"You...?"

This was a shocker for me. What the hell was she doing here?

"What are... you doing here?"

The girl was staring daggers at me. It was very uncomfortable.

"I found you lying unconscious behind the school?"

Behind the school? Then...

"Where are the others?"

She made a puzzled face. "What 'others'?"

Did she not find them? My memories from that time are still hazy. All I can remember is the message from the System. And then something happened to my body before passing out. No, now's not the time to think about such things.

"Did you really not find anyone?"

Her puppy eyes made a circle before stopping at me.

"Nope. No one. Was someone with you?"

She really did not find anyone. What happened to those bastards?

"No, no one was there."

But wait...

"What were you doing there?"

The girl in front of me was our class's princess, or should I say, our school's princess, Elena Kleine. She got everything. Looks? Check. Brains? Check. Eagerness? Check. Kindness? That I can't say. Not even Philip's princely features could make her yield. And as someone who was literally "worshipped" by the whole school, there was no way she would be in an infamously disgusting place in the school- the back of the school.

"Nothing. The teachers wanted me to check if there were some students left after the school was over."

Her flinching was pretty funny. As well as her lie. Even the teachers had to maintain some distance from her and could not order her around since she was the daughter of the Duchess.

The watch sticking to her left wrist, even though I could see that she made an effort to hide the time from me, she must have done it in a rush since I could still get a glimpse of it. It was 2 PM, which meant that there was still an hour left for our school to end.

Guess I have to scratch the brains even though she was good at studying. It was at my own volition that I always came last out of the 100 students in our class. If I didn't do this, then those bastards would make my life even more miserable than now, and I absolutely despised that thought.

"I see. So school has ended..."

"Yes."

Not a bit of sweat... was she a professional?

But yeah, I am more of a professional than her.

"Alright. Thanks for bringing me wherever this place is," I said, getting up.

"Where are you going now?"

"School?"

"... why?" There was a bit of coldness in her voice. She really doesn't want me to go.

"..."

Let's come up with a stupid excuse. Of course, sometimes stupid things might help you get out of trouble.

"I don't have my backpack with me, so I am going to get it back."

"What? Your backpack?"

"Yes, my backpack."

I thought he never brought any backpack... is what she must be thinking right now. Yes, I never brought any backpack to school, nor could I afford to spend my money on a backpack when I could simply leave my things in the school. Since I am Potential-less, no one would even try to touch my things.

And simple things like that could give rise to doubts like the one she was having. Though this girl does a great job at keeping me on the edge.

"I don't think you should do that now. You should be resting now. I will bring it."

This girl hasn't done anything nor did she care for me in the last three years and now she wants to help me? How generous.

"You don't have to. I am not tired and I am completely fine." When you have doubts, just play it cool!

She nodded rather reluctantly and turned around, preparing to leave.

"Tch."

Wow, my presence is so insignificant that even the princess doesn't bother hiding her tongue-clicking. Not like I care. I already knew that she had something bad going inside that brain of hers.

I didn't bother commenting on that clicking of tongue and went out.

***

The road, so long and lonely. Everyone's sharp gaze was on me and every foot that came in front of me deliberately and swiftly shifted aside in disgust.

<Is being Potential-less really that big of a deal?>

'No, but if you are the only Potential-less in the whole Tower, then that's a different story.'

<Those are some heavy words.>

'Now, can you tell me about what happened at the time?'

<How can I tell? For some unknown reason, I was thrown out of your body and I was in a void-like space. And...>

His trailing voice made my hairs raise. This was not natural for him. It felt like he was... scared. No, can't be. He is the strongest demon alive. How can he be scared by something like that?

I didn't try to pry any further on what he saw.

But now that I got time in my hands, let's check the status.

'Status.'

-----------------------

NAME: KEN RAIZER

RACE: ??? DEMON

LVL: 1

MP: 1

STR:1

AGI: 1

DEF: 1

INT: 8

DEX: 1

EXP: 0

-----------------------

.... what?

<Seems like you are bombed with something heavy.>

What the hell was this? I am pretty sure my stats were not this pitiful! Except for INT, everything was nerfed! Why?!

<I think this is a reset.>

'What?'

<You know, like a character reset.>

"Fuu..."

Let's calm down and think about it a little. What Lan was saying might be right. This really might be a reset.

The thing I saw back then before passing out...

{Welcome, Daemonium}

Daemonium... demon... and the system was welcoming me. if this is like an RPG, then maybe "Daemonium" means "Player"? Then, does that mean I was not a player until now? So that reset... maybe my previous body was made suitable for the system? I don't know... there are more questions than answers in my head right now.

<I think it's better for you to stop thinking. There is no point in thinking about those things anyway.>

'I guess...'

But still, this thing bothered me a lot.

<So what are you going to do now?>

I don't know the system yet. Even Lan didn't. It's just something mysterious. But I know one thing. The system wants me to grow stronger. If I am someone's avatar, someone's player, then all I can do is top their expectations, some much that even they can't beat me.

'I will be collecting EXP.'

<Collecting huh... Not bad. Seems like you are going to live with your miserable self for a few more days.>

'Huh? Who said that?'

I was now in front of my school.

<What?>

'I am going to get stronger without these EXP.'

<...>

He was silent for a moment. I bet he was dumbfounded. Nevertheless, it felt good to have him dumbfounded. And no, I was not lying. I am going to get stronger without these EXP until I have enough.

<T-That was a joke... right>

'...'

"AHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!"

I never heard him so shaky before! Man, I am dying!

"Eww~ the trash is laughing!"

"How gross~"

"Hey, look at that son of a bitch. He has gone mad."

"You are right! Hahaha!"

Despite the cutting remarks, I continued laughing. I mean, how could I stop laughing? The greatest and strongest demon alive just fumbled miserably.

<O-Oi! Don't laugh too much!>

'I am... sorry, haha.'

I wiped the tears off my eyes. Damn, that was one good laugh. I don't think I laughed this hard in the last three years. Heck, did I even make a small smile in these three years? I don't think so.

'Yeah. What I said was true. My frail body is not frail anymore and that's why I can buff my body to the limits. You still don't know how stubborn I can be. If it's needed, I will train for weeks without eating.'

<Hah! You are quite nice in joking! There is no way you can beat those Potential-bearers with your half-assed training. You need skills! Skills, you hear?!>

Haha, what an ominous thing to say! Skills, you say?

'That might be true. But...'

<But?>

'It's better to see when the time comes.'

<Don't keep me in the dark!>

'Haha. Leave that topic for a moment and tell me why haven't you told me about 'that' person?'

This is important. He should have told me. There's a chance of this being my imagination too.

<What? Don't tell me...>

So I was right.

'Yeah. For some reason, I can also sense beings in my surrounding, though the radius is very small. And 'that' person gaze is also splitting my back apart.'

It must be because of that message.

<... I don't want to think about how this happened. And as for your question, I chose to observe the girl. I was going to warn if she was going to do anything fishy.>

'That girl?'

I can sense beings, but not tell who they are just by their figure, but I already have a rough guess.

<The girl from before.>

'Elena?'

Let's try looking surprised for the sake of being dramatic.

<Stop being dramatic! Given your brains, you already guessed it was her.>

'Tch...'

This guy figured me out.

'Well, for now, let's just observe.'

Come on, princess. Show us what you've got!

***