Matriculation
"You are rather ill-mannered."
Her voice was sweet and beautiful, but it was far too cruel and sharp to be described merely as 'sweet.'
The woman standing before me, flanked by her numerous followers, was pressing down on me.
"Or perhaps you do not speak the common tongue? It seems I may have overestimated the students of the Academy."
I kept my head lowered, averting my gaze to show how unwelcome I found this situation.
After all, the woman before me was of a noble birth so high that even my own noble status, modest as it was, could not dare to compare.
"I cannot tell if you are fearless, or simply brainless..."
Her brow furrowed. The young lady seemed well aware that I wasn't truly listening to a word she said.
Even so, nothing changed.
I was not the one who mattered to her. Breaking the spirit of an unremarkable freshman cadet was hardly worth Lady Katarin's personal effort.
What mattered was the spectacle.
"What's going on over there...?"
"Looks like bad luck. He got caught by her..."
Everyone was watching her actions with dread.
It was a blatant violation of school regulations. No matter how toothless the Academy's rules actually were, all cadets—excluding royalty and imperial families—were supposed to be treated equally.
And breaking that rule was precisely what she intended.
"Do not dare look my lady in the eye!"
While the young lady looked down on me with a haughty expression, a female cadet, who seemed to be her bodyguard, stepped toward me.
She was an ordinary girl. Compared to Katarin herself, she was so weak that calling her a bodyguard was almost laughable; she looked more like a maid or a servant than a guardian knight.
But as was often the case with those who served nobility or wielded dark magic, who she served was far more important than how strong she actually was.
"Lower your filthy eyes and bow your head!"
It was absurd. While Katarin's status was indeed incomparably noble, the Academy was filled with countless other nobles and royals.
If everyone had to lower their eyes and bow their heads every time one of them walked past, the neck health of the Academy's student body would surely deteriorate to a critical degree.
"Is that student really being held up for something like that?"
"What's going on? Why isn't anyone stopping this?"
Katarin was also a freshman. Aside from those from her home kingdom, not many people knew the exact 'reason' behind the hesitation.
"I heard a rumor that she contracted with Asmodeus—"
Those who wielded dark magic used fear as their weapon.
They measured themselves by who had contracted with a stronger Demon Archduke. They judged who was more cruel and arrogant. They compared who had dedicated themselves more deeply to evil.
This was a show. A woman like Katarin would never be genuinely enraged by something as trivial and meaningless as me 'raising my head and looking straight at her.'
It was an effort to demonstrate to the entire Academy that she was someone who could do whatever she pleased, and that she would react with genuine wrath to even the slightest disrespect.
"What is the meaning of this?"
Amidst the confusion, a woman appeared who could resolve the situation.
A beautiful blonde female knight glared at the young lady standing before me.
One who stood firmly in the light had no reason to fear that 'villainess.'
Her status as a princess of a kingdom, combined with the strength she had forged through her own effort and talent, was more than enough to keep her from yielding to any injustice.
"Release that cadet."
"..."
Katarin scowled in annoyance.
She, too, had missed her window to withdraw. Her original plan had likely been to torment me without any interference until she was satisfied.
However, when the opponent was a princess, backing down would not damage her dignity.
"Very well."
"Consider yourself lucky!"
The bodyguard gave my lowered head a light smack. With that final gesture, they departed without further incident.
"...Are you alright?"
The commotion died down. The female knight checked on me.
"Thank you. I owe you a great debt."
I bowed to her with an awkward smile. The knight's expression softened.
"You did well to endure it. A cunning woman like her would have prepared other schemes had you resisted."
"I suppose so."
"There is no need to worry too much. As long as you do not step into the path of evil, no matter how wicked she is, she will not be able to harm you. At least, not within the Academy."
Her eyes shone with a mixture of confidence and pride. I could only offer another awkward smile.
Because I, too, was in a position where I needed that very power.
I had transmigrated. Into a game I used to play.
I had become one of the ordinary cadets—neither the protagonist nor a villain.
...
It was an interesting turn of events, but not exactly one to rejoice over.
This world was heading straight for ruin, and preventing that required a tremendous amount of luck and a passionate 'protagonist.' Without them, the forces of destruction would run rampant without any resistance.
Those who desired the end of the world would instigate wars among humans, and the humans who endlessly drew upon dark powers to crush their enemies would pay the price. The Demon King would descend.
To survive, I had to stop it.
'Whew...'
Although a status window didn't pop up in front of my eyes, I could roughly tell what 'perk' I had received if I closed my eyes and focused my mind.
Indomitable Will. A top-tier skill that granted absolute immunity to mental attacks and intimidation.
It was one of the most destructive and absolute skills in the game, obtainable only by maxing out the 'Light' tech tree.
However, there weren't many ways for me to utilize this skill right now.
It didn't grant me money, nor did it give me physical strength.
Even so, it wasn't entirely useless.
"The new shipment is for research purposes, so handle it with care."
"Who in their right mind would touch this? Besides, we should focus more on managing the cadets' dormitory..."
My body was clean. At least for now.
To gain power, I had to absorb dark mana.
'...I don't think I've been caught yet.'
Dark magic was fundamentally based on contracts.
Contracting with a stronger Demon Archduke was the standard method to increase one's power.
However, there was a shortcut that only I could use.
Slipping into the storage room when the guard was lax, I opened the lid of a tightly sealed box. Inside, a black liquid darker than any shadow I had ever seen seemed to swallow the light.
"So this is it..."
The Fragment of the Void. A substance that supposedly granted infinite dark magic just by touching it and declaring one's intent.
"Whew."
Yet, for a substance of such nature, the security surrounding it was excessively lax.
"Well, it makes sense."
The Fragment of the Void was not particularly rare. While it wasn't rolling around on the streets, it wasn't impossible to find if one actively searched for it.
Furthermore, despite its terrifying appearance, it was surprisingly harmless.
Those who attempted to gain dark magic through this substance went mad before they could even use it. And even that madness lasted only a brief moment before they died.
If it were a substance that destroyed the user in exchange for granting immense power, it would have been guarded with the utmost security.
But it did nothing of the sort. It did nothing but make suicidal fools vanish in agony.
It wouldn't even take effect if someone touched it without a 'clear intent.'
It was a truly useless object that even dark mages and knights seeking dark magic wouldn't spare a glance.
And I plunged my hand into it.
"Ugh..."
A horrific sensation surged through my fingertips.
The dark mana, which I had only experienced through text and images in the game, invaded my body.
Although it was necessary for efficiency, absorbing dark mana was by no means a pleasant experience.
A terrible chaos shook my mind. If anyone else had absorbed this unfiltered, they would have been driven instantly insane.
"...Whew."
I endured it. I pulled my hand out of the black liquid.
The volume of the liquid seemed to have decreased ever so slightly.
But this was enough. I had obtained the maximum amount of dark mana my body could handle.
While I would need more time to learn proper dark magic, for now, even a basic spell like Dark Arrow would display overwhelming power—
"...What are you doing there?"
I was caught. The female knight who served Katarin stared at me, her mouth agape.
Objectively speaking, my actions were not correct. After all, I was wandering around without permission after curfew and tampering with school supplies.
But the woman didn't seem to have the confidence to interrogate me over such a minor infraction.
Not bad.
In battles between those who wielded dark magic, mindset was far more important than actual power.
It was about projecting cruelty, boasting of a contract with a stronger demon, and implying that one held deeper secrets.
The woman before me was visibly shaken.
Once someone lost their composure, making them tremble with fear was easy.
"I wonder."
The reason she had lost her composure was obvious. She had seen it.
She had witnessed me plunging my hand into the Fragment of the Void and absorbing its power.
She must be imagining things, trying to fit what she just witnessed into the limits of her knowledge.
In that case, I had to amplify her doubts.
"What do you think I was doing?"