Heading into ss the next day, I was surprised that the two seats next to me were empty; however, that confusion quickly transformed into anger after checking my smartwatch.


    [Jin: Ren, you up to skip ss today...?]


    [Jin: Hello...?]


    [Han: You there dude?]


    [Jin: Whatever, Han and I skipping tmr, lmk if you''re down.]


    Of course, I want to skip!


    Who wants to sit through 8 hours of lecturing???


    However, due to Ren''s previous actions, the academy would be keeping a close eye on him, so skipping even a single day of ss could lead to suspension or expulsion.


    Sometimes, I hate that guy.


    After sending a quick message to let Jin and Han know I couldn''t, I put down my smartwatch and awkwardly waited for the bell to ring.


    But then, it dawned on me.


    I hadn''t done any homework; I had been dreaming the entire weekend!


    Should I just skip? What if I get called out for not doing homework? Wouldn''t that be worse?


    Before I coulde to a decision, the bell rang, and thus, my chance of escaping ss was gone.


    As the teacher walked into the ssroom, I tried to make myself as focused as possible.


    If the teacher called on me to exin a homework problem, I was screwed!


    Upon reaching the lectern, the teacher paused momentarily before turning his head to us and speaking.


    "Today, form up into groups of 3 and spend half of the ss making a slideshow on a reading. After, you will present to the ss."


    Really...?


    Was something like this ever mentioned in the book?


    Maybe, but why would I remember a mere group project when there''s a whole kidnapping incident that takes ce the same week?


    Instinctively, my gaze turned to the center of the ss where the main cast sat.


    Zach, who didn''t have a problem making friends due to his good-natured and kind personality, had already found a group. Like the good person he is, he noticed that some people were bound to be left out due to the max group size being 3, so he voluntarily left.


    Kevin immediately turned to Lily and asked her to join a group, and she didn''t deny it. Instead, she turned to Liam and asked him the same thing.


    Without sparing any nces at Irene, the group of Kevin, Lily, and Liam had been formed.


    Maybe she does have a good reason to be a viin..?


    I wanted to pity her, but after ncing around the ssroom, I realized I was in the same predicament.


    Who would want to partner with a lunatic who got disowned by their family and suspended within the first month of school?


    Those idiots, Han and Jin, really abandoned me!!


    Sighing, I patiently awaited the awkward words of the professor.


    "...Erm..Those who don''t have a group, meet at the right corner of the ss."


    Ignoring the nces directed towards me, I put my head down and made my way to the right side of the ssroom.


    There sat Irene.


    Of course, that was expected. With her shitty personality, there was no way she would be able to make friends outside of the main cast.


    But what was unexpected was the person sitting only a few feet to the side of Irene.


    Alya.


    Shouldn''t the Elven princess have tons of friends to partner up with?


    Turning my head to face my Elven ssmates, I noticed most of them sending gazes full of pity to her.


    Ah, it seemed she took the "bullet" for the Elven team and partnered up with the humans.


    As I sat down opposite the two, Irene looked at me with resentment and anger, while Alya didn''t even acknowledge my presence and continued reading her book.


    What a great group dynamic!


    After giving a sympathetic nce to our group, the professor turned around and began assigning sub-topics to each group.


    [Group 4: Dungeon Clearing]


    Not bad, these 2 girls are smart, so I should be able to get away with doing nothing.


    But then, to my absolute horror, the professor continued writing.


    [Each person in the group will present for 30 seconds.]


    I can''t just leach off them...


    Sure, the book portrayed Liam clearing countless dungeons in the book, so maybe I wouldn''t be absolutely clueless, but, at the same time, why would the book exin the intricaies of dungeon clearing when they can just Liam overpower his way through.


    Looking up from her book, Alya shifted her gaze to the board and swiftly took out a piece of paper.


    Without giving any instructions, she immediately started writing.


    Out of curiosity, I peeked at her paper and was immediately amazed and confused.


    Why the hell is she drawing visual models..?


    What is a boss room indicator..?


    Clear conditions... isn''t that just beating the dungeon boss?


    Turning away from Alya, I snuck a peak at Irene''s paper and was shocked to realize that I didn''t understand half the words she was using it.


    I missed one homework assignment; how the hell did it end up like this?


    Feeling left out and somewhat embarrassed, I grabbed a piece of paper from my backpack and began writing about the dungeons the novel described.


    After about a minute of this awkward silence, I heard a faintugh, so I turned my head upwards and noticed Irene snickering while looking straight at my paper.


    ...I''m screwed, aren''t I?


    How am I going to bullshit my way through this for 30 seconds..?


    At this point, only 15 minutes were remaining, so I just began writing down absolutely anything remotely rted to dungeons.


    Dungeon entrances. CHECK!


    Dungeon monsters. CHECK!


    Random chapter I vaguely remember. CHECK!


    After 10 minutes, I honestly couldn''t add anything else to the paper, so I looked up from my paper to observe my partners.


    Of course, they looked perfectly fine, even ectatic in Irene''s case.


    Irene, a magic schr at the age of FIFTEEN


    Alya, a elven princess who received the best education possible


    Internally admitting defeat, I simply looked up to the ceiling and tried my best surpress the urge to snap back at Irene, who had a big fat grin on her face.


    Didn''t your entire friend group abandon you?


    Snapping me out of my thoughts, the teacher announed.


    "Your time is up. Group 4 please head up first."


    Great, our group is first.


    I mean it didn''t make my situation worse, I was already at rock-bottom.


    As the 3 of us made our way to the front of the ss, there was an awkward moment of silence as none of us had actually discussed the order we were presenting in; however, the elven princess just started speaking first without any discussion.


    "Things such as bushes that look out of ce or rocks that can be identified as abnormal for the dungeon type can be indicators for the boss room; however, these indicators should not be confused with traps. The difference between the two lies in the the dungeon type and varies with..."


    Yeah, I''m cooked...


    As the 30 seconds of Alya''s presentation came to close, I had an important decision to make.


    Do I either go 2nd or 3rd?


    At this point, I just wanted to get this thing over with and move on with my life, so I took onest nce at my paper to prepare myself.


    Imitating Alya''s actions from earlier, I stepped forward without any discussion with Irene and began speaking.


    " *ahem* Adding on to what my teammate said, dungeons can be ssified in into two types, and they branch off from there..."


    Though the book''s exnations were mostly vague, they didn''t skimp out on dungeon ssifications due to their importance in the plot


    "First, we have Yin dungeons that serve as reminders of the past. These dungeons are known to be based on events that have urred in the past such as the the greek-roman war. On the other hand, Yang dungeons are based on fantasy or fiction as there are not real and in turn involve mythical creatures or legends."


    Even after stalling through that to the best of my abilities, there was still 15 seconds remaining, so I moved onto what I called the non sense section.


    Random things that were barely rted to dungeons on my paper.


    At this point, I was already off topic as I was talking about dungeon ssifications not exploration, but still something is better than nothing, right?


    "... Moving on, ssifying these dungeons are important as they help you better understand the environment and creatures contained inside."


    10 seconds


    "The simplest way to sort these dungeons is to absorb the manaing from within the dungeon. If your body epts the mana, it is a Yin, and if not, it is Yang."


    As thosest words escaped my mouth, I anxiously nced around the ssroom to see how it went.


    As expected, most of the students had confused signs on their face, probably due my presentation not even being on topic, but on the bright side, there were no mocking expressions!


    Right as I was about to step back, the teacher let out a cough and said.


    " *ahem* students, many of you may not know of the method mentioned by Ren as it is currently a prototype and untested. For now, this hypothetical method is only known to academy officials, so please refrain from mentioning it to others for now."


    Hypothetical??? Prototype???


    Liam used this method in his first dungeon, didn''t he?


    As I recalled the beginning of the book, something suddenly came to memory.


    Ah, Liam privately received this method from the headmaster as a reward, didn''t he...?


    ...maybe my memory of the book is a bitcking.


    "... how does he know of this method, then..?"


    "he''s not even a noble, why does he know, but not us???"


    "Even the my father''s guild or the number one guild doesn''t know about it.. how the hell does that idiot have that info."


    Stepping back, I ignored the countless questioning gazes on me, and of course, there was one gaze filled with anger.


    I had just revealed the method that Liam personally received, effectively making him lose his advantage and reward!


    What good is a method if everyone knows it?


    Well, tough luck, Liam.


    As Irene stepped forward to begin her presentation, the professor quickly said.


    "Ren, please see me after ss."


    Now, how do I exin this...


    What if I don''t!


    By the time Irene finished the presentation, all but a few gazes had subsided.


    Due my father, most people concluded it was usible for me to know such valuable information; however, two people remained suspicious.


    Of course, Liam was one as he privately received the information, and the other was Irene. As dedicated magic researcher, and someone closely rted to my family, she knew that even if my father did give me such knowledge, I would have been required to take an oath of concealment.


    The others simply believed that I had revealed the important information due my resentment against my father for disowning me.


    As the final presentation on the dream realm concluded, I prepared to bolt out of the door. The academy would be more focused on concealing the information I had said right now, so I would just have to stay low for a bit.


    As I pondered the pros and cons, I realized that this slip-up wasn''t that terrible as I no longer had to forge a n to get back at Liam.


    I had done it just by instinct.


    Ren or I, in this case, was a natural at messing with the protagonist!


    As soon as the bell finally rang, I dashed out the door.


    Yes, I used my magic ability, dash, to escape the ssroom!


    Finally a useful skill...


    However, to my dismay, there was someone who managed to follow me.


    Actually, not someone, a red haired-bug.


    "How did you know?"


    "Tell me now, idiot."


    "What else do you know?"


    "Who told you that."


    Tired of her incessant nagging, I finally gave in and responded.


    "God, don''t you have anything better to d-."


    Pausing mid sentence, I nced back and noticed that everyone in the main cast, beside Irene, had already left!


    "Nevermind, you really don''t have anything better to do."


    "SHUT IT!"


    " *pfft*, whatever thedy says. I will keep my mouth shut from now on!"


    "NO, THAT''S NOT WHAT I MEANT. TELL ME HOW YOU KNOW."


    "..."


    "TELL ME NOW OR ELSE"


    "..."