[The Day of the trip, Saturday]
[5:53 AM]
I woke up in cold sweat...I remember dreaming about pumpkin men impaling me with metal branches.
"Since you got a...considerable amount of sleep, let me explain to you all about your power called [Death Reversal]"
I roll my eyes at 'myself', "Very original.", I say sarcastically.
'I' continued, "[Death Reversal] has many functions. The person you are seeing right now is because of the effect of [Death Reversal: Charcot]. The function for you going back in time is [Death Reversal: Gaspar]."
"Your powers are still evolving so don't think it's the end. Each one of these power will in some way torture you either mentally or physically."
I ask, "Does [Charcot] have any other function than having you introduce me to my new powers? Any offensive capability?"
'I' answer myself, "I can in fact bring back the souls of those you have killed or seen die in your sight. You can't do anything to them except for talking. They may or may not be cooperative."
I ponder, "And what is the torture?"
'I' answers enthusiastically, "I didn't know you were so eager to suffer! The souls will haunt you. One way or another they will find a way to break you mentally."
[5:54 AM]
I kind of expected that since I was dealing with souls.
I ask, "If someone dies twice do 2 souls appear?"
A reply came, "No but the soul may become stronger and may be able to do stuff against you like showing you their morbid souls slowly melting and deforming. Basically, they get to mess with you better."
"Does that mean you have a lot of power in you? You are me after all, I have died tons of times."
"Oh? you're expecting me to be some powerful aid to you? too bad. I'm just here to mess with you. The least I could do is suppress those souls that would go too far."
"Ok so are there any other functions of [Death Reversal] that are helpful to me?"
"Well, there are 2 others [Death Reversal: Einstein] and [Death Reversal: Schrodinger]."
"Wait shouldn't Einstein be for time travel?"
"Einstein has E = mc^2 and the theory of relativity. Isn't that just manipulating the speed of time? but actually going into the past? I'll give it to Gaspar for writing a story about that at 1887."
"So what does [Einstein] do?"
"What it does is that every time you die, you gain time. The time you gain is equal to the time you lost and your amount of strength."
"This was also the reason why you were able to complete your projects so fast."
"And the catch?"
"You get tired very fast while it's activated. Even after you have turned off the ability you would feel phantom fatigue that isn't actually real. You also age faster but its not like its problem for the current era of technology"
Well, I get how I didn't notice that power yet. No one was there to see me. Wait... Dongmei was there.
"Why didn't I notice this yet? Why hasn't Dongmei pointed it out yet?"
"Well... the condition of activating the power is stress."
"*sigh* ok, what does [Schrodinger] do?
[5:55 AM]
...
...
Oh... I died... Anyway.
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[Inside the Hindenburg Spaceship]
[Author: The WHAT spaceship?]
Quad, Lin, and I gathered inside one of the ship's rooms. Shinji is going to brief us on the meeting.
He...looks different today. He looks livelier but also monotone, very contradicting. His eyes look dead but his attitude at gestures makes it seem like he is the most excited of us all.
Maybe I'm just reading too much into this. When have I become so concerned about him anyway? No, it's just because we're friends. He was my first friend since I never socialized other than training.
"Since everyone is here, I will be briefing you about the wonderful world of Shamrock!", Says Shinji resentfully.
"Shamrock is a planet full of greenery. The plants dominate this world as there are 100 plant-based monsters per 1 animal-based monster."
"The monsters here are ranked 3-7 but due to the needed safety of the students there is a safe zone area where only ranks of 3-5 are."
"There are many strong monsters here but what we must really be careful of are those that just lie in wait for their prey."
"Several of these monsters are [Spike Grass], [Hanging Vine], [Binding Root], [Hermes SkullTrap], and [Flower Herring]."
"[Spike Grass] a rank-4 that look like normal grass but if stepped on would stab straight at you. From a bendable leaf into sharp and hard steel. If you are unlucky then it would go straight through your heart. Impalement is of course how their prey dies"
"They are hard to distinguish but they have a distinct spiral spring shape. You could also use them as traps against others."
"They are also known as suicide grass since they have to die first in order to solidify. It's like a rigor mortis... or whatever that was. (I haven't really watched many American detective shows.) It only attacks once so its surprise and speed are the only problems."
"Fire magic will do the trick but you can't just keep applying fire wherever you go since you may alert monsters with how much damage you cause to their territory. Strong enough wind magic will activate them."
"Their dead body can be used for as a 2-star [1908 Steel]."
"[Hanging Vine] is a Rank-4 that hangs on tall trees and grows straight down when it detects prey. It then entangles its prey on the neck while immobilizing its limbs through several complex knots. Their prey dies either from choking or the breaking of their bones."
"They are always in groups so it would be easy to avoid them, just don't go under tons of vines. They don't have any distinction from a normal vine but they only stay on their territories so I've indicated their locations here on the map."
Shinji points to a hologram that has been turned on a while back.
"Possible solutions are fire magic of course. You could also use brute strength to destroy it but a knife would be more convenient. You could also confuse the monsters into entanglement where they will strangle each other. Ice magic is also a solution to stop their growth."
"It's dead if the vine slides down and lays dead on the ground. (How convenient.) The vine itself is a good 2-star material so it's best to let them 'grow' after you before cutting them off."
"[Binding Root] is a Rank-4 root that waits on the ground until movement is felt. It then grabs unto your legs and takes root in your veins. Their prey dies because of its root growing through the prey's blood circulation system."
"It's a parasite on trees so expect to find one on withering trees. They won't survive without a tree."
"Possible solutions are fire magic on the tree and surroundings, earth magic to uproot the tree, defensive measures on your lower half, or levitating from the ground. It's dead it the root turns black. Squeezing the dead monster will yield 2-star [Pure Golden Sap]"
"[Hermes SkullTrap] is a Rank-5 plant that has a treasure in the middle of its mouth. It has a very sticky liquid that will turn you immobile. It also has a hidden stinger that will paralyze you with its potent venom. The prey dies out of hunger or is eaten alive. their dead body or remain are then absorbed if you're wondering."
"It is large and hangs on trees so it will be easy to find it if you just look up once in a while. It's paralysis saliva drips when your beneath it so be careful."
"Possible solutions are fire magic, using ice magic on the saliva in the mouth, cutting off its stem that is coiled on a tree, or just having poison immunity. The monster is dead if its jaws lay wide open. The treasure in the middle is 3-star [Paralysis Honey]"
"[Flower Herring] is a Rank-4 monster with a flower on top of it. The flower looks like any other. Even if you don't pick it up, you will still be caught if you're near the area. The earth will become like quicksand and swallow you up until only your head is above the ground. As your body is being crushed by the monster, its flower will start eating you."
"The flower comes in any form but all of them have one unique smell. Do not under any circumstances pull up the flower unless you want the ground to collapse as you fall inside a collapsing deep pit."
"Possible solutions are to run before it attacks, cast ice magic so that it won't move, cast earth magic to stop the quicksand, or you could just use brute strength to break the earth after it has captured you. The monster is dead if the flower wilts and leaves a 2-star [Flower Sand Root] buried in the ground."
"There are also several monsters that appear in the night..."
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[Few Hours Later]
Shinji is officially the team's encyclopedia. No opposition is needed.
As much as I try to put all that information into my mind, I just can't. He did assure us that he will remind us what to do. He really deserves the feat of being able to pass the academy using only his engineering and science skills.
I accompanied Shinji as we went to check up on his mech. This mech apparently the one he made and used for the entrance exam. The name of the mech is [Shoto] apparently.
According to him, it was just a lightweight long-range firing mech, which focuses on speed, with missiles and lasers attached when he passed the exam but then started remodeling it to fit its name.
I asked what does the name mean and he said that I wouldn't understand so I responded with alright then, keep your secrets. He laughed as he answered my confusion saying that it was nostalgia but wouldn't answer further.
What he did was add fire energy from 3-star [Star Crystals] into a generator that functions as a flamethrower. I didn't understand but fire energy equals a flamethrower, I won't tire myself on such subjects.
He will be finishing adding 3-star [Polar Solaris] into another generator that will function as a freeze ray. Polar Sun is a unique energy that eats heat energy at a rapid rate and disappears. Shinji kept complaining about how illogical that was to him when he was younger but I couldn't really understand much.
Isn't cold the opposite of fire? of course, it destroys it.
I observe Shinji as he kept tinkering with his tools. I wish I was smart like him but those subjects are too complicated, I would rather let him do those. Brother Lin and Quad agree too.
"Ok, it's done, just a one-hour test drive to see if it works."
"Won't it blow up if you don't double-check?"
Shinji looks at me a laughs, "I have a contingency plan for that!"
I watch as Shinji hops into the mech's piloting seat. The generators run as both ice and fire energy clash and power the mech. He did say he would make a generator that could function as a 3-star even with mostly 2-star and only the generators' cores being 3-star.
I was actually worried since the container may explode, after all the clash of opposite energies created by 3-star materials could overpower the generators but in the end, it was ok. Shinji said he found a combination of alloy that would work with the chaotic clash so this must be it.
He really is good at a lot of things and here I am just only capable of destructive combat or freezing environments. Honestly, he is the only one I have compared myself to so far so I think it hit me all too much.
Never mind that, I'm still stronger than him. I should be grateful he tried helping me since my strength was a burden in itself. I could still show off my strength so that he will admire me.
I see [Shoto] blast into the air and see it make several bursts that fling it in different directions. I also see it blast fire and ice in opposite directions while spinning.
It lands a few meters in front of me and ejected Shinji outside who was sweating profusely.
"Shinji, what happened?"
"I need to focus on the safety of the pilot rather than its weapons. The chaotic energy made me experience summer and winter several times without even waiting for a day."
"You need to be more careful! I told you that you should check it again!"
"I know, I know. I was too careless as I was concentrating on preventing the generators to blow up. I wasn't actually expecting to the machine to work anyway."
"That's worse! you may have died if that happens!"
"I'm sorry for making you worry but believe me when I say that not only is this an important project to me but I really do have a way to survive this."
Shinji smiles brightly at me, "Thank you for your concern. I am very happy.", He is much friendlier than yesterday.
I don't know why but Shinji smiles at me meaningfully. I didn't get it but before I could start thinking about it an announcement came out.
["We Have Arrived On Planet Shamrock. Please Gather On The Command Hall Of The Hindenburg"]
Shinji immediately casts 1-Star [Speed Up] and 1-Star [Strength Up] on his legs while running Qi on a Rank-1 [Confucius Steps].
"Race you there!"
It was a futile effort as I was several ranks above him. though it was futile, it was very amusing. I gave him a headstart and immediately caught up to him.
"Argh, why are you using a movement martial technique? that is overkill!"
"All is fair in war!"
I arrive in the hall as I left Shinji behind in the dust. He arrives 10 minutes later but he was sweating a lot.
"I...concede..."
Shinji fell dramatically, which is what was going to happen but a hand grabbed him on his collar preventing him from falling.
I recognized the person, "Agatha? The [Self-Proclaimed Lily]?"
"Who are you calling self-proclaimed brat?"
Shinji snickers, "Shouldn't it rather be a cute rock?", immediately his head got smashed in by a fist as healing magic was applied to him.
"Ouch! I bet masochists love you!", his face got smashed in.
"My handsome face! Not that I actually care but it really hurts me for it to be ruined."
Agatha huffed, "Just pay attention to the speech that is going to happen."
Since today would be the first hunt of the first years, the headmaster would come and give a speech to motivate them.
There was chatter in the hall as more students kept gathering. The second and third years snicker as they are expecting a certain event.
Headmaster Hideo enters the stage. The second and third years immediately shut up and so does the first years as they see the atmosphere.
He waves his hand as a microphone appears...Shinji's microphone?
"He stole my masterpiece!!!", Shinji's exclamation travels through the hall.
Agatha immediately shut him up with a fist... is what was going to happen but as if with a 6th sense Shinji moved even before she raised her hand.
"Oh, sorry student Shinji, I'll be borrowing this unique microphone since I became interested in its features."
"He must be peeping at me in my lab, what a creep...", whispers Shinji which only Agatha and I could here...maybe the headmaster also heard but it wouldn't really be a stretch.
The headmaster pressed a series of buttons and then spoke, "Does this work?"
His voice was deep and his voice echoed. From his usual gentle voice that encourages the students whenever they come to his office to now.
[(Dracula's Words || Animals) would be a reference for his voice right now]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2kgqU6v5McI]
[You can't copy it but you could still type it in if you really can't search for it]
When the second and third years heard his voice all of them looked at Shinji and glared at him.
Who wouldn't? What he was going to do today would be ingrained into their mind as a something to fear. And Shinji just made it worse.
Shinji shrugs and made an innocent gesture by knocking himself in the head, sticking his tongue out, and saying teehee.
The students couldn't do anything to him anyway...yet. They had to brace themselves to that yearly trauma.
The headmaster smiles, "Now I will motivate this year's students."
His Rank-9 Mana leaked full force, "This is the Gold Coffin Academy and you represent it. Don't even think about dying and shaming my academy but if you do really die then it's a sacrifice this academy is willing to make. We can't protect you everywhere and there are numerous of you who come from all 4 kingdoms with different backgrounds and high status. Be sure not to waste what this academy is willing to provide for you."
His Mana became more intense as he also stomped and made a shock wave that passed through the whole school body. Somehow though, no one was harmed.
They were sure left scarred though, the headmaster added his killing intent in them making them feel like they would be killed thousands of times over.
As for Shinji, he is standing straight with his arms raised straight on his sides. It's like he is making the letter T.
As for me, I was in a cold sweat and breathing heavily. The gaps between ranks become higher the bigger the number gets.
Agatha just activated an artifact not even bothering that she used it just to block intimidation.
It would be understandable though, the headmaster is a Rank 9 while also adding his killing intent gathered by his numerous kills throughout his years. His voice was the only difference that Shinji just destroyed. I wouldn't be surprised if the headmaster researched a fear spell as everyone, no matter who, was left with this trauma.
The first years were heaving, clutching, and huddled. The second-year sat down or tried using the walls as support for their ruined pride. The third years are thankful that they will be brought into the latter 3 years as some of them glare hatefully at Shinji.
Shinji just laughs, "I think I noticed it, the headmaster used a combination of a 2-star[Taunt], 3-star[FusRoDah], and a 4-star [Nightmare]. I see now, adding lower stars into bigger star spells is much easier than 2 spells that are in equal power."
Quad asks, who wasn't in his usual brave and battle-hardened spirit, "How are you afraid at all of that killing intent?"
Shinji replies, "I don't fear death at all. well, I still do fear pain and heartbreak but this killing intent won't leave even a scratch on me!"
Lin stands up with his willpower, "The headmaster may be this strong now but I'll close in the gap sooner or later."
I looked around and saw several people still standing in their own ways. This is way much more people than expected to withstand such power.
Headmaster Hideo waves his hand as the microphone disappears back to Shinji's lab.
He then says, "It seems there are much more people who were able to withstand my mana. Please do note that this was just my pure mana."
Headmaster, your elemental aptitude is [Pure]... I couldn't really voice my complaint.
Shinji stares around and locks eyes with a girl whose hair looks pink before the latter broke eye contact. She was one of those who were left standing.
Among those who withstood the intimidation was a guy with blonde hair, he was the first ranking in the first years.
No, rather he passed out while standing...oh he regained consciousness. I guess that is a way to bypass his attack.
Another guy with brown hair and a generic face was looking around flustered and was muttering to himself every so often.
Another girl with black hair looked at Shinji horrified and confused, probably in her mind she is asking why he even made that microphone.
Hideo announces, "Were here at planet Shamrock, those who want to go can get to hunting. remember that you will get points for bringing back treasure and the corpses of monsters. You can register as a team but you will have to divide the points evenly with the registered team leader getting the remainder so choose wisely."
Our team already agreed on this and let Lin be the registered leader because of how much he needs to improve his ranking in the academy.
Shinji turns to me, "This is going to be an interesting school year indeed."
I didn't know what he meant until I was dragged into the chaos brewed in this academy with Shinji being in the center of it.