"..."

Walking beside them felt... odd.

It felt as if I were a puzzle piece, being forced in the wrong place.

I had nothing to show for my time in this world: no true connections, relationships, or memories, didn't I?

So then, what was this?

Why did I feel part of something?

I had helped Leo, only to save myself. If he hadn't unlocked the ability to use his mana sword during our time in the dungeon, Carissa would have likely died, destroying the future.

I had also saved Carissa for the same reason, just to help myself.

I had used Haerin to clear the vault so that I could get rich.

I had manipulated Serena so that, in the future, I could reap the benefits of her amazing inventions.

Yet...all these people seemed to see it a different way?

Is it ok?

Is ok for me to be with them?

It wasn't like I truly cared for any of these people, was it?

Lost in my thoughts, I began to trail behind the group as we walked to the dining hall, until finally a voice snapped me back to reality.

"You must not know...but if you fall behind, Haerin's going to steal all the sweets!"

Her voice still echoing throughout my head, Carissa skipped in front of me, her snow-white hair filling my vision, and caught up to everyone else, expectantly glancing back at me one last time before turning around.

"yeah..."

As the others ahead of me made a right, entering the hallway that connected the library building to the meal hall, I paused.

Straight ahead was the exit, two double doors that led directly into an endless abyss of darkness beneath the night sky.

To the right was light...so much light that I was blinded, dazzled, and confused all at once.

Four shadowy figures, illuminated by the lights above, grouped together and walked forward on the crimson carpet, slowly fading from my sight.

They were laughing, smiles on all of their faces.

It was as if there were an invisible barrier between us.

What...do I do?

My head was split in half, assaulted by blinding pain that forced me to close my eyes for a moment.

But instead of being met with a peaceful darkness, I was met with myself.

What am I even doing here? In this world?

And, so I walked.

I walked forward.

Out the doors.

The cold embraced me, like a blanket wrapping around my body, and the full moon waved to me, like the night lamp on my bedside table.

I would be lying if I said I didn't look back or pause every few steps as I made my way back to my building.

Just hoping...hoping that something would happen.

Swinging open the door of my room, I didn't breathe a sigh of relief until I leaped into my apartment and landed in the pond.

This was it; this was where I was supposed to be.

As I climbed atop a lilypad, my drenched body already drying under the sun, I didn't train.

Lying down, I simply covered my eyes and rolled over

Unfortunately, this lake couldn't heal what I was feeling.

...

...

...

*Ring~ring*

As my smarwatch's alarm sounded in my ears, I lazily dismissed it and typed a quick message before closing my eyes once again.

I was a model student, so if I called in sick for a few days, Professor Lily shouldn't mind.

Anyway, class would probably consist of review material that I didn't need.

However, unable to fall back asleep, I simply rolled around on the lilypad for an hour before finally standing up.

After exiting the painting and performing my normal daily routine, I sluggishly left my dorm and entered the empty academy streets.

Finding myself before the training hall, I scratched my head and entered, seeing it relatively empty except for a couple of students with a free period.

Heading upstairs, I easily found an empty AI dummy training room and walked in, immediatly feeling as if I were in an insane asylum as shiny white walls surrounded me.

After tampering with the bot's settings for a few minutes, I smiled upon realizing that it was much more advanced than the one in my pond, with harder difficulties and movesets.

More specifically, the bot could wield multiple weapons and draw from its experiences with other students.

For example, if a student with an axe fought the AI dummy bot, it could imitate that student's axe technique against another student.

Of course, there was a privacy setting to disable that, so I stopped the bot from engraving and copying my style, at least.

Throwing a wooden axe at the bot and picking up a sword, I jabbed my sword forward, missing the bot as it sidestepped to the left.

Instantly, the bot raised its axe to the sky and prepared to crush me under its weight.

Unfortunately, though, this was a move I had faced before with the minatour.

Placing the sword diagonally over my head, I crouched as the axe made contact with my sword before kicking out my right foot and sweeping it horizontally.

As the bot tilted to the right, losing balance, I withdrew my sword, the axe instantly slamming downward at my head, and leaped left.

After successfully dodging the bot, I jabbed my sword forward at its unprotected left side, causing it to collapse.

Leaning against a white wall, while the bot stood back up, I took a deep breath and increased the difficulty, allowing the bot to add more moves and move faster.

...

...

...

Sweat dripping off my face, I fell to the ground alongside the bot and grabbed a bottle of water, draining the entire thing in one go.

I had reached level 19/25.

Of course, I could have raised the boss to level 25 and fought it thousands of times over so that my holographic lines could perfectly predict its move until I won.

However, that was far too time-consuming, probably taking over 300 hours in total, and wouldn't have helped me actually learn.

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