“Have you heard? Sylvia has been transferred to class four. I saw her walking into the class this morning.” A girl from class two who had seen Sylvia earlier that morning spoke up. “What? How is that possible?” “How isn't it possible? She's so rich that even the proprietor wants to suck up to her. With her wealth, she can be transferred to any class she wants.” A thick disdain flashed across the girl's eyes as she spoke. “Why don't you all stop with your venomous claims. Using a connection, you say? Sylvia was previously in the year three class at the Roland Academy before she transferred to this place. If there's anyone to blame, it is you guys who kept spitting trash about her.” Facing Mia's blunt words, the gossiping girls immediately went silent. They stared at each other in the eyes and then decided to shift the topic away from Sylvia. “Hey.” The girl called in a low whisper to her friends. “Aren't you two curious about what happened to Julian's face? How come his face looks so swollen?” “I thought it was only me who noticed it. Look at the thick eye bag under his eyes. It looks like he's been up to something lately.” “Could he be venturing into an illegal activity? Oh my goodness.” The girl covered her mouth in a loud gasp. “I don't think so.” One of them shook her head and then pointed out. “If he were indeed doing an illegal activity, he should be getting a huge pay from his job. However, look at him. He can't even afford to buy a healing potion for his injury, much less visit the hospital for treatment.” “Hmm.” The girls felt that the other party's words made sense and nodded in agreement. “You're quite right about that.” At the back of the classroom, Julian's head was lowered on the desk, making it seem as if he was asleep. But under the desk, his eyes were wide open.The girls' conversation fell into his ears, and he couldn't help but scoff at their hypocritical behavior. While they were busy enjoying their summer holiday, he was outside in the wilds, tirelessly working on killing monsters, just so he could earn some contribution points. There were several moments he had almost lost his life in the hands of those beasts, only to be saved in the nick of time. For the first time in his life, he witnessed so many deaths. Including the leader of the guild he joined. Julian witnessed as the other party's head was gnawed away by a boar-like beast on their way to escape. His body trembled with thrill as he recalled that scenario. Because of it, he had suffered from sleepless nights, resulting in dark eye bags under his eyes. Fortunately, he had already acquired enough money to begin his father's treatment. Otherwise, he would have to put himself in such a perilous situation again. Hence, when he heard the students mention Sylvia in their first conversation, his expression became complicated. Julian couldn't surmise the emotions he was feeling, but he knew that both he and Sylvia were from different worlds. The latter was like a shiny star that's meant to stand out among other stars, while he… He's just a clay ball that was coated in fake gold paint. ‘Is this how vast the difference between us is?’ Julian sighed inwardly and shut his eyes to take a rest.=== “It's the beauty contest event! Who's your favorite participant?! Please tap your vote on your favorite goddess.” The loud voice of the announcer echoed across the hallway. As the students stepped out of their classroom for lunch break, they immediately turned on their light brains and logged into the school forum. “The yearly school beauty contest is finally starting. I wonder who's going to come out as the champion.” “Who are you clicking your vote on? There are a lot of new faces uploaded this time around. I heard there's a beautiful girl from the freshman class participating in the contest.” “Who is she?” The other person leaned over and saw the image on the screen. “Wow, she's indeed beautiful. I'm going to put my vote on her.” “Me too.” This was the scenario Urea met as she stepped out of the class with Sylvia. “Tsk, tsk, tsk.” She clicked her tongue in disapproval. “These people who have no better job to do.” “What's the beauty contest all about?” Sylvia was quite curious. “Just a contest event created by some jobless brats. I mean, how can you judge a person's look just by their appearance alone? There are countless beautiful girls with vile hearts among us. Tsk, these guys only think with their eyes and not their brains.” Sylvia was about to agree with Urea's words when she suddenly saw the latter logged into the school forum and cast a vote on herself. “Wow. I've already gotten a hundred votes.” Urea's eyes lit up when she saw the figures below her name. “Although the margin is still far from the top, I'm still pleased.” Sylvia's mouth twitched when she heard this.Didn't you just say that the creators of the contest are a group of brainless guys? Sylvia shook her head and knew that she would never easily believe a certain person's words again. Urea continued to scroll upward on the participants' list until she suddenly paused at the person in the second ranking. “Look, Sylvia. It's you!” She shouted excitedly. “Huh?” “Wow, there are so many people casting their votes for you. Take a look; you are just a few numbers away from the top position. Damn it, if I'd known you were also on the list, I wouldn't have wasted my vote on myself at all.” Urea had a look of regret on her face. Students were only limited to one vote. This is done to prevent people from voting multiple times. Hence, Urea was quite sad that she didn't get to vote for Sylvia. “How did my picture end up there?” Sylvia glanced at the image of her on the screen, which seemed to have been taken unaware when she was leaving the school. The girl in the picture had a cold gaze, the evening sun reflecting on her frame, thus bringing a sense of warmth to the whole picture. Definitely, one would say that the photographer has a perfect skill of embodying the girl in the picture. Unfortunately, Sylvia didn't seem fascinated at all. Instead, a frown appeared on her face. Attention was what she disliked the most. And what this person did by uploading her picture on the forum directly contradicts her wishes. “The name of the person is blank.” Signifying that the poster is an anonymous person. “Oh, look, your votes have climbed up again. If it continues growing like this, you might literally emerge as the winner of this beauty contest. This is great, Sylvia.” Sylvia looked at Urea, whose face was full of smiles, and decided not to pursue the matter of the poster. ... “Ziesha, take a look.” In the first year class, a girl took her light brain and walked towards the pretty girl sitting in the front row of the class. “Look, the person in the second position is about to outmatch you. Aren't you anxious at all?” “Why would I be anxious?” Ziesha looked at the screen with a nonchalant look. “This is just a silly event created by a group of bored seniors. If there's anything I should be worried about, then it's about how to memorize more beast characteristics so that I can top up my survival in the wilds.” Seeing that Ziesha wasn't really interested in the voting scores, the girl put away her light brain. “Okay. But I know that you are definitely the prettiest girl in the school. That girl called Sylvia, or whatever her name is, must have used some underhanded tricks to get more votes.” Ziesha turned her head away, not bothering to listen to the girl's words, and went back to her reading.