NOVEL NEXT Chapter 4: Dungeon.
"Hey, blonde hair."
Why did they call him that? His name was Lucian Algers, he clearly mentioned that when he first came here.
"Can't you hear me?" Steven barked, and as expected, a shudder ran down Lucian's spine as his eyes met his.
The bully.. No, now a renowned murderer in his mind. He could clearly remember the horrific pictures of Michael's death, the threat words played in his mind each minute like a repeated soundtrack.
"If anyone hears about what happened here today, I'll rip off your throat and have all the fun playing with your organs." Steven had said.
And now, because he didn't want to die alongside, he only had the option of being the victim, their slave.
"I'm.. I'm sorry." His voice shivered as he spoke. "What did you want me to do?"
"I'm sowwy... What did you want we to dwoo?" Steven mimicked, and an uproar of laughter followed.
He threw a can of fruit punch at him, and it clashed straight against his forehead. "Get me a replacement, no, make it two... And be quick while you're at it."
Lucian stood up, wiping off his face in distress. He would tolerate it all, the embarrassment, the pushing around, the torment. He could tolerate it all as long as he wasn't going to be killed.
His head hung downwards as he sluggishly walked past the hallway and towards the cafeteria. That was just how low his self esteem was, he couldn't even summon the courage to look straight into reality.
Lucian Algers has always been this way, and because of this it was easy for people to assume that he was a cripple. But he wasn't, infact his talent wasn't even a weak one.
He had all the advantage against a bully like Steven and his cohorts combined, but he was too afraid.
And fear brought weakness.
As he reached the end the hallway, Lucian hadn't been looking up and so, his body clashed into another, allowing a journal and a pen to toss to the ground.
"Sorry, I'm so sorry." He bent to pick up the materials.
"Lucian Alger. Power type, Telekinesis. Rank A?!!" Lucian looked up towards the person who spoke, but he couldn't believe his eyes. "With that kind of power, I could become the king of this school!"
"Michael?" Lucian stood, his golden hair flowing with the wind. Surprise etched all over his expression. "How are you..."
"That's not what matters right now." Michael pointed out, rather focused on a sheet of paper that had Lucian's profile on it. "The real question is, why have you been letting these guys beat you up, do you like pain or something?"
"Michael!" Lucian wrapped him in a hug, a warm-hearted smile on his face. "I'm so glad you're alive."
Michael's eyes widened, and like Lucian noticed his surprise, he quickly pulled away
"I mean.." He cleared his throat,trying to grab mental purchase from the sudden awkwardness. "I could've sworn you sustained so many wounds, how are you all healed?"
"It's... The system." Michael simply replied.
"What system?"
"Hey blonde hair, where's my fruit punch?" Steven yelled as he rushed towards them. But his eyes widened in shock as soon as they dawned on Michael.
"You..." He muttered. "How in the world?"
"Hello asshole number one." Michael grinned at him. "Missed me?"
The air heated around them, and a line of sweat dropped down Steven's face.
"I'll... I'll go get your fruit punch."
But Micheal grabbed his arm before he could even leave and pulled him back. "You stay." He said, his gaze still focused on Steven.
"You want punch?" Michael said, clenching his fist. "Come and get it."
Steven snickered. "I don't know where this sudden confidence is coming from but if you want another lesson, I'm willing to teach you."
"Didn't you hear about the new rule?" Someone asked behind Steven, a random lower class student who was just supposed to be minding his business. "King has discontinued every form of fighting in the school's premises."
"Boss did?" Steven exclaimed. "Why am I first hearing this from a nobody?"
"It was said that he established a new wrestling ring called The Arena, where students are allowed fight if they have any disputes to settle, it's outside school."
"Oh really? That's just exciting." Steven walked up to Michael with a satisfied smile. "You against me in the arena after school. Don't be late or else–!"
With that, he left.
* * *
Like he was going to go.
[TIME LEFT UNTIL DAILY TRAINING PROGRAM, 00:48:40]
It was unnecessary to concede to a fight against Steven, that was just the same as responding violently to his stupidity. Michael couldn't take the risks, yeah, he had earned a system just after he woke up from the dead and a deadly rank alongside.
But he still didn't know how to use his power. He had spent the last few hours in the library, checking for possible information about a talent called Writer's Legacy, but all he had found was rather a novel with the same title.
The fiction explained how power reigned in a world of writers, categorizing how writers earned magical powers from the books they wrote and the amount of reads they got.
He was halfway done now, but nothing important had showed up. At first he had assumed his talent was a creation talent where you had to imagine something before it actualizes, like how a writer does.
But no matter how much he concentrated on his imagination, nothing came forth.
Another assumption was writing vivid descriptions on a paper, but still nothing had worked.
[TIME LEFT UNTIL DAILY TRAINING PROGRAM, 00:30:59]
And he couldn't dare spare against Steven with such low numbers on his stats. It was a miracle that someone had managed to interrupt the scene while they were about to fight.
He was only trying to stand his ground at that moment.
[TIME LEFT UNTIL DAILY TRAINING PROGRAM, 00:25:36]
"Is it just me, or is time running faster than–"
[TIME LEFT UNTIL DAILY TRAINING PROGRAM, 00:18:13]
What in the...
[TIME LEFT UNTIL DAILY TRAINING PROGRAM, 00:10:02]
[TIME LEFT UNTIL DAILY TRAINING PROGRAM, 00:06:56]
[TIME LEFT UNTIL DAILY TRAINING PROGRAM, 00:00:09]
[TIME LEFT UNTIL DAILY TRAINING PROGRAM, 00:00:01]
Ding! [System Notification. DAILY TRAINING PROGRAM HAS ARRIVED]
The air turned immensely cold around, and he felt himself dissappear from the library he once thought he was in.
Darkness creeped in for a second, and he felt like he was floating in endless void. The feeling was bound to be familiar, but it all felt strange, like as if his soul was being pushed into another realm.
Not long enough, everything became normal eventually. But what wasn't normal was the place he had suddenly appeared at. It was like a dungeon.
No.. It was a dungeon. Obvious by the realistic crystal walls and creepers that lurked around. The grime on the floor was stuck to his boots and he heard weird whish of noises from the darkness within.
Definitely a dungeon, he heard read about dungeons in fantasies, and he learnt that only people called hunters were allowed to go in there as it harbored sacred kind of monsters like goblins, wolves or even huge hideous spiders.
Ugh.. He hated spiders.
"Alright System... What's the challenge? A goblin? A wolf?" Michael asked, standing in defensive mode before the darkness.
As he awaited, he heard a hiss from. Loud stomps of feet hit the ground as whatever was coming approached him.
At the first sight of the creature, Michael caught a pair of whiskers, followed by a huff of fire breathing that sent warmth across the dungeon.
Ten feet from him, a long, blue, scaly creature stood, glaring at him with reddened eyes, smoke huffing from its nose as if he had just invaded his privacy.
[YOU HAVE ENCOUNTERED A GROUND DRAGON. RANK S]
[TASK: CONQUER THE BOSS, DEFEAT The DUNGEON]
[ALTERNATIVE TASK: SURVIVE UNTIL TIMER, 2:00:00]
[PENALTY FOR FAILURE IS DEATH]
"Wait. What?"