Chapter 11: Do I Have to Fight Too?
After ending the call, Rovel glanced over his shoulder at the members of the Kendo Club. They stood frozen behind him, as silent and still as cicadas in the dead of winter. Without another word, he turned and walked out of the dojo.
He still needed to get a better feel for Chiba Academy.
Aoki Yuki seemed to have already departed. Without a guide, Rovel was left to wander the sprawling campus on his own. The paths were lined with manicured trees, and students in their crisp uniforms ambled between buildings, their chatter filling the afternoon air.
As he walked, snippets of conversation drifted his way.
"Is that him? The new second seat of the Kendo Club? I heard he took down the old one in a single move!"
"He's so strong, and so handsome... Should we go say hi?"
"You can go if you want to..."
Rovel caught the whispers, a faint smile touching his lips. 'So this is the effect of my prestige value,'he mused.'And my charm, of course...'
He found that the classrooms at Chiba Academy were open, with students and even outsiders free to come and go. Picking one at random, Rovel slipped inside and took an empty seat in the back, observing the teacher at the front of the room.
The lecture was on high school mathematics.
A full class period lasted forty minutes. Rovel sat through the entire session, listening quietly as the teacher filled the blackboard with equations and proofs.
As the bell chimed, a notification chimed in his mind.
[Completed one High School Mathematics Theory Class]
[Class Focus: A]
[Class Performance: C]
[Obtained Experience Points: 50]
'Roughly one point of experience per minute,'he calculated.'Not bad.'Chiba Academy's school day was eight hours long, which translated to twelve class periods. If he attended every single one, he could passively gain 600 experience a day. And if he actually participated, that number would surely rise.'Class Focus must be my level of concentration,'he deduced,'while Class Performance is likely tied to actively answering the teacher's questions.'
Rovel pulled up the player forums, and sure enough, someone had already compiled the data.
Focus determined the base experience gain, with four possible ratings: A, B, C, and D.
Class Performance, on the other hand, affected the experience bonus, also rated A, B, C, and D.
An 'A'grade granted a 50% experience bonus, a'B'gave 20%, a'C'offered no bonus, and a'D' actively reduced experience gain by 50%.
Different courses offered different base experience values, but as a rule, the more difficult the subject, the higher the requirements for a good rating.
The forums were already a hive of activity.
"Is this some kind of modern urban fantasy MMO? This is giving me high school flashbacks—my lost youth..."
"Friendly tip for everyone: there's actually a Grade E for class performance. It gets you kicked out of the classroom and nets you a grand total of 0 experience. Don't ask me how I know."
"Speaking of which, have you guys found a good training academy yet? I'm still stuck on the entrance quest for an intermediate one. I have to pay tuition, so I'm stuck doing miserable manual labor jobs to save up!"
"LMAO, grinding at a real-life job just to log in and grind at a virtual manual labor job."
"I'm trying for an advanced academy. I did the math, and I'll have to work for two straight weeks just to afford the tuition. Plus, you need a letter of recommendation to even get in. So not only do I have to be a wage slave, I have to find a way to pull some strings..."
"Has anyone even seen a special-grade training academy?"
"Nope. Never."
It seemed most players were still fumbling through the game's initial exploration phase, finding the going anything but smooth. The game world had its own currency, primarily earned through labor, which could be used for trade.
But that was a rule for ordinary people.
A new post, pinned by some unseen force, shot to the top of the trending topics.
[Buying game currency! Real-world to game ratio is 10:1. Buying unlimited amounts!]
Almost immediately, it was followed by another.
[Buying game currency! Ratio is 11:1. Unlimited supply needed!]
[Buying game currency! 11.5:1, buying as much as you can sell...]
Posts like these flooded the forum, instantly occupying half the front page. The wealthy had no need to grind manual labor themselves; they could simply spend their way past countless hours of effort, securing a massive lead over everyone else. The advent of Honkai hadn't erased social classes; if anything, it seemed poised to amplify them.
'On the bright side,'Rovel thought with a wry smirk,'at least the pay for manual labor is better in the game.'He felt no particular emotion about the situation. The world had always been unfair. His own foreknowledge, his'Remembrance,'had already placed him leagues ahead of the pack.'Still, the experience from classes is a bit slow... Maybe I should head back to the Kendo Club.' The thought solidified into a decision. He had gained 180 experience for defeating Sugi Mikado in less than a minute. Compared to sitting through lectures, that method of leveling was exponentially faster, and it simultaneously trained his proficiency in Basic Kendo.
His duel with Raiden Mei had been a stark lesson. While their base attributes might have been comparable, he had been defeated in an instant. That proved, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that skills played a monumental role in one's actual combat strength.
When Rovel stepped back into the dojo, the Kendo Club members, who had been cautiously practicing, immediately straightened up and greeted him with a new level of respect.
"You," Rovel said, his gaze landing on a student who looked relatively high-leveled. "Come and spar with me."
"M-me?" The student pointed at himself, his eyes wide with disbelief.
"Yes. Let's go." Rovel casually picked up a wooden practice sword, his posture relaxed as he faced his opponent.
"Please... please give me your guidance."
After witnessing Rovel's overwhelming victory earlier, no one dared to underestimate this newcomer.
Twenty seconds later—
[Defeated Yashiro Ryusei (Level 9). Obtained 130 experience points.]
[Defeated opponent using Basic Kendo (White). Proficiency +35. As Second Seat of the Kendo Club, Skill Proficiency +17 extra.]
[Experience is full. Level increased to 3. Experience required for next level: 80/400.]
[Four basic attributes +1. Free Attribute Points +2.]
"You." Rovel pointed to another student, not even breaking a sweat.
[Defeated Minakawa Akira (Level 8). Obtained 121 experience points.]
[Defeated opponent using Basic Kendo (White). Proficiency +30. As Second Seat of the Kendo Club, Skill Proficiency +15 extra.]
"Next."
And so it began. Of the seventeen members of the Kendo Club, excluding Raiden Mei and Rovel himself, the remaining fifteen were systematically dismantled, one by one. From the Level 11 Sugi Mikado down to the greenest Level 3 rookie, none were spared.
Soon, the dojo floor was littered with groaning figures. Only Rovel and one other person remained standing.
"You. Come here."
The last Kendo Club member, a trembling Level 3, looked around at his fallen comrades, his face pale.
"Don't be so afraid." Rovel's lips curled into a reassuring smile. "To improve the overall level of our club, I've taken it upon myself to act as your personal sparring partner."
"Do I... have to fight too?" the boy squeaked, swallowing hard as the last glimmer of hope faded from his eyes.
"Yes," Rovel said, his voice taking on a grand, motivational tone. "After all, the Kendo Club is the strongest club in all of Chiba Academy! Although that's mostly because of the President, we must make everyone understand that even without her, we are still a force to be reckoned with!"
He took a dramatic step forward. "To defend the glory of the Kendo Club, we... must not hesitate!"
The boy's voice was barely a whisper. "Do I have to defend it too?"
"Yes."
Ten seconds later...
[Defeated Ougitani Tsubasa (Level 3). Obtained 11 experience points.]
[Defeated opponent using Basic Kendo (White). Proficiency +8. As Second Seat of the Kendo Club, Skill Proficiency +4 extra.]
[Experience is full. Level increased to 5. Experience required for next level: 7/1600.]
[Four basic attributes +1. Free Attribute Points +2.]
Rovel surveyed the fruits of his labor—a dojo full of defeated students and a cascade of system notifications. A satisfied smile spread across his face.
"Hmm, just right."
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