Jake passed out with his head resting on his desk so it looked like he was sleeping, "Dude, wake up." Kevin said, the person sitting to his right. Kevin had brown coloured hair, long eyelashes, average height like Jake but Jake was more handsome. "Yeah, thanks." said Jake who was still feeling a bit drowsy. 'What was that, it's like I was being mesmerized. That crystal, what happened to it?' As Jake thought this, he saw letters that looked like they were being written on his eyeballs. He could see them clearly and it said:
[Congratulations, you have acquired the System of a Mage]
Jake thought he was still dreaming, he couldn't believe it. He was literally seeing letters appearing on the air in his line of sight, which apparently wasn't enough, he was now seeing that he had acquired some sort of Mage system which didn't make any sense.
He decided to push it to the back of his head and try to at least focus on the topic the teacher was still explaining to the class.
...
The bell had just been rung for lunch and people were arranging their stuff, leaving class and heading to the cafeteria. Cat came up to him and asked "Are you ready?" "Don't you have to eat? I can walk through the school alone, besides my brother already said he'd show me around." "Don't worry about me. I'm sure your brother won't mind right?" "I think, but people are staring at us" The students who were yet to leave the class had been staring at the two of them ever since Cat had walked up to meet Jake. Cat was the most intelligent girl and the most beautiful in the class so of course she garnered a lot of attention. "Don't mind them, let's go." "Okay" Jake finally agreed since it looked like she wasn't going to back down.
As they were leaving the class, they saw Sky heading towards them. Jake went forward to meet him and told him about the change of plans. "That's okay bro. Just don't forget the time 'cause you're hanging out with a beauty like Catherine." Sky teased him. "Get outta here" Jake pushed him away jokingly and went back to meet Cat. "Looks like you and your brother are close." "Sort of. Let's go?" "Sure."
"That's the library, that large building there is the gymnasium. You know what a gymnasium is right?" "Are you kidding? Of course I do." Suddenly, Jake started seeing more of the letters on his eyes and stopped walking. The letters read:
[You have successfully made contact with direct sunlight for 30 mins]
[You have received 5 exp]
[05/100 exp]
Jake was confused, he was seeing the letters again and they had just come up out of nowhere, and what was the stuff about exp. "Jake, are you alright? You've just been staring into space for a while. Is something wrong?" He had almost forgotten about Cat that was right next to him, but could he tell her about what he was seeing right now, she might freak out and think he was crazy. "No, no. I'm fine. Just got lost thinking about something." "Oh okay" "Let's continue." They carried on with the tour and chatted occasionally about other things as well. "That's the teacher's lounge, there's the rec room. Students go there to hang out or relax but mostly to make out but no hooking up there. It's an unwritten rule. "Let's head there and take a break. I'm kinda tired and I'm sure you are as well" Jake suggested.
They went into the rec room and sat down, finally out of the hot sun, they could eat something before it was time to get back to class. Jake pulled out a hamburger and and an energy drink from his bag while Cat pulled out a mini-sized pizza from her bag along with a bottle which had green liquid inside it.
"What is that?" Jake asked because the liquid looked really weird. "You've never had The Drip?" "What's The Drip?" "It's like, the number one drink in Veda. You've seriously never tasted it?" she asked again because it was kind of hard to believe that a person had never drank The Drip. "No. Never saw anything like it where I come from." "Well here, taste it." she said, giving him the drink. By now Jake knew that refusing was pointless because she'll just insist until he takes it. He took it from her and drank out of it, as he drank it he felt this refreshing feeling, the exhaustion he felt from the walk was reduced and he could feel the liquid in his body slightly replenishing his energy.
"Wow. That tasted really good." Jake said as he handed the drink back to her. "I know right. That's why I love it so much." She collected her drink and they both ate and chatted for a bit before the bell rang for them to return to class.
When they got back to class, everyone took their seats. Another teacher came in and began teaching but Jake wasn't paying attention. He had a bad stomach ache and felt like his insides were on fire. He excused himself from class with awkward stares from people and murderous looks from guys. He ran straight to the restroom, Cat had already shown it to him during the tour so he knew it was to the side of their building.
On getting to the restroom, he went to the WC and began to puke his insides into it. He threw up everything he had eaten since the day began, when he was done he remembered he had seen system messages after he handed Cat her drink. He thought about it and it appeared:
[You have consumed a substance toxic to your body]
[Your body can only hold it for 20 mins at your current level]
[After 20 mins it will forcefully be ejected from your system]
"What a bitch," Jake said, "making me go through something like this. I can't even take in a normal drink. I'm gonna have to check this stuff out when I get home" Jake cleaned himself up along with the WC and headed back to class. On his way to class, five students who looked like minor thugs with some muscle on them cornered him. 'It's like they were waiting for me to show up. Bastards, what did I do on my first day?'
"So you're the newbie who's been hanging out with Catherine. I expected more up close" one of the guys said in a mocking tone. "Sorry to disappoint I guess" Jake said not showing fear. He's been through his fair share of trouble and if they thought they could intimidate him this way, they were dead wrong. "So you've got a sharp mouth huh, let's see if your so cocky after we're done with you" another one of them said. With that, the person who spoke first stepped forward with a punch aimed at Jake's abdomen. Jake who was quicker used his hands to block it and threw out a punch of his own but it was stopped by one of the three guys who hadn't spoken.
'This is bad, I can't go against five guys.' Jake turned to run but was met with a powerful fist which connected with his face. As he received the punch, he pretended to throw one of his to the left side of the person but as the person tried avoiding it, Jake's fist connected with the persons ear knocking him of his feet and out of the fight. From behind Jake received a punch on his back and fell to the ground. On the ground, Jake grabbed the leg of the first person who tried to kick him and dragged the person to the ground, getting on top of the person, Jake delivered two punches to his head and as he was going for the third punch, he felt a kick to his side which sent him of the person. The guy on the floor was already unstable after the two punches to his head.
Trying to get up, Jake felt a kick to his head "You bastard. You think you're strong don't you? We'll see about that." After the statement made by his unknown attacker, Jake felt another kick to his head knocking him out but he managed to hear the bell ring just before he passed out again, 'Twice in one day? Come on' thought Jake.