The Nameless Extra: I Proofread This World

”Silvena, what are you doing here?”

Calyra tilted her head a fraction, the motion so slight it might have been imagined, and brushed a speck of dust from her sleeve.

Silvena let out a quiet, thoughtful hum, sounding almost scandalized as she echoed, ”What am I doing here?” she repeated, her hand lingering lightly where they had bumped.

”Why, Lady Calyra, unless I have tragically lost my ability to read signs, this establishment is called a library. A place for scholars. And unfortunately, I am one of those. So of course I’m here.”

Silvena smiled, amused at her own answer.

Calyra looked at her, as impassive as ever. ”Hm, that does appear to be the case.”

Upon hearing that response, Silvena could only stare at her.

Then her shoulders sagged in fond defeat.

”...You know, you always did have a talent for striking people speechless.” Silvena rose, dusted herself lightly, and reached down to pull Calyra to her feet.

”Anyway, I should tell you, I’ve been searching for you since the enrollment ceremony ended. I even paid a visit to your room, fully expecting to see you there, but you weren’t.”

She tilted her head, her hair slipping over one eye. ”So I thought, where could this Lady Calyra possibly be?”

”And then it struck me. There is only one place in this entire academy you would voluntarily haunt.”

Her smile widened a fraction.

”The library. Seems I was right.”

”Interesting.”

Silvena lifted her brows. ”...What?”

”That you managed to deduce my whereabouts,” Calyra said. ”But more than that, I was actually surprised to see you here at the enrollment ceremony. From your previous letters, I thought you would be attending Wellencrest.”

Silvena let out a small breath that almost turned into a laugh.

”Ah. Yes. That.”

She lifted a hand and rubbed lightly at the back of her neck, her smile tilting in a way that suggested the explanation might not be entirely respectable.

”It’s... somewhat difficult to explain,” she admitted.

”But if you insist on a reason...” her eyes brightened faintly, ”...let’s say a mysterious seer foretold that my fate would be best here, and because of that, who am I to defy such an enticing prophecy?”

But before she could elaborate further, Calyra’s gaze drifted past her shoulder.

”...Ah,” Calyra said quietly. ”The book. I almost forgot.”

And then she moved immediately, slipping past Silvena with sudden purpose, already heading down the aisle.

Silvena turned after her, startled.

”H-hey! Where are you going? And why are you running again!?” she called, half laughing, half protesting.

”I haven’t finished talking yet—!!”

Silvena watched her go in surprise.

”—Calyra!”

Then, she shut her mouth with her hands, as she suddenly remembered that she was inside a library.

’Ugh. How can she still be a pain in the ass?’

’...I swear some people really don’t grow up.’

Both of them rushed downstairs.

But when Calyra reached the lower section, the very place where, only moments ago, she had seen the boy through her [Clairvoyant] spell...

She stopped short.

”He’s gone...” Calyra murmured.

The realization struck her cold.

Calyra heard some footsteps approached from behind her and Silvena’s voice followed.

”Who?”

Calyra’s gaze lingered on the vacant seat.

”I... don’t know,” she said.

*****

[Ruvian’s POV]

Ruvian returned to his room with the [Cosmic Fountain Theory] book in his hand.

[You have received +30 Plot Points!]

He had decided, after a brief consideration, that studying in his room would be preferable to enduring the library’s rather miserable condition.

The lighting there was poor, the air stale, the silence somehow oppressive instead of peaceful. Here, at least, the quiet belonged to him.

Or so he told himself.

Still, more than the dust or the dimness, there had been that feeling. That faint, prickling unease creeping along the back of his neck, as though someone had been standing behind him, watching... intensely.

He had told himself it was nothing, probably his imagination, and yet...

That vague, ominous discomfort lingered just enough to persuade him that borrowing the book and retreating to his room was the wiser choice.

And somehow, he had managed to borrow it for five days, according to the limitations imposed on lower scholars like himself.

Not so much privilege, if he was honest, as it came with the small, inconvenient clause that if someone of higher rank suddenly desired the same volume, he would be expected to return it.

’Truly... this is injustice.’

Ruvian set [Cosmic Fountain Theory] on his desk and drew the chair out with a soft scrape before lowering himself into it.

He stared at the cover for a moment.

”...This is going to be tiring, isn’t it?”

He flipped it open anyway.

Cosmic Fountain Circulation was, by all accounts, an excellent cultivation technique—refined, efficient, and praised for its ability to improve mana channeling while steadily developing a single, stable reservoir.

He already knew that much from reading about Zian’s journey with it.

On paper, it sounded almost reassuring.

In practice, however...

Ruvian’s eyes tracked a paragraph, then returned to the beginning of the same line.

”...I hate studying.”

Ruvian leaned back slightly.

He was still at the very foundation stage of attempting to untangle the terminology.

There would be no shortcuts here.

And so he had already decided that tonight would be devoted entirely to this: reading, rereading, and forcing the knowledge to settle into place whether it wished to or not.

Time, after all, was unreliable.

Five days sounded generous until one remembered that the privilege could vanish the moment someone of higher standing took interest.

Even if renewals were possible, there was no guarantee he would be allowed one when the time came.

Which meant every hour he had now was an hour he couldn’t afford to waste.

Especially during orientation week.

Scholars weren’t bound to strict obligations yet during this week. The academy allowed them a brief period of freedom before formal schedules came.

There were activities tonight—tours, introductions, optional explorations of the academy grounds—but none of them were compulsory, and Ruvian had already dismissed them as unnecessary.

And if he were somehow to get lost one day within the academy...

”...I’ll just ask someone else for directions.”

After all, the academy was enormous.

Ruvian exhaled, pushed his chair back, and rose. If he intended to spend the night wrestling with this book, he might as well prepare properly.

He made his way to the bathroom to wash up, intending to return shortly after and...

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[Chapter 47: Resume His Studies]

PP= 11290