"..."

"..." ​ ​

"..."

Van has been staring at the wall for almost 30 minutes now. Van was currently inside the house of Unique Class-1 since it was Friday.

He has been waiting here quite a while now but no one else seemed to be arriving. Was there an event that he was not aware of?

It would be fine if he was waiting alone. But… Victoria arrived 5 minutes after him… and suddenly sat beside him. There were two other empty sofas in the room, but she sat beside him for some reason.

Van said hi, but Victoria just looked at him and nodded, after that, she looked towards the wall, not even speaking a word to Van. It was, in a word, awkward.

It didn't help that Van was getting sleepy, but he couldn't relax since someone else was here with him. He still kept hearing whispers in his house ever since the feather tattoo was etched in his back, making him unable to sleep comfortably.

Van now somewhat understands the people from the Unique Class-1 a little bit. They were unable to turn off most of their skills, causing their SP to always be at the bare minimum. At this point, Van was afraid that he would look like Chad once he becomes a 3rd-year student, with his eyebags covering half his face.

Van could not help but sigh at the thought, his breath echoing through the silent room. And then, as it reached Victoria's ears, she finally turned her head towards Van.

"Where are the other people?"

And for the first time since he enrolled, Victoria spoke to him. Van blinked numerous times due to the unexpected conversation, but after a while, he answered Victoria so as to not come out as rude.

"I don't know", Van shook his head, "They were here at this time last week"

"Hm…", Victoria nodded her head.

"...Yup", Van also nodded his head.

And once again, silence filled the room. Another 30 minutes had passed and the silence still had not been broken yet as the two just stared at the wall, not even exchanging looks.

But finally, tapping footsteps whispered in their ears.

"Oh, someone is already here?"

It was Ms. Elton, coming out from the 2nd floor of the Unique Class-1, "What time is it?", she tilted her head.

"Already 5:30", Van said as he squinted his eyes. Was Ms. Elton here the whole time? Then why did she only go down now?

"I see", Ms. Elton breathed as he sat on the sofa in front of them.

"..."

And once again, silence.

Van was a quiet person and didn't like to talk that much. But this is just plain weird, he thought. What exactly is going on here? Where are Chad and Fred, or the rest of the Unique Class-1 for that matter? Weren't there supposed to be 10 of them here?

Finally, Van could not take it anymore as he let out a sigh, "Do we not have class right now?", he said.

"We do", Ms. Elton quickly looked him straight in the eye, "What do you want to do?", she then said.

"W… what?", Van blinked his eyes once again in disbelief. Why was he the one to decide? He then looked at Victoria, who was also looking at him.

"..."

"I swallowed a crystal", he then said bluntly as he returned Ms. Elton's stares.

Hearing this, Victoria, who seemingly had no emotions on her face whatsoever, now had her eyes wide open as she looked at Van, her eyebrows slightly tilted.

"Follow me", Ms. Elton then said as she stood up from the sofa, "This boy is really interesting, isn't he? Yes, he is"

So that's how it was. Unlike the rest of the System types, Unique types do not have a set ability on what it could do. And so, the lessons would usually be more personal, Van thought.

"You, demon spawn, come with us", Ms. Elton then said as she gestured to Victoria to follow them.

'W… what?', Van could not help but furrow his eyebrows, 'I thought it was supposed to be a 1-on-1 lecture?'

But still, since Ms. Elton was his instructor, he can't really do anything about it. And so, they walked deeper into the house. But instead of bringing them to the previous room where Ms. Elton tested Van, they were taken outside to the backyard.

'...The class even has a backyard?'

Van was then quickly asked to go to the farthest end of the backyard, with Ms. Elton and Victoria in front of the door.

"Go!", Ms. Elton then shouted as she hid behind Victoria.

"What?", Van was now utterly confused.

"Swallow a crystal!"

"What!?", Van could not help but raise his voice, "Won't I explode!?"

Victoria, who was in between Van and Ms. Elton, shook her head repeatedly as she looked Van straight in the eye as if telling him not to do it.

"But you just said you already swallowed one!", Ms. Elton leaned her head over Victoria's shoulder, "Don't worry, we can heal you!"

"...", Van squinted his eyes, but after a while, he nodded, "...Okay". If he was going to try it now, might as well be under the supervision of an instructor. Also, she could heal him if something goes wrong.

And so, with a deep sigh, Van retrieved his pouch and picked a Clear Crystal. He then wiped it a little bit and put it in his mouth.

He was, however, very hesitant in swallowing it.

"Since you already consumed one and didn't explode, that means you're safe!", Ms. Elton once again poked her head from behind Victoria.

Hearing Ms. Elton's words of assurance, Van finally swallowed the Crystal, scratching his throat once again.

"Well… You probably won't explode!", Ms. Elton then added as soon as the crystal was already in Van's stomach.

"W… What!?", Van widened his eyes, "But you just said it was safe--"

Before Van could finish his words, he felt the inside of his stomach heating up, as if it was boiling inside.

"!!!", Van started to panic as he did not feel anything like this when he swallowed the Yellow Crystal back in the dungeon a week ago.

"You're going to explode, boy!", Ms. Elton screamed as she tucked behind Victoria, who now had her eyes closed as her head was slightly tilted to the side.

Hearing this, Van quickly turned on his [Time Perception] skill. 'F*ck… F*ck. This was a mistake!', Van's thoughts were in shambles.

But after a few seconds, he calmed down. 'I'm so stupid', he thought before going into superspeed. The heat from his stomach then quickly dissipated.

[EXP Gained: 15]

Followed by a text that floated right in front of him. It would seem that the clear crystal only had a minuscule amount of EXP.

After confirming that the feeling of heat was no longer in his stomach, he switched off his skills.

He looked at the two women that were in front of him, Victoria still had her eyes closed, while Ms. Elton was peeking over her shoulders.

"You still breathing, boy!? Yes!? Yes, you are!", Ms. Elton quickly jumped out, "We were about to heal you but you seemed to have calmed down now!"

Victoria, who heard Ms. Elton's words, quickly opened her eyes and turned her eyes towards Van. She then let out a long sigh of relief before going back to her usual emotionless expression.

"Interesting, really interesting!", Ms. Elton rushed towards Van and touched him all over his body, "He is interesting, don't you think so?"

"What are you, really?", Ms. Elton squinted her eyes as he stared Van straight in the eye. "Have you seen anything like this before?", she then said as she looked at Victoria.

"No", Victoria said without even hesitating.

"Good, good", Ms. Elton sighed as she patted Van's shoulders, "Keep this between us. Don't tell anyone else"

...Don't tell anyone else?

"But… why did you bring Victoria?"