Weirdo

...

[Subtask Status: 1/3]

[Daily Task Reminder: 1hr 20min remaining]

[Penalty for Failure: Induced nausea for 6 hours.]

...

Kael stared at the rapidly ticking timer.

He definitely didn't want to find out what "induced nausea" meant, so he reluctantly decided to try and complete it.

He turned to Theo, who was sitting at the desk, calmly flipping through a book.

"There isn't a curfew, right?" Kael asked.

Theo didn't look up. "Why do you ask?"

"I plan on doing some sightseeing."

Theo glanced at the watch embedded in his bracer. "It's nearly midnight."

"Yeah, I like the moon,"

Kael replied with a lazy smile, hoping it sounded convincing.

Theo stared at him for a second, his expression unreadable. "Right... Well, you can go if you want. Curfew won't be enforced until after the exams."

"Nice." Kael pushed himself off the bed and made for the door, determined to finish this stupid task and get back to sleep.

"Wait."

He turned around slowly, giving Theo his best 'What now?' look.

"Your uniform," Theo said, still focused on his book, gesturing with a quick nod toward the folded black outfit on the floor.

Kael sighed. "Right…" He grabbed it and changed quickly.

The fabric shifted slightly as he pulled it on, adjusting itself to fit his size perfectly.

"Huh. Cool."

He supposed he'd better start mentally preparing himself for more magic nonsense.

Uniform on, system message still glowing faintly beside his head, Kael stepped into the hallway.

The dormitory was... big

They'd mentioned during orientation that the academy separated students only by gender.

Each dormitory was a massive, fortress-like tower made of stone and mana-imbued ironwood, stacked over thirty floors high.

The first five floors were reserved for first-year students. Higher years lived above, an unspoken ranking system of seniority and power.

Kael's room was on the fourth floor.

He moved down the stairs slowly.

Fourth floor… nobody.

Third… still empty.

"Don't tell me everyone's actually asleep."

Second floor… silence.

First floor… dead quiet.

He stepped out through the dormitory's main door and looked up at the night sky.

A deep ocean of stars stretched across the night, moonlight washing the entire courtyard in pale blue.

The wind was cool, calm, and peaceful.

'Well… at least the sky looks beautiful.'

[Subtask Status: 1/3]

[Timer: 1hr remaining]

Kael exhaled. "This is going to be the longest hour of my life."

******

'Where in the world is everybody?'

Kael had been walking around for nearly twenty minutes and still hadn't seen a single soul.

He'd left the dormitory area, wandered through two courtyards, passed under an archway of floating runes, and entered what looked like the edge of the main campus, but still nothing.

He knew the school was massive, he hadn't even seen one percent of it.

But with the sheer number of students gathered earlier that day, there should have been people everywhere.

It almost felt like the place had been abandoned. He sighed, feeling the sting of injustice.

Then suddenly, as if answering his silent cries, he saw movement.

In the distance, just beyond a row of hedges, he saw a flicker of motion.

'Finally.'

He hurried toward the source, cutting through a curved walkway that opened into a wide, open space, a statue garden.

And at the center of that garden, a peculiar scene was unfolding.

A girl stood on top of a stone statue of an old man, holding something metallic in her hand.

Spray paint.

She was tagging the statue, in a fantasy world, with magic spray paint.

Kael's eyes flicked around the garden and noticed other statues, probably famous figures in the academy's history, all covered in ridiculous designs.

Some had mustaches.

One had flowers in its ears.

Another was wearing drawn-on sunglasses and a monocle.

Kael blinked.

He stood there for a moment, genuinely unsure how to react.

Then, very slowly, he turned around and tried to tiptoe away.

"Hold it right there, mister."

He froze.

Sigh.

'Here comes trouble.'

Kael turned slowly to find a green-haired girl standing just inches away from his face.

She had short, razor-cut hair that curved sharply around her cheekbones, a streak of silver dyed through the front.

Her eyes were a sharp, piercing yellow, and she had a look that screamed "don't test me."

She was rebellious, no doubt about that, everything from her half-zipped blue uniform to the rune-inscribed headphones hanging around her neck gave off a wild, effortlessly cool vibe.

Pretty, but terrifying.

"Uhm… hi?" Kael said awkwardly.

But she didn't move, her yellow eyes boring into him. "Who are you?" she asked flatly.

"Uhm... Kael."

"Kael…?" Her eyes drifted down to his chest, where his badge was pinned. "A Cadet, huh?" She finally stepped back, a predatory curiosity in her gaze. "And what are you doing out this late, Cadet?"

Kael squinted. "Aren't you also outside?"

Her expression twisted, a flash of annoyance. "Are you stupid or something? Can't you tell who your senior is when you see one?"

'Senior?' That's when he noticed it, her badge wasn't labeled Cadet. It had a different mark. ADEPT.

'So she's a second-year... great.'

Deciding it was time to get the hell out of there before he ended up as a test dummy for an angry mage, he raised both hands slightly in a placating gesture.

"Look, I won't tell anyone what I saw, I promise."

Her eyes narrowed to slits. "What you saw? What exactly did you see, Cadet?"

'The f**k? Is this one of those legendary tsunderes? Why is she so aggressive?'

Kael cleared his throat. "Nothing. Absolutely nothing."

The girl stared at him for a moment longer, then turned with a toss of her green hair.

"I'm going to have my eyes on you, Kael." She said it like a threat, her voice low and cutting.

And then she walked away, disappearing into the shadows of the hedges.

Kael breathed a sigh of relief. "Finally....."

"Wait!" he hurriedly called out, the timer a burning reminder.

She stopped. Turned around slowly, looking even more irritated than before. "What?"

Kael took a deep breath… and forced out the best, most awkward, obviously fake smile he could manage.

It felt stiff, unnatural, like his face was made of wood.

Her expression shifted from irritation to surprised, then confusion, then finally back to annoyed, mixed with a hint of disgust.

"…Weirdo," she muttered, then she turned and vanished into the night.

Kael stood in the silence of the statue garden, the moonlight illuminating his forced grin.

"…Well, that was a pleasant experience."

[Subtask Status: 2/3]

[Timer: 30 minutes remaining]

He glared at the glowing screen. "Shut up."