Status Conversion

The moment it became clear that Monaka had used Healing on me, the new students erupted into an uproar.

Weiss’s eyes widened to their limits behind his glasses, his whole body trembling.

“T-that’s impossible…!? Why would Monaka-san give it to Leopin…!? That Healing was supposed to be meant for me…!?”

My classmates from Class 1-20 gathered around Weiss.

“Hey, Weiss, what the hell did you do!?”

“Why did you expel Leopin-kun so fast!?”

“If Leopin had stayed in our class, those ten million would’ve been ours!”

“That’s the worst! Take responsibility and revoke the expulsion!”

Grinding his back teeth, Weiss glared at his classmates.

“You all agreed too, didn’t you!? Besides, there’s no way we can revoke an expulsion at this point!”

As the members of Class 1-20 argued loudly, two female students rushed toward us, their faces pale.

One wore her hair in a ponytail, with a white chest guard over her uniform; the other had blunt bangs hidden beneath a black hood.

The pair, apparently attendants, flanked Monaka like light and shadow and began scolding her.

“Monaka-sama! A Saint’s first Healing is said to bring tremendous blessings, you know!? And yet you gave it to some nobody like that!?”

“Nin. If it were the first of someone as exalted as Monaka-sama, countless figures of power would pay mountains of gold for it. To bestow something so precious upon a nobody who looks good for nothing but soup stock—utterly absurd.”

“Onesuko-san, Shinobuko-san!? Leo-kun is not a nobody! To me, he is a white horse…! No, the prince who rides upon it—”

Monaka’s words were cut off as Onesuko and Shinobuko grabbed her hands.

“We have been appointed as Monaka-sama’s overseers!”

“Nin. From now on, you must not act on your own.”

Dragged along by the black-and-white duo, Monaka was taken back into the crowd of new students.

The yes-man vice principal, who had looked utterly shell-shocked on the stage, finally snapped back to his senses.

“O-ohhem! Order! Silence, please! Monaka-san’s prize was merely given as an example—we were never actually going to award it!”

However, when jeers pointed out that he was still holding the certificate labeled ‘Monaka-san Lovey-Dovey Prize’, he hurriedly hid it behind his back.

“M-more importantly! Thanks to the generous support of our sponsors, there are many other prizes as well! So if you excel during your academy life, you’ll rake in prize money galore! Also, your academy lives will be broadcast across the world through magical devices! As the very first students of the Royal Pioneer Academy, conduct yourselves with dignity! With that, today’s entrance ceremony is—!”

“Wait.”

The principal, who had been standing beside the vice principal, shoved him aside and stepped forward.

After sweeping a stern gaze across all the new students except me, he spoke.

“There is just one final thing I shall say to you all! What I desire are golden eggs…! Students who make sponsors pour money like water are good students! Those who do not produce money are failures…!”

The principal paused and looked directly at me.

With eyes full of hatred, as though staring at an unwanted stepchild.

“I will crush such rotten eggs without mercy, so prepare yourself…!”

After the entrance ceremony ended, a lavish breakfast buffet—said to have been provided by a major tavern—was served.

When I was told there was none for the Special Training Class, I left the venue ahead of everyone else.

Outside the castle that served as the school building, untouched plains and forests stretched as far as the eye could see.

From now on, we new students would attend the academy while developing this land.

There were no dormitories or cafeterias.

Aside from basic starting equipment for each class, everything else had to be self-sustained.

We were supposed to survive by cooperating with our classmates, and at times even joining forces with other classes.

“But I’m… all alone.”

Those sent to the Special Training Class were ignored by everyone.

Living on one’s own was nearly impossible, so those who fell there usually gave up quickly.

Feeling a faint despair, I opened my status window.

The despair pressed down on me like a heavy weight.

“Even looking at it again… this is awful. There’s zero sense of future potential…”

No matter how bad someone’s stats were, they could at least become something like a Garbage Collector.

But mine were apparently so terrible that I couldn’t even qualify for that lowest-tier class.

“And the skill even has ‘poor’ in the name… It’s like it’s predicting my future.”

With a sigh, I touched the Jack-of-All-Trades skill and expanded its skill tree.

There were three skills listed.

When I touched a skill name, a description window appeared in the status display.

“What is this skill? We never learned about anything like this in middle school.”

I decided to try using Dexterous Body.

As I focused and thought, ‘Dexterity, become Vitality…!’

MP dropped by 1, Dexterity dropped by 100, and it turned into Vitality…! HP even increased…!?

“N-no way…!? If this status is real, isn’t this skill insanely powerful…!?”

Still half in disbelief, I converted more Dexterity into other stats.

Suddenly, my sharpened Five Senses picked up a voice howling like the wind.

“Ahh, I’m stuffed! …Oh, look, there’s trash outside the castle! Let’s play a game to work it off! Whoever shoots that guy with an arrow wins! I’ll go first…!”

…Shooooo!

Sensing the whistling air, I reflexively raised my hand.

The arrow flying straight for my head—

…GASHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIN!

—was caught barehanded.

An unbelievable reaction, even to myself.

But the one who had aimed at me from the castle was wearing an even more unbelievable expression.

“N-no way!? That trash caught the arrow!?”

“That’s impossible! He’s not some martial arts master…!”

On the balcony of the entrance ceremony hall, the male Archer students were panicking.

I slowly wound up with the arrow I had caught…

“Here’s it back!”

I shouted, hurling it in a gouging underhand throw.

…BISHUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUN!

The arrow flew back like a beam of light and slammed straight through the wall behind its owner with a THUD!

Unable to move a single step, they collapsed with screams.

“H-hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!?”

“H-he threw it back!? From that distance, he threw the arrow back!?”

“D-don’t be stupid! That’s at least 200 meters!

That’s a distance you couldn’t reach without Archery skills, and he threw it barehanded…!”

“A-a monstereeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!?!”