He told himself at the start that it wouldn’t be so bad just learn one of them, Runecraft or Sorcery.
He’d been confident, especially since he was the one who’d written the novel.
Now he wasn’t so sure.
He glanced around and let out a sigh.
Except for the top five rankers, the students around him all looked half-dead, unable to keep up with Professor Hector.
“I thought Glyph magic would be easy, especially Sorcery, since I know how to pronounce the Runic words,” Dylan said, then paused.
“But I forgot to use the Runic language, you have to visualize the word, calculate the exact amount of mana, and manifest it through your vocal cords, all at once.”
Sitting beside him, Kalen nudged Dylan’s shoulder.
“What?” Dylan grumbled, turning to face him.
“Whoa, chill, dude!” Kalen said, holding up his hands.
“I was just gonna ask, do you like chocolate cookies?”
Dylan stared at him, baffled.
How could he be thinking about cookies right now.
“So, you want it or not?” Kalen asked, already holding a chocolate cookie out from beneath the sleek polymer desk.
The absurdity of it made Dylan laugh, though he quickly stifled it.
“Sure, gimme!” Dylan said, reaching his hand beneath the desk.
He broke the cookie into pieces, savoring each one slowly.
There was an odd thrill to it, sneaking bites in the middle of class, right under everyone’s nose.
“Is it good?” Kalen asked, curious.
“…Yeah,” Dylan said, Then his expression sank back into worry.
Despite being the novel’s creator, he still couldn’t conceptualize the Runic words in his mind.
His expression sank back into worry.
Despite being the novel’s creator, he still couldn’t conceptualize the Runic words in his mind.
“Don’t worry, dude, it’s still day one,” Kalen said, his voice low.
“You know what they say, Rome wasn’t built…” He left the rest hanging, waiting for Dylan to finish it.
Dylan almost laughed at the absurdity of it.
Kalen was a character he himself had created, and now that same character was the one offering him advice.
“…in a day,” he muttered.
“Yes!” Kalen said, grinning wide.
“So stop worrying about learning everything in one day. We’ve still got three more years.”
Kalen’s words made Dylan realize how absurd it was, trying to fast-track everything out of fear, fear of dying again, fear of the uncertainty ahead.
What if the god who’d brought him here decided to do something incomprehensible?
That fear was exactly why Dylan wanted to get stronger.
But now he saw it clearly: he’d been keeping himself on a high pedestal.
He let out a quiet breath, the realization settling in.
He’d been arrogant, so sure that because he was the author of this world, its rules would simply bend to him.
He knew the lore, the magic systems, the theory behind every spell he’d written into existence, and somehow he’d mistaken that knowledge for mastery.
As if understanding how something worked on paper meant his body and mind would just fall in line the moment he tried it himself.
He hadn’t accounted for the gap between knowing and doing, between writing a character’s struggle and living through his own.
The thought made him wince.
He wasn’t some prodigy exempt from the process he’d designed for everyone else, he was just another student, starting from zero like the rest of them.
“…Thanks,” Dylan said, clenching his fist.
“No worries, we’re deskmates, right?” Kalen said.
“Remember what Chairman Marcus said during orientation?” He paused.
“Help your classmates if needed, so that’s exactly what I’m doing.”
A few seconds passed.
“If you still feel grateful,” Kalen said, “treat me to something later.”
“…We’ll see,” Dylan said.
“You just agreed,” Kalen said.
“I absolutely didn’t.” Dylan shot back.
“You totally did.”
“I said ‘we’ll see.'” Dylan turned to glare at him.
“That’s basically a yes.”
…Since when does ‘we’ll see’ mean yes?
Dylan thought, baffled.
“Your optimism is terrifying,” Dylan muttered.
Kalen just laughed quietly, clearly enjoying himself way too much.
This guy…
he’s gonna be the death of me, Dylan thought, shaking his head.
Lost in their own conversation, the two of them forgot they were still in the middle of class—until…
Thunk.
Something bounced off his forehead.
“…Ow.” Dylan winced.
A small piece of white chalk rolled across his desk.
The classroom fell silent.
One by one, every student turned toward the two of them.
Professor Hector stood at the front of the room, another piece of chalk resting between his fingers.
“Mr. Harrow.”
“Mr. Barthalemou”
“Stand!” Professor Hector said calmly.
Both of them reluctantly rose from their seats.
“We are so fucked…” Kalen muttered under his breath.
“Would either of you care to explain what was so important that it deserved your attention more than my lecture?” Professor Hector said, folding his arms.
“He started it,” Kalen said, pointing his finger at Dylan.
“…You traitor.” Dylan stared at him in disbelief.
“I learned self-preservation from my mother,” Kalen said, not even turning his head.
“You literally interrupted me first!”
“You can punch me later if you want,” Kalen murmured.
“I am definitely going to,” Dylan said, grinding his teeth.
Professor Hector cleared his throat.
The two of them fell silent instantly.
“You both still haven’t answered my question,” Professor Hector said, arms crossed.
“So. What exactly were you discussing?”
Dylan’s mind raced.
“…The lecture!” Dylan blurted.
“We were just talking about the lecture. Professor.”
“Oh?” Professor Hector said, raising an eyebrow.
“And what part of today’s lecture were you discussing?”
“…About the Runic words,” Dylan said flatly.
“I see.” A faint smile crept onto Hector’s face.
“If that’s true…”
He picked up a piece of chalk and wrote a single rune on the smart board.
ᚠ
“What rune is this?”
The classroom fell completely silent.
“…Fehu.” Dylan glanced at the board.
“And what does it represent?” Professor Hector’s eyebrow twitched slightly.
“Wealth. Prosperity. Creation… and raw magical energy.” Dylan answered.
A few students blinked.
“Continue,” Professor Hector said, his face expressionless.
Dylan let out a quiet breath.
“Most beginners mistake Fehu for simply representing money.” He paused.
“It doesn’t.”
“In Glyph Magic, prosperity isn’t limited to material wealth—it symbolizes the generation and circulation of value.”
“In practical Runecraft, Fehu is commonly used as an initiating rune, since it stabilizes mana flow before additional runes are woven into a Runic Formula.”
“In Sorcery…” He hesitated.
“…it’s often used to improve the efficiency of mana conversion rather than increase destructive power.”
“Huh…” Dylan paused, thinking it over.
“It can also boost the power of the spells, if measured with precision.”
He let the answer settle, exhaling as he finished.
Silence.
Complete silence.
“…Correct,” Professor Hector said, staring at him for several seconds.
“That was an excellent answer, Mr. Harrow.”
For the first time since entering the classroom, genuine surprise appeared on his face.
Around the room, students exchanged bewildered looks.
“…How does he know that?”
“I thought today was just an introduction…”
“Did he study this beforehand?”
Even Ethan Walker looked away from his notebook, his golden eyes settling on Dylan with quiet curiosity.
Megha Roy glanced over her shoulder before letting out a soft, unimpressed sigh.
“…That’s all?” she murmured.
“I thought he was going to say something impressive.”
To her, memorizing the fundamentals before the first lecture was simply what any serious student should have done.
A scoff echoed from another corner of the classroom.
Leonard Caesar folded his arms, his sharp sapphire eyes briefly sweeping over Dylan before looking away again.
“Hmph.”
“Basic theory.”
“If that’s enough to surprise everyone, this class is even less impressive than I expected.”
Near the window, Clarice Ventrova quietly lifted her gaze.
Her tranquil jade-green eyes rested on Dylan for a brief moment.
There was no admiration in her eyes, she looked at him with curiosity.
As though she had just discovered that the unassuming student sitting near the back wasn’t quite as ordinary as he’d first appeared.
“…Dude, you were actually listening?” Kalen stared at him, mouth hanging open.
“I was,” Dylan said with a shrug.
“I thought you were zoning out the whole time,” Kalen said, still in shock.
“We never agreed on that,” Dylan said.
“I was listening just fine, until you decided to feed me cookies in the middle of class.”
“…That’s cheating,” Kalen said, narrowing his eyes, unconvinced.
“I thought we both weren’t listening.”
“That’s on you for not listening,” Dylan said, arms crossed.
“I was paying attention before you interrupted me.”
“…Fair point.” Kalen admitted.
A few students nearby couldn’t help but glance at the two of them again, still whispering among themselves.
Professor Hector adjusted his glasses before speaking once more.
“Mr. Harrow. Have you studied Glyph Magic beforehand?”
Every pair of eyes returned to Dylan.
“No, Professor,” Dylan said, shaking his head.
For a brief moment, Hector simply looked at him.
There was no disbelief in his eyes—only quiet appreciation, natural curiosity, and perhaps, a hint of anticipation.
“I see. Very well.” Just as Professor Hector seemed ready to continue—
Ding…
Dong…
The academy bell echoed throughout the classroom.
Hector glanced toward the digital clock before setting the chalk back onto the lectern.
“It appears our time is up. We’ll continue today’s lecture tomorrow. Before then, I expect everyone to familiarize themselves with the history of Glyph Magic and the Twenty-Four Primordial Runes.” He paused, sweeping his gaze across the room.
“You’re dismissed.”
The classroom instantly came alive with conversation.
Students stretched their arms, packed away notebooks, and traded thoughts on the lecture.
Dylan let out a long sigh of relief.
“…Finally.” He had barely managed to survive his first lecture.
Whoosh.
Before anyone could leave, the classroom doors slid open once more.
A tall, breathtakingly beautiful woman with flowing platinum-blonde hair stepped inside.
Professor Diana Everhart.
The room, buzzing with chatter only moments earlier, fell silent almost instantly.
A gentle smile touched Diana’s lips as she looked around the classroom.
“Good morning, everyone. I hope Professor Hector wasn’t too hard on you.”
A few students laughed awkwardly.
“Now then,” she continued, “it’s time for your first practical lesson. We’re heading to the Gravity Chamber for physical training. Please follow me.”
“…”
Dylan slowly closed his eyes, then buried his face in his palm.
“…Of course. Why did I ever think today would get easier?”
Professor Diana waited patiently until the chatter subsided before speaking once more.
“Before we head to the Gravity Chamber, everyone will first change into their academy training suits.”
She gestured toward the corridor outside the classroom.
“The changing rooms are located on either side of the hall. Follow the signs. You have five minutes.”
“As for your uniforms…”
“They’ll automatically be stored inside your Inventory Bracelets once you enter the changing booth.”
A quiet murmur spread through the classroom.
The first-years quickly made their way toward the designated changing rooms.
Inside, Dylan stepped into one of the individual booths.
The moment the door slid shut behind him, a soft mechanical voice echoed overhead.
[Identity Confirmed. Student: Dylan Harrow.]
A compartment beside him hissed open.
Inside rested the academy’s standard training suit.
It was a sleek, form-fitting bodysuit woven from an advanced mana-conductive polymer, predominantly matte black with silver lines running along the torso, arms, and legs like flowing circuits.
The material clung comfortably to the body without restricting movement, designed to withstand intense physical exertion while allowing mana to circulate with minimal resistance.
“…Looks straight out of a sci-fi movie.” Dylan said, streching his arms after putting it on.
To his surprise it was unbelievably comfortable.
The fabric felt almost weightless against his skin, yet it hugged every movement perfectly, as though it had been custom-made for him.
A few minutes later, the students emerged from their respective changing rooms, each wearing the same black-and-silver training suit.
Professor Diana gave an approving nod.
“Excellent,” she said.
“Now then, let’s head to the Gravity Chamber.”
Professor Diana led the seventy-five students of Class B-04 down to the Gravity Chambers, hidden beneath the surface floors.
The students quietly followed behind Professor Diana as she led them through the academy’s corridors.
Very few dared to make conversation.
Some were mesmerized by her breathtaking appearance.
Others…
Were intimidated by her reputation.
“…The second group has the right idea,” Dylan thought.
The reason so many students feared Diana had little to do with her beauty and everything to do with her title.
Titles were one of the many systems Dylan had created for this world.
They were embodiments of an individual’s achievements, recognition granted by the System itself.
Not every Awakener received one.
In fact, most never would.
The System awarded titles only under exceptional circumstances, making them among the rarest accomplishments a person could obtain.
And the benefits they provided were anything but ordinary.
Some enhanced affinities.
Others granted passive effects.
The strongest could fundamentally alter the way an Awakener interacted with the world itself.
“For example, Vincent Barthalemou earned the title Thunder God,” Dylan muttered under his breath.
“That’s one of the reasons his control over lightning is so absurd.”
A title wasn’t merely a nickname.
It was proof that the world itself had acknowledged your existence.
And Professor Diana Everhart possessed one of the most infamous titles among the younger generation.
Despite earning her S-Rank at an age most people were still struggling to reach A-Rank…
Despite becoming one of Nexus Academy’s youngest professors…
None of those accomplishments were what truly made students fear her.
It was the title she had earned.
Infernal Witch.
That title granted her dominion over flames of extraordinary intensity, pushing the very limits of conventional fire magic.
Combined with her S-Grade Unique Skill, [Regina Ignis], Diana is one of the few people gifted with a unique skill.
A skill which made Diana Everhart capable of manipulating infernal flames with terrifying precision, compressing, shaping, and controlling them as though they were extensions of her own body.
Unlike ordinary fire techniques that simply burned her flames devoured.
Steel melted within seconds.
High-grade monster hides were reduced to ash.
Even mana itself seemed to ignite in their presence.
During the Great Crimson Rift Incident, she had single-handedly incinerated an entire horde of A-Rank monsters before reinforcements could even arrive, earning both admiration and fear from Awakeners across the world.
“…Scary woman,” Dylan muttered under his breath, “Fortunately she was on humanity’s side.”
Professor Diana led the class toward a large elevator at the end of the corridor.
Unlike the ordinary elevators scattered throughout Nexus Academy, this one was built from reinforced alloy, its thick doors etched with intricate runic patterns.
A blue indicator above the entrance displayed a single word.
GRAVITY CHAMBERS
One by one, the students stepped inside.
The doors slid shut with a heavy metallic hiss.
A faint vibration coursed through the floor beneath their feet as the elevator began its descent, carrying them far below the academy’s surface.
The digital display ticked downward.
B1…
B2…
B3…
The deeper they descended, the quieter the elevator became.
Even the most talkative students gradually fell silent, anticipation replacing their earlier excitement.
Finally—
Ding.
The elevator came to a smooth stop.
The reinforced doors slowly parted.
The moment they opened…
A crushing wave of pressure rolled over the students.
Several first-years instinctively staggered, their bodies momentarily thrown off balance by the sudden increase in gravity.
Dylan’s eyes widened.
Beside him, Kalen let out a long, low whistle, his usual carefree grin replaced by unmistakable amazement.
Beyond the doorway stretched the Gravity Chamber.
It was enormous.
An underground dome so vast it rivaled a professional stadium, disappearing into the darkness high above.
The ceiling was engraved with countless interconnected runic arrays, each one pulsing with a soft blue glow as mana flowed endlessly through them.
A deep mechanical hum echoed throughout the chamber, the sound of immense power being held perfectly in check.
The floor was divided into dozens of reinforced training platforms, each isolated from the others by thick metallic borders.
Every platform possessed its own independent gravity generator, allowing instructors to adjust the gravitational force for individual students without affecting the rest.
Faint scorch marks stained sections of the metal flooring.
Hairline fractures spiderwebbed across certain platforms before abruptly stopping where self-repairing alloys had healed the damage.
They were quiet reminders of countless students who had trained here before and of how many had pushed themselves far beyond their limits.
Dylan silently stared at the enormous chamber.
Countless memories surfaced.
He knew this place.
This was where Ethan Walker had first begun to leave everyone else behind.
The place where future monsters were forged.
Professor Diana stepped forward, her sapphire eyes sweeping across the stunned first-years.
“Welcome…” She smiled.
“…to the Gravity Chamber.”
“Let’s see how many of you are still standing after today’s lesson.” She said, igniting a faint flame in her palm.
Dylan swallowed.
“…Yeah.” He let out a breath.
“This definitely isn’t getting any easier.”