[Carl pov]
He's a genius.
That's something he'd been told since he was a kid, where adults continually praised, looked out for, and took care of him. Not because he was the strongest in the village or the smartest, but because he simply learned things too quickly.
He meant, why did it take them so long in the first place? For him, all it took was one look and it clicked inside his brain immediately.
What took others a year, he mastered in a month. What took them a month, he learned in a week. And what took them a week, he learned in a single day.
Life had been easy for him, he thought, and he believed it was going to continue like this, living happily with his family and getting praise from the other villagers. What could possibly go wrong?
Until that fateful night, where everything had been taken from him. His friends, his home, and his... family.
The Corrupt, they called it, with fear, terror, and horror etched into their faces as Carl sat helplessly, watching it burn everything he knew.
He watched as it slaughtered his people.
His legs froze with fear as he saw his father—bravely, or maybe foolishly, he didn't understand much—trying and failing to protect the other villagers.
He died. His father, who was stoic and didn't express his love much through words, had loved them dearly.
And then came his mother, as she cast her spells, trying to buy enough time for him to run.
"Go! Carl! Run!" she shouted. Her black hair, usually combed, now clung messy to her face, her voice urgent.
So he did.
He knew, with his entire body and his supposedly genius brain, that he was powerless. He couldn't do it. Not a damn thing.
The only thing he could do was run. And so he did. He took steps fueled by hate, rage, and a torrent of other emotions. No matter how much his lungs burned or his legs went numb, he kept going. Not long after, the world exploded behind him as he was forced to run faster. She didn't look back. He didn't either.
'I'm so damn weak! Damn it! Is it a sin to be weak?! Is it a sin that I was trying to enjoy life so much that God punished me for it?!'
Everything after that was a blur. He saw a city, got help and care by his Aunt, but to him, it wasn't good. He didn't remember much as he spent days and weeks in denial of what happened to him until God seemed to finally take pity on him. He awakened. It came without a moment's warning; it just simply happened to him.
And from then on, he promised to find that Corrupt, kill it, and get his revenge. For now, he would train and hone his newfound strength.
He set a goal: to enter the Hunter Academy. There, he could receive guidance, training, and connections to hunt down that devil incarnate.
Months flew by as he trained, and trained, and trained. Before he knew it, he found himself traveling to the Farrarish Citadel.
He heard the Saintess festival was going to start four months from now, so being here first wouldn't hurt, right? And his Aunt Elena had also told him to go relax for a while.
'She sure worries about me, huh?' he thought with a smile as he walked along the road, taking in the calm oxygen his body needed. 'I'll probably train here as well. Well, Aunt Elena won't find out, right?'
He shuddered as the image of his aunt's angry face surfaced. He shook his head as he continued toward the hotel he had booked before some commotions snapped him out of his track.
"A pickpocket, huh?"
His yellow eyes sharpened as he took in the crime scene. The woman toppled to the ground. People flocked around, but no one helped. 'Poor woman,' he muttered as he willed mana to his leg—a standard enchantment—as he took off after the thief. But before he could take another step, he saw him.
A teen with pale white skin stood there, as if he were not one of this world. Blue hair,bright,pink eyes, like a juicy raw meat his. gaze locked onto the same thief. And then—pop!—he disappeared.
'Fast!' What was left was just a scorched patch of earth and a blue spark of flame. But his own eyes saw it; his awakened blessing, the Eye of the Black Dragon, had allowed him to.
---
[Blessing: Bahamut - Eye of the Black Dragon (S)
• User perceives everything slower.
• Analyzes and copies movements the user has seen with the Bahamut Eye.
• Predicts enemy movements.
• Boosts user growth rate by 50%.
• Boosts the user's darkness affinity by two ranks.
• Night Vision.]
---
He saw how the teen channeled his mana to form a small swirl of flame at his toes before it burst, propelling him to his maximum speed instantly.
He saw the teen's muscles contract and relax in slow motion.
He saw how the teen balanced himself in midair and saw how those pink eyes locked on him for a brief second before the teen smashed the thief's head.
Bamm!
'Ugh, is he dead?!'
He sheild his eyes as the Dust erupted.
When the dust cleared, the boy had landed and already turned toward him. And the thief... he seemed to be knocked out, with no idea what had hit him.
"Hello?" the boy, now fully turned to him, tilted his head and said.
Those pink eyes locked fully on him now, and what danced in them seemed to be amusement. Maybe it was his imagination?
'What should I say now?!'
With how he'd isolated himself while training for months, only interacting with his aunt, it was no wonder he'd developed a social awkwardness toward others, especially those his age.
'Say something!'
"Uh... hi?"
---
[Dante POV]
I looked at him, finding it funny how he struggled to reply.
'A debuff, I assumed?'
In the game, Heroic Academy, you have to keep Carl's energy and mood in good condition, so he won't get a debuff during the playthrough.
I shook my head as I reminded myself. 'Stop treating them as an NPC, idiot.'
I crouched to pick up the a rainbow wallet.
'What a Weird fashion sense. '
"Here, you can give this back to her," I said, looking at the crowd out of the corner of my eye.
Carl mirrored my action as he scratched the back of his head.
"Um... but you're the one who caught that thief, right? So, um, you should go and get a thank you from her."
Mid-sentence, he looked all serious, well, as serious as he could be.
A smile touched my lips as I tossed him the wallet. "Well, get the thanks for me then. I have places to be. I don't really care much about it, you see."
Carl hurriedly and clumsily tried to grab it midair.
He sighted as he finally caught it. I turned around, hands in my baggy pockets.
He murmured something like, "Be careful! It's not yours!" And as the wisest man I am, I outright ignored it.
I looked over my shoulder and said, "And take care of that thief, too. Well, consider it my request."
With that, I waved my hand as I walked away.
"And if fate should have it, I'll meet you soon at the Hunter Academy."
---
[Carl POV]
Carl's eyes went wide as Dante mentioned the Hunter Academy, and a fire of determination ignited in his eyes.
'It seems like the right decision to try to enter the academy.'
His hands felt an itch to train, but before that, he had a thing to do. It wasn't really his duty, but...
'Sigh.'
With that, he dragged the unconscious thief and, with the lady's wallet in hand, walked toward the green-haired woman.
"By the way, I didn't ask his name, did I?"
'What a werido'