The Hunted Regressor: My Heretic Saint System-Chapter 56: Left The House

That was it.

Ignotus had done it.

Now that the Rune sat within him, Saint Academy couldn’t reject him even if House Plant pushed them to; he was stuck with them, whether they liked it or not!

Despite the crowd not realizing that fact, the noise somehow doubled.

Gasps, laughter, and applause all at once:

"Ignotus?!"

"He’s alive?!"

"I knew it!"

"This man’s insane!"

"Of course he is—he’s of House Plant!"

"I almost forgot about his Element..."

That was the last thing Ignotus heard as he left the Colosseum.

...

—

╔══════════════╗

║Heretic Saint System║

╚══════════════╝

{Class: Disciple (Class Eleven)}

{Ordination: 18}

[• SF: 54 / 80 •]

{Health}

[• H: 380/380 → 434/434 •]

{Divinity}

[• D: 38&/380 → 46&/460 •]

{Statistics}

[Strength] 19 (E+) (Academy Avg: C+)

[Intelligence] 23 (D-) (Academy Avg: C+)

[Willpower] 23 (D-) (Academy Avg: C+)

[Speed] 22 (D-) (Academy Avg: B-)

[Endurance] 22 (D-) (Academy Avg: B-)

[Appearance] 70 (B+) (Academy Avg: C)

[Personality] -1 (G) (Academy Avg: C)

[Luck] 60 (B) (Academy Avg: C)

—

’Hoh... it’s gone up.’

Officially becoming a Disciple, Ignotus sat alone.

He had his right hand stamped with a new golden root, forming the second hour.

Ten remained to complete the clock, depicting the long path ahead of him.

Currently, Ignotus was skipping what stood for this Academy’s opening ceremony.

He didn’t care for what some geezer, their headmaster, a Patriarch, had to say. All the interesting and strong folks that he knew weren’t going to attend. They weren’t even in this stratum in the first place; it was mostly his fellow Disciples.

Sure, most were stronger than him, if the updated average was any indication. As it was now no longer following his age but the entirety of Saint Academy. Naturally, this new average included those far above Disciple, the Eleventh Class, but he didn’t care for them either.

None of them were particularly interesting.

They had to at least be on the level of Lykos and Ulv for that to have the chance of happening... And perhaps a little funny, like Grom and Felix.

Being reminded of them made Ignotus wonder about their current circumstances.

’Hm, they’re probably staying in an inn nearby... Grom wouldn’t kill me off just like that; he knows better... that Spoon definitely would, though. He’s not exactly smart.’

He chuckled a little, imagining Felix’s surprise after hearing the news of his survival.

’I really have brought quite the group... I guess I’m a picky eater~.’

One thing to note about this new average, though, was how high the average Luck was.

And it made sense since nearly all in the Academy were easily luckier than most.

They had to be; otherwise, they’d end up like his Spoon.

Ignotus’s eyes slowly turned to another tab.

’Anyways...’

—

{Runes}

[Root Rune: Luck (Rank 5)]

[Second Rune: Wise Fool (Rank 5)]

—

’Hm.’

His core Runes were shaping up already.

They were at their weakest right now, as they glowed white. That had them sit in the lowest rank a Rune could be, but they’d already proved a good combo.

Normally, it’d take a long time to rank them up, but not if he went all out with his... creative mind, making what was possible only on paper possible in real life as well.

Unfortunately, though, that required much of what he did not yet have, and most especially money.

Something that he planned to change soon, very soon. He only needed to be done with this little introduction class today, a mandatory thing, and the subsequent duel, which he needed to somehow avoid.

So to do that...

"Hup."

Ignotus began to move.

...

The inner corridors were loud with voices bouncing off marble walls, boots and sandals clacking, and someone screaming about losing their Debtor of Oath in the halls.

Ignotus stretched his neck a little as he walked, bored out of his mind.

He hadn’t even made it to class yet and already wanted to nap.

’...hm?’

That was when he saw a familiar figure.

A crowd had gathered ahead, people pushing over each other, whispering "Lady Gaia this" and "Lady Gaia that."

At first, he didn’t care; another prodigy, probably. Every flock of Disciples had one or two; the "chosen" ones that everyone drooled over... none of them really fanned out in the end.

But then he saw her hair, a dirty blonde, and her now glowing brown eyes.

Both were familiar, and they sat on a face a lot more beautiful.

Said face belonged to a body dressed much fancier, a long green dress hugging her frame, supported by a brown belt.

’She looks a lot like her, but...’

Ignotus didn’t understand how her appearance had changed so quickly or just what brought on this royal treatment... had she been bestowed a Primary Element?

"She’s a Primary! An Earth Element!"

As if answering his thoughts, one of the Nameless screamed exactly that, acting like the perfect background character.

"She has the second-highest time in the test!"

"Lady Gaia, can you show us your Rune again?"

Ignotus tilted his head.

"Gaia, huh... a bit on the nose, isn’t it?"

Realization hit him late.

’She’s the one I’m supposed to be bound to.’

Along with that ’realization’ came another, reminding him that he never knew her name.

He stared a second longer and then smiled faintly.

"Good for her."

Ignotus turned away, his hands behind his back. He didn’t notice that Gaia’s eyes were following him until he was gone, many thoughts seemingly going through her mind.

The lecture hall was buzzing by the time he entered, its wooden rows stacked high, filled with fresh-robed Disciples, everyone talking, comparing Runes and Houses.

One could smell ambition everywhere... and bad body musk.

As Ignotus stepped in, the murmurs only rippled further:

"Is that him?"

"That’s Ignotus Genus, right?"

"How did he stand for an entire minute?"

"I still can’t believe it."

He ignored all of it, found the last row, and sat down in the middle.

No one was going to sit next to him, preferring to avoid him while his House matter was in question. So Ignotus decided that he might as well abuse that fact and take the entire row for himself.

But then, from the corner of his eye, he saw a mop of gray hair approaching awkwardly.

It was a lovely little wolf-folk.

Lykos.

He sat directly next to Ignotus while pretending not to see him, too shy to admit that he was happy that Ignotus survived.

Yet, and of course, his body couldn’t keep up with his act, as his ears kept twitching and his tail kept swinging.

Ulv, sitting on Lykos’s other side, smiled at Ignotus, appearing calm as ever.

"It’s great to see you alive, Lord Ignotus... I’m pleased to inform you that the mercenaries and your butler are alive and well, too."

It seemed like he didn’t care to keep up with his Lord’s act.

"You call me Lord now?"

Ignotus leaned back and smirked.

"Don’t. I’ve left House Plant."

Ulv raised a brow while Lykos’s blue eyes trembled, unable to believe it.

"Y–You what?"

"Left. The. House."

"YOU LEFT YOUR HOUSE?!"

And the hall went wild!