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YOU HAVE RECEIVED A NEW QUEST REQUEST
STORY QUEST: INTRODUCE YOURSELF TO THE WORLD (D Grade)
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Alexi was what one might call a nocturnal being. There was nothing more he hated than early mornings. To him, they were an affront to everything he loved—peace, darkness and quiet. The mornings gave me a rude awakening, with chirping birds making noise and so much unnecessary light.
"How dare you steal Amane's recorder?"
Today was proof of why he hated mornings.
A bunch of guys were gathered around him and one of them had his hands on Alexi's collar.
"Who?"
"Don't play dumb. Miss Amane came to interview you yesterday and you stole her recorder after threatening to eat her, yesterday."
"I did that…?"
Alexi tilted his head, trying to recall yesterday's event. The previous day felt like a crazy drug trip, not that he'd tried drugs before or anything.
'I'm in the green FBI or whoever is watching me.'
"Oh, you mean big boobs with glasses?"
"Yeah. That one!"
"G-Guys."
From behind the group of teens, a girl with a flushed face suddenly appeared. Upon seeing her, Alexi's mind flashed back to before, and he dug into his pockets, pulling out a recorder.
"You mean this recorder, huh?"
She nodded her head.
"Sorry, but I'm not done with it. Could I borrow it for a little while longer?"
After seeing his room, Alexi got curious about the kind of setting his world was now in, but he had no internet access yet. He hadn't gone to any computer labs in the school and was still confused about what exactly he was supposed to be doing here.
His only source of information was the recorder he'd pocketed, but he hadn't finished listening to it. All he'd gathered from it were recordings of Amane spying on certain students and her practicing her introductions and conversations.
From the voice recording alone, Alexi was able to surmise that she had a difficult time talking to people, yet she still persisted down this path. In Alexi's eyes, she wasn't a bad character.
"Uh-uhh…"
"Miss Amane?"
Alexi pleaded with her with his best impression at puppy dog eyes.
What he hadn't realised was that, due to his negative charisma, almost everyone perceived his intended expressions in the wrong way. Amane was holding back the urge to simply cry and piss herself on the spot under the pressure of his intense glare.
Timidly, she nodded her head as tears formed at the corners of her eyes.
"See? She said I could."
"Miss Amane?"
The boy holding Alexi's collar turned back to reaffirm it. The moment she gave the green light, he let go of Alexi reluctantly.
"Next time, you won't be so lucky. Let's go."
He spoke to his entourage and they quickly left the scene, leaving Amane and I alone.
"Thanks. I'll get back to you with this maybe tomorrow."
"Uh, um…"
She shut her mouth immediately and took some steps back. Alexi wondered what was on her mind, but quickly gave up on trying to figure out. After all, she wasn't an important character in the novel. Her thoughts, feelings and actions didn't matter in the slightest.
"Oh, yeah. Gimme your number, so I can give it back to you later."
It was going to be a headache trying to figure out how to return it to her after he was done with it. With shaky hands, the girl gave him her phone and they exchanged numbers. Seeing just how frightened she was, Alexi figured it had something to do with his current race, but he didn't care for it.
He quickly headed over to class.
The day was starting off with combat practice.
All the students gathered in the gym were clothed in their combat gear, with the exception of two students.
"Jules, Alexi. Why are you both not in gear?"
The instructor, a lithe man with a pencil moustache and slanted eyes, asked.
"Funny story about that… you see, I saw something dangerous happening and decided to not involve myself, so I was not able to acquire it."
Alexi had no real proper excuse, and he found himself saying nonsense.
"The store clerk refused to fix mine yesterday, so I can't wear it."
"Why can't you wear it?"
"Sir, it's ripped apart from practice yesterday. You saw how badly it was damaged in the fight with Lumiere."
'Lumiere? Lumiere… Was there ever a student called Lumiere in the original?'
This was peculiar.
In the novel, the four main protagonists were the top of their class. There was only one amongst them that would lose to other students and that was due to external factors. Jules shouldn't have been struggling against another character, let alone getting her combat gear shattered.
This whole situation was weird. In the first place, the original story started out in
'Did that brat actually do something to the story beforehand?'
Alexi's eyes scoured the whole gym, looking for any distinct characters. It was near impossible since they all had varying appearances, rather than being faceless NPCs.
'Damn it. First things first, I have to find this Lumiere guy.'
"Whatever, you two can just fight each other."
"Sir?"
Alexi shook his head to make sure he didn't hear anything wrong.
"What's the problem now?"
"You said I have to fight her?"
"Yes. You're a new student, and I don't have any records of your physical data or combat prowess since your school was being so secretive about it."
"My school…?"
"Kid, just hurry this up. Make sure you don't kill each other."
"Fine."
Jules was ready. She pulled out two sticks and with a click, they formed short, curved daggers of blue light.
"Been itching to do this for a while."
Saying that, she swung at Alexi. The boy stumbled back, barely avoiding the swipe at his neck, but his opponent was relentless. She followed up with another slash at his abdomen, forcing him to jump even further back.
"R-Relax."
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COMBAT INITIATED BY CHARACTER JULES
WOULD YOU LIKE A RUN DOWN ON THE COMBAT SYSTEM?
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"What?"
Alexi reached out to grab Jules by the wrist, but she pulled back. Using that momentary reflex of hers, he focused on the system.
"Just show me how to win."
Alexi's pride took a huge blow. Relying on a system he loathed was more than enough to make him want to bury himself under a rock for the rest of his life, but he didn't want to die here.
Jules was insane. On the outside, she had a friendly and outgoing persona, but whenever infernals became involved in the matter, she was an entirely different person. Her mind simply went into kill mode, regardless of what situation she was in.
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COMBAT SYSTEM
The combat system is a function created for battles against characters and non-characters.
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"Characters and non-characters? The hell is that supposed to mean?!"
Jules rushed Alexi, stabbing at his head. Out of sheer luck, she had messed up her movement due to her clothing and was off her mark by enough centimetres for Alexi to tilt his head away, narrowly avoiding death.
'Just allow me to buy a skill from the system shop.'
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ARE YOU SURE YOU WOULD LIKE TO PURCHASE THE (Mana Punch) ABILITY FROM THE SHOP FOR 15 Store points?
[YES][NO]
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'YES!'
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THANK YOU FOR YOUR PURCHASE
YOU HAVE 5 SP REMAINING
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Having received the confirmation, Alexi activated the ability the next instant. With gritted teeth, he unleashed the ability. His fist was coated in red energy. The wind whizzed where his hands moved.
Jules eyes widened as the ability came hurling towards her. She tried to flip back to avoid being hit, but she wasn't going to make it in time. The fist connected with her chin, throwing her a few centimetres above the ground.
Alexi stood quietly, breathing heavily and in intense pain.
Activating that ability felt like an electric shock that drained his arm of all it's strength and was biting into him.
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Mana Points: 15/30
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"Ah…"
The whole class was staring at him with slack jaws.
"M-Miss Jules?"
The instructor walked over to her body to check on her, but she was knocked out cold.
'D-Don't sleep on 10 years of martial arts training!'
10 years of watching martial arts videos on YouTube was more than enough training for Alexi. At least, that's what he told himself to avoid actually training.
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YOU JUST BEAT A MAIN CHARACTER IN COMBAT
You have received 30 SP
You have received -10 AP with the character Jules Gerthwig
You have received -5 AP with the character Timothy
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'Eh… I see. So combat affects my affinity with certain characters.'
Alexi's gaze shifted to Chris who was looking at the knocked-out Jules with concerned eyes.
'That didn't make my relationship with him even worse?'
In the first place, Alexi wasn't sure how the affinity system with the characters worked. He needed more information and to get that, he would actually have to play along with Lazy God's wishes. That irked him, but considering he'd already used the system, testing out the very limits of it should have been a given.
"Alexi, take her to the infirmary."
"Sir? Me? Why?"
"Because you aren't in your combat gear and you just knocked out your sparring partner. Go."
Alexi grumbled as he walked over to pick up the girl.
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The nurse had stepped out of the infirmary for a few minutes and left Alexi to watch her.
Alexi didn't like the idea, but since it was only a few minutes and Jules was knocked out, he obliged.
In the meantime, he was fixated on thinking through his situation.
Somehow, he'd just beaten a main character. It was thanks to buying a bullshit ability from the System Shop. Even then, he was certain it was because he caught her off guard. His affinity points with the character had dropped, apparently, but what exactly did that mean.
"Let's assuming it's my likability with the character here. Then it's pointless. Jules, Tim and Chris were designed with backstories that made them absolutely loathe anything related to demons, yet Chris didn't react to me defeating Jules at all."
Alexi put his hand on his chin, then shook his head.
"No. Chris did react. The system simply says my affinity with him didn't drop. Then why? Does the affinity charge not apply to the actual protagonist of the story? Then why put in such a weird system in the first place. Chris' actions affect the story way more than any other character's would, so then…"
Alexi mauled over it for a while, but he couldn't wrap his head around it.
"Then there's this."
He moved on to the next problem.
'Status.'
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STATUS
Username: SYSTEM LOVER
Combat Points: 10/10
Mana Points: 15/30
Race: Infernal
Bloodline: -
Strength: 8
Agility: 10
Dexterity: 11
Intelligence: 14
Constitution: 15
Charisma: -5
ABILITIES
Talent: Crystal Horn (F grade)
Skill: Mana Punch (E grade)
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"My mana didn't recover from that one punch and it seems like just one of those took out half. Is that why my arm stung so much?"
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Skill: Mana Punch
Grade: E
Description: Fill up your fists with raw mana and unleash a powerful attack. With enough power, you can knockout opponents in a single hit.
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'It really is the basic Mana Punch skill then.'
In the novel, Mana Punch was a skill that second year students and above could utilise. It had to be a basic skill the students learnt before being deployed as actual defenders. Alexi had described it as not being too difficult to use, but there was a reason it took students an entire year to learn it.
"Hm, well that just puts me above the class for now. The only ones who should understand what I just did are the instructor and Chris."
Alexi heaved a heavy sigh.
Until he understood more about everything, he didn't want to make a big scene, but he already took out the second-best student in his first class, by accident.
'Well, at least if rumours spread, the idiots will think twice before trying me.'
"Now, what about this talent, hm?"
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Talent: Crystal Horn
Grade: F
Description: A crystalline horn that appears empty when summoned. It desires to be filled up by a coloured horn.
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"Desires to be filled up by another horn?"
'That tells me absolutely nothing!'
Alexi tried to probe the system for more, but he got nothing.
"I never made a talent like this in the novel. In fact, thinking back on it, didn't she say all infernals have talents now? So she made some changes to the novel. She wasn't as restricted as I made her sound. This is tough."
If too many things were different, then this technically wasn't the world Alexi created. This would have to be a whole new world instead, meaning Alexi wasn't as in control as he would like to believe.
"But she still wanted me to change the ending."
That was right. She may have made some changes, but judging from her actions, the changes she made couldn't be so big that they'd affect the ending of the novel. If that were the case, Alexi could compile a list of things that could be changed from the novel that would still lead to the original ending.
He sat forward and grinned, excitement welling up.
"This is starting to feel like the times I used to battle Wu-Ming while writing the middle chapters after getting contracted."
'Oh, this is a battle between an author and his editor.'
"That's how you want to play it, huh, Lazy God? Fine then, bring it on. I'll take advantage of your edits and give you the worst ending imaginable. First off, let's see what new skills I can get."
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SYSTEM SHOP
Skills
Items
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