Reborn To Master Time

“Oh, what do we have here?”

The student in the middle of the group was the first to speak, glancing my way with a confident smile on his face. He was someone I was familiar with; though we had never interacted during my time at the academy, I had seen him a few times during the war.

He walked toward me with a slow stride, and his friends followed. The boy had dark blue hair tied into a ponytail. All the students around him were wearing casual clothes, mostly gym clothes. When we were close, he put his hand on his chin and started to look me over as if sizing me up.

“Who the fuck is this?”

“Was he at the meeting?”

His friends behind him also scrutinized me as they asked among themselves, confusion on their faces.

“Ah, I see. Green eyes and messy hair. You must be that kid they were talking about,” the ponytailed boy finally spoke, as if he suddenly remembered.

Is my hair that messy though?

“Wait… you mean the one who beat the Scarlet Arsenal!?”

“Shit, for real!?”

“He doesn’t look that strong though.”

I didn’t beat her.

Though they all seemed surprised, they didn’t seem intimidated as they soon started to smile while mocking me. Still, to think they would have already found information about that so quickly. That meant that instead of throwing their power around, they actually used the ‘initiation gathering’ as a valuable source of information on the first-year students. It was so much different from what happened to us in the middle classes. These guys are much more cunning.

“It seems like you are quite the celebrity among the first years. So just this once, I will grant you a pass from missing today’s meeting. You see, inside this building, my word is law.” He came to my side and placed his hand on my shoulder while looking straight into my eyes. His eyes were sharp with no sign of doubt or weakness in them.

A second-year student, yet still considered one of the strongest students in the entire academy. One of the Ten Kings of Rezen Academy. The 8th seat, Tim Hellfen.

“Do you understand?” His voice deepened with a mix of magic power infused in it. At the same time, a sharp pain ran through my shoulder as if it was about to burst from his grip. I tried to keep my cool and simply nodded at his statement.

“Ukh!”

I coughed out loud as my stomach suddenly churned in pain. Before I knew it, I was already on my knees, holding my stomach in pain. The time it took him to release my shoulder and punch my stomach with the same hand was too quick for me to even see.

As my vision blurred, a figure suddenly kneeled next to me while holding my shoulder again. Tim grabbed it much softer than last time and smiled as if proud of his act of kindness.

“That was not a proper answer, so I will give you another chance. Do you understand?”

My head started to boil with anger, but I held myself back from acting up as I tried to speak through pained breaths.

“Haah... I-I... u-understand…”

I finally managed to say, and Tim seemed satisfied. He stood up and clapped his hand before turning around.

“Then, I will see you around, green newbie.”

He left with those words, and his friends laughed along as they followed him from behind.

I will make you regret this.

No. I shouldn’t be thinking like that. Tim Hellfen was a powerful asset, therefore there was only one thing I needed to do. I smiled as a sudden idea flowed into my mind, and as if all the pain had healed, I instantly forgave the arrogant Tim.

I will make you submit to me and become my pawn.

The thought was enough to raise my mood as I got up from the floor with a smile. The gears in my mind started to grind as multiple plans began to formulate.

“Hehe. As they say, revenge is a dish best-served cold.”

Though I didn’t want to admit it at the time, I could feel my mental state slowly deteriorating, an internal scream for help suppressed by pure madness.

***

Morning arrived, and I woke up feeling more energized than yesterday. Despite almost dying and other matters, I had successfully gone through the first day since coming back from the future.

I pulled myself up from the bed and looked around my room; the subtle light coming through the window gave it a peaceful feeling. As I stood up, my eyes fell on the boxes sprawled around the room and a frown formed on my lips.

When I arrived here last night, all my stuff from the previous apartment was already sent here, but because I was a bit tired, I decided to leave unpacking for my future self.

I should have done it yesterday.

I opened one of the boxes and analyzed its content. It was different from the other boxes around it, which were all plain brown. The box I opened was red and had the academy stamp on it—a parcel from the academy. Inside the box were a few familiar items: a small wristwatch, a plain-looking sword, and a tight-looking fit meant to be worn for training. Since I was already familiar with all of the items, I picked up the watch and wore it first.

A sharp pain pierced my wrist as if penetrated by a needle, but the pain quickly subsided, and a holographic screen was projected in front of me.

Name: Ian
Class: High Class-C
Rank: 356 of 2379
Team: ##

The all-purpose academy smartwatch had many uses, and showing your real-time evaluation within the academy was one such feature.

356 of 2379… I guess it’s not too bad.

Since there were only 900 first-year students, it went without saying that the ranking was based on all students who were currently attending the academy. Multiple factors went into calculating the rankings, so even someone like Lily wouldn’t be in the top 100 despite her incredible strength.

As I played around with the wristwatch, I decided to open some news articles and confirm the current state of affairs around the world. The top trending news articles were practically the same as the future I knew, so I didn’t have any complaints.

#Trending
[Kingdom of Eza Issues Desperate Plea for Increased Food Aid Amid Escalating Demon Attacks]
[Global Summit Set to Kick Off December 8th: Anticipating Key Agendas and Outcomes]
[Rezen Academy Headmaster Praises Incoming Class as 'Strongest in Years' As Their First-Year Journey Begins]
…

The kingdom of Eza.

Its downfall would become the weakest link to humanity’s power. At the current moment, every kingdom around the world has already sent some sort of military aid, but it wouldn’t be enough to completely repel the demons, so the whole kingdom was a free-for-all. It wasn’t apparent at the current time, but when the war began, the area became a significant strategic location for both demons and humans, so our side would eventually come to regret standing by and watching it fall.

Incidentally, that was also the location where my squadron was wiped out by the evil god, White. Instead of finding one of his royal Guards, we were suddenly ambushed by an even greater threat. There was only one explanation for this…

There was a traitor among us.

Or more accurately, one of the members of the [Strategic Table] betrayed us. It wasn’t something I could easily investigate since, at this point in time, many of the future members were already influential people in their respective kingdoms.

I will have to make a plan.

I walked away from the boxes as I brushed the thought to the back of my mind. I should be more worried about my time here at the academy since I would now be competing with the best of the best in our year group. I started to go through my morning routine, finished preparing for class, and then quickly left my dorm room.

As for the boxes… I will do it later.