Laughter spilled like the wine from the upperclassmen. Cutlery clinked against porcelain.
Students from every corner of the kingdom and beyond, each bearing their own uniqueness, ethnicity, traditions, and stories. As Isaac predicted, the emotional intelligence of this world was much higher than that of not only the original story, but Earth as well.
His burden of proof is the fact that everyone is getting along too well. They share their dreams and ideals from their native regions. There is a surprising lack of racism even between the students whose races had controversies before.
Most prevalently?
EAA Royal were fucking bitches and bums.
So the only explanation of how they are already garnering and befriending such a vast amount of students is the fact that they are smarter, if not more friendly.
Even if an increase in oxytocin (the empathy hormone) results in more social interactions, the basis on which Oxytoxin acts is on the state of cognition of the individual.
That being empathetic and intelligent enough to accept and converse.
The presence and apparent friendliness of Lady Celeste and Princess Anzhelika have caused a sweep of the Esyphyr Table, ladies admiring and boys crushing.
Like bro…
You fucking insulted us, commoners in the past.
I remember when you purposely asked for more space because you didnt want a commoner in your interpersonal distance, Celeste.
Unless you're faking it, then you shouldn't be laughing with us but at us, no?
Jeez.
Intellectual / Emotional divergence.
Lowew Class Clause-Constructs flickered in the air like fireflies, harmless incantations traded between peers, displays of raw talent masquerading as play.
The scene was intoxicating in its warmth and harmony. For a moment, Isaac almost allowed himself to believe in it.
Almost.
But beneath the mirth, the truth pressed against his thoughts like a blade slitting his neck.
The narrative had shifted 100%, there are a lot of threads tangled where once they ran straight.
The story was alive, yes, but alive in the way a wound festers. If left unattended, it would spread, rot the foundation, and consume everything.
He could not afford to forget.
Not here, not now. No matter how bright the hall seemed, his purpose was not to bask in borrowed light. His role was to find the fracture and set it right, before this world collapsed under the weight of its own deviations.
What makes it even harder are the three new teachers, characters who never existed in EAA.
These three wild cards, their motives, and their influence are completely unknown to me.
How will they shape events? How will they alter the fates of the main cast? The economic and political side of the world? I'm sure that as teachers of EIMA, they have a great deal of influence on the world-building.
But now was the time to act.
Isaac could no longer allow himself to be lulled by the warmth of laughter and firelight. The story's current was shifting, its flow diverted by choices and coincidences that should never have been. He had to solidify the true course of the EA, to ensure the narrative unfolded as it was meant to.
At its heart, EAA was nothing grander than a poorly-stitched classic:
An adventure-academic story, full of predictable plot points, stock characters, and the shallow promise of growth through trial following the main cast, Caelum Veldt (The Dramatis Personae), Princess Sephalyn Veledônia (The First Heroine), Princess Turaiya Elenos (The Second Heroine), and Princess Anzhelika Knyagatyrsk (The Third Heroine) across ten defining Acts.
As for today, I'm in Act I: The Corrupted Professor.
In this Act, a certain someone on stage with Headmaster Orthellius will stab the entire academy in the back. Sent by a cult in an attempt to sow the seeds of doubt inside the academy. The professor will set up a ploy in the field expedition into the Stormbreak Spiral, leaving the cast stranded in the iron helix.
Specifically, I'm in Arc I: Orientation Arc. I'll have to do the Magical Classification Assessment Test and the school tour.
Tsk…
But as always, fate has her certain way of screwing with Isaac. For he had remembered a crucial detail blurted out by the Headmaster himself upon their first interaction.
Fucking hell, my real problem isn't the Magic, the politics, or even the fact that three extra NPC's have been dumped into this world like some bum.
No!
It's the Goddamn words that keep ringing in my head after being uttered by that bitch-ass Headmaster!
Cultivator?
Vidvān??
Esoteric Kabbalist???
MOTHERFUCKER.
These fucking terms thrown around by Orthellius sting my ass like a damn hairpin.
Originally, EAA was a high fantasy, single-player RPG game based solely on Magic and a little bit of science / decent world-building.
Yet here.
It seems that somewhere beyond the borders of Veledônia, Elenos, and Knyagatyrsk, there's an entire kingdom, maybe multiple new kingdoms that rely on the fiction of OTHER STORIES.
Where people treat ascending to Godhood like it's a fucking career path!
Where people have 6 arms and the wrath of damn Asura!!
Where people drink potions and perform divinations like some Fool!!!
Because that's what this shit means!
WHY THE FUCK IS THERE 3 EXTRA POWER SYSTEMS???
Cultivation???
A practice ripped straight out of ancient Taoist texts, where self-proclaimed "immortals" spend centuries sitting on mountaintops, hoarding Qi like misers with gold, grinding their way toward fuckass enlightenment like it's some kind of spiritual sigma grindset.
Breakthroughs. Tribulations. Core formations.
All that pretentious bullshit.
Whatever the fuck this Hinduist Power System is???
Instead of grinding Qi, you're climbing the endless ladder of dharmic bureaucracy, where every rebirth is basically a patch update from the cosmic devs.
Karma is your EXP system, except it's rigged, because apparently that ant you squashed last life is now docking you enlightenment points, hell, it could even be a future reincarnation of YOU!
Want powers?
Fine, go fucking cultivate tapas by starving, fasting, or standing on one leg until the Gods get so impressed, or annoyed, they hand you boons like cheat codes.
Do you think Daoist lightning tribulations are bad???
Try pissing off Indra mid-meditation and catching divine thunderbolts as he tests whether you're worthy of your new ascension.
And…
OHHHH DONT FUCKING GET ME STARTED ON FUCKING ESOTERICISM???
Esotericism is like the early access beta of every religion's DLC, except the patch notes are written in riddles, reversed Latin, and whatever fucking fever dream the mystic had during a three-day fast into an orgy session.
You want enlightenment?
First, memorize seventy-two correspondences between planets, colors, and bodily fluids, then chant them backwards while facing northeast at exactly 3:33 AM on a waning moon for a luck enhancement ritual.
Alchemy? Tarot? Kabbalah? Hermeticism?
It's all the same damn shit of "hidden wisdom" where half the power is convincing your cult.
Ahem. Ahem.
Church, that you actually know what the squiggly divination symbol means.
But funny.
Nobody does! ONLY THE DAMN OUTER GODS OF YOUR SEFIROTS!
The real breakthrough isn't turning lead into gold, it's turning confusion into authority by Sephirots!
And don't forget the initiation rituals, because apparently enlightenment comes with a cover charge.
You want the Big Secret?
Sorry, bro, you're stuck in a pocket dimension. YES POCKET DIMENSION until you cough up both a piece of history and YOUR SELF RESPECT MOTHERFU一
FUCKING HELL!!!
GIVE ME A DAMN BREAK!!!
I'M SICK OF THIS SHIT MAN!!!
…
…
Raging on the inside, yet showing a casual smile for the rest of the Esyphyr Students on the outside.
Isaac Mun, a nerd who used to fuck up (there's no other way to put it) classmates in high school for arguing against his thesis papers back when he was on Earth.
He knew how to fight by the rules of boxing, with the addition of the dirtiness of the streets, kicked their nuts, pinched and twisted their tits, shoved his hand, and pulled their cheeks.
If he knew it, might as well use it fully.
After all, nothing's worse than being someone who you know that, out there, someone can out-speak, out-fight, and out-wit you.
He was called Mr. Crashout for that exact reason.
And it seems he has carried it into this world, too.
I pray for the inhabitants.
…
Inhale.
Hhhhhh…
Exhale.
Haaaah…
Inhale.
Hhhhhh…
Exhale.
Haaaah…
And now these powers and cultures?
It's here. The amalgamation of multiple other stories with EAA.
A conglomerate gangbang of a story.