I'm Trapped Inside a Prince as the Most Powerful Entity-Chapter 179: A Shocking Choice

The scene shifted.

Adam his business with the Emperor concluded receded from Eric’s consciousness.

He returned to the quiet solitude of his own internal domain. The moment he was gone Eric’s own awareness flooded back into his body. He found himself standing in the corridor just outside the Principal’s office.

The memory of the tense negotiation was already fading like a dream replaced by the familiar glowing interface of the [System Window].

The System quickly provided him with a summary of the events that had transpired in the office. It explained the successful outcome of the meeting.

It detailed the pardoning of Cian and Samba’s punishment. And it described the new even more humiliating sentence they had been given to serve his group. It also confirmed that the Emperor had agreed to sponsor The New Warriors.

He had also agreed to grant them access to all the Academy’s resources.

As usual the summary was carefully curated. It omitted any mention of Adam’s existence. It presented the entire masterfully executed negotiation as its own work.

Eric returned to his classroom his mind still reeling from the whirlwind of events. As he walked down the long corridors of the academic building he noticed something different. His body felt... lighter.

It felt incredibly light as if a great weight had been lifted from him. And his senses particularly his perception of the magical energy around him were far more acute than they had ever been before.

He could now easily sense the individual auras of the students he passed in the hallway. He could feel the faint shimmering energies that emanated from their bodies.

He could even sense with a surprising clarity the magical energy of the students in the distant training grounds. It was a chaotic vibrant tapestry of countless individual powers.

So, he thought a sense of wonder mixing with his surprise my power has increased again. Each time Adam takes control of my body my own latent potential is stimulated.

My own abilities are enhanced. I need to see how much more powerful I’ve become, he resolved a new eager excitement beginning to bubble up within him. He wanted to go to the training ground and test his new strength.

He arrived back at the physical training class. He saw that the instructor a man named Leon was just beginning to pair up the students for practice. Leon was a formidable figure.

He was a seasoned warrior whose own powerful aura was a palpable presence in the training hall. Eric could sense the immense magical energy that was contained within him.

It was a clear indication that Leon was not just a simple instructor. He was a powerful swordsman in his own right.

This class Eric knew was a mixed one. It contained students who specialized in all manner of combat disciplines. There were magicians warriors and swordsmen all training together.

When Eric had first enrolled in the Academy he had chosen swordsmanship as his major subject.

He had decided that for the next four years he would devote himself entirely to mastering the blade. He would also learn the basic magical spells that were necessary for a well-rounded warrior.

He was lost in these thoughts when his class teacher Leon looked directly at him. He pointed a finger at Eric his expression stern but fair.

"You," he said his voice echoing in the vast training hall "who do you want to partner with for this class?" He paused his gaze sweeping over the other students in the room.

"Remember," he continued his voice a clear authoritative command

"whomever you partner with now you will be partnered with for the entire first year. You will undertake missions together. And you will train together in this class session every week. So choose wisely."

The weight of the decision a choice that would define his entire first year at the United Academy now rested squarely on Eric’s shoulders.

He had to choose his partner for the next year. It was a very important decision.

Eric was not particularly surprised by the instructor’s announcement. It made sense that they would be paired up for the long term. It would foster teamwork and synergy between the students.

He looked around the vast training hall at his new classmates in Section A.

Some of the students had already chosen their partners for the year. Their choices were likely pre-arranged. They were based on existing friendships from their home kingdoms or on political alliances between their noble families.

His gaze immediately went to Gold and Silver. They were the only two people in this entire class who had shown him any genuine kindness since he arrived. But they had predictably already chosen each other as partners.

They stood together a perfect self-contained unit of grace and power. They were an inseparable pair. freewёbnoνel.com

Well, Eric thought a familiar sense of isolation beginning to creep in there go my only options. He now had to choose someone else.

He had to pick someone from this sea of unfamiliar and mostly hostile faces. He had to find a partner who would be willing to work with him.

He scanned the other students in the hall. He was trying to catch someone’s eye to find a potential partner. But the moment his gaze fell upon any of them they would immediately look away.

Their expressions were a mixture of fear resentment and a clear undisguised desire to have nothing to do with him. It was a clear unspoken signal. No one wanted to be partnered with Eric.

He was the boy who had so thoroughly and so publicly disrupted the established order of the Academy. He was a troublemaker.

Eric understood. He let out a small almost imperceptible sigh. He was about to turn back to the instructor Leon. He was going to simply tell him that he could decide for him that he could assign him a partner.

But then surprisingly the familiar transparent interface of the [System Window] shimmered into existence before him. It was visible only to him.

It displayed a single shocking directive:

[System Interface: Task]

[Choose Monica as your partner.]

Eric stared at the message his eyes widening in disbelief. Monica? The arrogant hostile princess who clearly despised him? It was the last choice he would have ever made on his own.

It was without a doubt the worst possible choice. But the System had spoken. And Eric despite his deep misgivings had already decided to trust it. The choice it seemed had been made for him by a power he could not understand.

He had no other option. He had to follow the System’s command. He just hoped it knew what it was doing. This was going to be a very long and difficult year.

He was so stunned by the [System Window]’s directive that he just stood there for a moment completely frozen.

He then mentally shouted at the impassive glowing interface. Are you joking with me? Are you insane? Of all the people in this entire class you want me to choose Monica? The princess who hates me?

Eric knew with an absolute and painful certainty that Monica disliked him intensely. She had made it abundantly clear in no uncertain terms that she wanted him to stay away from her. She had yelled at him in the classroom.

She had refused to sit at the same table with him in the cafeteria. And now the System was telling him to choose her as his partner. A partner he would be bound to for the entire year. It was the worst possible choice.

With a sense of profound weary resignation Eric looked away from the [System Window].

He looked across the vast training hall. He saw Monica standing with a group of other girls from Section A. They were engaged in what appeared to be a calm polite conversation.

I suppose, Eric thought a sense of grim inevitability settling over him that I have no other choice. I have to trust the System. Even when it tells me to do something crazy.

He let out a long slow sigh. It was a sound of pure unadulterated defeat. As if sensing his reluctant acceptance the [System Window] vanished from his sight.

He then turned to the instructor Leon. His expression was now a mask of calm if somewhat forced composure.

"I choose Monica as my partner," he announced. His voice was clear and firm belying the turmoil in his heart.

The moment the words left his lips a stunned silence fell over the entire training hall. Every student in the class who had been covertly watching him now turned to stare.

They looked first at Eric. And then in perfect unison they looked at Monica.

Monica herself was completely taken aback. She had been listening to her friends with half an ear.

Her own thoughts were still a jumble of confusion and a lingering resentful curiosity about Eric. And now he had just... chosen her. As his partner for the whole year.

She stared at him her expression a complex unreadable mixture of shock confusion and then surprisingly a faint almost imperceptible flicker of... something else. It was something that looked for just a fleeting moment like a mixture of relief and a strange quiet satisfaction.

It was a look that no one least of all Eric could have possibly anticipated. It seemed that even though she was angry with him she was also secretly pleased that he had chosen her. It was a very confusing reaction.

And it left Eric feeling even more bewildered than before.

He had no idea what to expect from this strange and powerful princess. But he knew one thing for sure.

His life at the Academy was not going to be boring. It was going to be very very complicated.

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