Secret Route: Villain Unlocked

As he stood there, the system pinged softly.

[Main Quest Complete]

["The Beginning" – Part I: Success]

[Reward Acquired: Ian Mooring's 'Real' Journal]

[Item added to Inventory]

Julien blinked, the words fading from view a moment later. He kept his expression neutral.

I forgot about that. 

The others were still chatting beside the ring. Ray had launched into a dramatic analysis of the duel, and Amara was critiquing it with loud commentary while Haley stood back with her arms crossed, clearly entertained. 

Julien inched back, keeping his tone casual.

"I promised Professor Yessec I'd review some of my essay drafts today. Figured I'd finish them before lunch."

Ray groaned. "Seriously? It's Sunday."

"He would promise that," Amara muttered.

"You said you'd help me test my new shield," Ray added.

Julien lifted a hand. "Don't worry. I will. Soon."

"Want me to come with you?" Haley asked. 

He shook his head. "Nah, stay here. I'll be quick, you don't need to waste your time."

She gave him a look, but didn't argue.

Julien stepped away without further questions. A few voices followed him as he left, but no one stopped him.

Once the courtyard had faded behind him and the echo of laughter was out of earshot, he ducked into one of the quiet side paths near the outer gardens, where only a few benches lined the shaded walkways. The Academy buildings stood tall around him, filtered light stretching through the windows and trees. 

It was peaceful and removed. Enough to breathe in.

Only then did he reach into the system's inventory menu, his fingers hovering as the virtual overlay shimmered into view.

There it was, sitting among Ian's school things.

[Item: Ian Mooring's 'Real' Journal]

[Description: Magically bound. Cannot be opened by others. Personal entries recorded manually and by voice-command. Last update: 4 days ago.]

Julien summoned it into his hands. It appeared with a soft flicker--a dark, navy blue book with worn edges, smaller and lighter than the one in Ian's drawer. It looked normal. Ian Mooring was written in neat letters in the middle. 

He turned it over once, then sat down slowly on the bench, letting the silence settle.

This one wasn't for school records. It wasn't a placeholder.

This was Ian's real journal. The one no one else was meant to see.

And now, it belonged to him.

This feels illegal, digging deep into someone's innermost thoughts and feelings. I know I certainly wouldn't want someone to read mine. 

[Open it.]

Huh? Did the system just speak to me directly? It didn't even announce an objective. 

The system message faded without fanfare.

Julien waited for something more, an instruction, a reward screen--anything. But nothing came. There was only the quiet weight of the book in his lap.

He opened it slowly.

Julien flipped through a few pages. There were almost daily entries in it.

The first few pages were tidy. Each entry was dated, written in careful, angled script. There were no curses or encryptions, just plain words.

Today, Haley threw a rock at Ray for saying he could outscore her in the practicals. Everyone knows he absolutely can't--but I offered to mediate, just for fun. Got a snowball thrown at me for the trouble!

He turned to the next page.

Professor Ellen said my theory framework on cross-element resonance was "too ambitious." But she probably liked it, since I still got an A. I guess she's the type who's interested in ambition.

Another page:

The first-years are starting to settle in. One of them is an S-tier, just like me! Everybody's impressed by him. Even the Headmistress mentioned him to me a few days ago. I hope he'll do good with his power.

Julien paused on that one a second longer. 

I wonder if he knew my name, or thought anything else about me.

Then he continued on. Some entries were only a few lines, and others rambled longer. There were mentions of tests, sparring results, weekend meals with Haley and Amara. A few sketched diagrams filled the margins, one even labelled "Ray's terrible spear form (again)."

And then...

A blank page.

Followed by another.

Then black text floated into view across the parchment.

[Access to remaining entries is restricted.]

[Progress not yet sufficient to unlock additional pages.]

[Hint: Complete system quests and advance alignment.]

"What?"

Julien tapped the edge of the page, flipped it again. Another empty spread. The same message.

He groaned and leaned back against the bench.

So much for shortcuts. I thought I'd find his secrets. A hint, anything. Everything was going far too well for me…

Julien stared at the journal, annoyed.

Then, like it had been waiting for the exact moment of irritation, the system pinged again.

[Main Quest: "The Beginning" – Part II]

[Objective: Continue daily life at the Academy. Await further instructions.]

[Reward: Alignment Progress +1]

[Penalty for Failure: None]

Seriously? Continue daily life? That's not a quest. That's a calendar reminder. But the reward is alignment progress… whatever that is, I think it'll let me read more of the journal.

He knew better than to ignore it. The lack of a penalty for failure didn't mean the system was giving him a choice. It was essentially ordering him to keep following this mysterious trail.

Be Ian. Stay the course, act like everything's fine.

He stood, put the book back into his inventory, and made his way out of the garden. 

I'm gonna take a walk around this place, so I won't get back too early. 

The main courtyard was still bustling when he returned, though the crowd around the dueling ring had thinned.

Haley noticed him first.

"Finally, you're back." she said as he approached.

Julien offered an apologetic smile. "I got caught by a few fourth-years along the way. We ended up having a pretty good conversation about monster gates."

"Of course you did," Ray muttered, rolling his eyes. "Do you have a skill for sociability or something?"

Julien laughed. "I just try my best to be there for everyone."

Amara raised an eyebrow. "How you do it, I will never understand."

"You're the one who started a club and basically recruited the whole Academy," Julien shot back.

"That was a team thing," she added quickly, nodding toward Ray. "And clubs are different, you know.'

Ray folded his arms. "She just doesn't like having to put in the effort to learn all their names and faces."

Haley shook her head, clearly used to their back and forth. "If you're done, let's go. Recess line's probably wrapped around the entire cafeteria by now."

Julien followed them across the courtyard, letting [Character Guidance] do its work while the group chattered. The sun was almost at its highest now, warmth flowing over the stone paths and the trimmed hedges along the sides. He nodded along as Amara started recounting a story from last week's advanced spellcasting lecture where someone had accidentally frozen their own boots to the floor.

"I'm telling you," she said, "they should start putting warnings on the chalkboards. Like, 'Do not attempt this unless you've trained enough and can aim decently.' Seriously, you'd think people can do that by the fifth-year!"

"I know, right? I had a spear-throwing class a few days ago, and it's unbelievable how many people just can't hit a target," Ray said.

"I swear one guy was closer to hitting me than the dummy," he added, jabbing a thumb at himself.

"Then maybe you were standing too close to the dummy," Amara quipped.

"That's not the point."

"It kind of is."

They rounded a corner, the cafeteria finally in view--and so was the line, which snaked out the door and down the shaded path beside the eastern training yard.

Amara stared at it like it had personally insulted her.

"You've got to be kidding."

"I'm not waiting through that," Ray declared. "Let's just skip and get something somewhere else. Maybe we could go to the bow instructors' staffroom. They're all nice, I bet they'll let us grab a few snacks. "

"Especially with their favourite student with us,' Julien said, pointing to Haley.

Oh, yeah. Haley Lendouria was a bow user. I always forgot since she was skilled with the sword too. 

Haley rolled her eyes. "They're only nice to me because I actually return borrowed gear."

"That's a low bar," Amara muttered, but her tone was light.

Still, no one protested. The cafeteria line didn't seem to be budging. So the group veered toward the east wing, following the quieter corridor that looped around the archery yard and toward the instructors' lounge.

Julien kept pace near the back, letting the others talk while he glanced around. He remembered this hall from years ago--as himself, not Ian. He'd taken a short archery elective under Instructor Ryllis, who ran her classes with a drill-sergeant's discipline. Julien had been awful at it. He was too stiff, too impatient.

Even now, it looked almost exactly the same. Stone walls, rows of mounted training bows, and a few posters curling at the corners. A couple of younger students sat in the open lounge with paper trays, chatting over shared fruit packs. They glanced up as the fifth-years came through, but didn't look surprised.

One of them--a second-year, based on the badge--brightened when he saw Haley.

"Oh, it's Haley. Told you this was the good hour."

Haley gave the boy a nod as she passed and pushed open the staffroom door without hesitating.

Inside, the instructors looked up. None of them were surprised.

"Ah, the usual suspects," one said, sipping from a chipped mug. "Line bad again?"

"Wrapped halfway around the country," Ray said.

"Then grab something before it vanishes," the instructor replied, waving toward a back shelf stacked with snacks. "You know the drill."

Julien moved in with the others, picking up a sealed bread roll and a drink carton. Amara took two fruit bars and what looked like leftover jerky. The room had that slightly dusty scent of dried varnish and oiled string--oddly comforting in a nostalgic way.

Not that I used to hang around here a lot.

As they settled near the far corner, Julien caught his reflection in the wall mirror behind the staff sink.

Ian's face stared back. Clean and relaxed; like nothing had changed.

But for Julien, everything had.