"So what is next?" Asked Elizabeth as she licked the remains of her meal.
It was mostly the oily remains of pork in her bowl, it was tasty and she had to swat Rossie's hand a few times after licking her bowl, the girl had eaten her steak. She didn't deserve her remaining!
"Well, the next class should be in half an hour. We will be having..." Rossie started saying while going over a pamphlet she had in one of her pockets, did the girl print a pamphlet for their classes? "[System]'s Advanced Mechanics by John Williams."
The heck was John Williams?
"You don't know him? He was one of the first-year teachers." Rossie asked her, did it show on her face?
But no...She only remembered a few teachers, mostly Agatha and the crazy old man, to be honest, the other teachers never stated their names nor stayed around most of the time. She wasn't even sure if they had a school nurse...
"He was the old man at the Arena." Rossie elaborated, "Didn't you know him?"
"The crazy old man?" Asked Elizabeth, she of course knew the crazy old man, but wasn't he called Crazy Old Man?
"...Yes Eli-Eli, the [Crazy Old Man] is called John Williams, he is one of our teachers." Rossie admonished her while shaking her head. What? He was crazy and he was an old man, what did she expect from her!?!?
"Fineeee, but isn't he like. The [Skill] trainer? Why does he teach Advanced Mechanics?" Asked Elizabeth, he didn't remember him being that open about his [Skill], wasn't his skill something about a boot camp or something?
She at the very least didn't remember him having anything on his [Status] that implied that he was better managing the [System], granted she remembered (Vaguely) that his subset skills were about training...
A quick look into her mindscape library pulled his old status sheet (albeit somewhat blurred) and sure enough, at best, he had [Evaluation] and [Optimized Training]. But that was about it, his Unique Skill was [Boot Camp], that didn't seem to be right for a class like that.
"Yes, his former skill wasn't that good of a teaching material, but the [System] took his [Mana Manipulation] and turned it into some interesting skills. You will see soon enough." Rossie cryptically said.
What? Was she supposed to believe that someone that was only had muscles and a bad attitude had good mana manipulation? She didn't think so...
Granted her [Father] was probably among the best in the world at mana manipulation and his whole thing was muscles and stern looks...
"Sure, let's go then, might as well get good seats." Elizabeth said while standing and grabbing both food trays, she didn't get far before another girl came rushing her and took the food trays for her to take back.
"Not like we will get bad seats, they should have our sets ready." Rossie said ignoring the thief that stole her steak remains.
She had wanted to lick the remaining of steak from that plate...
"Eli-Eli?" Her Rossie said while tugging at her arm, "Everything okay?"
But no, everything wasn't okay, she missed the indirect ki... I mean, she missed her steak remaining, "Yes...Everything is fine..."
She would remember that girl, at the very least she had the decency of not licking Rossie's plate. But still, she would remember...
"Let's go." And in that tone, Elizabeth grabbed the pink-haired arm and tugged at her to leave the cafeteria.
She didn't hear the cumulative sigh everyone did as they left, not the rush of whispers among them, everyone seemed to want to speak about one thing or the other.
But that would be a story for another time.
The classroom didn't have anyone on their seats, plenty of students were around of course, but no one had actually sat down. Most decided to speak with others while not sitting and standing around, giving plenty of margin to the seats.
"Weird." Elizabeth didn't understand why, but maybe it was a thing?
Perhaps the crazy old man didn't want them to sit and just assigned the seats as he wished?
"Let's grab a seat Eli-Eli, Professor John gets angry if he sees students standing when his class starts." Said Rossie while pointing her to the open seats.
All of them, she had an open spot to choose anywhere she liked, Rossie didn't seem to want to take a pick... She noticed how the other students around seemed to not want to look at her while she took stock of the situation. This was getting weird.
"I mean, sure...How about we pick center and middle then?" Elizabeth said while making sure to grab a spot right in the middle of the room.
They would need to get past four or five seats to sit themselves in the middle of the auditorium this class was being given, each row having ten seats in them and with barely five rows of seats, it would mean both girls had plenty of people to take sneaks peaks on them.
When she sat herself and turned to look around something interesting happened, first of all. Most of the people around made a mad dash to grab a seat.
Now, usually, her self-esteem would be quite raised if they wanted to sit near her, to either socialize or take discrete peeks at her. But in this case...She wasn't quite sure how to feel, for most of them almost fought to grab a spot on the other sides of the rows. Starting from the bottom and topmost row's corners.
And moving to the next seat...And next...Till they had a small circle with two to three open seats around them. And some students standing with their backs against the walls.
"So Eli-Eli, what do you think they will teach us?" Rossie asked, was she oblivious to this?
"I mean, you are the one that took more classes of both of us. You tell me." Elizabeth answered, she wasn't sure what to think about this, nor if she should ask Rossie.
She didn't seem angry about it, and to be honest, she was mostly curious about it, since most of the people around seemed to want to ignore both girls, then it meant that they wouldn't bother her if she got some snuggles... Right?
"There see, the old man isn't even here, why did we rush then?" Or not, as the voice of Akira sounded as he kicked open the door and walked in.
For a fraction of a second all sound around stopped as all the students turned to see him and he stared back in defiance. For mere instants as his eyes shone with a strange light as he saw them.
Then he swaggered his way to the row above them and sat himself there, she could feel his stare raining down on them, but Elizabeth refused to acknowledge it.
"Greetings." Rena for her part at least greeted them both.
"Hello." So Elizabeth answered in kind and then turned her attention back to Rossie, who seemed to be scowling.
The Pink-haired girl however erased said scowl as soon as she noticed Elizabeth looking at her, "Well, the syllabus said that they had been studying about skills interactions with mana. And that today it would be a class on [Titles]."
Titles?
She had a few of those yes...Actually, she did need to check on that, her [Active] slot was open and while she had some around, she wasn't sure if it was a good idea to move them to that spot.
"Morning class." Elizabeth didn't have enough time to dwell on that as the voice of the crazed old man came through the door and he stopped for a few moments to look at the class, "What the heck is this?"
And said as such, she heard some movement around and noticed that their little circle of open spots had closed more, a few students taking one spot closer to them using Akria and Rena as some sort of break.
But still, they had at least one seat open around them, one to each side and one below them. The crazy old man looked first at Rossie then at Elizabeth, settling on the blonde, "Care to explain Miss Starbright?" And just asked her.
The heck was she supposed to say?
"Don't know what you mean teacher, this is my first day at school since last year, and last year I wasn't even in this class." Elizabeth answered.
"Miss Singh?" The crazy old man asked her Rossie after.
The pink-haired girl turned her attention from her to the teacher and also shrugged at him, "They are free to sit wherever they want or not. Didn't you say so the first day?" Her Rossie answered the man, then looked at those that didn't sit near them, "Or in this case, they are free to not sit in these spots. We didn't say anything to them, nor do we have things on these seats."
She smelled something afoul on this, did her lovely, cute, and innocent Rossie do something to the students around? All the evidence pointed out that they seemed to...fear her Rossie.
Granted, she knew Rossie was capable of doing bad things, she had enough context clues in the memories of the former Elizabeth and from her own memories of the last days. But she could fix Rossie!
So she would need to fix her reputation first, at least Elizabeth said that to herself. "I wouldn't mind them sitting near me," Elizabeth said and felt Rossie tense in her chair at her side. "I do appreciate them giving us some space though. I feel somewhat claustrophobic with too many people around, but I can deal with that for classes."
And said the last part trying to give them an option to stay away, but making a statement that she wouldn't mind them sitting near.
"See? I told you Eliza wouldn't mind us sitting near her." Akira said behind her.
"Akira, the teacher is speaking with Elizabeth." Rena said in a lower tone.
"So what? Not like I'm wrong here." Akira huffed and she heard the sound of something falling, did Akira stand up behind them?
Why?
"Not that it matters I guess...If you wanna stay standing so be it." The crazy old man said, wasn't he going to fix this situation? There were... Like four students standing!
"Now, [Titles] what are they?" The crazy old man asked, he seemed to be speaking to himself as he moved on before anyone answered, "They are a way for the [System] to categorize what we achieve, usually granting us advantages for our success or making sure we can repeat said achievements."
Elizabeth started taking notes of this, since it seemed like the obvious thing to do as he would soon enough explain some things that may refer to her, "They come in different forms, [Active] titles, and those who give effect only while [Slotted]." And so the crazy old man started writing on the whiteboard.
"[Passive] Titles, those whose effect are always on. No matter if they aren't showing up or not." He wrote a few examples there such as her [Iron-Willed] title and the [Survivor] title that Rossie thought she would earn.
"And finally [Special] Titles, those that are a combination of both." And in that final slot he wrote an interesting example.
[Member of The Nine Stars].
"A good example of a [Special] title is those the members of the [Nine Stars] have, they usually have their moniker as an active [Title] and [Member of The Nine Stars] who also grants an effect around." The Crazed old man said while adding a list of names under that example.
The Beast Master
The Traveler
The Tinkerer
The Mother of Shadows
The Elementalist
The Monk
The Prophet
The Sniper
The Warlock
Most of those names she knew of course, they were the friends of her [Parents], so of course she "THE HELL IS DOING ECHIDNA THERE?!?" couldn't help herself but scream while standing and pointing with her hand at one of the names as soon as she saw [The Mother of Shadows] in there. She had heard from Rossie that [Echidna] was working [UNDER] the [Nine Stars] as a [Hero], not that [SHE WAS A NINE STARS HERO]!
And that was [Echinda] all right, wasn't that the [Title] Echidna had?
"Miss Starbright, we will not tolerate slander nor outbursts here in class. And while I have no idea how you managed to catch on the gossip about [The Mother of Shadows] being the famed supervillain [Echidna - The Mother of Monsters], there will be no slander here." The crazy old man said, but even so!
"But..." Elizabeth couldn't control herself, this wasn't right!
SHE WAS ECHIDNA!
"No buts, when [Shadow Pact] retired he left his spot to this fine woman. The other members of the [Nine Stars] accepted her on their side, and besides, [Tainted] no longer are a problem to society. Something I would think you would appreciate, because a year ago you would have qualified as a [Tainted] too." The crazy old man said.
He wasn't doing wonders to lose that title.
"Eli-Eli..." And Rossie at her side seemed worried for her too.
"...Fine. Not like I can do anything with that." Elizabeth grumbled while sitting down and crossing her arms in front of her.
"Appreciate your vote of confidence." The Crazy old man said with mirth in his tone.
"As I was saying, [The Nine Stars] have at least two titles guaranteed to them, one for their moniker that made them into powerhouses. And another for their allegiance to the group, it is suspected that the second one grants them some degree of power or familiarity with their peers. As usually high power individuals have a hard time working with others." Said the crazy old man, while writing other names on the side.
Elizabeth wasn't paying attention to those names, she just was wondering how the hell did [Echidna] turn out as a [Hero] of all things. And why had [Shadow Pact] left the group.
She...should feel good about [Echidna] being there, she had helped her when her [Taint] was flaring, even if in the end it amounted to nothing... Also, she had the last message from [Chloe] to deliver, so knowing where to find her made things better.
But still, her feelings couldn't settle, "Miss Starbright? Please rein your [Skill] or I will do it for you." Said the voice of the crazy old man.
What?
"Eli-Eli is still recovering [Teacher], please be patient with her." She heard the voice of Rossie at her side filled with venom.
Her Skill?
She turned around and felt as all the shadows around in the room, she could feel them all, even those under other people, had she expanded her shadows? When?
"Oh sorry about that, thinking of something..." Said Elizabeth while sending a mental command and releasing the control over the shadows. She immediately felt as the extra mass of shadows sink within her [Shadow Haven].
Leaving the bare minimum projected by the lights in the classroom. "Sure...Now how do we know what [Title] someone has?" Asked the crazed old man, she had missed most of the class already thanks to [Echidna]. "Miss Starbright?"
And she wasn't feeling that well to be honest either "We [Appraise] who we want to find out info about?" So she answered without thinking.
"Correct, we use whatever version of the [Identify], [Appraisal], [Evaluation] or whatever [Infosec] skill we have. " Answered the crazy old man.
Not that the question was that hard, "Now try to get information from anyone. So long the other party isn't above you in [Weight] you should be able to get most of the information. Extra points to the one that manages to pierce my [Privacy] and get to my [Status] count." And immediately afterward the whole class devolved into a screaming match.
She could hear variations of most of the skills being thrown around and felt her defenses waver with each attempt thrown her way.
"What does he mean by [Weight]?" Elizabeth asked Rossie at the side.
"The amount of [Status Points] we have is what determines our [Weight], the rarer and the bigger amount of points we get the harder it is to penetrate the defense created by [Privacy]." Answered the voice of the red-haired girl behind her.
"So the more points someone has the easier they have guarding their [Status]." Finished her lovely Rossie with a frown on her cute face.
She would need to speak seriously with Rossie, if she frowned that often she would end up with wrinkles on her face!
"Thank you Rena," Elizabeth turned around to thank the red-haired girl, it was still weird to see the girl being...like this.
"No problem, you feel like Akira. I don't mind helping you, it is my [duty] to help Akira. And if you are like him, then I [must help you] too." Answered Rena as if nothing.
That...Wasn't right, but she had too many things right now to worry about, she just made another mental note to rush her development of her former [Summon Minion] skill. She needed to stick one of those shadow dragons to Rena.
But if that was the case... A quick mental math calculation put her current status as a level 24 in the world pre-system. The current world made it so not everyone earned the full 14 points, some earning less than others.
The crazy old man had been level 26 before, if he earned less points...Then she should have enough [Weight] to pierce his defenses...
She would enjoy this "[Appraisal]!" Elizabeth intoned while focusing the mana in her eyes and directing her skill toward the smug-looking bastard.
"KUH!" And felt as if she had crashed into a wall, a very sturdy wall.
"And this class, is another example to the list, if you aren't sure about the level of someone, take caution for the mana backlash, if the [Weight] is too big then it may hurt like that." The crazy old man said while looking at her.
"No problem here teacher, I can help Elizabeth myself." And then she felt the soothing mana of her lovely Rossie flooding her body. The headache she didn't know was forming running away immediately.
"Okay then, move along class. Unless someone else wants to try again?" Asked the crazy old man looking in her direction... Did he want her to try again? Or not, Elizabeth noticed his eyes were looking somewhat above her.
Had Akira tried the same thing?
"Hmph, as if I needed to know the [Status] of a [mere npc]." Said the [Hero] above her.
Yikes.
Still, it wasn't like she hadn't earned anything from that scuffle, "I got your title teacher, or should I say [Drill Sergeant from Hell]?" Elizabeth said and everyone around turned extra quiet.
As if waiting for confirmation.
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH" Only to find the crazed old man laughing like...well, like what he was, a crazy old man. "Good, very good Miss Starbright. I don't know how you managed to pierce my defenses and get that. I will need you to share the results of your [Appraisal] to confirm, and to see if you got anything else."
| Status | |
| Name: John Williams Title: Drill Sergeant from Hell Alias: Drill Sergeant from Hell Level: 26 | Health: 100% Mana:100% Stamina: 100% Stress: 0% |
She of course obliged and with a motion of her hand sent the result from her [Appraisal] skill, as of how she managed that?
She wasn't sure, "Not sure, maybe I got lucky and managed to slip some mana around? I did leveled a few times my [Mana Manipulation] from this." Elizabeth answered while looking at her new notification.
| Notice: |
| Proficiency towards the next level achieved! Mana Manipulation 7>10 |
It was probably because she already knew the contents to some extent, but she of course wouldn't answer that. Not like anyone would believe her.
But still, it was good to get some extra levels on her skills, they would come in handy when she needed to deal with [Echidna].
"Mister Williams? We need to speak with one of your students." And then something brought her out of her musings.
The voice of a female she wished to never hear again.
"Miss Dawnstrike? Sure, the class is almost over anyway." Said the crazy old man while looking at Selen, she was still dressed in the same style of uniform as before.
Shouldn't she have graduated already? Why was she still here?
"It will not take too long." Selen said while bowing to the crazy old man, afterwards, she eyed those standing on the back and then Akira & Rena, moving to her lovely Rossie.
Of course Elizabeth moved herself a little forward to try and guard her girlfriend, only for Selen's eye to focus on her. "Elizabeth Starbright, the student council president will have a word with you." And said as much.
Elizabeth felt the mana of Rossie tense and a hand grab at her, she turned around and saw worry in the eyes of her girlfriend.
"Alone," Selen said, and she was almost 100% sure the girl said it gusto.
"Of course," Elizabeth answered and then turned to look at her girlfriend, "I will go and see what they want, it shouldn't take too long. Can you get the dinner ready?"
"...I will kill everyone in this god-forsaken campus if you do anything to Elizabeth." Rossie said with pure hatred in her voice while looking at Selen.
"ROSSIE!" Elizabeth quickly said while covering the pink-haired girl's mouth with her hand, "Hahahahahah, she gets the funniest jokes."
No one was laughing with her...A few even looked paler than before, "Of course. She does gets the funniest ideas in that little pink-colored head." Besides Selen that is, who was smiling quite happily as her body seemed to want to start shining.
"Rossie, no mass murder." Elizabeth turned around and looked into the puppy eyes of the pink-haired girl. "Say it with me, no mass murder."
"...Fine...But if you aren't at home before 10 PM I will start preparing." The pink-haired girl said while grumbling.
"That should be fine," Selen said on the side, "Let's go, lest your...friend starts getting excuses to do something she will regret later."
"The sooner the better," Elizabeth said while standing, "See you later Rossie."
Now, what could need the student council from her?
She had vague memories of that [Status] screen, but for some reason, she couldn't remember the [Title] she had. And Selen seemed to remember her, if the way she was looking at her was something to go by.
It shouldn't be something important, right?
Right?
"So what is next?" Asked Elizabeth as she licked the remains of her meal.
It was mostly the oily remains of pork in her bowl, it was tasty and she had to swat Rossie's hand a few times after licking her bowl, the girl had eaten her steak. She didn't deserve her remaining!
"Well, the next class should be in half an hour. We will be having..." Rossie started saying while going over a pamphlet she had in one of her pockets, did the girl print a pamphlet for their classes? "[System]'s Advanced Mechanics by John Williams."
The heck was John Williams?
"You don't know him? He was one of the first-year teachers." Rossie asked her, did it show on her face?
But no...She only remembered a few teachers, mostly Agatha and the crazy old man, to be honest, the other teachers never stated their names nor stayed around most of the time. She wasn't even sure if they had a school nurse...
"He was the old man at the Arena." Rossie elaborated, "Didn't you know him?"
"The crazy old man?" Asked Elizabeth, she of course knew the crazy old man, but wasn't he called Crazy Old Man?
"...Yes Eli-Eli, the [Crazy Old Man] is called John Williams, he is one of our teachers." Rossie admonished her while shaking her head. What? He was crazy and he was an old man, what did she expect from her!?!?
"Fineeee, but isn't he like. The [Skill] trainer? Why does he teach Advanced Mechanics?" Asked Elizabeth, he didn't remember him being that open about his [Skill], wasn't his skill something about a boot camp or something?
She at the very least didn't remember him having anything on his [Status] that implied that he was better managing the [System], granted she remembered (Vaguely) that his subset skills were about training...
A quick look into her mindscape library pulled his old status sheet (albeit somewhat blurred) and sure enough, at best, he had [Evaluation] and [Optimized Training]. But that was about it, his Unique Skill was [Boot Camp], that didn't seem to be right for a class like that.
"Yes, his former skill wasn't that good of a teaching material, but the [System] took his [Mana Manipulation] and turned it into some interesting skills. You will see soon enough." Rossie cryptically said.
What? Was she supposed to believe that someone that was only had muscles and a bad attitude had good mana manipulation? She didn't think so...
Granted her [Father] was probably among the best in the world at mana manipulation and his whole thing was muscles and stern looks...
"Sure, let's go then, might as well get good seats." Elizabeth said while standing and grabbing both food trays, she didn't get far before another girl came rushing her and took the food trays for her to take back.
"Not like we will get bad seats, they should have our sets ready." Rossie said ignoring the thief that stole her steak remains.
She had wanted to lick the remaining of steak from that plate...
"Eli-Eli?" Her Rossie said while tugging at her arm, "Everything okay?"
But no, everything wasn't okay, she missed the indirect ki... I mean, she missed her steak remaining, "Yes...Everything is fine..."
She would remember that girl, at the very least she had the decency of not licking Rossie's plate. But still, she would remember...
"Let's go." And in that tone, Elizabeth grabbed the pink-haired arm and tugged at her to leave the cafeteria.
She didn't hear the cumulative sigh everyone did as they left, not the rush of whispers among them, everyone seemed to want to speak about one thing or the other.
But that would be a story for another time.
The classroom didn't have anyone on their seats, plenty of students were around of course, but no one had actually sat down. Most decided to speak with others while not sitting and standing around, giving plenty of margin to the seats.
"Weird." Elizabeth didn't understand why, but maybe it was a thing?
Perhaps the crazy old man didn't want them to sit and just assigned the seats as he wished?
"Let's grab a seat Eli-Eli, Professor John gets angry if he sees students standing when his class starts." Said Rossie while pointing her to the open seats.
All of them, she had an open spot to choose anywhere she liked, Rossie didn't seem to want to take a pick... She noticed how the other students around seemed to not want to look at her while she took stock of the situation. This was getting weird.
"I mean, sure...How about we pick center and middle then?" Elizabeth said while making sure to grab a spot right in the middle of the room.
They would need to get past four or five seats to sit themselves in the middle of the auditorium this class was being given, each row having ten seats in them and with barely five rows of seats, it would mean both girls had plenty of people to take sneaks peaks on them.
When she sat herself and turned to look around something interesting happened, first of all. Most of the people around made a mad dash to grab a seat.
Now, usually, her self-esteem would be quite raised if they wanted to sit near her, to either socialize or take discrete peeks at her. But in this case...She wasn't quite sure how to feel, for most of them almost fought to grab a spot on the other sides of the rows. Starting from the bottom and topmost row's corners.
And moving to the next seat...And next...Till they had a small circle with two to three open seats around them. And some students standing with their backs against the walls.
"So Eli-Eli, what do you think they will teach us?" Rossie asked, was she oblivious to this?
"I mean, you are the one that took more classes of both of us. You tell me." Elizabeth answered, she wasn't sure what to think about this, nor if she should ask Rossie.
She didn't seem angry about it, and to be honest, she was mostly curious about it, since most of the people around seemed to want to ignore both girls, then it meant that they wouldn't bother her if she got some snuggles... Right?
"There see, the old man isn't even here, why did we rush then?" Or not, as the voice of Akira sounded as he kicked open the door and walked in.
For a fraction of a second all sound around stopped as all the students turned to see him and he stared back in defiance. For mere instants as his eyes shone with a strange light as he saw them.
Then he swaggered his way to the row above them and sat himself there, she could feel his stare raining down on them, but Elizabeth refused to acknowledge it.
"Greetings." Rena for her part at least greeted them both.
"Hello." So Elizabeth answered in kind and then turned her attention back to Rossie, who seemed to be scowling.
The Pink-haired girl however erased said scowl as soon as she noticed Elizabeth looking at her, "Well, the syllabus said that they had been studying about skills interactions with mana. And that today it would be a class on [Titles]."
Titles?
She had a few of those yes...Actually, she did need to check on that, her [Active] slot was open and while she had some around, she wasn't sure if it was a good idea to move them to that spot.
"Morning class." Elizabeth didn't have enough time to dwell on that as the voice of the crazed old man came through the door and he stopped for a few moments to look at the class, "What the heck is this?"
And said as such, she heard some movement around and noticed that their little circle of open spots had closed more, a few students taking one spot closer to them using Akria and Rena as some sort of break.
But still, they had at least one seat open around them, one to each side and one below them. The crazy old man looked first at Rossie then at Elizabeth, settling on the blonde, "Care to explain Miss Starbright?" And just asked her.
The heck was she supposed to say?
"Don't know what you mean teacher, this is my first day at school since last year, and last year I wasn't even in this class." Elizabeth answered.
"Miss Singh?" The crazy old man asked her Rossie after.
The pink-haired girl turned her attention from her to the teacher and also shrugged at him, "They are free to sit wherever they want or not. Didn't you say so the first day?" Her Rossie answered the man, then looked at those that didn't sit near them, "Or in this case, they are free to not sit in these spots. We didn't say anything to them, nor do we have things on these seats."
She smelled something afoul on this, did her lovely, cute, and innocent Rossie do something to the students around? All the evidence pointed out that they seemed to...fear her Rossie.
Granted, she knew Rossie was capable of doing bad things, she had enough context clues in the memories of the former Elizabeth and from her own memories of the last days. But she could fix Rossie!
So she would need to fix her reputation first, at least Elizabeth said that to herself. "I wouldn't mind them sitting near me," Elizabeth said and felt Rossie tense in her chair at her side. "I do appreciate them giving us some space though. I feel somewhat claustrophobic with too many people around, but I can deal with that for classes."
And said the last part trying to give them an option to stay away, but making a statement that she wouldn't mind them sitting near.
"See? I told you Eliza wouldn't mind us sitting near her." Akira said behind her.
"Akira, the teacher is speaking with Elizabeth." Rena said in a lower tone.
"So what? Not like I'm wrong here." Akira huffed and she heard the sound of something falling, did Akira stand up behind them?
Why?
"Not that it matters I guess...If you wanna stay standing so be it." The crazy old man said, wasn't he going to fix this situation? There were... Like four students standing!
"Now, [Titles] what are they?" The crazy old man asked, he seemed to be speaking to himself as he moved on before anyone answered, "They are a way for the [System] to categorize what we achieve, usually granting us advantages for our success or making sure we can repeat said achievements."
Elizabeth started taking notes of this, since it seemed like the obvious thing to do as he would soon enough explain some things that may refer to her, "They come in different forms, [Active] titles, and those who give effect only while [Slotted]." And so the crazy old man started writing on the whiteboard.
"[Passive] Titles, those whose effect are always on. No matter if they aren't showing up or not." He wrote a few examples there such as her [Iron-Willed] title and the [Survivor] title that Rossie thought she would earn.
"And finally [Special] Titles, those that are a combination of both." And in that final slot he wrote an interesting example.
[Member of The Nine Stars].
"A good example of a [Special] title is those the members of the [Nine Stars] have, they usually have their moniker as an active [Title] and [Member of The Nine Stars] who also grants an effect around." The Crazed old man said while adding a list of names under that example.
The Beast Master
The Traveler
The Tinkerer
The Mother of Shadows
The Elementalist
The Monk
The Prophet
The Sniper
The Warlock
Most of those names she knew of course, they were the friends of her [Parents], so of course she "THE HELL IS DOING ECHIDNA THERE?!?" couldn't help herself but scream while standing and pointing with her hand at one of the names as soon as she saw [The Mother of Shadows] in there. She had heard from Rossie that [Echidna] was working [UNDER] the [Nine Stars] as a [Hero], not that [SHE WAS A NINE STARS HERO]!
And that was [Echinda] all right, wasn't that the [Title] Echidna had?
"Miss Starbright, we will not tolerate slander nor outbursts here in class. And while I have no idea how you managed to catch on the gossip about [The Mother of Shadows] being the famed supervillain [Echidna - The Mother of Monsters], there will be no slander here." The crazy old man said, but even so!
"But..." Elizabeth couldn't control herself, this wasn't right!
SHE WAS ECHIDNA!
"No buts, when [Shadow Pact] retired he left his spot to this fine woman. The other members of the [Nine Stars] accepted her on their side, and besides, [Tainted] no longer are a problem to society. Something I would think you would appreciate, because a year ago you would have qualified as a [Tainted] too." The crazy old man said.
He wasn't doing wonders to lose that title.
"Eli-Eli..." And Rossie at her side seemed worried for her too.
"...Fine. Not like I can do anything with that." Elizabeth grumbled while sitting down and crossing her arms in front of her.
"Appreciate your vote of confidence." The Crazy old man said with mirth in his tone.
"As I was saying, [The Nine Stars] have at least two titles guaranteed to them, one for their moniker that made them into powerhouses. And another for their allegiance to the group, it is suspected that the second one grants them some degree of power or familiarity with their peers. As usually high power individuals have a hard time working with others." Said the crazy old man, while writing other names on the side.
Elizabeth wasn't paying attention to those names, she just was wondering how the hell did [Echidna] turn out as a [Hero] of all things. And why had [Shadow Pact] left the group.
She...should feel good about [Echidna] being there, she had helped her when her [Taint] was flaring, even if in the end it amounted to nothing... Also, she had the last message from [Chloe] to deliver, so knowing where to find her made things better.
But still, her feelings couldn't settle, "Miss Starbright? Please rein your [Skill] or I will do it for you." Said the voice of the crazy old man.
What?
"Eli-Eli is still recovering [Teacher], please be patient with her." She heard the voice of Rossie at her side filled with venom.
Her Skill?
She turned around and felt as all the shadows around in the room, she could feel them all, even those under other people, had she expanded her shadows? When?
"Oh sorry about that, thinking of something..." Said Elizabeth while sending a mental command and releasing the control over the shadows. She immediately felt as the extra mass of shadows sink within her [Shadow Haven].
Leaving the bare minimum projected by the lights in the classroom. "Sure...Now how do we know what [Title] someone has?" Asked the crazed old man, she had missed most of the class already thanks to [Echidna]. "Miss Starbright?"
And she wasn't feeling that well to be honest either "We [Appraise] who we want to find out info about?" So she answered without thinking.
"Correct, we use whatever version of the [Identify], [Appraisal], [Evaluation] or whatever [Infosec] skill we have. " Answered the crazy old man.
Not that the question was that hard, "Now try to get information from anyone. So long the other party isn't above you in [Weight] you should be able to get most of the information. Extra points to the one that manages to pierce my [Privacy] and get to my [Status] count." And immediately afterward the whole class devolved into a screaming match.
She could hear variations of most of the skills being thrown around and felt her defenses waver with each attempt thrown her way.
"What does he mean by [Weight]?" Elizabeth asked Rossie at the side.
"The amount of [Status Points] we have is what determines our [Weight], the rarer and the bigger amount of points we get the harder it is to penetrate the defense created by [Privacy]." Answered the voice of the red-haired girl behind her.
"So the more points someone has the easier they have guarding their [Status]." Finished her lovely Rossie with a frown on her cute face.
She would need to speak seriously with Rossie, if she frowned that often she would end up with wrinkles on her face!
"Thank you Rena," Elizabeth turned around to thank the red-haired girl, it was still weird to see the girl being...like this.
"No problem, you feel like Akira. I don't mind helping you, it is my [duty] to help Akira. And if you are like him, then I [must help you] too." Answered Rena as if nothing.
That...Wasn't right, but she had too many things right now to worry about, she just made another mental note to rush her development of her former [Summon Minion] skill. She needed to stick one of those shadow dragons to Rena.
But if that was the case... A quick mental math calculation put her current status as a level 24 in the world pre-system. The current world made it so not everyone earned the full 14 points, some earning less than others.
The crazy old man had been level 26 before, if he earned less points...Then she should have enough [Weight] to pierce his defenses...
She would enjoy this "[Appraisal]!" Elizabeth intoned while focusing the mana in her eyes and directing her skill toward the smug-looking bastard.
"KUH!" And felt as if she had crashed into a wall, a very sturdy wall.
"And this class, is another example to the list, if you aren't sure about the level of someone, take caution for the mana backlash, if the [Weight] is too big then it may hurt like that." The crazy old man said while looking at her.
"No problem here teacher, I can help Elizabeth myself." And then she felt the soothing mana of her lovely Rossie flooding her body. The headache she didn't know was forming running away immediately.
"Okay then, move along class. Unless someone else wants to try again?" Asked the crazy old man looking in her direction... Did he want her to try again? Or not, Elizabeth noticed his eyes were looking somewhat above her.
Had Akira tried the same thing?
"Hmph, as if I needed to know the [Status] of a [mere npc]." Said the [Hero] above her.
Yikes.
Still, it wasn't like she hadn't earned anything from that scuffle, "I got your title teacher, or should I say [Drill Sergeant from Hell]?" Elizabeth said and everyone around turned extra quiet.
As if waiting for confirmation.
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH" Only to find the crazed old man laughing like...well, like what he was, a crazy old man. "Good, very good Miss Starbright. I don't know how you managed to pierce my defenses and get that. I will need you to share the results of your [Appraisal] to confirm, and to see if you got anything else."
| Status | |
| Name: John Williams Title: Drill Sergeant from Hell Alias: Drill Sergeant from Hell Level: 26 | Health: 100% Mana:100% Stamina: 100% Stress: 0% |
She of course obliged and with a motion of her hand sent the result from her [Appraisal] skill, as of how she managed that?
She wasn't sure, "Not sure, maybe I got lucky and managed to slip some mana around? I did leveled a few times my [Mana Manipulation] from this." Elizabeth answered while looking at her new notification.
| Notice: |
| Proficiency towards the next level achieved! Mana Manipulation 7>10 |
It was probably because she already knew the contents to some extent, but she of course wouldn't answer that. Not like anyone would believe her.
But still, it was good to get some extra levels on her skills, they would come in handy when she needed to deal with [Echidna].
"Mister Williams? We need to speak with one of your students." And then something brought her out of her musings.
The voice of a female she wished to never hear again.
"Miss Dawnstrike? Sure, the class is almost over anyway." Said the crazy old man while looking at Selen, she was still dressed in the same style of uniform as before.
Shouldn't she have graduated already? Why was she still here?
"It will not take too long." Selen said while bowing to the crazy old man, afterwards, she eyed those standing on the back and then Akira & Rena, moving to her lovely Rossie.
Of course Elizabeth moved herself a little forward to try and guard her girlfriend, only for Selen's eye to focus on her. "Elizabeth Starbright, the student council president will have a word with you." And said as much.
Elizabeth felt the mana of Rossie tense and a hand grab at her, she turned around and saw worry in the eyes of her girlfriend.
"Alone," Selen said, and she was almost 100% sure the girl said it gusto.
"Of course," Elizabeth answered and then turned to look at her girlfriend, "I will go and see what they want, it shouldn't take too long. Can you get the dinner ready?"
"...I will kill everyone in this god-forsaken campus if you do anything to Elizabeth." Rossie said with pure hatred in her voice while looking at Selen.
"ROSSIE!" Elizabeth quickly said while covering the pink-haired girl's mouth with her hand, "Hahahahahah, she gets the funniest jokes."
No one was laughing with her...A few even looked paler than before, "Of course. She does gets the funniest ideas in that little pink-colored head." Besides Selen that is, who was smiling quite happily as her body seemed to want to start shining.
"Rossie, no mass murder." Elizabeth turned around and looked into the puppy eyes of the pink-haired girl. "Say it with me, no mass murder."
"...Fine...But if you aren't at home before 10 PM I will start preparing." The pink-haired girl said while grumbling.
"That should be fine," Selen said on the side, "Let's go, lest your...friend starts getting excuses to do something she will regret later."
"The sooner the better," Elizabeth said while standing, "See you later Rossie."
Now, what could need the student council from her?
She had vague memories of that [Status] screen, but for some reason, she couldn't remember the [Title] she had. And Selen seemed to remember her, if the way she was looking at her was something to go by.
It shouldn't be something important, right?
Right?
