Story Novel
Chapter 82 Jake
"How could I ever like you when you still act like a dick to me…?"
"You were the one who kept looking over at me, so I assumed you wanted to start something… or what? Are you just scared of me?" I smiled, hoping to get a reaction out of him, but he seemed to be much more mature than before.
Yes, he was angrier than before, but he was able to hold himself back. Although, he was about to spew a few nonsensical words at me.
"Listen up you-"
"Alright! That's enough! God damn! Cyrus, stop instigating a fight!" Mari shouted, shutting both of us up before our words devolved into a physical brawl.
A long silence befell our group as Mari finished patching up the few injuries on Jake, but even as she did the most gruesome of treatments, like pouring literal alcohol on his open wounds, he didn't flinch in the slightest.
"Amelia said you stopped sending letters to her. She's been worried," I spoke up, breaking the tense silence between us all.
"I just haven't had the time. I've been too busy fighting for a scholarship on another continent. I have dreams of becoming something bigger, but staying in this goddamn is one thing that will drag me down… and so will the orphanage."
Asger's eyebrows furrowed from across the room, and as Jake slowly turned towards him, he lowered his eyebrows even further.
"Y'know, I came here ready to do whatever it took to support the orphanage. I was ready to do whatever it took to make all of us, and most importantly, me, succeed. Yet, I can no longer see that dream as something applicable. That would ruin everything I have built up to. I'm fighting for my life near the apex of this school, and I realized having ties ruins practically everything… it ties me to the people I love but ties me down to the ground. I can't fly and go far with ties that restrict me."
"I understand," Mari replied first, and as she finished sticking the last bandaid on a small cut on his arm, she smiled at the boy.
Her smile seemed like it pierced the boy's cold exterior shell, just for a moment, before quickly locking himself away.
"You know, if having ties restricts you… that just means you're weak," I muttered, drawing the attention of everybody in the room. I was fully prepared to defend myself against the pitiful boy, yet…
"I know I'm weak. That's precisely why I can't have ties to others…" the boy gritted his teeth, both of his eyes falling to the ground with sorrow and pity. Not just for the orphanage but for himself.
The boy had chosen a path that was full of blood and carnage, and killing. It wouldn't a pretty road to success, but for now, he seemed determined and ready to take on everything, whether it sacrificed pieces of himself.
"Anyway, it was nice seeing you all. I'll be sure to mail Amelia when I get back to my room, as… I should probably tell her everything. She's very understanding. I doubt she'll try to restrict me from my dreams…."
The boy quickly stood up, wincing from an ounce of pain before moving to the door and giving us a light smile.
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"I expect to see one of you at the top."n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om
We couldn't even reply, and even as Mari tried to open her mouth to respond, it was cut off by a sliver of thoughts that restricted her from continuing any further.
He soon left our vision, closing the door behind him, leaving all of us silent in our room, staring at the floor.
"Goddammit… I wish we could have helped him," Mari muttered, Petra nodding in agreement.
"Don't," I immediately spoke up. "This isn't out of respect for him but for your safety. He has tons of enemies, and I don't want any of you catching a loose wind that will completely crush your future. If you make enemies with the wrong people, even I can't help you to a certain extent… so just sit back. And if you really do respect him, don't interfere in his path."
Everybody nodded in agreement, allowing me to rest easy before I gathered my things for my final class of the day: Magic Theory.
…
"Ugh… so… boring…" I muttered, literal foam almost coming from my mouth as I felt like I was dying from boredom just by being in this classroom.
Also, unfortunately, my sister was a student aid as well, meaning she kept waking me up before I could get the chance to take a nap.
I was actually beginning to regret my schedule greatly, but it's not like I could have taken more advanced classes as I need these three as prerequisites for what I really want… yet, I still wanted to change them to something more fun.
Out of a whim, I checked my status to see what I needed to improve on, but what I saw made me snap my eyes wide awake.
『Status』
[Name: Ser]
[Race: Human]
[Class: Aether Celestial]
[Level: --/--] (--/--) XP Needed
[HP: --/-- MP: 1000/1000 SP: 1500/1500] - Normal Human
[Strength: 0] - Normal Human
[Defense: 0] - Normal Human
[Magic: 5000] - Normal Human
[Speed: 0] - Normal Human
[Aether: 10000] - Non Human
[Skills: [Aether Imaginative Creation] [Angel Blissful Wings] [Restricted] [Restricted] [Restricted] [Restricted] [Restricted] [Restricted] [Restricted] [Restricted] [Restricted] [Restricted] [Restricted] [Restricted] [Restricted] [Restricted] [Restricted] [Restricted] [Restricted] [Restricted] [Restricted] [Restricted] [Restricted] [Restricted] [Restricted] [Restricted] [Restricted] [Restricted] [Restricted]
[Passive Skills: [Light Allied Aura] [Dark Enemy Aura] [Trait: Aether] [Angel Core] [Angellic Aura] [Third Eye of Truth]
[Master of Aether: [Foreign Aether Control]
…
I quickly shut my eyes and rubbed them before looking at my status yet again, finding that it had returned to normal.
"What… the hell just happened…" I muttered under my breath, and as I lay back in my chair, nearly falling asleep again, I felt a jolt of something akin to a lightning bolt shock through my brain.
I was wide awake, but this time had a strange calling. It felt like I was being summoned to a place not too far away.