A Side Villain…

Three suspended for a week, two not allowed to sit during class and one told to write the lesson 200 times, that were our casualties for today. Martin sure lived up to his name and character from the game, he struck on the very first day itself leaving no doubts in our mind regarding his ‘seriousness’ in the class.

 

Once he went out the atmosphere calmed down, the students who were tensed up could finally relax. It was as if a big blade that was suspended over your head is now removed, calming the body. To be honest I expected nothing less from him, in the game too he made sure to affect the psyche of students so that it would be less tedious next time.

 

Though it makes me happy to know that he would be punishing someone in the A section and it’s going to be more brutal than ours as ‘he’ is more influential making him a much better target to set an example.

 

“Hmm.. am I getting sadistic? Nah it must be something else.” 

How could someone like me, a righteous soul, studying diligently, minding my own business and having embodied the buddhist principles of compassion and love for all life forms could be a sadistic person?

 

But then why am I getting this urge to be present there and witness his pain and suffering by my own two eyes? Must be a side effect of my transmigration into this world.

 

The rest of the classes went by like a breeze. The latter teachers were opposite of Martin, they would make a joke in between the class, try to keep the interaction two way rather than being unidirectional and that helped the rest of the students as there was only one ‘Martin’ they had to bear.

 

After the classes ended many were in a hurry to leave the class. They were packing the bags and heading out while some like me were waiting for the rush to end and it did after a couple of minutes. Now there were only a handful of us present in class and it was the time that I too headed out.

 

Akira picked up his bag, tidied his dress, stood up from the seat and made his way towards the exit of the room not minding the somewhat complicated ‘gazes’ offered by the still present students. The others were waiting for him to exit so that they could talk after he’s gone.

 

“So what do you say?” A guy who was casually sitting on one of the seats asked.

 

“Based on today?” Another guy asked while raising an eyebrow to this question.

 

“Yeah, anything we should report about?” He asked.

 

“Well let’s observe more.” The other replied.

 

Akira was on his way to the guild’s branch of the academy he wanted to use the teleportation portal to directly teleport in the front of the dungeon and dive in for today. He reached there but the scene today was quite different than yesterday, one difference was that there were a lot more people present.

 

Nyla, the cat girl receptionist who didn’t tell her name to Akira at their meeting, was there behind the counter being clumsy at her job and there was also some more staff to cater to the students majority of whom were from the second and third year. 

 

There was a saying among the students of the academy, the first year was the sunshine period, you would have ample time and opportunity to make new connections, make new friends who would form a party with you, explore the dungeon and try to become stronger. 

 

The second year was an industrious period, the amount of theory and practical classes doubled and one would find no time to indulge in other activities, hence the first year was paramount in joining a balanced party and making good connections .

The third and the last year was the best, there were one or two theory classes per week and the majority of assignments was physical work. One had to major in one specific field and there were a lot of excursions and travelling involved, travelling to other empires and to the ‘Wild Dungeons’. The third year determined an individual’s future route in this world, well for the most it did.

 

Akira was the last guy standing in the line waiting for his turn and thinking about what the future holds for him? He has no intention to join the plot heck he doesn't even wants to be near the main cast but in the corner of his heart he was a little tense and worried because of the-

 

“Next please.” Nyla said without looking upwards, it was a routine job for her taking their ID cards, punching them into the system and activating the portal.

 

“Here” Akira said and gave her an ID Card.

 

Nyla still didn’t bother looking upwards and passively took the card and began doing the procedure but within a moment she stopped, her eyes widened she quickly looked up and saw him and confirmed the truth.

 

When she was looking no staring at him with her wide open eyes he too noticed something different with her eyes. They were heterochromatic; one was blue and other red but in an instant they reverted back to their original chocolate brown.

 

This bewildered him. Was he seeing things? Weren’t there two different colored eyes present just right in front of him but now they were not. He remembered about her from the game but nothing like this happened. So maybe it’s just him seeing things?

 

Nyla realizing his odd behavior went back to her usual behavior and said,

 

“It’s so good that nothing happened to you, nyaa.” 

 

“Umm?” He didn’t understand her.

 

“Oh it was li- like… I forgot to tell you something.” She said with a little stuttering ,her cute furry cat ears were also going up and down making Akira gulp. It was getting harder not to pet those.

 

After a lot of fidgeting she told him about the afterusage of portal use for the first timer and he immediately understood why she was acting like that but there was one thing she didn’t know that  he had the knowledge of the aftereffects beforehand and had made his own decision to go with them.

 

“Forgive me for that, nyaa.” She said while making a cute face and let me tell you a cat girl making cute faces is too much to handle for normal mortals.

 

“You know I was writhing in pain for several hours, it was like my insides were pounded by a hammer beaten till they bled white.” He said while making a pained face and holding his stomach.

 

She was taken aback, did he go through all that plan just because of her? Isn’t this all her fault then? Massive guilt arose from her heart and tears began to form in her big round eyes and if her cute face was too much to handle then her sad face was even more deadly.

 

‘Shit I was only joking with her, why is she crying now?’ He said in his mind and mind you there were still a lot of upperman and guild staff present there and if they see this scene of a first year making their ‘mascot’ cry then…

 

He knew that he had to say something, something that alleviates her from this predicament.

 

“Hey but look aren’t I all good now? That pain was nothing, I was only joking so please don’t cry.” His speech was faster than usual but she comprehended and asked,

 

“So are yo- you alright, nyaa?” Her tears were one step away from falling down.

 

“I am as good as before so please don’t cry.” He said while doing various poses of showing off his body, well it was the best thing he could come up with and maybe it worked as she was looking a little better.

 

He sighed as the situation defused and asked her to complete the process of using the portal which she did with a stupid smile on her face which confused him,

 

‘Ehh? You are laughing now? Weren’t you on the verge of crying, what is this sorcery?’

 

Shaking his head he went into the portal and stood there, the portal was pod shaped big enough to fit a demihuman, there were various symbols in and around the portal, most of them symbolised teleportation and all of this was enclosed by a transparent glass.  

 

The glyph-like lights began to light up and soon he was enclosed by that same feeling of being transported, it was like your entire self is vanishing from one place and simultaneously appearing at another. Consciousness began to fade and soon he was in a different place.

 

It was the same sight of the Bretton woods, the forest outside the city and the massive dungeon semi-arched opening but with a whole lot more adventurers than yesterday. The counters had a big line and it seemed like a long time would be wasted just standing in the queue but then,

 

“How could I forget about this?” He literally shouted while standing between the crowd and that attracted some gazes towards him but he quickly side stepped and blended into the crowd to become anonymous.

 

The system which was linked to the this world, the very sentient system developed by the developers can not only show someone’s stats but it also shows the dungeon’s profile which helps the players to quickly get back to where they left and not do the unnecessary work of going through already cleared floors but how can this be available to someone like me?

Because one can only activate this feature when you become a tier F character i.e. transcending above the tier 1 but here someone like me who is a mere tier 5 is allowed to have this?

And this is the first time the system has called me a player and not its usual user so that means that it knows about my existence and has still allowed me to stay meaning that there is something hiding for me to find out but first we need to get stronger.

 

He looks and sees that today many novices were going in for the first time hence surging the numbers but how did he know that they were novices? Well they were wearing the dresses of first years of other academies and since it’s already two days the other academies send their students on their first adventure, quite opposite of Origin academy.

 

Using the system’s prompt of getting me at the third’s floor directly in front of these people is troublesome because if they found out that I was someone so young could directly teleport then they would think that I am at least tier F character which is considered a pretty big thing.

 

So Akira decided to find a secluded place away in the woods where he could use the system’s prompt and after a few minutes of running deep in the woods he was now all alone. 

 

“Show me the dungeon prompt.”

 

 

“Yes.”

 

  

Akira couldn’t say anything after that as a small black hole developed in front of him, it looked like a mini galaxy with a lot of shining stars and planets but he knew that this was the spatial tunnel connecting all the dungeons of this world and only when one has visited each of them could he truly control this tunnel.

 

The area around him started convulsing and was now sucked in by the black hole and in an instant he too was sucked in leaving nothing behind.

 

This spatial rift might have been nothing for Akira as he had seen this happening too many many times in the game but this action of his created several ripples in the atmosphere and several ‘special’ individuals couldn’t help but notice this abnormality.

 

Far away from the Bretton woods somewhere in  the desert-dominated western border of the Von Astrom empire a tent was made on one side and from the looks of it a fierce battle was ongoing between the neighboring empires. In the tent several old and wrinkled faces could be seen meditating but in an instant their faces twitched and they opened their eyes.

 

“Spatial rift!!” An old guy who was fully cladded in heavy armor said to everyone.

 

“Yeah I know old man there’s no need for you to shout.” A young voice from the shadows replied.

 

“But still to have another individual transcend above the tier 1.” He replied still in that shocked voice and widened eyes.

 

“This is troublesome.” The young voice said and everyone began to think.

 

Meanwhile in the dungeon after successfully appearing in the third floor Akira was ecstatic, how many people were there who could do something like this? Only a few hundreds at max and now even though he’s lacking in strength he can still do the same as them.

 

“Alright let’s start this.”