The next five days were pure, unadulterated hell.
Arthur’s new life wasn’t a fantasy adventure. It was a brutal, agonizing routine of physical and ntal torture.
Every morning started with the sa death march from the dorms to the main academy building. Every day, his lungs burned, and he coughed until he tasted copper. But he didn’t stop. He dragged his pathetic body up those stone steps, day after day.
Then ca the ntal grind.
In class, he sat in the back row and turned himself into a machine. He absorbed every lecture, every diagram, and every word the professors spoke.
Professor Elena Moon made it incredibly difficult.
By Wednesday, she was clearly losing her mind. The sheer lack of attention from her favorite stalker was driving her insane. She started wearing skirts with slits that rode dangerously high up her pale thighs. She would intentionally drop her chalk, bend over right in front of his desk, and stay there for entirely too long.
She wanted him to look. She needed that dirty, obsessive gaze to feed her ego.
But Arthur didn’t give her a damn thing.
Look at the chalkboard. morize the formula, he chanted in his head while Elena’s massive, bra-less chest practically spilled out onto his desk.
He didn’t blink. He just kept taking notes.
When class ended, she would stand at the podium, her face flushed red, biting her lip in sheer frustration as he packed his bag and walked out without a second glance.
After classes, Arthur didn’t rest. He headed straight to the grand library.
He discovered that his [Perception: 85] trait wasn’t just good for peeping. It allowed him to speed-read. He could scan a heavy magical to in a fraction of the ti it took a normal student.
He spent hours surrounded by towering bookshelves, reading everything from basic mana manipulation to advanced monster anatomy.
Occasionally, the Elf Princess, Elara, would walk past his table.
She always gave him the sa look: a mix of deep disgust and sharp confusion. She couldn’t understand why the academy’s biggest loser was suddenly studying like his life depended on it.
"Don’t strain your tiny human brain, Vance," she sneered one afternoon, walking past him with her nose in the air.
Arthur didn’t even look up from his book. "Don’t trip over your own ego on the way out, Princess."
Elara stopped dead in her tracks, her pointed ears twitching in shock. She opened her mouth to snap back, but Arthur had already turned the page, completely ignoring her existence. She stord off, her face burning with offended pride.
Ding.
[Academic Focus Acknowledged. Intelligence (INT) 0.2]
After the library, it was ti for physical torture.
He returned to the training grounds every evening. The other students laughed at him, calling him a creep and a weakling. He ignored them.
He picked up the heavy wooden longbow. He pulled the string. He held it until his lungs scread and his muscles cramped. Then, he rested in the dirt, waited for the pain to pass, and did it again.
On Thursday, he held the bowstring for twenty seconds before his arms gave out. On Friday, he managed thirty.
Friday night.
Arthur sat shirtless on his narrow dorm bed, drenched in sweat. His muscles ached, but it was a good kind of ache. It was the dull throb of torn muscle fibers rebuilding themselves.
He muttered a command and opened his status window.
[Na: Arthur Vance]
[Class: Scout (Unawakened)]
[Strength: 9]( 5)
[Mana: 5]( 2)
[Dexterity: 82]
[Perception: 85]
[Intelligence: 15]( 12)
[Traits: Soundless Steps (Lv.4), Eagle Eye (Lv.5), Weak Lungs (Lv.2)]
Arthur let out a long, satisfied breath.
His Intelligence stat had skyrocketed. Spending hours speed-reading in the library and hyper-focusing during Elena’s lectures had paid off massively.
His Strength had jumped by five points. He was still incredibly weak compared to the combat students, but he no longer felt like his bones would snap in a stiff breeze.
And the best part? His Mana had naturally increased by two points. As his physical vessel beca slightly healthier and his intelligence expanded his understanding of mana circuits, his capacity naturally grew.
Even his [Weak Lungs] trait had dropped to Level 2. The coughing fits were still there, but the stamina drain was slightly less severe.
"Finally making progress," Arthur muttered, closing the blue screen.
The grueling, repetitive routine of the weekdays was over. The weekend had officially arrived.
For the normal students, the weekend ant going into the city, drinking at the taverns, or taking on low-level beginner quests to earn pocket money.
Arthur had entirely different plans.
He walked over to his desk and unrolled a rough map he had sketched out over the last few days. He tapped his finger on a specific location just outside the academy grounds.
He didn’t have the luxury of relaxing. The real hidden missions—the ones that gave the overpowered rewards—were waiting for him.
It was ti to get his hands dirty.
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