Second Draft - Reincarnated Into a Game in Impossible Mode

Ryoshu woke up suddenly. He opened his eyes and saw the students around him startled by his action. They tried to stay away from him and moved to different positions to continue their conversations.

'So I've returned to the real world.'

Besides that, he could sense five other people who had woken up at the same time as him. They were quickly surrounded by background characters.

'I don't even need to look to know they're the main characters...'

A group of people in white clothes that looked like priests approached him. They used Holy power to try to purify him.

'Perhaps they fear that Demon energy has possessed the student? Better safe than sorry. I don't want to be possessed by demons either.'

But another strange thing that happened was that in the middle of the student group, there was a formation of people wearing black.

'Ah... they're the Purification Squad...'

The Purification Squad of the Catholic Church was one of the organizations with power no less than the Royal Family. They had only one goal. That was to destroy all impurity from the evil forces trying to invade the earth.

And the person now was filled with terrifyingly evil Mana currents. Even in the space from earlier, it wasn't this horrifying. His Demon Possession disease had reached its final stages. And thanks to the awakening of the Demon energy, that stage was accelerated much faster.

'Most likely he's at the stage of about to sprout. If we don't eliminate him right now, the disaster then would be immeasurable.'

Demon energy, completely opposite to Holy power, would negatively affect those around and the user themselves. That fake Black Magic had been completely banned by the entire world because of its disgusting nature.

Members of the Purification Squad all wore half black and half white masks on their faces, making it a characteristic of their group. They quickly sealed off the area around the victim and performed a purification ritual.

When Ryoshu thought about it, he felt he had done the right thing. That nameless character would definitely become a demon in the near future. Specifically in the first episode. That kid would cause chaos at the first experiment and there would be quite a few casualties in the class.

So Ryoshu had both fully utilized him for his purposes and eliminated him before he became stronger.

'One arrow hitting two birds... huh?' - But even so, it still left a bitter taste in his mouth.

It wasn't that there was no way to save that harmless kid, but it would be a long time before someone discovered the medicine to cure the Demon Possession disease.

After a priest muttered something, both the person who was about to sprout and the members of the Purification Squad disappeared.

"Oh! They're gone!" "They teleported to their facility to work, what else?" "What you just saw was truly just a spell to seal this location. Because later they still have to clean it several times to ensure the Demon energy has disappeared." "You've seen a lot of this already?" "There have been many such cases lately... but most don't have casualties or severe injuries, so I'm quite used to it."

Ryoshu heard them talking and briefly thought about his future. Later, these kinds of incidents would become much more violent and casualties would not be few at all.

But for now, that villain hadn't started his "grand" plan yet, so he had to take advantage of this time to gain enough strength to confront it first.

'But if I had tried a little harder, I could have completely saved him... yet I even accelerated the sprouting process... But I don't regret it.'

He clenched his fist and tried to keep his mind calm.

'Because that was a necessary sacrifice for me to achieve my goal. From there, I can become strong enough to save the world.'

Headmaster Thomas Oliver didn't appear again but only announced through his Telepathy magic.

"That's all for today, students. The current situation is quite urgent, so the results of the class placement test will be announced on the same day as the opening ceremony, which is tomorrow."

After hesitating for a moment, as if waiting for the connection to reconnect, the headmaster continued instructing his students:

"Now, please go to your dormitories and receive your rooms and uniforms. Try to rest well before the new school year! See you tomorrow, first-year students of Spiral Academy!"

'So the Class Placement test has ended well.'

Or at least Ryoshu thought so until Haruki, the male protagonist, came to stand in front of him and started asking questions.

"Why did you only wake up now? Earlier in the dream, the teacher didn't count you, did he?" - His face showed half concern and half suspicion that Ryoshu might be related to the demon from earlier.

Next to the blue-haired boy were Katia and Alan. They were also looking at him with suspicion.

"Well... I hid on top of your plane and used an invisibility item, and since I don't have Mana, maybe the teacher overlooked me? You didn't notice me up there either, right?"

"Oh... so that's it. Sorry for suspecting you, Ryoshu." - Haruki sighed with relief and bowed his head to apologize.

After that, Haruki and his friends left to continue their conversation. He just waved goodbye to Ryoshu before leaving with his friends.

"Goodbye! See you tomorrow."

Ryoshu didn't react and just left.

The reason he appeared weak was that he still needed to hide his true strength.

And having no Mana was one of the most important things. Because without Mana, he would be less noticeable later. At most, there would be some bullying and threats, but at least his whereabouts and such would still be fine.

Basically, no one cares about someone without Mana. That's even if they become a Star student or not... because people without Mana will be very limited in their potential development. He would easily be forgotten.

'But that's exactly what I need! Standing at the top but not standing out at all. They will think that I just got lucky and will soon forget my existence. Haha!'

Ryoshu laughed inwardly while outwardly showing no expression at all.

Before, he had been very worried about the issue of not having Mana, so he had to go through all sorts of ways to find a way to reverse the situation. But fortunately, because he could still use the game bug, now Ryoshu possessed Mana and his Mana stat had now risen to rank E-, so he could advance to rank E.

But because he still lacked the conditions to advance in rank, Ryoshu was still stuck at the Unranked level.

'But I still have to keep this rank temporarily... at least until the comprehensive ability assessment exam takes place on Monday next week.'

The person he was most worried about right now was Esther White.

'She has witnessed a small part of my true strength.'

"Hey... you."

Suddenly a familiar voice rang out from his right ear.

"Come here now, I have something to ask." - Before he could react, Ryoshu was dragged into a nearby garden.

The garden mainly grew common flowers. But because the Mana density was higher, the flowers had become much more mystical and attractive than normal.

"What are you doing to me, Esther... you don't even address yourself as 'I-you' like before?"

Ryoshu wasn't angry, but he didn't like being dragged like an object like that.

"Because I'm wondering..."

She hesitated briefly and then asked:

"Who are you? Are you the Ryoshu I used to know???"

For a brief moment, Ryoshu's heart truly stopped.

'Why does she know?! I thought the character I'm controlling is just a character with a bit of connection to the main character...?'

Although thinking like that, he still immersed himself in his role. He pushed Esther's hand aside and began to mock her:

"Let go of me. Talking nonsense. Your head has enough material to grow an entire ancient tree."

Her forehead wrinkled with anger.

"W-what!? You trash dare to insult me?"

But Ryoshu was not to be outdone and played the escaping card as soon as possible.

"If there's nothing else, I'll take my leave. Goodbye, my lady!"

When she saw that he was about to run away, she tried to catch him.

"Hey, stop right there!"

But with his quick reflexes, he dodged to one side and only spoke to her in a cold tone.

"No."

After seeing her failure, Esther had no intention of stopping him again. Ryoshu didn't care about that either and returned to the dormitory path again.

"Then let me ask one last question..."

Ryoshu suddenly stopped because that voice in an instant no longer carried an imposing tone, but it was more like a plea.

He turned around in amazement and saw that her red eyes were already wet inside. It was as if just one more sentence would make her actually cry.

'Oh no... don't, Esther.'

His heart suddenly constricted painfully. Because he understood better than anyone what she was about to say next.

"Why are you so strong despite not having any Mana-"

"I-"

She had broken the custom of a noble. And more than that, she was the daughter of the White family. Esther bowed her head before a commoner like him.

"Show me the secret, will you? J-just the method would be fine."

In the minds of both people at this moment were unprecedented chaos. The beautiful garden also wilted as if they were watching a tragedy.

Ryoshu went close to her. Each of his steps was like each of the girl's heartbeats. It was steady and becoming calmer with each beat.

Esther, who had been bowing her head, looked up out of curiosity.

But as soon as she looked up, the first thing she felt was a gentle hand placed on her head. That action seemed to prevent her from seeing that person's face.

"You... have potential. But you're still too suppressed by the opinions and expectations of those around you. Normally I wouldn't say this. But I also want you to try to make the most of your special abilities. I believe you can do something innovative rather than just this."

"But-"

"That's all I can say. The person who decides how to use the power, after all, is still you. Only Esther White can decide things related to herself."

"But even though you don't have Mana, you still-"

"Esther White, I have no future."

She raised her head high and looked at Ryoshu's sad face.

After all, Ryoshu wasn't wrong. His future compared to the main characters... or the villains, he was nothing. They were already stronger than him, and they would become even stronger in a very short time.

Ryoshu was the one who had to always strive harder to be able to keep up with the progress of the main characters.

Esther didn't say anything more and just turned her face away.

"Esther!"

She didn't turn back but just stopped, as if she had allowed him to continue. Ryoshu didn't hesitate at all and said:

"Haruki likes strong and personable girls!"

"H-Haruki has n-nothing to do with this c-conversation!!!" - Her face started to emit smoke.

"Now you're willing to turn back and look at me? Is it simply because you like him?"

And now it was her turn for her face to turn as red as a gac fruit.

"W-what?! How do you know that?!"

"And you're back to addressing me as 'I-you' again?" - Ryoshu changed the subject again.

She was silent for a moment before speaking again. But this time Esther turned her face elsewhere to avoid his gaze.

"About Charlotte... I apologize to you a lot. Perhaps you've been through a lot during that heartbroken time... And thank you for helping me in the dream just now and also..."

"Why are you being so long-winded?"

He felt quite happy inside to be able to interrupt her.

'This counts as revenge, huh?'

Esther didn't speak more about that issue. She turned to look at him with a very irritated face:

"I've reconsidered... I still don't like you one bit."

Ryoshu was quite surprised by that unexpected cuteness. But he couldn't let her win!

"But I don't like you either?"

"I didn't ask for your opinion! Hmph!"

After ending the conversation, Esther immediately ran out of the garden. Now the garden began to have more life again. Ryoshu stood alone in the middle, but on his face was a very small smile.

"At least she's more spirited now."