They both left the school and entered the city. It was a lot bigger than Erix's old city.
The buildings there were at least 3 times the size of a normal building in his place and the street was a lot more crowded.
As they explored the city, Erix noticed Shota was always looking around the place in shock like something he once knew but had changed.
'Wait, he said he knew the city more. How come? Has he been here before?' Erix thought.
"Wow, this place has gotten a lot more developed than last time," Shota finally said, eyes still roaming the whole place.
"Ehmm, if I may ask, how come you have been here before? I never knew some students managed to come here before now." Erix asked, even though he wasn't sure Shota would reply...
Shota didn't answer immediately, he first let out a deep long breath before saying.
"Trust me, I really hate babbling about my family's name but I will say they were the reason I was here in the past. My family is one of the powerful low-key Original nobles that have more of an intimidating relationship with the military. I came here when I was ten." Shota explained shortly, hoping Erix would understand the word 'noble' and quit asking further questions.
'Wait, what the…? He is a noble? I have never seen a noble in my whole life. Maybe that was why he chose to hide his ability during the test. Well, most nobles still chose to hide their abilities even after aiding humanity in the war. If he is truly a noble, then my bullying will only become worse. ' Erix was in deep thought before Shota suddenly grabbed his arm.
"Hey, don't you think we have gone a considerable distance from the academy? Come on, let's check out these steaks. I'm starving." Shota said as he pulled him towards the steak shop that was at the corner of the street.
'Whoa, the steaks are alluring to try out.' Erix couldn't help but salivate as they got nearer and nearer to the steak shop, but then he suddenly remembered something. He only had 30 points left after the water boy took all of his savings, and the meat would cost around 50 to 60 points, so he didn't have enough money for it.
"Wait, I'm not sure I can afford steak meat right now. I only planned to grab some snacks, explore the city a little and then head back," Erix said as a plea but Shota quickly brushed off his words.
"And who said you're paying? Once I'm here, any charge, fee or payment will be done from my pocket, so feel free to grab one."
Finally, he could have a taste of these alluring steaks.
They reached the steak shop and after buying three paper bags full of steaks, Shota tossed out his fortune card and paid the bill.
After the purchase, the two of them went to sit down at a nice eating spot.
As soon as they sat down, Erix started to dig in without any regard for table manners, eating everything in the paper bag.
Erix ate not only his own but the leftovers from Shota. He usually doesn't have this appetite, even when eating his best meal, but surprisingly, he had so much appetite for the steaks.
"For a skinny guy, you sure know how to ingurgitate yourself." Shota teased, a bit surprised by his appetite.
Although Erix had clearly eaten a lot, he still felt a pang of hunger that wouldn't go away despite all the food. 'I wish I could get some more but that would look really weird and questionable, so I will just leave it for next time.'
After the steak-eating session, Shota took Erix around the city, showing him beautiful scenery. His memory of the place was still fresh in his mind so he remembered almost all the places he visited when he came there seven years ago.
They went to markets, playgrounds, and some other fun places. Without a lie, Erix enjoyed Shota's company.
But he still find it hard to believe that a high level would befriend a low level without expecting anything in return, so he stayed wary.
After a few more hours of going around the city, and sightseeing, it was finally 6:00 pm.
"Thanks. I really enjoyed today. At this point, I think we should head back to the academy." Erix suggested.
"Yeah, it's late already. Just go ahead into the academy. I will catch up later. If you don't see when after two minutes of reaching the school gate, find our room and rest, bye." Shota said before disappearing into the street.
Erix didn't bother asking him where he was going.
Erix headed back to the academy after that. He was exhausted from the stroll, so he needed rest.
After walking for a few minutes, he got to the academy and without wasting time, he left in search of his dorm room.
While walking in the hallway, many students threw awful stares at him after seeing his level and grade, but as usual, he just ignored them since he was used to the treatment.
He found the room after ten minutes of searching.
He was about to barge into the room in the joy of having found it earlier than expected before a thought suddenly struck his head.
'W-what if the person inside is another high-level and a bully too? That will make my life a perfect torture.' He thought as he stood in front of his room door, motionless.
His hands became trembling like crazy. He'd never felt this anxious in his entire life.
His hands slowly approached the door handle. He firmly grasped the door handle. His face was sweating like a waterfall from all the stress.
For the first time in his life, he prayed to God.
Then all of a sudden, a crazy pain hit him in the heart causing him to lose concentration as he accidentally opened the door. When a small part of the room was finally visible, Erix saw a blonde-haired boy standing inches away from his face. The boy was the same height as him.
"Arrr!!" Erix screamed in alarm as he hastily took a step back.
"I was wondering when you will finally step inside." The blonde-haired boy said with a smile.
Having heard the boy, the first thing Erix did was to check his level. His prior worries evolved into fear when he realized the boy was a level 4. The boy had blonde hair that fell past his collarbone. His blue eyes looked completely void with terrible black bags under them. He had a pair of headphones hung around his neck. "Hi, there? Why were you standing out there for so long?...... Anyway, I'm Ronin Shin, but you can call me Rin, and nice to meet you." Rin said as he pulled out his hand for a shake. Erix quickly accepted the handshake. He didn't want to make a bad first impression. Who knows, the boy might bully him more if he does. "Oh my God, I'm so sorry, please enter." Rin apologized as soon as he realized his wrongdoing. He quickly stepped aside to let Erix in. For the second time that day, Erix was shocked beyond measure. He had a mixed reaction. One was surprised and the other was amused. 'What the f**k is wrong with the high levels here? First was Shota and
"There is no need for that, Rin. I will always be there for him," Shota said with a straight emotionless face. His countenance changed the very moment he realized Rin was from Norxus clan. Why? Nobody knew. Erix was flabbergasted by their strong reaction. He did not expect his story to resonate with them so deeply. "Fine guys, I can take care of myself. You don't have to worry about me," Erix said, trying to calm them down. "If you ever get into a problem, and Shota isn't there, please do let me know. We are roommates now, or maybe friends if you don't mind," Rin said, wiping off invisible tears from his eyes. In Erix's mind, he was thinking the word friends was a huge stretch. He would consider them as on the 'not gonna bite soon' list at most. He'd yet to grasp if they were being truthful or not. For now, he will try to stay on their good side and see how things play out, never letting his guard down a bit. "I once said it, don't worry about him, I will always be there f
The canteen was a large hall that was quite plain. It was filled with large tables that could seat four people on each side. There was no set of seats in the canteen meaning students were free to sit wherever they liked. However, that doesn't mean the high-level wouldn't set their own rules. Erix noticed that low levels sat next to other low levels while the high levels sat with the high levels. School had barely resumed, yet the social norms appeared to have already been established, just like they had been in his old school. Erix stood at the back of the last person in the queue. However, while waiting patiently for his turn, a boy came late into the queue. He nonchalantly nudged Erix out of line, and smuggled himself into the line. Erix was surprised by that abrupt push, and because he wasn't expecting something like that, he lost his footing and butt-kissed the floor. If it wasn't for the 1 point he added to his agility, he would have smooched the ground entirely. "Oh,
Erix's eyes widened the moment he saw the quest on the green screen. He's never hurt a fly before, let alone a human. 'This must be a joke, right?' Erix said to himself. 'What do you mean I have to kill him? How on earth am I gonna do that?' He asked the system but it didn't answer him. The system didn't give him any further information besides the killing quest. To confirm he wasn't seeing things, he decided to review it again and it turned out to be the same. As much as he was dying to pay back Bones for all he did to him, he'd never thought of killing him. Erix was someone with no ability, unlike Bones who had a blink ability, so that made him worried. But if the system really instructed him to kill Bones, then it must have ways of enabling him with it, Erix thought. 'Since it's the system's quest, I must do my best to accomplish it?' He mentally resolved. "Are you afraid? Come on, it's just a little time together like buddies. Alright, could you at least pay me your w
"What are you talking about, bro? Yours is way cooler. Spatial ability is very much impressive and I think it goes very well with combats at far range," Rin said as Shota went forward to finish off the last member that was still held prone by Rin's gravity. After a moment, the entire group was down, and people were now talking about what had happened a while ago. "Let's go check how Erix is," Shota said with a scrunched-up face. He was pissed at his recklessness. He blamed himself for what happened to Erix. Perhaps after seeing him hang out with Erix, the high levels got angry and wanted to prey on the poor level one. One thing was making friends with a low level and the other was protecting him to avoid getting intimidated by the boisterous high levels. Many hierarchy hassles came along with being friends with low levels. Though he promised he would protect him, he couldn't be there at all times. "Sure, but we should grab some burger for him because I doubt he had eaten much
Hearing what Erix said, Shota and Rin were kind of sad. They didn't expect this type of serious answer. And if what he said was true, then Erix must have suffered terribly during his childhood. Shota was sadder than Rin. He blamed himself for what happened to Erix. If he hadn't let him alone all by himself to the canteen, those bullies couldn't have done what they did to him.Shota decided to be more mindful of Erix. He had already once said something that wasn't appropriate, and even though Erix was always saying that it was nothing and that it was normal, in reality, it wasn't. For high-level people, it was a normal thing and a daily occurrence, but for the low levels, it wasn't something amusing. "Anyways," Erix said. "Can we go now? We have less than ten minutes left before classes begin." Shota and Rin nodded, and they headed to their classes. Rin also proposed a burger to Erix but the latter refused. Burgers contained plenty of vegetables so he didn't want to throw up like h
It wasn't that he didn't know what was awaiting him. No, on the contrary, he knew, since he had experienced the whole thing again and again. But today was different. He wanted to stand up for himself. Also, he was on a mission now so he planned to defend himself with all that he had, whereas before, he just got a beating, and didn't do anything. He didn't have any will to change before since he thought the military could resolve everything, but when he saw that he had just drowned in illusions this entire time, he chose to change. And this change could happen now, after punching this guy. Though he still has the kill quest to carry out tomorrow. 'But wait a sec, what the fuck is wrong with you, Erix? A few hours ago, you accepted a goddamn murder quest and now you're preparing to go head-on with a level three who could just kill you with only a swift of his ability. Just how many crazy things are you gonna do? Damn it! I should have realized this earlier, the system has its ways o
Erix was shocked but he was also pleased. The skill seems to work by just thinking of it. He read through the information that was given to him and was pleased to see that it gave information on someone else's ability. It told Erix what type of ability someone else had, which would be very useful in a fight. There was one piece of information the system gave that Erix found quite strange and that was the 'Blood type'. It was weird for the system to give him information about such a specific thing and Erix also wondered how on earth this would ever help him in the future. He decided to look at his stats. The system said his stats have increased after his level up so he wanted to see for himself how much it increased. [Status Screen] [Host: Erix Miller] [Race: F-Human] [Level: 2] [Experience points] -[Quest point: 6/100] -[exp: 0/200] [Health Attributes] -[Mana: 60/60] -[HP: 15/15] [Physical Attributes] -[Strength: 10] -[Agility: 12] -[Stamina: 10] -[Vitality: 10] [Men