"Now that's everyone's here, let's get into the main topic"

Anna said as she pulled out an Avaron insignia from her pocket.

"As all of you might already know, this thing right here is an artifact that the Academy provided you with. However, there is another function. Just inject your mana or aether into it and see for yourself"

Everyone in the class complied. As they did so, pale blue light shone from the insignia, before converging in the air right before them to form a rectangular shape.

"Woah!"

"W- what is this?"

"First time seeing this?"

"As expected of some lowly commoners"

Every commoners in the class gasped at the unexpected function of the insignia, while nobles were snickering at them for their reaction.

The secret function was... basically a smartphone. Well, more like a holographic smartphone. It was understandable that they were surprised. After all, it was supposedly the thing that only nobles had access to.

I was also surprised. Not at Avaron's display of generosity by giving expensive artifacts to commoner students, but that

'This isn't supposed to be here!'

The holographic phone was not supposed to be here in the academy, at least not yet.

According to the novel, it would be another 3 years before the Holographic smartphone made its first appearance.

Immediately, I tried to look through Marcos' memories, hoping that it was just the idiot's fault. But I found nothing. He never handed the blueprint of the phone to anyone, nor did he give any notable technological advices to any researchers.

I furrowed my brows at this fact. After all, it could only mean one thing.

'Something has changed'

I didn't know whether it was because of something I did, or it was because someone with the same knowledge as mine intervened in the plotline.

But one thing I knew for sure, the timeline was slowly changing. And I did not like it at all.

'You'd better hide yourself well'

Only I can have the knowledge from the novel.

No, I'll make sure I'm the only one alive that does.

...

Waking me up from my thoughts was yet another shockwave.

BAM—!

'This is the 3rd time already' I sighed inwardly.

"QUIET!"

Seeing the class fall into complete silence, Anna lets out a small sigh.

"I know you're excited that you can access the Holographic phone, but leave that for later"

"As you can see, there are names of electives on the screen. Just tap on them if you want to join an elective"

"You have until next week to finish the registration so don't worry. Now, go to the training ground to choose your main weapon"

***

Anna led us to one of the practical training grounds.

"Pick the weapon of your choice here" Anna pointed to a venue filled with weapons of all sorts.

"After that, you will train for about an hour before sparring. Don't worry about winning or losing in the spar, I will just use it to figure out your strengths and weaknesses and give you advices on how to improve"

Having finished announcing the schedule for today, Anna turned around and left.

Well, I knew she didn't really leave. Instead, she was probably supervising us from one of the rooms above the training ground.

Instantly after Anna supposedly left, students began to group together and form their own cliques.

As expected, many people flocked towards Arthur to find out more about the first ranker. Well, the nobles got away from him pretty quickly upon finding out that he was a commoner though.

The girls didn't care all that much, as they were busy clinging onto him.

Arthur looked extremely awkward with the stiff smile he had. I guessed that he didn't want to offend anyone.

'Pushover' I snickered inwardly.

As I was walking past the crowd surrounding Arthur, I couldn't help but to overhear Arthur's conversation with a student.

"Hey Arthur, you're a Holy knight trainee right?"

"Haha, yes"

"So cool! You also have SSS-grade talents too right?"

"That's true"

"Wow! You're so talented and handsome! You could totally pass for a righteous Hero!"

"Haha, it can't be! Me, Hero? hahaha..."

I shook my head and continued walking towards the weapon rack. How could no one figure out that he was the Hero of Light?

I mean, he was affiliated with the church of Light AND he had SSS-grade talent. Do people really think that someone with SSS-grade talent could be a mere trainee knight?

...

I arrived at the sword section of the armory. After thinking for a while, I decided to just go with a simple longsword.

Schwing—!

The sword made a pleasant sound as I pulled it out of the rack.

Swoosh—! Swoosh—! Swish—!

Swinging the sword around for a bit, I nodded in satisfaction. The balance and weight distribution of the sword was extremely good.

And judging by the sound the sword made, it was very sharp. Its quality was probably on par with the weapons of high-ranking knights affiliated with a ducal household.

After choosing my weapon, I scanned around armory to see how everyone was doing.

As I expected, most students, including Arthur, was at the sword section. This kind of weapon was that famous after all.

Arthur chose a broadsword, which was his main type of weapon throughout the novel, so no surprise there.

Meanwhile, Max, his rival, chose a short spear that was suited for stabbing.

However, Eleanor the Imperial princess chose a rapier as her main weapon, which was strange.

In the novel, she initially chose a sabre but later changed to a rapier a few weeks into the first year since she found out that it suited her fighting style more.

Well, it was probably nothing. Minor changes like this couldn't really change anything big after all.

I then turned my gaze towards the other sections.

Unsurprisingly, Krista picked a pair of daggers, while Raun chose a greatshield.

In the ranged section was Marie and Lucy, who chose a bow and a whip respectively.

Mages of the Empire often use grimoires, which helped to increase their casting speed. While people with the healer profession used magic staves to increase the potency of their healing magic,

As such, it was no surprise that Ria took a grimoire out of the armory, while Amelia picked a staff that was almost as big as her whole body.

Unlike normal mages though, Sylvia chose a big double-handed scythe. The reason being that her casting time was short, extremely short even for an Archmage's standards. And that she was strangely very proficient with using the scythe.

After confirming that almost all the main characters chose the same weapons they did like in the novel, I moved towards the training ground.

The training ground truly had everything. Shooting ranges, practice dummies, and even gravity rooms, 5 of them at that.

Well, I had no uses for all of those fancy facilities, so I just stood in the middle of the training ground and practiced my sword art.

"..."

"..."

"..."

22 seconds

That's how long it took for me to concentrate the sufficient amount of space mana to activate [V - World Splitter].

Since literally no one other than me and Krista knew about the sword art, I could practice it out in the open without worrying about anything. Well, as long as I didn't actually release an attack that is.

Thus, this was what I was going to do for the next hour.

However, people started snickering at me, as from an outside perspective, I was just intensely staring into my sword.

"Hey, look at him"

"Pffft! What the hell is he doing?"

"Isn't he the one that just got into our class?"

"You mean the rank 1384?"

"Yea, how the hell did he get into our class when he's like that?"

Hearing people saying that, I couldn't help but get mad.

However, I didn't use [F - Emotionless]. I decided to use this opportunity to train myself on calming down without the use of

any skills.

If I could succeed, my personality wouldn't be as affected by Marcos' memories anymore.

***

I basically spent the hour training to concentrate spatial attribute mana faster, and being sneered at by almost everyone.

Seriously, they could have spent the time they wasted on making fun of me to train. But I guess laughing at other people was that much more appealing to them after all.

"I've observed all of you during the last hour. Most trained to my satisfaction but some just played around without doing anything" Professor Anna said as she entered the training ground again.

"Well, it's time for sparring matches"

"Check your holographic smartphone, it should display the name of your opponent"

I checked my phone and... Arthur, I had to fight Arthur Kilvillain.

'This might work in my favor'

After all, this was basically the perfect time for me to execute the first part of my plan: Humiliating Arthur.

Well, it wasn't our turn yet so I had to wait and watch other matches.

"Alright, first up, Sylvia Adrancus and Tim Arseman, get onto the platform"

The guy with the very funny name got on the platform that was raised in the middle of the training ground, followed by Sylvia, who looked absolutely bored.

Well, bored wasn't the right word to describe her. Rather, she was completely expressionless.

No, she wasn't expressionless because she had the highest affinity possible for the ice element. That's just stereotypical.

Be ashamed of yourself.

Rather, the reason why she was so emotionless was somewhat similar to the reason why I was wearing 3 layers of sunglasses.

That's right, she also had Magic eyes, just like I did.

But hers had a completely different effect from mine, and were much more potent. As such, wearing sunglasses or even covering her entire face wouldn't work as her eyes would affect other people as soon as she displays any kinds of emotions.

Well, I was excited for the battle though, as this was my first time seeing a main character in action.

"I'll prove that the so-called prodigy is just a fake" Arseman provoked Sylvia.

"..."

"I'll smash your face in" He continued.

"..."

"Tch"

Seeing that his provocations clearly didn't work, Jacob Arseman clicked his tongue and charged towards Sylvia in a straight line.

'Rookie mistake' I snickered.

Sylvia would definitely counter his boringly obvious attack using her scythe with ease.

Or at least, that's what I thought would happen until Sylvia's soft yet cold voice rang throughout the entire training ground.

{Kneel}

One simple word was all it took for Jacob to stop dead in his track and kneel down, almost like a humble servant paying respects to his master.

However, it Jacob wasn't the only one affected by Sylvia's word.

Everyone in the training ground was affected by it and also knelt down.

Well, everyone except for me, Arthur, Anna, and somehow, the Imperial princess.

However, I was probably the only one who knew what Sylvia did.

Every dragons have their own ways of activating their Authorities.

Some did it through their line of sight like me, while others with a simple wave of their hand.

However, Sylvia's activation method was none of those.

The way she activated her Authority was through her voice. As such, her Authorities has merged with the innate skill that every dragons had.

[SS - Dragon voice]

A dragon's mana-infused voice that had the ability to command over any mana-based beings.

Coupled with the fact that her Authorities were assimilated into this skill, her [SS - Dragon voice] was much more effective than any dragons of the same rank as her.

I, with my part of true dragon bloodline, was not affected by the skill. As such, I had to fake kneeling down or else I would garner Sylvia's attention, which I would definitely not want.

In the case of Anna, she was A+ rank so of course it wouldn't work on her due to the difference in mental power of each rank.

Arthur, though, his will was literally unbreakable. The only thing that could make him vulnerable to mental attacks like [SS - Dragon voice] was the sight or even the mere mention of Void fiends.

Me, Anna, and Arthur were the special exception. However, the Imperial princess was just an F rank.

Even if she was an Angel, an Aether-based race, it still didn't make sense for her to still be standing after that. After all, even if [SS - Dragon voice] didn't work, [Authority] definitely would.

'It's probably nothing'

I just shrugged it off to the princess' training. After all, it did make sense for her to have an extremely high resistance to mental attacks. Considering how high her position was in the political landscape, the Imperial family would definitely not want her to be affected by any sorts of mind control spells.

***

Tok—! Tok—! Tok—!...

Footsteps rang out, slowly, but loudly.

The figure of Sylvia with a scythe in her hands slowly walking towards the kneeling Jacob, all the while still having that face devoid of any emotions, looked like a grim reaper coming to harvest a mortal's soul.

Swoosh—!

One fast and concise strike was all it took for Sylvia to completely take out her opponent. Using the blunt edge of her scythe, she completely knocked Jacob out.

"Sylvia Adrancus wins"

Instantly, the effect of her [SS - Dragon voice] vanished, and everyone returned to normal.

Every students were scared of Sylvia, after all, the feeling of doing something against your will was not something very pleasant.

Well, there was one person why didn't act scared, and he was Max.

"As expected of Sylvia, you completely destroyed your opponent!"

Max continued to blabber on and on while Sylvia was completely ignoring him.

Instead, she looked in the direction of Arthur, the boy who wasn't even a little bit affected by one of her most powerful skills, with interest.

***

"Arthur Kilvillain and Theodore Gray, get on the platform."

'Finally'