Chapter 351: Random Midday

———Lynda———

<12: 04 pm>

“I was quite surprised seeing you go down there.” I said. That is probably not the most flattering comment, but it is what I felt.

“It was on a whim, honestly.” She said, sounding like she is trying to downplay herself.

“Come on, even I didn’t go down there.” I said while patting her shoulder, and Glery’s expression shifted for a moment. A bit scary, but that’s routine at this point. “By the way, when did you learn a move like that? Looks way more aggressive than how you were the last time I saw you.”

“I… was playing a game and thinking about how a dive bomb like that looked cool.” She said while looking very embarrassed

“Ah… Well, I don’t think you are the only person with that kind of motivation.” Nothing quite gets you going like living a power fantasy of some kind. Usually a singular obsession is what led you to greater power, even if there could be some complication based on how unhealthy it got. That’s a more complicated matter I don’t want to dwell on. “...Is that the only new trick you got? The water bomb isn’t new.”

“Yeah, that’s all I got.” She honestly answered. I guess I can’t be expecting more from someone who doesn’t seem all that interested in fighting.

“I see. Well that is probably a lot more than what the others have achieved.” I remarked. While I would like to emphasize it more, it’s not as if fighting better leads to better grades, so I shouldn’t harp on it too much. “...From what I’ve heard, aside from the mission room there aren’t any areas you could exchange those points for at the moment, and those are mostly dungeon-related items.”

“I see…” She muttered, looking like she never even considered how those rewards would be spent. I guess she was only going up there to test the fruit of her labor.

“I won’t be surprised if more mundane items become available after a while. Probably deliberating on what should and shouldn’t be sold.” They clearly have a lot of valuable gears and materials at the ready, but they probably don’t want anything that could easily be exploited to slip through the cracks. There’s like… a lot that could go wrong with something as simple as an apple or a battery. Maybe even something like a pencil can cause a domino effect if they for some reason made them out of… I don’t know, demon wood? What if they made a ruler out of tungsten? I can honestly see crazy things like that happening. I bet they are tempted to do that. “A lot of filler stuff, no doubt. At least something ought to catch your eyes by then.”

“Mhmm…” She muttered something with food in her mouth. How many fish sandwiches is she planning on going through?

“...Is this a lot better than the ones from MicKKaz?” I said since she is going through a whole lot of it.

“Obviously. They don’t cheap out on cheese and sauce either.” She answered.

“Huh…” There is a huge variety of food so anything that resembles fast food is not really on my priority list. Besides, I normally go for a regular burger anyway. “I guess they don’t skimp out on the quality of anything… Maybe that can be said for whatever could be exchanged in the future as well.”

“I think that’s enough with you trying to sound smart.” Glery finally spoke up, and against me, at that. Is she thinking I’m trying to sound super impressive and that’s making her cringe?

“What? I am smart, you know? My grades are pretty good.” I pointed out. It’s not like I was particularly bad at anything.

“...You need to leech off some of my homework.” She blurted out. Why does she have to say that in front of a newcomer!?

“Hey! It was more of a group project, wasn’t it?” It’s not like I completely laze around. I did go get her a drink, at least.

She didn’t say anything else as she sat there and continued with the silent treatment. Unfortunately unless we are alone she can’t really continue a conversation. Unless she is like, really pissed or something, which is a bad sign in itself.

———Kenni———

<12: 23 pm>

“It would be nice if more people are using this shared virtual space.” Jeff said as we walked along the path among the grassland.

“It would. Maybe if they advertised this place more. It’s such a massive leap in tech and magic when compared to everything else.” I remarked. Since we can’t leave the campus before the school is over, this is the best place to run around and explore outside of the park below.

Maybe not actually the best place to relax. Since this is an area where combat is allowed, nothing is stopping anyone from ambushing us if we happen to run into each other. No consent is even needed.

“Uh…” Jeff froze up in shock when we actually met someone walking from the opposite end of the road. Somehow, I wasn’t surprised, at least that it’s her. “Well well well… So do we fight then?”

“What other choice do we have?” I said before changing my stance.

“Mhn.” Emmie pulled out her scythe with nothing more than a short mumble. Looks like we are going to be in a lot of pain over the next few minutes.

“Don’t slow me down.” I said to Jeff.

“Not planning to anyway.” He said with a grin and two fists raised. 

***Dash*** *CLASH*

———Orrel———

<12: 26 pm>

“It’s definitely a bit weird…” Useph said as he stared at the red tree that is providing us shade. While such a tree certainly exists, it’s rare around these parts, so it’s quite a novel sight.

“There are weirder ones out there.” I pointed out. A few of those exotic monster habitats have weird foliages as well, and even here there are trees of different colors and shapes than the usual. “...Still, the scenery is quite nice regardless, quite calm with not a lot of people around.”

“I mean, there are people without our view, but I guess they are quite far away and not worth paying attention to.” Useph said, as if to bring something more to the topic.

“...Either way, it’s a nice place to relax in the cold weather.” There is not much else to say about where we are. A nice park in this massive campus. A large area we can explore but not do much else. In fact, it’s so big that having two fighting arenas doesn’t make the area feel cramped at all… I wonder if the old one will be demolished or simply repurposed.

“It is nice…” He muttered. “By the way, did you figure out what the other prizes were for yesterday’s event? On the individual side, I mean.”

“Unfortunately not. Luik is quite a recluse person, and I figured it’s best to not rush finding out those details.” I answered. We still have plenty of time to gather info. Anyone in her class might have heard of what she gained. “Best to simply ask her whenever it is convenient. No need to act entitled over it.”

“But we don’t have that much time to ask, right? We probably have this week maxed.” He noted. That is true, but in the grand scope of things we don’t really need to fuss over the details to get the motivation going.

“Still plenty of time. The odds of one of us running into them is far from low. There is no need to worry about that.” I eased his concern. It’s a trivial matter anyway. “Now then… Care to explain what happened yesterday’s night?”

“Ah… Well, I was trying to interrupt the fight of that doppelganger. Unfortunately I just kinda slammed myself against the wall plenty of times, it was embarrassing.” He explained, clearly embarrassed at being called out. He was being quite silent about it, if one of them didn’t spot him leaving the premise then we might never suspect him doing something so foolish. “I thought whoever that was would be so preoccupied that I could sneak it, break the barrier and all that, you know?”

“If only it were that simple. You should know by now that the gap between us and them is so vast it’s comparable to a tiny spark trying to evaporate a lake, and perhaps the gap is even greater than that.” There was no sign of struggle at all when we confronted them. I believe the only thing close to that was when Emmie ambushed them. I still don’t know how that happened since neither Malk or Qyunda seems to know. “Hypothetically, even if you were allowed to interfere, you would simply be a victim of their strength the second time.”

“It would’ve looked impressive for a few seconds, right?” He said with a nervous expression. This really does make me wonder if he was simply caught up in the moment because of the fight taking place. We can all make hasty decisions with the situation causing us to feel a sense of panic over the power on display. Sometimes we can slip up when we let our instincts take over and operate on autopilot.

“Who’s to say? You need to ask Wers and Kist for that.” It’s best to ask those who would hypothetically be there to witness it, but somehow I doubt they will give him much grace… “But enough about that. Did you remember what we discussed about the fight?”

“The fact that they are disguising themselves as a faculty member?” He asked just so we are on the same page.

“Yes. As far as we could understand, they are taking forms of those who set foot in the campus. It’s not just the students.” That doesn’t narrow down the list all that much, but it shows a great sign of familiarity. “We really don’t know when it’ll come to an end, the fact that they can show up when we least expect it is terrifying.”

“You’d think we’d figure out not to go into the large arena late at night.” Useph remarked.

“It really does feel like something is manipulating us, but I feel like we would’ve noticed something amiss by that point.” It’s honestly hard to tell what is happening. I know that we aren’t particularly paranoid about that person since they are clearly not murderers, but any abnormalities should be easy to detect… “Perhaps it’s just a coincidence, or maybe too many of us are simply too curious to not walk into the lion’s den. Either way, it’s certainly a head-scratcher.”

———Jeff———

<12: 32 pm>

“Agh!” I groaned out in pain and I quickly tried to stand back up. “I hate phantom pain, man.”

“That’s not what phantom pain is. You still have all of your limbs, right?” Kenni is quick to correct me despite also feeling quite haggard. “What time is it… Plenty enough to get some rest. I’m surprised you even lasted that long.”

“What can I say, I am a pretty tough guy.” I said with a grin. “Ow! Ugh…”

“Slow down there, big guy. Make sure to not look miserable once the lunch break is over.” Kenni said as she started walking out of the room.

———Lerim———

<12: 40 pm>

*Slash*

“Alright, the threat is over with. Now get out of here.” I said the usual line after clearing out the floor. He simply nodded at me before running off. We are on floor seventy six, it’s going to take a while for him to get back up to the surface, but he’s not badly injured, so it’s not worth fussing over.

…As for me. I’ll go gather ingredients deeper into the dungeon before heading back out. I’m not running low, but there is nothing wrong with abundance with the storage I have.

———Wiina———

<12: 54 pm>

*Crash* *Shatter*

“Ah!” Many people in the shop panicked as the car crash occurred. It hits the wall near the shop and the impact causes part of the glass wall to shatter. No one inside the shop is hurt, at least.

Thankfully nothing came up after that, just a surprisingly innocuous incident compared to what can happen in this day and age. Unlike that previous town with signs of decay and struggle, this is a more pristine area with more to explore and less to interfere.

I already got the pastry to share with Karra in the afternoon, so let’s not dwell on this any longer and move on.