"Yawwwwnn..."

With one hand buried deep in his pocket and the other lazily covering his mouth, Lucian let out a long, lethargic yawn as he stood before the massive ranking board.

I really wish Master would hurry up and come back from wherever she went for the past month, he muttered inwardly, rubbing his heavy eyelids. I seriously need her to brew something for this damn drowsiness...

His vision finally cleared, focusing on the large, glowing runic text at the very top of the obsidian slab. The names of the Top 5 students burned brightly for the entire courtyard to see.

Kaelen Nebryss (Silvercrest Academy)

Zenith Korr (Sovereign Monolith)

Lucian Valemont (Astraviel Academy)

Elira Frostveil (Astraviel Academy)

Eryx Valmer (Blood-Oak Institute)

"Hmm. Not bad."

Taking 3rd place was admittedly a solid outcome. Considering he had blitzed through the absurdly hard paper as fast as humanly possible just so he could go back to sleep on his desk.

He tilted his head, staring at the pillar of names again.

Ah... so first place goes to Kaelen Nebryss, huh? Right. The small shafty boy.

He casually shifted his gaze slightly to the right. Standing a short distance away through the parting crowd was that very same notable trio from Silvercrest Academy.

Kaelen, Lyria, and Zeri.

Speak of the devils, and they shall appear, he mused as a faint smirk tugging at his lips.

Before he could dwell on it, a sharp buzz rattled directly inside his skull.

[SYSTEM ALERT: The Fate Correction Window closed seven days ago.]

[ The narrative is realigning. The next major event is already approaching. You barely survived the first one by playing a half-awake ghost. Brace yourself for the next. Do not complain later that you weren’t warned. ]

His eyes twitched.

letting out an irritated sigh as he clicked his tongue.

"Tch..."

You useless piece of junk... Could you let me breathe properly for just one single day?

Just then, the loud, anxious murmurs of the students gathered around the board caught his attention.

"Hey, did you see who came in 2nd?

It’s Zenith Korr!"

"Yeah, I’ve heard the rumors. She’s the absolute most talented prodigy of the Zandar Empire."

"I read that she has literally never lost a single challenge in her entire life..."

"Man, with the new rule requiring a Six-person team for the dungeon expedition, whoever manages to recruit her is basically guaranteed to win the whole thing!"

Hearing this, Lucian’s brows furrowed in genuine realization.

Zenith Korr, huh...?

He mentally sifted through his memories of the ’Trash Novel’.

As far as I remember, characters like her and Kaelen don’t properly show up until Volume 2. And since I only speed-read through Volume 1 before I died... trying to perfectly predict the future script from here on out is going to be a total mental burnout.

He exhaled slowly. The training wheels were officially off.

Still, this 6-person team rule is a hassle. It looks like I’ll need to do some heavy planning and dig up a few hidden diamonds in the scattered sand if I want all control over the expedition. But before that, let me confirm something. 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

He turned his gaze back to the giant board.

Where are Sera and Aria? I don’t see them up here.

His eyes scrolled down the list. Out of the 300 elite students present, only the Top 200 were qualified to enter the next expedition so He had to carefully scrutinize the Top 100 section.

Ah, found her.

Seraphina Ashenblade

A sense of relief and amusement washed over him.

Good job, Sera. You actually pulled it off, despite the fact that you probably slept even more than I did during our study sessions.

However, as he kept scanning the Top 100, Aria’s name was nowhere to be found.

That’s impossible...

Frowning, he began to turn around to check the other side of the board where the lower ranks were posted. But just as he shifted his weight, the sound of calm, measured footsteps approached him from behind.

"My, my. If it isn’t the local genius."

A serene, remarkably elegant voice cut through the background chatter.

"I always figured you wouldn’t be a simpleton, Lucian... even so taking 3rd place across all five academies? How impressive."

Lucian turned back around as Lyria stepped forward, maintaining her graceful, nearly flawless composure, a folded fan held lightly in her hand. Right beside her was Kaelen, standing short and silent with his ornate staff resting in his grip. And trailing just a step behind them was Zeri, lazily licking a bright blue ice candy, her half-lidded eyes staring blankly in his direction.

"Oho..." Lucian’s lips curled into a leechie smile.

"I had a feeling we would cross paths soon, though I certainly didn’t expect it to be this early."

He shifted his posture, letting his steely silver eyes dart past Kaelen and Lyria, settling into a venomous glower straight at the hooded cat-girl.

"Yet I suppose I can also say you Silvercrest folks work fast... considering you’ve already managed to pull one of our class’s own prodigies over to your side."

Hearing this, Lyria let out a soft, musical chuckle.

"What are you saying?" she smiled as reaching out to lightly ruffle Zeri’s messy hair. The cat-girl didn’t even flinch, just continued to lick her candy.

"This little bombshell of ours has always been with us from the very start."

Lyria tilted her head, eyes flashing with a competitive glint. "You can’t really blame us for that, now can you?"

Suddenly, two figures frantically shoved their way through the dense crowd, sprinting straight toward Lucian.

Lyria noticed them first and gestured with her chin, a look of mild amusement on her face. "My, my. It seems your two precious girls have just witnessed some grand horror."

Lucian turned around in confusion.

"Huff... huff..." Sera and Elira came to a screeching halt, panting heavily.

"D-Darling..." Elira gasped.

"Lucian..." Sera choked out, her face deathly pale.

"Aria... something terrible has happened to her."

Hearing that terrifying gravity in Sera’s voice, the confident smirk on Lucian’s face instantly faltered. At that exact moment, the System’s ominous warning about the ’Next Event’ dawned in his mind.