“Would you like to have your results displayed to the crowd? It costs four copper,” the attendant said before Hugo took his turn with the light mage.

“Why, yes. That sounds like a fun idea,” Hugo said and handed over the money.

The light mage put her hand on his shoulder and read off the numbers she saw to the attendant. With a bit of mana and a few mirrors, he had his eight stats showing to the crowd as he stood underneath. He was glad that he had ranked up before he came out, it made everything that much more impressive.

With a twenty in dexterity, he was probably the most impressive applicant today. He stepped up on the stage and smiled. Light bounced from behind him up to a glass hanging above his head. It looked like he was displaying his stats straight from his own screen.

It was easy to tell when the crowd saw his dexterity stat. A wave of silence passed over the assembled friends and family, followed by intense buzzing. They were all talking about his impressive numbers. A twenty in any stat was impressive for a rank eight, let alone someone newly soulmarked. Hugo stood there and basked in the attention for a bit before stepping down.

Several people approached him to talk. One particularly rotund woman stepped forward and everyone else stepped back to let her talk.

“Hello young man. Your stats are quite eye-catching,” she said.

Hugo quickly took note of how well dressed the crowd was, and that they were all paying deference to the large woman. He gave her a shallow bow and said, “Thank you. I can’t claim to be anyone special. But it is good to be recognized for my efforts.”

“Cristian, you are special. Having fifteen in any one stat is rare. But twenty? At your rank? Almost unheard of,” she said and made a gesture with her hands. An aid approached and gave her a small bag.

“So I am told,” Hugo said, trying to find the right balance of humility and confidence.

“I belong to a group, striving for greatness. Among many other things, we collect training methods. It is difficult sometimes, to know what the great system considers when assigning a value to the newly soulmarked. We would love to discuss your own training,” she said and jangled the bag. From the sound of it, it was full of gold coins.

Hugo was tempted to lie and make up a training regimen. But he knew that would just come back and bite him in the butt when it didn’t work for others. People got vengeful when their kids were involved. So he just said, “I am sorry, I cannot divulge that information.”

“Ah, so there is information to divulge? Excellent. If you are not authorized to part with the training regimen, perhaps we can discuss it with your family?”

Making it up as he spoke, Hugo said, “I am sorry, you wouldn’t be able to talk with my family. They are from very far away. About two month’s journey from here. And they don’t allow visitors.”

The light seemed to dim in her eyes. “Outside the wheel? Humph. Their ways are not our ways. Training as an outsider won’t benefit those of my flock.”

None of that made sense to him. What was she talking about? The rest of her group lost interest in him as well, quickly dispersing. He had no idea what was going on. Apparently being born outside of the eight cities surrounding shimmer mountain meant that he wasn’t interesting. It didn’t make sense to him.

But those few nobles weren’t the only ones interested in him. Once the first group cleared out, a different crowd came up to him. Many asked him if he had a secret, hoping to hear about his amazing training routine. He made vague statements about family secrets. He relished the moment of power, being the center of attention and wanting nothing from them. Ignoring the stuck up nobles felt like a handful of platinum.

The conversation with the bursar quickly brought him down to reality.

“No,” the bursar said with his arms folded across his chest.

“Did you see my stats? I can attend anywhere. You should be paying me to attend the Blue Lion Academy,” Hugo was saying.

“Pop that inflated ego. That isn’t happening,” the bursar said.

“My ego isn’t inflated, my stats are,” Hugo replied.

“A twenty doesn’t mean you get to mint your own platinums, it just means you show promise,” the bursar said.

Hugo’s anger flared. This jerk was trying to make life difficult for him, again. Paying for school should be easy, not an argument. At least the bursar was talking to Hugo himself this time around, instead of fobbing him off to the young assistant.

“Once I graduate, I am going to be a walking advertisement for the academy. They will see my innate talent and assume that it was the academy’s training. At the very least, you should lower this number down to a third,” Hugo said. At this point, he knew the bursar couldn't offer that much discount to anyone. He was driving a hard bargain because of what happened during his last life. He was still mad from when they were so heartless after he got expelled during his previous life.

“Ug. Fine. I will knock off half of the tuition. But you have to get good grades all four years, and do some schmoozing with the donors,” the bursar said, exasperated.

“Deal,” Hugo quickly said.

They added a few paragraphs to the contract and Hugo signed. He had to check his stat screen for the correct spelling of his name. It wouldn’t be a problem to have everyone call him Hugo, but for legal documents like this, he would be expected to write what light mages could see, Cristian Fieraru.

They gave him a few books, some pamphlets, and his dorm room assignments and schedule. He shouldered his bag and walked through the academy gates for the first time, again.

The morning sun shone on the expansive Blue Lion Academy. Lush grasses and staid architecture showed that it deserved its reputation as a respectable and reputable mage school. Students walked about the campus, unhurried, but determined. The runes in the walls dampened the sounds from the city outside. It was like he was entering another world again.

He looked around the academy and tried to decide if he felt nostalgic at seeing it all again. Not really. It had only been a few subjective months since he was here and he didn’t really like the place itself. There were a few people he liked, but that was it. A voice brought him out of his reverie.

“It’s pretty impressive isn’t it?” a girl standing near him said.

Hugo turned and smiled, “Yeah, it is.”

“Hi, I am Daniela,” she said and held out her hand. After he shook it, she continued, “I am new here, and I assume you are too.”

“That’s right. I just got here moments ago. I plan on being the best formations mage ever.”

Daniela giggled and said, “I bet you will be. With a face like that, I can’t believe you would ever be anything but amazing.” She touched his arm to emphasize the amazing.

Was she hitting on him? He felt like the answer was yes, but he didn’t know for sure. He had only ever dated two girls, and both of them he approached. He didn’t know what to do with the possibility of a woman actually approaching him.

The idea was heady. An attractive girl actually came up to him because she was interested in him. He actually had a choice here, whether or not to reciprocate. He had never been on this end of things before. He looked her over again. Long brown hair, cute dimples, short, and ample curves. Yeah, he was interested.

“Thanks, Daniela. I bet you will be great too. Do you know what kind of mage you want to be?”

“Kind of? My mom wants me to be a life mage, but my stats fit a barrier mage better. I would rather be a barrier mage so I can be in the action. But she wants me to join the family business and make golems.”

“You should follow your heart. You are the one that has to live with your domain, not her,” he said.

“Yeah, maybe,” she said with a coy smile. “I bet your mom always agrees with your ideas. I am sure she is just proud to have such a handsome son.”

“Oh, I wish. She just puts me to work whenever she can. She never wants to do what I want,” Hugo leaned towards her and winked, “But our moms aren't here, are they?”

She covered her mouth and giggled. Hugo was finally sure that she was flirting with him. He smiled widely and took a deep breath. He basked in the heady feeling. He could get used to this. He wondered why he didn’t remember her from the first time he attended the academy.

An idea popped into his head and immediately soured the whole experience. She wasn’t interested in Hugo. She was attracted to Cristian. She liked his new face, not his old one. She probably wasn’t this friendly to most people. They must have met during athletics in his last life when he had a stout body and scar on his face. She never talked to him then.

“I gotta go, get settled into my new dorm, you know?” Hugo said, “I will see you around.”

“Yeah! See you around,” she said.

He gave her a small wave, which she enthusiastically returned. It was going to take some time to adjust to the idea that he was attractive.

This was his new body, and he had to accept that fact. For the rest of his life, this is the face he would be wearing. He just wanted to get into relationships with girls that wanted him for his personality, not his looks. Which is a stance that hadn’t changed, actually.

He used to want girls to just ignore the scar on his face and get to know the real him. Now he wanted them to ignore the pretty face and get to know the real him. He never thought that he would get to experience the same frustrations from both sides of the fence. Of course, given the choice, he would always pick a handsome body for himself. He had no illusions that he was somehow above looks. He just wanted personality to play an important part.

Shaking his head, he looked down at the paper they gave him and walked to his new dorm room. He kind of wanted to be more social with his second chance. At the same time, these realizations were making him want to hole up and live alone. People were the worst, but they were fun to have around.

Trudging up that stairs didn’t improve his mood. This dorm building always felt oppressive to him. It shouldn’t, the construction was fairly new and full of large windows. But he associated it with long hours full of homework and sleepless nights.

Getting there first, Hugo took the bed by the window. At least he could make that small change for the better. His new roommate joined him shortly after he put his stuff away. The identity of his new roommate surprised him. It shouldn’t have, but for some reason he hadn’t expected it.