Lachlan walked away from the student's snickers and the boy and headed towards the eastern side of the campus where the dormitories laid. When he finally got there, he saw two huge white dormitories, one with the number 1 etched onto it and the other with the number 2.
The dormitory with the number 1 was for the underclassmen, whilst the other one was for the upperclassmen, or so Lachlan had been told by the lady at the registration hall.
As Lachlan entered the dormitory, he was surprised by how joyous the atmosphere was.
There was a big café on the right side of the entrance with female and male recruits sitting around theirs tables, aimlessly swaying about as they feasted on their delectable desserts.
Just looking at the desserts made Lachlan salivate, but he quickly looked the other way where he saw another area bustling with even more activity. There were hundreds of students roaming about there and numerable capsules laying horizontally to one another, with students waiting in lines to enter them.
On the top of the spacious room stood a placard in bold letters stating, 'Gaming Room.'
'Gaming room?' thought Lachlan…
He thought for a couple of seconds about it until it hit him.
He had been thoroughly educated when he was younger and remembered being taught about VR capsules that were used to train the younger generations. Once you entered one of these capsules, it recorded your parameters, including your attributes, physique, and, most importantly, your ability.
It then brought you into a virtual world, where you could use your ability unabated without feeling drawbacks from overuse. You couldn't perish within it, nor could you feel any pain. It was the perfect tool to further train and understand one's ability, which was the main reason it was widely used and popularized.
'I hope I'll be able to use that when I get an ability,' thought Lachlan.
He still didn't know of the particulars of the plunderer skill and whether or not it would alter his x-cells. Maybe it just gave him the ability, but not the corresponding biological variation of x-cells.
There were so many questions on Lachlan's mind but no one to answer. He wanted to ask the system, but he hadn't heard its voice apart from the time it initially started up. He could only speculate that once he got an ability, he would get the corresponding X-cells. And If he didn't, then he wouldn't be able to use the virtual world, which could be a significant setback in his training.
Lachlan thought about it for a while but threw the thought to the back of his mind as he wasn't making any progress. He then stopped gawking around and proceeded to walk past the recreational areas to reach the elevators at the back that would bring him up to his dorm floor.
When he finally got to his floor and was a foot away from entering his dormitory room, he stopped. He was informed by the lady he would be sharing his dorm room with one other occupant. He knew that If his dorm-mate was an arrogant, meddlesome individual, then the chances of his plans being disrupted were elevated. So he silently prayed and muttered to himself, "Please, please don't be a cunt…" as he opened the door and stepped in.
Inside was a moderately-sized room, perfect for two, with various features. The interior was made from the same reinforced alloy ubiquitous around the campus, giving the room an imposing feeling. And on the most distant wall laid two large rectangular windows that let in a lot of natural light, coating the alloyed floor with an orange hue.
On the left side of the room laid a kitchen with granite counters and varied home compliances like a microwave, a fridge, and a blender. And on the right side, it was more homely with a bunk bed rooted into the floor and a door that presumably led to the washroom.
It wasn't perfect, but it was better than the orphanage where everyone slept in the same room on the same dingy mattresses.
Lachlan quickly leered around for his dorm-mate, but there was no one here.
"He must not have arrived yet," said Lachlan as he walked towards the bunk bed and laid his belongings on the lower bed's side, as he was more comfortable sleeping closer to the ground.
.—-—
After hours, when the sky had turned black, there were still no signs of his dorm-mate. Lachlan wanted to see his dorm-mate before he went to sleep but chose just to lie down and close his eyes, as he was feeling exhausted from what he had done today.
He had fallen from a cliff, woken up in a forest, activated a slaughter system — or so it called itself, and then been hit with the most mind-breaking pain he had ever felt. And then, forced to trek through a forest till he eventually hitched a bus back to the city, where he had been informed by a military-clad man that military academy had just started. Everything just seemed so unreal, and even Lachlan shook his head in his bed at the events.
Eventually, he dozed off with time, leaving the dorm room in silence, apart from the rhythmic exhales and inhales that came from the lower bed.
—-—
When he finally awoke and got up from his bed, he was surprised when he heard faint snoring coming from the top of the bunk-bed
When he peered over the frame, he was stunned to see another recruit buried in blankets. Lachlan tried getting a glimpse of his face, but he was sleeping with his head buried in blankets, leaving nothing but his blond hair to see.
'I guess I'll check him out later,' thought Lachlan, as he hastily went to the kitchen to make some breakfast. When he finished ingesting his meal, Lachlan took off his sweaty clothes to clean and then put on his compulsory school attire, which hung in the closet.
When he was done, he was adorned in a light-blue tunic with golden accents, and dark-gray silken pants that gave off a ceremonious look.
Lachlan looked at himself in the mirror and felt good; he no longer looked like a shabby orphan with casual attire but instead that of a handsome teen with a stately appearance. His face was well defined, his cheekbones high, and his eyes piercing.
He was still a little bit disheartened though, he was still handsome, but he looked very frail, almost like a breeze could push him over. It was undoubtedly due to him being ousted and from the constant thrashing and beating from his peers, which caused his body to slump and slender.
He wasn't weak, yet that was only In average non-infused standards. For ability-wielders, he was extremely weak, dreadfully so. He could never complete physicals in school and had always placed last in class, which wasn't much of a surprise from his lack of ability.
He stopped thinking about his shortcomings and swiftly shook his head, and then proceeded to straighten his back as he walked out of the dormitory room and headed towards the hyperloop.
He had chosen to try out the system by doing one of its quest, the daily exercise one. And to do it, he needed somewhere to run and train, preferably a large area. Fortunately, the academy had a training premise located on the northernmost side, which was open 24/7.
It would take him hours to walk there, so he decided to hitch a ride on the hyperloop transit system. The hyperloop transit system was a system of sealed tubes where a pod traveled substantially quicker than it usually would by using the minimal air resistance and friction within the tube. As a result, it could reach hypersonic speeds and was one of the safest modes of travel, apart from the well-known teleportation method.
Though, the hyperloop was mainly used for shorter distances, as it was remarkably cheaper and easier to maintain, which is why it was so more commonly used.
When Lachlan got to the Hyperloop transit station, he waited on the platform with a couple of other students, most of which were adorned in dark-blue uniforms, signifying an upperclassman.
They looked at Lachlan strangely as he was the only one of the students on the platform who was in a light-blue underclassmen uniform.
Lachlan didn't want others to approach him and inquire why he was there, for fear that they'd see his watch, so he hurriedly crossed his arms, making it so his watch was covered while keeping his eyes glued to the ground.
He knew that if they approached him and saw his watch, they would possibly do something unthinkable. Luckily, before any one of them could do that, the countless pods, which each could carry up to 4 people, showed up.
People were still interested in Lachlan but still had better things to do, so they ignored Lachlan and got in their respective pods uniformly. Fortunately for Lachlan, the pod he got on was only occupied by him, saving him the trouble of covering his watch for the entire ride.
He heaved a sigh of relief and then let the pod speed up and take him out of the station as it headed for the training grounds.
When he reached his destination and disembarked from the pod, he was once again awestruck by the view's magnificence. In front of him, not far away, stood a myriad of training buildings, easily numbering in the thousands. There were also students entering the facilities in preparation for early-morning training. Most had dark-blue uniforms, and like before, Lachlan was the only one out of the students without one, making him very conspicuous.
Lachlan gulped but kept his calm, and he decided that the best way to keep someone from walking up to him and inquire was to act calm and overly smug, making others think he was someone important with an indifferent attitude. With that brilliant idea in mind, Lachlan walked towards the training buildings with an arrogant smile, puffed-out chest, and a raised head.
To Lachlan's amazement, his plan seemed to work. At first, they would eye him with curiosity and be ready to walk up, but as they saw his demeanor, they stopped.
Lachlan carried himself like a nobleman, and they didn't want to trouble a young master of a noble household who had just enrolled in school. With that, they quickly turned around and kept to their business, making Lachlan's eyes sparkle.
When he got to a training room with a green hologram over it, signifying its unoccupancy, he inserted his military ID into its side, allowing him entry for up to an hour.
He stepped inside and eyed the room. It was a low-ceilinged, white-washed room, spacious in diameter and well lit, perfect for training.
"This will do." Said Lachlan as he popped the quest prompt to see its details.
‹Daily Quest: Exercise›
‹Run 5 km: 0›
‹Do 100 sit-ups: 0›
‹Do 100 push-ups 0›
"Ah, I got this!" said Lachlan with a confident smile.
-—-
"Oh my --pant, pant god…." Said Lachlan, in between heavy pants as sweat dropped and puddled on the ground beneath him.
He had only run 1 km, yet he was already out of steam and felt light-headed beyond belief.
"How the fuck do people do this!" he yelled lazily
His frailness and weakness were now truly showing, and he had doubts on whether he should continue or not.
Yet in the end, after some recollection of Laura, Royce, and his gang, his hate overshadowed his exhaustion, and he promptly set out to continue the quest.
-—
"Finally…" whispered Lachlan, in between pants as his body drooped to the white alloyed ground.
After what felt like hours in Lachlan's mind, he finally finished the quest, causing a feminine, monotonous voice to sound within his ear.
‹Congratulation, you have finished the daily quest!›
‹Reward: 10 exp›
As Lachlan peered upwards and saw the familiar screen convey the same thing as the voice had said, he became ecstatic and instantly moved to the status tab to see what had changed.
‹Name: Lachlan Grayford›
‹Level: 2›
‹0/50 EXP›
‹HP 110/110›
‹Strength: 8›
‹Agility: 9›
‹Stamina: 7›
‹Stat points: 2›
—
‹Skills›
‹Plunderer lvl. 1›
‹Appraisal lvl. 1›
‹Skill locked????›
‹Skill locked????›
Lachlan saw that he had leveled up, and also a change in his HP, as well as 2 extra stat points.
He perked up and said joyously, "Awesome!" till his eyes darted across the skills column and saw something new.
"Appr- Appraisal?" said Lachlan confusedly, which caused another screen to pop up.
‹Appraisal›
‹Allows the host to see basic information on the person he chooses›
‹Certain restriction apply›
‹Level. 1›
Lachlan was stunned at what he had just seen and couldn't stop grinning. He wanted to test this out right now to clear any of his doubts about this being a hallucination.
So he stepped outside the training ground, grabbed his military ID, and looked at a student who had also just departed from a training building adjacent to his.
"Appraise," whispered Lachlan, which in turn caused a small screen to pop up in front of his face, showing various characters. Lachlan hurriedly began reading what was on the screen in front of him, and his face couldn't help but contort into a broad smile the longer he looked.
‹Name: Mason Collins›
‹Race: Human›
‹HP 100/100›
‹Ability: Sticky›
‹Ability level: 2.2›
Lachlan wanted to test the veracity and effectiveness of the appraisal skill, so he ran up to the boy while covering his watch in the process and asked from behind. "Hey, what's your name?"
The boy leered backwards confusedly and muttered, "Ummm, My name's Mason; why do you need to know?"
Lachlan grinned at what he said and replied, "Oh, Mason Collins?"
The boy was pleasantly surprised that the boy in front of him knew his name, and he asked, "Oh, do you me by any chance?"
Lachlan's grin just widened, "Well, how couldn't I," said Lachlan excitedly. "You have an awesome ability, after all, sticky!"
The boy looked shy and scratched his cheek, "Oh.. It's not that awesome," he said. "But thanks for your praise."
Lachlan responded, "No problem, I'll see you around, Mason!" as he said that, he ran off and headed towards the hyperloop with a broad grin on his face.
"I can't believe it, it worked!" he joyed to himself as he praised the system inwardly.
"What a weird underclassmen," said Mason as he looked at the boy's departing back, stifling a laugh in the process.
-—
After Lachlan got back to the dormitories using the hyperloop, it was 6:00 am, and his dorm-mate, who had slept on the top of the bunk bed, was gone.
Lachlan could see crumbles on the kitchen counter and an uncleaned glass in the sink.
The dorm-mate had probably already awoken and gone to class early, even though it wouldn't start for another 30 minutes, which was quite long considering the hyperloop's duration.
Lachlan didn't think about it too much and threw his dormitory clothes off to replace them with new ones. After all, they reeked of sweat. He then took a shower and grabbed another uniform from the rack, which he quickly changed into.
He then went back to the hyperloop, where he quickly left for the school grounds.
When he finally got off the pod and was face to face with the school grounds, he was met with a bustling atmosphere of recruits scampering around in the periphery.
There were hundreds, if not thousands of students that were rushing into the building. Though this time, all of them had light-blue uniforms, which eased Lachlan's heart as he wouldn't stand out.
He could also see groups of people assembled in circles, like cliques, who were eying around like they were looking for prey. When he leered closer into the groups, he could see that the majority of their watch levels were 2, 3 with a couple of 4's.
Out of the corner of Lachlan's eye, he could also see that a group of these students was roughing up what looked like a frail boy with freckles and glasses, and another group that were waving towards level 4's.
"So this must be the time when the groups and hierarchy are formed," muttered Lachlan to himself as he looked around.
He knew that military academy would be similar to his past school, yet he couldn't help but frown at what he saw. Nevertheless, there was nothing he could do, so he shook his head with shame and walked past the groups of people towards the school.
Although before he did, he adopted his previous young master ruse that would scare them off.
Like the last time, it made the students only glance at him quickly before returning to what they were doing.
"Phew!" exhaled Lachlan, "It's all about the demeanor!"
When he said that, a plan rooted itself into the back of his mind. All he had to do was act highly confident and even rude at times, making others suspect he's a higher level or a young master of an esteemed household. Suppose he could accurately portray that demeanor continually and also hide his watch. Then he could survive till he gets an ability using the plunderer skill!
With that idea in mind, he couldn't help but grin as he walked through the corridors of the school building with a cocked head of confidence.
Although, before he could act out his plan, someone in the crowded corridor bumped against him, making him fall on his buttocks.
"Watch where you're going!" said Lachlan in an exasperated tone.
The recruit who had made Lachlan fall on his buttocks leered downwards at Lachlan and his watch, which had been inadvertently left exposed. When the boy saw the number displayed on Lachlan's watch, his face contorted into an evil grin.
"What did you say…" he muttered before accentuating his tone as he yelled. " YOU CRIPPLE!"
The students who had previously rushed towards class abruptly stopped at what they heard and gawked at the boy who laid on the ground wide-eyed.
"Omg... Is that a cripple!" whispered a girl who shuffled to the front of the crowd.
"Yeah, I think so," said one of the boys, "I've never seen one before. I thought they were all too ashamed to live."
"I wish they were," responded a boy to his friend's remark. "They're so fucking useless and don't contribute a single cent to society."
"Hahaha, right!" laughed the boy at his friend's reply.
Murmurs were coming from all directions, and Lachlan couldn't help but mutter to himself under his breath, "fuck," as his plan had been foiled.