Shadow Author

All the other students got up from their seats and quickly made their way out of the room. Not because of anything I did but because they wouldn't dare be late for the next class.

Trios. One of the many combat classes but also the most popular. The reason being is how diverse it can be. In solos, it's only yourself. In duos, you have to pick someone you are compatible with but you also have to take into account the other team. With trios, there are many different options.

Everyone could be in the same class, there could be no tanks, and there could be two of one class and one of another.

After trios things got more complicated again due to more counters being available thus, trios were the favorite.

However, none of that currently mattered to me. I was stuck in a staring contest with a highly respectable teacher.

"How do you know all that stuff? It was just yesterday you were struggling with the homework."

The professor didn't seem to understand how I changed overnight. There was no good explanation I could give him. It wasn't like I could say I have this magical device that gives me the answers.

"I already mentioned that I purposely failed."

"I don't buy it. There's no way you faked it. I saw the concentration and thought process you went through. You can't fake that."

"Mr. Vankay, if I could hide that I knew all the answers, don't you think I could fake looking confused? How else would I have been able to answer your questions?"

"That's what I'm trying to get to the bottom of."

The professor paused and took a deep breath before looking straight into my eyes.

"Did you look at another teacher's portfolio and get the answers?"

I froze.

I felt numb.

A decision had to be made.

Would I go with choice A or choice B?

I looked down at my watch and recalled what the mission was, becoming an important part of the novel.

It never specified how, in fact, it even gave me the option to become a villain, I just had to make a name for myself.

I was going with choice B.

Tapping a button on my smartwatch I looked back up at the professor and met his eyes.

"What did you just say?"

He repeated himself and didn't back down from my glare.

"Did you look at another teacher's portfolio and get the answers?"

"Why would you think that?"

The professor threw his hands up.

"How else would you be able to explain how you went from a stupid, uncaring, lazy student to a genius who's undermined?"

"You don't believe that I could have worked hard and dedicated countless hours to improving?"

"I don't! There's no way you could have done that."

"Then are you calling me a cheater?"

"Yes!"

We both froze after he said that. It seems that the professor answered spontaneously. He obviously didn't choose his words carefully.

"I see…"

I answered without emotion.

"Then I'll take my leave."

Turning around I left out the door and walked behind a nearby wall. It was then that I tapped another button on my watch. A smile crept on my face and I quickly picked up my pace to make it to my next class.

Whatever Mr. Vankay was thinking about was none of my business.

Thankfully, I knew the layout of the school and took a shortcut through a janitor's room to make it to the next class just in the nick of time.

I walked through the door just as the bell rang which marked the start of the class.

Looking around the new room, familiar details stood out to me. Just like before everything I wrote was alive in front of my eyes.

"Lucas shut the door behind you and hurry up and get your equipment."

That was the trios' teacher Miss Smith.

"Yes ma'am."

I did as she instructed and shut the door. Just like Mr. Vankay's, it was a steel door. However, this one was covered in ruins used to protect it.

Although most of the first-year students weren't all that strong it was better to be safe than sorry and have an accident happen.

Therefore all combat classes had ruins on the doors to make sure nothing outside got destroyed.

Walking over to the equipment wall I made my way toward the sword section.

There was an entire wall dedicated to weapons of all kinds to suit any taste.

I passed the bows, the shields, the gauntlets, and the axes before arriving in front of the swords.

There was only one left. I quickly snatched it and went over to a corner to wait.

Luckily Griffin didn't discriminate when it came to weapons. Each tool was made using the same materials and had the same qualities.

So it didn't make a difference that I grabbed the last sword and because of this, there weren't any benefits of grabbing the first.

In the corner, I took a seat and waited. Although I didn't understand how to do anything I at least knew what to do.

Being the author I knew that teams were based on rankings.

The top 333 ranked students would all gather together to be randomly given their teammates.

One person would always be left out. But this was a good thing. Rather than having one person do nothing but sit there, they would train with the professor.

So it was actually better to be the odd one out.

Of course, the top 333 weren't included but that made it even better.

Because the odd one out would always be of lower rank the teaching they got would boost them higher and in turn make the top 333 try harder.

Although there were times people purposely dropped down to get help the chances of them randomly being the odd one out were extremely low.

So most felt it was better to stay higher because by being in the top 333 you got to pick the format of your team.

Starting with the 1st ranking students on down.

They would pick the three classes they wanted for the day.

Of course, there wasn't an even amount so once it got to the late 200's all the bow users were picked, forcing duplicates.

So the 333rd person might end up being a team of all mages or something like that.

But it was all still luck even if team 333 was all mages it might be the 333rd, 334th, and 335th rankers altogether then victory would practically be guaranteed.

While I and the others patiently waited for the top dogs to pick their formats I looked down at my watch.

A couple of buzzes went off when I was answering questions for Mr. Vankay.

It seemed that being a show-off was the way to get stronger.

Unlocking the screen, excitement filled my heart as I read about all the SP I gained.

[You've caused the attention of a professor.]

[+10 SP]

[You've caused the attention of multiple side characters.]

[+30 SP]

[You've etched your name into the mind of the first of many.]

[+100 SP]

[Mr. Vankay will remember your name.]

[+2 SP]

"Wow!"

I gained a bunch of SP and I didn't even have to do all that much. All I did was read what the information told me.

I opened the SP pop-up in the app to check my total.

[SP: 2292]

Satisfied with the low yet gradual increase in SP I turned off my watch just as the last person picked their format.

Then a basket full of papers that had numbers on them went around the rankers and they drew numbers to see who was on whos team.

After a couple of minutes of this people started calling out their teammates.

"639"

"396"

"729"

"1000"

"481"

"993"

"…"

Hearing my number I stood up and walked toward the person who called my name. However, once I saw who it was my heart dropped.

Noah.