25: Cleansing.

The place had turned out a bit better than he had expected and the reception was quite decent as well but at that moment he could only see the girl standing before him as a nuisance.

He just wanted to shut the door behind him and walk straight back to his room but there was something about her that prevented him from resisting to stretch out his own hand and accept the handshake.

" It's getting late now, we'll see again tomorrow."

With that, she slowly withdrew her hand and walked away leaving him standing there completely speechless.

" What is even wrong with me?" He thought as he slowly walked back inside.

A moment ago he wanted to leave only for him to forget his own thoughts for a few moments and wish that the handshake would last longer.

He slowly walked back to his room only to be woken up a few hours later by the loud ringing of a bell.

" Damnit." He said with a loud grunt as he slowly rolled off the bed and fell to the floor.

It was immediately after that that he slowly opened his eyes and got up from the floor. It seemed that the current schedule was one he still had to get used to.

After he was done with his usual early morning schedule he came to realize that their routine wasn't far from what he had expected; morning training, patrols, and assigning of missions.

Everyone passed through it but the range or difficulty differed based on class.

Although it was almost the end of the year's semester he had placed in the first year which he was very well above, both in tier and age.

" This isn't very much of a mission but it could turn into one quite quickly. Inspect a school that's suspected of harboring curses and if any, eliminate them immediately." He thought as he slowly sheathed his sword.

He slowly walked forward and stood before those who were assigned to the patrol mission along with him.

The more he tried to ponder on the matter the more strange it became, even still, he couldn't stop wondering why it seemed that those as strange as him were assigned along with him.

First, there was a girl who seemed to be the only normal among them who went by the name of Nora Einstein, another foreigner by the name of Xin-fang, and a boy with an unknown class who went by the name of Albert.

He had been instructed to lead the mission. One to an abandoned elementary school building that was about to be renovated.

It wasn't long before they arrived there and it was just as anyone could expect; the walls were old and crumbling with broken windows that seemed like they could shatter with a single graze against them.

The four of them had arrived alongside the four-eyed man but he stayed behind, leaving them to walk into the building on their own.

" This place seems a little too ominous for my liking. Are you sure it's safe for us to walk in there on our own?" Nora asked as they approached the entrance to the school, quivering in fear.

" We'll be splitting up into groups of two and you three can decide who gets to go with who." Alex stated, turning towards the three of them, " I can sense the presence of curses but none of them are up to the advanced grade, so you have nothing to worry about considering your level of skill and strength."

" I know that as well but you're the only one capable of taking on an advanced curse among the four of us — curses are known for greater knowledge as they evolve so I would suggest we take precautions for any mischievous ones that might be lying dormant within."

After hearing the point made by Neo, he stood quiet in thought for a moment before quickly creating a clone of himself.

" Thanks for the reminder Neo, it really made me have a proper evaluation of the current situation. You three can go on your own and I should be able to teleport to your side at any time of need."

" Yes Sir." The three of them said in unison as they all proceeded deeper into the school grounds.

They all went as planned and he had ended up wandering into a faculty room which had a couple of books lying around the dusty desks and shelves.

" This place is so damn irritating." He mumbled as he slowly picked up a book from the floor.

It was totally covered in dust, instantly turning his hand brown the moment he picked it up.

He instantly began to cough hard as he tried to dust off the book with his hands and he quickly regretted his actions; his heart felt heavy and his eyes were soar with a searing pain going through them.

" Damnit." He said with a slight grunt as he instantly sent the book flying away.

Strangely, immediately after that, he heard a loud grunt come from the side where he had projected the book and it was only a moment before a book went flying straight towards him.

He was able to dodge the oncoming attack easily and with his gaze now slightly blurred he couldn't see where the attack had come nor a proper view of the book used for the attack.

The quick turning of pages quickly began to echo throughout the room and so did a strong gush of wind.

The wind pulled up the dust along with it, rendering him vulnerable; with his eyes closed and in pain, he couldn't concentrate enough to sense the presence causing the sudden strange phenomenon.

The wind current continued to grow stronger until the point where it had pulled up the old desks and chairs with it.

" My my, what an unexpected occurrence. Never did I imagine a human would ever wander into my domain and treat me in such an Ill manner." An unhinged voice echoed throughout the room, " Who knows what manner of knowledge I shall be extracting today."