At Neogen High School, there are two kinds of classes provided for their students: the regular one and the special class. Of course, there were some differences between those two classes. The regular class was a class with common school subjects like math, language, or art subjects that were also being taught at other common schools. However, what made Neogen so special was its special class. In this class, students with talents were being trained and developed according to each of their talents.Their unique talents led to their future careers.Students with combat talents might become rangers and fight monsters on the war zone, meanwhile, students with supporting talents like healing, mapping, or strategy become a support role for the students with combat talents.Yeah, even in Neogen, a student’s social status was determined by their talent. Sometimes a student with combat talents felt so superior to other students because teachers considered them the best and strongest talent. It
"Hey, hey, are you really the distant cousin of that dork—I mean Avery?" The first lesson had ended, and break time had arrived. Ave was sitting on a bench when a group of girls from the class approached him, trying to interrogate him and simultaneously capture the attention of the handsome new student in their class. Ave closed his book, put it in his bag, and responded with a tone that seemed annoyed. "If it's true, then what?" The girls were immediately surprised by Ave's sour expression and shook their heads quickly. "Ah, that's not what I meant. We're just a little curious...." "Really, we're just wondering why Avery never told us he had a cousin as handsome as you, right?" "Yeah, yeah, that's right." "You should have joined this school from the beginning." "True... you'd be famous in no time." Ave let out a short laugh and stared sharply at the four fox-wicked girls. He had been in the same class with them for a year, and he knew all too well their hypocritical nature. N
"Knock. Knock."Without waiting for a response from inside the room, Mr. Swenzer quickly opened the door and stepped in. Outside the door, Ave could see Mrs. Lenora, the local history teacher, standing and explaining the material as usual when Mr. Swenzer entered and whispered something in Lenora's ear. This made her turn towards the door, locking eyes with Ave.Mrs. Lenora widened her eyes for a moment before nodding briefly. It seemed like Mr. Swenzer had also informed her that Avery was resigning and giving up his achievement scholarship. Mrs. Lenora was one of the few honest teachers at Neogen High School and liked Ave – in an educational context, because Ave always got perfect grades and excelled in mastering subjects."You can come in now," said Mr. Swenzer as the balding man came out again. "If you have any problems, you can come directly to my room, don't be afraid, understand?"Tap. Tap.Mr. Swenzer gave Ave a quick pat on the should
"So, you are … Avery Blythe's distant cousin?"A middle-aged man with glasses stared at Ave suspiciously, examining the young man's registration file. The man's glasses were almost slipping off his long, crooked nose as he continued to scrutinize Ave’s figure from top to bottom. Well, everything did feel so sudden, Ave admitted to himself. Luckily, having been an assistant and frequently visiting the teacher's room, he understood a little about how the school's registration process works.Facing the young man was Dotoevsky Swerzen, commonly known as Mr. Swerzen, the Economics and Business teacher at Neogen High School and the person in charge of sorting through the students applying to the school. One could imagine how stingy and calculating the balding man in front of Ave was.However, Ave was not worried because he already had an answer to this problem."Yes, Mr. Swerzen. We come from the same grandma, but my family lived in Rivera and only recently decided to return to New Orleans
"He's quite handsome too."Ave had been in the bathroom for quite a while, staring at his own reflection in the bathroom mirror—or Elias's face, the guy whose face was duplicated and turned into Ave's new face. Luckily, Ave's grandma was blind, otherwise, she would have had a heart attack seeing her grandson's face change like that.The young man then turned on the tap at the sink and washed his face using soap—he was too poor to buy special face soap, so he used regular soap for both shampooing and washing his everyday clothes.Ave rinsed his face with water until it was clean before drying it with a towel and gazing again at his new face in the mirror.Again and again, Ave was amazed by this new face.He thought he would get a plain face or even worse, a face older than his own.Ave’s new face is much smaller than his old face. His hair is still the same black color, but Ave's black pupils have now changed to a golden color like a marble. Moreover, his chin looks slimmer, making Ave
"Welcome home, Lady Rosalind."A tall and lean butler bowed after opening the car door and greeted a beautiful girl who was stepping out of the car with a calm expression, there was almost no expression on her face."Is Father home?" the girl asked coldly."The Master is busy at the president's office. He'll be back when dinner time comes."Upon hearing the butler's answer, the girl showed no reaction and walked up the stairs to her house. Although called a house, her place looked more like a giant mansion with Greek architecture and a touch of futuristic style, adapting to the surroundings in their Apocalypse world—in which Earth had been destroyed by the emergence of monsters, and the surviving human groups built a new civilization by adapting to a world full of monsters and dangerous territories."How was your day at school, Lady Rosalind?" The male butler took Rosalind's blazer and walked beside her.Rosalind sighed. "You're so noisy, Armand. I don't want to be bothered today."Ar
"I've told you many times, I don't want to give you anything anymore! You dirty beggar!"A half-old man with a tall figure glared fiercely at a hunched elderly woman standing in front of his shop. The old woman wore a worn-out pink dress and both of her shoes had holes in various places."P-please, Sir. Tomorrow, my grandson will have an exam, and I want to give him bone soup to keep him motivated to study—""I don't care if your grandson has an exam or not. Old lady, just go away from my store! Your terrible appearance is scaring away my customers!" scolded the meat shop owner. He wore a blood-stained apron, and underneath it, his belly bulged due to his stingy and calculating nature."B-but...""Tch, go away!" Running out of patience, the meat shop owner stepped out of the store and pushed the old woman hard."Ahhh!"The old woman fell onto the street and winced in pain as her entire aged body ached. The shop owner then spat to the side."Go away and never come back here!" The butch
"Sigh … is still far away?" Ave pouted a bit as he kept following the floating holographic map in front of him towards the big circle, but he had not reached it yet. The narrow path was getting even narrower, so Ave had to tilt his body to squeeze through the gaps.However, all of Ave's questions were answered when he saw a tiny bright light at the end of this narrow path. The young man blinked his hopeful shining eyes and quickened his pace."Gold, gold, gold, gold, gold," Ave repeated continuously as if he were chanting a spell to make sure he found a mountain of gold behind that light.Just a little more, and Ave would arrive there. He did not even care how many times he bumped into rocks on the cave wall because he was too focused on getting there quickly."Gold—!"The young man was about to leap forward before he hurriedly grabbed onto one of the rocks, and then stepped back with a terrified yet amazed expression. Ave's eyes widened.Right below Ave was a pool filled with thousan
Throughout Ave's life, he never ate beef or pork. At most, he would have chicken head stew or discarded chicken wings from the butchers that were not sell well.Also, he never had his own room.Ave slept with his old and blind grandmother. Every day, Ave had to change his grandma's diaper using old cloth and wash the soiled cloth diaper with water before heading to school.Ave never changed his school uniform either. He only had one black bag with various stitches all around, and who knows how many times the zipper broke, he just replaced it with safety pins to keep it closed.However, Ave never complained. He thought it was normal in New Orleans. In this dystopian country, poverty was a common thing, and almost 75% of New Orleans' population were poor, with a high crime rate.The gap between the poor and the rich was huge, from everyday clothes to shopping places, to their residential living areas. New Orleans truly classified and differentiated their citizens based on money and clas