Zack and Nolan were calmly sitting at the table in the Rise to Prominence clubroom. The others were off doing their own things, but Nolan had already caught back up on his studies. The number one in the school didn’t seem like it would leave Nolan’s position anytime soon, even with his massive absence.

Zack, on the other hand…well…

“Why aren’t you in class? Have you gotten some good tutoring from Miss Kina?”

“Ooh, I forgot about her! No, Sylphia is putting in a good word for me.”

Nolan put down his papers and readjusted his new glasses to look at the deviant Zack.

“Hm? So you have no qualms being a boy toy or a trophy husband? The way things are going, you will be relying entirely on her. Even your sexy times may suffer. A relationship can only be effective when both put forth the effort.”

“Thanks for the words of wisdom, Oh Great Sage!”

Zack chuckled and continued messing with the magic stones in front of him. This was the one thing he had learned from Sylphia, someone who was an elf and endowed in magical control. Though, not as much as a demon.

Nolan sighed and finished his papers.

“So, are you thinking about participating in the tournament? How about the Cross Academy Rumble?”

“Meh, maybe the tournament, but that continent-wide battle was always a mess. Completely random each time I played.”

“That was the point. The stages for the matches are all randomly selected, and the teams are all randomly matched up. Thus, the game’s algorithms set up a path.”

“Really? Like what?”

“Well, I looked into it. The first variable in the code was the location of the fight. The second was the two teams. Depending on the situation, then one of the two teams would win. It would be definite. However, since I went AWOL at the ball, we can throw that out the window. Who knows what kind of training they all did since then?”

“True. Well, that makes it even more of a hassle.”

“Fortunately, I made a list of the outcomes. I was working on it in preparation, so here, you can take a look. I also added the original matchup for the tournament, but you can probably toss out the top ten.”

“Hehe, that’s inevitable. I am sure all of us reincarnates will be popping up in the top ten!”

“Hmm…anyway, my worries are on the second years. None have acted out yet. Even though they are full of conniving sleazebags, they are a cohesive group under the wings of the Second Prince. You surely know that.”

“Duh, and if the main character had made a move towards following Ophia, then Julias would stop at nothing to cause trouble for him! Ah, that’s me!”

“No, it’s Emeril, blockhead. It’s obvious that Emeril is the main character.”

“Yeah, and then there is you as well.”

“Hmph.”

Nolan scoffed and stood up. He straightened his things and left the room after waving bye to Zack. The potion making music loving trouble maker, on the other hand, hardened his expression.

“Hehe, I can finally see how far my potions have come! And with these Songstones, surely my special magic can now be on display! I’m not that much of an idiot, Nolan! Though…I probably need some tutoring…yikes. I would hate to see Sylphia get upset!”

He dashed out of the room, too, but after he left, a strange breeze flew in and the complete recording stone glowed. This was the other major hobby of the flippant womanizer besides potions and women, the Songstone. When applied with magic energy, a complete song would be released. However, these undulations would be special from person to person.

Then, a calming song filled the clubroom as a strange magical energy seemed to soak into the surrounding furniture. Before long, they too were glowing. A strange sight, but one that Zack had been used to for a while now. All this time that Nolan was beating himself up, Zack was working on taking over as the main character.

Nolan had fallen. Sure, he had strengthened his bond to his girls, but as a heroic figure, he would probably never reach that point again. Now, the only person who had a chance was Emeril!

But, Zack knew full well that if he managed to rise to the top, he would be the underdog hero, a commoner who managed to outstrip the nobles by a long way. The common misconception was to believe that the freshmen were enemies when the main character was a senior, but that was from the noble’s perspective! Why would the commoners bow down to the nobles when one was so strong?

Of course, Zack never made it that far in his own playthroughs, but after reading the guides the other members made, he had created some assumptions. He didn’t realize that the others had made that labeling before they had reincarnated, he just assumed that they would cause problems now that they were nobles.

No, the freshmen were not all loyal to the kingdoms nearby. If the player had made it to the last year without being famous, then there were others who would fill that position. They were spies and conmen from the other kingdoms. Some would be arriving next year, but they would remain hidden until the final year!

Sure, the others knew and understood this, but Zack was his own special kind of ridiculous. He focused on the women more than the story and made potions instead of training how to fight. Then, he made music instead of studying. From all over, people saw him as a lazy oaf.

But when those potions would dissolve an entire stage into nothing or scare even level ten fighters, the people would all look at him differently! When that music that everyone thought was useless ripped people to shreds like invisible swords and cause them to explode like a bug in a microwave, his might as a mage would be unopposed!

But his time that he should have spent training to fight or at least get used to his tools was left behind, as he would instead chase after skirts once more. If the others knew of his thoughts and actions, they would all shake their heads in wonder and amazement that someone could be so ingenious, yet so stupid.