Shower Thought Phenomenon

(Third Person Pov)

Why? He would have died anyway so why would it matter if he gained a skill or not?

Noah couldn't help but wonder, to him his actions were useless. If he will die what point was to in any of it?

Thinking so, Noah sighed and proceeded to pull out his cheese hamburger to eat.

And that actions of his prompted eyes on him, after all, Noah is sitting in the front row seat!

Noah looked towards others and they averted their gazes, still taking subtle glances, and then he remembered what Laura had just announced, he would have to fight against them all.

Noah turned himself toward the other students' direction, and now even Laura was looking at him.

He then slowly put the red sauce on his cheese hamburger and then took a bite, slowly chewing it before gulping it down.

Then he slowly brought his thumb on his lips, wiping the traces of sauce, as he wiped his thumb clean of the sauce with his tongue, after that, he moved like he had before, facing straight while he continued to eat his cheese hamburger.

This guy's been fucking them over since yesterday...

Laura thought as she enjoyed the reactions of the students.

Some were flabbergasted, while some had quite concerned looks on their faces, and some were shaking a little in their seats... and then there was Elinalise, drooling.

"Listen up, about the skills and arts..."

Laura continued to explain while Noah focused on eating as he thought.

Lucy seems to be doing fine for someone who almost died yeste-

It was then that it hit him.

Like those shower thoughts that suddenly occur to you, things you realize all of a sudden that you haven't despite having the answer in front of you all the time.

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A person who stands at the top can bully the person beneath them.

A person who stands at the top can try to help the person beneath them.

A person who stands at the top can commit atrocities.

A person who stands at the top can stop atrocities.

People who wield power over others, absolute power, can act however they please. When asked why they did it, their answer would be simple.

Because they can.

They can do it so they did.

Or maybe, they do it to cure their boredom with their everyday lives and find some entertainment in it.

And that was all there was to it.

Nothing more, nothing less.

That is how observers and the higher beings are, when the second plot begins, some provide help and some create hurdles.

In other words, the resident of the world became a simple form of entertainment for those who have power beyond what any mortal could hope to achieve in their life.

But was that truly all?

Noah thought while he ate his cheese hamburger while listening to Laura in the classroom who was talking about the kind of skills, arts, weapons, and the stuff that the academy could reward them with.

Noah held no interest in the talk, all those things were useless to him besides if he really needed something he could just steal it whenever.

For now, his thoughts were occupied with other things.

This was something Noah had wondered about before.

What if the people in the world were just free laborers who were given level 0 skills and were used to raise the skills level and other stuff? It's known that skills that you acquire by going through experience take a lot of time but what if the truth was that the natural ability that they acquired was being turned into a skill?

Noah didn't know if this was true or not but he believed it probably was because of what Noah had asked of the system.

In other words, those observers do have an objective.

Noah recalled the words Lia had told to him when he had simply asked if he could ask her as a reward.

"...Well, actually it is possible. But I will need to resign from my job and once I resign I will lose all my powers. I will end up being a tiny 30 cm girl who is powerless, oh but I will be able to provide a lot of knowledge to you. You are just a human, my knowledge will definitely be useful to you~"

Crap. 

Noah thought.

Noah had known, he had felt in his gut the moment after he had met her, that something was wrong.

And now he was slowly putting together the pieces of all the scattered information.

Noah had met with people like her. He had seen people like her and he was awfully familiar with them.

That's why, Noah understood the underlying meaning behind her words. What she had essentially said back then was simple,

"Prove it to me that it would be worth betraying my colleagues for you."

Of course, she would turn into a powerless 30 cm weak girl whose only worth would be her knowledge when her colleagues find out about her betrayal.

There was no questioning it, Lia wants to fucking destroy her own side of the team for reasons only known to her but of course, her offer was still quite something else for someone she had just met.

How could she think I had been useful when we had just met?

Why did she give me that potion in the name of personal reward?

Why? Noah would have died anyway so why would it matter if he gained a skill or not? Why did he bother himself worrying about such stuff?

"System-san, tell me, what's the backup plan for when I am dead for Lucy's safety that I told you"

Noah mumbled in a quiet voice.

Even if he dies he will make sure she can live her life without any worries

Noah had reached that conclusion. To him, Lucy is important more than anything, just like she is to Noah.

[You didn't]

One shouldn't trust their assumptions if they seem reasonable. Assumptions are quite a dangerous thing.

Damn it.

The only information Noah had found in the home was about the time limit Noah had.

And the rest was something Noah had assumed.

Lia and Noah knew each other.

Lia had shown interest in him from the beginning, Lia had acted like they met the first time but that was probably a hoax they had already talked about.

The reason for Lia's interest in Noah was probably how active he had become in her eyes by taking action more aggressively.

Or maybe, because Noah started showing characteristics that she had once thought he lacked and now was totally over the moon.

Regardless, Noah was sure Lia didn't realize that he was someone completely different which at least proved that Lia and Noah weren't too close.

But what concerned Noah was something else.

If they knew each other then that would mean, Noah had been to a hidden dungeon

Before he transmigrated in this world, 17 hidden dungeons had been attempted and 7 were failures.

No, I shouldn't make any assumptions again.

Shaking his head, Noah finished his cheese hamburger as he looked at Laura who just said something which of course was result of the butterfly effect.

I will say it again, but isn't the pace becoming a bit too fast? Wasn't this supposed to happen after the 1st semester?

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"Let's talk about the important stuff related to your upcoming evaluation. You will be divided into 5 teams, 4 of these teams will have 5 students each. Noah, you are a team all on your own"

Noah gave a thumbs up in response.

"Every once in two weeks, your class will be entering the dungeon, and depending on your hunts and the resources you bring from the dungeon, we will evaluate you. I will be accompanying you all, so don't worry."

It was well known that dungeon grinding helped with raising one's rank faster than usual training.

The problem however was that students could not enter the dungeons.

Sending students to the dungeon was something this academy does, it's just that the normal classes are sent to the dungeon after their 1st year ends.

And this academy provided that opportunity to the students who normally wouldn't be able to enter the dungeon.

Of course, to enter the dungeon one has to first pass the mental fortitude test conducted by the academy and if they fail to pass the exam within 10 attempts, well, they can kiss their academy life goodbye.

At any rate, the students of the special class didn't have to wait till their next year.

And the fact that all of them were present in the classroom despite what happened yesterday already spoke of their mental fortitude.

But of course, it was a dungeon they were entering, in other words, they would be putting their lives on the line.

"By the end of the day, you will know about your assigned team. Train and prepare yourself as much as you can so that you won't die in the dungeon, there's no barrier inside the dungeon, you will really die if you are not careful"

"You said we don't need to worry since you are accompanying us?" Max asked feeling a bit nervous.

"Unfortunate incidents aren't something I have any control over" Laura's reply made other students grimace, it was evident they didn't like her words.

"Make sure you don't end up last as the team in the class. The penalty for that would be you being put on the cleaning duty of the entire X and Y block of the academy until your next dungeon evaluation, also 25% percent of your AP that you will receive next month will also be taken away."

"Did you just say cleaning duty of entire two blocks!?" it was Aleister who asked unable to believe what he just heard.

"Did I stutter?" Laura lightly shook her head.

Aleister had a stupefied face, just like others in the class.

Cleaning the entire X and Y block every day was no joke.

"So, what will the winning team get?" Allen asked

"There's no winning team ..." Laura sighed and then continued "The team who will be evaluated with the highest grade will receive a 10% increase in their AP. Also, the monster cores, mana stones, or whatever you get your hands on, you can either keep it to yourself or decide to sell it to the academy in return for the AP or cash, whichever you prefer. Not like cash is important to you here" Laura said.

It was.

Sure, they can't leave academy grounds but they can send parcels to their loved ones.

In other words, they can send cash to their family.

Ketharine found the information quite useful and felt motivated, it wasn't only her but Allen too was now interested.

When it comes to money, he is always serious.

"Um... The professor yesterday in class said that our class and rank determine the special privileges we can receive, and one of them is to be able to leave the academy grounds. Do we have that privilege? If not then how do I obtain it?" It was Ashly who had asked the question.

"That privilege belongs to Noah alone. If you want it, take up his spot as the first ranker." 

"...I see, so there's no such privilege"

"Anyways, you all, it's time for the class to end. Check up your phones, all the information is provided there. Remember, the rules for you people are different than the rules we have for the students from other classes. You are part of the special class now and I am your homeroom teacher for the next 3 years. All I want from you lot is for you to do your best to not fucking die. That's all"

If the earlier announcement about their evaluation related to going to the dungeon wasn't enough, this was.

Her words confirmed they would have to put their lives on the line, again and again.

It was at the end of the first semester when the first big event happened and for the first time, these guys were confronted with a situation where their lives were on the line, and from the second semester beginning they were ...well, their classes went on hard mode.

Noah thought realizing that things had changed.

They will be putting their lives on the line from the start, and of course, they will be growing stronger, faster than they did in the novel.

The problem was, that the risk of their survival also increased that much.

While Noah didn't care about them, he was still more focused on the second part of the novel and preparing himself for it. After all, it was the second part which Noah hadn't read about and ...also the most dangerous one.

He had intended to leave everything in the hands of the main cast to deal with the first part as they had done in the novel.

Sure Noah had made the Demon kind of a bit aggressive but ...it would work out, he thought.

The point was, there were still lots of things that happened in the academy and all those problems and events have a need to be dealt with, someone has to deal with them.

So, to Noah, the main cast's existence was important. Their existence made sure Noah can have all the free time to prepare himself with the shit he wants to instead of wasting his time on annoying events, incidents, or whatever you want to call them that are going to happen.

I will say it again, this is all a fucking hassle.