I reincarnated as one of the Three Stooges in a fantasy world.

Chapter 7

Limit Breaker?

Huff... Huff... I still can't stop...

Enrico was running around the dormitory. It was around 3 a.m. He ran for 15 minutes, rested for 5, then ran another 15.

"Training... huff... at this time is best because everyone's asleep... huff... and the guards only show up... huff... every 40 minutes..."

He stopped and drank a bottle of water to catch his breath.

[Isn't this training a bit extreme? You're only sleeping 4 hours a day. That could harm your body.]

"I have to do this if I want to at least reach the potential of the main characters. This is a training Tolen will do in the future, and it's explained that when you're constantly at your limit, your body can go one of two ways—it either breaks or evolves. If it evolves, you enter a state called limit break."

[But there's a chance it'll go wrong, right?]

"Ninety-five percent chance it'll go bad. But if I succeed, my growth potential will increase. The only problem is you never know when it might happen."

In the original story, Tolen did this training out of desperation not to fall behind, and he was constantly in danger because his body was always tired. He stayed in that state for three months.

But even after reaching the "limit break" state, he still had to overcome that limit. To do so, he had to get past the mental toll. He had to stay strong for two more weeks before his growth potential finally increased.

"It's time to go back. I'll rest for about thirty minutes and then return to training and get ready for the academy."

[Train, sleep four hours, train, go to the academy, study, eat, train, eat again, try not to look too different from the original by hanging out with Serenya and the other two, and then train again… your life is kind of sad.]

"Why do I feel like you're trying to annoy me?"

---

Walking to the academy after getting ready, Enrico thought about those three. "Strange… in the original story, it was written that they treated Enrico as the weakest of the three, but since last Sunday, they've been treating me better than I expected."

[Maybe it's because you showed up all beat up from your 'visit' to your family.]

He nodded in agreement.

'That makes sense. Maybe they're not such bad people after all.'

"Ugh!"

"Who do you think you are, dirtying my clothes, peasant?"

Serenya kicked a pink-haired girl in the stomach who was on the ground while Elian and Caelan laughed behind her.

[Pff]

'I take back what I said.'

Elian saw Enrico.

"Enrico, come quick. Looks like our leader found a new toy."

Enrico simply wanted to go and tell them off, but remembered he had to fake a slow change so no one would suspect him. 'Calm down, I just need to wait a bit longer.'

"What happened?"

Caelan raised an eyebrow.

"This girl was running without looking and bumped into Lady Malquess. What's wrong? You're usually the first to pick on anyone who causes problems for our leader."

Enrico looked at Serenya, who stared back. He saw the pink-haired girl on the ground crying in pain. 'I should at least try to make a subtle change.'

"Of course, if she disrespected Lady Malquess, I would go after her. But I feel like this is childish."

Serenya narrowed her eyebrows, and the two behind her flinched.

"What do you mean by that? Are you saying I'm childish?"

"I'm sorry, ma'am, but if she did it unintentionally and apologized, then as the great noble you are, surely you would forgive her—and that would show your maturity."

Serenya and the others stared, and Serenya stammered a little.

"W-what? Maturity? Is that how we're supposed to treat peasants?"

"Actually, after visiting my parents' house and being treated badly, I thought, 'Is this how the people I mistreated felt?' So I started to respect more the nobles who treat peasants as equals. I thought it would show how mature you are."

Serenya paused, looked at Enrico, then at the girl on the ground, and puffed out her chest.

"O-of course! I'm an adult, so this is easy for me. Hey, peasant, as an apology for this incident, I'll give you some compensation, so wait."

Elian and Caelan immediately joined Serenya.

"Yes, yes, we forgive you this time."

"Be more careful next time. The next ones might not be as kind as us."

Enrico made a face like a master manipulator. 'Heh, how easy it is to manipulate these idiots.'

[You're good at stroking people's egos.]

The three turned away after helping the girl up, who looked confused. Enrico looked at the pink-haired girl. 'Her eyes are pink too. I've never seen a character with pink eyes besides the evil goddess Eris, but Eris has completely dark hair.'

Enrico looked at the number on her uniform. Her rank was 240—the last place in the academy. 'She'll be eliminated in about two months.'

The first year is divided into eight classes with thirty students each, and they're ranked from best to worst performance:

Class S: Ranks 1–30

Class A: 31–60

Class B: 61–90

Class C: 91–120

Class D: 121–150

Class E: 151–180

Class F: 181–210

Class G: 211–240

What happens is that an entire class is eliminated from the academy every few months. If two classes are disappointing that month, both get eliminated. By the end of the year, only classes S through D remain, with half of class D being eliminated, since only 100 students move on to the next year. The three professors in charge of each eliminated class go back to being regular mages and return the following year to teach again.

Students can escape elimination by climbing in rank, challenging and defeating higher-ranked students. The same goes for teachers. If they want to continue teaching, they challenge professors from higher classes and take their place.

[That's a tough life for them.]

'That's how this school produces the strongest in the continent.'

Enrico picked up the girl's backpack, placed it in her hand, and she trembled a little in fear.

"Take care, girl. And look ahead so you don't have problems with idiots again."

"Enrico, come on!"

Enrico ran when Serenya called from afar, and the girl looked at his back.

"He's different than they said."

---

The days seemed to pass quickly. He trained constantly, paid attention in Professor Virelle's class—who smiled—talked with Serenya, Elian, Caelan, and then Saturday arrived, the day he had to ask Tolen Rusk for advice. He walked quickly to the library where Tolen spent hours.

Enrico opened the door and saw Tolen alone, reading a book. 'Great, there's no one else but him. Okay, don't seem too kind, but don't be a jerk either.'

Tolen was deeply focused on the book and didn't notice a shadow approaching. 'I understood this part, but with my mana I can't pull it off… Damn, it would be so good…'

Someone sat in front of him with a scary smile—it was Enrico Solcren Ferreira.

"Hello, my friend. I'd like you to teach me a few things."

His smile was demonic, and he had always been afraid of those three who followed Serenya, since her family's power could destroy him instantly. He always knew Enrico targeted people, and it seemed he was the current target—so he fainted and collapsed.

"Hey, what happened? Why did you faint? Wake up! If someone sees this, what are they going to say about me?"

[Oops, sorry, I took too long—wait, are you committing a crime? Can I join in?]

Enrico had his hands on Tolen's shoulders, trying to lift him.

"Of course not."