John didn't feel a single shred of remorse about how the duel had ended. Even though his initial plan to bait Ricky into a fight had been derailed by Cissel's sudden aggression, the outcome was arguably better.
He had managed to extract high-level data from one of the most dangerous anomalies in the class without hitting a Mental Burnout.
As he retreated to a far corner of the sparring hall, leaning his back against a cold metallic pillar to avoid the prying eyes of his classmates, he stared into the air.
A cascade of golden system notifications began to scroll, painting a much clearer picture of the girl who had just tried to crush him.
[Ding! You have obtained highly detailed information regarding Cissel!]
[Ding! Identification Confirmed: Cissel. Ability Classification: Dual-Awakened (Rare Talent)!]
[Ding! Primary Ability: Short-Distance Explosive Speed (Kinetic Spike).]
[Ding! Secondary Ability: Mental Drain (Vampiric Suction). Can result in cognitive collapse or death upon prolonged contact!]
[Ding! Current Danger Level: Very High!]
[Ding! Quest Progress: You have obtained data exceeding the basic requirements for the Quest!]
[Ding! Congratulations! You have completed 50% of the Serialised Quest – Part 1: Investigate the Two Anomalies!]
[Ding! Bonus: Your overall reward evaluation has been significantly upgraded!]
[Ding! Complete the remaining half of the quest to claim the final rewards!]
'Yes, I'm on it already,' John thought, a faint smile touching his lips. He could tell the system was almost as eager as he was to finish this quest.
'But that girl... She's a damn Mental Point Vampire. She burned through a huge chunk of my Mental Points in a single hit. I can't risk a direct confrontation with Ricky right now.'
He glanced across the hall at the blue-haired boy. 'If Ricky is another monster on her level, I'll be drained empty before the fight ends. It's better to play it safe and stick to the shadows.'
He shifted his attention to another goal. He was aiming for the lowest score in the class. He wanted that night guard duty more than he wanted the 200 points for the potion.
As he made up his mind, he adopted his new persona: the exhausted victim. Whenever a student approached him to issue a challenge, he didn't even put up a stance. He would simply sigh, lean heavily against the wall, and forfeit on the premise of being drained by his "intense" battle with Cissel.
Because the teacher had personally intervened in his fight with Cissel, everyone had witnessed the raw power she had displayed. The rumours were already flying around the hall, exaggerating the shockwaves and pressure of their short-lived clash. No one doubted that John was truly exhausted.
A line began to form. Students saw in John a guaranteed three points and a boost to their own rankings. John, in turn, saw them as a quick and efficient way to tank his score.
After an hour of constant "defeats" from almost everyone except Ricky and his inner circle, John's tally was a disastrous minus seventeen. It was a score so abysmal that no one in the room could possibly compete for the bottom spot. He had successfully secured his punishment.
'Time to check on that dude,' John mused, finally feeling he had enough breathing room to observe. He shifted his attention fully to Ricky.
The blue-haired youth was a marvel of efficiency. He moved through his opponents like a ghost, winning every single fight without breaking a sweat. John activated his Frame Recognition one more time, his vision turning green as he focused on Ricky's codes.
'Damn! He really is another monster!' Just like Cissel, Ricky possessed a hidden anomaly. Amidst his standard white nodes, John spotted a single, specialised code that acted independently of the others.
It remained dormant during Ricky's movement. But the moment his strikes connected with an opponent, that code flared with a sharp intensity and different rhythm than other codes in his body.
Watching this, John let out an inward sigh. If John had higher Mental Points, he would have loved to test that disruption from the front row, but for now, he was content to watch from the sidelines.
Yet he felt lucky he decided to play it safe. If he had tried to fight Ricky in his current state, he would definitely have risked entering another Mental Burnout State. In a place like this, exposing such a deadly weakness to his peers—or worse, his future enemies—was a mistake John wasn't willing to make.
'I can't tell a thing about what that code is for,' he thought, his eyes narrowing as he watched Ricky dismantle another opponent. He tried to closely watch the few remaining fights in the remaining minutes of his ability, yet he gained zero clues about the specific nature of Ricky's abilities.
Unlike Cissel, who moved with an explosive, visible burst of kinetic energy, Ricky moved at a normal speed. He didn't look fast, but his blows decimated his opponents in a merciless, efficient way that left them gasping on the floor after a single hit.
The fights were all far too short for John to gain any valuable information at all. And soon enough, Ricky threw a curveball that John hadn't expected: the blue-haired boy suddenly started to copy John's attitude.
"I'm dead tired," Ricky sighed after scoring enough points to comfortably place him in the top eight of the class. He looked at his next challenger with a bored expression. "I forfeit!"
'That son of a bitch... Is he just copying me now?' John was taken aback by this sudden twist. He wasn't the only one playing it smart in the class; Ricky was clearly managing his own power, refusing to show his full hand once his position was secure.
"Now gather up," the teacher called out after the sparring had lasted for a full hour. "It's time to announce our champ and our loser."
The teacher didn't need to say much about who had scored the lowest in this fighting game. John was the only student in the entire department who hadn't won a single fight.
And yet, when the teacher announced his name as the loser, he didn't look at John with the disdain the other students did. Instead, he gave him a silent, piercing glance—one that told John the teacher wasn't disappointed in him; on the contrary, he had grown deep curiosity about him.
"...And our winner is... Alfred!"
The teacher announced the last person John expected to win. John's eyes immediately darted toward Ricky, and he realised the little trick that uncanny bastard had pulled.
'You used this chance to regain some face for your group,' John thought. 'Especially when you knew I'd be at the bottom of the scoreboard. You must have fed Alfred easy wins and cleared the path for him just to remind everyone of my failure in the admission test.'
John could easily guess the tricks behind Alfred's victory. If the elite group worked together, they could manufacture a champion by ensuring their leader and his subordinates yielded points to the designated winner.
They could suppress anyone who threatened to take the trophy away. After all, aside from John, Ricky, and Cissel, there wasn't anyone in the class capable of posing a genuine threat to Ricky's gang, not even Luke!
Cissel, for her part, seemed to have lost all interest in fighting after her initial matches. When she had tried to challenge Ricky earlier, the boy had forfeited before the match even started, denying her the chance to weaken him or test his limits.
Yet John didn't mind any of that. 'Just wait, you sneaky bastard,' he thought, a cold determination settling in his chest. 'I'll have the whole night to find everything about you.'
Luke tried to cheer John up, oblivious to the fact that John had engineered this loss. The tall boy kept talking and cracking jokes for half an hour, trying to "console" his friend, then John finally managed to extricate himself and head toward the exit.
Before he could leave, however, the teacher called him over to deliver a long, gruelling list of instructions for his "punishment."
"Your shift will start at 10 P.M. sharp!" the teacher barked. His demeanour had shifted entirely from the friendly, interactive face he had put on during the lecture. Right now, he looked like a ferocious beast, waiting for any excuse to jump on his prey.
"You'll be responsible for the first three years' dorms, the classrooms, and the administrative buildings. No one is allowed to wander around after 12 A.M. for any reason. If you meet any troublemakers, make sure to take their names or a detailed description, and inform me in the morning."
The teacher spoke for ten minutes straight without a pause. He outlined patrol routes, duties, and the consequences of negligence. John kept listening and nodding, taking silent notes on the different tasks while inwardly celebrating the success of his plan.
He now had the legal privilege to roam at night when everyone else was forbidden from doing so. His presence at the administrative building wouldn't arouse any suspicion; if he was spotted on a monitor, he was simply a student performing his disciplinary duty.
'I'll sleep for eight hours and replenish my Mental Points for tonight,' John decided after finishing the meeting. He headed toward his dorm while checking the time. It was 2 P.M., which made him grin. 'I might add one more hour then to my sleep,' he entertained the idea, before hastening towards his dorm.