"Wait, wait, wait—so you’re telling me that I voluntarily gave up my memories and threw myself into a brutal entrance exam where I could have died, all while holding nothing but a vague note in my hand?
I can’t possibly be that dumb.
And for what? What mission? What about my family?"
Leo’s voice shook with frustration, his hands trembling at his sides. None of this made any sense. Instead of answers, Faye had only given him more maddening questions.
However, Faye remained unfazed.
"Like I said, I can’t answer most of your questions. And ’What mission?’ and ’What about my family?’ happen to be two of those questions."
She crossed her arms, leaning slightly against the desk. "As for ’I can’t possibly be that dumb’—psssh—let’s just say it’s a blessing you don’t remember your past self, because in all my years, I have never met a more arrogant, self-righteous twat than you."
Leo’s left eye twitched.
That was not the response he was expecting.
Faye smirked, clearly enjoying his discomfort. "We warned you the entrance test would be brutal. But do you know what you said?"
She tilted her head, her tone turning mocking. "And I quote: ’The Boss laughs in the face of danger.’"
Leo winced as secondhand embarrassment washed over him.
’Was I really that arrogant?’ he wondered.
But more importantly—why couldn’t Faye answer the most important questions?
"Oh, bullshit—why can’t you tell me what the mission is? And why is my family involved in this mess?!"
His patience snapped, anger surging to the surface, as Faye let out a deep sigh.
"I can’t tell you, Leo, because the moment I do, you will no longer be able to remain a regular student at this academy—one whose presence doesn’t raise suspicion."
Her voice lost its usual teasing edge, turning serious.
"You might have already figured it out, but the only reason you were able to pass the academy’s psychological evaluation without raising any alarms was because you did not have access to your memories.
If you had them, you could have never lied your way past the lie detector, and could never enroll as a student here.
However, in-case you don’t know. Those evaluations are not a one time thing.
They happen every twelve months. So you will have to pass another at the end of your first year—and again when you graduate."
Leo’s stomach sank as Faye continued.
"If I give you the answers that you seek today, you will have no chance of passing your next psychological evaluation. You will undoubtedly expose yourself. And when that happens… the mission you chose to undertake?"
She shook her head.
"It will be over before it even begins."
Leo let out a strangled breath, his fingers tangling in his hair.
This was impossible.
An impossible situation, with no way out.
"I know it’s difficult, however, it’s the path you chose for yourself. So please, for now, forget about the ’Why’ behind this situation, and focus on what you’re supposed to do next–" Faye said, as Leo buried his head in his hands and stayed there for a while.
"And what am I supposed to do next?" He asked, his head still hanging low, as Faye began explaining his own vision back to him.
"You are supposed to graduate from this academy as the top student of your class. However, that alone is not your goal.
Your goal is to somehow help Rodova clinch the number one spot in the university rankings once again, toppling Geneva, as you plan to dominate the circuits."
"You have set that as your goal, because you know that a dominating performance at the circuits will establish you as a household name amongst the top adventurer guilds and clans in the universe, who will recruit you with big promises.
And for the sake of the mission. It’s absolutely necessary that you find your way into one of the best assassination guilds in the universe. ’The Black Serpents’," Faye said, as Leo finally looked up and made eye-contact with her.
"Please tell me, at least the reason behind all this effort is worth it?" Leo asked as Faye nodded sympathetically.
"You’re doing this to save your family, and in a way the whole universe.
There is no bigger noble cause.
But, if that’s not enough, then you’re also doing this to save your own life.
You’re a wanted fugitive and unless you achieve your goals exactly as you mapped them, you will be captured and killed in the most brutal of ways" Faye said, as listening to her words Leo fell silent once again.
The stakes were massive, almost too big to even fathom. Yet, the only way out… was diving even deeper. Giving him no choice but to accept his fate as is.
"What else can you tell me? I mean there has to be something, because as things stand I’m going absolutely crazy.
I don’t even remember how to sense mana, my dreams at night are blank, because there’s literally nothing but fog over my memories, and I don’t remember anything about how to fight.
Before I came here, Su Yang pummeled my face into a pulp, and I’m more than sure that almost everyone else in the academy can too, if I don’t regain at least some of my combat potential again" Leo complained, as Muiyan Faye gave him another look of sympathy.
"Well…. Now this is something that I CAN help you with, and it was something I was supposed to give you back on the very first day, however, If only someone had bothered to read my name tag, we could have done this much sooner." Faye said, as she stood up from her seat and walked towards her room wall, where she began secretly tempering with the space around it.
For a second, Leo found his vision turn hazy, as he could not perceive the world around him at all, until it returned suddenly, when Muiyan Faye took her seat before him yet again.
"What? What just happened?" He mumbled in confusion, as Faye only chuckled to his face, but offered no explanation.
Then, she put forward the object in her hand, which looked like a simple beanie cap, meant to cover one’s ears and head, however, with a lot of electrodes sticking from it.
On the side of the beanie was written ’Memory Disk - #4 Techniques and Fights’, and just looking at the object, Leo felt a vague sense of familiarity from it.
"I’ve seen this before—" he said, as Faye nodded.
"You already have regained memories from Memory Disk #1. Which was ’Language and Math’.
Without it, you would be no different than a baby who did not understand a word being spoken around it" Faye said, as she gestured for him to put it on.
"The process of memory transfer is painful, so dig deep and make sure you don’t bite your tongue off.
Also, while you will regain your knowledge about your existing skill move-set and how to execute them, you will still need to practice them a few times before you return to peak proficiency.
So you will still have to work on it a bit" Faye warned, as Leo nodded and placed the beanie over his head, while also mentally preparing himself for the pain to come.