I Became an Extra Without Growth in the Academy

The darkness that filled the view faded away, revealing a familiar landscape.

Rubetia. The appearance of the Empire where I lived.

But even though the scenery felt familiar, the viewpoint looking at it wasn’t. After all, I was floating in empty space.

Without any body, just consciousness lingering.

‘What the heck is going on?’

I was flustered, but I tried to quickly understand the situation.

The last thing I saw before losing consciousness was the words “Confirming the Future.”

The landscape was familiar, yet there was a chaotic atmosphere.

And above all… a slightly more matured version of myself could be seen beyond.

‘…So that’s it.’

I understood. I was now looking at a future image of Rubetia.

Living life has its surprises. Who would have thought I’d get to see the future too?

It was certainly an absurd situation, but I wasn’t at the point of rationalizing it while denying the spectacle before me.

‘By the way… Did it say I confirm the future of someone I know?’

The “someone” the affection level spoke of was undoubtedly Rudion.

Saying that makes me a bit bashful, but I only had one person I had feelings for.

The future… I quickly understood that if I recalled his actions, he must have some knowledge about it.

But he didn’t seem particularly concerned about it, and since he didn’t mention it first, I just let it slide.

But knowing the future?

I had never really been curious about the future, but I felt a peculiar interest in what he knew.

It didn’t seem too serious. To me, Rudion didn’t seem like someone who carried a great mission on his shoulders.

I wasn’t belittling him. In fact, it was precisely because I knew him so well that I drew this conclusion.

For someone with outstanding abilities, he seemed to desire little, and he didn’t act like he had any particular goals either.

He simply focused on and enjoyed the “present.” As if he didn’t need to think about the future.

Therefore, I had no significant expectations about the future he may know.

Curiosity was all I had about what kind of relationship we might have in that future.

‘Hmm… Should I get closer?’

What would I be doing in the future he knows?

To quench my curiosity, I moved towards the place where my future self was.

The sensation of moving my view with thoughts, even without any form, was bizarre, but it felt oddly natural, not much different from using a surveillance spell.

When I arrived at the spot where my future self was located, I found myself just before exiting the Empire.

For some reason, a throng of knights filled the area. From the looks on their faces, it seemed they were on the brink of entering a battlefield.

And… I saw familiar faces beside me.

Lilith and Alkiné. Both looked slightly more matured, but they were exactly as I remembered them.

There was something strangely different about the atmosphere and distance between us… but on the surface, it was definitely them.

Also present was Harold, a fellow upper-class student; and surprisingly, standing there was Artes, who wasn’t even supposed to be in the upper class… oh right, he had graduated to intermediate during the last midterm.

Anyway, he was the guy who helped Rudion with training, not actual training.

But no matter how much I searched, I couldn’t find him.

‘Where could Rudion be?’

It seemed like the situation was quite urgent, yet I couldn’t find Rudion anywhere.

Not even anyone was searching for him. Considering the circumstances, his presence was essential.

It was hard to imagine him being absent when his presence was clearly needed.

But it was also strange to think he went off to do something else… His expression was way too calm.

As if he didn’t even know who Rudion was.

‘…Huh?’

Could it be that in the future he knew, we didn’t meet?

Then that strange atmosphere and distance between us…

As my thoughts reached that point, suddenly the sky turned crimson.

It happened so fast that I didn’t even notice when it changed.

“Look over there!!”

“The sky…!”

Everyone present looked up at the transformed sky with bewildered expressions as if they had not expected this, and that was the last reaction I could see.

Boooom—

The red sky seemed to open its mouth.

That was the only way to describe the scene unfolding.

The inside of the sky’s mouth was nothingness itself. A black darkness that seemed like it would vanish the moment you touched it.

‘…Huh?’

A sense of overwhelming terror enveloped me for the first time in my life.

Sure, I didn’t have a body here, but I felt as if my entire being had frozen and couldn’t move.

Before I could even think further, the sky swallowed the world.

That was the end.

‘What the…?’

Everything vanished, and darkness blanketed everything.

The vibrant hues of Rubetia were nowhere to be seen, replaced entirely by black.

Amidst that darkness, letters began to appear before my eyes.

Content about affection levels appeared, something I had seen often, yet the meaning was anything but familiar.

[The end is approaching.]

A brutally straightforward sentence reflecting the current situation.

It was easy to understand but hard to accept.

‘Is this what the future holds?’

Being caught off guard by a sudden end and dying en masse?

Based on the last version of me I saw, it didn’t seem far into the future.

Lilith and Alkiné still retained their youthful appearance, suggesting it could only be around the time of graduation from the Academy.

How could this happen? I still had so many things I wanted to do.

Was I the only one feeling this way? Everyone living surely felt the same.

But this kind of hollow conclusion? I absolutely couldn’t accept that.

As I was lost in those thoughts, new letters began to appear.

[A new story begins. Good luck.]

As those words appeared, the surrounding darkness turned pure white…

“Gasp!”

Thud!

In an instant, my consciousness returned to reality, nearly causing me to topple from my chair in shock, but right now that was the least of my concerns.

[Confirmed the future known to the target.]

“What the hell was that…?”

Apocalypse, a new beginning.

Facing things that didn’t make sense left my mind spinning.

But one thing was certain.

What I just witnessed was definitely not a lie.

The sensations were vivid enough to be completely convinced of it.

At that moment, new letters once again appeared before my eyes.

[The target is changing the future.]

[Calculating current progress.]

Progress… rate? He’s changing the future?

My head was already in chaos, and these letters didn’t seem to care about that at all.

[…]

[…]

[…]

It was never something I could fight against. Having seen the moment the world vanished and the state after, I could declare that I would go insane.

It would honestly make sense for me to want to give up everything right away.

‘But how is Rudion…’

How could he be living so nonchalantly while knowing such a future?

[Calculation completed.]

[Current progress: 21%]

…

…

…

[Current progress: 34%]

[Current progress: 35%]

And what on earth is he doing to change such a future in real-time?

His focus on the present, which appeared carefree, suddenly seemed different.

He wasn’t ignoring the future.

For him, who knew about the sudden end, the present was the brightest moment of all.

While I had no idea where he was or what he was doing, one thing was clear.

He was fighting alone for the sake of the future.

… I thought I knew him well, but suddenly it felt like there was a huge distance between us.

‘How did I look to Rudion?’

My feelings became complicated.

After a while, while I was deep in thought sitting in the chair, all of a sudden, Rudion appeared before me.

Seeing him appear out of thin air brought a different kind of joy than usual.

“Where did you just come from?”

But wanting to hide the fact that I’d learned something, I spoke somewhat brusquely.

Somehow… I felt like I had discovered a bit about why he might be hiding what he knows.

Rudion just gave an awkward grin and fell silent, but then suddenly, one of his arms caught my attention.

As if he noticed my gaze, he quickly tried to hide it behind him, but the delayed reaction only raised my suspicion.

When I pointed that out to check, to my surprise, a torn wound was revealed.

‘…’

In that instant, my mind went blank.

It was the first time I had seen him injured.

Unconsciously, I had thought that he wouldn’t get hurt.

When I witnessed that bizarre spectacle of him dodging every attack, such a belief naturally formed.

But it wasn’t so. He was an ordinary person susceptible to attacks.

Sure, it was just a minor injury now, but merely the fact he had been wounded was enough to shatter the notions I had been harboring.

Realizing that, my complicated feelings were instantly sorted out.

I wanted to be someone who could help him.

I couldn’t gauge to what extent I’d be able to stand beside him while he was battling the apocalypse in real-time, but at the very least, I wanted to be someone who could protect him.

He might not know, but now I shared the same future as him.

He could surely use at least one person who would wholly trust him by his side.

So, I stopped him from saying anything.

Of course, I was curious about how he’d explain… but I didn’t want to hurt his feelings for no reason by exposing lies.

[As a reward for affection level, you gain the bonus of ‘Concept Manifestation’.]

[Your unique stat ‘Time’ increases.]

[Current time value: 1]

For now, I decided to think about how to utilize what I had gained to stay with him.

… Goodness. I really should have been careful not to blurt out that I had a tracking spell cast on me.

My thoughts were so tangled that my mouth moved before I thought.

Since the unique stat was time, was there no way to take that back?

I tried hard to find a way, but there didn’t seem to be any signs of success.

In the end, I couldn’t pick up the words I had let slip, and I hurriedly left the room in a hurry.

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