Hero Super

“Woah, what’s happening—” Calvin’s heart rate spiked as a film of white light suddenly started enveloping him. He looked towards the others, seeing the same soft light surround them.

“Relax. We’re being re—”, Ina’s words were cut off midway.

All of a sudden, the scenery warped all around Calvin, like those videos of what the inside of a black hole would look like, before warping back to normalcy not a fraction of a second later.

Well, normalcy.

“—located,” Ina finished her words, her voice sounding fainter.

“What the hell…” Calvin muttered, looking at the scenery in front of him.

A black room, circular, filled with holographic screens all around. It looked like the headquarters of a massive government-level surveillance operation or just the sketchy room of a pervert with a lot of money. Each of the screens showed a video replay of the battle that was just happening minutes ago, with some screens being uncomfortably close to their faces, while some showed the battle with a scenic shot like it was from a helicopter.

That, in and of itself, was weird enough, only made weirder by the creatures watching the screens. Rabbits. With heads double the size of their bodies and eyes taking up almost half of their faces, they watched like hawks and poured over each frame of each video playing on the screens.

It was terrifying.

“The fuck is this?” Alden spoke, the boy having been teleported beside Calvin. “You seein’ this shit?”

“I don’t want to, but I am,” Calvin muttered, just now remembering he wasn’t alone.

He turned around, finding the other students in the room. Everyone sat in foldable metallic chairs used in group therapies and interrogation rooms, with some shifting uncomfortably on the uncomfortable chairs and looking confused at the confusing scenery.

He spied Ina and Quinn at the far side of the room, muttering to each other before waving towards him. He gave a small wave back, turning towards the other people in the room that he knew.

Helena sat beside the unfortunate Sharle, relentlessly teasing the anxious girl. Mara was looking miffed as she tormented James, destroying his shin and tearing his ear off— quite literally. Regina, Lonnie, and Sparky were in their own seats, looking amazed, annoyed, or fatigued… or a combination of all three.

There were a couple of other students he didn’t see during the test, one familiar lazy face, and, weirdly, one nine-year-old child.

“Attention everyone”, A clap brought his focus back to the front.

Miss Lillian, or the demon-rabbit-summoner-slash-homeroom-teacher, looked at them with a wide smile on her face. She was still wearing the sketchy drug dealer-esque fashion she had when they first saw her, except without the sunglasses, beanie, and face mask, revealing the bunny-like features of her face.

Not like a realistic nightmare-inducing bunny, like the ones watching the videos and with their eyes at the sides of their head, but more like a cutesy cartoon bunny, like the ones that can play basketball and hate getting called 'doll’. Big eyes, soft cheeks, and a slight buck teeth.

'Does that mean I’ll look like a pebble in the future?’ Calvin shivered at the thought.

“First thing’s first, congratulations to all of you. Some of you won a lot of points, and some of you won cleanup duty… although I don’t know what I’ll make you clean up yet,” she muttered audibly, “but still! In a way, you’re all winners here, right?”

“Winner. Right…” Alden muttered, not looking at all amused.

“Oh right, you got both. You’re a double winner,” Calvin whispered to him.

He rolled his eyes, “Lucky me.”

“Secondly,” she continued, “I’m sure you’re all wondering why I had all of you go through that, right? Why I sent my fluffkins to chase, kidnap, and beat all of you up?”

“Fluffkins? The rabbits?” Calvin muttered, a bit too loudly.

“They’re not rabbits. They’re fluffkins,” Lillian’s sharp gaze homed into him like a hawk. “Fluff. Kins.”

He looked flustered, not expecting the bloodthirst in her eyes, “Y—yeah, fluffkins.”

“Right, fluffkins,” she nodded, “anyway, all that was for you. I’m sure all of you noticed the schedules you have for the first three months are all boring non-hero stuff, except for history and moral studies. That’s because, as your homeroom teacher, I’m the one who’s supposed to guide you in which courses to take and focus on for the rest of the semester. You know, to get all of you started.”

'I was wondering why there were only two classes a day,’ Calvin nodded.

“Those 'tests' were given to help me figure out a general idea of what you’re going to need to grow as a hero. And, I’m sure it gave some of you an idea too. Some of you might be thinking about it already. About the things you did wrong, the things you could’ve done better, and the things you want to keep doing well,” her glance turned to the back, where Sparky was starting to doze off, “although some of you might be too tired to think about anything else other than rest. So if there aren’t any questions, we’ll continue this next week. I’ll see you all again— yes?”

Everyone followed her gaze, seeing Mara with her hand raised in the back. She shriveled from the attention but asked her question despite that, “Uh— you haven’t introduced yourself yet, miss.”

“Ah, I forgot!” She smacked her forehead. “Good. Thank you for that. My name is Lillian Angevin, retired hero. It’s nice to meet you all. Now go and rest.”

Homeroom ended soon after Mara’s question, the fourteen students in the room soon flooded out and headed their own ways, most were too tired to socialize further than a small nod of acknowledgment. Unfortunately for Calvin, it seems like most didn’t include his two friends.

His trip to the dorms to check out his newly bought bathroom and kitchen was immediately interrupted by Quinn and Ina dragging him to the recreation center. Despite his fatigue, he let himself be yanked towards the shopping floor after remembering that he literally didn’t have a bed to sleep on at the moment.

After an hour of shopping for a new dress to replace the one ruined during the rabbit tests, and another half-hour of shopping to replace the furniture that disappeared during Calvin’s tests, the three were finally heading back to the Hero dormitory. The sky was growing darker, the night was encroaching, and hunger was fast approaching.

Calvin suggested to go get something to eat at the cafeteria before going back.

“Why the cafeteria? Didn’t you already get that personal kitchen upgrade?” Quinn asked. “Just cook something.”

“You just want my cooking”, he chuckled, “and yeah, I just bought it. There’s nothing in it yet. What am I going to cook? Air and water?”

Ina looked at him and sighed, “You didn’t even read the pamphlet— it says what’s included in the personal kitchen.”

“Is that surprising?” Quinn laughed.

“What do you mean? There’s a pamphlet?” Calvin narrowed his eyes and opened his holowatch, trying to find the 'pamphlet’ they were talking about. He found the file in his messages, read but ignored. “I didn’t see it.”

Modular Personal Kitchen™

Upgrade your living space with a Modular Personal Kitchen™! Unleash your culinary creativity and manage your diet on a more personal level, with style. The Modular Personal Kitchen™ comes fully equipped with various kitchen-related amenities, state-of-the-art tinker tech appliances*, customizable decor, and a single Vanguard-recommended kitchen towel(non-customizable)!

And that’s not all! The Modular Personal Refrigerator™ included in the package is connected directly to local businesses**! No more awkward commutes to and fro your house and the supermarket to shop for groceries. You get to do it in the comfort of your own home!

Whether you’re hosting intimate dinners or lavish feasts***, your journey to creating a culinary legend starts here!

Buy now!

*tinker tech appliances are not subject to any warranty. replacements come out of your or your sponsor’s pockets.

**the fridge is connected to the local cafeteria’s pantry. while the supplies are enough to feed the entire student body twice over, please do not abuse and waste food.

***as rule 5.0.2 of the student’s handbook says: a dormitory manager’s permit is required when hosting parties above ten participants.

Modular Personal Kitchen™

Upgrade your living space with a Modular Personal Kitchen™! Unleash your culinary creativity and manage your diet on a more personal level, with style. The Modular Personal Kitchen™ comes fully equipped with various kitchen-related amenities, state-of-the-art tinker tech appliances*, customizable decor, and a single Vanguard-recommended kitchen towel(non-customizable)!

And that’s not all! The Modular Personal Refrigerator™ included in the package is connected directly to local businesses**! No more awkward commutes to and fro your house and the supermarket to shop for groceries. You get to do it in the comfort of your own home!

Whether you’re hosting intimate dinners or lavish feasts***, your journey to creating a culinary legend starts here!

Buy now!

*tinker tech appliances are not subject to any warranty. replacements come out of your or your sponsor’s pockets.

**the fridge is connected to the local cafeteria’s pantry. while the supplies are enough to feed the entire student body twice over, please do not abuse and waste food.

***as rule 5.0.2 of the student’s handbook says: a dormitory manager’s permit is required when hosting parties above ten participants.

“So there’s a fridgeful of ingredients already there?” He summarized the only part he was curious about. “I don’t know if I want to cook.”

“I’ll pay you ten points,” Ina added.

“Column A or Column B, madame?”

“Pft— come on, I’m getting hungry too!” Quinn hooked both of their arms and led the way.

They headed to Calvin’s dorm room as quickly and efficiently as they could, incentivized by their increasing appetite.

“You really made everything disappear,” Ina muttered, seeing his empty room. “It’s so small too.”

“It’s adequate,” Calvin grumbled, looking around at the expanded space. “I even upgraded the main room.”

The dystopian-core room he had before, the one that had barely enough space to fit a bed and a small table, transformed into a middle-class urban-hell apartment room with enough space to fit a whopping three beds with enough space for a closet, a table, and probably an exercise mat— the peak of dormitory living.

There was an alcove connected to the main space, the Modular Personal Kitchen™ that looked mostly like a normal kitchen, and a new door to the side, which likely was the new Modular Personal Bathroom™ he purchased as well.

“Woah, that’s a lot of food,” Calvin muttered as he opened the fridge.

“Is it?” Quinn asked, looking over.

“It is, rich girl.” He shook his head and started grabbing ingredients.

Calvin went ahead and cooked dinner, flexing his [Gourmand’s Insight] as much as he could with the variety of ingredients in the fridge. Ina and Quinn, in the meantime, were helping him decorate and furnish the main room, with the rich girl even using stuff from her own pocket to make the place much comfier.

“Look, pink is great and all, but this is ridiculous,” Calvin commented, looking at the unrecognizable dorm.

The walls had posters that were literally just there because it’s pink. A wall clock of some unknown cartoon character that was pink. A closet, a desk, bedsheets, pillows— nearly everything that he didn’t personally pick out from the store was pink.

Except for the swords and flail hung on the wall. Those were from Ina. Calvin had no idea why she wanted to hang them in his room, but they looked cool so he wasn’t complaining.

“Where’d you even get pink carpet? How’d you even— no, why do you even have that? We didn’t even go to a carpet store or whatever?”

“It’s good to be prepared,” She said, smirking at him.

Calvin snapped his fingers, changing all the pink furniture into calmer blues, “Thanks for the free stuff.”

She frowned, harrumphing, “Party pooper.”

“Come on, let’s eat!” Ina slapped the table. “I’m about to go back and eat the giant rabbit if you take any longer.”

“Fluffkin,” Quinn said, mimicking their homeroom teacher’s voice. “Fluff. Kin.”

“Sadly, there was no rabbit meat. I looked.” Calvin chuckled, picking up the three dinners he banged up in thirty minutes and laying them on the table he bought. “Bone apple tea.”

“Finally!” Ina and Quinn started digging in.

He grinned, watching the two eat the mountain of food he cooked in that small amount of time, before sitting down and chowing on his own bowl of shrimp fried rice.

“Ugh, how are you so good?” Ina groaned while she ate her sweet and sour noodles.

“He has a cheat,” Quinn muttered. “Definitely a cheat.”

“[Gourmand’s Insight] just helps me with the ingredients. The cooking is all skill,” He smiled, feeling proud.

“Still a cheat,” She reiterated.

Calvin chuckled, eating his own meal, “So, that teacher. Do you know her?”

“What’s her name again?” Ina asked while munching on noodles. “Lillian Angevin, right? I looked her up earlier and nothing came up… besides that one time, when she was interviewed in a protest for animal rights. Particularly rabbits. She’s consistent if nothing else?”

“There’s animal rights specifically for rabbits?”

“She said she was a retired hero. You need higher level access for that kind of information,” Quinn added, brows furrowing. “Don’t you have Council-level access?”

“My parent’s access, yeah. That’s not enough?” Ina raised her brows.

“If you still couldn’t find her… she’s arch-rank or higher.”

“Arch-rank?” Calvin tilted his head on the unfamiliar term.

“You remember how we rank heroes one to nine?”

“Yeah, rank ones suck— ow.”

“We’re rank one,” She rolled her eyes, “above that are three more rankings: Arch, Sovereign, and Omega.”

“Did this suddenly turn into a shitty power-creep novel? What are those cheap-ass rank names? Why not just go ten, eleven, twelve?”

“I don’t know, ask those old people in charge of inventing the names,” Ina shrugged. “They’re probably dead though. Anyway, I don’t know a lot about those ranks other than they’re strong and really strong.”

“Just so you know, my 'birth vessel’ is Sovereign rank,” Quinn added.

“One of the seven is just Sovereign?”

“Just Sovereign?”

“You know what I mean,” he grunted. “If she’s a Sovereign— that’s a mouthful. If she’s S-rank, how strong is an Omega?”

“No idea,” She shrugged.

“We don’t even know if there is one,” Ina added. “You didn’t even know those ranks existed.”

“And it’s not just about strength, Cal,” Quinn looked at him. “Don’t be like Ina.”

“Hey!”

“You’re right, I’m sorry.”

“You— I hate you two,” Ina pouted.

“Heh,” Quinn pinched her cheek. “You don’t mean that.”

Calvin shoved a spoonful of rice in his face before speaking, “Sho… our homeroom teacsher ish shtronger than a 9th-ranker? She didn’t sheem like it.”

Quinn smacked his head, “Swallow first, Cal.”

Ina scoffed, “What, you wanted her to go all out? On students?”

“I’m just saying… I mean, rabbits?”

“Fluffkins,” Quinn corrected again.

“I mean, pebbles?” Ina shot back, gesturing towards him. “Do you not remember us getting bodied by the giant rabbit? It’s probably not even the strongest summon she has.”

“Hmm, yeah. I guess. Rabbits just make you—”, he paused, turning to Quinn. “Fluffkins. Fluffkins make you drop your guard.”

“You didn’t look like you had your guard down at all.”

“Well, they were demon-like. I have PTSD with anything to do with those— ow.”

The two finished up first supper and demanded Calvin to cook a second supper. He indulged the two, cooking up a shitton of snacks instead of supper. Ina offered to grab her T.V. from her room when Calvin remembered he already had one, pilfered from Sam’s abandoned flat.

They watched bad superhero movies up till midnight when it was time for the two to go to their own dorms and sleep.

“Oh yeah,” Quinn stopped in the doorway, tossing over something to him, “catch.”

Calvin caught the object, a small palm-sized box. He opened it and grabbed the item inside, a bottle of what looked like medicine, “What’s—”

Super Equip

Super Buff: Dreamless Drops detected. Equip?

Yes No

“Sleeping aid. It'll knock you out in an instant. Plus, that won’t kill you and will stop you from whining about nightmares,” She yawned. “One drop a night, although don’t take it every night, obviously.”

Calvin looked at the bottle for a moment before looking back at her with a nod, “Thanks.”

Quinn waved her hand nonchalantly before heading out of the door.

Finally, there was quiet, tomorrow was going to be another big day for him. His first legitimate class in forever. Sure, it was going to be Math, but it was better than nothing.

He chuckled, remembering Quinn’s apprehension towards the subject, “Math… I mean, it can’t be that bad. It’s just numbers?”

With those foreboding words, he walked over to the bed and took another look at the bottle in his hand. Sighing deeply, he grabbed the dropper from the box and opened the medicine bottle, taking exactly one drop of the 'Super Buff’-type equipment.

“Hope this works,” Calvin muttered, closing the bottle and putting it in his pocket. He opened his mouth and squeezed the dropper, letting the medicine fall and evaporate on his tongue. “Hmm, lavender, magnesium, almond, cherries, essence… essence?”

Super Evolution

Evolution conditions met for [Gourmand's Insight]

3/7 Paths Unlocked

Path of the Cook

Path of the Insight

Path of the Gourmand

His eyes widened, reading the new panel in front of him. “Evolution? What—”

Then everything went black.

Abe sat on a bench right in front of the statues of the Seven Strongest, fully immersed in observing every detail in the carving and every crack on the stone. In the corner of his mind, he ran calculations of how much time it would’ve taken the creator to make the intricate pieces in front of him, how much passion and effort to completely capture the likeness of such beloved heroes— it must’ve been months.

Months of tirelessly working, likely day and night, ever since the Academy commissioned the works half a year ago.

And yet, they looked so shit.

His eyes sharpened, a presence he had been expecting finally arrived. He adjusted his mask and tapped on the voice modulator on his neck, “Tsk, what excuse do you have for your tardiness?”

The air was silent for a moment before an amused and heavily modified voice chuckled, “I was hungry. Grabbed a bite to eat.”

On the bench opposite him appeared a figure that looked like an ordinary student with an unrecognizable face. He likely looked similarly, an effect of the mask they were both wearing.

“Is your state of satiety truly a much more critical endeavor to pursue than reporting to your superior?”

“Yeah?” The voice replied matter-of-factly.

Abe’s eye twitched, “see to it that it doesn’t happen again.”

“Don’t schedule our dates during dinner if you don’t want it happening again,” The figure shrugged.

“Report,” He commanded, about to lose his temper.

“Which one do you want first? Girl or boy?”

“The patient. Do not identify them.”

“Ah, well, the 'patient’ is fine. She’s still taking that medicine you keep sending her, and it’s also helping with the nightmares. At least that’s what she said.”

“Nightmares?” Abe’s eyes widened.

“That’s what I just said.”

“What nightmares, you fucking imbecile? Give me specifics.” He spoke through gritted teeth.

“Wow, calm down, old man—”

Abe suddenly jumped forward and put his gloved hand around the figure’s neck. His glove whirred and hummed as it threatened to tighten and crush the throat in its palm.

“Do not identify us in any fucking way,” he growled. “Memo is inside the campus, you fucking buffoon. If they find anything suspicious here—”

“We’re two fucking shady-ass, shadowy, featureless figures in the middle of the night, talking to each other across a distance, while sat in the only two places in this open park that are blindspots for every camera pointed in this direction. We’re already suspicious, you dumbass,” the other person calmly interrupted. “Get the fuck off of me or I’ll shove this down your throat.”

He felt a prick on his neck. Abe’s eyes drew downwards, finding a large metal barb in the person’s hands, pointing directly towards his throat.

Taking a deep breath, he calmed down and fixed his coat, walking back to his seat, “Be careful next time.”

“Calm your tits next time,” they chuckled, “anyway, yeah. Nightmares. Didn’t ask about them, thought that would’ve been weird since I was just eavesdropping.”

He nodded, “I see. Anything else?”

“Nothing more on the gi— 'patient’. On the other one—”

“The 'subject’.”

“'Subject’? Yeah, sure, subject. He’s… normal, I guess? Exercises, has a social life, and he looks like he’s having fun. Ah, he’s also a good fighter, has this immovable rock superpower, I’m sure you read his profile.”

“I have,” he nodded.

“Well, that’s about it. He’s friends with two high-profile students. When I say high, I mean really high.”

Abe grunted, glancing at one of the statues, “I’m aware as well.”

“Anyway, yeah. That’s the report— do we have to do this every week?”

“No, that would be inefficient,” Abe stood up, brushing off his coat, “keep observing. Notify me when you discover something significant. Watch over the patient and dig into the subject, we need to know what he knows.”

“And if he knows too much?”

“We’ll cross that bridge when we get there. Your little stunt in the prison with Trovik and his gang was… you got lucky that time. We can’t risk something like that here.”

“That wasn’t a stunt. It was an order, dumbass,” The figure scoffed. “So, no killing?”

“Use your brain,” He grunted. “Actually— don’t. Consult me first.”

“Will do,” the figure fake saluted before disappearing into the shadows.

“Nitwit…” He muttered before pressing a button on the mask and disappearing just as the figure did.