"What are you looking at?" Zephyr asked.
He finally noticed my stare, his yellow eyes locked onto me with a cold gaze that felt like he was trying to read my soul.
I guess that is just how protagonists are built.
They always have this intense aura around them that makes everyone else feel small.
"You are Zephyr, right?" I asked him while trying to sound as casual as possible.
"And?" he replied.
He sounded completely bored with my existence.
"You ranked first in the academy entrance exams. Man, it is a real pleasure to meet you."
Zephyr just shrugged off my compliments like they were insects and turned his head back to the front of the class.
He did not even bother giving me his welcome smile.
'You head-weighted bastard,' I thought to myself while grinding my teeth together.
'Just wait until the midterm tournament rolls around, because I will definitely kick your arrogant ass all over the arena.'
It is actually so frustrating dealing with the chosen protagonist when they are still in their edgy lone-wolf phase.
I had to remind myself that my maxed-out stats could probably snap his neck right now if I wanted to, but that would ruin the entire timeline and doom the world.
So I just sat there quietly and listened to Professor Gion drone on about academy rules and expectations for the upcoming semester.
The long lecture finally ended after what felt like hours of torture.
I packed up my notebook and was just about to move out to the training grounds to get some fresh air and test out my new body.
But as I stepped into the main aisle, three guys suddenly stepped out from the desks and blocked my path.
Ah, here it comes.
The classic first-day bullying event that every commoner student has to endure in these ridiculous novels.
I could probably guess exactly what this guy was going to say before he even opened his mouth.
'He must have been so happy getting into this prestigious academy,' I predicted the line in my head.
"Must have been so happy, Newman, getting into this prestigious academy," the guy in the middle sneered at me with a twisted smile.
Bingo.
I still remember the script perfectly.
Lucien stood right in front of me with his two brainless friends supporting him on both sides.
He had perfectly styled blonde hair and bright blue eyes, looking exactly like the typical rich noble fellow you find in every single fantasy story ever written.
He looked down his nose at me because my uniform did not have any fancy family crests embroidered on the collar and probably thought I was easy prey just because I kept my head down during the lecture.
"Forgive me, Lucien, but I have somewhere to be right now," I told him while trying to step around his group to reach the door.
"Where do you think you are going, you commoner fucker?" Lucien barked loudly so the rest of the students would hear him.
He reached his right hand out to catch the collar of my shirt to physically pull me back.
But in my view I watched his hand moving toward me at a ridiculously slow speed.
I simply shifted my body to the side before his fingers could even brush the fabric of my uniform, and then I stepped directly into his personal space, bringing my hand up to his face in a flash.
I just flicked his forehead with my middle finger, had to hold back almost all of my strength so I would not accidentally blow his head off his shoulders and create a murder scene on day one.
Even with me holding back that much power, his body flew straight backward through the air.
He hit the wall of the classroom with a very loud thud and slid down to the floor.
"Whaaa?" The entire class gasped in collective shock.
I glanced over to the back corner and saw that even Zephyr's yellow eyes were widened in genuine surprise.
Nobody in the room could comprehend what just happened because my movements were way too fast for their low-level eyes to track properly.
They just saw Lucien reaching out to grab me and then suddenly flying across the room like a broken doll.
"Did your own mana power backfire on you, brother?" I asked out loud with a totally innocent voice while looking down at him.
"Oh, so it was his own power doing that," the other students started whispering among themselves in the wooden benches.
They bought the excuse immediately because it made way more sense to them than a commoner physically overpowering a trained noble with a simple flick.
Lucien sat on the floor rubbing his head in total confusion.
His face turned so incredibly red from the public humiliation that he looked like a tomato.
He wanted to yell at me or cast a spell, but he was too dizzy from the impact to form a proper sentence or gather his mana.
I did not wait around for him to recover his balance and start a real fight, just adjusted my bag on my shoulder and walked right out of the classroom doors into the hallway.
The academy corridors were crowded with students rushing to their next classes.
I was busy looking over my shoulder to make sure Zephyr or Lucien's friends were not following me, and that was my biggest mistake.
I turned my head back around just in time to bump right into someone walking the opposite way down the corridor.
A large stack of printed papers went flying everywhere across the floor.
"Oh, I am so sorry about that," I said quickly as I dropped down to my knees to help gather the scattered documents.
"It is quite all right, please do not worry about it," a soft and mature voice replied right above me.
I looked up and saw Professor Sianna kneeling to pick up her papers.
She was the new Trainee Professor for Combat Theory and Mana Control, who looked to be about twenty-eight years old with sharp silver glasses sitting perfectly on her nose.
Her dark hair was tied back into a very strict and professional bun that made her look serious.
She wore the standard long academy coat for teachers, but the heavy fabric could not completely hide the fact that she had some very nice curves underneath it all.
Then I heard the system chiming in my head.