The Kingdom of Astonia, in a modest home tucked away in a quiet village, a baby cried in its mothers arms.
The mother, a kind woman with tired eyes and a warm smile, held the newborn close to her chest, rocking him gently as she sang him a song.
Tears streamed down her face, joy, relief, all that sappy stuff.
"My little Andy," she whispered, kissing his forehead. The father, a farmer, stood by her, watching in joy and awe.
Andy Noon, yeah, (he kept his first name), blinked up at the blurry world. Or at least, that's what it felt like in his mind.
Memories flooded back almost immediately. The stab wound, he blood, Nene's crying face the darkness.
And now... this? A baby's body? Tiny hands, helpless cries he couldn't control yet vlassic isekai bullshit that he hated to watch with Nene.
But he kept quiet about it. Literally he couldn't talk anyway.
As months turned to years, his mother taught him everything. The language of Astonia, some flowy fantasy tongue that sounded like bad English with extra flair.
The Culture, festivals for harvest gods, knights and dragons stories, magic being real and everywhere.
Traditions, bowing to nobles, eating weird glowing fruits for mana or whatever.
Andy retained every detail from his old life. New York streets, anime rants from Nene, that party he never made it to.
It made learning the new stuff weird sometimes, mixing up words, confusing Thanksgiving with some harvest festival.
But he managed eventually ,he pretended to be a normal kid, babbling at the right times, walking when expected.
Inside, though? He was screaming or laughing. It was hard to tell.
Years passed quick. Like, montage quick, Andy grew up noticing things fast. People in this world... weren't the sharpest.
Kids his age struggled with basic reading, simple math that any third-grader back on earth would've aced.
And get this, the whole adventurer ranking system? Tied to "basic education."
Pass toddler-level tests on letters, numbers, history and boom, higher rank, better guild access, more magic privileges.
Andy could ace it all blindfolded, who wouldn't really. From a young age, he felt the mana flowing easy, spells coming natural.
He was a prodigy, hidden under lazy habits. But why bother? Effort sounded exhausting.
Genius classes full of stuck-up kids grinding daily? No thanks. He tanked tests on purpose, doodled instead of studying, yawned through lessons.
He ended up in the Failure Class at the prestigious Royal Magic Academy. F-rank forever. Perfect place to to rot away.
Now 17, Andy slouched in the back of the Failure Class classroom.
The room was dim, old wooden desks scratched up, windows dusty.
The teacher, a mousy D-rank woman named Ms. Elara, droned on about multiplication.
"Now class, remember: seven times eight is..."
Andy wasn't listening. Head propped on his hand, black short hair messy, brown eyes half-closed.
He knew this crap ages ago. Why pay attention, his male classmates, a bunch of hopeless dudes snoring or staring blankly, weren't really worth glancing at.
But the girls... yeah, the Failure Class was stacked with curvy disasters who couldn't spell their own names half the time.
Then Ms. Elara clapped her hands. "Surprise pop quiz, everyone! To check your progress."
The whole class groaned loud. Papers got passed out, simple stuff: multiplication tables, basic mana theory mixed with math.
To Andy, it was baby food. To the others....hell on parchment. An hour dragged by, cratching quills, confused whispers, a few quiet cries.
Andy filled in wrong answers on purpose, missed easy ones, got a couple "right" by accident. Perfect fail.
Ms. Elara collected the papers, marked them quick with her little red quill. Scores announced one by one.
"Andy Noon... 3%. Improvement from last time!" Ms . Elara said, giving him a thumbs up.
He smirked inside, better than 0%, keeps suspicions low, that was great.
Most guys got single digits too. But then, the familiar words came from Ms. Elara's mouth "Vivian Frostblade... zero. Again."
Vivian slammed her fist on the desk, the dark elf beauty glared at her paper like it personally insulted her family.
Long black hair whipping as she turned, green eyes flashing anger. Dark skin flawless, body curved in all the right ways under the academy uniform.
Class queen for a reason, rude, cruel, bitchy attitude, but damn, forgivable with looks like that.
Born into high dark elf blood, but parents downgraded or something. She refused to admit that she just... wasn't smart.
Blamed the tests, the teachers, everything else.
Classic bitch behavior.
The old bells rings loudly across the academy, students shuffling out. Andy lingered, packing slow.
Vivian stayed too, muttering to herself in the empty-ish room. "Stupid quiz... unfair questions... I'll show them..."
She crumpled her zero paper, tossing it at the trash and missing.
Andy walked over casually , he leaned down to pick up her test paper.
He placed it on her desk, looking down with that cold, lazy stare.
"Failed again, Frostblade, thats just sad" he said.
She snapped her head up, glaring harder. "Shut up, i don't need your pitty fool, get lost!! besides you failed too!!." She says.
He shrugged, folding his arms. "I got 3%. You got zero. We are not the same... " he told her.
Vivian stood up and grabbed him by the collar of his shirt, lifting him above the ground.
"I should rip your tongue out for such nonsense." She threatened.
"Listen, i just want to help you study enough to pass next test. Make you look better." He said.
Vivian let him go and crossed her arms, pushing up her chest accidentally. "And why would you help me, Andy Noon?"
"Cuz I'm bored. And..." his eyes flicked down quick, then looked up.
"And i don't you'll give favors, prevert favors, so do we have a deal?"
She looked at him disgusted, cheeks darkening a bit from anger.
"Youre disgusting , i would never do anything like that for you!!" she spat finally.
"Suit yourself." Andy sair, walking away.
Vivian looked at her paper one more time, the big red zero mocking her. She got up and followed him.
"Wait!!" She shouted.
"F-fine, i'll do some favors for you... But if you waste my time, I'll make you regret it." She spat, her pride now speaking.
Andy nodded, already planning. Teach her slow, enough progress to hook her, keep her coming back for more "help."
Enough to believe he's just a bit smarter, not hiding genius.
"Alright, meet me at my place is an hour." He said, walking away.
"But i dont know where you live!!!" Vivian declared.
"Just ask your crow, it should know." He said, leaving her alone.
Vivian punched the wall hard, cracking the cement.
"Damn Andy!!" She said to herself, mentally preparing for his tutoring.