Tick Tock Tick Tock

The sound of the clock resonates throughout my room.

“This is so boring”(Daniel). I said while laying on my bed.

“System, what’re my current quests?”(Daniel). I figured out that I should distract myself using the system for now.

“Hmm?”(Daniel). I noticed that two quests had been completed.

“System, what was the other quest that I unlocked? I only remember the one I had to kill another… student.”(Daniel)

-Reach Level 5-

Reach level 5? I asked the system what the reward was, and it told me three unallocated points. Looking at the stats window, I realized that there are three more unallocated points, and the six points that I had used were from leveling up and achievement reward.

I didn’t realize that I completed another quest, but it was probably I was busy running. I thought about using them up now but, I decided to put them on hold for now and use them in case of an emergency.

Sigh

“I guess I’ll go to the training center. I’m sure we’re allowed since we are on a break, not suspended.”(Daniel). I picked myself up and left the building.

There are still a lot of students in the training center. They are either flowers or a star student. However, now that we LP students had been reduced to half of our original numbers, there is almost no LP students training.

This feels really weird. Usually, there are many of us in the training center going in and out, but now, just, nothing.

“Look, that guy is probably a cheater too. Ehehe, loser, get out of here.” I heard from one of the people behind me. He was a flower student with his three other friends, two of them are flower students, but the other was a star.

He was referring to the false information that was given to cover the disappearance of half of the LP students.

Just go to your classroom. It’s class time, you know. So why are you even outside of your training rooms? I curse at them in my head as I hurriedly went towards the LP student training room.

Here at least, I won’t have to deal with those kinds of people.

Three other students were already inside the room, but I didn’t talk with them and started my workout.

After running on the treadmill for twenty minutes straight, I decided to train my archery skills.

_________________

STR +5(Temporary)

AGI +5(Temporary)

DEX +5(Temporary)

_________________

A message appeared right after I picked up the bow.

Oh! I feel slightly more robust. I don’t know how to explain it, but suddenly, I feel like I could control my body and feel my muscles better.

While drawing the string of the bow, I used my mana flow with Hawkeye. The Hawkeye sharpened my senses but consumed about 20 of my mana.

What?! This can only last for thirty Hawkeye seconds? Not real-time? This is a scam.

Although I didn’t hit the marked target when I shot the arrow, I still managed to fire the arrow in the target’s direction.

It didn’t hit even close to the target, but it was certainly better than the last time I held a bow.

“Oh, that’s good.”(Daniel). So I told myself, but then I heard laughter coming from the door of the training room.

‘Damn, it’s those guys again.’(Daniel). They were laughing at me, and it was definitely from how I sucked at the bow.

Ughhh seriously?

I want to shoot them with my bow, but I know that I’ll never hit them, so I discarded that idea. So I’ll leave you guys alone for now.

Right, after all, even when I became stronger, they’re still stronger than I am, probably.

Suddenly a yell echoed behind them. It was Mr. Fernandez’s voice. I can’t hear what he said, but the students that were at the door quickly left.

He looks better than the last time I saw him, but his eyebags are still there.

“What are you guys doing here? Didn’t I said to take a rest?”(Mr. F)

“Sir, it’s boring staying inside the dorm, and we don’t want everyone to think that we were also slacking off our training. As you saw, sir, they were mocking us.” A girl said who was one of the LP students in the room.

Mr. Fernandez opened his mouth as if he was about to say something, but no sound came out. But then he said.

“Then do some stuff! Go to a restaurant, mall, or somewhere.”(Mr. F)

The others were confused.

“What? Wasn’t he the one that kept on insisting we should train all the time before? Why now?” One asked the student beside him.

“Why are you asking me? Probably he thinks we’re losers too, and we don’t deserve to graduate.” The other replied.

Geez, he could totally hear the both of you.

Forget about it. I’ll just continue my training.

“Daniel.”(Mr. F). Mr. Fernandez called me as I was about to draw the bow.

“Yes?”(Daniel). Could it be he noticed? Was my acting not enough?

“Fix your posture, straighten your back, pull out your chest. Your legs are also too close together. Leave some space, at least until it’s shoulder width. And pull the string further.”(Mr. F). He then sat somewhere inside the room after giving me some advice.

“I…See? Wait, what?…”(Daniel). I mumbled.

It’s confusing that he helped me. I thought he hated me.

After following his advice, using the bow feels much better, though pulling the string harder still scares me. If the string broke as I was pulling it, it might hit my eye.

The arrow, this time, was much closer to the target.

It was just a 10-meter distance target, but it’s getting better. The arrow was 10 feet away from the target.

“Nice.”(Daniel). I continued training my archery skills with my mana training, Mana flow with Hawkeye.

After five minutes, I can hit the target, and by half an hour, it’s close to the center of the target. Few hours passed by, and I can already hit the center of the target, and I already moved to the 20-meters target.

“Huff, puff, huff. I think this is enough for this morning. I’ll continue later.”(Daniel). My mana and stamina were drained, and my body weak.

“It’s already lunch, but I still haven’t had my breakfast yet.”(Daniel). I walked outside the training room and headed towards the cafeteria.

A couple of days had passed, and it was time for classes again. Luckily my archery training went well in this past couple of days. I can now hit the target at 40 meters, but I’m still struggling to hit the center.

Inside the class, Josh was right in front of me. He was talking about how he spent his break going outside the Academy and relaxing.

But there’s one weird thing that kept bothering me, it had already been an hour since the class started, and Julia was still not in the class. At first, I thought that they forgot about her, but that isn’t the case. But after another hour, I thought that she’s either late or isn’t feeling well, but it isn’t the case.

I was worried about her since she didn’t come to the class. So I was planning on visiting her in her dorms. Although it isn’t allowed, as long as Cassey comes with me, it shouldn’t be a problem. But she wasn’t in her room. The dorm manager said she was on vacation with her family.

But a week had passed, and there was not a single word from her. I was excited to tell her that I can manage to hit a target 40 meters target in the few days of training my archery. And finally, after a week, I saw her again.

I saw her in the cafeteria just right after finishing the morning classes, sitting at one of the desks together with a group of other students.

It was weird that she hung out with them since they have flower and star symbols on their shoulders.

As I tried to get to her, she saw me and waved at me. This caused the others to look at me with either indifference or with a puzzled look.

She promptly met me on my way and pulled me towards her new friends.

“This is my friend! He’s the one I’ve been talking about!”(Julia)

“Oh…”

“He’s… Nice?”

“Cool.”

“…”

“He looks different from how you described him.”

“Yeah, I thought he’s a star student, but he’s a… How do you say this… Eh… Ordinary?”

Each of them showed their reactions towards me.

‘Dang, I just got my death penalty from those reactions.’(Daniel). I thought as I avoided their judging eyes.

“What’re you guys saying? You guys just don’t know, but he’s super kind and brave!”(Julia). She said in a cheerful voice.

I wish I have that mentality.

“I see.”

“Okay.”

‘Where was she this past week?’(Daniel). I pulled Julia a few feet away to talk to her.

“W-what?”(Julia)

“What do you mean what? Why haven’t I heard anything from you?”(Daniel).

“So-sorry, I was planning to surprise you! You see, my bloodline evolved! I also got approved of joining the higher class! Look!”(Julia). She pointed at her shoulder. I didn’t realize it until a few seconds later but, the symbol changed. It was a star now instead of a circle.

“Ohhhh.”(Daniel)

“C’mon! Aren’t you happy? I won’t be a burden anymore! I-I mean, I won’t be a burden if something happened. B-but it didn’t happen yet. That’s what I mean.”(Julia). She was referring to the incident and that she won’t be useless anymore. Even though I already told her she’s not. But she now thinks I had forgotten everything.

But, seriously? I didn’t even get a word? How did she even get to the star class in just a week?

“You probably thought that it was so fast, right? It was my sister who helped me! You see, after the demoni- I mean. Remember, just after the hunt last week. My sister came to pick me up. After that day, I trained a lot.”(Julia). She was talking excitedly.

“Helped you? How?”(Daniel). How did she get into the higher class this fast?

“Well, she was reluctant to help me at the beginning since it was dangerous, but I begged her! Ahaha”(Julia). She laughed and continued.

“Don’t tell anyone, okay? I’ll only tell you since it’s you. Come here.”(Julia). She looked at her new friends and said.

“Guys, we’ll be back. I have to tell him something.”(Julia)

“Yeah, take your time.” A girl said, but her eyes were still looking down at me. Julia can’t see since she was looking in my direction now.

She took me to a more secluded area.

“Ah, is there really a need for this?”(Daniel). I asked her as I looked around us.

“Yeah… You already know about my bloodline, right? My sister used her blood to control my blood.”(Julia)

“What? Control blood what?”(Daniel)

“I might not have worded that correctly, but what I mean is, my sister is a genius, and she taught me how to control our bloodline.”(Julia)

“She basically taught my body how to handle the mana inside my body.”(Julia)

“What…”(Daniel)

“Ehehehe, pretty cool, right? I’m lucky that I have this kind of bloodline. If it were another, this wouldn’t be possible.”(Julia)

I was still in disbelief. Such a thing existed? Isn’t this like… Cheating? I can’t say anything about it myself since I have a cheat of power myself. But, still.

“Then, why haven’t you done it before? Why did you endure being in the lower class if you could do this?”(Daniel)

“We-well, this is embarrassing, but, at first, I don’t want to since I won’t feel like getting strength this way is something that I could be proud of. It won’t feel like it’s my strength but borrowed from the others, more like cheating. But now, I don’t care anymore. Because I found what I wanted to protect and what I really want to become.”(Julia). She looked at me with bright, passionate eyes.

But this means… We won’t be hanging out as much as before?

I can’t be sad about this… She’s going places, and I already knew that she would… But this is too fast.

“Ohh, n-nice!! This is great… I envy you, I wish I were strong like you.”(Daniel). I then forcefully pulled out my voice. I really am happy, but my chest’s feelings are different. This will be like Catherine all over again.

“You are strong! But don’t worry, we’ll be hanging out as much still! Tell you what, Josh, Cassey, and Mark, bring them with you next time, and I’m sure they will become friends with the new friends I made. They’re really kind, I was lost this couple of days, but they helped me a ton.”(Julia)

Julia… Didn’t you saw how they looked at me? For them, I’m just a circle, a lowly LP student, probably a lower-life one too.

“Okay! I will, but we’re busy these days, ahaha. Mr. Fernandez… is, umm… Making us train a lot, ahaha.”(Daniel). This is a lie. We were not doing as much anymore. It felt like Mr. Fernandez gave up on training us. We had to push ourselves to the training center as Mr. Fernandez would tell us to do what we want after the morning classes.

The others thought of this as good news, but as days went by, they finally noticed the difference, and they also had to train themselves even without Mr. Fernandez’s presence. Therefore, we have to give more effort.

I hope our allowance won’t be affected too.

Although he would occasionally come by and give us some advice, he spends most of the time observing us and sighing.

Honestly, all LP students that were left in the Academy were in pretty bad shape. As a result, our morale deteriorated and will continue to do so.

“Hey, umm. I haven’t had my lunch yet, so do you want to?”(Daniel). I’m inviting her to eat at our usual spot.

“Sure, I’ll tell them to go ahead of us first, though.”(Julia). We went back to her friends, and she spoke with them.

Ahead of us?

After picking up the usual meal that we would order together, we went into our secret spot. It was a spot we would often hang out at. It was an isolated spot that I discovered. The way is from a ladder coming from the roof of one of the rooms just behind the Research center.

But when we got there, her friends were on our spot. Sitting and dirtying the place with plastics and papers,

“What are they doing here?”(Daniel). I asked Julia. This time, my eyes were wide open.

“I was looking for you yesterday. I was planning on surprising you, I brought them along with me to introduce you, but you weren’t here. But they liked it here, so I thought we could all hang out here.”(Julia)

“Oh. Ohhohhohh. Ahaha. Yeah. That’s. That’s nice.”(Daniel). I bit my lips.

Our secret place, the place we go to cut ourselves from the rest of the world, is gone.

“Oh! Look at the time! Mr. Fernandez told us that we should come back as soon as possible since we’re training hard! I have to go now. I really am sorry! But next time, I’ll go and bring the others here, okay? We were just swamped. Tell your friends I’ll be here next time, okay?”(Daniel)

“W-wait! Daniel! Hey! At least tell Mr. Fernandez I said hello!”(Julia)

I didn’t stop and ignored her. I rushed down the ladder and ran towards the training center.

Upon reaching the training room, I laid my back on the wall in a corner.

“Julia… How could you? Damn, daaaamn.”(Daniel)

Is this karma? Karma for what I have done? Are Gods real? Are they punishing me?

I kept asking myself.

I walked towards Mr. Fernandez and told him that I’d go outside the Academy and eat for lunch, but I needed his permission for it.

He gave me a permission card to go outside, and I took it without hesitation.

The reason why I wanted to go outside the Academy was to cool my head down. As, I am feeling tons of emotions that I cannot handle, and I might tell her something that I’ll regret.

I walked around the city, not outside at the Whalelight district(City), but still inside the LionHeart City.

After hours of pointless wandering, I discovered a small cat cafe.

My hunger and thirst came back at me. After thinking about whenever to go inside or not, I decided to go. Since not only would I be able to eat, but calm myself from the cats.

I sat on a corner table, looking at the cats chasing each other and jumping between cat’s towers.

“Sigh. This is relaxing.”(Daniel). I inhaled the air inside the cafe, and it was a good scent. It was a sweet aroma that tickles my nose when inhaling the air around me.

“Too bad this place is too secluded. It doesn’t have many customers.”(Daniel). I looked around the others tables, and there were no others besides an old man acting as the cashier and me.

To be honest, he gives me the chills. He feels weird. He was just sitting there the whole time and smiling at me.

Maybe I’m the weird one?

Suddenly, he walked towards my table.

‘Calm down, me. He’s just going to take my order. No need to get nervous. I just need to have a normal conversation.’(Daniel). I cheered myself up as I triple-checked the name of the food I’ll order.

“What. Do. You. Want. To. order, young. man?”(Old man). He said in a nibble yet gentle tone.

“Umm, I’ll have this, and this, please.”(Daniel). I pointed at the pictures of rice with chickens and a burger with a soda.

‘Omg, I’m so dumb. Why didn’t I tell him the name and the number of the food? He’s an old man, for god sake. He probably can’t see very well!’(Daniel). I cursed at myself in my mind.

“Okay. These. Right? I’ll. Tell. The. Cook. To. Get. Them. Ready.”(Old man). He took the order menu, and checked the food that I ordered, and slowly made his way to the kitchen.

Somehow, I feel terrible for making an old man take my order.

“Ughh! This isn’t my lucky day.”(Daniel). I put my face on the table while looking at the kitchen door.

Tring~

The door of the restaurant opened.

It was a slender woman, probably a foot or two taller than me. She has beautiful long and wavy brown hair. She is also wearing a red turtleneck sweater, long jeans, and slender brown leather shoes.

“Master, are you here?”(Woman)

“Just. Wait. There’s. A. Customer.” He yelled back in a loud voice but without breaking the gentle tone.

“A customer? Here?”(Woman). She looked around until she saw me in the corner.

Her eyes twitched, and she smiled.

Did I pique her interest?

I didn’t know I’m such a killer.

She moved towards me and sat on the opposite side of the table. Right now, she was right in front of me.

“Uhhh. H-hello.”(Daniel)

“How did you manage to do it?”(Woman)

She asked me a stranger question. Manage to do what?

“Uh? Excuse me?”(Daniel)

She chuckled a bit without breaking her eyes away from me.

“Inside the demonic nest last week. You grew stronger and faster after killing one of your friends.”(Woman). I immediately stood up, causing the chair I’m sitting on to smash into the wall.

My heart beats faster, and my breath grew bigger. I could feel sweat forming on my forehead and armpits.

“W-what do you m-mean.”(Daniel). I asked her with a tiny shaking voice.

“Ahahaha, you don’t have to pretend you know. Even if they managed to covered it up, we still know. Well, at least I know.”(Woman). She drank my cup of water.

“You also killed quite more of the students and acted like a victim after coming out of the cave. It was fun to watch. We betted if you would survive or die, luckily you survived, and I won the bet.”(Woman)

“W-w-w-what?! I don’ know what you mean!”(Daniel). I slowly walked away from her without showing her my back, but then suddenly, the atmosphere became heavier and harder to breathe.

My body felt heavier and heavier until I slowly fell to the ground. No matter how much I tried to fight it back, it doesn’t work.

“I was actually so amused of you that I looked up information about you. Daniel, right?”(Woman)

“What!!!!? W-who are you????!”(Daniel). My voice squeaked.

“Don’t be afraid, ahahaha. I’ll give you a minute to find out. If you don’t figure it out, I’ll kill you.”(Woman)

I looked at her smug face and around us.

It was weird that I’m the only one affected. Not a single thing was in the same position.

Wait a minute.

What is this power?

Is this a spell of bloodline?

Don’t tell me this is gravity power? Then that’s mean… She’s…

“D-density.”(Daniel). I muttered. I could feel my body shaking from fear.

I really had run out of luck.

First, our teacher basically gave up on us.

Then, the one I considered my closest friend disappeared for a week without a word, and when she came back, she had new friends. And not only that but the secret place we hang out at disappeared. Soon it will be flocked with people and will be removed by the Academy.

And now, this. That I met a Null member, and this café that I accidentally stumbled upon was probably their secret base. Not only that they’re all around me, but also that this might be my death.

“Haha, nice, you’re right.”(Woman)

She clapped her hands as she looked down on me like an insect.