The first day of the Basic Armor Soul Armament class was as Franklin had said, the content was very basic and dull, essentially consisting of knowledge points that made one want to exclaim, “Isn’t this just common sense?”
After class, since it was the first day and only foundational content was covered, Franklin told everyone to go back and do whatever they needed to do. There was no homework, and anyone with free time could preview the textbook or something similar.
Indeed, the first day of class was mostly about self-introductions, with little actual teaching.
After a short break, Vinny headed to the equestrian class location, which was an endless open pasture.
It was hard to believe such a place existed on the island, making one marvel at the vastness of the Carillian Archipelago, which was almost like a small world.
Looking at the boundless grassland, it was clear that the Carillian Archipelago had its own horse-breeding grounds.
Glancing around, Vinny saw many students in uniforms, as well as teachers and people who seemed to be specialized in horse care.
The horses here were well-fed and strong, a testament to the high level of horse breeding at Carillian Academy. After all, the academy could even afford to raise unicorns, let alone ordinary horses.
Vinny even spotted several winged unicorns soaring through the sky in the dense forest beside the pasture, indicating that unicorns also inhabited the area.
Vinny guessed that Carillian Academy occupied only one part of the Carillian Archipelago, with the rest of the area inhabited by various other creatures.
Many people were wandering around the pasture, suggesting that quite a few students were interested in learning equestrian skills.
Vinny quickly found his class, which had already gathered a number of students.
Vinny wanted to focus on the horses, but a certain gaze was fixed on him, making him extremely uncomfortable.
“Ah, the sky is so blue, the grass is so green, the wind is so strong, and the ground is so... ground-like,” Vinny leaned against the fence, pretending to admire the scenery, trying his best to ignore the unrelenting stare on him.
However, the gaze didn’t shift away despite his efforts to ignore it. Instead, it became more intense. At first, it was just a distant notice, but now it was right beside him, impossible to overlook.
“Oh, isn’t this Milian? What are you doing here? Long time no see, where have you been making your fortune lately?” Vinny turned around, feigning surprise as if he had just noticed her.
“Huh?!” Seeing Vinny pretending as if nothing had happened, the golden-haired elf girl puffed up her cheeks in frustration, looking like an angry pufferfish.
“What do you mean, ‘making fortune’?! And you shameless scoundrel, we just saw each other this morning!” Milian crossed her arms, glaring at him.
“Oh? Did we? Hmm, I guess we did,” Vinny tilted his head, pretending to think.
“You scoundrel! How dare you mess with me?!” Milian bared her sharp little fangs, glaring at Vinny like an angry golden kitten, as if she wanted to pounce and bite him at any moment.
“You’re Vinny Varelis, right? Just you wait, I’ll remember what happened this morning!” Milian’s tone was like a warning for Vinny to be careful when walking at night and not to sleep too soundly.
Oh no, is she going to call for backup?
Vinny leaned back in a tactical retreat.
Harvesting “leeks” was incredibly satisfying in the moment, especially when seeing the virtue gushing out like a fountain, unstoppable and exhilarating.
But afterward, it could get troublesome. Being hated by the original heroines definitely wouldn’t lead to a good outcome.
“How dare you do something so disgusting and outrageous to me, you vile scoundrel! Just you wait!” If it weren’t for the fact that they were on campus, Vinny was sure this golden kitten would have already pounced on him.
“Hey, Your Highness, wasn’t it you who started the trouble this morning?” Vinny raised an eyebrow.
“I didn’t want to train with you, but you insisted on pestering me. You thought I deserved a beating, and that’s fine, but I didn’t want to get beaten up. Isn’t that fair?”
“So you used such despicable, shameless, and disgusting methods to win against me?!”
“Well, did I break any rules? Any method that wins within the rules is a good method. Besides, in a real battle, the enemy won’t play by any rules,” Vinny shrugged, looking calm and composed.
“So, little girl, you still need more practice. If you had been calmer, smarter, and more experienced this morning, you wouldn’t have fallen for my trick. In the end, you’re just too naive. A few words and you lost your temper and composure,” Vinny knew very well that without using these underhanded tactics, he wouldn’t stand a chance against Milian in a fair fight, even if three of him teamed up.
However, when the goddess opens a door for you, she’s bound to close a window. This golden-haired girl’s intelligence was her Achilles’ heel, and he had exploited it.
Still, he hadn’t expected Milian to also choose equestrian class.
Why would an elf be interested in horseback riding? They could move through forests much faster than horses, and the Elf Queen rode spiritual beasts like elk and unicorns, which didn’t require taming.
“Hmph! I’m not convinced. You used underhanded tricks to win, so I demand a rematch!” Milian shouted, her voice sharp like a hissing cat.
“Another match? Maybe later. My time is precious, and I won’t waste it on unnecessary people,” Vinny waved his hand.
This trick only worked once. Milian wouldn’t fall for it again, and since he couldn’t harvest any virtue from her, what was the point? It was a waste of time.
“You... you blue-haired scoundrel! So the rumors about you from Camella Capital are true. You really are a despicable person!”
“How could someone as vile and shameless as you exist in the Saintness’s family? Hmph! Just like my sister said, you must be an imposter, right?” Milian pointed at Vinny, her voice filled with disdain.
Her sister?
Vinny didn’t care much about Milian’s words, but he caught an important keyword in her sentence.
Milian’s older sister could only be the current Elf Queen, Seliphrene Celfen.
The previous Elf Queen had passed away, and Milian was born late. Seliphrene was both Milian’s older sister and effectively her mother. In fact, Seliphrene was more like a mother to Milian than an older sister.
Vinny had always wondered why Seliphrene harbored such strong animosity toward him in the game. Even the game’s setting guide didn’t mention anything about it.
Now, he felt like he had stumbled upon a clue.
Perhaps Seliphrene believed that Vinny didn’t have the blood of the Varelis family, that he wasn’t a legitimate heir, but some imposter who had appeared out of nowhere, which was why she disliked him.
But then again, why would the elves care about the affairs of the Saintness’s family? That was a human matter.
Although many elves worshipped the goddess of Radiance, their main deity wasn’t her.
Whether the heir of the Varelis family was legitimate or not was a human concern.
Seliphrene, as an outsider, shouldn’t have any reason to resent Vinny for such a reason.
Vinny found it strange. Could there be another reason why Seliphrene held a grudge against him?
But he felt like he was getting closer to the answer.
“Hey? What’s wrong with you?” Seeing Vinny lost in thought, Milian wondered if she had been too harsh, leaving him so “devastated.”
“Nothing, just thinking about something.”
“...Hmph! Anyway, you’ve done something so outrageous to me, just you wait!”
“Milian, your tone is misleading. It might make people think I did something inappropriate to you,” Vinny glanced at her.
“Huh?! You scoundrel, do you think it’s not enough? This is the first time someone has ever... done something like ★ 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ★ this to me!” Milian’s face turned red with embarrassment.
“So what do you want? Do you want me to take responsibility?”
“Who would want a disgusting person like you to take responsibility?!”
“Then I don’t get it. If you don’t want me to take responsibility, why keep bringing it up?”
“Hmph! Of course, I’m going to get my revenge!” Milian clenched her small fist. “Just you wait, I’ll pay you back tenfold for what you did to me today!”
“...Huh?” Vinny was taken aback. “That’s it? Your sense of revenge is pretty weak.”
If it were Aesphyra, he wouldn’t even dare to do something like this. By the afternoon, whether his head would still be attached would be a serious question.
But then again, he didn’t have the ability to suppress Aesphyra either.
“Hmph, just you wait!” With that, Milian turned and stormed off.
Soon, the equestrian class began.
Many tribal members had chosen this class, and Vinny even spotted a familiar face in the crowd, Isatia Lanteville.
He hadn’t expected the princess to be interested in horseback riding, but it made sense. After all, she was the future Empress of Tyrell, and horseback riding was a basic skill for an empress.
However, just like during the morning’s cultural class, the two of them didn’t exchange a single word, passing by each other as if they were strangers.
Yes, Isatia Lanteville was also a heroine, and in theory, Vinny could harvest her virtue. But one had to be cautious, especially with heroines as strong-willed as Isatia Lanteville.
Harvesting virtue was fine, but one couldn’t step into their minefields. That wasn’t harvesting; that was courting death.
For example, Vinny had a vague sense that Isatia Lanteville’s minefield was the non-existent engagement. If he were to bring it up just to harvest her virtue, he wouldn’t be able to survive in the academy.
As for Aesphyra’s minefield, he wasn’t sure yet, but it definitely wasn’t about her size.
Aesphyra cared about it, but not excessively.
Vinny knew that mocking her about it wouldn’t truly anger her, which was why he kept doing it. Otherwise, he would have been finished long ago.
Like the armor Soul Armament class, the first equestrian class didn’t involve actual riding. They had to go over the basics first.
After class, Vinny didn’t get to ride a horse.
It was worth noting that the tribe members behaved much more properly during class. With the teacher present, they were completely different from when the teacher wasn’t around.
Next was alchemy and potion-making. In the classroom filled with the scent of herbs, Vinny saw another familiar figure.
The strikingly beautiful silver-haired girl was impossible to miss, and anyone entering the classroom would immediately be drawn to her.
“Oh? Vinny, are you also interested in alchemy and potion-making? What a coincidence,” Aesphyra greeted him with a warm smile.
“Yeah, what a coincidence,” Vinny wasn’t surprised to see Aesphyra. The original game mentioned that she was very interested in alchemy and was quite accomplished in it, just like her other talents and achievements.
Part of it was due to her retaining memories from her past life, and part of it was her natural talent.
Seeing Aesphyra’s smiling face, Vinny instinctively looked away.
He still remembered what had happened that morning.
This woman was undoubtedly the most dangerous heroine, and he was lucky that he had harvested so much virtue from her without any consequences.
“Vinny, how was your lunch?” To outsiders, it sounded like a simple greeting between acquaintances, but to Vinny, it was anything but.
This scheming girl was asking about his lunch on purpose, wasn’t she?
After the scare he had, how could he have enjoyed his lunch?
Vinny shot Aesphyra a glare but didn’t dare to say anything harsh or think about harvesting her virtue again. He simply stayed silent and didn’t respond.
He found a seat and sat down, no longer engaging with Aesphyra.
Many students had chosen alchemy, as it was always a popular subject. Therefore, there were many classmates who shared the class with Vinny and Aesphyra. When they saw that they were in the same class as Aesphyra, many male students’ eyes lit up, though they remained calm on the surface, their hearts practically bursting with joy.
However, it seemed as if Aesphyra, despite her friendly appearance, had an aura that kept people at a distance, making even the most shameless among them hesitant to approach her.
Yet, that blue-haired boy had been greeted by Aesphyra herself!
Vinny was lost in thought and didn’t notice the increasingly intense gazes from behind him.
Soon, class began.
Unlike the teachers of other classes, the alchemy and potion-making teacher was a blue-haired elf lady, something no one had expected.
Well, compared to other classes, this one had a clear advantage: the students, especially the male ones, would definitely pay attention and not get distracted.