Alone. Again. Useless. I don’t have access to levels and I can’t gain access to bonus health. I don’t feel comfortable fighting on the front lines now against the stronger monsters. It’s comparable to only being able to fight the the level one rats and goblins in rpg games besides the fact that I can’t even level up from them.

Ohmygosh. I’m an NPC.

I sneak looks over the crowd of people to see if I can find anyone familiar enough that doesn’t look hostile but I don’t. Dejected with nothing to do, I find a depressed spot on the back wall with no body to fill it and pull out my gameboy. Content.

I flick the power button, the mechanical switch sounds to a nostalgic click. Instead of a happy facade, my eyes strained and a knot I couldn’t unfurl appeared on my forehead. An ugly scowl attacked my face. I couldn’t focus or even enjoy the game in front of me, my emotions overwhelm me as I shed a small tear, ashamed. My happy place had no place for me. My fingers move deftly tense as my mind soon became stuck on images of my classmates. In the reflection of the Gameboy, Steves image sticks out the most, then flashes Beth, then Amandas. All their lifeless eyes stare back into mine yet I couldn't choose to look away, I had to face this new reality.

Uncomfortable with these thoughts, I look back inside my body, where the ball of mana rotates, my only escape. I gawk in wonder that I have mana in my body now. There are so many things I wish to experiment with, I’m just too slow to use it. I knew from the start that I need to build a foundation and learn to control it. I didn’t want to feel that jarring pain I did last time my mana went out of control.

Mana feels like nothing I’ve felt before, it’s like a 6th sense that I’ve had my entire life just never used. I tense and compact the mana to a tightness in my chest and slowly release my hold on it, letting it disperse throughout my body. My ever-tense shoulder muscles relax and rest naturally, a burden I have not known taken away. A wave of feeling filled with exhaustion and peace washes over me and calms me down. My frown turns into a slightly smaller frown.

I open my eyes delicately and slowly, my environment not exactly stable. Worried about monsters around me, I dart my eyes left and right gaining stock of the situation. To my left, fresh bloody bodies filled the tables with people like Susie attending to them. I watch as a small cut disappeared entirely off a man's bloody forehead, a wash rag finishing the job. She seems a little too awkward around the men and… she’s not wearing a bra. Kind of a bad day to go braless eh? I understand her plight as a woman that struggles with bras but I don’t help her. The thought of going out of my way to interacting socially with people sends a cold shiver down my spine to my toes. Never again.

To my right warriors, mages, and bow users filled most the seats. Many had actual weapons, though some still had tabletops as makeshift shields. A lot of them were athletes but surprisingly the nerds seemed the focus of the group. At least twenty odd “mages” sat and cast reality-defying spells. Being extremely interested, I watch as a senior conjures ugly small birds from thin air. The birds seemed deformed and not perfectly functional but they did fly. A devious smile appears on the boys face next to her, as mana started forming in the palm of his hand. Multiple arrows of mana shot out towards the sky, spiraling and honing in on the birds. One by one, each bird was struck down, with one bird left remaining. The girls face lit into a determined scowl as she bit her lip. The last bird had but one last spurt of energy and dived into the crowd, aimed at the mischievous boy. Inches before the bird made contact with his head, it disappeared from space, fluttering out of existence. The boy sat in shock as his own spell crashed immediately down onto his own face short after.

“That’s not fair! I don’t know how to cancel my homing missiles that fast! You made them run into me, you ass. That fucking hurt! The table erupted in laughter and glee. Colourful beams of light were shot at each other, their childlike wonder not now a dream. Seeing them all excited to learn new things, a motivation built up inside of me again. I get these motivations but I can never make them stick, my depression always seeping back into my mood. I made a mistake but I won’t fall behind these nerds this time. I may not have access to the system but I still can control mana. I mean, who even wants to do this the easy way? I enjoy the challenge. I will show these fucks how I can be useful and powerful. This isn’t the same world anymore, this is where I can finally become something meaningful!

My confidence boost shows in my eyes as I now scour the room for new ideas to cling onto. I see on the outskirts of the warriors, Joe, as he makes eye contact with me as well. I see him shuffle and make his way towards me out of the corner of my eye, my hands immediately move to my hair. As he was walking towards me, I tried to think up conversational topics but they all avoided me. I scoot over a bit and he plops down next to me, a plastic wrapper outstretched in his hand.

“Hey, you want some of this? I got one and a half poptarts left.” I snatch and pull the poptarts out of his grip in one fell swoop. Brown sugar cinnamon. It’ll have to do. While glaring at the magic happening at the nerd table, I chomp down down, happy with some accompanied silence.

“Thank you. I thought y'all didn’t like me. Why?”

He turned his head to his feet and took a soft sigh.

“Well I think Mandy is having issues with Amanda’s death. It’s screwing with her head and she’s blaming everybody right now but she’s human. I try not to judge too hard. Steve thinks he’s got to be the hero to save the world for some reason. He’s taken every loss personally and fights harder than anyone else I’ve seen.”

“But he was a complete ass to me.”

“He said that mean shit, but you knew you of all people you were barely hanging on. I mean you passed out immediately after the third attack. There were still goblins alive.”

“There was one goblin alive, Steve and John were beating it up.” I assert confidently.

“No. There were two on top of Robert in the back left behind the teachers desk. Steve, John, and I all had to protect you and I got this nasty bruise from one of them. He pulled up his sleeve as his entire forearm was a deep purple, you couldn’t even see his actually skin tone. Then you came back in a complete daze and didn’t say anything and passed out almost dead. We seriously pushed you and yelled at you many times before Steven woke you up. We know you tried, but you weren’t made for this. I’m sorry but take care of yourself. I need to get back with the others.”

He left with a “I’m right and I pity you” kind of smile.

I sit in silence, choosing to listen to the ringing in my head instead. Am I really that weak? Am I wrong?

The answer to both was yes. I passed out during the middle of a fight, didn’t communicate or help with the plan. When things went rough, I backed down and went to my happy place, with my gameboy.

I need to grow up. I can’t play games anymore. I need to become strong or I’ll fall behind the others. I see everyone else with their basic abilities and strong spells. The thing is, I’m gonna become the more powerful one. They don’t focus on mana, or focus on how their power works. They just use skills that do everything for them.

I’m gonna be the one to reinvent the wheel. I’ll be able to use all their skills with time, I mean I can control the energy of the universe, mana itself!

I immediately scrunch into a ball and meditate with my thoughts, a smile appears on my grim face.

Controlling my mana is slowly becoming easier. I can feel and move it on the inside of my body, my insides conveniently don’t impede it’s flow. I’m not quite satisfied with my control and speed but it’s getting to the point that I can actually use it. I consider a couple interesting possibilities. Can I enhance parts of my body without harming it? If I get distracted or something wakes me up when I’m moving it will it seize and cause me pain? I test to see if I can still control my mana with my eyes open.

Opening my eyes, I see not much has changed, although it looks like people are preparing for battle. The air tasting more and more like anticipation and excitement. I feel inside my body and can feel my mana. I also can move it but it moves significantly slower comparatively to when I close my eyes. I look back to my left as I see Susie exhausted and sleeping on the floor in the middle of the cafeteria. She must have mana exhaustion, there's no way someone could do that otherwise. Can I transfer mana to her? Maybe like healing except with mana? That could help right?

I focus inward and hold my mana back into my chest, thinking through the last time I did this. I could just shoot it out my palm extremely fast but I think that would be just like an explosion of energy instead of a transfer. Also, I would have to not use all my own mana because then I’ll go through mana exhaustion too. I split my mana in half, not quite a 50/50. A strain forms on my forehead and I break in sweat as my chest tightens. I release my hold on one of them and merge it back into the other, my breath deepening. I can’t do that, it’s damn too difficult.

A muffled sound is heard in the back of my head as I open my eyes. Fireworks and rays of light shoot out as students come walking out of the principal's office with their head held high. Steve leads the way, flaunting his new gleaming steel scythe that was twice his size, with a metallic sheen coating his skin, splotched in various, distinct colors of red. Cheers sound out from the students, screams of pure joy and excitement fill the school again.

[Congratulations! You have cleared the Willows Bend High School Dungeon! A completion bonus of flat 20% experience will be added to all participants. The dungeon will now close and all participants will be removed from the dungeon.]

[Time till respawn: 48 hours]

[Teleport commencing]