"Hah...Hah...Huah...Heuk cough-cough!"
Violent coughs along with a heavy breathing could be heard in the distance. It was now the weekends and students either went to the city to have fun or returned to their families for the rest of the weekends. Xael stayed in the school naturally, he knew that there's nothing good for him waiting at home, so he chose to stay.
Why is he currently sprawled on the ground gasping for breath desperately you might ask. It all happened when after spending the next two days in peace, completing 3 minor tasks that leveled him up to level 5. The System suddenly woke him up at 3 am in a Saturday morning. What greeted his blurry eyes was a new major task.
[New Task Issued!]
[Run 20 laps consisting of 16,000 m in total.]
[Time limit: 3 Hours.]
[Rewards: [1] Skill Level up, [2] Endurance +10pts.]
[Punishment: ???]
A vague memory flashed in Xael's mind, voices whispering for mercy or threatening to kill him. Before the bloody images consume him, He shook his head, discarding the thought. He might've developed an aversion to the word punishment because of his experience before. Seeing the time ticking on the time limit. He hurriedly grabbed a jacket and wore some pants before proceeding to the Academy's open grounds.
It was still dark outside and despite wearing a coat, he could feel the cold morning air seeping through the fabrics of his shirt. Xael couldn't help but shiver because it was freezing outside. He wasn't dumb enough to start running immediately, he performed warm-ups for a few minutes before proceeding to run in the oval.
Wherein by the 5th lap he was already out of breath. He has only run 4,000 m by the fifth lap and he only had around 2 hours left to complete the whole 20 laps. He persevered and never stopped running. By the 15th lap he was severely out of breath, he was hyperventilating due to panting like a dog.
"Hah... I'm gonna die..." By the last lap, Xael could swear he started to see black spots at the corner of his vision, He could barely feel his legs after it has gone numb from the pain. His lungs felt like they were burning as his throat heated up. He was gasping for air. He only has 560 m left to finish within 20 minutes.
It was a close call, leaving only 1 minute and 12 seconds before he finally finished the 20 laps. He immediately fell down as his trembling knees finally couldn't hold on. He face planted on the grass before turning his body with difficulty. His chest heaved as he breathed, his eyes out of focus for a few minutes, staring at the brightening sky in the distance.
After a few almost half an hour, his body finally calmed down. However, he still couldn't muster the strength to walk back to the dormitory, so he stayed laying there for another half an hour. He wasn't idle though. He checked the system and saw a congratulations notification.
[Congratulations for completing the task!]
[Skill: Time Dilation] +1 level up
[Endurance: 46] +10pts
[You cleared the task 1 minute and 12 seconds ahead of time. It will be converted into Rehyas.]
[Current Balance: 527 Rs]
"At least I got some cash." Xael muttered as he breathed deeply, he sat up and tried to stand up with wobbly legs. He could feel how weak they are right now. "Crap!"
Xael immediately sat down again and rolled over on the grass clutching his knees as he felt electric current zapping all over his legs. Cramps. He can't believe he's having muscle cramps now! It was pure torture feeling how his muscles twitched and tensed giving him a constant stream of severe pain. Tears rolled down his eyes as he howled in the air.
Unbeknownst to him three figures can be seen standing just a few meters from him. It was Luthrem along with Dehlia and Xylem. Their faces were blank as they stared at the spectacular scene happening right in front of them. Xylem turned questioningly at Dehlia whose face turned gloomy.
"This... What exactly is this?" Luthrem couldn't help but ask as they were forced to take a step back when they heard this pig howling noise coming from Xael that was writhing on the ground.
"Let's change places to train." Dehlia said decisively before leading the two guys away from the suffering figure of Xael.
"Hey, that was your cousin, right?" Xylem couldn't help but ask curiously to Dehlia. "You know the one from Laurhette Family."
Dehlia didn't answer and instead started walking faster. What they saw earlier was akin to losing her face. Since they were blood related, it definitely affected her image too! Xylem pouted his lips when his question was left unanswered and turned towards Luthrem. He slinged his arms over Luthrem's shoulder.
"Aww, is someone acting in denial? Shy that you helped your cousin clear out his name?" Xylem teased, earning a dangerous glare from Dehlia.
"He's the infamous waste right?" Xylem turned his head back to the figure rolling on the grass and asked his companion to which Luthrem nodded.
"There's no mistake. It was him..." Luthrem paused for a few seconds, turning his gaze towards Dehlia who was quite a distance from him before turning back to Xylem. "When practicing my skill, I heard something interesting about him."
"Oh? Tell me what it is." Xylem leaned in closer, curiosity could be seen painted in his face, his voice lowered as if doing something illegal with his sneaky antics.
"I heard a rumor that asides from being a waste he's- y'know... have a loose screw in his head. Some people said it might be due to the excessive bullying he experienced but I also heard from his direct classmates that... He's schizophrenic too." Luthrem's voice grew quieter towards the end of his sentence.
Xylem opened his eyes wide and stared at his friend in disbelief. He pursed his lips and sighed in pity as he glanced back towards Xael's figure who was now sitting and waving his hands around in the air. "What a misfortune for him to experience."
"Yeah, I heard that Grehan would've made a comeback through fostering him. He was a known genius and prodigy with perfect grades and amiable character. But who knew that it'd all come crushing down through the rare Lotus Event." Luthrem agreed as he remembered how famous Xael's name was. It wasn't a surprise though. The Laurhette family is known to be a family of mages with high magic affinity, not to mention that they're serving the royal family as their right hand. Who knew that the only son of the head of Laurhette is a magicless waste.
Dehlia, who noticed that two of her companions we're lagging behind, shouted at them to walk faster before turning her back, never sparing Xael another look. Meanwhile Xael on the other side, grew confused as he saw the notification from the system panel.
[Out of Character Action's Has been detected.]
[OOC Percentage: 17%]
[Reminder: Please Do not exceed 70% or you will be penalized.]
Xael tilted his head in confusion. He was just suffering from cramps a few minutes ago, how could he be out of character? Isn't it a normal reaction when having cramps? What was he supposed to do then? stand like a wooden log while his legs are being electrocuted?
"Nima! I didn't even do anything." Xael muttered under his breath before standing up and then started limping back towards the dormitory. He needs a shower right now and a rest. Running 20 laps wasn't a part of his weekend schedule. His figure fully disappeared into the dorm building.
Entering his dormitory room, He took off his coat and immediately grabbed his towel. As he entered the bathroom, he undressed and took a cold shower as usual. He's still too poor to afford a warm water in the services, it costs a whopping 5,000 Rehyas a month. After taking a quick bath, He put on some clothes and dried his hair using the towel before diving in the bed.
He sighed in relaxation as his body melted against the mattress. 'Now what I should worry about the most right now is how to find a team to participate in the upcoming quarterly assessment.'
"I've already been rejected six times already. Some weren't even polite and directly run or hid when they saw me coming to them." Xael mumbled. He was troubled on how to find a team. He desperately needs the money for him to pay the debt within 10 days. Now he only has 7 days left in the mission and the quarterly assessment is four days from now.
As he was pondering on what to do, his attention was caught by the muffled sound coming outside his window.
"Cat… don't be afraid… jump…"
It was a girl's voice. Question marks loomed over Xael's head when he figured there was a girl outside his window. But wait? Isn't this the boy's dormitory? What is a girl doing here? Not to mention his dorm room is on the seventh floor. Curious, Xael left the bed and walked towards the window.
Meanwhile, outside Xael's window stood a silver haired girl who was floating mid-air through a magic circle she conjured as a foothold. Her long silver hair was glittering against the sunlight as it swayed gently to the breeze, She's wearing a fitted pants and long sleeved sweater, the same as what Xylem and the other two was wearing earlier.
Her eyes were the colour of gold with thick lashes. Her nose was tall with her lips plump and pink with a bit of chubby cheeks.. Her skin was healthy pale, her body could be seen as slender even through the long sleeved sweater. She was considerably above average tall.
She was stretching her hand towards a small gray cat meowing on the edge of a railing. She encouraged the cat again. "Come here cat, I will catch you."
The dirty cat meowed softly as it leaned towards her direction, as if earning it's courage, it bend down it's body and backed a few steps, preparing to leap towards the girl. The silver haired girl smiled as she readied herself to catch the small cat. With a whoosh, the cat jumped towards the girl as it was safely caught in her arms.
"Good cat, You were very brave-" Her sentence was cut with the sudden sound of the window opening in front of her.
"..." - Xael
"!!!" - The girl
Because of shock, she lost control of the output of mana being supplied to the magic circle beneath her causing it to slowly disappear into thin air, losing her footing, the girl started ricocheting down to the ground with a loud scream.
Due to his quick reflex, Xael's eyes widened when he saw the girl fall and he followed immediately, He jumped from the window and reached his hands towards the silver haired girl who now has her eyes tightly shut as she clutched the cat in her embrace. It took a him a few seconds before successfully grabbing the girl and encircling her with his arms. He adjusted their position so that his back was now the one facing the ground.
'Crap! What was I thinking recklessly jumping from the 7th floor. What to do now? I'm not ready to break my spinal cord yet.'
Xael panicked in his mind as he saw how they were getting closer to the ground with every second that passes. A memory suddenly resurface in his mind.
[New Skill has been learned!]
[Skill: Time Dilation]
[Skill Info: When using the skill, the user's time will be a thousand time fasten than the time outside the world without affecting the current age or physical appearance of the user.]
Yes! That skill! That will do. "Time Dilation!"
[Skill: Time Dilation requirements met]
[Time Dilation Activated Successfully]
After he said those words, it was as if time stopped. He was just a few inches from the ground. It was a swift moment of stillness before his back finally made contact with the ground. His back wasn't hurt but it seems only he was the one who had less impact because the next second, he felt all the air pumped out of his body as the girl's impact wasn't lessened.
He gasped for breath desperately as his eyes went wide. 'My ribs! I swear to god my ribs caved in for a moment and definitely pressed on my lungs!'
"M-mo.. ve.." He said with difficulty. It almost made him cough up blood!
The girl who originally anticipated a painful impact on her body felt a warm body hugging her as they fall and cushion her fall causing her to feel no pain at all. She only recovered when the person below her talked.
"S-sorry!" She immediately stood up and patted her clothes with the cat on one of her hands. She could finally see the person who saved her. It was the person she saw from the window!
"Heuooh… hah… Finally could breath, It felt as if being crushed by a refrigerator." Xael muttered as he sat up and gasped for air. His chest was heaving up and down as she took large amounts of oxygen.
"Excuse me?! Are you implying that I'm heavy!" The girl grew irritated when she heard Xael's comment.
"???" Xael grew confused when he saw the girl who's face was full of irritation. ???. Hello? Isn't it because of her acceleration due to gravity that added to the impact? And when has he said that she was heavy. "I didn't say that though."
"Hmph, when you think about it, it's your fault that I fell, who told you to scare me so suddenly." The girl said righteously as she hugged the silent cat against her bosoms.
"Why are you even in the area of the boy's dormitory to begin with?" Xael couldn't help but tilt his head and wondered why the fault was shifted to him now.
"So you're saying that it's my fault now?" The girl narrowed her eyes as she stared down at Xael.
Xael couldn't follow where the conversation is going at all. Hey he's an innocent civilian here. Confused he shook his head. "No."
"Good, it's your fault because you're nosy just so you know." The girl flipped her hair as she turned which slapped Xael's face. Question marks could be seen on top of his head as he stared at the retreating figure of the girl.
"What? I don't receive even a simple thanks?" Xael muttered to himself as he stood up and patted the dusts off of his body. "This is what you get for being a good person. Nothing."
As he was planning to go back, he saw that there was another notification in the system's panel.
[Time Dilation is in cool-down for 24 hours.]
[Talent is in effect. Effect applied: Irritability.]
"Fuck! So it's because of that lousy talent!" Xael exclaimed when he saw what was stated in the panel. His lips twitched as he started walking back towards the dormitory.
"Hey I thought it needed 3 hours to be in effect?" Xael couldn't help but ask when he remembered the information of the trash talent he have.
[Due to leveling up and the flow of mana. It affected the talent which gives it 0.10% chance of triggering the effect pronto.]
'So your saying I was lucky enough to activate that 0.10% huh?' Xael's lips twitched with the new information he got.