After the Mana Chamber's impromptu light show finally ended, I retreated to my dormitory like a soldier returning from a battlefield he never volunteered for. I scrubbed the metallic scent of starlight and sweat from my skin until my fingers pruned, changed into a fresh academy uniform, and stared at my reflection for a long moment.
Same face. Same body.
Still very much alive.
That alone felt like an achievement.
Once I was presentable—and reasonably sure I wasn't still glowing—I headed toward Class A.
"It seems today is going to be another exciting day," I muttered to myself.
In my personal dictionary, exciting was a polite synonym for statistically likely to result in my untimely demise.
The corridor buzzed with energy as students poured into classrooms, their voices overlapping in a chaotic symphony of ambition and gossip. When I entered Class A, I immediately made a beeline for my sanctuary: the middle seat of the second row, right beside the window.
Middle rows were safe.
Windows provided escape fantasies.
And background characters survived longer.
I sat down and leaned my head against the cool glass, doing my best impression of "academically present but narratively irrelevant."
Unfortunately, the room had other plans.
The atmosphere buzzed like a disturbed hornet's nest.
"Hey, did you hear?" one student said loudly. "They're sending us to a dungeon for practical training today! And the results are weighted heavily toward our overall academy ranking!"
A collective gasp followed.
"Yeah," another student added, lowering his voice dramatically. "It's a team-based challenge. Four students per group. Fixed teams."
"Four people?" someone else exclaimed. "I'm praying to the stars I get teamed up with Lady Sarah. I've practiced my confession speech for months…"
"Don't make me laugh," his friend scoffed. "A weakling like you? Even if she smiled at you once, you'd still have to get past Edwin. That guy's basically a walking deterrent for romance."
"Keep your voice down!" another hissed. "Do you want to die? He's the son of an SS-ranker!"
I exhaled slowly and closed my eyes.
This was the problem with being surrounded by protagonist-tier teenagers. The air itself was ninety percent hormones and ten percent ego, with a faint trace of impending disaster. I turned my attention back to the window, watching sunlight glint off the academy towers, wondering whether the stars I had just communicated with accepted refunds.
Or at least exchanges.
A moment later, a gentle tap landed on my shoulder.
I opened my eyes.
Alicia stood beside my desk.
To the rest of the academy, she was a living statue of ice—perfect posture, flawless features, and an expression sharp enough to discourage casual conversation. Students instinctively gave her space, as if she existed inside an invisible barrier.
But when I met her eyes, I caught something different.
A flicker of warmth. Familiar. Almost human.
"Yeah?" I asked, blinking myself back into reality. "What's up?"
"Let us form a team together," Alicia said.
Her voice was calm and soft, but it carried the unmistakable weight of a royal decree.
For a moment, my brain stopped functioning.
I cleared my throat. "As much as I'd enjoy that, team formations are randomized by the faculty. It's completely out of our hands."
For just a fraction of a second, her eyes drooped. The disappointment was subtle—barely perceptible—but it was there. Seeing that usually unshakable girl look even slightly vulnerable did something dangerous to my common sense.
I smiled, small and lopsided. "Don't worry. If luck is on our side, maybe we'll end up together."
The words had barely left my mouth when the classroom doors swung open.
Professor Carasina swept inside, her heels striking the stone floor with sharp authority. The room fell silent almost instantly.
"Attention, class," she said, her gaze sweeping across us like a blade. "The team assignments for the upcoming dungeon challenge have been posted on the notice board outside."
A ripple of tension spread through the room.
"These teams are fixed for the remainder of the academic year," she continued. "You have exactly two hours to familiarize yourselves with your members and coordinate roles. The challenge begins immediately afterward."
She turned on her heel.
"Dismissed."
And just like that, she was gone.
Chaos erupted.
Students vaulted over desks and chairs, sprinting toward the exit as if the dungeon had already opened behind them. I rose at a more reasonable pace, stretching muscles that still ached faintly from earlier.
I glanced at Alicia. "Shall we go see the damage?"
She nodded, expression unreadable.
We joined the flood of students and eventually reached the massive parchment pinned to the stone wall. Names were written in neat, glowing ink, arranged by team number.
My eyes scanned downward.
Once.
Twice.
Then I found it.
TEAM 7
Edwin von Leonhart
Sarah von Solaris
Alden von Astra
Alicia von Valerion
I stared.
Blink.
Stared again, just in case the ink decided to reorganize itself into something less catastrophic.
"You have got to be kidding me," I whispered.
The Golden Boy protagonist.
The Saintess heroine.
The Ice Queen villainess.
And me—the Unidentified Variable who just wanted a quiet life and three meals a day.
I slowly turned to Alicia.
She was still staring at the board… but her lips curved ever so slightly.
Smug. Definitely smug.
"It seems," I muttered, rubbing my temples as a headache began to bloom, "that my academy life is officially never going to be normal."
The SSS+ Luck was at it again. It had given me exactly what I wanted—teaming up with Alicia—but wrapped it in maximum danger, maximum attention, and maximum narrative importance.
"It appears that possessing SSS+ rank luck will never allow me to live a quiet life."
I looked ahead, where Edwin and Sarah were already waving at us, their smiles bright enough to power the whole academy for a week.
"Well," I sighed, stepping forward, "at least I won't be bored while I'm being hunted by this damn monsters."
And thus, my dream team was formed.
Whether it would become legendary—or my funeral procession—remained to be seen.