“You got that question wrong,” I said to Beiste.

“Agh…!” Beiste groans while looking over his notes.

Right now, I was currently in a study hall with Luke, Min, and Beiste. The hall was about as big as a library with multiple tables and chairs with them. The table was some kind of transparent material that also acted as a computer.

A couple of icons were on the transparent table as we moved them about with our hands sliding across it. We were even able to bring them out and turn them into a hologram, having them float above the table.

The floors were made of black metal plating with lights being emitted from the sides. Due to the floor being metal, whenever someone walked on it, there was a metal clang noise that echoed throughout the hall.

The reason why were in the study hall was for the Agoge Exam. Though, this was mainly the mid-term exam that occurs at least two months after the start of a semester of school

That means it’s been nearly two months since I’ve reincarnated into the world of my favorite novel. Despite it only being that long, many things have happened during that time...and many more will come my way.

And what I’m doing now is…studying.

I haven’t done this since college…and I had some tough material to study for since I majored in computer programming.

And from what I know in the Novel, the Agoge exams were the toughest to pass, both written and Performance. I remember reading about how the main characters worked their ass off in order to pass

That’s how tough it is.

Thanks to the author being very thorough and informative with the study material, for some odd reason, I pretty much knew everything I needed to study for. And this was also thanks to my conversations with the author when we talked about these kinds of things.

Honestly, the hardest thing about this exam was teaching two people that use the muscles in their arms and legs rather than the muscles in their brains. Those two being Meng Min and Beiste Jones.

Right now, in the study hall, both Luke and I were helping Beiste and Min with their studies for the Exam…and we’re having a bit more trouble than I imagined.

“Beiste, that’s not the right answer.”

“Huh? But I thought taking the tusks was the right answer.”

“For Orcs, not Ogres. Ogres have very tough skin that is harvested and used to create leather armor or sturdy pouches.”

“Oh…”

After hearing this, Beiste went back to work as I sighed mentally and went over my notes for the Exam. While I was dealing with Beiste, Luke had Min to deal with…

“A frontal attack is a bad move, Min.”

“Eh~? But wouldn’t knocking down the Lich before it summons the undead be the top priority?”

“It would if the Lich didn’t have an aura of death that protects itself from enemies. Due to that, simply going up to the Lich and attacking it is not advised and you need to get rid of its aura of death before actually attacking it.”

“Ah~”

Yeah, teaching these two was a little difficult to deal with. While I don’t believe Beiste and Min are dumb, they certainly have moments when they don’t think before they act.

And in the Novel, there are moments when they act before thinking and Luke has to help them out, practically getting them out of the mess. Granted, I found those moments pretty funny.

Anyway, we’ve been in the study hall for a little while. Thankfully, Beiste and Min are making some progress in their studies, so I don’t think we have to worry about much on that end.

This was good because aside from studying, I needed to make some preparations for the second arc of the story because that event was right around the corner.

It’s been about two to three weeks since the Manticore battle and me being hospitalized. I got out about a week and a half ago and I’m now fully recovered.

Since then, I’ve been working on my exam studies while also preparing for the second arc happening soon.

After everything that went down with the Manticore, I couldn't expect things to go as I thought in the novel. Especially not when I saw my cursed talent mess with the future once again.

So, I needed to take charge and make sure the next arc doesn't catch me off guard.

The problem is getting strong enough before it begins. I thought getting to C-rank was good enough, but was clearly me being too naive and optimistic.

Because of that, I nearly got everyone killed in the process.

Still, getting to a high enough rank, even with [Indomitable Will] before then was next to impossible. Not unless I plan on fighting multiple A-rank monsters in order to do that.

This means I need to make a backup plan where I can keep everyone safe from harm. I thought about not letting Luke and those involved in the second arc get involved, but I also know that things would get even worse if I did.

Especially when this involves more than just them. It involves innocent people being put in harm's way...

For now, I need to work on my backup plan. I can't let myself be complacent like with the Manticore...

Now that I think about it, ever since the Manticore incident, I haven’t seen much of Tyra or even Naomi. Tyra saw me with the others when I first woke up, and Naomi visited me sometime after when it was just me and her.

She mostly just apologized about what happened, and I told her it was fine. We talked for a little while, but then she left and never came back. It was a bit depressing to see her leave.

I’m not saying she’s ignoring me, but it does feel that way. However, I do think that I’ve managed to make some kind of connection with her.

After that training session, it’s obvious that she doesn’t just see me as some lowly peasant or anything like that. Of course, she also doesn’t see me as her equal, so…I guess I’m in the middle ground right now.

Either way, I was making a little bit of progress. That was honestly all I cared about at the moment.

Baby steps, Ethan. Baby steps.

Honestly speaking, I didn't expect to be able to even get close to her just yet. I even placed her last along with Seo Soo-Yun as characters to get close to. And yet I made a little be of progress, huh?

I'm still worried about [Absolute Misfortune] causing me trouble, especially for the others, but I can't worry about that, or I'll just be hesitant in completing this goal. What's important right now is getting close to them so I can keep everyone safe.

More than that, I should focus on improving my relationship with the other characters. Aside from Luke and his group. I’m already well acquainted with them to where I don’t have to worry much.

I should probably focus on Tyra and maybe Jeanne. Since Tyra and I were in a group, and she at least sees me as an ally of sorts, talking to her shouldn’t be hard.

Jeanne would be a bit difficult, mainly due to her being very socially awkward when it comes to interacting with other students. In fact, she faced this problem a lot in the Novel where Luke had to help her out.

It was because of that, that Jeanne was able to be more social. And she got a lot closer to Luke thanks to that.

I guess I’ll have to take up that role in order to get closer to Jeanne. That and also so I can get her stronger.

Out of all the characters, getting Jeanne stronger was definitely a priority considering how behind she is. I kind of wish she had [Indomitable Will], so I could speed up the progress. But I have a plan for that as well.

Yeah, I have a lot of work cut out for me…

I should do a little more studying before doing any of that. I’m likely going to be too preoccupied with preparing for the second arc and all to actually get any studying done.

Good grief…

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