There might have been chaos on the city streets, screams, and crowds of people fleeing in confusion, but somehow none of it seemed capable of disturbing the peace and quiet inside Ian's classroom.
"In the summer of 1942, Hitler launched Operation Blue, intending to seize the Caucasus oil fields and cut off the Soviet Union's oil supply." The history teacher's voice was like white noise in the background, practically designed to make people sleepy.
Quite a few insomniac students found relief from their condition, while for Ian, even if he listened attentively, he still could not gain repeated [Student] class experience from knowledge he had already learned before.
He was thinking.
Thinking about whether his Superman father had really managed to save the passengers from the plane crash, and if he had, then why had there still been an explosion and smoke outside?
Ian was quietly spacing out.
Meanwhile, beside him, Madison was doodling in her textbook with colored markers. She had drawn President Washington's clothes into a dress and added a pair of cat ears on top of his head.
"Well?" Madison smugly pushed the textbook over.
"Looks better than before, right?"
Her attempt to start a conversation got no response from Ian. The blond girl had long since gotten used to that, so she simply went back to vandalizing Nixon, one of the most controversial figures in American history.
Neither of them was listening seriously to the lesson, but the teacher did not care.
After all, top students did not need managing, and failing students... of course did not need managing either. How much did public school teachers even get paid each month? Who had the energy to care that much about student performance?
And just like that,
one class quickly passed.
[You seriously engaged in logical reasoning. Although you reached no conclusion, you still burned through quite a few brain cells. [Student] Class EXP +1]
Although Ian had not figured out why his Superman father would allow a plane to crash, it was not as if he had gained nothing. The system remained just as absurd as ever.
"I'm practically worrying myself sick over Metropolis, and you only give me this little experience? This barely qualifies as a cheat."
Of course, Ian himself was hardly any less absurd.
At noon,
the cafeteria was as noisy as a marketplace, but the area around Ian's seat was strangely quiet. Several girls pretended to be walking past while sneaking glances at him, while the boys either looked jealous or helplessly stared at his tray.
For the same price, Ian's portion was almost twice the size of everyone else's.
"What the hell."
Sitting across from Ian at the long table was a tall, skinny boy from the next class, Sam Winchester, holding his tray and staring at Ian's mountain of fried chicken.
"How do you do that?"
He frowned as if the matter had completely baffled him.
"It's simple. All you have to do is smile at the lunch ladies and say good afternoon. They'll sense the goodness in your soul and reward you with their kindness."
Ian had always been the sort of person who liked sharing and did not enjoy hoarding tips to himself.
Unfortunately, the heartfelt wisdom and experience he shared only earned him a stiff smile from Sam Winchester.
"My brother said something like that too, but... is there any method that depends less on personal presentation?" Sam Winchester asked awkwardly. He was actually a handsome kid himself, but he clearly did not have much confidence in his own character model.
"Yes."
Ian nodded.
That answer lit Sam Winchester's face with hope.
"You can also pay more money and get more food."
Ian arranged his utensils neatly, his tone perfectly sincere. Sam Winchester's expression, however, became no brighter. The boy simply picked up his tray and moved to another table, muttering things like "damn world" under his breath.
"What a weird classmate."
Ian shook his head, lowered it, and began devouring his food with full concentration. Right now, he was basically a starving ghost reborn, so naturally, eating required full focus.
The afternoon classes were also very easy, at least for Ian. By using time management methods to study other material on the side, he still managed to earn a few points of [Student] class experience.
Then, when the dismissal bell rang, the students rushed toward the classroom door like beasts released from a cage. Ian's deskmate Madison, however, packed her bag at a leisurely pace.
"Oh, right."
As if she had just remembered something, she pulled out a small gift box from her schoolbag.
"This is a present I brought you back from Los Angeles. Just remember to make me a separate answer sheet for next month's exams, okay?"
The girl handed the gift to Ian.
"That's not an answer sheet. My estimate of the tested material is just very accurate." Ian corrected her morally questionable wording even as he accepted the box from her hand.
"Same thing."
Madison shrugged carelessly.
She watched as Ian opened the box.
Inside lay an old pendant. It was a cross pendant, but entirely black, made of some bone-like material, cold to the touch.
Its chain was also thin yet sturdy, faintly gleaming with a dark silver sheen.
"Sure, it's just some roadside junk, but I felt like it was kind of special. Who knows? Maybe it's worth money." Madison was obviously trying to raise the value of her gift, though perhaps she also had a bit of treasure-hunting fantasy of her own.
People, after all,
were all like that.
"The texture is pretty nice."
Ian had originally intended to just toss it into his pocket, but under the expectant gaze of his deskmate, he reluctantly put it around his neck.
It fit perfectly.
Just as Ian was wondering whether Madison had secretly measured his neck and knew exactly how long it was, his expression suddenly froze in astonishment.
"What the hell?"
Ian was genuinely shocked.
A new marker had quietly appeared above the rage bar at the bottom of his vision.
[Slow Corrosion]
This negative status would drain one point of health from him every minute. Of course, since he had neither a mana bar nor a health bar, Ian could only roughly interpret that as the pendant secretly draining his blood.
At first, he was surprised.
Then,
a burst of happiness rose inside him.
For someone else, this might have been a terrifying curse.
But for a Berserker like him, was it not instead an incredibly suitable beginner artifact?
"That's an amazing gift."
Ian praised it from the bottom of his heart.
"Obviously it's amazing. Just look at whose taste picked it out... it instantly wipes away your bookworm vibe." Madison was still busy praising her own sense of style.
However,
she soon realized Ian was staring at her with an unusually deep look in his eyes.
"What?"
Madison frowned and asked.
"Nothing." Ian saw her confused expression and impatient tone, and quickly realized that she probably did not know anything unusual about the pendant.
"Little delinquent, you've really got some weird luck on your side."
Ian sighed in admiration, then waved to Madison and turned to leave the classroom, while the blond girl looked increasingly confused.
"Oh, right. Thanks."
He turned back, gave her a hug, and only then left the classroom for real.
"..."
Even someone as outgoing as Madison had been completely thrown off by Ian's behavior. She had no idea what to make of what he had just done. It took her quite a while to recover.
"If one day someone told me this guy was actually an alien blending in on Earth, I honestly don't think I'd find that weird."
The blond girl sighed from the heart.
She straightened her clothes, then slung her modified fashionable schoolbag over her shoulder and walked out of the classroom as well.
The empty room fell into silence.
A moment later, the air suddenly twisted.
Then,
a bizarre eye seemed to squeeze its way out of space itself.
"Where's my sacrifice? I had such a high-quality sacrifice right here. Where did it go?"
The warped, crimson eye spun rapidly, its voice full of confusion and rising irritation.
(End of Chapter)
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