“Miss Ana! This… this insect was about to kill me. Please save me.” Noah quickly did a double take and flopped back onto the ground. He looked a little panicked, which he really was, and he dragged his ass on the ground, backing away, looking very genuinely scared of the wasp.

This was all that he could come up with at the spur of the moment. Now he could only hope that the woman bought it. “I hit it with a stone. Is it still alive?” He added hesitantly.

Hmmm… The tall well-proportioned woman did not respond immediately. Through the lens of her gold-rimmed glasses, she gazed at him silently for a moment. “It’s dead. You don’t have to worry.” She said.

“Phew. That’s good to know.” Noah slowly stood up from the ground. “I thought I was going to die here, Miss Ana. Thanks for saving me.”

“Heh. It wasn’t me, though.” The woman’s lips curled up a little.

“Oh… so it died from the injuries… I wonder who injured it, Miss Ana.” Noah didn’t want to lay it on too thick, so he quickly pointed out the obvious. “Perhaps this insect attacked other students just like it attacked me?”

Once again, the homeroom teacher did not respond. She silently scrutinized the guy up and down. “Injured, huh?” She said after a moment with a small amused glint in her black eyes. “Yes, there were a few more students affected by this incident. Why don’t you go and join those students in the infirmary?”

“Yes, Ma’am.” Noah slowly limped away at first, but after he was out of the teacher’s eyesight, he increased his speed and got the hell out of there as fast as he could.

“I guess I need to go to the infirmary just in case.” If the teacher decided to make a round there and check if everyone was fine, he could be in trouble. Just to make sure that this incident was resolved today and now, Noah decided to take a trip there.

The infirmary was in the basement, and it was usually deserted at this hour, but today it was unusually lively. A nurse saw Noah and quickly waved him over. “Another student hurt? Heavens, how many students did this beast hurt?”

However, when Noah walked closer, she noticed something strange. “Boy, you are not hurt anywhere. Why did you come here?”

“No, ma’am. I am hurt here,” Noah said as he lifted his hand, and only then he realized that just like his tiredness, his injuries had also disappeared into thin air. With everything that happened and the sudden arrival of the homeroom teacher, he had completely forgotten about this part.

Damn. Is this why she was also giving me a weird look? Noah gulped. He acted like he was injured back there in front of Miss Ana, but in reality, his body did not even have a scratch. Seeing him look dazed, the nurse snapped her fingers impatiently, “Hello, I am talking to you?”

“Sorry, ma’am. I didn’t get hurt, but I fell, and my head has been throbbing ever since.” Noah somehow explained something vaguely, and the nurse gave him a couple of pills for pain, asking him to come back again tomorrow if the pain persisted. Thankfully, the visit was very short and eventless.

After that, Noah directly rushed back to his room without lingering around anywhere else. Inside, his roommate was now fast asleep, snoring loudly. Without disturbing him, Noah silently climbed up the bunk bed and laid on the top bunk.

“Fuck.” He silently cursed. He placed his hand on his chest because right now, his heart was pounding so loudly, almost as if it was going to fall out. “What a day! Damn it, Ian. This new world is going to kill you and send you packing soon enough. Wait, I keep forgetting. My name is now Noah.” He grinned silently.

“It's too bad that woman had to show up. My new phone has to wait now.” He stared at the ceiling above him and summoned the system interface. “What was that weird notification that popped up? Agility skill tree… what is that?” He opened up the status screen to take a look. There right below the usual list of his name and attributes, was something else, a new section.

Skills:

New Skills Available:

[Sprint]: Cost 0 skill points

Skill Description: Reduces the stamina cost for running by 10%

Skill Level: 0

“Oh? This means I can buy this skill?” Noah quickly clicked the buy option next to the skill. It was 0 cost, and the first time a skill showed up, so he decided to buy it and check it out. The description also wasn’t too bad. Reducing his energy consumed when running might come in handy considering that a high agility was his only strong point right now.

“Hmmm. I put points in agility, and after adding 5 stat points, this agility skill tree opened up, and I received a skill related to agility. So next time if I add stat points to strength or defense, I should be able to get more new skills? Perhaps something related to those attributes? Maybe a fighting skill, a strong punch?”

“Damn. It’s so late.” Noah checked the time after waking up and it was already half past noon. He had spent so much time the previous night thinking about the system and the skills that he fell asleep very late. But before falling asleep, he did land on a solid plan of action.

“Now all I need is a…” Noah let out a deep sigh when the thing that he wanted popped up right in front of him.

[Ding. New Quest Available]

[Ding. Quest: Run 20 miles continuously]

[Ding. Reward: 100 experience points; 1 stat point]

“Thank God!” Noah was not sure that he would see this quest again, so this was good news. “Now what should I do?” He was already late, so he quickly got ready and went to class.

Right off the bat, he could see that the class was a bit empty today, as two or three students were missing. Noah casually walked inside as if he had nothing to do with it and sat quietly.

The bell rang, and the second half of the classes soon started. The morning half was physical fitness, and now the afternoon classes were theoretical. The teacher came in and started talking about mana at length while Noah tried his best to control his yawns.

Having zero affinity, he absolutely had no sense for this thing called mana, so listening to all the dry theory was simply boring. His understanding of this subject was also lacking, so everything simply went over his head.

“I should just apply for the engineering division. Hmmm.” Noah rapped his fingers on the desk, waiting for the end of the day to come.

He then directly hit the school grounds at peak time in order to avoid anything like what happened the previous day. The crowd was good. In the crowd, he was just another student, and by the time he was done, he was completely exhausted, and his quest was complete.

The day went by quite uneventfully, which was also what Noah wanted. The next couple of days as well he laid low and dutifully completed the one quest he was getting over and over again.

Soon he had the five stat points he needed to test out his new theory. After dealing with this system for the past few days, he had some idea of what he needed to do, and this was one of those things. Now he had the ammunition, and he just needed to press the right buttons.

Noah immediately rushed back to his dorm room, excited to observe his finding. Thankfully, his roommate was not there, and he had some privacy in case something unexpected happened.

“Ok, all set. Now. Add five points to the intellect stat.” He opened the system interface and clicked in a hurry. “Come on. Give me something good.”

When he had added 5 points to agility, making it 10, he unlocked the agility skill tree. So with 10 points, the Intellect skill tree should also open up? Perhaps he could gain some powerful skills regarding mental abilities. Intellect had to mean that?

“Come on. Come on. Come on.” Noah waited as if he were waiting for a lottery ticket, and bingo! The notification he wanted did indeed arrive!

[Ding. You have now unlocked the Intellect Skill Tree]

[Ding. New Skill Available]

[Chaos Orb Creation]: Cost 2 skill points

Skill Description: Create an chaos orb; Cool Down: 30 seconds; Limit: 3

Noah blinked. He had expected something else, and this was something entirely different. “What the hell is a chaos orb?” This skill description was not doing him any favors. How is this even connected to intellect? Hmmm. He silently contemplated for a moment, but staring at it was obviously not enough to understand it.

“I should just try it out.” Noah was about to activate the skill, or at least try activating it when the room door sprung open without any warning. “What’s up, buddy.” A familiar voice sounded, startling Noah and almost making him jump up like a cat.

“Hey! Hey! Relax. It’s just me!” Ron gave him a weird look and then jumped onto his bed, starting the usual routine that he did religiously around this time. Meanwhile, Noah sighed in relief. He was so excited about the skill tree and the new skill that he almost created a scene.

This was not good. He needed some privacy. Some private space where he could try out these funky new things that the system was throwing at him. Noah then thought about the rooms where students can practice their magic skills.

It would be weird for someone like him to book one of these rooms, but this was his best bet within the campus. Worst case scenario, some more rumours about him might spread. He couldn’t care less about these childish things at the moment.

Chaos Orb. Just what was it? That was the only question in his mind.