Benny didn't think much. If teachers were going with the group, there is no need to worry much. He just hoped to get in the same group as Zoey. That way, he won't need to worry much about his life.
After Aizeck's class, it was another teacher's period who taught mainly about management.
Instead of studying every subject over three years in high school, a student must pass two subjects each quarter of the year for the first two years, while the third year primarily consists of an internship if a student chooses the Hero profession.
After the second period, it was time for lunchtime. Most of the students in his class took out their lunch boxes or money to buy lunch from the canteen, not for themselves but for students in the higher department. You see, almost all of the students in his class were just henchmen of students standing on a higher hierarchy whether to get a chance to enter a good college or not to get on their wrong side.
"You think you are ingenious just because you gave some right answers today? I will let Lady Wendy know what happened today." Sammy came and said while carrying a big lunch box and a bag of other snacks.
It was evident where Sammy was heading while looking like an idiot. Benny glanced at Sammy and smirked at him. Wendy hated even the mention of Benny, let alone scoring with his name. Sammy would be kicked in his face probably.
Benny was also about to leave when a teen with dark skin entered with his two grunts. He was 187 cm tall, almost as tall as Kevin, with black hair tied in small stirpes. His name was Russell. He was from Class 2C.
Benny knew he wouldn't be having his lunch peacefully as he hoped for from his smug face, followed by his grunts. And that's what happened as Russell stopped right after Benny's desk.
Benny wasn't hiding his face to avoid Russell, nor was he looking with aggression to anger Russell. Benny's reaction was just neutral.
Benny sighed and looked at Russell with deadpan eyes, "What do you want, Russell? I don't have time if you are here for me."
Benny spoke first since all Russell was doing was standing in front of Benny's desk and smiling like an idiot, along with the rest of his grunts.
The rest of Benny's class students started leaving when they saw Benny engaging himself in another conflict.
"Oi, oi, look at this fucker! He is developin' some balls to talk back at us, huh! Haha!" Russell spoke and laughed at his own.
"Yeah, looks like yesterday's beating didn't affect him much, aye?!"
"Haha!"
Benny rolled his eyes and sighed inwardly. Was there no one to tell them how stupid they looked?
"Then do you know what time it is?!"
"It's punching Benny time!"
"Haha!"
Suddenly Russell stopped laughing and lifted Benny with his collar.
"Fucking bit*h! You think if you become that cu*t Wendy's punch bag, you can get away from me?!" Russell growled and glared at Benny.
Benny didn't even flinch while he was in the air. Instead, he was smiling.
"Russell, I would have asked you why you haven't grown up, but it would be stupid to ask such an idiotic question to a dumb imbecile like you."
Russell and the rest of his grunts fell in dead silence. They didn't know how and when Benny got so much beaver to talk to Russell like this.
"You...! Do you know-"
"Ah, shut up! I know you are an insecure runt who hasn't given enough attention. All you can do is release pent-up frustration on a weak, and I am not even on the same level. I am just on a Nap.
And hoho~! Did you call Wendy a cunt? Speaking of her...." Benny stopped talking and looked behind Russell and his grunts. "Oh hey Wendy, are you here for regular?"
Russell immediately released Benny and turned around with a pale look. In just the heat of the moment, Russell cursed Wendy like that. If she had heard Russell, then he was done for today.
However, there was no one behind them. Russell realized Benny had just tricked him! But the perpetrator was nowhere to be seen.
"Find that fucker! I will kill him today!!" Russell roared, ordering his grunts to find Benny. Today he won't let Benny walk out of the school in peace.
However, Russell saw his friends flying back when they left the class, looking for Benny.
Who the heck was trying to pick a fight with Russell?!
Fuming with anger, Russell stepped forward, only to turn pale again.
"You were looking for Benny? Why?" It was Zoey, asked Russell with deadpan eyes.
Russell heard that Zoey and Benny were close friends and had seen them going home together, but he always discarded this thought. One was a Nap, and the other was 3rd strongest in the school. There shouldn't be a special bond between them.
"We-we... We were just... You know-"
"Get lost."
"Yes, ma'am!"
And Russell disappeared, leaving his grunts moaning in pain on the corridor.
Zoey sighed and started walking. She wanted to beat the sh*t out of Russell, but Benny should be the one to take revenge. As to how? Zoey also believed in Benny to unlock a super awesome origin someday.
---
Benny entered a spacious room with lab equipment and high-tech devices used in scientific experiments and research. It was empty, but Benny knew that someone was still hiding somewhere.
He walked a few steps before stopping at one laboratory table. He crouched down and opened the cabinet, and poked his head.
"Yahallo Benny~! Yo looking good today!" An energetic voice of a girl greeted him.
She was a short girl around 157 cm tall who appeared to be of Indian descent with wavy brown hair tied in a high bun. She had purple, dark yellow eyes, a tan complexion, and wore glasses.
She wore a white lab coat with a blue shirt, dark grey skirt, and long dark stockings.
She was sitting comfortably on a futon underneath in a small space, eating snacks and watching UTube on a holographic screen emitting from her cell phone.
"Hey, Miss Rani. You also look good." Benny also greeted in return and sat beside the person called Rani. "You shouldn't sit like that while wearing stockings."
"Is this the first thing you say to your teacher? Hehe, you like stockings, don't you?" Rani giggled and switched to another video. She knew Benny wasn't fond of Heros since his parents were one and died in their duty.
"Man got to have priorities," Benny said and pushed his glasses, reflecting a white shade. "Besides, they don't match with your tiny legs."
"What the?! That's so mean! And how the heck did you reflect that white shade on your glasses?" Rani asked, breaking her lively character but was still not angry.
"Maybe I am a protagonist of some kind of fiction where my powers are yet to be awakened."
"Then does that make me a heroine?"
"Nope. You will always be a side character, Miss Rani."
"Boo! Benny, you meanie~!"
Benny and Rani looked at each other before they burst into laughter.
Rani Sodhi was also a zoologist, an ornithologist who studied animals like birds.
Like Benny, Rani also shares the same passion for saving small birds from total extinction.
Birds like hummingbirds and woodpeckers couldn't survive in the wild, so Rani researched their DNA to stop them from mutating into monsters or letting them die.
Her Origin was also related to birds where she could talk with them.
"Benny, I have found some lead on the Ento Serum you are researching. Shall I show you?"
"Yeah."
---
"So, will it work?" Rani asked, looking at a small tube containing a brown fluid in Benny's hands.
"Only testing it will show me the result," Benny said.
For the next hour, Rani and Benny researched into Ento Serum that Benny was creating. It was a serum that could strengthen an insect's DNA, enabling it to survive in the wild.
Rani then looked at Benny with concern and said, "Hey Benny? I heard that Class 2H will also be entering the Hell Gate."
"Sigh*. It is true. I don't know why we were even going there."
"Then-"
"Nope, let it go. Professor Aizeck said teachers will be going with the group." Benny interrupted Rani and sighed, "Honestly, I want to graduate peacefully from this school and be done with my life. If my experiment went successful, I would leave this school."
"…I see. Well, good luck then." Rani said and tapped Benny's arm. "If you return alive, I will make you my househusband."
"No way! Who the heck wants to marry a woman older than twice my age?!"
"Hey, I am just 32 now! Did you forget how humans can live beyond 100 years?"
"I am still a Nap, and do you think I have that many days to live?"
"Now that's dark humor."
"Hehe."
---
Sammy was kicked in the face as he trashed on the floor.
"Why the hell Lady Wendy cares if whatever the hell Benny does in his class?! And some nerve trash like you have to talk with Lady Wendy so casually!" Kevin said, stepping on Sammy's face.
"I mmm sowyyyy!!" Sammy cried.
Sammy knew he messed up a big time. Wendy was enjoying her time with her boyfriend and the rest of her group when Sammy mentioned what Benny had done today. It all ruined Wendy's mood.
"Kevin, step aside for the moment," Wendy ordered Kevin when Kevin was about to beat Sammy again.
Kevin nodded and moved back.
Wendy came forward, crouched down, and smirked, "So what was your name again?"
"S-Sammy… I-I am Class 2H's class representative!" Sammy said as he was about to turn his eyes up but stopped immediately. Little more, and Sammy would see Wendy's underwear for sure. Although anyone would be excited to see the heavenly view, Sammy wasn't ready to pay the price in exchange for broken bones.
"Say… do you also hate Benny?"
"Yes, I despise that person! I want him to disappear from this school!"
"Then would you…"
---
Benny's heart was beating faster as Aizeck announced the group members' names to the class. Benny's name still hasn't appeared on the list.
"Then for the next batch that I will be leading include combatants Class 2A's Wendy Thena and Asamio Darken and Class 2B's Kevin Tung. From the support department, we have Shiina Markova from Class 2D. And then from this class, Sammy Punt and Benny Olbion."
Benny instantly knew he would be going to die.