I ran as fast as my puny little legs could make me go toward the north bridge of the school this place is far from here so I might be late but I don't care, I wouldn't be alive if Joya didn't help me so I will do whatever I can to pay him back, even if it means I will sacrifice my life to save his
[EMERGENCY QUEST]
Help Joya get out of his awkward position
REWARD: 3x cards
Emergency quest my ass! What's up with the quests?
…
After 5 minutes of sprinting I arrived at under the bridge, but when I stopped I felt the need to vomit so that's what I did, all this running messed me up
[SPEED INCREASED TO 4+ DUE TO LIMIT BREAKING!]
[!WARNING! STATS FROM 5 AND UP CAN'T IMPROVE WITH JUST CASUAL TRAINING]
I don't give a shit! I have to save him I recovered all my power and ran under the bridge, there was a circle of many people dressed in red and in the middle two people Joya and a skinny but very muscular shirtless man with long blonde hair and many piercings
"How does my shoe taste like, bastard?" The guy said as he did many impressive moves with his legs
"She doesn't love you anymore, Blade! Why don't you just move on!" Joya said with a smirk as blood fell down from his mouth
I made my way through the crowd to see what was going on
A girl was held down by many people dressed in red
"Just let her go, you bastard, you said it's going to be a fight between men! Right now I just see a pussy!" Joya said angrily
"Oh, we are getting mad, aren't we?" The guy asked as he proceeded to kick Joya multiple times, driving him back each kick looked lethal
In-sight!
Strength: 9/10
Defense: 8/10
Speed: 8/10
Intelligence: 7/10
Charisma: 9/10
Luck: 4/10
The other guy's stats are amazing
Strength: 8/10
Defense: 9/10
Speed: 7/10
Intelligence: 8/10
Charisma: 7/10
Luck: 5/10
Joya's stats are similar to his opponent's but the other guy fights with his legs and does many tricks to keep Joya away
What should I do? If Joya can't touch him, I most certainly can't touch him either!
I have to resort to a surprise attack where he is most vulnerable and hope for a crit but what comes after?
"Come on, you talk big but you don't do shit! I didn't expect Joya to be such a bitch!" The guy said with a smug grin
He made Joya drop down and now he is getting on top of him
BANG BANG BANG
Punch after punch to his face made Joya weak, he will lose
I took a deep breath and charged at the man, hitting him with the strongest kick I could muster
Black sparks flew off my kick and a thunder-like sound was heard
[Mega crit]
Among 1000 critical hits, one has the chance to be a Mega crit, increasing the power of the attack by 1000% rather than 200% of a usual crit
The guy went flying off Joya but safely landed on his feet many people tried to come at me but with a single shout from the other guy, everyone pulled back and continued to watch
"Nice kick, buddy! But who are you to break up a men's duel?" He asked me he had a scary aura coming off him
"What the hell are you doing here? I told you not to get associated with me!" Joya told me as he got up
"Hey kid, I will give you another chance to hit me! And then I will fight back! What do you say? Wouldn't it benefit you if I was hit two times before winning a two-on-one?"
"First, I want to know the reasons for your guys fight!" I spoke as if I had any authority in this cage of lions
"We are fighting for love!" The guy said while smiling
What?
"Evelyn is my girlfriend! And Jonan's ex, look at him! He is a playboy, of course, he isn't going to accept that a girl he actually liked left him for another man!" Joya explained to me
"Is that true?" I asked Jonan
"May the better man take home the bride!" Jonan said as he spread his arms
Suddenly, Joya punched him and then kicked him, sending him back
"What bride, idiot? We are still teenagers!" Joya told him before wiping the blood off his face
I tried to take a step so I could fight too but Joya kicked me in the stomach, launching me into the crowd
"This fight is none of your business, kid, so don't get killed in it!"
The two guys then proceeded to beat the hell out of each other the energy they had was unmatched, not one person spectating could stop their D E T E R M I N A T I O N to win over Evelyn's heart
And before I could understand what was happening, the fight was over…
Joya had knocked out Jonan with an impressive dodge of his attack followed by a perfect uppercut, complete silence followed
Some guys in red carried Jonan away but things changed for the worse when Joya turned to me and said
"Who do you think you are? Do you think I require pity from you? Come here and I will show you how pitiful I really am!"
Is he joking? No way he wants to fight, right?
Suddenly, he charged at me and punched me in the face, making my nose bleed
"I told you to fight! What? Are you only good for sucker punches?" he asked as he hopped around like a boxer
I guess I have no choice…
I don't know why Joya is doing this, but he is certainly smarter than I am, so I will go with the flow of his plan, even if it means he has to beat my ass
In my inventory, I still have the ethereal crit card, I guess a mega hit isn't considered a crit I still have to fight back, I won't be his punching bag even if it's beneficial to me
I took a step forward and tried to punch him but he cleverly dodged my attack and punched me back
I stumbled a bit but I was still able to fight so this time I threw a fake with my left before going in for a right punch
Joya easily predicted this and struck me with an elbow to my face, completely breaking my nose I rose up and got into a fighting position again
Joya looked shocked to see me
"What, didn't expect me to stand up! Unlike you, I don't think too much, so my body had to get durable!" I told Joya before charging in for an attack
He charged at me too and we exchanged blows
To be more precise it was a cross-fade
A punch for a punch
I saw a red sparks fly before everything went blank...
[Critical Hit]
[Activating ethereal card]
…
[MISSION COMPLETE]
I woke up to an unfamiliar ceiling
"Are you good? Man, you should have fallen after the second hit! Why did you keep getting back up?"
Wait, that's Joya's voice
I quickly got up to see I'm in Joya's room, I could tell because his room was filled with posters about nature and many plants
Joya was a very outdoorsy guy and I guess still is
"What was all that about?" I asked Joya
"I told you people shouldn't know you are associated with me so beating you up was the getaway plan" Joya told me with a guilty face
"It's okay, you don't have to feel bad, I actually wanted to fight you too so I could tell how much we differ in strength" I told him in order to make him feel less guilty
Because I know Joya for way too long to know he isn't going to forgive himself
"A girl was worried about you, she was angry after what I did to you, don't tell me you made a friend that fast!" He said, surprised
"I had to adapt, right? That's why I made a friend! But to be totally honest, I fear that friendships can't last here…"
"Not true, if your goal isn't to become the star of the school and you don't come across anyone crazy, you can live a quiet life here, after all, this is a school, not a jungle where everyone hunts anyone" Joya told me while preparing coffee
While Joya was occupied I checked my rewards as soon as I woke up I saw the mission complete screen
REWARDS:
TACTICAL: PERMANENT
GOD-LIKE TYPE
Observation
By observing anything, you can slowly learn about it and adapt to it
~
PHYSICAL: PERMANENT
NORMAL TYPE
Box
You now know how to box
Mastery: trash
~
THEORETICAL: ETHEREAL
NORMAL TYPE
The next dish you are going to eat, you will learn how to make
Interesting cards and especially the permanent ones, now I can finally fight decently, the observation one is also neat
"Hey Astro here! Observation and Box were the last guaranteed cards you could get! From now on every card that you will get is up to fate" Astro told me with a smile
"I guess I'm on my own now, huh?" I asked him
"Of course not!"
[Side Quest]
Drink a coffee today
REWARD: 1x card
"Thanks"
"No problem" Joya replied as he took a seat on a chair across from the bed
"Am I going to be in trouble for kicking a maestro?"
"Not really! Jonan is considered the most peaceful maestro, he really just looks out for his people and himself, he isn't the type to start trouble and he knows when to quit!" Joya explained as he looked outside the window
"Can I ask you another more personal question, Joya?"
"I'm all ears."
"You told me I wouldn't be in any trouble if I wasn't planning to become the star. I'm assuming you are aiming for that title, right? That's the only way to describe your knowledge and fighting ability!"
"Yeah, many aim for that title and I'm one of them too" Joya answered with a smile
"Why do you want to become the star? I imagine you're the type to live your life free of any responsibility and wouldn't bother with such things as world leadership!"
When I told him that, Joya laughed before becoming serious
"That was long ago, Jack. People change. The same question I could ask you too! You aim for that title too, don't you? Why did you all of a sudden end up here?"
That was a fair question that I couldn't answer. At the end of the day, nobody answered each other's questions. No matter how close we were, this was completely personal, and I understand why he doesn't need to share it. After all, Joya was always the type of person to not let anyone know about his problems
But people change, right? Maybe he has a more selfish reason, maybe not. One thing I know is that I have to try very hard to catch up to them in any way possible. After all, the star doesn't only need to be good at beating up people. So the first thing I should focus on is studying
When I finished the coffee, I received my reward
[MISSION COMPLETE]
THEORETICAL: ETHEREAL
NORMAL TYPE
Increase your grade by 10 points on your next test
After I received my gift from Astro, I returned to my room, locked myself in, and studied hard every subject we were taught up to this point until I finally understood everything.
[Intelligence increased to 4 due to hard studying!]
That's a sign for me to stop, I guess. It's 11 PM, and I decided to go out for a walk, maybe do a secret quest or anything. But to my surprise, while walking, I stumbled upon the worst person I could have seen
Jonan Blade, the maestro of the Crimson Butterflies
After doing deeper research on him, I figured out that he is running a dojo here, teaching Tae Kwon Do and Capoeira to students to increase their grades. Students here can also provide services for a boost to their grades. Jonan saw me and started walking towards me.
I don't have a fighting card, and I'm not in the state to fight. I guess I have to run... But he is faster than me...
"Yo!" He told me
I threw a jab, which he easily caught with his left hand
"I ain't here to hurt you, fool! I just wanted to chat with you! And maybe recruit you, who knows?" He told me with a smile
In the end, we ended up walking to a park. There, he bought me a coffee from the vending machine, and he bought himself a vitamin water
"I don't want to seem like making excuses, and I don't say this to flatter you either, but one of the reasons I lost was because of your kick! I had Joya on a lock there, but when you kicked me, you actually ended up breaking my ribs, so it was hard to move! With this strong of a kick, you would be a lethal person if you were in my fighting force and learned a bit of Tae Kwon Do!" Jonan told me as he looked at the lighted-up dorms.
This was a chance I wouldn't get again. On my second day, I received an invitation to a squad, the squad of a normal maestro like Jonan.
But…
"I have to refuse! It's not that I don't like you or I don't appreciate the offer, it's just that our goals clash! You see, I want to be the star too, so I wouldn't feel comfortable being under your command!"
It was an honest answer
"I'm 3 years older than you, so this isn't a problem. Every year, there is a different star"
"But that doesn't mean I can't become the star this year, right?" I told him
His look told me everything. He simply laughed
"Of course you can't the way you are! Plus, being the star doesn't automatically make you the leader of the world! Everyone becomes a candidate to become the leader, that's what the title "Star" is and after that, they have to come victorious out of all the candidates and the current world leader! You can't aim to become great in such a short time! It takes years of preparation for people just to get to this point and as much hard work to do from this point forward!"
Jonan then got in front of my face while ducking a bit to talk to my height
"You are delusional if you think you can make it this easy, and you are not the first or the last that will fail or even die without ever knowing that!" Jonan said with emotionless, scary eyes
"Anyway, good night!" He said goofily after leaving
This guy is scary, but what he is saying isn't wrong. If I didn't have this power, it would be impossible. I know that. Everyone who knows me knows that. That's why Joya had such a fear in his face when he understood I wanted to become the star too
"Don't worry about anything, Jack!" Astro told me with a smile. "You have what it takes to become a star, you're only lacking ambition! That's why you are completing quests, those create the ambition you need to stand at the top!" Astro said while pointing at the sky full of stars