As the class was quickly approaching its max capacity- 20 students- the final few students began to trickle in before a tall and slender black-haired beauty walked through the doors, attracting the gazes of most of the guys.
Samuel's eyes also landed on the teenager with an aloof expression on her face as though she didn't put anyone in the class in her sight. What stood out the most about the girl was her blatant disregard for the school uniform. Donning a jet-black hoodie with Japanese characters running down the sleeve, she made her way to the empty seat behind Samuel- to the back row's window seat.
'Is she an emo?'
Samuel found the indifference on her face with its soft facial features to be admirable at an age when everyone was self-conscious about their image, and a tad bit intriguing. He figured she had some unique life experiences that made her the way she was, but he decided to put such thoughts on a back-burner.
'She's an existence that is so far away from me that it's laughable. I don't remember much about her in my past life and to be honest, I don't really care. Now… I've got to work out a way to trap that snarky couple.'
If he could remember correctly, the boys rated her as the most beautiful girl in the school- a so-called achievement that came from the air of mystery about her and the fact that she rode a motorcycle. Samuel would never have known about such a fact, however, the case behind a certain 'List' that passed around amongst the guys had become quite high profile in the second year, which lead to some of the initiators getting expelled. Besides beauty rankings, there were a few other demeaning leaderboards that the girls had found out about.
Ultimately, Samuel put aside any thoughts on the other students in his class as he already had his hands full dealing with one handful of a friendship group.
— — —
Soon after the rattling of the school bell, Faith left the class to return to her own, signifying the beginning of the first day back at school.
As the students of class 3B were in their final year at LGHS, there was little fanfare about returning to the school besides an introduction to the new teachers and rules from their form tutor.
Their tutor was a rather unbothered character in their lives- an attitude that probably came about from only having spent a few months with her current group of students. She, as a science technician, had been posted to cover for the current form as they'd been abandoned by 2 former form tutors already- a situation that was quite uncommon at LGHS since most form tutors stuck with their forms for the entire 3-year duration.
The first had gotten married the summer before class 3B had entered the school, and a pregnancy had eventually led her to leave her position. The following form tutor was in the school on a probational basis, yet for some odd reason or other, he failed to keep to the standard of the school and was axed off halfway through the class's second year.
Shirley Jones had a laid-back attitude and didn't bother the students beyond what was expected of her. After the perfunctory announcements and AM registration, she'd leave the class to their own devices. While this may have seemed positive for the students, it meant there was no one to build and maintain an amicable environment, leading to the inflated egos of the sportsmen of the class and subsequent bullying.
But there was none of that behaviour today as the class reunited with their friends after the long break. The constant chittering in the short interlude between the compulsory subjects grated at Samuel's head as he was just coasting through the classes.
The mission content of his latest task was constantly bouncing around his mind, as Samuel thought over how best to get revenge that would satisfy him, but have the least repercussions. It was all well and good if he felt good at the time of committing his revenge, but when the mission was over and he hadn't the means to protect himself afterwards, with his current physique, or lack thereof, he was not confident of defending himself.
While running through a few ideas, his eyes would go back to the system panel, where he'd periodically look through the contents of his beginner pack- the reward for mission 3. Besides the sleep serum, he had many other potions remaining which could come in useful during his revenge.
Eventually, Samuel settled on the general framework for what he was going to do tomorrow.
'Hm… since it's a Monday… Oh! And on the first day of school, I doubt there'll be sport club activities during lunch. Since it's like that I'll visit the club storeroom for some… props… that I'll need.'
Visiting the storeroom at lunch was a hit-or-miss part of his plan since he wasn't sure if the storeroom with all the balls and other sport-related equipment would be open. But he wanted to visit at a time when the surroundings were empty, so no one would find him taking unregistered equipment.
Lugging his fatigued body from where he sat, Samuel forced himself to leave the classroom when he heard the chime of the bell signifying that it was lunchtime. His legs were slightly numb as he sat through 4 periods of class material he could vaguely remember covering in his previous life.
'I'll have to go through all the content from my past life, won't I? It should be a breeze I guess since I've already done it… though it has been quite a while.'
Samuel wondered how much he'd be able to recall, and how much he'd be able to revise the high school content before his end-of-term exams which were scheduled for 3 months.
'I wonder if there's anything in the system to help me with my memory… or even remembering every little detail from that life. System?'
[There are no skills currently in the system that directly helps with memory but Host is advised to improve Max Health stat.]
'Max health? How will that affect my memory?' He asked as he walked down the sparsely filled corridors, which would slowly fill up with students leaving their classrooms to get to the canteen- a building that was separate from the main building and science wing.
[According to the system, Health comprises cognitive abilities (attention, long and short-term memory, logic and reasoning, auditory and visual processing, processing speed), Genetic disorders and predispositions, and overall durability (mental, spiritual, social, and physical health). So an improvement in Max Health will ultimately lead to an improvement in memory.]
'Fuck me… that's a lot. I didn't think the Health was this comprehensive. Well… that's all well and good, but I'll have to actually be issued a mission that improves my Max Health in the first place. System, do the same thing with stamina. I'm a little curious about that too.'
[Stamina is a metaphysical ratio representing the potential that can be drawn from the body's current specifications (which is why Host can improve Max Stamina without a change in physique figures). It also includes, but is not limited to, cardiovascular and muscular endurance, and allows for Host to utilise more brain power at any given time.]
'Right, right. I'd wondered how my stamina could double if my muscle mass and fat ratio wouldn't change. I guess that makes sense.'
As a smart individual with 38 years of experience- no matter how fruitless- under his belt, Samuel was able to digest what the system meant by everything it had mentioned, and internally marvelled at how complex the finer mechanics of the system were.
Eventually, Samuel reached a small shed by the backside of the sports centre. The sports centre was on the side of the square furthest from the front entrance and was flanked by the massive school field. At the end of the field was a small grove which had given the school its name. The grove was cordoned off and supervised to ensure no one went in, though there was the odd student who came back with stories of the many mysteries of its depth.
Putting aside his thoughts about the layout of the school, Samuel went to open the door of the shed but found that it was locked. He put some more force into his actions, but the door wouldn't budge.
"It's locked."
Stating the obvious, he turned away to leave. The props he needed weren't exactly necessary for his plans, but they would make his life a whole lot easier and save him the effort of acquiring them through other means.
Since the time limit was 48 hours for the mission, Samuel resolved to get to the school a little earlier the next day. As club activities would begin on the following day, he was banking on the fact that the sports teachers would leave the equipment room open for the day to make their lives easier. He'd seen enough stray balls around to figure that other students had raided the room beforehand providing him with the basis for his assumption.