Chapter 62 Ahead And Behind

"*sigh*... Well, the reactions were a bit amusing," I muttered before jogging to the library, where I consumed as much information as I possibly could.

…

About two years have passed, and I am currently a bored junior in the high-level school I am currently attending.

My purple hair, which now fades into a lighter shade of purple with a tinge of gray, sits almost at my shoulder length.

It was a bit messy as I never really do anything about it, and my friends have been begging me to get it cut, but I've been busy with other things, such as losing myself in pools of information.

My clean 5'6 stature from before was decent for my age, but now I sit at a clean 5'10, which was honestly pretty average for my friend group.

Even the girls were pretty tall, sitting at an average height of about 5'8.

But, the only things about my body that didn't change were definitely my pale skin and inability to gain any type of muscle.

I wasn't as thin as I was when I first came to this school, but when compared to everybody else in my grade, I was extremely skinny.

At first, I didn't mind it because my skills could make up for it in battle, but once we started having skill-less duels in Spear Theory, I would always lose.

I followed Cy's routine for a while as he was pretty muscular now but not wholly jacked as he never wanted to become something like a bodybuilder.

He just wanted a body that would work well with his spear.

For thirty days, I ate as much as I could and hit the school gym about five times a week, but even then, my muscles didn't grow much.

It made me look actually normal, rather than my previously anemic appearance, which haunted Findir's dreams once in a while.

On the other hand, contradictory to my Spear Theory class, where I wasn't doing as good, my Gun Theory class was extremely easy.

My concentration has increased by quite a lot, but I just need to train it so I can actually sense my surroundings just in case I am being sneak attacked if I ever have no partner with me.

And finally, Magic Theory was very easy and very boring as the work that I did took absolutely no effort.

"Dude, can you stop sleeping and help me. My dad is going to beat my ass if he ever finds out about my next test results," Findir whispered, and as I had nothing better to do, I got up, yawned, and then glanced at his class given study guide.

"Okay… Well, first, you use this equation for this section. And for the multiple-choice part of the study guide, just remember these notes," I said as I tossed him my notebook, which was filled to the brim with all kinds of notes.

Some of them were from the library, which was technically not allowed, but it's not like somebody was spying on me 24/7, so I did it anyway.

As Findir looked through my notes, I compared the changes of his current body to his younger body.

He was about as tall as me, maybe just a few millimeters taller, but his vessel was significantly more muscular than before.

Previously, he was as thin as me, but now he's as muscular and as lean as Cy.

His white dreadlocks grew just a bit, and his face has obviously become much more mature as he grew up.

Though it wasn't just his face that matured, but his actual personality, and thankfully, it didn't rot like Cy's did.

His aged like milk while Findir and Aisa's aged like fine wine.

Me? Well, I was still mostly the same as I continued to learn and reflect on all the flaws I had begun to develop after growing up in such a sheltered environment.

DING DONG… DING DONG

"Ughh… I'm so going to fail," Findir muttered as the class all gathered their stuff before leaving the classroom.

Everybody was exhausted from studying while I was exhausted from being rudely awakened while I peacefully napped.

"I can help you study after school," I suggested.

"Then meet me in the cafeteria at four. I'll be there as soon as I leave my final class," Findir muttered as we both split ways and I made my way towards Spear Theory.

Ugh… I hate this class.

I was basically at the top of my class when I was a freshman, but now that everybody has begun to unlock their potential, I am falling behind.

I was pretty good in terms of stamina, but my physical strength and skill ceiling have reached their limits of growth.

This couldn't even be called a bottleneck… but more like I was in the bottle, and an air-tight cork was preventing me from reaching any further.

There haven't even been any quests in the last two years as this panel continued to bug me:

[Ares System updating…]

This was always floating around me, no matter how many times I've attempted to close it.

DING DONG… DING DONG

The ending transition bell rang just as I arrived at class and immediately started to follow everybody else who was jogging along the edge of the training room.

Cy, who was at the front, suddenly noticed me and trailed back to the line to start a conversation.

"Yo," He says, and we both bump fists before waiting for the class to start.

After a few minutes, the teacher finally prepared everything for class today, but instead of the usual arm warm-ups that we do as a class, he told all of us to sit on the bleachers.

"Okay! This form will be for a type of class trip we'll be going on! We're visiting New York and one of their dungeons for about three days with the Sword Theory class, so make sure to get this signed by a parental guardian!"

"Oh, a field trip," Cy muttered, his attention already peaking.

"Yep… What? Do you want to fight one of the swordsmen or women?"

"Of course," He responded with a wide smile.