Kane had finally left the infirmary and returned back to the dorms. The news of his fight had spread throughout the school even in the second year section.
It wasn't much of a deal though, considering that Kane was only assumed to get an ability just recently as a new intake and the instructors still hadn't begun their training on the use of abilities.
After the fight with Aliya, Kane had grown even more acquainted with System, he now understood most of all the things he never knew about ever since he got it.
For example, getting stronger wasn't going to be a big deal if he had the system. For one, the allocation of status points was the main factor concerning his growth with the system.
And after one week of training, he realized just how much he could grow in just one day.
Status
Name: Kane? (Just Kane)
Age: 16
Race: Human
Allies: 2
Level: 1 (0/100)
HP: 15/15
Energy Pool: 10/10
Strength: 10
Speed: 10
Agility: 12
Stamina: 10
Wits: 12
Abilities: Lay siege to your power.
Stat Points: 19
Skill Points: 0
This was where he was at now, looking at the untouched stat points, bolts of joy ran through his spine.
He had asked about the skill points from the system and it was easily explained without any riddles. It said that he could achieve these points after a series of level ups. These skill points were also crucial to one's growth as they were mostly important to buying skills.
When the system spoke about buying, Kane was a bit lost. But the system had also explained without questions, it spoke about all the upgrades he would get after a series of level ups.
In the end, his main source of growth would be the amount of Exp he could sum of in one day.
The excitement he felt knew no bounds, thinking of the possibilities was more like daydreaming. That feeling of having a new goal was exhilarating even for Kane.
In the past, he never really felt the necessity to become one of those on top, never did he think of that. His goal was simple;
Live a normal life…
Marry a beautiful, not-so-beautiful wife.
Have two kids.
But now, with the system by his side, he felt a change in his perspective of life.
With people who drowned in power and used it to hurt fellow humans, the thought of it made his stomach churn in disgust.
Now he wanted power, he wanted to be strong enough to protect himself and those he cared about. A feeling he didn't know he could ever feel… a feeling he thought was not accomplishable.
'From what the system said, the only real way of getting stronger is to gain Exp and I can only do that by completing missions.
I could wait for an issue to arise or…' the smile on Kane's widened into a grin.
'I could induce these missions myself'
He had seen the amount of bullying the academy itself was able to produce, inducing personal missions wouldn't be an issue.
It's just that he needed a way to do it without being noticed, not like some lame a hero but maybe a vigilanté.
'Even thinking about it makes me look childish' kane thought with a smile 'But f**k that, getting stronger is the only thing that really mattered'
With the new skill he got from the system, he could only think that the system knew his thoughts and granted him the perfect skill at the perfect time.
'I guess tonight, I hunt for Exp's'
****
"Whatsup bro" Leo's voice entered Kane's ears as he walked down the aisle of the cafeteria.
"What's it, Leo?" Kane answered almost begrudgingly. He didn't know but in recent days, he just didn't feel like talking to his old friends.
"Come on dude, I can almost feel the resentment in your tone" Leo protested with a smug look.
"I'm just not in the mood now okay" Kane answered before continuing his steps forward.
"Okay, okay, I get it. I just came to get you. The upper class men called a meeting in the ultra modern hall" Leo's voice was a bit down seeing Kane's attitude but he quickly shoved it to the side.
'Maybe he's still recovering from the fight' Leo thought.
"Go without me, I'll be there in a jiffy" Kane answered before continuing his strides forward.
He was going to the library to pick something up and after that he would head to where seniors had requested.
*****
"Is everyone here!" A loud voice boomed through the hall and everyone within stood at attention.
The owner of the voice was a fairly young man, he had blonde hair that went up straight towards his shoulders. He was a bit tall, and was endowed in the school uniform.
Besides him were four other upperclassmen, all of them standing beside him like body guards.
"My name is Damian Flames" he began, his voice resonating with every bit of confidence as he walked back and forth atop the podium.
As the crowd heard his name, a few gasped with shock, they knew him alright. His family were one of the very important figures of their world today, it was said that they were among those who led to the discovery of the Essence stone in general. An event that changed the world forever.
"My objective here is simple" His voice was arrogant and traced with every pride a man could muster.
"This is like a traditional procession every set has to go through after admission into the academy" He cleared his throat before continuing "we have come to make things clear to you. But before I continue…"
He couldn't finish his sentence before he heard footsteps behind, he looked around almost immediately and to his surprise, someone had dared to be late.
"Oh come on" Leo, who was by the side muttered as he facepalmed himself.
"I thought I told you to call him" Liam asked inquisitively.
"I did, he's just unpredictable these days" Leo groaned.
Meanwhile, Damian had personally walked up to kane. The whole hall was tense with chatter, they've heard stories of this kind of thing happening before and it didn't end well for the victim.
The school authorities paid next to no attention when it came to the well being of the recruits, they believed that for them to be strong, they had to go through rigorous challenges.
Their intentions were good but of course, the masses had taken it in the wrong way, the school wasn't ruled by the teachers. No, it was far from that:
It was ruled without any denial by tyrants of different sets.
And of course, Damian seemed to be one of them.
The crowd couldn't help but mutter to themselves on what was actually going to happen to kane.
They've heard rumors of people who acted this way were killed and all tracks covered.
It was just how the world was.
Weak? You die
Strong? You kill.
Damian now towered over Kane who just stood at attention at his command.
From his demeanor and the way he carried himself, Kane had long come to one conclusion
'i don't like this guy one bit'
"I see we have a latecomer" Damian grinned and everyone stiffened. He now bent low towards Kane's ears and whispered "Do you even know what happens to guys like you"
His tone had shifted into something demonic, his aura fluctuating unpredictably as the grin on his face had transformed into a frown.
[Host is being attacked by an unknown force]
Suddenly, Kane also felt the shift in the density of the room. His legs wobbled a bit before giving in complete to the sheer pressure of the force that was threatening to turn him into meat paste.
He went on one knee in one second…
His other knee gave in on the next…
And finally, he was lying flat within five seconds.
The whole crowd gasped as they saw this, no one saw Damian laying a finger on Kane but all of a sudden, he was lying down helplessly.
'I can't move, what kind of ability is this?' Kane struggled and struggled but all his attempts were, in one word 'FUTILE'.
Damian squatted down to Kane's level before continuing;
"You know what" his voice was loud and clear this time around "I'm in a good mood today, so I'll give you an opportunity to clear your name of the stench you brewed it with"
His voice was fueled with nothing but mockery, his tone was sickening to Kane's ears and with every second that went by, the bloodlust from before was slowly returning.
Damian signaled his four other classmates and they appeared beside him in a flash.
They carried the now paralyzed Kane to the center of the hall, atop the podium and dropped him.
Damian followed closely with a smile before saying;
"Our good friend here has decided to play a game with us" the smile on his face was so wide "the name of the game is…"
His tone trailed off at the last words laying more emphasis on the happiness he felt on stepping down on weaker individuals.
"I like to call it 'Name your seniors'"
It was a funny name…
No, it was a stupid name but who dared to laugh? No one.
"The rules of the game are very simple, you get to tell me the name of my four comrades here and I set you free" Damian proclaimed.
He knew that the possibility of Kane knowing their names were next to none. He was just messing with Kane, he had done this countless times to other juniors.
It made him feel even more justified for the punishment he was about to drown them with.
The crowd gasped at this, no one knew their names and certainly, Kane wouldn't.
Leo, Alex and Liam were already shaky thinking of what would happen to Kane.
Meanwhile;
[External force that has been binding host has been released]
Kane stood up and walked closer to Damian who gestured to him to begin the test.
'Of Course he should have caught me off guard, he should have humiliated me, right here, right now. He should have gotten exactly what he wanted only if he was still dealing with the old me' kane thought.
'But curse his luck, this isn't the old me, is it?, it's the new me, the guy with the all-powerful system'
What he said just now felt so clichè even for him but scratch that he was about to burst someone's bubble.
After his little spar with Aliya, the system had granted him a new skill.
A skill that would save him from the clutches of evil.
Information is power as they say, even if he didn't really believe in that saying, he knew that today was the day where he would be saved by that same information.
The silence only made Damian smile, he was beginning to assume that Kane was clueless.
"So then, do you admit that you don't know their names?" Damian scoffed.
But Kane's next action shocked everyone in the hall.
A smile crept up his face, the same smile from earlier and he said "calm down senior, I know exactly what I'm doing"
[New skill activated]
[Appraisal]