause.
"I… I considered you my rival."
Enrico finished and turned his back to her.
"If you're going to give up even when someone like me kept going after being surpassed in everything… then I never should've considered you a rival. And one last thing—sorry for what I did."
After saying that, Enrico started running away as Valença stared at the ground in shock. That genius sees me as a rival? Someone like me?
Valença looked at the letter, biting her lip, remembering the fear she felt in that dungeon—how weak she had been. And yet someone considered her a rival? Not only that… he apologized.
She stood there frozen, and Kai, who had been behind a tree, had seen everything. He had come to try to convince Valença himself. Kai watched Enrico walking away and smiled before walking off in the opposite direction.
Meanwhile, Enrico looked back one last time.
[You're good at this.]
"Everything I said was true. That's exactly how the original Enrico felt about her—except the rival and apology part."
Enrico scratched the back of his neck.
"I hope it was enough."
---
On Monday, Professor Virelle stood in the classroom, looking at the students—seven of them. She seemed to almost sigh upon seeing Valença's empty chair.
"Alright, class, I have a few things to say."
Everyone looked forward with new expressions, even Liam, who, despite missing an arm, held his spear, and Sílvia looked serious.
"First—"
A knock came at the door, and Valença entered.
"Sorry, Professor, I had a problem and arrived late."
Everyone saw her with training injuries. Virelle noticed and let out a small huff with a slight smile. Alright, sit down. Next time I won't go so easy on you.
Valença sat in front of Kai, her eyes lit with a rekindled flame. Kai smiled happily for his friend, and Virelle looked at them all.
"None gave up. None of the eight."
For a moment, her eyes were those of a true teacher.
Enrico, Kai, Valença, Serenya, Caelan, Elian, Liam, and Sílvia all listened attentively.
"The first announcement is: you will be moving up to Class C."