TFBA 11👀

Episode 11

[Achievement Store]

You can purchase perks using Achievement Points.
Achievement Points are obtained by clearing death flags.

[Available Points: 24]

There was the first achievement: placating the fiancé who came at me with a sword on the first day of my possession and sending him away.
Then, another for winning the battle against Kenneth of the Twin Flames the very next day.
The points I had now—24—came from surviving three assassination attempts at work the day after that, plus clearing various other minor death flags.

The Achievement Store offered five types of perks:
Enhancement, Bloom, Exchange, Prophecy, and Save.

Enhancement was a perk that could raise the rank of my stats or talents. However, the higher the rank of the stat you wanted to increase, the more Achievement Points it consumed. For example, raising an E-Rank stat to D-Rank cost 5 points, but raising an A-Rank stat to S-Rank cost a whopping 3,125 points.

Bloom was a perk that allowed me to learn talents or traits I didn’t already possess.

Exchange allowed me to pay Achievement Points to obtain desired items.

All three were functions that could be useful depending on the situation.

But the last two perks were even more groundbreaking.

[Prophecy]
-(Single Use) Shows you the death you will face in the nearest future. The price increases with each use.

[Save]
-(Single Use) Upon death, reverses time back to the point of saving.

Clairvoyance and regression. Abilities that could practically count as extra lives. I definitely need to get these, I thought…

[Prophecy] – Price: 100 Points
[Save] – Price: 500 Points

…But they were like a pie in the sky. With my current 24 points, the only thing I could do was Enhancement.

[Winter Winslet]
Strength: D | Health: E
Technique: A | Wit: B
Intelligence: A

And even that had its limits. The most I could do was raise the lowest stat, Health, from E-Rank to D-Rank. But it’s better than nothing. Reluctantly, I invested my Achievement Points into the Health stat.

[Winter Winslet]
Strength: D | Health: D
Technique: A | Wit: B
Intelligence: A

If I couldn’t fix Winter Winslet’s personality, my plan’s core was to at least raise the Health stat to offset the penalties.

[Notice]
[Willpower has been restored.]

Whether it was because I raised my Health or not, my headache vanished quickly. I continued walking to the auditorium to attend the freshman entrance ceremony. Perhaps because I was delayed, the ceremony had already started, but no one would dare say anything about me being late. Because I am Winter Winslet.

“This way, Professor.”
As I arrived at the auditorium entrance, an employee from the planning department appeared as if he had been waiting for me. Following his polite guidance, I entered the preparation room.

“Have you reviewed the script, Professor?” the man asked me.
Script? What script?

“I’m hearing of this for the first time.”
“Pardon? But you have to give the commemorative speech for the entrance ceremony… We definitely sent it to your mailbox a week ago…”
Ah. The mailbox. Now that he mentioned it, I recalled seeing a document with a similar title among the papers mixed with the Scroll of Mass Destruction.
“I burned it.”
“Excuse me?”
“It was a mistake.”
“Ah, yes. A mistake… you burned it… I see.”

His face paled instantly, yet he couldn’t bring himself to blame Winter Winslet.

“Is there no alternative?”
“Please wait a moment. We’ll prepare something… a prompter.”

Under the man’s direction, someone began hastily scribbling the speech content in large letters on a large sketchbook. The plan was to show me what lines to recite from appropriate spots once I was on the stage.

As soon as the prompter was ready, I stepped onto the stage.

The interior of the auditorium was fan-shaped, structured so the audience looked up at the stage. The seats, which could accommodate up to 1,200 people, were about 90% full. Murmur, murmur. The students’ chatter, bored by the delayed schedule, had already reached an uncontrollable level.

However, the moment I stepped up to the podium, an almost unbelievable silence fell over the hall. The noise vanished, replaced by curious gazes. Winter Winslet. This man had a certain magnetism. A magnetic pull that drew people’s attention just by standing still.

“Gentlemen.”

As the amplification orb softly carried Winter Winslet’s low, powerful voice, there was no one left in the auditorium who wasn’t looking at me.

I skimmed the prompter with my eyes. Starting with a self-introduction, I suppose.

“I am Winter Winslet. I assume everyone knows me. I teach magic here.”

A staff member flipped the sketchbook to the next page. The hastily prepared script was concise and short. That suited me just fine; less chance of misreading anything, even by accident.

The next thing to read was…

<To the proud freshmen of the Royal Academy…>

“Another batch of clueless fledglings has gathered this year.”

<We welcome your enrollment.>

“Talentless trash shouldn’t even bother signing up for my lectures. I’m a busy man.”

…?

Something felt off. I looked back at the script. But I had read it correctly. My mouth had just run off on its own.

“That is all.”

Concluding the brief speech, I glanced around the audience. But I couldn’t gauge the students’ reactions. Because my vision was completely filled with incessantly updating notice windows.

[Notice]
[The death flag for this individual has been activated.]
[The death flag for this individual has been activated.]
[The death flag for this individual has been activated.]
….
….

Winter Winslet.
You crazy bastard.

“Hey, there, student. Wouldn’t you like to reconsider?”
“Reconsider what?”
“This course registration form. I think it would be better for a first-year to take a different class…”
“But aren’t we allowed to choose two electives as we wish?”
“Well, yes, but…”
“It’s a lecture by the most famous professor in the academy! I really want to take it. There was no rule saying first-years can’t take it either.”
“That’s because that professor never properly submits his syllabus.”
“Syllabus?”

Gloria, an administrative office employee at the Magic University, had lost count of how many times she’d repeated the same explanation just today.

“Professor Winslet is… how should I put it… quite free-spirited when it comes to structuring his classes? So, there’s no submitted syllabus.”
“Oh…”
“So, please think about it carefully once more. Do you really want to take a class where you don’t even know what you’ll be learning?”

In response to Gloria’s question, the freshman nodded without a hint of hesitation.
“Yes! It sounds like so much fun!”
“Oh, dear…”

As Gloria rubbed her throbbing temples with her fingers, the freshman asked curiously, “Why? A free-spirited and fluid teaching style. That sounds even cooler!”
“That’s not really what it means…”

It wasn’t that Gloria didn’t understand why the freshmen were so狂热 (kuángrè -狂热) about that blond professor. She could imagine how dazzling Winter Winslet’s looks and charisma must seem to kids that age. And then there was his reputation. Truth be told, the appeal he held as a person wasn’t much different for adults than for children.

That’s why there had been so many victims so far. Deceived, used, discarded. Only those who experienced it firsthand or witnessed it from the side knew the lethality hidden beneath that man’s exterior.

So, it fell to the adults who knew better to protect the budding sprouts from Winter Winslet, but…

“Anyway, I’ve already made up my mind!”

The freshman’s eyes sparkled with anticipation for their new academy life, and Gloria’s sincere advice couldn’t shatter that illusion. In the end, Gloria reluctantly gave her approval.

Adding one more course registration form to the towering pile of documents, Gloria felt a profound sadness. Yet another freshman was about to fall prey to Winter Winslet’s clutches!

‘Just what is the future of this academy going to be…’

The number of updated death flags I checked right after the freshman welcome speech reached a staggering three digits. It meant that many people were enraged by that absurd speech.

But the chain reaction that followed was somewhat unexpected. The freshmen who had initially shown hostility soon began to display an intense curiosity about me. The result was the pile of course registration forms now stacked in front of me.

Thud.

The sound of a heavy box being set down. The person who had come to my office and delivered the box of documents was Professor Corrigan—the one I had yielded the budget to during the previous faculty meeting.

“I’ll leave this here, Professor Winslet.”
“How many more are left?”
“This is the last box. I brought it myself as I also had something to say to you, Professor Winslet.”
“Something to say to me?”

I looked at him without much thought, but Professor Corrigan flinched as if pricked by a needle and hastily replied.
“W-well, it’s nothing major! I just wanted to thank you. Thanks to you approving the budget last time, our department’s situation has improved greatly! We replaced the teaching aids with new ones, and the graduation research for students that had been indefinitely postponed has resumed…”

How bad must things have been for graduation research to be postponed?

“Anyway, it was of little consequence to me.”
“Haha, still.”

Professor Corrigan bowed politely, his attitude a mix of half-sincerity, half of that half being flattery, and a slight hint of wariness. A natural reaction. No one in the academy yet believed that Winslet had changed. Would time solve this?

Professor Corrigan looked down at the box piled high with registration forms and let out a sigh of admiration.
“Anyway, you’re incredibly popular. As one would expect from Professor Winslet, I suppose.”

“Too many is also a problem.”

I had a lot to do at the academy. First, I needed to find the item I lost in the deal with Sakis Rubas, and I also needed to create reliable allies. While I did have to conduct classes as per my contract with the academy, I didn’t want too much of my time taken away. So, teaching too many students wasn’t very desirable…

I asked Professor Corrigan,

“What would be the best course of action in a situation like this?”
“Pardon? What situation?”
“When too many students apply for a class.”
“Hmm… The Transformation Magic I teach is an avoided subject, so I don’t have experience with this, but…”

Peeking at my expression, Professor Corrigan hesitantly continued.
“U-usually, if the number of applicants exceeds the capacity, you cut them. Since you didn’t submit a syllabus, the admin office seems to have accepted all applications as they came in… but you have complete discretion over your class structure, don’t you, Professor Winslet?”

“That’s right.”
“Then, you could accept as many students as you want initially, and then adjust the numbers as you conduct the class. Someone of your stature could manage that without issue, and you’ve often done similar things in the past, anyway.”

‘Adjusting the numbers’ meant arbitrarily removing students from the class. It implied that the admin staff would handle the messy aftermath for any student suddenly kicked out, regardless of how it might complicate their academic records.

“That is… instructive advice. Tha…”

I was about to say ‘Thank you,’ but I closed my mouth.

[Warning]
[Willpower and Health have temporarily decreased.]
[Activated Trait: Innate Pride]

[Innate Pride]
: The linguistic dictionary of a person born with innate pride lacks two entries: the words for ‘sorry’ and ‘thank you.’
When expressing gratitude or apologizing to others, Willpower and Health temporarily decrease. The latter incurs additional penalties.

Truly, Winter Winslet. A personality disaster area, ranking among the top in “Candela of Judgment” for his lack of manners.

“Don’t waste my time with trivialities like thanks. If your business is concluded, get out.”
“Ah, yes! I’ll take my leave then.”

Professor Corrigan bowed slightly and left the office.

Left alone, I moved my hand towards the document box. The first thing I picked up was the list of students who had submitted registration forms. The admin staff must have gotten calluses preparing this lengthy list.

Recalling Professor Corrigan’s advice, I scanned the list from top to bottom. Then, my gaze stopped midway. An unexpected name was included there.