[Congratulations! The system has chosen you to be its protagonist.]
[You have been granted a stigma that prevents you from dying for one year.]
"Argh!"
A white-tinted semicircle tattoo burned its way into the back of my right wrist. What the hell was this? It hurts! Ahhh!
[The system has tasked you with the job of saving your world.]
[You have 365 days until humanity's savior becomes humanity's destroyer.]
[Gain Lumina Voss's trust and stop him from destroying the world.]
[The system wants you to know that this is the only way.]
[The system wishes you good luck.]
What the hell was happening? What system? Lumina Voss?
[You can now leave the Tower.]
* * *
-Unknown location-
"Are you sure about this? I doubt he's going to be like the others. He doesn't have a pure heart."
"It's not my place to be sure or not. His heart doesn't matter. He's the one. He's already been chosen. I, nor you, can change fate."
"Have you lost all hope already? Have you forgotten how much you used to rant about fate not being able to stop you?"
"That was a long time ago. Stop bringing up the past."
"Hmm. If you say so. You have to leave soon, right?"
"..."
"I'll be all alone once again."
"Don't say that. You have an entire army to keep you company. You don't need me."
"They can't compare to you. Don't you know that?"
"Goodbye."
"..."
* * *
-Gomas Academy-
"Mr. Anderson, I hope you understand the seriosity of this matter?" said Dean Ravi as he stared at me with an upside down smile.
"What matter?" I feigned ignorance.
Dean Ravi wasn't the only one who glared at me after I said those words. Lumina, Blondie, the other guy, and Buddy also stared at me fiercely. Was this really happening?
After leaving that useless Tower and arriving at the dorms, I took a long bath and was about to order food, when a bunch of disciplinary staff came knocking at my door and demanded I go to the Dean's office and receive punishment for my actions.
I thought they were referring to me not reporting what I had seen Lumina do in the Tower, but that was not the case at all. It turned out that I was here because of the corrupted students I purified back inside the Tower.
Lumina and his useless group members as well as mine couldn't keep their mouths sealed and went ahead to report me for committing 'murder'. Hmph, a bunch of idiots, these people were.
"I will not have you behave in this manner at this academy. Murder is not a joking matter. You will face—"
"Murder? Is that the right word to define purifying corrupted entities?" I interrupted Dean Ravi and his eyes widened for half a second before they drew into narrow slits.
"Did you idiots leave out that part?" I turned to the student Hunters.
Blondie was the one who stepped up for the group of tattletale cowards. "You didn't need to kill them. They could have just drunk Purification Potions and become well!"
What a useless argument. I had thought she would have something better to say other than that, but I was clearly wrong. She was a fool.
"Have you ever witnessed a being who was already corrupted get better after digesting a Purification Potion?" I asked her.
Blondie hesitated for a second before speaking. "O-Of course, I have!"
I was so close to using the butt of my gun to hit sense into her head.
"If that was the case, then those little toys you and your foolish group members used back in the Tower against those corrupted entities you faced wouldn't have caused them to die. According to what you're saying, the corrupted entities would've reversed back to their normal states after being touched by a Purification weapon. But did that happen?" I was growing agitated at each passing second.
Purifying a corrupted entity didn't save them. It saved the people around them who weren't corrupted. There was no such thing as a cure for [Corruption]. Once a being was corrupted, that was the end. You had to die to be uncorrupted. There was no other way.
Drinking Purification Potions was a protective measure. It wouldn't work for someone who was already corrupted. As an Inquisitor, I knew that much. Naïve Hunters like Blondie here seemed to believe corrupted entities could be saved and still live.
That was a myth and nothing more.
"Wait, wait, wait. What is this matter about your group fighting corrupted entities inside the Tower?" Dean Ravi was talking to Lumina. His cheeks reddened in embarrassment as though he had just been caught doing what he shouldn't have. That was the exact circumstance though.
Neither Blondie nor the other guy owned up to their actions, leaving Lumina to take the blame for their group. How foolishly noble.
"I knew that corrupted entities were worth three points in one, so I had my group members target them instead of monsters. I was wrong. It's my fault Dexter got corrupted. If we hadn't tangled with corrupted entities, he wouldn't have gotten corrupted and spread it to the other two people."
Lumina spoke with a very sincere tone, like he was actually the one at fault. Someone who wasn't in the Tower to witness what happened would believe those misplaced lies that just came out from his mouth. I knew better.
Why was he taking the blame for something he didn't directly influence? Was he trying to look responsible in front of the people gathered here? And what was all that he did in the Tower? Why wait till that time to kill the dragon?
And if I could remember correctly, he had commanded the dragon to lay down its life and the dragon obeyed. Though I wasn't close enough to hear what he was saying at the time, I was a hundred percent sure that he commanded the dragon and the dragon obeyed him.
Was it a Special Skill? If it was, then why was he keeping it a secret? What was with that blinding light? My head throbbed in pain as I tried to unveil the mysteries behind Lumina Voss.
"I see. You were well aware of your actions, yet you still carried them out?" Dean Ravi said.
"Yes," replied Lumina.
"You and your group members will have to stay behind and face the consequences of your actions. For now…" Dean Ravi focused his attention on me once again.
"As for you. Though they became corrupted entities, you were wrong to—"
"Don't," I stopped him. "Don't complete that sentence. There shouldn't even be anything left to say here. They were corrupted entities, it is my job as an Inquisitor to purify them. You have no right to suggest otherwise. You are not my superior in that aspect. If they were regular Hunters that I killed, this would be another matter, but they weren't.
"I believe that you should stick to judging what falls under your jurisdiction and nothing else. I doubt there's anything more to say. I take it that I'm dismissed?"
Dean Ravi looked at a loss for words after my rant. Oh well, I used his momentary disorientation to my advantage as I left his office immediately.
I didn't waste any time in finding a portal that led to my dorm from this building. When I got to my dorm, I saw that people were still reliving their best moments from the Tower, bragging about their feats. Such fools. They should be grateful they were even alive and made it out.
Though every session granted admission to 1000 students, not all of those 1000 students graduated. Most died, others quit, some ran away. If at least 500 students would be able to graduate among this set of mine, it would be a huge miracle. But with what I've seen so far, I doubted the graduating students of this set in the next three years would even amount to a three digit figure.
I made it back to my dorm room without drawing attention to myself and decided to relax like I had planned to earlier. I quickly ordered a bunch of junk food to be sent up to my room, then got comfy in the meantime to catch up with the shows I had missed while I was in the Tower.
I wasn't even one minute into the first show when a message window popped up in front of my face.
[The system applauds you for taking a stand against authority and defending yourself with valid points.]
What?
[The system has granted you a special skill.]
What? Just like that? What was this system in fact? Was it a scam? I decided to check my Status Window and see if this thing was actually for real.
Status Window:
| Name: Autumn Anderson |
| Class: S |
| Strength: 82% |
| Agility: 95% |
| Charm: 25% |
| Magic Power: 90% |
| Intelligence: 90% |
| Titles: The Cruelest Inquisitor, King of The Wind, Arm of Justice, The Most Efficient Swordsman, The Most Efficient Sharpshooter |
| Special Skills: Efficient Swordsman (level 10), Efficient Sharpshooter (level 10), Wind Manipulator (level 8), Perfect Intuition (level 4), Mental Control (fixed), Omniscient Eyes (level 1) |
What? There was actually a new Special Skill here! [Omniscient Eyes]? What was that exactly? I tapped on it to get more info.
| Special Skill Summary - Omniscient Eyes:- The user is able to see things which aren't visible to normal eyes. |
Really? That was it? Being able to see what wasn't visible to normal eyes? Did that mean my eyes became some sort of microscope or telescope? I was hoping for the latter but I had other pressing matters to focus on.
This thing was real!
"Hey, system! Whoever you are, how did you get me a Special Skill?" I questioned thin air because whoever the system was, they weren't visible.
Hold on, was this something I could use that scam Special Skill on?
[The Special Skill, [Omniscient Eyes], has been activated.]
I looked around my room to see if this system person was also here with me but I didn't see them. Feeling disappointed, I immediately turned off the skill.
"What a useless skill," I muttered out loud.
[The system disagrees with you.]
"What the...? Show yourself right now or else!" I reached for my sword immediately and stood up from my bed.
[The system wants you to know that you are not in danger.]
[Yet.]
"Hey! What does that mean?!" I raised my voice.
[The system acknowledges that you are bored and has decided to keep you busy.]
This had to be a joke, right? Of course, it was a prank. It was probably that idiotic brother of mine. It was Drake, yes. I knew it.
[The system has given you a weekly quest.]
Weekly Quest:
| Difficulty: E |
| Time limit: One week |
| Quest 1: Offer your aid to five people in need |
| Quest 2: Hold a conversation with Lumina Voss for five minutes |
| Quest 3: Apologize to one person whom you have wronged in the past |
| Consequences of failure: You will be stripped of all your Special Skills for one week and will also lose the ability to speak negative words in the same duration |
I broke into a loud fit of laughter. This was comedic. Absolutely comedic.
"Listen here, system. Or should I say Drake? I don't know what you're trying to achieve here but do it somewhere else. I'm not interested in playing games with you. Don't irritate me any further."
[The system wants you to take your weekly quest seriously.]
"Not going to give up easily, huh?"
[The system also wants to remind you of your mission to save the world.]
[You have only one year to gain Lumina Voss's trust and stop him from destroying the world.]
[The system is counting on you to do the right thing.]
"Alright, enough of this bullshit. The next time I see a message window, I'm going to stab my eyes. I'm sure you wouldn't want me to engage in self-harm, would you, Drake?"
There was no message after that. Good. He finally took the hint, I could relax now. Hmph, counting on me to do the right thing, my ass. Drake knew more than anyone how much I hated the world. If he wanted to prank me well, he should've used something else.
Then again, he wasn't the smartest guy around. Oh well. I was just gonna ignore all his advances. What was the worst that could happen?