The Academy's Time Looper-Chapter 57: Procrasination

At that moment, as Athen looked down and prepared to head out, he noticed something...peculiar.

His wrist was fine...completely patched up, with no signs of the wound.

And he wasn’t in any sort of pain.

Although the wound was somewhat minor, there still should have been some remnant pain after only thirty minutes; however, Athen felt completely fine.

It had taken him this long to notice because...he had completely forgotten about it.

After arriving back in the plaza, the pain had disappeared, so Athen had entirely forgotten about the wound’s existence.

Confused, Athen glanced backward at the plaza; however, Professor Caldris was nowhere to be seen.

Unable to hold in his confusion, Athen began walking away from the plaza while muttering.

"What was...that?"

It was like...a completely different world.

...

...

...

As the vibrant sounds from the plaza died down, the looming dorm building slowly came into view, its height still as breathtaking as always.

Taking a deep breath, Athen clutched the letter and opened the glass doors of the lobby...only to be assaulted by another barrage of sounds that rivaled the plaza in volume.

Inside the lobby, even more students than before could be seen, each one conversing or simply staring off into the distance.

There weren’t even any seats left for the students as some shared a chair or awkwardly stood by their friends.

But, what surprised Athen the most...was the lack of an "X" on their shirts.

As far as Athen could see, none of the students had the mark of failure on them, which meant they had passed the test...or just not participated in one yet.

Was this really the number-one academy in the world!?

There was an entrance test currently active, yet students were just lounging around in the lobby, not even attempting to scout or try a challenge.

Hiding the letter under his blazer, Athen muttered as he walked towards the front desk.

"These lazy bums..."

As soon as Athen came within one foot of the reception desk, an employee, without looking up from their papers, suddenly asked.

"How can I help you today?"

Letting out a dry cough, Athen glanced around before awkwardly taking the white envelope and placing it on the receptionist’s desk.

Though Athen believed that everyone in the lobby was looking at him at this very moment, he was completely wrong.

Behind him, the students simply...continued talking, ignoring his existence.

Staring at the envelope, the receptionist simply grabbed it before finally looking up at Athen and saying,

"Your approval has been registered! Congrats, student!"

Surprised that a receptionist had finally made eye contact with him, Athen hesitated for a moment before nodding his head and walking away.

...

...

...

A couple of minutes later, Athen’s figure could be seen sprawled out on his bed, back in his dorm room.

What the hell was he supposed to do now, for the next fourteen days?

Athen had expected his first few days of the entrance test to be packed with excitement and activity.

He was supposed to be scouting, making new friends and connections, and spying on teachers.

Yet...it wasn’t even dinner time, and he was back in his dorm room.

It was already done.

All there was to do now was wait until Kai got back.

Kai would tell him about the artificial environment portion of the entrance test, and then he would begin preparing accordingly.

Shaking his head, Athen reluctantly got off his bed and climbed down from the loft.

What was he talking about!?

There was so much to do!

Now that he could actually use mana, there was plenty of training that needed to be done.

And, since he hadn’t yet learned how to infuse mana into objects, Athen still needed to continue training with his crossbow.

Although it was useless against the teacher, who could manifest multiple layers of mana protections, the crossbow would probably fare better against normal students.

Picking up a glass of water, Athen strolled towards the gigantic window and stared out at the still light blue sky.

"Time to train...yeah..!"

However, actions speak louder than words.

Within seconds, Athen could be seen lying down on Kai’s sofa while aimlessly staring up at the white ceiling.

Although he was, for some reason, physically fine as his wound had healed, Athen was mentally exhausted.

How could he not be?

Although he made it seem easy, activating his time-stopping ability did require a lot of mental strain.

Clearing your head was not easy in the slightest.

The only reason Athen could do it in such a short period right now was because he had trained for countless days non-stop.

When Athen was back in his hometown begging, he had a lot of free time, so most of it was dedicated to refining the parts of his ability that he could control, such as how to use it.

And that, added with his intense concentration on his heart to use mana, was enough for a massive headache to form in Athen’s brain.

Rubbing his head, Athen reluctantly sat up straight and forced himself to drink some water, even though his throat was not dry in the slightest.

Realizing that the rest of the day would be wasted if he didn’t do something, he sighed before muttering.

"As soon as the sun sets, I’ll go to the training hall."

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...

...

A couple of hours later, as the sky was now colored bright orange and the sun was almost out of sight, Athen awoke from his slumber.

School hadn’t even started yet, and his sleep schedule was already messed up.

As Athen got off the couch, the briefcase containing his crossbow by the door seemed to mutter.

"Chop, chop; let’s go, already!"

Reluctantly, he grabbed his briefcase and, after a couple of seconds of fixing his hair, opened the door.

After arriving back in the lobby, which was just as crowded as always, Athen headed out of the dorm building and began walking towards the training hall.